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Barbara Becc
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I love stories about reluctant heroes, about women who do stuff and about heroes who are not always good. This story is a twist on the Cinderella fairytale and my favorite fantasy tropes and stories. A vengeful queen, a runaway princess, secrets and dwarves, and fires in the country. A hunter who isn't quite like all others. A story of secrets and vengeance.
~~~
"Do you understand what is being asked of you?"
The voice made the chandeliers tingle and was projecting 'royalty' as much as humanly possible. It came from a surprisingly young person, dressed in cloth more expensive than anything Hunter had ever owned all her life. The queen looked breathtakingly beautiful, though, she had to admit that. The dress under the red robe seemed to be spun from pure gold, and reflections danced over it like light fairies. It was mesmerizing.
The silence in the great hall began to feel cold, and Hunter realized that the queen waited for an answer. "Yes, Your Highness. I understand."
"You will bring Ella here, where I can oversee her punishment. Do not kill her." The queen sat back down, draping her robe around her. It made her look like she was sitting in a pool of blood. Hunter shuddered and hoped the queen didn't see it. Being trained to kill and actually killing were two very different things. She tried to avoid killing in any way possible.
Hunter wiped her hands on her pants and straightened. She squared her shoulders just a bit more, hoping it made her small figure appear stronger.
"You are an unusual girl, my dear," the queen continued. Hunter resisted the urge to roll her eyes at that tired old statement. She had heard it so many times before. Ever since she had decided as a little girl to reject her given name and role and do all the things that the boys did, she had been called unusual.
At first they thought she was just rebellious, running around in pants and high boots. They forced her to wear dresses, to embroider and sew, to cook and clean. She did what had been asked of her, but she put on pants as soon as no one was watching her and worked at the horse stables as much as possible. She didn't scream, she didn't cry, she just took off the dresses and snuck out of the kitchen.
At some point, and she still wasn't sure how it happened, the people at the Duke's county accepted what she was. She wasn't a girl, she wasn't a boy, she was just Hunter.
This wasn't the first job the queen had bestowed on her, but this was the first time the queen was sending her alone. Not that she minded it much — she always felt slightly threatened among a group of men and going alone was a nice change. But she would still sleep with a dagger held firmly in her hand. Old habits save lives.
The queen sighed dramatically. "I don't know why you dress and act like this, and I frankly don't care. You have proven yourself useful. My men didn't complain about you on the last job I sent you."
That was probably the highest praise anyone could ask for from Sir Jeremihah and his men. The old warrior had grumbled when she was assigned to his troupe and ignored her, but he finally taught her what he knew after she happened to save his life in a stroke of luck. He also addressed her as a he, which was weird at first but made it easier in the long run among all the men.
"I hope that you can instill some sense into Ella, make her stop. The girl is causing terror all over my lands, and my people are getting scared."
Hunter bowed her head. "May I ask a question, Your Highness?"
"Always with the questions." The queen sighed and played with the fur inlay on her collar. "Very well, speak."
"Why are you sending me alone? Why aren't Sir Jeremihah and his men on the search?"
"I need them here," the queen said with the definite kind of tone that allowed no further questions. "You will be given funds to hire help should you need it, but I can't risk to send my best men away at times like these."
Hunter swallowed a remark that it was always times like these. The words 'Peaceful Negotiations' were just not in the queen's vocabulary. She was constantly at war with some neighboring kingdom. Many lives were lost and fields not farmed because her people had to fight in wars. A few angry souls tried to bring in better times by getting rid of the queen but no assassination attempt had ever been successful. The guard protected her every minute of the day and some poor sod had to taste all her food for poison.
The queen dismissed her with a wave of the hand. The seneschall caught Hunter's arm before she left the room.
"I have some things for you, boy," he said and walked ahead. He also addressed her as a man, like Sir Jeremihah.
She left the castle on a small horse that fit her size, accompanied by a pony that carried supplies. The cook had packed her bags with food for ten people and the armorer had given her three swords and shields as well as a crossbow. The poor pony was clattering with every step.
Ella's first arson fire had been laid to the very kitchen she had just left. It was quickly discovered and the damage was minimal but the cook had been livid. She was ranting and yelling about it until they found the note written in charcoal on the wall.
You know why.
Ella
The cook had seen the note and not said another word for days. Even today, as she loaded up Hunter's bags with food, she kept looking at the wall where the note had been painted over.
Hunter followed the trail of arsons across the country. With every fire she inspected, Ella seemed to become more confident. Her first crimes were just little things, easy to extinguish. But the more recent fires were bigger, more dangerous. So far no person or animal had been hurt by it but the last arson had burned down a whole farm. The farmer and his family had been out on the fields and the old mother had managed to escape in time but the farm was lost.
Hunter came to the homestead just as a hard downpour killed the last flames. The family stood in front of the smoldering ashes of what had once been everything they owned. The rain gracefully covered their tears as they turned and walked away. These were simple folk, working their farms and raising their families around here on the simple values of hard work and no complaints. They were not rebellious, not angry. They just resigned to everything that life threw at them.
As she had done at every arson site, Hunter searched the area for traces of a watcher. Holding her sword ready, she searched behind barns and shrubbery. She assumed that Ella would want to see her handiwork, that she would stay nearby and watch the fire. But if she saw a shadow among the trees in the distance, it was long gone by the time she got there.
