Black Forest: Kingdoms Fall (36 page)

"Both of them," he nodded. "Asleep, though. It will be hours before they wake."

"Can we come up there?" Sawyer asked anxiously, and the young man nodded, motioning them to the nearest chair.

"I carved them myself," he stated with pride.

Sawyer and Christophe ran at once to the chair, but Cinderella did not move. Glancing to her in the dim shadow of the table, Rapunzel could see her
reluctance to meet the young man, for fear she would cost him his life. Tugging gently upon her hand, she coaxed Cinderella to join them, and they got to
the chair leg as Sawyer was starting up the makeshift stairs.

When the stairs turned up one of the chair's spindles, they grew steeper, and, as they reached the edge of the table, the stranger help them up to its
surface, until they all stood amongst the leftovers of dinner, which were not leftovers at all really. The turkey carcass, twice their size, was nearly
picked clean and only remnants remained in bowls and on plates. For a giant, only a pittance of food had been left, but tiny as they were in comparison,
what remained was a giant feast.

"Is it safe to eat?" Cinderella asked.

"Yes." The young man nodded. "And wonderful to eat. The lady giant is a great cook. I have had more than my fill. Please, help yourselves."

Though it was clear the young man had no right to offer such invitation, they dove straight in, Sawyer and Christophe rushing the turkey, as Rapunzel and
Cinderella tilted the bowl beside it, scooping sweet potatoes in their hands and groaning at their perfect flavor.

"I assume you found my beanstalk," the young man came between them to say.

"Your beanstalk?" Cinderella asked between bites.

"Yes, I grew it myself," he said with a proud sniff, before humbling beneath all the eyes upon him. "Well, I somewhat grew it. I traded my cow Milky White
for five beans. The farmer, he swore to me they were magic. My mother, though, she was not too happy about it. She tossed them out the window, and, when we
woke the next morning, there the stalk stood."

"So, you just come up here to eat?" Christophe asked, putting his foot against the turkey in an effort to rip the leg off. When he struggled, Sawyer moved
to help, and with a giant crack, the leg broke free.

"Sometimes." Jack gave a small shrug. "I like it up here. I do not fit, but I do not fit in the world below either, it seems. My mother says my head, it
lives in the clouds."

"That is all right." Rapunzel smiled at him, for she had known the same accusation from her mother. "Sometimes the clouds feel the safest place."

"Rapunzel, she lived in the clouds." Cinderella's clean hand slid across her back, and Rapunzel sighed into it.

"Is that right?" Jack asked.

"Near enough," Rapunzel admitted.

"And what about you, Fair Lady?" Jack questioned over Rapunzel's shoulder. "Did you also live in the clouds?"

"No," Cinderella responded softly. "I should say I was quite tethered to the earth."

"That is too bad," the young man said, gaze turning thoughtful. "I am Jack."

Thrusting out his hand along with his introduction, he retracted it upon the realization there was not a hand amongst them he wanted to touch. Even Norco
and Togo were paw-deep in the leftovers of an orange-colored cake that Rapunzel had been eyeing for her next course.

Flying free of it, Norco hovered above them, licking the crumbs from his paws. "Are the giants pleasant?" he asked, the question so calm it barely
registered in Rapunzel's mind.

"The giantess is pleasant," Jack replied. "She does not mind me coming here at all, so long as her husband does not find me. She says he would not care too
terribly much for it, and would likely dispose of me as vermin."

"And which is that?" Togo asked evenly, pointing off in the direction of the long hallway leading away from the dining room, and each hand froze. Even
Rapunzel's throat refused to swallow.

Only Jack launched into motion, bounding up the broken turkey carcass to look down the hall.

"Jack, please tell us it is the lady of the house," Cinderella pleaded.

"That would be a spot of luck I am afraid we do not have," he returned.

"Oh no," Rapunzel breathed, flicking the food from her hands, and turned at Cinderella's touch, running back down the table toward the stairs as the giant
bounded down the hallway toward them.

With each giant step, the table shook so hard they nearly lost their footing, and it occurred to Rapunzel that, no matter how fast they ran, they could
never outrun a giant.

"FEE-FI-FO-FUM," the giant bellowed as he closed in, and their escape was made for them. The mighty exhalation produced a violent wind across the surface
of the table, and, clinging to each other, Rapunzel and Cinderella tumbled over the tabletop, until there was no tabletop left.

