Snow White and the Huntsman

by Lily Blake

  When it was all over, Ravenna released her grasp. Rose dropped to her knees. Her hands were now gnarled. Her face was withered and wrinkled, her hair wiry and gray. She hunched over the floor, her back curved in a C. She looked nearly eighty years old. All traces of the beautiful young girl she had been were gone.

  Ravenna stared exultantly at her brother. Even he appeared younger, rejuvenated by Ravenna’s new power. The spell their mother used to connect them was more apparent now as Ravenna stared into Finn’s face. His skin was radiant, his eyes shining with a new light. He looked even stronger than he had before. His muscles strained against his linen shirt.

  She felt no pity for the girl. She felt only power, the sweet drunkenness that came whenever she took someone’s youth. There was nothing that could stop her. She was smarter than the smartest men in the kingdom, stronger than the fiercest warriors, and she was more beautiful than all the maidens who had come before her.

  She strode into the mirror chamber, wanting nothing more than to see her reflection. The mirror man would confirm what she already knew to be true. She longed to hear his voice again, to be comforted by his magic. “Mirror, mirror, on the wall,” she began, “who’s the fairest of them all?” She looked into the glossy surface. Her pulse quickened as the mirror melted at her feet and reformed into the bronze statue. Her own face stared back at her reflection in his smooth, featureless visage.

  “My Queen,” the mirror said, “you have defied nature and robbed it of its fairest fruit. But on this day, there is one more beautiful than you. She is the reason your powers wane.”

  Who could be more beautiful than she was? Had she not consumed the youth of some of the most radiant girls in the kingdom? What was it all for? Ravenna balled her hands into fists. There was no one more beautiful than she was, no one more powerful or youthful. The mirror was wrong—it had to be. She rocked with anger. The high she’d felt after conquering Rose was quickly and completely gone. “Who is it?! Give me her name!” she hissed through clenched teeth.

  Her reflection stared back at her. “Snow White,” the mirror said.

  “Snow White?” Ravenna repeated. She swallowed hard. “I should have killed her as a child. She is my undoing?”

  The mirror brought its fingers to its chin, stroking it in an attitude of thought. “But … she is also your treasure, my Queen. It was wise that you kept her close. For the innocence and purity that can destroy, can also heal. Hold her heart in your hands, and you shall never again need to consume youth. You shall never again weaken or age. Immortality without cost …”

  Ravenna stared at her hands, trying to imagine what it would be like to never again see them as she had just minutes before—wrinkled and covered with age spots. What would it be like to never have her breaths shorten, to never feel the weight of the years upon her?

  What would it be like to live forever?

  She let out a low laugh, the sound of it spurring her on, until she was laughing so hard she was nearly in tears. Snow White. Of course. It had always been Snow White who could bring her this gift. There was a reason she had saved her—she had felt it all these years. There was a reason they were connected. And now it revealed itself to her in all its glory.…

  “Finn!” she screamed, the laughter consuming her. “Bring me Snow White!”

  She kept laughing, the lightness of it comforting her. She pressed her eyes closed, and tears streamed down her cheeks. She would live forever. She just had to kill Snow White and take her heart. It all was so simple, so obvious. How had she not realized it before?

  When she finally opened her eyes, she was alone in the chamber. The mirror was just like any other mirror, its reflection revealing the empty room. The mirror man was gone, but his words still echoed in her ears: Immortality without cost …

  Snow White pressed her face between the bars. It had been an hour since they’d taken Rose away. Snow White had watched as Finn came upstairs with a soldier and pulled Rose from her cell. She had screamed and kicked, but the soldier had held her legs. They’d carried her downstairs like that, ignoring Snow White as she’d also pleaded for them to stop.

  She hoped the young girl was okay. She wanted to believe that it was all a misunderstanding and the girl would go free eventually, that she would not be hurt. But worry consumed her. She knew Ravenna too well. And whatever Rose had done (had she done something?), Snow White could not shake the feeling that today’s conversation had been their last.

