A Bushel of Lies - A Snow White Saga

08 | EIGHT

This isn't Adyn.

That's all Evelyn's thoughts could shout before panic seized control of her movements. Adrenaline coursed through the young woman's body, but she tampered it down as she steadied her breathing. It won't do well to show fear. She had to act above this monster, even when he was the one with a knife digging into the soft flesh of her pale skin.

But what Evelyn's mind kept looping back to - acting frankly like a broken record - was the fact the older man in front of her wasn't Adyn. Against all odds, he had been telling the truth. The differences were obvious and plain in the moonlight; Adyn had sun-kissed blonde hair, but this man's hair was muddy brown - (black in the shadows) - and messily pulled back into a man bun. His eyes were a plain hazel, his body extremely muscular, broad, and fit. He towered well over nine feet tall, something that should have been impossible. Either way, it made Evelyn feel like a dwarf next to him, meek and trembling. His hunting knife was as long as her arm. His sneer was cruel.

When he spoke, his voice sounded like an avalanche of rocks clashing against each other. The knife pressed into Evelyn's throat warningly, drawing up splotches of red blood, which blossomed and stained the steel weapon.

"Don't move... Princess. Not if you don't want to be skewered. If you want your pretty head to stay on your beautiful neck, you have to obey and do as I say."

Evelyn nodded against her will, the fear building up overshadowing her pride and anger at his crassness.

The huntsman's smile was sinister and he flicked his knife, causing unnecessary pain. Evelyn forced herself to not cry out, even when a rivulet of blood trickled down her neck, a few spots now dripping on her gown.

"Good girl."

Evelyn vowed to kill the huntsman. Slowly, painfully.

Rynia... where are you? I need your help!  

It was no use; something was holding her sister back, something was forbidding her from coming to Evelyn's aid.

The putrid man sliced at her leg once more; letting warm blood spill onto white fabric as the princess pressed her lips together, vowing not to cry out. At first, the wound was simply warm; like she had spilled tea on her gown. And then the pain came, red-clawed and snarling, nearly drowning the woman in a tsunami of fear. Her hazy vision and crumbling, agony-induced mind couldn't fathom as the Huntsman raised the hilt of his knife over her form, bashing it down.

Everything darkened as Evelyn crumpled in his grasp.

-  -

Princess Evelyn Snow White pieced together where she was before her mind was even truly awake; a gift of hers that didn't correspond in any way with her magical abilities.

The smell of cherries and apples lingered in the howling wind, the scent of sap, fresh rain, nature, and dirt accompanying. Stalks of grass brushed against her bare skin; clothed in only undergarments and sleeping attire, as Evelyn shifted - feeling her head and matted hair was pressed against bark. Crickets, the roar of a waterfall, a howl of a wolf, the tweet of a bird - all things that drew Evelyn to the conclusion that she was in a forest.

Most probably the Clariseë Dwarf Forest; the largest one in Acplyna, stretching across thousands of acres of land. Slowly letting her eyes flutter open, Evelyn glimpsed the Huntsman in the dawning light, sharpening his knife with a rock - his expression guarded. She quickly shut her eyes once more as he glanced over.

When trying to move her hands, she found her wrists were tightly bound in a complicated knot, her legs in a similar fashion. Brawns wasn't going to help the princess escape this mess, which left wits and trickery; two of Evelyn's strengths. And of course... Molding her lips directly, Evelyn whistled a bird-call into the forest's jagged entrance.