After a week she had to admit that she wasn't making any progress. Farms still burned almost every day and she could do nothing to stop it. Sitting in an inn, she stared into her watered beer and picked at the scrambled eggs that the waitress had brought her with a suggestive smile. As it was her habit, she had covered her features with a hooded cloak and had made her steps heavy and her voice deep when she arrived at the inn. It was always safer to be a man out here in the country. It wasn't the first time that a waitress was flirting with the fresh-faced stranger who didn't talk much.
She took another sip of her cheap ale, ignoring the noises of the many people in the cramped inn. When she sat the mug down, someone was sitting at the other side of the table. It was a dwarf with long, orange hair and displaying a carpet of chest hair in the same color under his wide open shirt. He looked unusual for a dwarf; his beard was cut short but Hunter decided not to ask him about that. He took a sip from his own mug and grinned at her over the rim.
"You must be Hunter," he said with an amused lilt in his deep voice. "How's the hunt for the fiery Ella going?"
"It takes longer than I expected," Hunter said, picking up another piece of bread with scrambled eggs on top.
"She's setting you up to fail, you know."
"Who is?" she asked before shoving the bread in her mouth.
"The Queen, of course. She lets the Heralds travel around, telling the story to the people. How you volunteered to find the Cinder-Ella, how she gave you a chance despite your strangeness."
Hunter almost choked on the bread. "Volunteered? I was ordered! I wasn't asked if I wanted to do this."
The dwarf laughed out loud. "That's even better. If you fail to catch Ella, she can claim that she was just too soft hearted to deny you this chance." He laughed some more, loud and hearty. "And then she can say that she listens to her people and will send a real man."
"I'm not just some girl. I'm one of Sir Jeremihah's men and he has vouched for me before."
"And nobody has seen him in a while," the dwarf said with a smug grin. "You're on your own, and when you fail, it'll be all your fault. All the while, everybody is distracted and doesn't realize what's really happening."
Hunter swallowed the rest of the bread down with a gulp from her mug to hide her face. She should have known. She should never have trusted the Queen. "And what would that be, what's really happening?"
He stopped smiling and leaned forward over the table. "That's not something to discuss here."
Hunter shoved the plate away from her, suddenly not hungry anymore. "What do you want?"
The dwarf grinned again. "I thought you might want to hire some help and I wanted to recommend me and my guys to you."
"Why should I hire you? I could hire anybody."
The dwarf frowned at her. "Listen, Softcheeks, I have no doubt that you are capable; I've heard great things about you. But you are a girl who dresses like a man and that attracts some weird people. You can hire absolutely anybody but I can assure you that my group is the only one that will not bother you about how you look and act."
"I'm not..." she wanted to say a girl but that wasn't quite the truth either. It had become difficult lately to really know how she felt. "I'm not convinced."
"Let me introduce you to the team," he said and beckoned her to follow him. "My name is Docillric by the way, I'm the boss of the Seven and One."
Hunter got up and followed him through the low-lit inn. Most people didn't care about the slim figure following a strong dwarf almost her size but she was aware of a few eyes watching them closely. "Seven and One?"
"You'll see."
Docillric led her to a table at the far end of the inn where a loud party seemed to be going on. Judging by heights, it was six dwarves and one human who had started to build a tower of bones they had picked clean. Docillric knocked on the table to get the attention of the beer chugging group, which caused the bone tower to tumble and garnered loud cries of protest.
"Come on Doc, we worked hard at this!" one dwarf shouted. The others chimed in and beer mugs clattered as they celebrated their unity in protest with another gulp of beer. Hunter tried to get a look at the human in the group but the tall figure was hooded and sat in a shadow. She could only make out a smile beneath the darkness.
"Lads, ladies, this is Hunter, a potential employer of us if you lot could behave yourself for one minute."
One of the dwarves, possibly a woman (it was hard to tell sometimes with dwarves) leaned forward and studied Hunter's face. "So you are out to catch the Cinder-Ella. I thought you were taller."
"You shouldn't talk about height, Tiny," the hooded human said from the back with a grin visible on her deep red lips. Her voice was deep but clearly female.
"I'm normal for a dwarf!" The dwarf tried to reach over the companions to hit the human but Doc shouted something in dwarven at her and she settled back down with a grin.
"That tall one over there is my second in command, Snow," Doc said and the hooded figure nodded once. "The others here are Sebillic, Karrilic, Linnele, Deidrele, Honeyrele and Tiny Tinele."
"I'm not tiny!" Tinele shouted but she grinned at the same time.
Snow lowered her hood with a cough and leaned forward into the light. Hunter swallowed a gasp as she saw her face. Her skin was of a noble brown but she had a mark, white as snow, from her forehead over her eyes and nose down to her chin. It looked like someone had taken a paintbrush and painted a symmetric pattern on her face in white. Snow laid her hands on the table and Hunter saw more white marks on her hands and arms covering her brown skin.
Snow looked at Doc and frowned. "Isn't she employed by the Queen? If we work for her, we're basically working for the Queen. I don't like that."
Doc raised his hand with an intense look towards Snow. "Relax, princess of my heart, we don't even have to show ourselves. And living on the Queen’s funds means reliable pay at least."
"That would be something," mumbled the one called Karrillic through his beard.
"Any more complaints?" Doc asked. Snow still looked unhappy but she shook her head to the question as all the others.
"Then it's settled." He turned to Hunter and held out his hand. "The Seven And One are at your service."
