At midnight, Anastasia slipped out of bed. She quietly changed from her nightwear into her daily working clothes, and crept down the hallway into the kitchen. The chef was there, asleep in a wooden chair.
Pig scummer, Anastasia thought to herself. This is horrible. She snuck around the chef toward the cutlery drawer, which was built into the counter, and quietly opened it, pulling out the largest and sharpest of knives. The drawer squeaked loudly as she closed it, and Anastasia froze as the chef snored loudly and began to slowly awaken.
"Who dere?" The chef mumbled sleepily, and Anastasia quickly tucked the knife into a fold in her tunic and dropped to the floor.
The chef, who was on the other side of a wooden counter in the center of the dark room, yawned, stretched, and stood. "Please come out now," he said tiredly.
Anastasia did an army crawl to move across the floor to the door, feeling like a snake. She stopped when something brushed her hand. Rolling to the side, she picked it up. It felt... hairy...?
Holding it close to her face, Anastasia squeezed it, and swore she felt bones and muscle. Dropping it quickly, it landed with a small THUMP, and Anastasia covered her mouth to hide her scream. It was a dead mouse.
"I heard that!" The chef boomed, lurching toward Anastasia blindly.
Quickly, Anastasia stood and slipped out of the kitchen, stealthily moving through the dark halls of the castle. She realized after a bit that walking by using the ball of her heel and then landing lightly on her toes would get her places faster and quieter, and so Anastasia walked in this way all the way to the end of the Great Hall, her knife in hand as she slowly pulled open the door to the throne room.
YOU ARE READING
Ehrhart
General FictionAnastasia is the daughter of the Evil Queen's feared huntsman. One day she goes to the well to get water for the palace stablehands and meets a beautiful maiden known as Snow White. The adventure that follows introduces the huntsman's daughter to ne...
