The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart (11 page)

Desperation often overrules intellect, which is why Nicolette believed the hag. The old woman sang every so often, passing
up more and more of the lady-child’s locks, until all that remained in the bowl was a small pile of hairs the witch had shaved.
Utterly bald, Nicolette shivered all the more, several rivulets of blood trickling behind her ears from where the blade had
pressed too firmly. Unlike in the children’s tale, hours still stretched before daybreak, the old woman having passed up the
hair far too quickly.

“Now,” the witch said, “let’s do the rest.” The docile young woman allowed the crone to shave what few hairs grew on her arms
and under them, then blushed as the blade worked its way up her legs. Nicks bled onto the stones, Nicolette silently crying
until only the small thatch between her hips remained. The song was sung and the offering offered.

Nicolette watched the hirsute claw raise the bowl, then return it to the waiting witch. The lass’s anxiety had transformed
to suspicion during the preceding hour, a careful consideration of how fast her hair disappeared contradicting the old woman’s
proposal. The crone grew cheerier the less hair remained, not a comforting sign. The girl’s father often scolded her for being
too clever, and while he was correct, this too-cleverness alerted Nicolette to her mounting peril. Furthermore, she marked
that every time the witch sang the beast came to the window, and while the words still made no sense at all, she repeated
them over and over in her mind until she knew them by heart.

The old woman returned, her song finished, and squatted before the musing girl. “Spread those pretty legs,” she leered, “and
lets have that last little bit.”

Nicolette knew that with all her hair gone she would have nothing to ward off the crone’s husband, so the crafty girl shuddered
and motioned to the fire.

“I’m so cold,” she said, chattering her teeth. “May I put on more wood first?”

“Very well,” said the witch, running pale tongue over shriveled lips. She had grown ravenous while shaving the girl, the way
a fat farmer will when plucking a chicken. Retrieving a log from the stack, Nicolette noted the worn ax resting against it.
As she tossed the wood into the hearth she saw something that made her heart plummet into her bowels. She could not be sure,
so she grabbed another log, slyly poking the blaze before the wood slipped from her fingers.

Nicolette had never seen a human skull before but recognized it at once, despite its being blackened, cracked, and coated
in ash. She also noticed how small it looked, and knew instantly the old woman had tricked her, and was likely a witch as
well as a murderous cannibal. She yelped when she felt a poke to her side, and tried to mask her rekindled terror.

“Come now,” the witch cooed, “that little patch should hold him until dawn.”

“But,” Nicolette began, her fear turning her cleverness as sharp as the traps her father used to catch rabbits, “my father
has said nobody may ever touch me there save myself or my husband, when I get one.”

The hag cackled at that, and made to pounce on her quarry when Nicolette quickly added, “I can do it myself, if you’ll kindly
lend me the knife and bowl.”

The old woman scowled at the girl, but the child’s eyes reflected the fire and she could not read them. Her husband loved
that hair the most and she felt confident the child was stupid, not guileful. Nicolette forced herself to smile, her cheeks
flushing with shame as she spread her legs and reached for the knife.

Taking it with trembling fingers, Nicolette peered at the blade. “What’s that?” she asked, her voice cracking. She pointed
to the tip of the weapon, but when the witch leaned in for a look the girl pressed the knife to her throat.

“Don’t you move,” Nicolette hissed. “Don’t you speak, and don’t you sing or I’ll cut you dead.”

The witch glared balefully but she did not move, and she did not speak, and she did not sing.

“You tell me what to do,” Nicolette whispered, the handle clutched in both hands. “Tell me how to get away or I’ll kill you.”

The witch grinned but said nothing. The loose beams overhead creaked and Nicolette jumped, the honed blade nicking the witch’s
turkey-wattle neck. A little blood oozed out and the crone looked worriedly at the girl. Nicolette picked up on her distress
and smiled triumphantly.

“If I die it will be after I bleed you out like a rooster,” she spit at the hag. “Now tell me quick before I get rid of your
foulness and deal with it myself.”

“He’s already impatient,” the witch shot back, raising her voice. “He’s et all your hair, and so he’ll smell you a mile off.
He runs faster through the trees than a stag on the ground, and before the sun next touches this place he’ll be eating you
alive. Your only hope is to hand over that knife, so I can protect you.”

