Fairest {Part One
Once upon a time, there was a prosperous kingdom.
This kingdom made its wealth from the production of magical artefacts; from crystal balls to tea cups that would whisper your future if you drank tea from them. The most famous of these magical artefacts were the magic mirrors.
The magic mirrors could do a number of things, depending on the magic used on them. Some of them could show you loved ones who had passed, reminding the viewer of the good memories and washing away the bad and heartbreaking; some could show you the future, showing whether or not you shall marry or have children or be wealthy someday.
There was only one mirror that showed the fairest of them all, and this belonged to the queen of the kingdom.
The queen was, at first glance, a gentle woman with a mothering nature. Hair as red as blood and eyes the colour of the richest chocolates from away, she ruled her kingdom with a steady hand and a thin smile. She had married the previous king when she was very young - almost too young to have children. The only children she had had been the king’s sons from the previous queen, who had died of illness. The children were older than her, however, she being so young, and so they had never respected her as their mother.
This, in turn, made the queen into a very bitter woman as she grew.
The king died, shortly after the queen had reached the proper age of womanhood, mysteriously in his sleep. The princes had never trusted the way their father had died, but the queen had had the body burned into ashes before either of the princes could properly look into the suspicious circumstances. After that, the queen had forbidden either of the princes to ask questions.
Shortly after that she had it proclaimed that neither of the princes were eligible for the throne and sent the youngest to a kingdom across the sea, where he was hopefully to be forgotten.
As for the eldest, she kept him close, determined to use him to her advantage should she need it in the future.
This was the reign of Queen Anne.
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Queen Anne was a woman possessed with the devil, the servants whispered in the halls and the kitchens.
Though a seemingly kind woman when you first encountered her, it was quickly shown that she was obsessed with motherhood, obsessed with power, and obsessed with vanity. When she was not in her antechamber with her advisors, discussing taxes and alliances and the potential for war against enemy kingdoms, she was in the court and leading eligible nobles by the nose in a courting dance; when she was not accepting gifts and tokens from her admirers, she was in her closet, in front of her mirror and brushing her hair until it gleamed like spider silk.
When she had been proclaimed rightful ruler of the kingdom, Queen Anne had commissioned a magic mirror that was as rare and as powerful as she saw herself to be - a mirror that would tell you who the fairest in the entire land was. It did not matter the gender, the age, or whether or not the fairest was yet born; the mirror could see all and could find the fairest in the land, and it was an honest mirror in that it could not lie to Queen Anne even if it wanted to.
Every month, Queen Anne would go to her magic mirror, and she would ask it the same question:
Mirror, mirror, on the wall,
Who is the fairest one of all?
And every month, after Queen Anne had spoken her rhyme, the mirror would shine brightly and reply:
You are, most radiant Queen.
This would please her, and the kingdom could breathe easily for the next month.
One day, however, at the beginning of the month, something changed.
Queen Anne made her way to her private chambers, where the mirror was located. She had it separated from the rest of the castle’s inhabitants because it was her mirror and hers alone, and no one else was allowed to even look upon it.
The mirror was as tall as she was, oval in shape, and gilded in silver, gold, and ivory. The glass was as smooth as still waters and had the faintest tint of blue to it, marking it as the rarest glass that the kingdom had ever seen. It practically hummed with the magic put into it, runes and symbols glittering in pale blue, shining gold, and blinding white along the gilded frame. It was a fine piece of craftsmanship and magical mastery.
Stepping up to the mirror, Queen Anne smoothed her hands down the front of her laced bodice, dark green silks and black velvets smooth under delicate hands. She then looked up at the mirror, long strands of red hair loose about her face, framing colourless ivory.
“Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?”
A beat passed, and then the mirror began to glow, starting from the runes until vines of light started to crawl across the surface of the glass towards the middle. A figure weaved itself from the threads of light, creating the shape of a genderless figure robed in white, gold and blue light. The figure lifted its head, then, hooded and hidden from view, and seemingly stared straight at Queen Anne.