  She wrung her hands together as she paced the length of the small cell. It was hard to wrap her mind around it all. Duke Hammond was alive. William fought in her father’s name. The thought of them brought hope. The cell seemed so much smaller now. She couldn’t stand the way it smelled of mildew, or how there were always cockroaches scurrying at night. She couldn’t take not being in the sun. What had grown dormant after so many years stirred in her again. She needed to be out, away from this dank prison, on the road to find Duke Hammond. She needed her family again.

  Almost as soon as the thought crossed her mind, there was a whistling sound. She turned, noticing two magpies perched on the castle ledge. She remembered the distinctive birds from her childhood. Their sleek black feathers made them stand out in the light gray sky. Their tails were more than half the length of their bodies, and their wing feathers were a stunning iridescent blue. They stood there, their heads tilted in her direction, as if she had called them to her by some strange magic.

  She went to the window and watched them. They flapped their wings once, the blue feathers catching the light. “Are you trying to tell me something?” she muttered, wondering if she was imagining it. “What are you doing here?” The birds hopped along the ledge to where the tower roof slanted toward the earth. The wood shingles were rotted in places. The black tar was sticky from the sun. It took her a moment to notice the roofing nail sitting directly between the two birds. It stuck out at an angle, just within reach.

  Snow White threaded her arm through the metal bars and grabbed the nail. It was three inches long, and the bottom half was still lodged in the wood. She moved it forward, then back, repeating the motion until it felt loose. The birds sat on the roof beside it, watching as she worked at the rusty piece of metal. She’d nearly pulled it out when she heard footsteps down the stone corridor. She heard Rose’s muffled cries, then her cell door opening. She was still alive. The realization urged her on.

  The magpies sensed the danger and flew away, settling in a nearby tree. “Come on,” Snow White muttered to herself. She yanked hard on the nail once, then again. Finn slammed the other cell door shut. She heard his footsteps coming closer, approaching her own cell. She yanked one final time, and it came out, sending her falling backward. She scrambled onto her bed and pulled the blanket around her. The rusty nail was still clasped in her hand.

  Snow White pretended to sleep. She could hear him just outside the cell. His shoes clacked against the stone floor as he paced back and forth in front of the door. She finally opened her eyes, as if she’d just woken up. “Did I wake you?” he asked. With that, he turned the key in the lock and entered the cell.

  Snow White shook her head. She tightened her grip around the nail, wondering what it was he wanted today. “You’ve never come in before,” she said softly. She threaded the nail between her two fingers, letting the rusty tip stick out between them.

  Finn tilted his head, studying her. He looked charmed. She offered him a small smile, trying to lure him closer with her eyes. “My Queen won’t allow it,” he said. “She wants you all to herself.”

  “I’m afraid of her,” Snow White tried. She studied his face. It was exactly the same as it had been the day they met—the night of her father’s wedding. His fair skin hadn’t aged at all. His nose was pointed at the end, and his blond hair was perfectly cut, combed down in front to cover his large forehead.

  He came toward her and rested on the edge of her bed. She counted each one of her breaths, trying to stay calm. She straightened and pulled
her legs up toward her, sitting beside him. Her fist was still closed at her side.

  “It’s all right, Princess,” Finn cooed. He reached out and touched her arm. “You will never again be locked in a cell.” He was wearing the same black leather suit he always did, the collar coming up to hide his neck. He was so close now, she could see her faint reflection in the polished surface.

  Snow White squeezed the rusty nail. “What does she want from me?” she asked, looking up at him. Finn brushed her hair away from her face. His thick fingers stopped on her cheekbone. It took all she had not to cringe visibly at his touch.

  Then he reached down for something at his waist. He pulled it from its sheath so quickly, it took her a second to realize what it was. “Your beating heart,” he said, tightening his grip on his dagger.

