Snow White and the Huntsman: Revenge From the Grave

Chapter 9

Ravenna laughed uncontrollably as the story of the dramatic scene she caused was relayed to her via her golden mirror. The mirror man's deep voice retold the scenes in great detail, and it made her heart wish she had stuck around for the live performance and not the recap. She could just picture the Huntsman's face when he happened upon Snow and William. That had been an unplanned bonus! Oh and Snow... and William... those two were doomed already... the minute Snow touched William, the spell Ravenna had cast for her had started to weave its way through her. She had made sure William and Snow would consummate their relationship.

Ravenna had placed the spell on William keeping him unconscious until dawn, knowing Snow would find him and have to stay with him. Ravenna had made sure of that, to ensure Snow had plenty of time to fall under her illusion spell. Snow wouldn't have known it wasn't Eric and instead William, even if she had fully awakened from the spell cast dreams of Eric. The spell was designed to break at the exact moment Snow found release. Ravenna clapped her hands like a child at her own cleverness. And William... being a man, and finally getting the woman of his dreams, hadn't required much of a push from her to nudge him into a little morning liaison. She had planted the thought in his head before she had left him. What man doesn't want to make love to the woman he desires first thing in the morning? Ravenna laughed again at how easy her adversaries were manipulated and played. A simple game of chess, move the Queen here, the Knight there, let the pawn fall where he may, and she could declare checkmate. Oh yes, she had always played chess very well.

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Snow and William made the entire trip back to the castle in silence. What could they say that would make the other feel any better?

Upon reaching the castle William dismounted first, and out of habit, went to Snow and took her by the waist to help her from the saddle. A warrior's cry went up and William barely had time to react before Eric, who had bolted from the castle when he saw them arrive, charged him, throwing his arms around the other man's waist, lifted him three feet off the ground and sent them both flying to the earth. William grunted at the impact but his years of Knight's training kicked in instantly and he maneuvered himself up, grappling with the bigger man.

Eric was intent on killing William, slowly and with his bare hands. He had fled when he first saw them from shock, but it hadn't taken long for his pride and anger to fill in the spaces of his hurt. He had worked himself into a certified, homicidal delirium by the time he had spied the two pulling their horses up out front.

William did his best to defend himself but only to keep Eric from killing him. He didn't go on the defensive. William had quickly deduced that Eric must have seen them; he would have been out looking for him and Snow. He couldn't blame Eric. He would have done the same thing. This is the last thought he had before Eric got his hands around his throat and squeezed as William tried to pry his fingers loose before he crushed his windpipe.

Snow had yelled at the two to stop several times as the two grappled and fought, rolling in the dirt and scrambling up to only thump back to the ground rolling and throwing punches. Her cries finally alerted men from the castle and they ran to the Queen, looking to her for direction.

"Well don't just stand there gawking! Stop them before they kill each other!" Snow was helped down by a stable boy who had run up at the commotion as well.

It took five men to pull Eric off William and they could barely control him. He fought tirelessly, his eyes fixated on William as he roared and screamed at him, "I'll kill you! I'll kill you! You bastard! Let... Me... Go! I'm going to kill him!"

The men hung on for dear life.

William was not being restrained since he was making no move toward Eric, but he kept his defensive stance incase Eric managed to slip their hold. He had no doubt Eric would strangle him dead.