WHO: Huntsman and Snow White WHAT: Introductions, misconceptions, but no abductions! WHERE: A forest WHEN: Recently, like all things WARNINGS: None!
Snow White was more careful through the woods this time, at least she thought so. There wasn’t much reason for her to be there, especially now that Bigby was around, but since they were always at the whim of their other selves, she wasn’t going to waste a chance on returning and trying to find a safer way back to the Beast’s castle. Just in case, of course. In case she ever cared again that her sister was there.
The easiest way, of course, would be to take the road. But she wouldn’t risk going on foot again, leaving her out in the open for much too long. Though she did stumble upon a handful of people, no one dared to give her a horse or even a lift, not when she described the castle she was going to or the forest she was treading near. On foot and through the woods was her option once more and she took it.
She was dressed much the same as last time, though this time the knife was at her belt. Skirts would only impede her movements and thankfully her olive green cloak afforded her some cover there where the forest was still alive, even as her steps were inching her towards the dying land. She’d only go as far as was necessary. At the first sign of real trouble, she’d leave. Yes, that was the plan.
By all means, that was quite the plan. A good and solid plan, accounting for everything except the inevitable. The huntsman was not far from the Eastern kingdom when Rose hailed him through the journals with instructions on how to find her sister. While he'd initially had little intention of getting involved unless he happened upon the girl in the midst of his own travels, the Queen's interest complicated that plan. Rather than allow fate to direct whether or not their paths should cross, the hunter took to the East where villages grew sparse and withered old men rattled on with chattering teeth about the unmentionable castle. Out where the woods went black, where nobody dared to venture anymore. Except for the girl. A couple of blacksmiths mentioned that she came through looking for a horse or a lift in a cart, that they'd tried to talk her away from going to such a cursed place, but she refused to heed their warning and took off into the woods alone. The huntsman recalled then Rose's description of her sister as that of stubborn and foolish.
The wolf was a constant these days, never straying too far from the hunter's side. The animal was thankful for this break in stride, and he lapped greedily at the water in a trough while the huntsman unearthed the mystery and the direction in which the girl had vanished off to. A merchant pointed to one of the trails that disappeared into the vibrant tree line. The wolf was free to wander off on his own for food or simply linger behind, but he took off into the woods alongside the booted footfalls of the man. As they breached the woods, the wolf veered off from the path, and after a few more yards, the huntsman no longer saw a sign of him although he knew the wolf watched after him and that they would find one another again before he left this forest. Considering how infrequently these woods were traveled, it did not take him very long to find her tracks. Light, but distinct in the soft ground where life still struggled to thrive in the trees. Gradually, the sounds of birds began to diminish and the plant life underfoot grew dry. The huntsman has been in woods like these before, where death and rot turned the world black.
The footsteps reached her ears eventually and her hand hovered near her knife as she turned around. She didn’t recognize him, though she wouldn’t have considering where she was, and her guard didn’t slip once. “Can I help you?” she asked coolly, her eyes darting around once, twice, to see if anyone else came with him but there was no one. The wolf might have eased her worry some. She always did fare better with animals than with people, like the bear from her childhood or the wolf she worked with now. But he was a man, a lone man, who happened to stumble upon her in this desolate place. She wasn’t quite nervous, not just yet, but she was steadily getting there.
He had no intention of spooking her and that is why he made great effort to snap every twig along the way under the thick leather of his boot's heel. He trampled dead leaves from many yards away, knowing that forewarning her could give her the chance to hide if she wanted.. but she did not hide. He did not have to feign the pleasant surprise that took over his eyes upon seeing her. Rose had said that her sister was stubborn and stupid, those kinds of things often went hand in hand with being brave. Upon glimpsing her and ensuring that he was near enough to be viewed in return, the huntsman came to a stop. A tilt of his head stretched the tired muscles in his neck as his attention moved beyond her, surveying the decay of the forest for any sign of threat. "Are you Snow?"
Blue eyes blinked quietly a moment, head cocking to the side to take a long look at him as well. Though her back was to the sun and her cloak was pulled over her dark hair, it was hard to disguise the pale skin peeking out from under all that cover. "Why are you looking for Snow?" There was something about him, she thought, though she couldn't place his face. It was hard to forget now that she was in the land of magic and once re-accustomed she could feel it prickle up her spine. But even now it slipped under her skin, subtly rooting her to the spot, drawing her to him than away, like another man she once met in the woods.
