The Land of Stories: Gleefully Ever After

As White as Snow

Chapter 16 – As White as Snow

Chapter Notes:  In which we find a misnomer…

…

Chris and Darren were in high spirits as they left the Sleeping Kingdom.  It had been easy to persuade Tina to let them borrow the spindle from her spinning wheel, since she was so grateful for Darren’s suggestion of using dancing to wake up her subjects.  Now, they only had two Wishing Spell items left to collect.

“I’m not sure where we’ll find Snow White’s coffin,” Chris admitted.  “The journal says it’ll be in the Evil Queen’s chamber, but in my book I wrote that it had been moved to the Dwarf Mines.”

“Well, so far we’ve just been following along with what you had the twins do, and everything has been working out perfectly.  You sent them to Snow White’s palace next, so let’s try there.”

They caught a ride on a fishing boat up the river to the Northern Kingdom.  It was dusk by the time the fisherman dropped them off on the bank of Swan Lake, within sight of Snow White’s palace.

“We’ll need to wait until it’s fully dark before we try to get in,” Chris said.  “This place is crawling with soldiers, and I’m sure they’re on heightened alert since the Evil Queen escaped.”

“Do we have to swim under the gate in the moat like you made the twins do?” Darren asked, not sounding at all thrilled by the prospect.

“Yeah.  Unfortunately that’s the only way we’ll make it past the guards.”

“Bummer.”

“Yep.”

Once night had fallen, Chris and Darren slipped into the frigid water and swam through the hidden entrance to the palace that Chris had written about in his book.  They emerged from the moat, dripping and shivering, into an underground passageway.  Climbing a flight of stairs, they found themselves in a laundry room.

Darren immediately began stripping off his wet clothes.  “Now we get to disguise ourselves as maids,” he said enthusiastically.

“Why are you so gleeful about this?”

“I’ve always loved playing dress-up.”

Chris rolled his eyes fondly, taking the dress and lacy cap that Darren was holding out for him.  They quickly changed into the maids’ outfits.

Darren looked Chris up and down.  “You make a cute serving wench.”

“Yeah?  Well, you’d be a lot more passable without the scruff.  Let’s see if we can find something for you to use as a veil.”

Darren held up a lace doily.  “What about this?”

“Perfect.  But you’d better keep your mouth shut.  My voice may be able to pass for a woman’s, but yours would be an instant giveaway.”