Hunter stared at his hand. "I haven't yet agreed to hire you."
Doc grinned even wider. "Trust me, Softcheeks, you won't find a more dedicated and more trustworthy bunch anywhere near."
Hunter looked around and snorted. "In this inn that's a pretty low bar to hit."
Snow laughed out, clear and enchanting like music. It made her look incredibly beautiful and the other patrons fell quiet as if they tried to hear more of that beautiful sound. Snow quickly pulled up her hood again and shrunk into the shadows. She smiled from under her hood. "I like her," she said.
Hunter shrugged and shook Doc's hand. She liked this group and everybody else she could hire was either as trustworthy or even less than them.
"Well," Doc said, "have a seat then and let's make some plans how to catch the Cinder-Ella."
"Why do you call her that?" Hunter asked.
"The people around here call her that. They know that her name is Ella, the banished daughter of the Duke, the Queen's previous husband. And now she sets things on fire with cinder, so..."
Hunter nodded. "I guess that makes sense. I still don't understand why the Queen is so open about all of this. I thought this would be a secret mission."
"Remember what I told you about setting you up to fail? She can twist the story in any way she likes and blame it all on you."
Snow leaned forward again, a predatory smile on her lips. "You got yourself a powerful enemy there but, lucky for you, she's my favorite enemy too."
Hunter tried to smile but Snow looked a bit too scary. "I've been following Ella for a while now and I'm sure she's watching the fires from afar but I could never find her."
"Of course not," Snow said. "She's watching you just as you watch her."
"You think so?"
Snow leaned in even further and lowered her voice. "I'm pretty sure she's even watching you right now."
Hunter wanted to whip around but caught herself and studied the reflection in the window instead. The inn was packed, rain and harsh winds bringing in many travellers from the road.
"I don't see any women except for the barmaids," she said, more to herself.
Snow laughed out. "That's hardly an argument you and I can make, don't you think?"
It was true, of course. The Cinder-Ella would be in disguise, just like her and Snow.
Docillic stood up and paid the waitress. "Let's check on the horses, guys."
That seemed to be a code word, because the whole group stood up and left the room. Doc came out last and ushered Hunter and the group in front of him towards the stables. The stablemaster tried to stop them but a coin flipped into his hand made him settle back down on his chair, ignoring the group of seven dwarves and two humans walking through the stables.
They squatted down in an empty stable to discuss their options and for the first time Hunter felt hopeful that she could fulfill her mission.
~~~
They didn't have to wait long for the next fire to occur. There seemed to be no pattern to the arsons but they all had a note written in charcoal somewhere that said 'you know why'.
It was a shoemaker's shop this time, close to the inn they had been staying in. Hunter examined the smoldering remains while the Seven and One circled the area to look for Cinder-Ella. Hunter poked through burned leather and shoes with a stick, unsure of what she was hoping to find. She wasn't really looking for anything because her proof was once again written on a wall with charcoal.
The shoemaker stood in front of the writing and shook his head. "I don't know why, I've done nothing. Why's she burning me shop down? I've hardly known her!"
Hunter stepped up to him. "But you have met her?"
"The Cinder-Ella? Well, she was always working in the kitchen and I usually got meself a wee little drink there when I was in the castle and I may have seen her there sometimes." The man looked nervous and Hunter was sure that he was not telling her everything.
"So, have you seen her or have you not?" she pried.
"Now's not like I was a talking with her..."
"But you...," Hunter started but stopped when her eyes were drawn to a figure in a large men's coat at the edge of her vision. She spun around and looked the person in the eyes. Golden brown eyes in a sand-brown face, framed by dark curls, spilling out from under the hood of the man's coat. Her lips pulled into a wide smile and then she turned and ran.
Hunter sprinted after her down the cobblestone streets. The cloak billowed out and Hunter could make out a slim woman's body.
"Ella, wait!" she called out after her, stumbling over a broken cart on the way and cursing at her sword in the scabbard smacking against her shin. The person, who most certainly was Ella, disappeared around a corner; and when Hunter had picked herself up again and came around it, she was faced with the edge of the forest and no one in sight.
Footsteps became louder behind her. Tiny and Honey came up surprisingly fast on their short legs.
"Was it her? The Cinder-Ella?" Tiny asked, out of breath.
"I think so, yes," Hunter said.
"Snow said something like that," Honey said with her squeaky voice. Someone with a voice like that should not be carrying a battleaxe that tall but that didn't stop her. "She said that Cinder-Ella would be looking for you and she made us watch you."
Tiny leaned against the wall of the house to catch her breath. "You tall people are so damn fast. One second you were talking to that shoemaker and the next you were off like a rat on fire."
"Did you see her?" Hunter asked.
"The one in the big coat? Yeah, but that was about it. You think it was really her?"
"She saw me watching and smiled at me."
Honey squeaked. "She smiled? I thought she never smiled?"
"Maybe she's happier now than in that castle," Tiny said with a shrug. "I know I would be."
Honey nodded eagerly. "Yes, I heard they treated her pretty bad at the castle."
Tiny looked up to Hunter. "You lived there; did you know her?"
"Not really," Hunter said, thinking back to that cold building. "I lived in the barracks. I avoided the castle as much as I could. It's not a nice place." She shuddered at the memory of the queen screaming so loud, you could hear her down in the basement as the whole castle fell quiet. "What have you heard about her being treated badly?"
