Snow White and Rose Red- The Tale of Sleeping Beauty Read online

  “I’m sure they mourned appropriately for the first year,” Rose said. “You can’t expect a kingdom to weep forever. Besides, this place is past crowded with foreigners come to win the Princess.”

  I looked around and realized that what Rose said was true. Every inn was hung with a sign decreeing that there was no vacancy. The streets were crowded with people purchasing trinkets or baked goods from the carts and shops that lined the streets. Children ran and played fearlessly in a game of chase that led them across our path and around us. The air hung thick with the smell of flowers and cooking meats and bread.

  “Do you smell that?” Rose asked, her nose to the air.

  “You’ve smelled baking bread before,” I reminded her.

  “Not the bread. There’s something sweeter. You can’t smell it?” Rose took my hand and pulled me forward, dragging our horses along behind us.

  Rose came to a stop in front of a baker’s shop. Through the glass, she pointed to a light, fluffy-looking pastry topped with chocolate. “That is definitely not bread, dear sister.”

  “And I suppose you want it.”

  “Can you honestly say you’ve no desire to try it?”

  I didn’t bother to reply, for Rose was already inside the shop, fishing through her pockets for coins. When she returned, she had a huge smile and one of the little pastries tucked into her hand. She carefully pulled it in two and gave half to me.

  I bit into the pastry, fully intending to tell Rose that it was no better than the bread our mother baked back home. But I hadn't expected the fluffy, buttery flakes, the rich, lush chocolate, or the tangy taste of an unknown fruit.

  My eyes must have gone wide, betraying my thoughts, because Rose began to jump up and down, squealing with delight.

  “It's delicious! Admit it!”

  "It's delicious," I agreed. "But that doesn't mean we can delay any further. We aren’t here to revel. Can you imagine what the king and queen would say if they spotted us dallying on our way to meet with them? Remember, we are not just representing ourselves. We are here on behalf of mother and grandmother, and all of their people."

  Rose nodded, growing serious. "I know, I know. Let us continue our journey."

  I noticed Rose stood a little straighter after that. I couldn't help but smile. Though she would always be the more cheerful, immature, and silly one of the two of us, I had to wonder if just maybe, she was growing up a little.

  When we finally reached the palace, even I had to admit that it was a sight to behold. It was obviously built to impress: twin golden spires rising high into the sky, capped on top with gleaming gems that sparkled in the sunlight, a grand archway plated with silver and garnets, and banners of the finest silk in colors of red, deep blue, and a rich purple flying from every window. We made our way towards the drawbridge, which was guarded on either side by knights dressed in golden armor, which seemed to me an unpractical choice.

  "Try not to let your jaw drop," I teased Rose. "It wouldn't do for them to think that we are a couple of country bumpkins."

  Rose stuck out her tongue at me, but then schooled her features into a bored and haughty look. "A castle made of gold? How common. I suppose the diamond mines must have been lacking that year. What a trial it must be, to live somewhere so plain."

  I hid a smile. "Too far."

  The knights stopped us as our horses stepped onto the drawbridge.

  "Have you business at the castle?" the nearest one asked.

  "We were sent for by the King." From my bag, I produced a parchment to that effect, sealed with the royal emblem.

  The knight examined it, and then bowed low to us.

  "Sorceresses, I bid you welcome to our kingdom. Please, come with me. You are expected."

  We followed him across the drawbridge, and through the entrance. In a large courtyard, our horses were taken away by two stable boys. Our bags were taken by servants, and a woman with flowing golden hair and a red gown richly trimmed came to greet us.

  "A fond welcome to you both," she said, curtsying low before us. "I am called Delilah."

  "I am Snow White," I said, returning her curtsy as best I could.

  "And I am Rose Red," my sister said, curtsying as well.

  "On behalf of my kingdom, please let me extend our thanks. The king and queen, my aunt and uncle, are so grateful that you could join us. I know your journey was long, and I would see you settled. We have rooms set aside for you, in the East wing of the castle. Would you care to see them now? Perhaps you would care to change and freshen up before your Royal audience?"

