The Huntsmen (3 page)

Eyeing her up and down, he nodded, "There won't be any shortcuts on this journey, Princess, but we’ll need to get you into something a little more suitable than that dress. Your movements may need to be fast and that will only weigh you down.” Grabbing his pack, he dug around inside, "Well, it won't be very ladylike or elegant but I have an extra pair of pants that we can tie at your waist and a shirt that should serve long enough for our journey."

“I couldn’t agree more. I need to be out of this horrid dress. I want to burn it,” she muttered. She accepted the pants from him, “Thank you.” When she touched him there was that small electric shock again. “What in the world?” she muttered. “Do you feel that as well?” she asked softly, her eyes turning to his once again, “The shock?”

Nodding, slowly he stared at her. "Could be my personality," he murmured and smiled. "My friends tend to refer to me as the shocking one of the group. Never did think it was true but perhaps they’re onto something.” Digging out the shirt, he passed it to her as well noting the small charge that zipped from him to her and back.

Her eyes were wide and she looked at him. Cocking her head to the side, she asked, “Are you telling me that you don’t feel that because if you don’t, I’m going to have to call you a fibber.”

Blinking slowly, he smiled suddenly. "I love it," he grinned and chuckled softly. "Get changed while you can," he told her, turning so his back was to her. "The burning of the dress will have to wait though, Princess. We can't burn anything out here," he said over his shoulder.

“You love what?” she asked and began to undo her dress, jerking and pulling it at as she did, not caring that it ripped. She pulled on the top he gave her and then shimmied out of the rest of the dress, cutting it from time to time as she did so. Finally, when she was able to, she pulled on the belt he gave her and said, “Alright, I’m dressed.”

"I love being the one that's shocking and slightly too outspoken," he said, turning to face her again still chewing on his strip of dried meat. Pulling a leg up, he wrapped his arm around his leg to hold it in place. "Eat a little of the fruit if you can and we'll head out in another five minutes."

She nodded, taking the fruit he had offered her and took a bite. Chewing slowly she watched him. “I need to get to my uncle’s castle. When they find that I’m alive.” She bit her lip and fought back the tears. “For too long they all believed I was dead. When they know I’m alive we’ll find a way to destroy her.”

"We’ll get you to them as quickly as we can, but we also need to take great care. We'll take you to the cabin I mentioned and come up with a plan, as well as get you some clothes that fit. Baldric has a sister that’s about your size. I'll get him to run past her place to get something for you to wear," Dierk said softly.

Taking a deep breath, Snow nodded. “Alright,” she murmured. “It’d be nice to have pants that would fit me,” she said with a grin and rolled up the bottoms of the pants so she wasn’t tripping over them. Munching on the fruit he gave her, she licked her lips, “Thank you for feeding me and saving me.”

"It was the better of the two options I had," Dierk said softly. Pushing the last bit of the dried meat into his cheek, he smiled, "We should get going but first, we need to do something with that dress. We need to get it into my pack I think and then we have to start moving."

“Why don’t we just leave it here?” she grumbled. “Then again, if we’re able to take it with us we’ll be able to burn it, right? I want to see the dress burn up into smoke. I hate that dress and all that it represents.”

"We can't leave the dress, it’d be a clue as to where we'd been and possibly where we’re going. That would not do in the least, m'lady," he said with a smile, "and yes, with us taking it along you’ll have the pleasure of watching it burn and smolder into nothingness when we’re free to set a fire.” Getting up, he gathered the material and folded it down enough to press into the pack. Taking the satchel of dried goods from her, he tucked it away as well, "Have another bit of water and then we need to go," he passed off the skin of water.

She took another drink from him and then another, swishing water around in her mouth as she did so. Spitting it out, she nodded. “I’m as ready as I’m going to get. Let’s get out of here and on the move before they pick up our trail again please.”

Taking the skin, he tucked it away in the pack and then stood throwing it over his shoulders to secure it in place. Holding out a hand to her, he smiled at the little zing of energy that occurred at the contact with her skin. "Total silence again as we travel and remember, stay right in my footsteps."