“Of women you are most radiant,
This is known to be most true;
However, the fairest is a different tale,
And lady, it is not you.
“The fairest one of all the land
With hair as black as night,
Eyes the colour of cloudy seas
And skin so ivory bright;
“The fairest one of all, you see,
Is one you know quite well, ma’am.
With shaking voice and quiv’ring hand,
The fairest is Prince Allen.”
The image faded once it completed its answer, leaving Queen Anne to look at the blue-tinted glass and the faintly glowing runes with a shock that ran so deep it touched upon rage. Digging her fingers into the expensive fabrics of her gown, practically tearing into it, Queen Anne lifted her hands to her head and dug fingertips into her scalp, ripping out strands of blood-red hair.
She then gave a mighty scream, and the residents of the castle knew something was very, very wrong.
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When Allen had been a boy, his mother had taken him aside and told him that one day he would be known as the fairest in the land.
His mother, Queen Adelaide, had been a magic wielder whose magic slowly ate away at her life-force, making her constantly ill. With her magic, however, Adelaide could see into the future; and in Allen’s future, she saw that he would be viewed as the fairest one of all, and because of his status as fairest, he would be pursued by a vile woman who would at first call herself his mother and then would eventually try to call herself his wife.
The boy-prince had been quite horrified from this news, and he had begged his mother to change the outcome of the future. Yet Adelaide could do no such thing, as Time was an impossible element to control, even by the most powerful of sorceresses and warlocks. All she could tell her child was that he would have to change his future, when the time came.
Neither brought up this future afterwards, and when Allen turned fourteen years old, Adelaide died of what the kingdom called illness. Four months later, King Robert married the young Princess Anne - who was only twelve years of age - and she demanded that Allen and his younger brother Richard called her ‘mother’. Richard flat-out refused, and Allen followed his lead.
Queen Anne resented them for it.
When Queen Anne turned eighteen-years-old, old enough to run a kingdom without the need for a Royal Protector, Richard had a vision, as Adelaide’s gift of magic had been passed down to Richard instead of Allen. Richard had seen that Anne would poison their father’s drink that night; a slow-acting poison that would corrode his insides throughout the night and eventually kill him the next morning, acting as an illness.
Richard had tried to warn their father, but Robert would not hear it. Three weeks later, Robert was found dead in his bedchambers, and Queen Anne forcefully took the throne, despite Allen being the next in line.
Her first order of business was to claim Allen and Richard as incapable of being rulers of the kingdom, for Richard had claimed that Anne had killed Robert - thus showing he was untrustworthy and a liar. As for Allen, she claimed him a bastard child, for he did not have the magical gifts of his mother, and it was rumoured that any child born of the womb from any woman in Adelaide’s family would inherit magical foresight.
Though her reasoning was far from sound, her advisors agreed with her, and so Richard was banished from the kingdom. Allen would have been thrown out, as well, but Anne kept him, claiming that since she had no child of her own as of yet, and Allen was already trained to be king one day, that he would be her heir until further notice; he may have been proclaimed a bastard child, but he still had the blood of Robert, and that gave him a right to the throne in the future.
Life went on. Queen Anne had her mirror commissioned, the kingdom shifted itself to fit the rule of their new monarch, and Allen kept to himself as far away from the queen as he was allowed. This went on for three years, and everything was mostly peaceful with only a few outbursts from citizens who tired of the queen’s vanity and desire for power.
Those people were often silenced very quickly, their heads left on posts for days to warn any who even thought of fighting against the queen.
Allen practically forgot his mother’s vision, living life quietly and peacefully in the castle. He spent his time most in the library, the gardens, or with the royal healer. He only appeared in court when it was necessary, during important functions, balls, and occasionally when Queen Anne was seeing citizens of the kingdom for requests. Outside of that, however, he was rarely seen with the queen.