  I looked down at my simple traveling clothes. I did have another dress in my pack, but it wasn't much better than what I had on. Did they really expect us to haul ball gowns with us on our journey?

  To my surprise, it was Rose who spoke up.

  "I fear in our haste to reach you, we traveled lightly. Perhaps you could assist us in securing proper attire?"

  Delilah smiled warmly. "But of course. I'm so sorry, I should have offered. I'll have things sent to your rooms."

  "Well said," I whispered to Rose as Delilah turned to show us to our rooms.

  Rose gave me a small smile, and we followed after her.

  When Delilah opened the door to what was to be my room, I nearly couldn't believe it. The windows were hung with huge, velvety red drapes, currently pulled back with golden cords that ended in tassels. The canopy bed came up to my waist, and of course every piece of furniture in the room was gilded with gold patterns. Honestly, it was getting tiresome. Wasn’t there some better use for these riches? Feeding the poor, perhaps? Such opulence seemed obscene.

  Rose, on the other hand, was looking around the room with too-wide eyes, her jaw clamped shut to prevent it from dropping to the floor.

  “These rooms face the western mountains, so you should have a lovely view of the sunset every evening. Please make yourselves at home. I’ll have servant bring you fresh gowns.” Delilah walked to the far side of the room and opened a door. “And this leads to your sister’s room. I suspected the two of you would feel most comfortable in adjoining quarters.”

  “I appreciate your thoughtful accommodations,” I said warmly.

  “If there’s nothing else, I shall leave the two of you to settle in,” she said. But before she left, she grasped my hand, and then Rose’s. “We can’t thank you enough for coming. Truly.”

  Then she was gone, and Rose and I were left on our own for the moment.

  “Amazing,” Rose said to me, running headlong into her own room and jumping onto the bed. “Is this not amazing, Snow?”

  “It’s amazing, yes,” I said, coming to sit beside her. “Don’t grow too accustomed to it.”

  “You’re too late. I’ll never sleep on straw again!” she squealed.

  I batted at her with an overstuffed pillow.

  Rose tumbled off the bed and ran to the ornate dresser set with an enormous bowl of fruit and a glass pitcher of juice. “What kind of juice do you think this is?”

  “Don’t make yourself sick,” I warned her.

  “We should eat,” Rose said. “We need to keep up our strength. It’s only practical!”

  I couldn’t object to that, so when Rose threw an orange at me, I only caught it out of the air and began peeling it while she poured us both cups of the juice.

  “You haven’t stopped worrying since we’ve arrived,” Rose told me.

  I sighed. “These people are expecting a miracle, Rose. You and I know something of magic, but if this Princess is cursed into sleep, what can we truly do about it? Set her on fire? Enshroud her in ice? I fear that we’re really only going to be a disappointment to all of these kind people.”

  Rose handed me the cup, and I gave her half of the peeled orange. She looked thoughtful as she pulled at one of the orange wedges and popped it into her mouth. I eyed the cup—a pretty work of glass that was probably more expensive than our house had been back home—and took a sip of the juice. It tasted sweet and tart.

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sp; “Mother and Grandmother couldn’t come,” Rose said finally. “They had other business much more pressing than a slumbering lass. I know we can figure this out, Snow. Just have a little faith.”

  Her confidence made me feel a small measure better.

  For whatever reason, Rose had never learned fear. And being around her made me brave.

  A knock at our door announced the arrival of the finery that we were to wear. Not one or two gowns each, but an entire parade of dresses marched into the room, wielded by over a dozen servants. They hung them up and most left, except one woman stayed behind to help us each into the gowns. Apparently these were the sort that it took more than one person to put them on.

  I looked over my options—each was equally lavish, all in a variety of eye-catching colors. I pointed to the nearest one. “This gown is lovely,” I said.

  As the maid helped me don it, Rose took her time choosing her own gown. She ran her hands over the fabric, she held the colors against her skin and regarded herself in the large mirror set in the side of the room.

