Ever After (ONC 2024)

Chapter 5 - Don't Let Sleeping Princesses Lie

"See, I told you he was going to track us down again," Hamlet said. "We could have just stuck with my plan in the first place and saved ourselves a whole lot of bother."

"But then how exactly would we have gotten ourselves out of the cage?" Arthur asked.

"Eh, a minor detail," Hamlet said. "We would have figured something out."

"Well, we need to figure something out right now or we're all going to be wolf food," Arthur said. "Anyone got any ideas?"

"I vote we do my usual plan," Hamlet said. "We wait for the wolf to blow the house in and then run like maniacs."

"I'm good with running away," Arthur pushed his glasses back up his nose. "I just don't really see the need to stand around waiting for the walls to collapse in around us. Does this place have a back door?"

"Actually, it does," Gretel pointed towards an unobtrusive door made out of gingerbread in the rear wall.

"Well, then let's blow this candy shack," Arthur said.

"Hang on one second," Hamlet said as he turned towards the front door and called out "Not by the hair on my chinny chin chin!"

"What did you do that for?" Arthur asked.

"Sorry," Hamlet shrugged sheepishly. "That's just how this goes. We can get out of here now."

"Yes, let's," Arthur said as he heard the wolf shout about huffing and puffing from out front.

They raced out the back door before any damage was done to the house. There was a small patch of lawn in the backyard, but just beyond it a small path led into a dense forest.

Arthur wasn't sure how long they'd been locked up, but it was full-on daylight outside now. The air was warm and fragrant with the smell of flowers and a gentle breeze stirred the grass. The forest ahead appeared dark by comparison and Arthur had no idea what might lurk in its depths, but he much preferred to face the unknown than to stick around here and become wolf chow.

He could hear the witch's house collapsing into ruin behind them as they reached the treeline. Hopefully there was enough left of the witch and Hamlet's brother to keep the wolf occupied for a little while.

"We should be safe for now," Hamlet said. "But we ought to keep our eyes open for somewhere sturdy to take shelter. It's only a matter of time before he turns up again."

"What is this guy, the terminator?" Arthur asked. "He sounds relentless. I really think we should figure out some way to deal with him once and for all. We can't keep running forever."

"Or can we?" Hamlet asked.

"No, we can't!" Arthur said as he hopped over a log that had fallen in the trail. "By the way, does anyone know where this path goes? We're not getting ourselves hopelessly lost here or anything, are we?"

"We're in the Enchanted Forest," Gretel said. "I think this is the path Hansel and I took to get to the witch's house. I'll know exactly where we are as soon as I see some bread crumbs. My brother left a trail of them to mark the way home."

"Bread crumbs?" Arthur said. "Oh, for crying out loud! I remember how this story goes. We're not going to find any bread crumbs because the stupid birds eat them!"

"Oh," Gretel said. "I didn't think of that."

"To be fair, you can't really blame the birds," Hamlet said. "Bread crumbs are mighty tasty."

"Well, this path has to lead somewhere," Arthur wiped the sweat off his brow. "We may as well follow it and see where it goes."

"Speaking of bread crumbs, I'm getting pretty hungry," Hamlet said. "That witch kind of skimped out on feeding us."