The Huntsman

WARNING!! Sexual content and Violence

The Huntsman

For a piece of silver I’ll tell you a story. A story few ever heard. Have you ever wondered what happened to the huntsman? The dreadful huntsman who was charged to kill our Queen? A silver piece buys you the rest of the tale.

**********

No one questions my part in the matter. As if a huntsman is more animal than that which he hunts.

We were in bed when she asked me to do it. Those full ruby lips traveled down the length of my chest only to stop and pause at my belly.

“I want you to take Snow White into the forest and kill her.” Her tongue teased the hair at the top of my pubic bone and then she looked up me appraisingly. “Kill her and bring back her heart for me.”

I protested. “Not the young princess. I cannot kill Snow White. I am not a murderer.”

Her head rose again, those eyes like steel blades challenging me.

“You cannot make me. I’m ashamed enough . . .” I didn’t finish, but I meant to say that I was ashamed enough of the deeds she’d forced me to do. Snow White was not her only requested victim. The Queen was a very beautiful, desirable woman and we had been lovers since before she was a queen. I had helped her secure that crown.

Those eyes started and cut my sentence short. With not a word she reminded me of my place and my danger, then she dipped her head and returned to her amusements.

**********

Snow White might as well be a synonym for innocence. She never questioned why we, two people as different as bull and lamb, were paired together that day. Never questioned the change in her schedule or why a princess should go with a hunter out into the woods. Rather she gathered wildflowers and thanked me for letting her accompany me. I stared at her mutely and tried to envision how I would accomplish this deed.

We continued this bizarre dance for most of the afternoon; she pretending not to wonder, me pretending to hunt other things. Indeed I had a pile of rabbits, quail and a boar to drag back to the castle. Finally the moment was at hand, from behind I drew my cutlass to pierce her heart. I could not bear to look into her eyes.

Fortune made her turn her head. She turned and saw me, her eyes widened in fear and surprise. I dropped to my knees.

“Forgive me Princess! I cannot do it. I cannot kill you.”

Snow White might as well be a synonym for compassion. For even in the face of danger, she stepped towards me, her arm outstretched, her hand reaching to comfort me.

I pushed her away. “Run Princess. Run. The Queen ordered me to kill you and to bring back your heart. She will not stop with me. Run Snow White . . run for your life.”

**********

In the aftermath of happily ever afters, no one questions what became of the huntsman. I am reduced to one from a list of weapons – a huntsman, a haircomb, an apple.

I took the heart from the boar and gave it to the Queen in a mahogany box. She purred with delight and drew me once more to her bed.

When I was dismissed, I hurried to my own quarters and began packing; I knew the boar’s heart would never deceive her for long. I had only been purchasing time. My wife entered as I was packing.

Yes, I had a wife; a woman whose waist was thick with my child.

“We have to leave.” I told her, thrusting a bag into her arms. “Pack only what you need.”

She stood in the doorway, stunned. “But . . but. . . why? What happened?”

I stopped and looked at her. She knew better than to question me. A husband’s word was all; a wife had only but to listen. But I felt ashamed. She had trusted me to carve a simple but comfortable life for both of us; I had squandered my opportunities and made the wrong choices. I told her.

“The Queen charged me to kill Snow White and bring her the Princess’ heart. She thinks I’ve done the deed, but I haven’t. She’ll be coming for me and I cannot promise what will happen to you.”

“But the King! Tell the King. He must know and he will protect you.”

Would that it were that simple. Even if the King could stand up to the Queen, he had little reason to protect me. But I could not say that; instead I turned my gaze to a small black speck on the wall – a spider, perhaps, killed many months ago.

And she knew. When I turned my gaze back to her, I saw that she knew. But she said only this, very slight, nearly under her breath. “Bastard. . . . .You have brought me to ruin.”

She packed fast enough then, a simple bag of clothes and things she’d need for the baby. And we ran.

The Queen knew the truth before we were able to leave the Kingdom. That mirror betrayed all: that Snow White still lived and her location . . . . and my location.
While the Queen disguised herself to deceive Snow White, she sent all manner of scavengers after me. Vultures, ravens and crows, jackals and coyotes – now I was the hunted.

I held them at bay for awhile. It’s not like I left without weapons. But at twilight, my wife stepped to a stream in the open without speaking and within moments she was covered in crows.

“Ethan!” She screamed. Her body twisting and turning to evade them.

I couldn’t shoot at them, I might hit her. So I swept at them with branches and sticks; swatted at them with my hands. Only when my wife and her child lay dead at my feet and my hands were bloodied pieces of meat did the crows retreat.

**********

While two kingdoms rejoiced at the marriage of Snow White and the Prince, I waited for my execution in a dungeon. From my window, I watched the wedding parade; I watched the coronations.

And then Snow White came.

Her presence was like a whisper of wind against a fevered brow. As I knelt at her feet, she took one of my stumps into her hands and drew me to my feet.

“Huntsman, my family has left a dark blotch on your life.”

I shook my head, “No my Queen.”

She lifted my chin until my gaze met hers. “As your Queen, I insist that you hear me out. You are not without blame, I agree, but without my family perhaps your life could have walked a kinder path. As you once prevented my death, I now prevent yours. You are hereby pardoned and free to go. Let no one assault you without the displeasure of the Queen.”

I could do nothing. I could do nothing but kiss her hand and thank her.

Once I ran as swift and silent through the forest as a young buck. I was the finest hunter in the Kingdom and I was greatly admired for my skills.

Now I beg for food and coins.

Would that she had killed me.