  “What do you think, Snow?” Rose asked.

  “They’re all lovely,” I said. “Gowns this expensive could never be ugly. Just pick one.”

  She rolled her eyes at me. “Spoken like someone who’s never needed to try to be beautiful.” She settled finally on a crimson gown set with rubies. “This will go well with the sapphires on your gown,” she told me as she started to struggle with undoing the lacings on the dress.

  “Very thoughtful of you,” I said with a raised eyebrow.

  The woman laced me into the gown so tightly that I wondered if I’d be able to breathe.

  “You’re gorgeous,” Rose proclaimed with a sigh. She looked at me with a mix of awe and envy as the maid moved to help her into her gown.

  For reasons I’d never understand, Rose still wasted a great deal of care on beauty.

  “There’s no value in a pretty face,” I said.

  “You can’t understand beauty’s value because you’ve never lacked it,” Rose said back crossly. “You would try to convince a starving man that there’s no merit in a feast.”

  “You’re hardly starving for beauty,” I told her, turning her towards the mirror.

  Rose gasped. “I’m gorgeous,” she said. “Well, here, step just to the left…” I stepped out of the mirror’s view. “Ah, yes, now that’s perfect…”

  I ruffled Rose’s hair in a manner that made her squawk.

  Rose rushed to neaten her braid, but the maid stopped her.

  “I can help with that, my Lady mage.” The woman curtsied.

  “Oh. Um, my thanks! That would be so wonderful!”

  Rose seemed to shine from within under the maid’s attention. The woman undid the traveling braid Rose wore, then brushed Rose’s hair to a glossy shine. She plaited it into three separate braids, which she twisted around Rose’s head and pinned.

  I requested something simple and ended up with my hair pulled tightly into a bun at the base of my neck. For ornamentation, a spring of flowers was added.

  A knock at the door came at just the right time, which led me to believe that the entire affair was far more orchestrated than it at first had appeared.

  “You both look lovely,” Delilah said, a smile warming her features. “And just in time. Your audience with the King and Queen is about to begin.”

  The throne room was the grandest place I’d ever seen. Made of marble and gold, it was enormous, and every inch of it glittered in beauty and wealth. Windows that went from the floor to the ceiling were draped with silk curtains dyed deep red and purple hues. Chandeliers above us cascaded diamonds and pearls. Exquisite statues carved from marble stood audience, and even they were adorned in silks and jewelry.

  There were over-sized paintings hung throughout, each depicting the rulers of the City of Gold. The final portrait was a gold-framed depiction of the King, Queen, and their daughter—all dripping with jewels. The Queen and Princess wore matching ornate, golden necklaces that hung heavy with sapphires. It was amazing that they’d managed to keep their necks up for the painting.

  “Come,” Delilah said, leading the way down a plush, red carpet that ran from the back of the room to the front where the King and Queen sat on their thrones.

  My first step wobbled as my heel sunk an inch into the rug.

  “Like walking on a cloud,” Rose murmured.

  I hadn’t the heart to tell her that to me, it felt more like quicksand.

  It seemed a lifetime before we reached the dais. When we did, the King and Queen both graciously stood and stepped forward to greet us.

  “Welcome to our humble kingdom,” King Stephan said grandly, clasping my hand in his. The rings he wore dug into my fingers, but I forced a smile. His eyes lingered on my lips, my eyes, and I looked away.

  “We are humbled by your kingdom’s beauty,” I said.

  “It is your beauty that humbles us all,” the king said, still staring at me.

  I shifted uncomfortably. Surely this was not part of the prepared speech, and I certainly had no answer for it. It did not pass my notice that the Queen looked none too pleased with his remark.

  “You are too kind,” I managed, forcing a smile.

  “On behalf of the Vale, we are here to serve,” Rose said, stepping in and taking the King’s hand. She gave it a hearty shake, which seemed to snap him out of his thoughts.