On the day that everything went wrong, Allen was in his room in the far northern tower, reading a book about elves when a guard suddenly appeared at his doorway and told him that the queen had requested his audience.
“D-did she tell you w-w-why?”
“No, sir, just that she wished to see you,” the guard replied gruffly, glancing back at him once before continuing forward. They travelled to the throne room without conversation, Allen fearing that Queen Anne was going to do something terrible towards him for one reason or another. He would not doubt that the malevolent queen was capable of many wrongs, all of which made Allen wary of her.
Entering the throne room, the guard announced his presence and he moved towards the queen, kneeling down respectfully when he was in front of her. He bowed his head, watching the floor as he waited to be spoken to.
“Prince Allen, let me look upon your face.”
Confused, Allen raised his head and gasped softly to see Anne standing before him, her green and black gown whispering as it settled around her with her crouch. She tilted his chin up with a finger, turning his head to the left and then to the right, before she hummed in what seemed to be approval and stood up straight. With a flick of her fingers, she indicated for him to stand as well.
Allen did so, looking down at the woman unsurely.
“My mirror speaks true - you are most fair. Eyes the colour of cloudy seas and hair as black as night…much more fair than I.” Her expression was neutral, but her eyes spoke of her anger at this truth. Allen wondered for a moment if she would have him killed; his heart in a box for her to gloat over for the rest of her days. Her hand on his face forced the thoughts away, and he looked back to Anne with an anxious expression.
“I wish to marry you, Allen.”
And Allen suddenly remembered his mother’s magical prophecy.
Stepping away from the queen, the so-called bastard prince stared at her with horror creeping across his face and almost said ‘no’ immediately - but the look on Anne’s face stopped him. She was staring at him the same way she had once stared upon the mirror as soon as it had been finished; with desire and greed and the need to possess solely. Allen had the feeling that, should she get her way, he would end up just like her mirror.
Separated from the rest of the world, unable to be looked upon by anyone except for the queen; and if he were to say no in that very moment, Anne would have him arrested and imprisoned into solitude for the rest of his days. Solitude either way, kept away from the world, never again to see the light of day or hear the laughter of those around him.
Not a life Allen would wish on anyone, not even himself.
“M-my queen,” he said after a moment of silence, Queen Anne watching him expectantly, “you…h-honour me with your w-w-wish. But I m-must say that I am m-most surprised.”
“And why is that? You are a fine young man, beautiful and intelligent. The people will adore you.” She smiled at him, wide and pretty and not at all sincere. Allen smiled back nervously, hoping she could not see his disbelief.
“…it is s-still very sudden. M-might I, ah, might I h-h-have one d-day and o-one night to think on it?”
The queen did not answer right away, turning away from Allen and walking slowly back to her throne. Allen watched her with growing apprehension, ready to run should she decide she no longer wished to wait for him.
However, she turned back to him and gave him that same pretty smile, nodding once.
“One day and one night, my prince, and then I shall have your answer.”
“T-thank you, my queen.” Allen murmured, truly thankful, before he turned and walked out of the throne room and back to his tower.
He only had one day and one night to figure out a way out of the marriage.
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The idea came to him in the middle of the afternoon.
Not taking even a moment to reconsider, he grabbed a bag he often carried food supplies in, his basket for gathering healing herbs, and his cloak, rushing down the many flights of stairs to his tower and heading towards the medical wing where the royal healer lived.
The royal healer was a gentle man but a cursed one by the name of Liam. A man during the day, he transformed into a bear in the night because of a terrible misfortune which had befallen him many years ago. A dwarf had come across the man, who had once been a wealthy doctor, and being greedy had transformed Liam into a bear with their black magic so that they could steal his riches and escape into the smallest corner of the earth possible. The only way to break the curse was for the dwarf to die, but since Liam did not know where the dwarf was hidden, he was stuck.
