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By the time they reached the forest, picking their way along the rutted, weed-choked path, the sun had begun to creep over the horizon, its golden light tinting the sky the palest of pinks and blues. He was glad of it. The roadway was treacherous enough in the dark, between the pits and divots in its surface, and the patches of marshy ground that sometimes crept right up to its edges. It was not so hazardous as the forest, however. Not even he was foolish enough to enter the forest in the darkness. Although the Western Forest was generally regarded as the least perilous part of the wood, it was not a place to be taken lightly. The peasants here would occasionally hunt and gather within it, but only so deep as they could still see the fields through the gaps in the trees. It was by no means a friendly place, but still, it was the narrowest part of the dark woods. There was a crossing her knew of that could take a man on a solid horse out the other side in fewer than two days.
Of course, that meant spending at least one night beneath the ominously bare branches of the forest. They had stopped at the point where he intended to enter the forest, and brought the horses to a halt. He scanned the trees warily, looking for signs that this was indeed the right place, and that all appeared safe. Neither of them had spoken in the past couple hours of riding, and so he started when she suddenly spoke.
“It’s beautiful!” she exclaimed in a hushed tone. He was puzzled as to what, precisely, she found so compelling here, in this barren stretch of land. He turned to see what she was looking toward, and had to admit surprise. The mist creeping along the marshy ground had caught the rising sun, and turned into the stunning blanket of silver and gold, swirling above the grasses. It hid the weeds and the land’s less pleasant features from sight, and made it look lush and green. This land had lain abandoned and fallow for almost as long as he could remember, but off in the distance, he caught a glimpse of plowed and planted fields. Some farmer- or perhaps a group of them- was struggling to reclaim the land, and successfully too, it seemed. That sight alone amplified the sudden, unexpected beauty of the place.
“It is,” he agreed with her, his tone belying his wonderment. “I haven’t seen this place look like this in many years. Not since I was a lad. It is a welcome sight.”
“So it’s true. The land is coming back to itself, now that Ravenna’s gone?”
“So it seems, Milady. I don’t suppose, now you’ve seen it with your own eyes, that you want to go back to the castle?” he asked, waiting on her response. It would be easier if she wanted to return, but easier was not something to which he was accustomed. And selfishly, he knew what he hoped to hear. He was not disappointed.
“No! I want to see it all!” she exclaimed, “Not just some small part of it barely out of sight of my own palace walls.”
“Then onward we go.” He said, nudging his mount into motion and turning toward the tree line.
For all her enthusiasm, he noticed that she became tense and still as they entered under the shadows of the snarled, skeletal branches. He couldn’t fault her- he himself was wary and ill-at-ease. The forest had that effect on everyone, particularly those who knew firsthand what unpleasantness and danger lurked within its depths.
They spoke little as the day progressed. For all that the branches above them stretched bare to the sky, the weight of them in the mist was oddly suffocating, and served to stifle all feeble attempts at communication. They stopped briefly at midday to rest the horses and to replenish their own bodies with bites of hard sausage and sharp cheese that he had pilfered from the kitchens. After that brief reprieve, they re-mounted and continued on their plodding journey.
All too quickly, the weak sun began to sink toward the tops of the trees. He knew from past unpleasant experience that once it dipped below the branches, darkness came rapidly, and was nearly absolute. He would have preferred to make it further through the forest- as it was, he didn’t think they’d covered even a third of the distance to the far side. However, with night coming on, it was more important to find a safe place to pass it. However relative “safe” might be. He called back to her as she picked her way carefully along the trail he set.
“We should look for somewhere to stop for the night.” She nodded, and began scanning the landscape around them. Truth be told, there was little variation to be seen. One dense stretch of gnarled trees was much the same as another., all of them offering little in the way of either shelter or protection. Still, having a rock or an embankment at their backs would make for a slightly better situation, offering a barrier in at least one direction.
They rode on for several minutes as the sun continued to sink. He was beginning to fear that they would have to pass the night huddled up beneath the nearest tree when Snow called out.
“What about there?” she pointed.
Following the direction of her finger, he saw two small, struggling pine trees pushing their way up along the leeward side of a large rock. It was about the best they could have hoped to find, and he told her as much. She smiled broadly at the compliment.
As they headed toward the pines, , he realized with a start what he had just done. Snow. He hadn’t called her that, even in his own mind, since they days when he had been leading her find the Duke. He didn’t know quite what the make of this mental breach. It unsettled him. Still, he resolved, if he wanted to mull it over, he could do so later- but not now, when there was so much to be done before nightfall.
They saw to the horses first, getting them fed and settled a few paces away before settling in themselves. He brought more sausage and cheese out from his saddlebags, and they ate these in companionable silence, passing his smallest knife back and forth between them to slice bite-sized chunks off of the whole. As they ate, the forest descended into a murky, shadowy darkness. He saw her shiver just a little.
“I wish we could light a fire,” she said wistfully, rubbing her hands together to warm her fingers.
“It’s too dangerous,” he reminded her. “There are many things here that would be drawn to the light.”
“I know,” she told him. “It’s just that it’s so cold, and damp. I can feel it in my bones.”
“Come closer then.” He told her practically, shrugging off his long leather coat and laying it over the ground. “It will not seem so cold if we stay close together.” He sat atop part of the coat and patted the space beside him, then reached for their bedrolls to free their blankets. In doing so, he missed the smile that flickered across her lips.