"You never heard that?" Tiny asked. The rest of the Seven and One came around the corner and listened in on the conversation.
"They don't exactly discuss castle gossip at the barracks, except for the boob size of the kitchen maids." Most people at the castle tried to forget everything about the place and its cold-hearted inhabitant if they could.
Snow snorted out an angry laugh. "Maybe they just didn't talk about it but I bet at least some of them knew. It went around the village a while back, how she was forced to work on her knees and how the queen ordered her work to be undone so that she had to do everything again. She gathered the people around to watch the Duke's daughter, fallen from grace and beaten. She let them laugh at her."
A memory crept up, one that Hunter had wanted to forget, and she shuddered. She remembered coming back from a deer hunt and seeing the people spill out of the gate. Some were laughing and boasting but most of them looked embarrassed. After that day, the cook had lost her smile for weeks. But she never told Hunter what had happened.
"I doubt she will be back here anytime soon," Doc said, shouldering his crossbow. "Let's head back to the inn and get some sleep. I have a feeling we’ll have to travel again soon."
~~~
Hunter dreamed about faces walking past her, people pouring out of the castle's gates. They looked at her and their mouths distorted when they tried to speak. She jolted awake, sweat making her shiver and suddenly she knew why Cinder-Ella was laying her fires.
She shook Snow awake, narrowly avoiding a knife whipping out from under her blanket.
"Don't do that, boy," Snow rasped, shaking herself awake. "What is it?"
"I know why Ella is setting fire to those places," Hunter said, shaking in excitement. "She's taking revenge on all the people that watched her and laughed at her back when the queen humiliated her in front of everyone. I saw the farmers, the shoemaker, the blacksmith. That's why the note says 'you know why' cause they all watched and laughed."
Snow looked at her, wide awake now. "How many were there?"
"I don't know, maybe 30? 40?"
"And we're up to what now, ten fires? Twelve?" Snow twirled the knife between her fingers in thought. "She's not done yet."
They settled back down but Hunter couldn't stop thinking about Ella. She remembered having seen her from afar sometimes, when she carried laundry out to hang. She had lived quite nicely as the Duke's daughter — a smart girl, well educated. Hunter had spoken to her sometimes, hanging on every word she had said, learning from her. But after the Duke's death, the Queen banished the girl, took her nice things away and made her beg the kitchen maids for spare dresses.
Hunter had watched her. She still looked so beautiful even in the old and torn rags. Her shapely legs peeked out under the too short skirts, brown against stained white. Her dark hair fell in tiny curls over her shoulders, so much more beautiful than Hunter had ever managed to make her own ratty hair look.
She remembered Ella smiling at her despite bloody blisters on her hands and scrapes on her knees. She remembered how she had to turn away because she felt herself blushing and she couldn't bear to watch her. There was a pain in her chest whenever she saw Ella and she didn't know what to do about that.
~~~
The next fire broke out at another farm. Hunter remembered seeing the husband and his wife among the crowd leaving the castle on that fateful day, their heads hanging down low.
When they arrived at the farm, the main building had been mostly extinguished, thanks to the chain of people with buckets full of water. Hunter was looking for the note again when sudden cries made her look up. The main house wasn't on fire anymore but a spark must have jumped over to the haybarn and the fire quickly spread. Under the roof, a window opened and the faces of two crying children appeared.
"Shit," Snow and Hunter said at the same time. The way down was blocked by the fire, and the window was too high up for them to jump down.
"A ladder! We need a ladder!" Snow yelled out, loud enough to wake people from their shocked trance and make them run. A few men pulled a ladder from a tree in the backyard and carried it over. Snow had taken off her hooded coat, ignoring the stares as the people got a good look at the marks on her skin. She shoved the coat into a bucket of water and put it back on then dumped another bucket over her head. Drenched, she picked up the ladder and ran towards the haybarn. Flames were licking out of the roof and smoke billowed out next to the heads of the crying children.
Hunter dropped her weapons and followed Snow’s method, making herself wet as well. She ran after her, towards the blistering heat of the building. Snow leaned the ladder against the building, the heat almost unbearable. She noticed that Hunter held the ladder for her as she climbed up.
"You have to leave!" she yelled at her.
"Shut up," Hunter yelled back, her voice barely audible over the roaring of the fire. "Hurry!"
Snow nodded and climbed up as far as she could. The ladder wasn't long enough to reach the window and she was beckoning towards the children to climb down to her. The smaller girl finally climbed out the window and when she hung on the frame by her fingertips, Snow could reach her ankles and pulled her down. The ladder shook but Snow lowered the girl towards the steps below her and Hunter guided the girl to the ground.
An earth-shaking boom sounded out as the roof caved in and the boy could only jump out into Snow's arms as a cloud of smoke billowed out of the window. Snow caught him but couldn't hold on to the ladder anymore and lost her balance. She fell backwards but Hunter grabbed her, crashing hard to the ground with the weight of Snow and the boy on top of her. Something cracked in her chest and the world went dark.
~~~
When she came back to her senses, she was next to a water well on a blanket and Tiny was bandaging her chest. She hissed in pain and the dwarf looked up.
"Oh good, you're awake," she said, smiling in relief. "You broke a rib. That's gonna hurt a while."
Hunter tried to speak but a cough wracked through her body, making her whimper in pain. She coughed more, every single cough like a knife stab, and spat out a black clot.
