A Thief and a Queen

The Queen and Her Pet

Written for Spooky OQ Day 1: Black cat

All in the Enchanted Forest feared the Evil Queen. She chased their beloved Snow White across the country, hellbent on destroying the fair princess. Most believed it was because she was jealous of how beautiful the girl had become and her vanity demanded she be considered the fairest in the land. So she would not stop until her only competition was dead.

It was also well known that the Evil Queen was a witch and used magic to make sure she stayed young and beautiful forever, no matter how dark the spell was. Some whispered she needed the blood of young virgins, which was another reason why she massacred whole villages in her quest to defeat Snow White. The Queen would then take all the virgins back and drain their blood so she could bathe in it.

The people had a warning that she was coming. As a witch, she had a familiar—a midnight black cat that would be spotted in the village. They knew the tom was hers from the bright blue eyes he possessed and his odd behaviors. He appeared to be listening to their conversations and gathering intel. Everyone tried not to speak too loud in his presence but he was stealthy, able to hide in places they didn't think to check for a cat.

Not long after the cat appeared, the Queen's foreboding black carriage would be spotted on the roads. Shouts would rise up in the village. Mothers would scoop up their children, racing into the woods to hide amongst the trees while the men would take up arms. They knew it wouldn't protect them from the Queen's magic but they refused to go down without a fight.

Guards in black armor and with helmets covering their entire faces marched alongside the carriage, dispersing to gather up the villagers who weren't hiding so that they were all together when the Queen left her carriage. She flung the door open, blood red curtains swishing from the movement, and smiled coldly at them. "My beloved subjects," she said, climbing down from the carriage. Her black cat followed, sitting at her feet.

"Snow White ain't here," a man called out, feeling braver than he was. "We're not hiding her so you can go on your way."

The Queen paused for a moment before turning her smile on the man. People swore the temperature around them dropped several degrees and they started to shiver as she approached the group. "I'm sorry. Were you ordering me?"

"I was just telling the truth," the man said, voice shaking though he managed to hold her eye contact. "Snow White isn't here. So you can just leave."

She tilted her head and slowly raised her hand. With a flick of her wrist, they watched his head turn in an unnatural way as the crack of his neck echoed around the quiet village. The man's lifeless body crumpled to the ground, his eyes staring unseeing at the sky.

Keeping her hand raised, the Queen walked along the perimeter of the crowd. The other men backed away, averting their eyes and she smirked. "I trust no one else will be ordering me around?"

A murmur rose up from the crowd, one that sounded like: "No, Your Majesty."

"Good," she said. "Now, my guards are going to search for Snow White. Anyone who tries to stop them or make a run to warn her joins your unfortunate neighbor in the afterlife. Understood?"

They all nodded.

Her smile morphed into a smirk. "Guards, leave no nook and cranny unchecked if you value your own lives."

"Yes, Your Majesty!" they chanted. They then marched into town, pushing past the men to get to their cabins and huts.

The Queen retreated to stand next to her carriage, scooping up her black cat. He purred in her arms as she scratched behind his ear, both watching the guards tear the village apart in hopes of finding the princess that had fled from the place a week prior. She was far away by that point and they wished that the Queen would go bother someone else.