It seemed unlikely to him that many young women would venture into haunted woods in the same time frame. It wasn't exactly the ideal situation for any female, and feminists were seriously lacking in the department of rogue heroics. "Her sister ordained me to come and assist her.." He kept his distance, wisely. Having already crossed earlier paths with a young woman wielding an axe, he made easy notice of the knife at this one's belt. "Through the books," he clarified after a moment's silence. The huntsman watched her expectantly, unsure of what to expect through Rose's written assessment.
The mention of a sister broke her out of her dreamy reverie, a flash of worry and annoyance - common dueling emotions when it came to her sister - flickered across Snow's face. Still, the last, and cryptic, message from the other girl rang through her mind. Lily white fingers wrapped around the hilt of her blade as her cool eyes held his gaze. She had handled men before. They were smaller, yes, but still men, cruel creatures of the forest. "Rose Red says a lot of things, not all of them true." A warning could be one of them, but she wasn't going to simply let that be chanced and now she took a step back, finding the dead forest behind her to be a safer bet than the man before her. "What is your name, stranger? What is it you do?"
"Does she?" He was forced to give a small smile there, "She told me some things about you that I now question.." It would have been impossible to not notice the way she took a step in retreat from him, although only a warrior might have took note of the way her fingers slipped for a clutch around her blade's handle. The huntsman made no advance, only gave a faint smile while acknowledging her questions with a tilt of his head and a wrangle of dark eyebrows. "I am only a huntsman," he explained before taking a step forward. He weighed her stance with steady eyes, explaining further. "I'm not here to hurt you, and you should not venture forward alone."
"I've heard that before," she countered dryly. She had also trusted a huntsman before too, his kindness saving her from one dire fate. But this wasn't him, and Rose did sometimes speak truthfully. Snow didn't take a second step, but she didn't let go of her weapon either. "And what did she say about me that you no longer believe? I can only imagine the, ah, colorful words she might have used. "
He raised an eyebrow when she spoke, knowing enough about crossing cagey women in the woods not to back her into any corners. It probably helped that he was new to these woods, skeptical of their darkness and the potential for a deadly army to come trampling through at any moment. "She mentioned concern over you having been kidnapped, or perhaps getting lost." Neither of which seemed to be the case. ".. among other things."
Snow hummed thoughtfully, red lips pressing into a thin line before she countered, “And she told me to avoid you. A huntsman who was looking for me.” Fear flickered a moment across her face as she wondered at the sense of déjà vu she had been feeling the more she came to these lands, and if history could repeat itself similarly. “Do you know a queen, huntsman? Has she spoken of my heart?” Her fingers tightened just a bit around her hilt, too desperate of a reaction to be for anything metaphorical.
"Did she." It wasn't really a question, and amusement tugged on the corner of his mouth when he considered that. As a man that completely lacked ill intentions, he couldn't say what had set Rose off. However, a man that wasn't operating on entirely truthful motives, it was a little frustrating. Not that he expected to just happen upon Snow in the woods and go walking off, hand in hand for the Queen's castle. "I've never met a Queen." Although he knew that wasn't the case for Snow, having Rose's words and the Queen's to go by. His attention dropped to the hand on her knife's hilt, and his eyes darkened. "What does your heart have to do anything?"
She found her guard slipping ever so slightly as his expression warmed, lips mirroring the lift of his mouth. But the moment passed as he spotted her move to her weapon, and she held his gaze with a determined look of her own. “Who knows,” she started, a slight shrug rolling off one shoulders. The queen wasn’t one she knew, but she could guess from the way the Mundies told and retold her tale. “Some say she would need it for spell work. Some say she would eat it outright. I don’t presume to know what a witch queen would do with it. Or why she targets young and pretty women whose only crime is existing near her. My only concern is that she does, and that I might be next, again.” Snow was getting heated, she knew, and she exhaled her budding temper in one long breath before regarding him again. “You truly aren’t here to carve the heart from my chest?”