He handed her one of the blankets to wrap herself in, and tossed the second over them both, hoping that the wool, along with his own body heat, would help to keep her warm. It seemed to work- she snugged herself up against him with a contented sigh. He was glad of the darkness that hid the amused twitch of his lips from her. Although not at all his intention, she might have thought the expression patronizing had she seen it.
Time crept by, the darkness became absolute, and here breathing evened out. He thought her asleep until she spoke, drowsy and low.
“Did you ever do anything like this with Sara? Spend nights with her out here, I mean. Like this.”
“You mean, did I ever put my young, innocent wife in mortal danger by taking her out to a forest that most men fear to enter for a bit of a romantic tryst?” His words were mocking, but his tone was gentle. “I did not.” He stared out into the blackness, debating whether he should volunteer more. “When we were first married, we lived with her brother and his wife while we found the means to build our own home. Sara sometimes traveled with me to nearby villages for supplies, but never out to the forest. I had been taking fewer and fewer jobs that led to the forest once I met her. She didn’t like me to take the risk.
I didn’t start going again until we had been married nearly a year. The crops we had tried to plant had failed- everyone’s crops were struggling and failing in those days- and we were beginning to have difficulties repaying the merchants we had borrowed from to build our home.
I started taking jobs acting as a guide and guard for those that needed to enter the forest in daylight. By the next year, I was taking assignments that kept me there overnight, sometime two or three. Sara hated it, and to a lesser degree, I hated it too. I was uncomfortable leaving her alone so much of the time, but we needed the money that it brought. I told myself she would be fine. I was a fool.” He was aware of how terribly bitter he sounded.
“What happened?” Snow White shifted, realigning herself beside him under the blankets, tucking her feet in for greater warmth.
“She died.”
“I knew that,” she said gently. “I was wondering how it happened.”
All at once, he wanted to tell her, to spill it all out for her. He never talked of it- not to anyone- but it felt…right to tell her.
“I don’t know,” He confessed. “Not really.” I came home from leading a trapping party through the forest outskirts. I had been gone three nights. She hadn’t wanted me to go at all. I remember kissing her soundly before I left and promising her that this would be the last time I left her. When I got home, she was already gone.” His chest grew tight with the memory.
“The front door was hanging from its hinges. That was the first thing. When I saw it, I knew…I knew in my core that something terrible had happened.” Images flickered behind his eyelids- dropping his pack on the ground as he ran to the cottage. Screaming her name, heedless of the possibility of lingering danger. Falling to his knees in despair when he realized she had come to harm. “There were more signs of a struggle. The house was torn to pieces- smashed crockery and rent fabrics wherever I looked. She did not go easily, when they came for her.” A shining note of pride entered his voice.
“No one could tell me what had happened- who had come for her, and why, or even where she might be. I searched for her, or course, determined to find her. I eventually discovered that soldiers from the palace had been in the village the night she was taken, and that another young woman- Marie, the miller’s oldest daughter- had been abducted too. I journeyed to the palace and demanded answers, although I got none. I refused to leave though, convinced that if I was enough of a nuisance, I would learn what had happened. I was there more than a week, until I chanced upon John Thomas, the cooper from our village, coming to deliver a cartful of barrels for the palace storerooms.
He told me that the day he had left, a wagon had pulled into the town square with two bodies wrapped in shrouds. Sara, and Marie. The soldiers who drove the wagon claimed that they had been bringing the women to the castle for questioning of some kind, but that they had succumbed to illness along the way. It was three days journey back, and had already been three since John had left. I made it there in two. With the threat of spreading illness through…” He shook his head. “I was too late to see her buried. I arrived only in time to mourn at her grave.”
“I’m so sorry.” She whispered. It drew him out of his reverie. He realized that he did not know how long the silence had stretched. “Ravenna took her, didn’t she?” Snow asked. “That’s why the shrouds, and the excuse of disease, isn’t it? To have them buried quickly, and force people like you stop asking questions.”
“Yes.”
There was another long pause.
“I think I hate her sometimes.” She radiated tension, from the tightness of her muscles to that of her voice. “I tell myself that she couldn’t have always been that way, that there must have been terrible things in her life that made her into what she was. But sometimes, I just hate her. She took so much- from the kingdom, from everyone…. There are so many people that she killed or harmed and took away from their loved ones, like she took my father from me, and Sara from you.”
“Sara wasn’t all she took from me,” he confessed slowly, struggling to find the words. “No one else knew- she had just told me the day before I last saw her. It was why I agreed not to go back to the forest.” He drew in a shaky breath. “Sara was with child.”
He could feel the horror dawn upon her, almost tangible in the air around them.
“Oh, Eric…” she breathed. Mercifully, she said nothing else, just shifted under the blankets to lay her hand atop his chest. One lonely tear squeezed from the corner of his eye and slid down his cheek as he pulled her close, accepting the comfort she offered. For once, he wasn’t thinking about propriety or expectations; merely how strange it was that this time she was comforting him, and not the other way around.
He slept fitfully and dreamed. Most he did not remember, but one in particular stayed with him. He dreamed of Sara, as he had not done for several years. She smiled at him, but did not speak. Yet there was a look in her eyes that he had always loved, a look that told him she understood him as no other had before, and that everything would somehow turn out alright. Then she turned, blew him a kiss, and walked away.
He awoke in the grey moments just before dawn with his face buried in the cloud of Snow’s dark hair and a feeling of deep, resounding peace and contentment the likes of which he had not felt in many years. He breathed deeply, savoring the faint perfumed scent of her, closed his eyes, and let himself drift back to sleep for a few minutes more, feeling as though a weight he had not even been conscious of carrying had been lifted from him.