“I don’t believe you,” the young woman whispered, her eyes welling up anew.

“Then I’ll make it fast for you,” the stink of spoiled milk hot in Nicolette’s face, “better than what he’ll surely do.”

Nicolette stiffened, breathed deeply, and tried unsuccessfully to stop shaking.

“What do you do?” the girl croaked, cheeks shimmering. “Why? Why do you—”

“Pleasure,” the witch snapped. “For me, and of course the taste. For him it’s that as well, but also comfort. All that pretty
hair he’s et will twist in his belly and grow out of it, keeping his pelt thick and warm. Now that you’re fit to be cleaned
and divvied, he’ll burst through that door and take such delight from your misery as suits his appetite.”

Nicolette shuddered for only an instant before pressing the blade into the old woman’s throat. The hag’s arm slapped her head
but the girl lunged forward, driving the witch to the ground. The blood spurting into Nicolette’s face blinded her, burning
her eyes and nose, running into her mouth and down her throat. She choked but pressed harder, the crone bucking and scratching,
a wheezing, gurgling fart of a noise escaping her shriveled lips.

Eyes locked shut, Nicolette leaned on the handle until the point burst through the other side. The thrashing gave way to shivering,
the crone’s legs rattling on the floor. The young woman remained hunched over the witch, the hot liquid warming her hands
and face more than any fire could. The roof creaked and the girl leaped to her feet in a twinkling, trying to wipe the blood
from her face.

The beams groaned again and Nicolette pawed frantically around the shack until she found the small bucket. Dunking her face
in the frigid water she gasped, taking her first breath since attacking the witch. She only brought herself to look at her
felled nemesis by imagining the hag regaining her feet behind her. Snapping back to the fire, she took in what she had wrought.

The crone’s blood coated the floor from one wall to the other, her head almost severed. Nicolette shook with such passion
the knife slipped out of her fingers, and then the fire popped, causing her heart to freeze and her feet to hop, eyes shooting
to the ceiling. The silence of the night settled on her, and for the first time she noticed no birds or insects disturbed
the stillness in this part of the wood. She swallowed, tasting the bitter old witch in her mouth, and spit on her corpse.

Her heart raced so quickly only her mind could outpace it. The crime that was no crime had spurred her thoughts into action,
and she rushed to institute her plan. She held her breath and grabbed the witch by the ears, planting her foot on a gory shoulder
and tugging. The head did not budge but an ear came partially free. She yelped, dropping the ear and covering her mouth in
a belated effort to quiet herself.

The roof shifted ominously, the girl leaping over the wide pool that shimmered black in the firelight. Snatching the rusty
ax, she returned to the witch and, pretending the mess at her feet was an especially stubborn log, raised the ax overhead
like a seasoned woodsman. The spattering on her legs bothered her far less than the creaking roof. Snatching the head, she
tossed it into the fire, where it sizzled and hissed, the flames dying low.

In the dimness she set down the ax and retrieved the knife, kneeling and frantically cutting the hag’s bloody clothes from
her body. The witch stank, and her skin had patches of mold and what were surely extra nipples poking from oily creases of
skin. She gagged but kept at it, piling the rags beside the sputtering fire.

The husband must be pacing, dust swirling down heavily as she righted the chair before the fire, the decapitated corpse between
her and the hearth. Inspired anew, she smeared the cooling blood over her arms and legs and face but could not bring herself
to wipe it on her stomach or chest. Donning the filthy, odorous cloth, she forced herself over to the door and with gritted
teeth slid the slat from its catch, letting it swing inward.

Leaves swirled around the doorway and all was silent on the roof and in the wood. She backed away, and fighting a sudden dizziness,
buried the knife in the crone and slumped down in the chair, the ax again in her sticky hands. Filling her chest with the
chill wind blowing against her back, she screamed, but stopped short just as her voice reached its peak. Biting her lip, she
waited one, two, three seconds before hoarsely trying to imitate the crone’s song. Doubt consumed her but she knew any hesitation
would undo her careful ruse, so on she sang, strange syllables sticking in her craw.