He thought on the matter of the Witch Queen for a moment. It wasn't that he'd made a vow to her, for vows were easily broken by more respectable men than him. Although not dark hearted, he was no hero. He didn't dream of riches or prestige. The only thing he even wanted at all was what that which the Queen offered him. While a Witch Queen's motives were sure to be questionable, he refused to put much thought into the woman's interest in Snow White. This was definitely the first time that he'd heard mention of a heart. He seemed skeptical and hesitant, his expression crumbling briefly with doubt when Snow mentioned the Queen eating such a thing. Surely not. "While the Queen mentioned you, she made no such mention of your heart, maiden. I assure you."
“So you do know her.” The urge was there for that second step, one good push back, and she’d have a decent head start if he should pursue her. But he probably knew these lands, better than she would at any rate. And there was so much she still didn’t know about the people here. The queen didn’t want her heart. The huntsman wasn’t someone to trust. Her sister was a companion not a captive of a beast. There was so much that wasn’t clear that despite the worry, her feet stayed planted on the forest floor, though her hand didn’t come away from her belt either. “What has the queen said about me? If not something about my heart. I thought it was Rose who sent you?”
"I have never met her," he countered after a moment's hesitation. There was the distinct sense that he was on unsteady ground, although the huntsman only had an inkling of a feeling why. The matter of this girl's heart was muddling enough to give him a second's pause, even if he hadn't entirely believed the Queen's sincerity in wanting Snow White looked after. "Rose asked me to find you first, the Queen mentioned you afterward.. and she only asked that I ensure your safety." By bringing her to the castle where her evisceration potentially waits was the unspoken part.
“My safety.” Snow sounded even less convinced as he was and a small sigh escaped her. “She’s quite concerned over my wellbeing. When you speak to her next, tell her thank you, but I’m fine. Truly. I don’t need a guardian.” She spared a quick glance toward the forest with a slight tilt of her head. “One can’t fear what lies in the wood forever. You can remind my sister of that as well, should you speak to her.” He was very familiar with both and that struck her as odd, a curious little frown tugging at her lips. “Do you reside in her kingdom? The queen. You must be quite loyal for her to request such a strange favor.”
He did not like the sound of that, for it seemed to him that such words gave favor to the idea of making off through the woods on her own. Despite what Snow had to say about the Queen, he was unfavorable to the prospect of failure. It wasn't really an option considering that he did not know what it would entail for his wife's freedom. "No, I do not reside in her kingdom.. I do not reside anywhere." As a traveler, his residence shifted with his steps. His childhood home was reduced to cinders long ago, and the home he'd shared with his wife was no longer a home at all but now a neglected memory. "Where is it that you intend to go? Back to the castle?" From what Rose had said, that wasn't a very good idea. His eyes lifted from her to scan the tree line. Throughout all of this, he was very aware of the way her hand clutched ever closer to her blade, and he made no move in her direction. He only dropped his attention on her with apprehension.
Of course she was going to go through the woods on her own, that seemed so very clear to her. He came to see how she was doing and the answer was well. His duties were done and there was no more reason to go hovering. “I have to go back to the castle. Or at least just… look at it. See if there’s another way in or out. Rose thinks it’s all fun and games now but eventually…” She turned her head back to the dead forest, a frown pulling her brow down thoughtfully. “I’m not going to storm the castle, if that’s what you mean. I’ll be perfectly safe.” Her lips quirked up very slight, a polite expression though not quite a smile, and then she took a step back, and then another, though her hand never pulled her weapon out. “I’ll be fine, huntsman. I’m sure you have other things to attend to than babysitting me.”
"Of course," he was all agreements when falling back a single step in those boots of dirtcaked fawn hide. This was not truly a retreat, however. Just a bit of space to gain perspective. The gnarled death of the woods surrounded them and it was disconcerting when cast against the frost of her skin and the bloodglow of her simper. She was quite beautiful, what if the Queen truly did intend some cannibalistic horror for the girl's fate? Then again, why should he care? He did not know this Snow or her sister. His only concern was for that of his wife, and if it meant this young girl falling into the clutches of a witch.. then maybe that was the price. His expression fell, mouth taut while his eyes sought out the horizon once more. In search of an escape from whatever he'd stumbled foolishly into. "What is it that you would ask your sister to do if this situation was reversed?"