Queen Adelaide had taken in the unfortunate creature when he told his tale to her and her husband, making him the royal healer and gave him his own wing of the castle so that he could shift between forms in peace.
When he came to the medical wing, Allen saw Liam conversing with a young man who had come to the castle many weeks ago, looking for a doctor to help his sister’s ailments. A kind young man, he called himself Cliff, and all he seemed to wish to do is help others in any way he could think of. Allen was quite fond of his company, if he were to be completely honest with himself.
He was sure he would miss him, and Liam.
“Liam,” Allen spoke softly, waving the healer over to him once he caught the cursed man’s attention. Liam excused himself from Cliff, walking over to the prince and looking at him with concern. “I m-must ask you a f-f-favour.”
“How can I help you, your highness?” Liam was one of the few in the castle who still called Allen ‘your highness’, having been in the castle when Allen was born and therefore knowing for a fact he was born of Adelaide’s womb. Allen smiled at his friend, tugging on his cloak and stepping into the safety of the medical wing.
“I am l-leaving,” Allen spoke softly, so that Cliff did not overhear him. It was not that he did not think Cliff would not help him in his time of need; it was that he knew he would, and he could not afford the queen to be alerted to his plans. She noticed Cliff’s movements because she liked to know what he was up to. “A-and…I n-need you to tell w-whoever comes looking for m-m-me that I l-left this morning to the f-forest to c-c-collect healing herbs for my c-collection.”
“Why will anyone be looking for you, your highness?”
“Q-Queen Anne has d-d-decided she wishes to marry me,” Allen whispered, looking at Liam carefully. “I c-cannot.”
Liam’s eyes had widened at the announcement before he nodded, pressing a hand to Allen’s shoulder. He then led him over to the cabinets in the back where the doctor kept fresh cheese, bread, and flasks of water. He handed a bit of each to Allen, which he put into his little bag, before leading the prince to the door in the back of the room which led out into the forest.
“Be very careful, your highness. If the queen is to learn that you have fled, I will release a dove into the air as a warning sign; when you see that, you must run far, far away from this kingdom.”
“Thank you,” Allen said sincerely, before he briefly hugged Liam. Pulling away once Liam hugged him back, he gave a nod to Cliff and left the medical wing, running towards the forest as quickly as he could.
The forest was a dark place, full of dangerous beasts and ominous shadows. It was whispered that witches and wizards lived in the forests, living off of the earth and becoming practically savage in the wilderness. Whenever Allen had ventured into the forests, however, he had never seen sign of the beast-like people; but that did not mean that they did not exist.
He treaded the well-known path carefully, glancing back every once in a while to make sure that no one had begun to follow him. He often left the castle to venture into the woods for Liam, gathering healing herbs and useful plants for the doctor. Recently he had begun to gather his own collection and left on whimsy. It should not have been suspicious to see him leave.
Yet that was before the proposal, and everything was different now.
Walking deeper and deeper into the woods, Allen eventually ventured off of the path that he knew best and entered into lands unknown to him. The branches seemed to reach out to him, grabbing on his cloak and tugging on his basket; the ground was uneven and often made him stumble and trip over upright roots and loose stones. Ravens cawed above him, black eyes staring down at him and hooked beaks snapping.
He eventually came across a clearing, where a single stump of a tree sat in the middle and the grass was green and rich. Walking to the stump, he sat down on it and set down his basket and his bag, pulling his cloak closer to his body. He then turned towards the sky, which he could just see through an opening in the trees above him, and waited for the dove that he knew was sure to come.
The remainder of the day passed without sight, and the night was clear of birds as well. Yet it was as the sun rose from its slumber that Allen caught sight of white feathers in the sun, and he knew that Anne had realized what he had done.
Picking up his bag and his basket, the prince quickly left the clearing and escaped into the deep, dark woods.
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When Queen Anne had realized what the prince had done, she had been enraged.