"That's better," Tiny said, "get that stuff out of your body."
"How are..." Hunter rasped, almost coughing again just from speaking.
"The others are fine. You and Snow saved the kids and you saved Snow, you silly girl-boy. We just had to pull you both away by your feet before the building collapsed on top of you."
Hunter nodded a thanks, not daring to speak again for fear of coughing.
"Doc and Deidrele are scouting out a place for us to stay where you can rest and heal." Tiny stood and piled dirty rags in her arms. She called over to Karrillic, "Come on, help me with the washing and get some fresh water for us." Karrilic groaned but followed Tiny down to the stream.
Hunter's eyes were drooping. She tried to keep her breathing shallow; deep breaths made her ribs scream out in pain. But the most acute stab came when a hand came over her mouth and someone whispered into her ear.
"I'm sorry."
Hunter's eyes flew open and looked directly into the golden brown eyes of Ella. Hunter struggled to raise herself up but Ella held her arm down and her ribs hurt. She stared at the other girl. Her face was gaunt and dirty and still so beautiful, and she smelled of dirt and flowers. Hunter gave up struggling when she saw the tears.
"I'm so sorry. I never meant to hurt you." She took her hand from Hunter's mouth and looked around like a hunted animal, flinching at every noise she heard. "I only wanted to punish them."
Hunter strained her throat to whisper at her. "The people that laughed at you?"
"Yes, they laughed and cheered and now they're going to suffer for it," Ella sneered.
Hunter tried to yell but her voice came out only as a croak. "They had to. The Queen forced them to. These are poor people..."
"No, they all laughed when the cook beat me!" Ella pressed out.
"These people can't stand up against the Queen." Hunter reached for Ella's hand and whimpered as she touched her. She felt the blisters on Ella's hand, the cuts and bruises and she stroked over a line with her thumb. "You are so smart, Ella, how can you not see that? You almost killed two children today."
"No, the house was empty, I checked," Ella said.
"Fire can't be controlled and you—"
Ella jumped up and ran away just as Tiny and Karrillic came back from the water stream. Hunter held out her hand as if Ella was still holding it. But her hand was empty and her heart ached.
"How are you feeling?" Tiny asked.
"Ella was here."
"Here? When?" The dwarves dropped the laundry and waterbags and drew their weapons.
"She just left when she heard you."
The two dwarves ran towards the shrubbery and looked along the path that ran parallel to the stream. But there was no one in sight. Hunter closed her eyes, a bone-deep tiredness spreading through her.
"What did she want?" she heard Tiny say a few steps away from her resting place.
"She said that she's sorry."
"Huh? I never would have thought she cared."
"I did," Hunter said quietly but Tiny still heard her.
"You thought she cared? Then why does she hurt all these poor people?"
Hunter kept her eyes closed, thinking back to the few times she she met Ella alone outside of the stables. "She was never mean or angry. She endured everything that happened to her without complaints. She was —" Hunter looked up at Tiny, seeing the disbelief in her eyes. " — she was always smiling."
Tiny shook her head. "I wonder what happened. Something must have made her snap."
Karrillic mumbled something under his beard. Tiny drove her strong elbow in his ribs and he winced and spoke up. "Some say that she got possessed by a fire demon."
Tiny laughed out. "Some say?" She scowled at Karrillic. "Don't believe everything the fishwives tell you. Fire demons don't exist."
Footsteps announced the arrival of the others. Doc, Snow and the rest of the group came to take Hunter to an inn but the tale of the events made them reconsider. Snow especially seemed to be thoughtful.
Doc sat down next her, placing his arm on her back. "Say it," he said. She looked down to him, the white markings on her face glowing in the golden light of the setting sun. He pulled her towards him, which looked a bit comical due to his shorter size, but Snow let out a breath and rested her head on his and Hunter could see how his presence calmed her.
"What do you want me to say, Doc?" she said with a sigh.
"Everything, princess of my heart. Everything that you've been thinking about for the last few days. Let's hear it," Doc said, leaning back to look in her eyes.
Hunter wondered what that must feel like, to have someone around to love, who loved you as much as Doc loved Snow. And Snow loved him too, it was obvious, even though she had a hard time showing it.
"First of all," Snow said, her voice louder as she was addressing everyone in the group, "I wonder if we endanger the people who live near the inn if we stay there. Ella seems to follow our own Hunter here and what if she gets it into her head to lay another fire near her?"
"She's not just laying fire wherever, she's targeting the people who laughed at her," Hunter spit out, only the pain in her ribs stopping her from jumping up.
"Yes, I know," Snow said, her voice calm and quiet. "But I think you agree with me that these people might have made a mistake but they don't deserve to have everything they own go up in flames or have their children die."
Hunter nodded, relieved that someone put the uneasy doubt in her mind into words.
"But I think she got one thing right," Snow said. "She deserves her revenge for everything that happened to her ever since the Duke died but she's focussing on the wrong target."
Hunter sat with her mouth open. "What do you mean?"
Snow fixed her eyes on her. "You're the one who's supposed to bring her to the Queen. What do you think will happen?"
"I don't know. I haven't thought that far ahead."
Doc chimed in. "This is all very convenient for the Queen, you know? She can make a big thing out of this, the betrayal of the step-daughter, a trial, a public punishment. All the while nobody notices that she started yet another war with Lower Bracton and that her troops live on rations and the fields in the kingdom lie idle."