Snow was halfway turned when his words stopped her, surprise flashing across her face. Whatever she thought he might say to dissuade her, she hadn’t been expecting that. “If I was trapped in a ruinous castle with a beast standing guard? I’d tell her to never come near or to send someone else. To stay safe.” Her expression tightened as she caught his trap and she scowled at him, lips frowning so prominently on her pale face. “But I’m not Rose. She would only come to more trouble if she tried. And that’s if she tried. You presume she would do me some kind favor when in truth she—” She turned her head away abruptly, dark locks spilling furiously from under her hood. Though that story was common knowledge back home, if the huntsman didn’t know she was in no mood to enlighten him. “She wouldn’t. And perhaps it’s foolish that I would but all the same, I’m going through this forest. Sometimes we do foolish things for those we care about. Haven’t you?” He mentioned no home but that hardly meant anything. He was handsome, surely he had a lover or two he cared for, and if not perhaps some family that he still had. Everyone had someone, even if only for a short while.
Just as his query stalled her, so did her own bring him to a conflicting pause. "Foolish?" There was a smile then, but it was not necessarily an expression of joy. If anything, it reflected a momentary sadness before he concluded, "Perhaps." As time progressed, it was becoming apparent that merely talking this young woman into accompanying him to the Queen's castle was not going to work. "At least allow me to accompany you so that I may ensure your safe travel," he insisted while stepping forward. There was nothing harmful or predatory in his gait, but rather a soft approach. Concerned eyes roamed the horizon as dusk began to settle around them. It would be dark soon, and he would prefer to have her out of the unfamiliar woods before then.
She like the smile, a small touch of humanity even with the sadness. It wore down her guard just enough that she wavered as he pressed to accompany her. He wasn’t there for her heart. Her sister was prone to tall tales. And the woods were very treacherous. Several long moments passed as she weighed her options before she gave him a small nod, her hand now comfortable around her knife but she still gestured for him to follow her with a quick turn of her head. “We’ll just go a bit farther while light is still on our side. And then home.” Nothing could be safer than that.
While it was a risk to venture so close to an on edge woman who clutched a blade, some inherent level of misogyny kept him from worry when he stepped up to Snow's side. She was fair and slight, overpowering her would not be much of a problem should she decide to turn on him. Not that he thought she would, Snow lacked the vitriol and glares of little Red and her bloodthirsty axe. Nearby, some briars rustled with the approach of the huntsman's traveling companion. The timberwolf with a panting tongue flopped out over his bristled maw. "Don't worry." The words were encouraging with a small smile of assurance for the woman at his side as he followed her lead. "He's harmless." Which was far from true, but he doubted that Snow would give his wolf brother a reason to bare the glisten of feral fangs. "Which way?" Having never been to the mysterious castle, he would have to trust her sense of direction on this matter.
Snow quirked a brow at the emergence of a wolf but her lips gave the tiniest smile, a polite little greeting she would give anyone, regardless of the number of legs they stood open. “I’ve grown quite unafraid of wolves, huntsman, especially after I started working with one.” She had been working with Bigby for some time, known him for even longer when he was still referred to as Big and Bad. The timber wolf didn’t faze her and she turned her eyes to the north, drawing her knife completely now to point through the treacherous wood they would start to move around and through. “This way. We’ll get as far as we can and as far as the light will allow. Gets too dangerous and we go back. Deal?” She tossed the question over her shoulder but already she was starting to move, figuring to go with or without her new friends.
She would not go without, as the huntsman started forward not long after Snow initiated a warrior's pace onward. The wolf whined with a slow trot toward his boots, a greeting that conveyed hunger and exhaustion from a day that had gone on for way too long. The huntsman left a couple yards of distance between Snow and himself, as she knew the way and was welcome to lead for now. If some trouble should happen upon them on this journey, he'd close the gap. From a satchel on his side, he withdrew a smoke cured strip of flank from the rabbit that he'd arrowed down earlier this morning, and he tossed it to the wolf to satiate the creature's appetite. The animal gnawed greedily while keeping pace, and eventually the huntsman sprinted forward to close in on Snow's side. "With all due respect, maiden, the sun will be down within the hour.. and perhaps it is wisest to turn back now before these black woods take on the night." From his own experience, there were worse things to contend with in haunted woods than simply the dark. "I would be happy to see you safely home, and we could start out at fresh light."