  The Queen stepped forward and embraced us both. “You have surely heard of our troubles, but let us show you.” She clapped once, and a small army of servants rushed forward. They pulled back a set of curtains and I realized that what I had mistaken for the side of the room was actually a separate chamber.

  At the center of the chamber, on an elevated platform and enshrouded in light, there slept a girl.

  Rose and I exchanged a glance and then stepped forward.

  Golden curls spilled across her pillow. Her skin was pale, but her cheeks were flushed with color. Her chest rose and fell as she breathed. She was clearly alive. So, then, at least the King and Queen weren’t simply mad with grief, parading a dead girl around and calling it sleep.

  That still left the question of why she would not wake.

  “May I?” I asked, pulling the Tiger’s Eye gem out of my pocket and holding it up to show them.

  The Queen looked alarmed—as though I might start working some magic right there—but the King nodded.

  “It’s only for examining magic,” I explained. Looking at the Princess through the gem, I could see glimmers of magic running through her, tracing her all over, but not flowing through her. Hovering on top of her skin, almost.

  Rose reached out and touched the Princess’s bare arm. When the King and Queen weren’t watching, I saw her pinch the Princess’s skin. I tensed, but the girl slumbered still.

  “We’ve tried everything,” the King was saying. “We’ve doused her in water. We’ve crashed cymbals next to her ears. And all manner of Princes have come here, pretending to know how to wake her with medicines and potions from every corner of the known world.” From how he sneered the word Princes, I felt I knew his exact opinion of these suitors. “Oh, we’ve seen—and tolerated—it all. They’ve brought in herbs and herbalists, poultices and poultry, concoctions and cocker spaniels…”

  “Please,” the Queen said, interrupting a further tirade. “Can you help us?”

  She looked at me with eyes so hopeful and expectant that I wished I could produce a miracle from my pocket for her. “We will investigate the matter as best we can,” I said. “Now, it would be best if we could ask you a few questions. It would be best to go somewhere private, somewhere we can write down your answers.”

  “Questions?” the King frowned. “Why would you need to question us? You can see for yourself our daughter’s state.”

  “We see the what, but not the why. There may be a fact, no matter how small or seemingly inconsequential, that could help us understand what has happened.”

  “Then you do
n’t understand,” the Queen said, her voice trembling.

  I took her hand, forgetting for a moment that she was a queen and only seeing her as a mother. “Not yet,” I said. “But we will.”

  The King and Queen led Rose and I to a room adjacent to the throne room, and we were provided with comfortable chairs around a long, rectangular table.

  “Now then,” I said. “Can you tell us exactly what the circumstances were before your daughter fell into this slumber?”

  “Surely you’ve heard the tales,” her father said, a hint of a boast in his tone.

  “Surely,” I replied with a polite smile. “But I would like best to hear them from you. Gossip twists the truth.”

  “It was the night before her fifteenth birthday,” the Queen said. “The next day she was to wed the Prince of Hartland. The Delegation had arrived a week before, and the entire day and night had been filled with revelry. Aurora met her future husband, Prince Phillip.”

  “And did the two get along?”

  “As well as can be expected, under the circumstances. Both were very polite, and to my eye the match seemed well-made… though perhaps too soon for my liking.”

  “She was too young,” the King said. “But the demands of the kingdom dictated that we forge an alliance in blood. You see, we’re a very wealthy kingdom, but our lands and holdings are so small, we need an ally. A powerful ally, lest we lose our wealth to the first barbaric raiders to cross our borders.”

  The Queen shook her head. “We were ready to sacrifice her to that marriage.”

  The King snorted. “Sacrifice? She would have been Queen over lands greater than my father ever imagined!”

  “I remember kissing my beautiful Aurora good night for the last time,” the Queen said, ignoring him. “She was so nervous for her wedding. She asked me if she’d still be allowed to dance after she was wed. She asked if she’d still be allowed to go riding at dusk. She was the fastest girl I’ve ever seen on horseback. And I told her… I told her it would be her husband she’d need to ask. I thought to support their marriage, but I wish…” She shook her head. “It makes no matter.”