"So you think I shouldn't hand her over to the Queen? Hide out in the woods, maybe go over the border to Lower Bracton?" The prospect of living alone with Ella like that made her smile. She saw Snow looking at her and felt herself blushing.
"Not quite," Snow said and a vicious grin spread on her face.
Doc looked up to her with a smile. "I love it when you look like that." His thumb traced the line on her cheek where the white pattern met the darker color of her skin.
Snow smiled back at him and placed a small kiss on his cheek. Hunter would never have thought it possible but Doc was indeed blushing deep red under his orange hair, all the way down to his bristly chest.
"Let's find that Cinder-Ella first and then I'll tell you more of my idea."
The sound of a cracking stick in the woods made them jump. Twilight had spread over the country, casting everything in grey. Hunter raised herself up on her elbows, wincing in pain. Snow, Doc and Tiny were already on their way into the dark, their weapons drawn.
Hunter was struggling to get up as well but the pain reminded her why she couldn't do that. She fell back on the ground that was just barely covered by a blanket and strained to listen to the sounds of the hunters in the woods. They kept quiet, using whistles and trills to communicate with each other. They had spread out, covering more ground that way. But Hunter knew these kind of forests, old and overgrown as they were. Even in broad daylight it would have been hard to find someone who was hiding in the undergrowth. The darkness that crept over the land now made it nearly impossible.
After a long while, Snow and the others came back to Hunter's resting place. Snow piled soft branches with leaves against a rock for Hunter to lean against and started a fire close to her. She kept looking over her shoulder into impenetrable darkness of the forest.
Hunter beckoned to her to come closer. "You think it was her?"
Snow nodded. "Yes, it's just a hunch but she can't be far after she spoke to you and she seems to watch you anyway."
"She said that she's sorry that I got hurt," Hunter said. She didn't know why she felt it necessary to tell Snow that.
"Yeah, I'd say she better be. She almost killed those children and us today."
"That was never her intention," Hunter spat, more defensive than she wanted.
Snow looked at her and her eyes were piercing in anger. It was gone after a moment and she sighed and sat down next to Hunter. "Listen kid, I understand this urge for revenge, believe me, I do. When my stepmother sent me away because she thought my mark was a bad omen, I dreamt of revenge every night. It was all I wanted for years. But revenge is a poison in your blood; it will cloud your mind and kill you slowly. Those fires will not undo Ella's pain."
A soft voice from the shadows said: "I know."
A smile spread on Snow's face. "Hello Ella," she said without turning around.
Ella came forward into the light of the fire under the watchful eyes of the Seven And One. They had their hands on their weapons but didn't move. Ella carefully stepped over a log and sat down next to Hunter. Her face was dirty and her curly hair was full of sticks and leaves, as if she had tried to dig herself into the undergrowth to hide.
Snow kicked another log towards the fire and sat down on it, next to Ella but not too close. She looked at Ella, the moonlight making her white mark stand out bright. Hunter expected her to speak but she seemed to wait for Ella to talk first.
Ella was wringing her hands and Hunter stretched out her arm to take her hand. She flinched, staring at her hand.
Hunter waited until she raised her head and looked at her before she spoke. "I'm not going to hand you over to the Queen. And Snow isn't either."
Snow looked over to Doc and shrugged. "Sorry," she said, a sheepish smile on her lips.
Doc sighed and shook his head. "I always knew you'll be my ruin one day." A groan ran through the other dwarves but Doc raised his hand to quiet them. "Don't worry, we got your cut covered. It won't be a load but it won't be less than usual."
Tiny crossed her arms in front of her chest and glared at her companions. "If one of you mud-bugs as much as suggests that we hand the girl over for pay, I'm gonna punch your nose back to the High Mountains."
"Thank you," Ella said almost inaudible. "And I'm sorry for causing so much trouble. And sorry for bringing your lives and those children in danger and — "
"Enough with the sorrys," Snow said and shook herself as if all the apologizing caused an itch down her back.
"What is next?" Hunter asked with new found confidence. "You said you have an idea how we could take on the Queen herself. Let's hear it."
Snow raised an eyebrow at her demanding tone but didn't comment on it. "See, the Queen married the old king. After he died, she married the duke and since he has died too, she rules alone. She is queen by marriage, not by blood. She would have to give up the throne for someone with a more direct lineage."
Hunter nodded. "Yes, we know that but Ella is the Duke's daughter from his former marriage, she's even less related to the King's lineage."
Doc cleared his throat and all eyes turned to him. "She wasn't talking about Ella." He grinned while Snow seemed to try to hide inside of her coat. "There's a reason why I call her princess."
A collective gasp went through the group. Hunter stared at Snow, tracing the contour of her face. If she ignored the prominent white mark in the middle of her face, she did indeed have a resemblance to the pictures of the king that used to hang in every home.
"You are the lost daughter," Hunter whispered. "They said you were dead."
"I bet they did," Snow grumbled. "Yes, I'm the lost daughter, and the one who convinced my father that my mark was a bad omen was the Queen, my stepmother. They sent me away into the mountains at the care of an old woman. The only thing I ever heard from home was when Sir Jeremihah came up to our hut and told us of my father's death. And the next thing he told me was that the Queen would not like it if I stayed alive and advised me to hide from her. I was 12 and on the run from the queen's hunters."
"But you could have claimed the throne anytime. It is your right," Hunter wondered.