Immediately she sent forth her guards to find the prince in the forest, yet they were unable to. The guards became lost as soon as they left the well-known pathway, and the further they went into the woods, the more and more danger they were in. None of the guards were brave enough to venture that far into the woods; not even the queen’s favourite knight, a strong and chivalrous man by the name of Jakob, would dare go so deep into the woods.
Frustrated with the cowardice of her guards, she sent out a messenger to find a man who did not fear the woods and the mysteries in it. The messenger searched far and wide across the kingdom, even going to the neighbouring kingdoms, yet no such man could be found.
It had been many months since Prince Allen’s escape at this point, and Anne was getting most desperate.
“Is there no man brave enough to venture into our woods in the world?” Anne cried throwing aside the goblet she had been drinking from. A servant rushed forward to pick up the goblet so that the wine would not stain the infuriated queen’s white gown.
The queen’s favourite advisor, a clever man who, it was said, had once tricked the rats of an entire village into a river, stepped up to the queen then and knelt beside her seat. Anne, sensing the man’s presence, turned to him expectantly.
“You may speak, Lord Benjamin.”
“My thanks, your majesty,” Benjamin said swiftly, voice smooth like honey and easy on the ear. “There is one man in the whole world that is brave enough to venture into those woods, but you shall not find him in the world.”
“You speak in riddles.”
“I speak in facts, if I may be so bold as to say,” he countered, ducking his head when Anne narrowed her eyes on him before waving for him to continue. “You shall not find him in the world because he is not out in the world. He is in your dungeons below the earth, feeding off of rats and stale bread.”
Anne stood up suddenly, turning with a flourish to face Benjamin. The advisor stood to his full height, though he still appeared to be looking up at his queen.
“You speak of the Huntsman,” she said in a soft voice, fingers curling into fists by her sides. “You speak of the criminal.”
“I do,” Benjamin admitted, folding his hands demurely in front of him. “He is the best choice.”
It was silent for a very long moment in the antechamber, the queen’s other advisors watching Anne and her favourite with apprehension, before the queen sighed and sat back down on her throne.
“Fetch me the Huntsman.”
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The Huntsman was well known throughout the kingdom as the man who defied the queen.
A private man, he lived in a hut on the edge of the kingdom’s borders, closest to the forest so that he could make his living off of wild game and furs. He hunted anything from deer to elk, foxes and rabbits, and could find anything you wished for in the forest. It was said that the Huntsman had grown up in the woods just outside of the kingdom, raised by wolves and able to speak to the earth in a mystical manner.
But what he was known for was hunting in the queen’s part of the forest and taking down royal game.
This was an illegal practice, a law well-known amongst all the citizens of the kingdom. The Huntsman did not seem to care, however, and one day he took down the hart that the queen’s hunting party had been chasing for weeks.
When Queen Anne had heard of this act of treason she had the Huntsman captured and thrown into the dungeons, where he was fed stale bread and wine and lived off of the meat of rats.
Sitting back against the farthest wall of his cell, picking his teeth with the bones of a previous meal, the Huntsman did not even look up when torchlight filled the small room and the knight Jakob stood before him.
“Huntsman,” the knight said, waiting until the man was looking at him, “you have been summoned by the queen.”
“A most unfortunate fate,” the Huntsman replied, before he threw aside his bone and stood up. Walking over to the knight, he followed him out of the cell and through the underground passage that led to it, climbing up spiralled staircases and walking through clean hallways until they entered the throne room.
Queen Anne was sitting on her throne, watching Jakob and the Huntsman as they approached her. Jakob moved to stand by her side, Benjamin to her right and the knight to her left. The Huntsman stood before her, arms crossed.
“Huntsman, what is your name?”
“What does it matter to her majesty?”
“A curiousity of mine,” Anne said, smiling at him with no sincerity, “if you would be so kind as to quench it.”
