Wicked Envy

[evilqueenhedgie]

Once upon a better time, a beautiful baby girl was born, her parents unaware of what she was to become. I knew, though. I wasn’t allowed to see her until her first birthday due to a silly superstition I knew wasn’t justified. But from the moment I saw her, the evil was reflected back in her eyes, and eventually in her soul. Never, in all of my years of being in the family, have I sensed such an evil, and I knew, I knew from the start things would begin to crumble around the always strong Driselda.

-------X-------

Once upon a later and more dismal time, another beautiful baby girl was born. Unfortunately, her mother did not survive the process, and so the king was left with a little princess and a broken heart. The kingdom wasn’t exactly flourishing since the king was basically just going through the motions. A brilliant but brief light shone on the castle when he met the stunning Driselda, fairest in the land, because when he first saw her, a smile no one had seen since his previous queen died appeared on his face. But she didn’t matter now; he had a young, healthy, new queen that surely wouldn’t leave him like the first had, and the young princess, dubbed Snow White due to the weather conditions and her lovely pale skin, had a new stepmother.

Happiness like this never lasted long around Driselda.

Almost as soon as she said “I do,” a horrible plague swept through the castle, taking everyone but Queen Driselda, Princess Snow White, and a few servants. The king was dead and, by the laws of that particular land, meant that the Queen would rule until her death without remarrying. This, of course, was her intention. Yes, Driselda had met a gypsy woman (her cousin, in fact), who gave her some potions to use at her disposal.

Queen Driselda had also meant to kill Snow White, though, but she was just loose ends that didn’t need to be tied until a later date. She wasn’t a problem, then, at three.

Soon after the beginning of Driselda’s rule, the economy of the kingdom started dropping significantly, and the villagers started to question her. Around this time is when the rumors started floating around and scandals were being created, most of which were probably true, but Driselda was one of those types of people who wouldn’t see the bad in themselves if it stared back at them in a mirror, so long as she was reassured once in a while.

Which is where I came in. She had not come to me for help since she was an inquisitive little child, which told me that she was desperate, though I would never say it to her face.

“Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?” she would ask me, and I would reply truthfully, because it’s against Enchantment Law for an enchanted object to lie to their owner, unless that was part of the spell.

“You, my Queen.”

This went on for several years, as the economy continued to dwindle and the rumors started to become louder.

Then, Princess Snow White turned seven and ruined it all.

“Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?” I was asked at the end of a particularly bad day. I could tell because one, I was a magic mirror and could see everything; and two, there were little hairs out of place. That was a big deal for Driselda.

The answer had changed. I could not lie, though I did hesitate. I knew it would make her very, very angry and she might direct that rage at me. “Snow White is the fairest of them all,” I replied in a mumble.

Her sweet smile twitched and her near-perfect composure faltered. “What was that, magic mirror? Who’s the fairest of them all?”

In stronger voice, though not without fear, I replied yet again, “Snow White is the fairest of them all.”

With a sharp glare and a sudden scowl, her voice, thick with rage and lined with fury, Driselda demanded, “Show me Snow White.”

The image was that of Snow White as she was right then, sleeping soundly. Perhaps it was the anger and envy mixed with the image of her newfound enemy looking so innocently beautiful, or some other point unknown to me, but something inside Driselda snapped.

In an instant, she regained all composure, smiled in such a purely evil way that would have sent shivers down my spine if I were human, and in a single, whispered sentence, everything changed.

“We can’t have that now, can we?”

---------X---------

Once upon a silent time, Queen Driselda plotted. For a whole week, no one saw her, not even me, somehow, as she planned what she would do to her newfound adversary. No words were spoken in the castle. Even Snow White, an opinionated and stubborn teenager, must have sensed the tension since she kept her mouth shut, though none would ever guessed the silence was indirectly caused by her.

Driselda was faced with a few issues that would need to be worked out. First, very, very few people would know about this, because if the villagers found out, they would start a riot for sure. They just loved their blasted little Snow White. The queen could almost feel the blade chopping her head off at that point. Also, whoever knew would have to be someone who could be manipulated, whether it be by money (which she had enough of), or by hypnosis (which she knew how to do), or by beauty. The only reason she would include someone else is so she wouldn’t have to get her hands dirty, something she despised more than anything. Finally, whoever did so would have to be strong enough to drag that dreadful little princess far from the kingdom.

So that wicked brain hatched the perfect plan.

There was a young servant by the name of Nicholas, found by a poor family when he was a baby, who was strong and the sole provider for the family itself, since the father was disabled.

A handful of gold did just fine. Essentially, he would kidnap Snow White, take her to the Olde Forest, and do the dastardly deed.

At first, all Nicholas could see was the money. But the night of; his hands were shaking as he slipped the sleeping potion into Snow White’s evening glass of water, and he nearly turned back thrice while carrying the limp princess.

As the journey wore on, his moral code did make a stand and he simply could not kill her.

