Snow White and Rose Red by Patricia Wrede

Author:Patricia Wrede [Wrede, Patricia]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Penguin Group
Published: 2009-02-19T06:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER · FOURTEEN

“Soon after, the mother sent the girls into the forest to gather wood for the fire. As they walked along, they came across a large tree which had fallen to the ground. When they came closer, they saw a dwarf with a sour, wrinkled face and a long white beard jumping back and forth beside the tree trunk. The end of his beard was caught in a crack in the tree, and the dwarf was trying to pull it free, but all his twisting and tugging was in vain.”

IN THE DAYS THAT FOLLOWED THE BEAR HUNT, JOHN Rimer became a frequent visitor to the Widow’s cottage. His presence was necessary as well as welcome, for the Widow Arden knew little of the strange and twisted spells of Faerie. To steal back Hugh’s Faerie magic required Faerie lore that only John or Hugh could provide, and Hugh refused to leave the forest lest he be seen and bring the witch-hunters down on his mortal friends. It fell to John to help the Widow and her daughters devise a new enchantment to reverse the spell on Hugh.

John was, however, handsome, young, and well-to-do. Moreover, he was unmarried, and the Widow knew what scandal the gossiping tongues of Mortlak could fabricate from his regular attendance on her daughters. She spent some time considering how best to deal with the potential problem, and then, on the third day following the bear hunt, she made her way to Mortlak to call on Mary Hudson.

Mary greeted the Widow with joy and whisked her up the stairs to her antechamber at once, sending her maids flying to bring hot wine and pillows for her guest. When they were settled in comfort before the fire, the Widow sighed in contentment and said, “Thou art kind, Mary, and good to me, indeed. An thou continue in this fashion, thou‘rt like to ne’er be rid of me.”

“‘Twould be no hardship, I do swear,” Mistress Hudson answered. “How dost thou all this winter?”

“Well enough,” the Widow replied evasively, thinking of the Faerie bear and the questionable activities that had followed his arrival. “But I did not come to talk of my affairs. What’s toward in town?”

Mistress Hudson gave her a sharp look, but only said, “The talk is all of Master Kirton’s hunt; hast ever seen such disarray as they returned in? ‘Tis said a spirit or a devil haunts the forest in the outward shape of a bear, and that is why it came to such confusion. Hast heard the tales?”

“A handful,” the Widow replied. “And to me they sound unlikely. ”

“I see thou hast no fear of phantom bears,” Mistress Hudson said, chuckling. “Well, I’ve none, neither, but not many are of our mind. There’s few who’ll brave the woods at night, and some who’ll not go nigh it even when the sun is high. The curate speaks of sending off to London for someone to free the forest of the apparition.”

“He means to bring an exorcist to Mortlak?” the Widow asked in some alarm.

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