Red,Black,White

The forest

Ana holds a hand to her head, groaning. She moves her body expeirimentally, then cries out from a sharp pain in her foot. She asseses herself, taking in her haggard appearance. From her tangled, ratty hair to her now mud brown dress( it was originally cream) and bloodied knees, she concluded that she was an absolute mess. She lay in the tattered leaves for a moment more, then forced herself to rise. The light drizzle, of course, made everything that much harder and more miserable.

She wrapped her arm around a young sapling, clinging to the branch, and hauled herself up. Wincing from pain, she broke the branch off and used it as a makeshift cane. Gritting her teeth, she took a hesitant first step, sore muscles protesting.

She began to hobble aimlessly, having no sense of direction or of where she was going. It was obvious that she couldn't go back to the castle- Snow thought she was dead, no need to relieve her of that belief. She decided, when her injured foot was aching and the light drizzle had transformed into a full blown thunderstorm, to head towards the setting sun. She had a vague suspicion that she was heading west, but she wasn't certain- she was a queen, not a navigator!

After a few miserable, damp, chilly few hours, she spied a snug cottage nestled within a grove of pines. She hobbled towards it, pace painfully slow. For her, it was just painful. When she managed to reach the door, she feebily knocked, twice. When no one answered, she hesitantly turned tried the knob. When the door swung open, she took the oportunity to step inside.

Relieved to be out of the rain, she limped over to the row of seven small beds that lined the wall of the cottage. She sat on the one closest to her, eyelids suddenly heavy. Just a moment, she promised herself. She would just lie there for a minute, nothing more...

-

"Who is she? What's she doing here? She's pretty. What's her name?" Ana opens her eyes sleepily, lids half closed, to see seven bearded faces peering down at her.

"Ahh!" She screams, bolting upright. The bearded faces scramble back in alarm, all wearing identical miner outfits. Once she has sat up, she notices that all the men are not, in fact, men. They are vertically challenged, otherwise known as dwarves. 

"You're dwarves!" She shouts, scrambling away from them. Seven dwarves fold their arms and scowl at her.

"And you're Queen Anastasia. Tell us something we don't know."

"And why are you sleeping in my bed?" One of the dwarves asks, a scowl etched onto his face.

"Shut up, Grumpy!" The rest of the dwarves yell simultaniously. Grumpy flinches and puts his head down, mumbling about how life was unfair.

She blinks, a blank look displayed on her face. " What am I doing here? Where am I?" At the back of her mind glimmers the barest hint of memory. A flash of the king, the castle, Snow... "She's trying to kill me!" She shouts, leaping out of bed in a panic.

"Whoa, whoa, slow down, my queen," the dwarf says, a bit of nervousness apparent on his face. "Who's trying to kill you? Why are you here?"

"Snow White." She says faintly. "The king's daughter. She's trying to kill me. When she tried, I ran." The dwarves nod, ushering her back onto the bed.

They all crowd around her, concerning glances smothering her. "Perhaps you'd better tell us the whole story..." So she, Ana, told them the entire absurd story, starting from the the wine stain and ending with the huntsman. When she finished, their mouths hung open, looking like bearded guppies.

After her story, the dwarves introduced themselves to her. She struggled to remember their names, while stifiling laughter.

"Grumby, milady," the scowling dwarf said, reluctantly bowing after the others shot him threatening glares.

"I'm Sleepy, mila..." the rest of what he said was drowned out by a yawn. Ana could see how he had gotten his name.

"I'm Dopey, milady!" A small dwarf piped up, stepping forward and kissing her hand.

"Hello, Dopey," Ana said politely, smiling graciously. He smiled back, then tripped over his feet and promplty crashed to the ground.

The rest of the dwarfs introduced themselves, though all their names blended together to form the beginning of a headache. Throughout the introductions, Sleepy had been busily preparing dinner- Ana had slept longer than she had thought.

She wrinkled her nose at the atrocious scent wafting from the kitchen.

"Come and get it, my lads!" He roared at the top of his lungs. They stampeded the kitchen, grabbing whatever they could find that faintly resembled something edible. Sleepy glanced at Ana, who was still sitting on the bed, fanning herself.

"Don't want any, queen?" He asked her curiously. Well, it actually sounded more like "Dot wan an e, qen?" But Ana had heard her fair share of full mouth language. One word: BROTHERS. She shook her head, slightly nauseated at the thought.

"I'll pass, thanks." She said primly, sniffing. She might have grown up in a modst home, but she had lived in a castle for sixteen years. The lifestyle was bound to rub off on her eventually.

"What's the matter, queen?" Grumpy asked frostily. "Don't like Sleepy's cooking?"

Ana hesitated, searching for the delicate way to put it. "It's not that, really. It's just that... this isn't exactly what I'm used to eating." Sleepy raised an eyebrow, making Ana secretly jealous. She'd always wanted to be able to do that.

"Well, my queen, I seem to have found a solution to your dilemma. We need a housekeeper, and you, you need a home. So what do you say? Want to be our housekeeper?"

Ana thought about it, weighing the options in her head. On one hand, housekeeping wasn't exactly her favorite thing in the world. More like least favorite. On the other hand, she didn't really relish the thoguht of getting killed. So, she choose the lesser of the two evils- dirty laundry.

"Yes. I'll be your housekeeper," Ana said, albiet reluctantly.The dwarfs grinned, looking relieved.

"Great! Now, I suppose you can start with our laundry." They handed her a basket that reeked even worse than their meal. She gingerly took it, holding it away from her body as if afraid of being contaminated. She grimaced, privately berating herself for her decison. Right then, she almost would have prefered the evil sorcerer and crazy princess.

So Ana, queen, became Ana, housekeeper. But ever in her mind was Snow, and how she would get her revenge on her. Snow would go after her as soon as she found out that she was alive, and when she did, Ana would be ready. And when she was done, there would be nothing left of Snow.