Then she heard the tick-ticking of an animal’s claws on the stone floor behind her. Rather than charging in and past her to
descend upon the corpse as she had prayed, her unseen end slunk slowly toward the hearth. Nicolette sang louder, wishing she
could pray to the Virgin instead. The beast sniffed the air, fetid breath stirring the rags on her shoulders. It let out a
throaty growl, and it was fortunate she had no water left to expel, although her bottom twitched on the chair and her song
cut off as she gasped.

The thing rubbed itself against her side, and she realized the low growl was it purring like the cats her father would not
let her keep but drowned in the pond to spite the Devil. She silently pleaded with her eyes to remain fixed on the fire but
they gazed down at the brute as it moved to the corpse. It resembled a huge felid, larger than the hungry dogs turned loose
into the village streets after curfew. Its mottled pelt dully shone red, black, blond, and brown, with other patches of pink,
warty skin where no fur grew. A lanky tail whipped the air lazily, and from distended paw to upturned ass it looked scrawny
and ill. She succeeded in keeping her eyes from its head lest she scream.

Directly above the wretched corpse, it sniffed again, its whole body wracked with slight spasms. Nicolette rose with the ax,
the chair creaking loudly. It spun around just as she swung, the head of the ax catching it squarely between the shoulders.
Its claws tore into her thigh, sending her sprawling across the floor.

She latched her eyelids tight and prayed to her father and the Holy Mother, the creature bawling out a whining scream that
deafened her. Her leg must be torn free, so ferociously did it hurt, and she cupped her hands over her ears to shut out the
horrible noise. Then the noise stopped. Nicolette remained still for a very long time, and then opened one eye. The shadowy
wall before her provided no clue to the state of the beast. With aching slowness she turned her head, the exertion sending
pain blasting up from her leg into the rest of her body.

With puffy, bloodshot eyes she took in the sprawled monstrosity heaped atop the witch, the ax handle jutting out of its back.
It raised its front shoulders but its hindquarters would not move, foul-smelling ordure leaking from under its tail. Nicolette
scrambled to her feet and immediately toppled over, her leg giving out. It tried again, now getting its back legs to jerk.
Nicolette stripped off the stinking cloth that stuck to her bloody skin and rose more carefully, taking care not to look at
the felled demon.

Not daring to breathe, she moved behind the creature so its eyes could not stare malevolently at her. She found the largest
log in the wood pile, and tiptoeing toward it, hurled the missile at its head. The blow slumped the creature again, but through
her delirium she saw the fresh gash on its scalp close as soon as it opened, and the blood matting its coat flowed back around
the ax blade. The ax handle rocked as flesh knit itself together, and the thing stirred in its forced slumber.

Temples pounding and knees buckling, she leaned against the wall to stay erect. It seemed dreadfully unfair that after all
her wiles the beast still lived, and recovered so unnaturally fast that it would soon be upon her again. Suddenly furious,
she snatched the ax free and brought it back down where the fur gave way to pale skin below the ears. The body thrashed for
only an instant, and she saw with delight that the gaping cut healed much more slowly than the vanished wound in its back,
only a raised scar denoting where she had previously injured it.

She hacked again and again until the ropes fixing head to neck gave out in a mess of red, black, and yellow fluids, bones
jutting up amidst the pulp. The head rolled into a corner and settled facing her, blood leaking from mouth, ears, and nose,
and it blinked its pale eyes. Nicolette began to scream and did not stop until she passed out.

She awoke with a start, the fire dead and the haze of morning filtering into the room. The two monsters lay stacked like cordwood,
and to her delight both remained motionless and mangled. The ax she still clutched to her chest, its cold, damp head stuck
to her cheek. She cast it away and clambered to her feet. Whimpering, she stumbled out the door into the wood. She walked
slowly, wary of her bleeding leg, and eventually came across a stream.

Despite the chill morning air she braced herself against the mossy stones and plunged herself face-first into the shallow
water. Gasping and shivering, she righted herself and set to washing off the caked blood, heedless of how viciously the water
burned her skin and wounds. She rolled in the leaves beside the bank, steam pouring off her as she laughed, then sobbed, then
laughed again. Eventually she calmed enough to recognize how dead and hard her skin felt, and she inspected her leg.