A Promise Binds Me to Her

Snow White wakens with a weight pressed down on her body. She begins to panic, has she fallen down somewhere? Has she been eaten? Did Alexandria leave her? That’s when the weight begins to groan.

Neither girl had fully gotten over the effects of the spores. They knew now not to go near any plant or suspicious looking object. Alexandria takes in a deep breath and then stops, looking around her eyes trained on something,
“What is it?” Snow White asks her sister,
“Shush,” Alexandria replies her hand flying up in a commanding manner, Snow furrows her eyebrows, “We must go,” her sister says hurriedly grabbing her sister’s hand and yanking her through the forest,
“Alexandria, I will not move another step until you tell me the matter!” Snow hisses standing her ground, causing Alexandria to nearly pull her arm out of her socket. Alexandria snapped her whole body round and glared at her sister, then the voices became clearer and Snow White could now hear them. Snow’s face drained, she became very pale and Alexandria thought she would faint,
“Sister, do not faint, now is not the time. We must go,” Alexandria whispers, her eyes boring into her sisters her hands placed strongly upon Snow White’s shoulders shaking her gently.

Snow White shakes her head and nods vacantly following her sister forward. Something told her those voices were looking for them, something very deep down told her that either Finn or Ravenna herself would be there. She then continued to erase the thought of Ravenna travelling to these woods; Ravenna wouldn’t even travel to the castles kitchen to get food. As usual she would have Finn retrieve everything for her. A cold chill ran up her spine as she remembered the feel of his wretched calloused hands, the very thought of Finn capturing them made her want to vomit.

Alexandria could hear the conversation clearly, due to her heightened hunting senses. Her father had once called her a natural born hunter. She could hear Finn and a two of Ravenna’s guards, but there was also a new voice. An unknown voice, someone new that had been hired to hunt her and her sister down,
“Down here,” Alexandria whispered diving between the large roots of a fallen tree. They were very well concealed and Alexandria could watch the shadow of one of the men stalking about searching for them,
“Where are they?” Snow whimpered a large amount of Alexandria’s dress caught up in her small and frail hand. Alexandria looked at her sister only for a second, she compared her to a frightened animal and she got the same tugging sensation on her heart. When she looked back the figure was gone, her eyes shot straight open and she scrambled closer to the gap between the roots.

Alexandria was about to say something when,
“Come here!” boomed a rough voice, grabbing Snow White’s ankle and dragging her out,
“No!” Alexandria screamed hoarsely, her voice cracking due to the violent screaming she endured during the hazy nightmare of the spores. Alexandria scrambled after her sister and latched onto her wrist, her feet scraped away at the earth and she too was eventually yanked out of the hiding spot.

Alexandria was pulled out so hard she ended up falling to the ground. She turned over quickly and stared up, trying not to look as scared as she was. It didn’t work. A towering man; with shoulder length brown hair, bright blue eyes that had a hollow look about them and quite a handsome face. He pointed an axe at her, making sure that she would not move. He was not one of the queen’s men, to common for her taste. Snow knew this,
“Will you help us?” she whimpers, her free hand clawing at the one in the grasp of this man, he eyes scanned his face for any form of sorrow but she could find none, “please, the Queen is going to kill us” she pleaded, her breathing rapid,
“Do not waste your breathe sister,” Alexandria hisses; looking up at the man, his eyes followed Alexandria’s voice and he seemed shocked to see those words come from such a young girl.

He looked between the girls. Both were so alike to him in their looks, but everything about the way they stood or spoke told him otherwise. The brunette was more feisty and held a protective gaze upon the girl he was clutching, where as the other seemed more calm. Both girls were equally beautiful. He finished
“Sure she is,” he said roughly, snapping himself out of the strange and confused daze he was in. Even though they were beautiful, they could not compare to his departed wife. He loved her more than anything. He returned his axe to its place, hung over his back, and reached forward yanking Alexandria up by her right wrist,
“She’s going to cut out our heart,” Alexandria continued darkly, looking into his eyes and seeing the same feelings she felt. Loss, anger and so many more. From what the man carried with him and the way he knew his way about the forest Alexandria could guess he was a hunter.
“Quick work,” came an eerie and shudder provoking voice. Finn. Alexandria’s head snapped round and a low growl escaped from her slightly parted lips. “Well done Huntsman,” Finn held his hand out, gesturing to the girls, “Hand them over.” Snow White looked at her sister only for a moment and saw the wild, rabid look in her eye. Snow new her sister hated Finn, but so much that she would look at him like he was a meal? Maybe Snow was just reading her stature wrong, or at least she hoped she was.

The Huntsman looked at the girl with raven black hair; her face was full of fear. It broke his heart; he imagined that is the same face his wife had made in the same moment she had been killed,
“What do you intend to do with them?” he asks his head low but his eyes full of concern, he does not need anyone else’s death upon his conscience,
“Why do you care?” Finn hissed, stepping forward to grab Snow White’s wrist,
“You want them...Hey!” the Huntsman growled roughly, putting up his axe to stop the guards from coming any nearer. The guards stepped closer. The Huntsman threw Alexandria down behind him, rather forcefully and so hard that she hurt her wrist. The Huntsman moved Snow White so that he had his arm around her neck and his axe up at her throat, “Give me what I was promised!” he seethes,
“You did your job well,” Finn presses, “Now, keep your word,” he continued slowly. All Alexandria can do is watch her sister writhe in the Huntsman’s arms, it breaks her heart. She would be no help to Snow White though, her good wrist was burning with extreme pain and her mind was still a little fuzzy from the spores,
“He’ll kill us both,” Snow whimpers, bringing Alexandria out of a thought filled daze,
“Shut up,” the Huntsman snapped, shaking Snow in his arm and causing her to let out a small and quiet shriek,
“He will,” Alexandria enforced, her voice low and dangerous “And if you let that happen, god help yo...” she began The Huntsman shoves the axe just in front of her face,
“I said, shut up,” he snaps again. Alexandria’s head twitches back as she feels the sharp edge of the blade upon her cheek. The same place the guard cut it when she was younger. She complies, but not without the hollow look she gives the Huntsman. The axe is removed from Alexandria’s face and goes back to her sisters neck, Alexandria clenches her fist; also squashing some old roots in her hands. They break like brittle, frozen leaves. Then she releases them and smirks,
“He’s going to betray you, Huntsman,” Snow has never heard her sister talk in such a sinister and disgusted way, Alexandria was beginning to scare her sister,
“My sister has many powers; she can take life away or sustain it,” Finn begins his sly grin fading into something unreadable, “but she can’t bring your wife back from the dead, you fool!” he says with more anger than laughter.

Alexandria shrank back a little. She felt sorry for the Huntsman; she remembered the feeling of loneliness and loss after her mother died. Suddenly the Huntsman throws Snow White out of his way and Alexandria catches her before she can fall,
“I want her back!” is all they both hear as they flee further into the forest. Snow White trips a couple of times before Alexandria has no choice but to make her sit down and breathe, or at least get her to stop blubbering like an infant.