"I was angry, yes but also terrified. Dethrone my own mother? I couldn't even imagine." Snow shook her head. "It's been almost 20 years now and I'm still terrified to face her."
Doc put his hand on hers and his thumb was softly stroking over her hand. "What made you change your mind?"
"You should know," Snow laughed out, "my short-legged, angry revolutionary. All this talk how the queen ruins the country, how bad she is for the people. I guess it rubbed off on me. Responsibility for the people and all that."
"Oh gods, what have I done?" Doc said in mock desperation.
Snow laughed and placed a kiss on his mouth. She took a look around, noting the expressions of the rest of the troops. "I understand if anybody feels uncomfortable with this. I can't ask you all to follow me."
Doc stood up and faced the other dwarves. "I'm in this because I can't let my girl do this all alone, but this isn't a job like any other. You are all free to go and separate yourselves from us."
There was a short commotion, mumbles and whispered conversations and then Tiny stood up and said, "It's as much our country as it is Snow's and the queen makes our lives as difficult as anybody’s. We're in." Nods all around, a few raised glasses and the discussion was settled.
Doc took out a map and pointed to the location of the castle. "We can be at the castle in two days if we hurry."
Snow looked at Ella whose face had paled. "You'll be our ticket inside; we're bringing you to the Queen just as she ordered. We'll do it when she holds court, when there's lots of people around. It will still be a risk," she said with a glance towards Hunter.
Hunter nodded. "We could get arrested by the royal guard; they're under her orders."
"That's why we need lots of people there, witnesses," said Doc. "And the time is right. The people are getting angry at the queen, and not just the simple folk. Even the nobility is losing faith in her because it's their lands that lay idle. You can't expect nobles to live off old potatoes for long."
Hunter looked at Ella and realized that she was absolutely terrified. She scooted closer to her and placed her arm over her shoulders. Ella froze at the touch. Hunter wondered if she should take her arm away again but then Ella leaned to the side and settled against her. Hunter could feel her breathing slowing down and the tension going out from her shoulders.
"I'll protect you," Hunter said. "I won't let them hurt you." She didn't know how she was supposed to keep her promise but she would do anything to protect Ella.
"All right, I'll do it," Ella said.
Snow let out a sigh of relief. "Good, then let's get some rest. Hunter here needs to sleep and you look like you need a good meal and some sleep too. We'll stay here for one more day and then make our way to the castle."
~~~
The old man pulled at the reins and the donkey came to a halt with an annoyed grunt. Hunter and Ella climbed down from the cart and thanked the driver for helping them. He grunted just like his donkey but when Doc handed him a coin his face lit up and he drove on with a happy whistle.
Hunter looked up the path towards the drawbridge. It felt like it had been another life, another person that left through this gate to find Ella a few weeks ago. Now she had returned but not like she had imagined. Instead of bringing back the fugitive to become a royal guard in return, now she was here to overthrow the queen and make someone who had been a fugitive and a mercenary most of her life the new ruler. It sounded like a profoundly bad idea but the desolate state of the villages they had passed through, the neglect and the hunger they could see in the country, convinced her that Snow as queen could hardly be any worse.
Hunter put her hand on her sword to show that she was ready to take on whatever happened. The pain from her rib made her wince. Ella came up to her side and Hunter gratefully put her hand on her shoulder, placing some of her weight on her to keep upright.
As they had expected, the Queen was holding court. People waited for their turn to complain, as the nobles were now voicing their concerns about the situation in the country. She looked bored, dismissing their complaints and threatening them with accounts of treason for their lack of faith in her.
Hunter showed her parchment with the Queen's orders and the guards let them go through. They entered the throne hall under the murmurs of the people, interrupting Duke Ganniston, count of the largest county in his complaints. He scowled at them, seven dwarves, a tall human in a hooded cloak and Hunter with her hand on Ella's shoulder. He opened his mouth to complain about the interruption but Hunter fixed him with a glare and shook her head. He was so surprised at her audacity that he shut his mouth and stepped to the side.
The Queen had leaned back on her throne and closed her eyes when the Duke had spoken but now she sat up and squinted at the group that had caused the disturbance in the routine. A smile spread on her face when she recognised Hunter. "Looks like my hunter has returned to bring me a gift. Step forward and show everyone the Cinder-Ella."
A hiss went through the people in the court and Ella tried to hide behind Hunter. People were yelling for her punishment, wanting to see her hanged. Hunter looked at Snow, urging her to do something.
Doc pressed Snow's hand once and she nodded at him. She stepped forward but instead of addressing the Queen, she turned to the people in the hall. "People, I ask you to listen to me," she called out in a loud and clear voice. "We have brought you the Cinder-Ella and we know that many of you were hurt by her. But we have travelled all through the country during our search and what we have seen was a destruction by another cause. We have seen children go hungry while the fields lay barren because the capable men and women have been sent off to fight yet another war. We have seen stocks go bad because there was no one to take care of them, to shift the hay, to turn the apples. Yes, we have seen fires and some were even caused by the misguided actions of the Cinder-Ella but our country was not destroyed by her."
"Enough!" the Queen yelled from her throne. "I will have you court marshaled for blasphemy and treason! Who are you to dare to speak like that?"
Snow slowly turned around and dropped her coat. Her long black braids fell down her shoulders over a plain white dress in contrast to her dark skin. The white marks on her face and arms stood out like the white of her dress. She fixed her eyes on the Queen who stared at her with fear.
