“For you, your majesty.” The Huntsman bowed low and presented the ornate box.

  “The deed is done then?” She asked. Tapping her manicured fingernails against the arms of her throne. Watching the man for any sign of dishonesty. His hands shook as he put the box down before her throne. Satisfied, the Queen rose from her throne, watching him as she got closer. Bending down and picking up the box. Looking inside brought a smile of satisfaction to her face.

  “You’ve done well. Now go.” She dismissed the huntsman and he rose to his feet and left the throne room. The Queen was filled with pride as she shut the lid again, she left the throne room herself. Taking her prize to her private room. Up in the tower.

  She took her key from around her neck and opened the door. Shutting the door and not bothering to lock it as she went to the mirror again. Summoning the soul trapped in the mirror

  “What wouldst thou know my Queen?” The mirror’s face appeared. Apathetic as always.

  “Magic mirror on the wall, Who now is the fairest one of all?” The Queen asked, holding her trophy.

  “Over the seven jeweled hills, beyond the seventh fall. In the cottage of seven dwarves lives Snow White. Fairest of them all.” The mirror replied. Unable to lie.

  “Snow White, lies dead in the forest.” The Queen said, she let a little snicker out as she opened the box and showed its contents to the mirror.

  “Snow White yet lives, fairest in the land. IT’s the heart of a pig, you hold in your hand.” The mirror said unimpressed.

  “The heart of a pig?” The Queen said, looking down into the box for the first time. “Then I’ve been tricked!” She turned with a flourish of her velvet fur lined cape and stormed out of the door, leaving it unlocked and ajar. She marched down the spiral stairs from the tower and continued her march down the halls and down farther stairs down and further still down. Her cape barely touched the ground as she went down into the dungeons.

  The rats in the dungeons fled from the sudden movement of the Queen. She deviated from the path to the dungeons and to a hidden door where she opened the door and slammed it.

  “The heart of a pig.” She said. Once she was alone within her alchemist's lair. She threw the box to the side. “That blundering fool.” The box crashing and skittering across the floor woke the crow from it’s perch on a ceramic skull. She considered what she was to do next. It was clear she couldn’t send someone else to do the job.

  “I’ll have to go to that cottage myself.” She said, before looking down at herself. “I’ll wear a disguise so complete no one will ever suspect.” She went to her dusty cobweb filled bookshelf and traced the spines. Reading the titles until she found the one marked ‘disguises’.

  “Here it is.” She said as she took the book off the shelf. She placed it onto the book holder on the desk. Opening it and flipping through the pages.

  “Now a formula to transform my beauty to ugliness.” She muttered to herself as she turned the pages. “Change my queenly raiment to a peddler’s cloak.” She stopped at a worn page that held a recipe for a peddler’s disguise. She traced her finger down the ingredients, nodding as she went. First things first. She picked up a glass chalice and filled it with clear water. Boiled in threes as was customary.

  “First, Mummy dust. To make me old.” She said and took up a vial of black liquid. Carefully watching so only a drop fell into the water. Too much and she could turn herself so old, she’d become nothing but dust herself. The black drop expanded and turned the water black.

  “To age my voice, a hag’s cackle.” The queen placed the chalice down under a series of glass chambers linking to a filtering flask filled with an orange liquid. The Queen turned up the burner beneath it. Within seconds the liquid began to boil. The bubbles cackling as the liquid turned to steam. Traveling through the tubes that cooled the condensation back into a liquid and dripped into the chalice. Mix with the brew already in it and turning it bright red.

  “To whiten my hair, a scream of fright.” The Queen held the chalice beneath a pressurized copper still. She turned the know and let the hiss of pure white terror spill into the chalice. Steam and scream rising as she did so. The brew turned a poisonous green. She closed the tap and went to her window.

  “A blast of wind!” She called and the elements responded with a howling wind blowing in from the window. Making the brew swirl and bubble. Aerating the mix. “To fan my hate!”

  “A bolt of thunder!” She cried over the wind as lightning struck nearby. The brew flashed in reaction to the bright light. “To mix it well.” The Queen brought the chalice to her face. She could see her reflection in the glass. The alchemical brew had turned a sick thin green.

  “Now,” She had a single breath of hesitation, “begin thy magic spell.” The hesitation ended, she took the chalice in both hands and drank down the potion. It tasted like nothing. But once drank it began to work instantly. It burned the Queen’s throat and made it dry. She clutched at her throat as it started to close. The room began to spin as the Queen fought to breathe. She pulled off her crown and it clatter to the ground. Pulling the fabric off from around her neck to try and breathe.