Falling through the air, they came to an abrupt stop on the stone floor, and Rapunzel was instantly aware of how little impact she felt. Raising her head
to look down at Cinderella, she shielded the body beneath her as Christophe, Sawyer, Jack, and debris rained down from the table's edge.

"Cin?" she whispered in panic, hands gently shaking the frighteningly still form that had absorbed the brunt of the fall for both of them.

Something heavy striking her across the back, Rapunzel groaned as she glanced to Christophe, Sawyer and Jack, relieved to see them all struggling to their
feet.

"Cin, wake up," she whispered, tears streaming in generous measure down her face, relief pouring through her when she felt Cinderella moan beneath her.
"Please," she encouraged, and, with a great deal of effort, Cinderella forced her emerald eyes open, locking them on Rapunzel's. "We have to get you out of
here."

Remembering suddenly where they were, Cinderella tried to sit up, but barely lifted off the floor before reaching for the back of her head and falling back
again with a groan. When she pulled her hand away again, Rapunzel swallowed at the amount of blood that covered it.

"Come on," Sawyer yelled, rushing to them. With his help, Rapunzel got Cinderella to her feet, and they hobbled to the mouse hole with Cinderella's arms
draped about their shoulders.

"Where are the little guys?" Jack shouted.

"They will be all right," Rapunzel assured him. "They are far from helpless."

Turning to look for them, despite her proclamation, Rapunzel found Norco and Togo flying right at the giant with a massive cut of cheesecloth. Closing in
from behind, they dropped the cheesecloth over the giant's head, and he roared and flapped his arms, tangling himself up further.

"All right," Norco called, catching up to them with Togo. "Let us get out of here."

The quaking and banging of furniture being overturned in the giant's haste to get free resounded as they reached the mouse hole, and Sawyer turned to
Rapunzel.

"Let me get her out," he insisted, and Rapunzel reluctantly relinquished her hold on Cinderella to allow Sawyer to lug her through the limited space. Right
behind them, she moved back beneath Cinderella's arm on the other side, and they made haste to the stalk.

"He is getting free," Togo flew up to warn them, and, just as they cleared the great iron entry, the door of the palace splintered, one whack from the
gargantuan fist sending it into thousands of tiny scraps.

Rushing past them on the slope of lawn, Christophe and Jack waited at the top of the beanstalk, encouraging them to hurry.

"Give her to me," Sawyer said, swinging onto the stalk and leaning back to make room for Cinderella.

"Be careful," Rapunzel whispered, helping him situate Cinderella against the front of his body.

"Of course," Sawyer promised. "We will see you at the bottom." Then, he loosened his grip upon the stalk and let gravity pull them rapidly from view.

Watching Sawyer disappear with Cinderella through the clouds, Rapunzel jumped onto the stalk after them, taking a loose hold. Falling freely, she was
quickly below the clouds, the leaves of the stalk striking her as she fell past them through the night.

She was almost at the bottom, Christophe and Jack not far above her, when a powerful quake disturbed the stalk. Arms nearly failing her, Rapunzel grasped
onto a passing leaf, glancing in horror at Sawyer's cry from below as he lost his grip and fell from the stalk with Cinderella, rolling over the ground
below.

Returning to her fall, Rapunzel jumped from the stalk, rushing to Cinderella's side as Cinderella's lips opened on a weak whisper. "Where... is...
Rapunzel?"

"I am here. I am right here," Rapunzel sobbed, grasping Cinderella's seeking hand as another massive tremor shook the stalk and the world. Glancing to the
clouds, she watched a giant boot make an unwelcome appearance.

"Great gods," Sawyer muttered, and sliding their arms beneath Cinderella, Rapunzel and Sawyer carried her to the edge of the forest, tucking her away from
view behind a tree.

"Make haste!" Sawyer called anxiously, rushing back to help Christophe and Jack.

Sliding to her knees behind Cinderella, Rapunzel folded her arms carefully around her trembling form, Cinderella's body much cold, her hair too matted with
blood.

Mindful of the injury, Rapunzel pressed her lips to Cinderella's temple, tears streaming down her face, feeling, with silent dread, it would be the last
time.