"My name is Aurora Marjani of the House of Berlen, the daughter of King Jelani. Unlike you I am from the king's bloodline and here to take my rightful place on the throne."
Murmurs in the crowd rose to a deafening noise, shouts of "the princess, the princess lives, a new queen, the mark is real, the marked princess has returned" travelled through the crowds. Doc made a sign and the rest of the Seven spread out into the crowd, raising their voices and shouting "Long live the new queen!" until the people chanted it with them. Doc nonchalantly strolled over to the rows of nobles and whispered something to them. They whispered among each other, looking from the Queen to Snow and back.
The Queen jumped up and yelled, "Arrest them, all of them!"
Hunter saw the guards hesitate and before they could step forward, she stepped in their way. "This is no longer your queen, you don't have to follow her orders anymore." She looked the men in the eyes. She knew them and they knew her. She had trained with them and even if they didn't like her that much, they still had once listened to her. She hoped they would listen again.
Duke Ganniston had watched the whole scene from the side and Hunter caught his eyes. She tried to put everything into her look; the hope, the desperation. The mood was at a tipping point. They needed just one thing, one sign to win over this court of people. Hunter pressed Ella's hand, praying to all the gods she knew for a miracle.
The duke gave her a nod and stepped forward until he was in front of Snow. The room fell silent. Duke Ganniston looked at Snow, at her eyes and her mark and then he lowered his head and went down on one knee. "My Queen," he said.
A gasp went through the rows. The other nobles stood up like one and walked over to Snow, one by one going down on one knee and calling her their queen.
Hunter looked back to the old Queen. Her face was contorted into a mask of controlled anger. She raised herself up to her full size and pointed at everyone in the room. "You're all traitors, dirty traitors."
A large figure of a man stepped out from the rows of the common people, taking off his hood. Hunter recognized him; it was Sir Jeremihah. He walked over to the guard and addressed his men. "I'm resuming command," he said and Hunter held her breath. What side would he pick?
Sir Jeremihah looked towards the old Queen and towards Snow, who stood still with the nobles on their knees in front of her. He turned towards her and bowed. "My queen," he said and Hunter let out a breath. Sir Jeremihah turned back to his troops and ordered, "Arrest Lady Wind and take her to her quarters. She is not to leave her room unless the Queen orders it."
The former queen faltered, her face ashen and her shoulders sagging as if under a crushing weight. She knew she had lost and she let the guards lead her off the throne pedestal without a word.
Snow was staring at the nobles in front of her, still on their knees. Doc stepped over to her and gave her a soft nudge in her side. She startled and cleared her throat. "You may rise. I thank you for your trust."
The nobles stood up and returned to their chairs, leaving Snow standing alone in the middle of the hall. Hunter squeezed Ella's hand once before letting go and stepped forward to Snow.
"My queen," she said, barely hiding a grin at addressing her friend like that, "may I escort you to your throne?"
"You may," Snow said, holding her head high and looking as queeny as possible for someone who was used to walking through mud and rubble.
Hunter led her up the steps to the throne and waited till she had sat down before she bowed as much as she could with her bandaged rib and turned to walk back to Ella.
An inhuman scream made her turn back. Lady Wind had turned so quickly that the guards were too dumfounded to react. She jumped forward, towards Snow, her red robe billowing out behind her. She had a dagger in her hand, glinting in gold and jewels. It was a decorative thing but no less lethal.
The old queen shrieked again, raising the dagger and screamed, "You will not take this from me, you freak, you monster; you will not have this!" She rushed forward, the blade aimed at Snow.
Hunter saw Snow reach for her weapon at her side but as she wore a dress instead of her armor today, she had nothing to defend herself with. Hunter's sword was in her hand before the thought had fully formed in her head, the pain in her side forgotten. She jumped in front of Snow, using her own body to shield her and holding out her sword to threaten the old queen. But before she could even shout at the woman to stop, the Lady Wind hurled herself towards Snow, ready to plunge the dagger in Snow's chest and impaled herself on Hunter's outstretched sword.
A sound like a sob left her and she sagged down, the hilt of Hunter's sword sticking out of her chest as her golden dress turned as red as her robe. She fell over, her robe spreading out on the floor at Snow's feet. Hunter knelt down and checked her breathing but Snow’s stepmother was obviously dead.
A fearful silence had fallen over the hall. Hunter looked at the hundreds of faces staring at her and her throat closed up. But then Ella caught her eyes, smiling at her and Hunter could breathe again. She stood up and squared her shoulders, wincing just slightly and said as loud as she could, "The old queen is dead. Long live the Queen!"
Hunter looked around and saw the fear in people's eyes change to relief and hope. After years of neglect and suffering, the people had a new reason to live.
From hundreds of optimistic faces, the shout "Long live the queen!" branded towards her. But Hunter only saw Ella and her smile finally made Hunter feel hopeful too.
She stepped down from the pedestal and walked towards Ella. Taking her hand, she smiled towards Snow and gave Doc a nod. They both dipped their heads, smiling at her. Hunter took Ella's hand and walked towards the door.
In the chaos of excitement, no one saw them leave and they were never seen again at court or in the kingdom. But occasionally packages and letters would arrive from foreign countries with spices and trinkets and stories written in two handwritings.
On those days, the Queen and her short-legged husband wore the happiest smiles.