  Snow White looked at the glinting blade, then into his unfeeling eyes. She raised her fist. Without any hesitation, she struck him across the face. She held the nail firm, wanting to do as much damage as possible.

  A gash opened in his cheek, from the bottom of his left eye to his nose. The blood dripped down his face, spilling over his fingers and onto the wool blanket. “What did you do?” he managed. He tried to get to his feet, but Snow White kicked him hard in the side. She grabbed the keys from his belt and ran for the door, her heart pounding in her chest.

  She slammed the metal door behind her to lock it. Then she darted to Rose’s cell. Snow White fumbled with the keys, trying the first one on the ring. It didn’t work. She tried the next, then the next, but they didn’t work, either. She ran her fingers over the remaining keys, her throat going dry. There were nearly forty in all.

  “Guards!” Finn yelled down the corridor. “Guards!” His bloody face was visible beyond the bars.

  Snow White peered into Rose’s cell, horrified by what she saw. Huddled in the back was an old woman, her face shriveled with age. Wiry gray hair fell down her back. She wore the same dress Rose had been wearing earlier and had the same wide-set blue eyes, but she was barely recognizable.

  “Go,” the old woman urged. She stepped forward and grabbed Snow White’s hand. “Just go—please. You’ll never make it otherwise.”

  Snow White gave the woman’s hands a final squeeze and released the keys into them. Then she turned to the narrow stairs, which spiraled down to the main castle. She circled down them, taking two at a time, growing more and more dizzy with each flight. She heard Finn yelling somewhere above her even as she descended the last few steps and nearly collapsed on the floor.

  The castle’s third floor was quiet. She recognized it immediately from her childhood. It was the same wing that Duke Hammond and William had lived in. Each window was covered with deep burgundy drapes, and an ornate wooden wardrobe rested against the far wall. She knew each of these rooms as if they were her own. She started toward the other end of the wing, but just then, two guards ran up the stairs. Their weapons were drawn. She could see it in their eyes—they already knew she had escaped.

  “Get her!” one yelled as they ran in her direction.

  She escaped back into the stairwell, bolting the door behind her. She didn’t bother to look back. They rammed into it, the wood creaking with each violent blow. She had to get to the courtyard. She could raise the portcullis and escape, just as Duke Hammond and William had all those years before. “I just have to make it there,” she told herself.

  When she reached the bottom of the staircase she burst through the door and into the open air. The light was so bright, it burned her eyes. She shielded her face from the sun. It had been so long since she’d been outside, it was almost too much to take in. Even the wind felt strange against her skin.

  Before she could process it, she heard the sound of footsteps behind her. The guards were coming out of the throne room and into the courtyard. There were ten of them, at least. They all wore the same black armor. She looked at the east wing of the castle, where the portcullis was, but two men on horseback were already galloping toward her from their normal posts at the gate. There was nowhere to go.

  She froze in place, uncertain about what to do next. As she clutched her hand to her heart, she heard a small whistling sound. The two magpies she’d seen outside her window were there in the courtyard, circling just a few feet above her. She rubbed her eyes, not sure if she was imagining them. They looked so vivid. The sunlight streamed down and caught their blue wings, making them shimmer.

  They swooped in front of her, darting toward the west end of the courtyard. The flower bushes there were shriveled and brown. “Just like the nail,” she whispered to herself. She followed, knowing that there was something they wanted to show her.

  Behind her, the guards were closing in. The two on horseback were nearly upon her. She heard the loud clack of the hooves on the stone.

  “Get her! She’s trapped!” someone yelled to the pack from the throne room.

  She just kept following the two birds. They were approaching the massive stone wall. She looked down, finally realizing what it was they were showing her. There, beneath the wilted shrubs, was the entrance to the castle sewers. It was a hole about two feet across—just wide enough for her to slip through.

  As the magpies flew away, she dropped down, sliding across the stone floor on her hip. Then she lowered herself into the sewer system. She hung there for a moment, her fingers gripping the rim of the drain, before letting go. She could barely breathe as she plummeted into the darkness below.