E
verything was hazy. Like a dream. Rapunzel's arms around her, hand clutching the luxurious fabric of Rapunzel's borrowed gown, awareness came and went as
Cinderella watched Jack call for his axe. Flying to fetch it from a nearby stump, Norco and Togo carried it to Jack's outstretched hand, as he jumped the
remainder of the distance to the grass below.

In full view beneath the clouds, the giant swayed precariously on the beanstalk as Jack gave it the first mighty blow. Then a second. It was on the third
strike that the giant grew alarmed, tying to scramble back up as Jack delivered the final strike and the beanstalk came crashing down.

Releasing a ground-shaking yawp as he careened toward the earth, the giant tried to jump clear of the stalk, his arms and legs flailing about him before he
finally landed with a crushing weight on the tiny cottage, which squashed like a grape beneath his chest.

"Mum!" Jack cried, rushing toward the shattered quarters, and Christophe grabbed him to hold him back, digging his feet in when Jack proved much stronger
than him.

Following the flight of Norco and Togo as they circled the giant's head, Cinderella drifted once again into darkness, coming back into the night more
slowly than before, colder than before. Fist grasping nothing, she reached for Rapunzel, finding empty air at her back.

"Rap," she said weakly, but there was little question in the call and even less answer.

The rapid pounding of her heart shooting new pain into her head, she pushed back from the tree, world tilting as she took in her surroundings. Beyond the
edge of the forest, there was Jack crying, Christophe standing at his back, Sawyer staring solemnly toward the crushed house, and Norco and Togo finally
alighting on the giant to poke him with tentative fingers. Behind her, where Rapunzel had been, there was no one.

"Rap," Cinderella called, the effort to her knees laborious and nauseating. Crawling around the tree, into the clearing, it was even more of a struggle to
her feet, and Sawyer rushed to her side, trying to serve as a crutch.

"Rapunzel!" Cinderella screamed, pushing him forcefully away. "Rapunzel!" She took an uneasy step back toward the trees, feeling the wrong arms around her.

"Cinderella," Sawyer whispered.

"No!" she shouted, pulling from his grasp, tears impeding her vision as she lurched back into the trees. "Rapunzel!" she sobbed.

Circling the tree where Rapunzel had been, Cinderella came face to face with a mirage, passing through it and tumbling to her knees. Palms finding the
ground flat and even beneath her, it did little to chase away the vertigo, and Cinderella closed her eyes as she spun around, appealing to the universe
that when she opened them everything would look different. Cracking them at last, she stared directly into the face of Grimm.

Grimm casually stroked his beard, the tips of his ink-stained fingers smoothing the whiskers down, and Cinderella snapped her eyes closed again.

Taking a breath, she opened them once more.

Grimm smiled.

Sensing mortality closing in only moments before, Cinderella felt an incredible return to life. Lunging up at him, a growl tore from of her chest, making
her sound as if she had been raised by a pack of wolves, but arms caught hold of her before she reached him, dragging her back to the ground.

"Let me go!" she roared to Sawyer, Christophe and Jack.

"You know you cannot hurt him," Sawyer whispered. "You are only going to do further damage to yourself."

"I do not care," Cinderella exclaimed, wrenching them all forward. "I will rip apart the air if I have to."

"Listen to her! She will rip apart the air! Please, let her go. I would love to see that."

Rage turning to weakness at the pleased tone of Grimm's voice, Cinderella crumpled against Christophe, watching the humored expression on Grimm's face blur
into the forest around him.

"You do not care?" he prodded. "Why, I dare say you care too much. Do you know what it takes to write a good story, Cinderella?"

"I doubt you could tell me," she found the energy to snarl.

"Oh-ho, stubborn even now." Grimm laughed, placing his hand where his heart would be if he had one. "You do go for my weakness."

"Well, you have always gone for mine," Cinderella returned, tears squeezing from the corners of her eyes, for it had never cost her as much.

"Motivation," Grimm went on, as if he had never been interrupted. "Not mine. Yours. You see, you must understand your characters' motivations. You must
know what drives them, what pushes them onward when backward is a far easier path."

Clomping back and forth over crackling grass, Grimm had a particular arrogance about him, as if he was a professor lecturing to an especially ignorant
group of pupils.