  In the process her raven black hair came tumbling down around her shoulders. Her head ached and was reeling as her soft black curls straightened and frayed. Turning a sickly yellowish white. Her hands suddenly began to hurt as if they’d been crushed. She held them out before her and saw them beginning to change.

  “Look!” She cried “My hands!” Her fingers lengthened and the skin stretched and then sagged. Showing every joint on her knobbed hands. The Queen fell to the ground as a darkness fell over her. Her eyes open but she saw nothing but darkness. Her throat finally relaxed and she tried to speak but all that came out was a croak.

  “My voice.” She said weakly. “Oh, my voice.”

  The room stilled. Everything settled. The Queen, now an ugly old hag, got up to her feet. She looked over herself in one of the mirrors she kept nearby. Beginning to cackle madly. She lifted her head and revealed her new elderly appearance to the room. The raven screeched in fright and hid under the porcelain skull. The hag laughed and shook her head. Taking the book of disguises and putting back on the shelf.

  “And now…” She mused in her cracked and raspy new voice. “A special sort of death for one so fair.” She searched her books until she pulled a book of deadly poisons from the shelf. She placed it on the pedestal and began to leaf through it.

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  “What shall it be?” She flipped the pages until she stopped on something promising. “Ah-ha!” The raven, still hiding in the skull, jumped and fell off the desk.

  “A poisoned apple. The Sleeping Death.” The hag read, laughing as she did so. “One taste of the poisoned apple, and the victims eyes will close forever in the sleeping death.” Her toothless grin growing maliciously.

  .~.

  The cottage of the dwarves was lit up and warmth radiated from it. The dwarven singing and music was floating through the forest and drawing all of Snow White’s woodland friends to the windows. Bouncing along with the music.

  Inside, the single living space was alive. The dwarves had brought out every instrument and were playing and singing a nonsensical song as they played. Dopey and Happy handed off their instruments or stopped playing altogether to come together. Linking arms and dancing around in a circle.

  Snow White sat on a chair laughing and clapping to the beat. Bashful started the song with a yodel as he played the accordion. Doc, playing the guitar, yodeled in a harmony. Sneezy showed off his skills at yodeling, proving he was the best of his brothers. The intricately carved pipe organ was played by Grumpy. Leaning back and forth as he sat on the organ’s pedals. He played the organ but occasionally looked over his shoulder bitterly. He played a jaunty leading tune and Happy stepped forward before Snow White. He cleared his throat and counted himself in.

  “I’d like to dance and tap my feet but they won’t keep in rhythm!” He sang, trying not to laugh. “You see, I washed them both today and I can’t do nothing with ‘em!” Happy began tapping his feet and curtsied to the princess.

  “Ho-hum the tune is dumb the words don’t mean a thing.” The rest of the brothers joined in for the chorus. “Isn’t this a silly song for anyone to sing?” The played their instruments with Dopey manning the drums. He pulled a handful of drumsticks from his sleeve. Gleefully he took them and hit one of the drums with enough force to send the drumsticks up into the air. Drumming quickly enough to switch position and hold up one arm and letting all the the falling sticks go through his shirt to the other sleeve and hitting the second drum in rhythmic fashion and flying off to who knows where. Dopey caught the last drumstick and hit the cymbal.

  Grumpy played another lead in and Sneezy and Happy pushed Bashful before Snow White. Bashful looked at Snow White and his cheeks got bright red and he missed the lead in. Only squeaking. Grumpy stopped and looked at Bashful with disdain. He started playing the lead in again. Bashful tried to focus, looking at the ground instead. But he saw Snow White’s shoes and then looked up into her innocent eyes.

  “I…. oh. Gosh…” His face turned red, and he pulled his hat down to hide his face. Grumpy’s temper flared up. His eye twitched. He turned and smashed the key of the organ producing a high pitched and eerie shriek from the instrument. It startled Bashful and he let out a noise that quickly turned into words;

  “I chased an old polecat up a tree, way out upon a limb.” He sang looking everywhere but at Snow White. Moving back and forth in a twisting motion and keeping his eyes fixed on a point in the roof. “And when he got the best of me I got the worst of him.” His voice broke and he quickly found his way back behind his accordion and away from center stage.

  “Ho-hum the tune is dumb, the words don’t mean a thing,” the brothers all sang the chorus together. Dopey, supposed to be manning the drums, took the hook that hung the one of the cymbals and made his way across the floor keeping time with the cymbal. “Isn’t this a silly song for anyone to sing?” Dopey held up the cymbal and Snow White’s face lit up. She took hold of her skirt to remain as regal and elegant as was possible before kicking the cymbal. It’s clang and hiss bounced along with her laughter. Dopey skedaddled back toward his drums. Happy took his place in the center of the room that served as their stage. But instead of starting another verse he began to yodel. It was a sound that Snow White hadn’t heard before and she listened with pure delight.