“I have no kindness in my bones for wicked women,” the Huntsman stated with a smile, “but I have been called Zebediah all my life.”
Queen Anne said nothing for a moment, fingertips tap-tap-tapping against the arm of her throne, before she nodded and stood up. Jakob immediately moved to her side, Benjamin keeping back to watch what the queen would do. She stepped forward, hands folded in front of her stomach and eyes on Zebediah.
“I have something I wish for you to do for me.”
“Oh?” Zebediah raised his eyebrows, folding his hands behind his back and rocking back on his heels. “And if I don’t want to do it?”
“Then I’ll throw you back into your cell and you can rot there for the rest of your days.”
Zebediah grinned humourlessly. “You know how to make an argument, majesty.”
Anne smiled thinly, the expression tight as her fingers curled into fists. “Thank you, Zebediah.” Turning to look back at Benjamin, she waited until the advisor stepped forward and handed her a rolled up scroll. Taking it carefully, the queen proceeded to unroll the scroll, turning it to show a drawing of Prince Allen. “Do you know this man?”
“That’s the prince,” Zebediah said, leaning forward the look at the sketch and raising his brows. “Not a very pretty picture of him, though, he’s much nicer to look at than that.” Looking back to the queen, he looked at her expectantly. “What about him?”
“He has run away into the woods, and I fear for his safety.” Zebediah snorted, Anne wrinkling her nose distastefully at the sound and passing the scroll back to Benjamin. “You do not have to believe me, of course, that does not matter. I want you to go and find him for me.”
“Get one of your knights to do that,” Zebediah said, looking over at Jakob and ticking an eyebrow. “Isn’t that what they’re here for? Obeying your whim?”
“They cannot navigate the forest; they become lost.”
“Is that all?” Anne didn’t reply, and Zebediah smiled smugly, rolling his shoulders and chuckling to himself. “Brave men can slaughter villages with no problems, but the scary bears make them quiver in their chainmail.” Jakob moved to unsheathe his sword but Anne stopped him with a quick touch to his arm, her eyes on Zebediah. After a moment the knight relaxed, and Zebediah snorted. “Good boy.”
“You know the woods, do you not?” Zebediah nodded. “Then you are the best man for the job, as you are the only one in the whole world who does.”
“The only one not in the woods, at least,” Zebediah said softly, before shaking his head. “What will I get for doing as you ask majesty? My freedom?”
“Of course.”
“How do you know that I’ll bring the prince back once I find him? He must have run away for a good reason; why should I bring him back to the place he’s run from? You wouldn’t be able to find me; none of your brave knights dare enter the woods for fear of getting bitten by bunnies.” He shrugged, crossing his arms over his chest again and looking away from the queen and her entourage. “I’d have my freedom in the forests. And you’d have nothing but a wounded ego.”
“Does the name Adiel mean anything to you, Huntsman?”
Something seemed to change in the air, then, Zebediah slowly turning back to the queen with wide eyes filled with horror and disbelief. Queen Anne smiled at him wickedly, lips pulling back to reveal teeth in a show of dominance, before she nodded. “I thought it might.”
“What have you done with her?”
“Nothing,” Anne waved a hand leisurely, turning back to her throne and walking slowly. Jakob followed her, keeping an eye on Zebediah; Benjamin stayed near the Huntsman, watching him intently. “She’s as safe as can be in that little hut of yours. However…if you were to fail to return…well, I would hate to see what would happen to her then. She seems like such a sweet young girl, pretty too. Takes after her mother…?”
“I’ll bring you your prince,” Zebediah sneered, stepping towards the queen. Benjamin held out a hand, as if to stop the Huntsman, but Zebediah ignored him and stalked towards Anne slowly. “I’ll bring him back within the month. And then you’ll let me and Adiel leave your kingdom, and I’ll never have to see your face again. Is that a deal?”
Queen Anne smiled, leaning back comfortably in her throne. “But of course, Zebediah. Fair is fair.”