  She was instantly swept away by the current of the water. High above her, one guard lowered himself in, trying to follow, but the drain was too small. His hips got stuck. His legs hung in the air above her, kicking frantically.

  “Open the gates! The princess has escaped!” one guard yelled above, his voice echoing down the tunnel as she floated away.

  Snow White reached out for the wall as she slipped past, but it was coated with slimy algae. The stone was so slippery, she couldn’t get a grip. Instead, the thick sludge lodged beneath her fingernails, turning them green.

  After so many years locked in the tower, her legs weren’t strong enough to keep her afloat. She kicked as hard as she could, struggling against the current, and thrashed her arms. But as the sewage tunnel narrowed, the water pulled her under.

  She disappeared beneath the foaming sludge, and the entire world went dark.

  The water sucked her into a long, narrow pipe. She could feel the walls closing in on her. Her shoulders brushed past them. She tried to make herself as small as possible, folding her arms over her chest and crossing her legs. She didn’t dare struggle—she was too afraid she’d get stuck.

  After a few moments, the tunnel ended and she was out in open water, her limbs finally free. Her lungs were throbbing. She desperately wanted to take a breath. She stared up at the surface of the water, nearly twenty feet above her. Seaweed floated by, casting shadows on her face. She kicked wildly, toward the sun, but when she reached the seaweed it was too thick. It tangled around her arms and legs, weighing her down.

  This can’t be happening, she thought, the reality of her situation sinking in. She kicked frantically, trying to free herself, but a piece of seaweed was still coiled around her leg. She was still so weak. Her lungs hurt. She kept flailing her arms until the surface of the water was inches away. With a few desperate kicks, she finally freed herself and broke through, bursting into the open air.

  Gasping for breath, she could hear the distant sound of hooves on the stone. The soldiers were coming for her. She stared at the beach, just a hundred feet away. The castle was nestled into the hillside above the coast. The cliff beside it was covered with trees and shrubs. She swam for the shore, grateful when the waves helped her onto the beach. She didn’t have much time.

  The shore was covered with large gray rocks. They were assembled in lines, creating a massive maze, stretching the length of the sand. Snow White approached the first stone entrance. It was taller than she was, the walls covered in barnacles and dried seaweed. She went thro
ugh it, winding into the maze, but when the stone passageway forked in two, she wasn’t certain which way to go. Her childhood memory was less distinct when it came to the maze—William had always been the one to find the way out.

  Her dress was soaked and she was shaking from the cold. She heard the sound of hooves on rocks. The army was getting closer. Finn had certainly alerted Ravenna already. If he didn’t find her, Ravenna’s magic certainly would. She would have her heart.

  Snow White started to her right. Her hands were shaking. She was about to round a corner when a soft whistling noise caught her attention.

  She turned. The two magpies had come back to her. They were sitting on the stone wall to the left. She covered her mouth, tears welling in her eyes. They swooped off the ledge and flew in the opposite direction. She followed after them down the beach, winding in and out of the massive rocks, until the path emptied onto the sand. A few feet in front of her sat a beautiful white mare. It was sitting on the shore, in a way she’d never seen a horse do before, as if it were just waiting for her to climb on.

  The sound of hooves came closer. “There!” a man’s voice shouted. She looked up the cliff ledge. The first two soldiers on horseback emerged from the trees. One pointed at her with a silver dagger. She didn’t hesitate. She ran at the mare, vaulting herself up onto its back. It stood, and they took off down the rocky beach.

  They galloped down the shore, the waves crashing beside them. Snow White kept looking back, her hair a mess of black. The salt air coming off the ocean stung her eyes. Finn’s army descended the cliff quickly and were still close behind.

  Finally, the magpies turned right, back onto the mainland. The mare followed them into the thick forest, and the army pursued Snow White through the trees.