She frowned as she slowed to a stop, surveying the sun’s trek across the skies and the long forest sprawled ahead of them. She hadn’t realized how late it was and, as loathed as she was to admit defeat so soon after her victory, he was right. There was little sense going forward when they would have to move through the dark in their return. It didn’t stop her from trying to find some flaw in that logic, lips pressing thoughtfully as she tried to find some break in the forest that would be easier to traverse. But after several long moments she sighed and nodded, spinning on her heel, mindful of the way her cloak brushed against his wolf companion. “I’ll be fine going back,” she tried to reassure as she walked back the way she came. Their tentative acquaintance was only half the reason why she didn’t want him following her home. She could just imagine his reaction when he followed her home to New York. “There’s a small inn on the way. We can get a bit of food and drink there and call it an evening?” She would part ways there but at least it was a compromise. They didn’t have to argue their entire walk back.
For a man who came to age in similarly wicked woods, no darkness would sway him from purpose. Respect for land and beast gave him little to fear, as he'd spent much more of his life tracking through forests than he had residing in any villages. Particularly after the disappearance of his wife, what did he have to return to in human society? People were not humane. They were greed, corruption, and unmitigated violence. Perhaps he was becoming a hermit, the solitary wanderer. But it was justified, for he'd rather live amongst the pure of heart. There was nothing left for him in the society of men now that his wife was gone. Of course, the prospect of finding her once more was where that inner conflict reared. Would he be able to live with himself if the Queen truly had his wife? If her freedom could be attained by such a simple trade? All this talk of eating hearts seemed like it could be nothing more than mythic legends, things told to strike fear in the chests of enemies. Surely nobody did such things, especially not royalty. Perhaps the Queen only wanted this girl, Snow White, to atone for some crime from her kingdom. After all, what kind of princess(for he recalled this woman's title from such discussions with Rose) set off on roguish journeys with weapons?
"Food and drink would be perfect, we've been surviving on dry rabbit and foul." The we in this case meant the wolf and him. The huntsman fell back a few steps in order to allow her to lead the way, curious of her tracking skills. The wolf trotted between, sniffing curious at the hem of her cloak.
“Oh?” She was the very picture of cool interest though the smile was lacing her voice. Her eyes fell to the wolf curiously nosing about her cloak, easily falling into step with both stranger and wild animal. “I’m sure we can find you two something better than that.” Well, hopefully. The town hadn’t been so helpful in the way of transport but perhaps they would be more accommodating when she wasn’t embarking on such “foolish” endeavors. If not, she would find a way. Once allies were made, Snow liked to keep them, and small kindness tended to go a long way.
While his thoughts drifted to more troublesome topics, Snow let her mind turn over planning future forays into the forest. She had wasted precious time trying to change his mind about going in, and he had offered to accompany this time. Perhaps the next, if she’d be quicker to compromise, there wouldn’t be such dallying. “Shall I call upon you when next I would try to enter the forest?” Wide blue eyes blinked up at him, almost as if it would be but a simple stroll through the wood, not a possibly harrowing endeavor that required weapons and another able body. The deceptively innocent look lingered but a moment before she rolled her shoulder into a shrug, hood sliding half down her dark hair. “Though perhaps it won’t be me but the man I work with. The wolf.” Her lips quirked ever so slightly, amused that they both had a wolf of some sort of another to watch their backs. “I make no promises for in truth I don’t know when I would be back. But if I do return, may I call upon you? Through the journals?”
It was strange that in leaving the darkened wood, warmth began to return. After the first mile, green sprouted its fanciful head from the soddy earth in blades and blooms. Animals returned with the occasional caw of foreboding crows, but that eventually gave way to the rustle of rabbits and squirrels in thistled flora. It didn't take much skill from any tracker to discern that this was the way back to life, this was the escape route from poison magic and beasts. Still, he followed her in thoughtful silence for so long that only the tired whine of his brother punctuated their steps. The huntsman had been traveling for an entire two days while in search of this woman, and the effects of exhaustion were beginning to sever the nerves. Hard. Pausing for a moment, even if Snow continued ahead, he gave a whistle to his pale furred companion and the wolf turned away from Snow with some hesitation. He was faithful, of course, but found the girl's cloak curious. Perhaps it had a fur lining. The wolf trotted back to the huntsman, who extended a dried belly sack of salvaged river water. The wolf lapped it up greedily, and the man saved only the last savoring couple of swallows for himself before continuing onward.