He found a huge oak tree with an odd little door, so he set her up against it. Soon, though, the beady eyes of strange creatures bore into him, so he opened the door, set her inside, closed it, and ran back home, telling his mistress the job was done. Driselda didn’t think twice about it. Her plan was so flawless to her that it had to have worked. In fact, she was so proud of herself that that question didn’t pop up for a while.

---------X---------

Once upon a dreary morning, the princess woke up to see seven little pairs of eyes staring at her. One of those pairs of eyes had a pick-ax pinned against her throat. “Who are you, what do you want?” he asked.

“I’m Princess Snow White,” she said in a matter-of-fact tone. “And I don’t want anything except to know where I am and be taken back home right this minute.”

Request ignored. “What are you doing in our house?”

“I don’t know. I just woke up. You could at least give me something to eat and remove this thing from my throat.”

“Don’t sass me.”

“I already did. Now, are you going to get me some breakfast or what?”

Five minutes later, Snow White was being pushed out the door, falling down the stairs, and landing in mud.

This was not fun at all. Being spoiled as she was since Queen Driselda had no desire to properly take care of a princess, she had no idea why she would ever end up in a dreadful forest with no food and mud on her pretty nightgown. So, she did the most princess-y thing she could do, sob. Cry. Whine. For hours, she did nothing but, and no one came to help her.

Meanwhile, Driselda was having problems of her own. The villagers wanted to see Snow White that day, and they didn’t believe it when Driselda said she was sick.

When she came in that evening, her hair was all out out of place. Oh no.

“Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?”

I, of course, knew the answer, but I hesitated to say it. It was obviously too long.

“I asked you a question, magic mirror.” Driselda picked up a candelabrum and held it in her hand. She was on the other side of the room, but it was still threatening and scary.

“Snow White is the fairest of them all.”

And so she threw it.

Thank heavens she missed by an inch, or I wouldn’t be here today.

“HOW is she still alive? I spent a whole WEEK planning! WHERE is that lying little servant boy?”

But Nicholas was long gone. He had regretted leaving the beautiful princess alone and kept seeing her in the castle, so he couldn’t stay another minute. He found an apprenticeship with a blacksmith, something offered to him once he got done working in the castle a while ago.

“Fine. If I can’t rely on poor people to do my work, I must do it myself,” Driselda declared, and went to work. It was child’s play for the wicked woman to obtain an apple that cast a spell, which said that only the kiss of a man of royal blood could wake the princess. It was a bit more difficult, on the other hand, to make herself look old, helpless, kind, and trustworthy. She practiced walking with a cane and talking with a raspy voice.

“How do I look?” she asked me.

“Unrecognizable.”

“Perfect. Now, show me Snow White.” An image of a beautiful princess in tears appeared.

Not an hour later, Snow White was still crying as Driselda tapped her on the shoulder. “Is everything alright, dearie?”

“No.” She babbled on and on and on about things that didn’t have to do with the price of tea in China but made her upset. Driselda pretended to be interested, but honestly she was just thinking of how she was never like this when she was younger.

“You poor soul. How ‘bout an apple to make you feel better?”

Snow white took the apple gratefully.

You probably know what happens next.

After a single bite, the beautiful Snow White was trapped in a deep slumber, only to be awoken by a royal man’s kiss. And there wasn’t any royal blood around these parts.

So Driselda thought.

Nicholas couldn’t stand the guilt any longer. At night, he traveled back to the forest to find Snow White in her slumber. “Help!” he called. “Somebody help me!”

The seven little dwarves looked outside their window and felt a little bad for kicking the girl out. She did say she was a princess, after all, and it wasn’t often they had a princess visitor.

So they helped to boy bring the princess inside and set her on their dining room table.

Eventually, the servant began to fall in love with the girl on the table, and eventually, before one of the times he could actually find it in his heart to sleep, he kissed her.

And what do you know, the servant boy ends up being a lost prince, and Snow White wakes up. They get married, overthrow the evil queen, and live happily ever after, right?

Wrong. Dead wrong.

“Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?”

That dreaded question that ruined everything, and now she was asking it again. “Snow White.”

At first, Driselda showed no sign of shock or surprise. In fact, she almost seemed calm. But right before she spoke, I noticed a slight twitch in her proud smile, one single instant of lost composure.

“Show her to me.” She was dancing with the dwarves and her newfound prince at that house in the oak tree. Judging by the white dress, it appeared to be the wedding reception.

In the dead of night, when they were asleep, she took her last stand against this one nagging issue.

It was an oil lamp. She first drained a little out on the tree, then, standing far back, she tossed the lamp. You could see the smoke from the village as that tree burned down to the ground.

Driselda had run home and was breathless. “Who’s the fairest now, Magic Mirror?”

Horrified, but always honest, I replied:

“You are, my Queen.”

And so, Queen Driselda lived happily ever after.

[/justify]

THE END.