“Right, total silence, follow in your steps. I might have been locked away for the last dozen plus years but I know what you’re saying,” she said with a sigh. “I’m as ready as I can get. Let’s move so they can’t stop us before we’ve really started please.”

Lifting his hand, he cupped her cheek gently. "We won't let anyone harm you, Princess, I promise," he said softly. Staring into her eyes for a time, he dropped his hand and rubbed her arm lightly, "Come, let's get you somewhere safe for a change shall we?" Turning, he looked around carefully before choosing a path through the forest.

Safe would be marvelous. Safe would be something she hadn’t felt since her father was alive. Once more, when he gave her his back, she placed her hand on his lower back so she could move along with him, so she could be sure to step where he stepped and move where he moved.

For hours they walked often changing directions or seemingly backtracking. When Dierk finally stopped to look around, he gave her a nod and guided her into the little clearing where the cottage stood well hidden by brush and trees. Taking her hand, he led her into the home and shut the door. On the outside it looked long abandoned, inside though, it was warm and homey.

Snow looked around the small home and smiled, “It’s so clean, and warm. By the Gods it’s so warm.” She immediately moved to the carefully banked fire and lifted her hands. “I’ve been cold for so very long.” Cold, uncomfortable, seeking vengeance. Yep, that was her life for the last dozen plus years.

"Well we're safe here for a while, Princess," he told her softly. "If you'd like, I'm sure we can even get you a bath to warm you up more. While you're doing that I'll warm some broth and if we're lucky, we might even have some fresh buns from the other night."

“That sounds wonderful. If you have a place I can bathe it would be remarkable.” She had been fully bathed before being placed in that wretched gown, but she’d been bathed in the Queen’s water so she would smell like her, the atrocious bitch. “Then can we please burn that wretched gown?”

"We can then burn the gown little pieces at a time," he smiled at her. Leading her to one of the back rooms, he pushed the door open to reveal the bathing area. "I'll start the hot water if you wanted to start throwing a bit of cold into it. We have a pump there you can use to fill it directly," he pointed out.

“You’re killing me,” she teased, her smile proving it. “Little pieces at a time? I just want to rip it to shreds and shove the whole thing into the fire,” she muttered. “But we’ll do whatever you think is best. As for the water,” she forced calm into her voice when she whispered, “the hotter the better. I want that bitch’s stench off of my body.”

"Well we don't have anything luxurious for you to use but there’s the soap from Bradric's sister, which may help a little or dig about in the basket there, that girl is always bringing things to the cabin in the hopes of civilizing us so some woman might one day want us," he rolled his eyes. "It'll be a little bit before the water's hot enough unless one of the others left a kettle on before we left yestermorn. Feel free to poke around and whatever else, you have my permission," he smiled at her.

“Thank you. I think I will.” She moved away from the large man and began to look through the surprisingly large home. “How is it that this place is so big? It doesn’t look nearly this large from the outside.” Then again, from the outside it also looked rundown, like an abandoned cottage.

"It's amazing what you can do when you have a hillside to build into," he smiled, moving toward the kitchen area. "Plus we were careful how we constructed it in case anyone were to ever to stumble upon it," Dierk lifted his voice a bit so she'd hear it no matter where she was in the cottage.

“How interesting,” she murmured and moved back to Dierk. “I really do like your home. You did a great job in creating it. I think you men really took the cake when you did this,” she murmured.

"We tried our best," he chuckled softly. "We're still working on it. Likely we'll never finish, but then again we've got three more of them here and there throughout the woods. Technically it's one for each of us but we're closer than kin so we’re usually in one at any given time.” Looking up he smiled at her, "We should have hot water in about ten minutes. One of the lads had left the pot over the fire so I just topped it off and we'll get it going again nice and hot for you."

“That will be wonderful. Thank you,” she smiled. “You’re being very kind to me. Thank you for that,” she murmured. “I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to repay you for your kindness,” she added quietly. “It’s good that you’re all as close as you are.” She envied them their closeness. She had never been able to have anyone close to her, not since her father had left the kingdom and hadn’t come back for her.

"Sure you will, Princess," he said with a knowing look. "Repay us that is. We'll help you get on the throne and you do right by your people, all your people, and that will be repayment enough," he told her quietly. "That's all we want, Snow, a better and happier life, one that we know you'll be able to create by overthrowing the Queen."

