Wicked Hunt

Chapter Five, Part II

Halle: The Lost Queen

The day passed without much excitement. Halle went out, careful not to disturb her hair or sweat too much and paced the halls of Dunhelm. She took delight in being left to her own devices. She was able to explore on her own and reveal things at her own pace. She did not see Bruce or Clive or the mysterious Commander all day. The keep was oddly quiet and sparse. Normally she assumed this was how Dunhelm operated. Everything thus far had led her to believe this was not a place for gaudy designs and rambunctious conversation. She did not think she had seen anyone laugh since her arrival. Yet, the king was getting married soon. Evening was creeping across the land and instead of piquing the people's interest and making the air fizzle with the excitement that should garner, instead it seemed to dilute it.

There were no congratulations. No added decorations. Outside, she did notice some torches being set up near the Shadow Wood, but other than that it appeared to be just another day. Halle stopped pacing and gazed down at the forest below. The trees were tall and crooked, like nothing she had ever seen before. It seemed to stretch for miles with no end in sight. There was no light coming from between the spindled branches casting it mostly in shadow. There were woods in Rodantha but none as sinister looking as the Shadow Wood. She never saw people from the village go down there. She never saw any animals come out.

"There you are!" Halle squeaked at the sharp intrusion and spun blindly to see who had startled her. Dot grabbed her arm quickly without explanation. "Quickly now," she said, exasperation clinging to her voice.

"What?" Halle asked. "What is it?"

"It's time for you to start getting ready for the wedding!" Dot tugged Halle along, easily traversing the stone hallways and stairs without hardly looking down. Halle wondered how long the girl had lived here. She wanted to ask her, start forming some sort of friendship, but before she could, Dot had shoved her back into her room and slammed the door behind them.

"Um..." Halle scratched the back of her neck awkwardly when they were alone. Dot spun away from locked the door and hurried to the closet in the corner that housed the clothes Halle had brought from Rodantha. They were worn and faded dresses, mostly riding habits and stained dresses from her youth. Dominic had claimed he could not finance a whole new wardrobe for her because of the impending wars. He had told her Clive would not care for frilly gowns and sparkly skirts anyhow. She would have no use for them in Verlic, and if Clive did have a problem with it, he could be the one to have new dresses made for her.

Halle doubted that would ever be the case.

"Oh, am I to wear one of my gowns?" she asked weakly, praying that would not be the case. Although she despised dressing up, she felt that this would need to be an exception. She had spent most of the day building up her confidence and preparing to wear a white, silk gown with lilies in her hair and perfumed fabrics as her sister-in-law had done when she married Dom. That was the only other wedding Halle had been to. So, it was the only thing she had to go on. Instantly, her cheeks reddened. Perhaps, that was not how things were done in Verlic?

Dot ignored her and disappeared behind the door. Halle shuffled nearer, feeling clumsy and obtrusive. She fiddled with a stray string dancing from her sleeve. "Here we are." The girl reemerged with a bundle of fabric. It was some sort of ugly, woolen bag the color of mud. Her stomach dropped. She reached out, as Dot marched past, and ran her fingers over it. It was hot and stiff. She just knew it would be itchy.

"Is that what I'm wearing?" Halle couldn't keep the disappointment out of her voice. Dot stopped and glanced up. She nodded and continued to fight with the wool until she managed to peel it back and reveal what was hidden beneath it. Cream material winked up at the princess as Dot draped the new dress across her bed. Relief flooded Halle's chest as she realized the wool had merely been a bag to house the dress. Dot must have placed it in her closet sometime during the day when she had been out. Halle became instantly optimistic again, and Dot smiled as she dusted a few stray pieces of dust from the gown.

"It's tradition for brides in Verlic to wear a sacred dress of the forest," Dot explained.

"Dress of the forest?" Halle mumbled.

"Marriage is a sacred act." Dot motioned for Halle to come closer and turn around. She hesitated but obliged after several seconds. "The forest is sacred." The back of Halle's dress was untied-there was only one bow at the neck-and dropped to the floor. The chilled air bit at her skin even though she wore a shift. She wrapped her arms about herself. "And so," Dot continued, tugging on the bottom of the shift and yanking it over Halle's shoulders, "anything related to such importance must have the forest's blessing." Halle shivered not just from the cool air on her naked body. That forest was unsettling. The fact that her marriage would be linked to it made her uneasy.

Dot pinched her arm as she tried to turn her to her. Shyly, Halle resisted. "You must get used to showing your skin," Dot chastised, finally coaxing Halle to turn around.

"What do you mean?" Halle asked horrified.

"Rebirth, new beginnings, marriage, fire, and purity," Dot said, shoving the sheer gown over Halle's head. "All are connected in accordance to the forest and the stag."

"I don't fully understand," Halle admitted, grunting as her head reemerged. She reached up and tried to pat down her hair where it now stuck up.

"The king's marriage is a great honor to the people," Dot replied. "It will bring many blessings to the land if all the rituals are performed correctly."

"I see." Halle gulped and looked down at her dress. It was slightly big around the shoulders and waist. Since she wore no shift beneath it, her breasts stood out starkly, pointed and raised. The shimmering material was loose and revealing. The top leading down from her neck would have been see-through except that it held twisting branches intertwining from her shoulders down to her bellybutton. In the flickering candlelight, they could have been the branches of trees or the antlers of a buck. Intermingled and dotted between them were the faded orange, brown and red leaves of a tree in autumn.

"This is beautiful," Halle said breathlessly. Dot led her to the mirror and began combing Halle's tangled hair. The braids were removed, and it was spritzed with something that smelled like cinnamon. Dot fluffed it up into natural waves and sprinkled powdered sandalwood about her.

"It was made for the king's mother when she was married," Dot remarked.

She disappeared, and Halle studied herself in the mirror. She did not look like herself. Without the face paint, Halle knew she looked like a child: all rounded cheeks and curious eyes. Now, the bends in her face had been hollowed out. She saw the curves and shapes of a woman, not the straight edges of a little girl.

"Are you-"

"Here," Dot said impatiently. She spread glittering white paint across the tops of Halle's lids and infused yellow and blue hues. Dark, violet rouge was dabbed onto her lips and scarlet blush was added to her already flushed cheeks. When she blinked, flecks of gold seemed to shimmer from the corners of her eyes. Dot was very good at what she was doing.

"Now, we wait," Dot told her, drooping into the cushioned chair by Halle's bed. Halle glanced at the stranger one more time peering back at her through the mirror and faced Dot.

"We wait?"

"Yes." Dot sat up, wiping the sweat from her forehead. "The men are down there now, in the woods. We must wait until they are ready for you."