Her question was surprising, or perhaps it was just her eyes. That saintly blue that he'd failed to appreciate under the dark canopy of demon swept woods. It gave way to a self-spiraling, long pause as the huntsman tried to determine what other details he may have missed about her. Not her beauty, it had - with unfortunate and plaguing elements of guilt - been the first thing that he'd taken notice of in regard to her cloaked figure. Finally, somehow, he found it voice. It was a bit alarming that such gruff cimplicity could have vanished on him at all, even for a moment. "I would be humbled and honored to assist you on your next endeavor into these woods, princess." For although Red denied the title of Lady, and perhaps this Snow would too sooner bury the lineage of royalty, it seemed to a man like himself - one of such meager upbringing - that once titled, always titled. "You may call upon me through the journals. If I am not on this side, contact my other in emergency. His name is Ethan."
Snow made it a few steps without the wolf before she paused in her trek. She had quickly gotten used to his curiosity, wondering if it was the strange smells of the city or perhaps her wolfish sheriff that the four legged companion was snuffing about for. She waited patiently for them, weary but no exhaustion weighing her down like her companions, and it wasn’t until they were back at her sides once more before they continued on together.
“No princess any longer,” she reminded, gently but firm, courtly polish in the timbre of her voice and the elegant grace of her gait, even as she refused the title. “It only came with my marriage and that’s—that’s long since finished.” In truth she had been raised in the halls of a castle before she married Charming, but while she couldn’t recall the reasons why she was moved there as a young girl, she did remember her early youth in the forest. “I was born in a small cottage, there in a wood, with a river running alongside it. That is about as far from a castle as one can get.” Her expression softened at the memory, a bright spot among all of her dark memories of even terrible forests.
“Snow White will do just fine. As for the other side, Tess is her name. Though surely there won’t be any emergency requiring that sort of assistance.” She cast a quick sidelong glance in his direction, the question soft in her statement. With a promise to scour the forest together, and no double dealings with the Queen, there didn’t seem to be any threat looming on the horizon to warrant emergency contacts.
Even if the huntsman's slow gait admitted exhaustion, that was the whole of it. His eyes remained alert to their surroundings, and he gave thoughtful reflection to the description of her upbringing. Part of him found it curious that this girl's sister, Rose, too vehemently declined the title of royalty and privilege. It seemed to him that one would only do so out of horrible experience, some desperate need to separate themselves from their past. It was strange, and yet not. For the huntsman denied his given name for a similar reason. It was no longer deserved, and now only served to remind him of painful memories. Twas better to extinguish the root than to explain the bloom. The wolf limped with determination between them, giving an affection press of his muzzle against the huntsman's leather hide boots. It would not be much farther, not when compared to the full extent of their journey thus far.
"I too grew up in a cottage alongside the woods, which a river passed through." He smiled, although part of him knew that this story was nothing to smile over. "It was a peaceful place."
“They usually are,” she said with a wistful sigh, pausing after several long moments when they finally cleared the edge of the forest. The sun was dipping below the horizon, rosy clouds giving way to violet skies and she pulled her hood down completely to get a better view. She raised her hand to give cover to her eyes as she spied in the distance the outline of simple buildings clustered together into a sleepy town.
“It’s when we leave them, do we find nothing but unrest.” Saying the words aloud made them strike a chord and her posture stiffened ever so slightly before she turned her attention to the man beside her, hoping to cut off her foul mood before it settled too firmly. “Shall we see what the town has to offer three weary souls?”
His hand found the small of her back, and although its gesture might have been courtly, this huntsman surely knew nothing of courts. He obviously meant nothing of offense to touch her in such a way, it was merely an instinctive reach. A way to guide her and keep her from whatever harm might have reared its head in the falling night. "Lets." Lanterns glowed in the distance, the promise of an inn with grub and straw-stuffed beds. He was exhausted and starved, the last thing on his mind at this point was what he was going to tell the Queen when she called upon him.