“That’s what I want as well. I wish there was a way to find out about my father, but I’m afraid that after as long as he’s been gone, I may never know for sure,” she murmured. “I have a feeling that father is truly gone.” She hated that, so very much.

Moving toward her, he touched her shoulders lightly, "I'm sorry, Snow, but the odds are not good that she left him alive, especially given how power hungry she is," he told her quietly. Rubbing his hands on her arms, he sighed softly, "If you’d like, once we have you to your uncle’s home, my friends and I will go and see if we can't find some trace of him. Or, at the very least, give you an answer one way or another of what occurred."

Snow nodded and whispered, “I think perhaps we should wait until we have taken the witch off the throne. I don’t want there to be anyway at all that she’ll be able to hurt him on the off chance that he is still alive.” Sadly, she had been thinking the same thing, that her father was dead.

"Understandable," he agreed with a nod. Squeezing her shoulders, he dropped his hands and moved to the pot. "The water's boiling so let’s get this poured in and you can add whatever cold water you'd like.” Grabbing up a couple of padded cloths, he lifted the pot from the fire and carried it slowly toward the bathing room. Pouring it into the tub, he stepped back, "I'll leave you to enjoy your bath, Princess. Give a call out if you need anything."

“Snow,” she mumbled again, “Please, Huntsman, call me Snow.” She looked at the welcoming water and when she heard his rumble of laughter and the door close, she stripped without looking up. Moving the pump up and down a couple of times, she got the water cooled just enough that she wouldn’t tear off layers of skin, and then stepped into the tub to bathe.

When she was finally clean, she wrapped a sheet around herself and stepped out of the room. “Can I have something else to put on, please? I washed out the clothing you gave me so I can wear it tomorrow, but I need something for tonight, please.”

"Of course," he put a hand on her elbow and guided her up a hall. "Let's see what I might have that’ll work for the short time," he said, opening up drawers. Digging out a shirt, he passed it to her, "Did you want some pants as well?" he asked, digging through the drawers until he found a pair. "Here we are, these shrunk a little a while back but I just couldn't throw them out."

“Wonderful. Thank you.” She seemed to thank this man a great deal. “Is this where I will sleep?” she asked and looked at the massive bed. It was truly huge, and looked so warm and inviting. “Goodness that bed is big enough to get lost in.”

"I like a lot of room," he grinned at her, "but yes you can have my bed if you'd like, Princess, I don't mind in the least or if you prefer one of the other rooms we can oust one of the other men from their bed instead."

“Oh goodness no, I won’t take their beds or yours,” she said with a shake of her head. “I can sleep on the couch before the fire downstairs. I refuse to ask any of you to give your beds up, and please don’t try to argue with me about this because I have made up my mind, period.” She actually stomped her foot to the ground to make her point as well.

"As adorable as that is," he waved a finger at her after her little foot stomp, "you're taking the bed, Princess. I won't have you exposed at the door in the event someone tracks us here. At least back here there are escape routes from the house if any should find us."

“No, I will not take your bed,” she repeated, “absolutely not. I mean it. I refuse to take your bed, Huntsman.” She muttered, “How about this, I will sleep on the chair here in this room, but do not ask me to ask you to give up your bed. It simply isn’t right.”

"You are not bloody well sleeping in a chair while I'm around, Princess. You will sleep in the bed even if I have to sit on top of you the entire night, and don't think I won't. On top of having a smart mouth I’m also incredibly stubborn and can outlast you many times over," he said, narrowing his eyes on her.

“Ha!” she said with a snort. “Fine, how about this, I’ll sleep on one side of the bed and you the other. That way we’re both on a bed and really, with as massive as it is, it’s highly unlikely we’d even touch the other in sleep, right?”

"Fine," he glared at her and then grinned. "See, I knew you'd see it my way," he teased before leaping back out of arms reach. "Get dressed then come out to the kitchen. The others signaled they’re no more than a couple hours from here. We'll have time to eat and then they’ll be upon us for the night and we can formulate our plan to get you safely to your uncle."