  Though she had no idea how to yodel, she was no stranger to high notes and with a cheeky smile of her own she lilted her voice as high as it went. The sound mimicked Sleepy’s reed instrument. He took the opportunity to yawn, though it was cut short as a fly flew into his mouth and nearly choked him.

  Doc handed off his instrument to Happy and approached Snow White. He held out a hand and bowed.

  “Care to dance?” He asked and Snow White swept up her skirts.

  “I’d be delighted.” She said and stood up. She’d been taught ballroom etiquette with her father as a much younger girl. Plus she’d seen plenty of ballroom dances through the years as a scullery maid. But the dwarves did no such dance. They danced in a way that let the music simply move them however it felt right. Doc led Snow White around in a circle, releasing her hand to Bashful who circled with a little twirl and then to Sneezy who gasped for air as he clicked his heels mid-jump. Then back to Doc who swung Snow White a little harder to prompt her into moving more.

  But it was Dopey on the drums that got her moving. The fly that had been bothering Sleepy had moved over to the drums where Dopey tried to swat the fly with the drumsticks. The beat was killer and it left Dopey winded. The fly buzzed from Dopey and back to bother Sleepy. Landing daintily on his nose. Ever so slowly he reached out for a nearby cushion to swat the fly with. But Dopey didn’t quite see the vision and instead unhooked the cymbal from the drum set and put it into Sleepy’s hand.

  Sleepy, thinking it was a cushion at first, slapped it across his face. His ears rang and suddenly instead of one fly whizzing around there were now six or seven flying in circles before his eyes.

  Snow White had found the rhythm, she held her skirts and kicked out her heels. Happy took her hand and she spun around. Throwing everything she’d ever learned about how a princess should dance out the window in favor of having fun.

  The organ’s note suddenly went sour. Grumpy looked up and found three of the pipe organ’s pipes stuck in the open position. The slapped them closed and played the full range of notes. Making sure to hit every key to make sure it was all working right.

  Snow White and Bashful danced about and bowed to each other. Bashful took up the edges of his beard like Snow White holding her skirts. At the wide open window, Snow White’s woodland friends danced along. Some on the sill of the window and others just outside.

  Dopey pulled a long coat from a closet and his eyes lit up with an idea. Sneezy had taken a break from the movement to breathe, lingering near the table and clapping as he regained his breath. Dopey donned the coat and hopped up on the table. He ran to Sneezy and jumped on to his shoulders. Sneezy stumbled under his younger brother’s weight. The smell of Dopey’s shoes made Sneezy’s hyperactive allergies start to flare.

  Dopey pressed his foot under Sneezy’s nose. Pressing down enough to trigger the pressure point and dissipate the incoming sneeze.

  “Thanks!” Sneezy said before Dopey hastily buttoned the coat. Hiding Sneezy and making it look like Dopey was just very tall. He leaned forward and Sneezy opened the coat so he could watch where he was walking as they moved forward.

  Laughter erupted as Dopey and Sneezy walked back into the center of the room. Snow White turned and couldn’t help herself but laugh as she saw the pair walking toward her. She covered her mouth as she laughed and curtsied gracefully. Dopey tried to bow but the center of gravity was so strange that he began falling off Sneezy’s shoulders. The only thing that saved him was Sneezy grabbing him by the back of his pants and pulling him back up. Dopey struggled before regaining his balance.

  He took Snow White by the hand and led her into a dance. Letting her lead back and forth. Sleepy tried to focus on her footwork and keep up. Snow White and Dopey linked their arms and she spun around and Dopey’s feet lifted off Sneezy’s shoulders and he was left mid-air for a second before Sneezy ran to fit his shoulders under his brother.

  The room was spinning in a rush of movement and glee. Snow White Kicked left and right as Dopey grinned and Sneezy kicked and danced as fast as he could. Snow White went to the side as Sneezy truly took off. She clapped her hands as the music played and Sneezy clicked his heels together. All the while on his shoulders Dopey snapped his fingers.

  All of a sudden. The sneeze that had gone away suddenly came back and it was building with a vengeance. The music stopped, Snow White covered her ears, Dopey held the coat closed. The others dove for cover and finally Dopey, in a second of crossed wires, held his own nose. Sneezy sneezed.