The Loss of the Queen

The great Queen has fallen ill. It started out slow, small headaches, the occasional loss of appetite, but the symptoms grew worse. As the weeks wore on, the kind Queen began to lose weight, her once well fitting gowns, now swallow her tiny frame, instead of waking up the moment she heard her precious daughter cry, she struggled to even rise from the bed. The king was at a loss. He called healers from far and wide, to no avail. All the tinctures and potions and pastes, nothing would alleviate her illness. All the while, no matter what her strength was, the great Queen spent all her days in the enchanted forest with her precious Snow. Much to his unease, and trying to talk her into spending her days inside with Snow, every morning, the huntsman Jacob would always aide the queen from the castle, with little Snow clutching his other hand. It broke Jacobs heart watching to see his kind and great Queen becoming so frail. Little Snow knew her mother was different now, instead of pulling her mother to look at a flower, she would describe in great detail the beauty of it, for Snow saw it as wrong to pick the flower. Once the day passed into evening, The kind huntsman would carry Snow on his shoulders and push the queen to the castle, but to maintain her status and sense of strength, she'd make Jacob help her walk back back to her room. Once in her room, she would sit in the small chair, so Snow would be able to reach her mother's hair. Snow loved to brush her mothers beautiful hair, especially after gift the King had given the Queen, a beautiful silver comb, inlaid with a rainbow of gems. A giant sapphire at the top of the handle, with glittering diamonds on either side of the sapphire, tiny rubies and emeralds, all interwoven in the intricate, spiraling of the silver handle. It seemed to just glow. Unbeknownst to the King or Queen, the comb was poisoned. The king had been gifted the beautiful comb while he was in the market place one day.

Several weeks earlier;

As he was passing the stalls, purchasing things here and there, for it was important to the king to spend time with the people in his kingdom, and share his wealth by purchasing things himself, instead of having his aides do it for him, a stall of beautiful jewelry catches his eye. As he approaches the stall, a haggard old woman comes up from behind a curtain, at seeing the king, before she even speaks, she rushes to the back and comes back out with a piece of folded purple velvet, and just holds it out to the king. The king says "that's beautiful velvet, but I'm looking to purchase a gift for my queen. She's been complaining of her comb, so I was hoping you had something that wouldn't hurt her head. The haggard old woman just smiles and unfolds the cloth to reveal the comb. The king gasps and says "you must be a sorceress for even having that in your hands. How much? My queen deserves such a beautiful comb." The old woman laughs and says "this is a gift, yes, I am a sorceress, but i created this comb just for your queen. It's a gift in celebration of the birth of your daughter. I magicked it to where it won't snag or pull. Her hair will be even lustrous than before. I'm late for i had to travel far to bring this, all i ask is that you remember me when you seek out more jewelry." The king, much to his chagrin and realizing his arguments were useless, he takes the comb and gives his blessing to the old woman and still leaves a handful of coins when she turns her back.

With every brush fall, the Queen becomes more ill, but no one understands why, its just a way for the queen to bond with her precious Snow. With every day that passes, the Queen becomes more and more frail, but her loving daughter becomes more and more fair. Fair in beauty, grace and above all, her heart. Snow dotes on her mother, she when can or go further than her chair set outside the castle grounds, Snow still makes sure the ladies in waiting have her mother clean and her hair is combed, and her dress is changed every day. All the while, The great king Willahalm White, adorns his armor in search of a cure for his queen. He has grown weary and tired of sending his servants, who all have returned empty handed. He never thought he would ever have to wear the armor again since he had vanquished the black troll, so many years ago.

The black troll had brought terror to the kingdom, destroyed anything and everything in it's path and had also imprisoned his future wife/queen in a giant crystal cocoon. After a magnificent battle, Willahalm was victorious and had earned the title "The Great White Knight" as well as King and was given the kingdom and the beautiful Allira's hand.

Now the great king knows his Queen was in danger again. He finally realized it was some form of poison, for it's the only thing that made sense but couldn't pinpoint from where or what and that frightened him to his core, for not only his Queen is in danger, his precious Snow could be in the same danger, but he hoped he had time to save them both. He goes out quest after quest, battle after battle, but so many wicked things had pushed their way into his kingdom, there seemed to be no end, which slowed his first search, a cure. With so many evil things he encountered, Cyclops leveling small villages, centaurs who had went rogue, sirens who had long been thought extinct, now found in farmers ponds, banshees, vampires, hellhounds and even a werewolf, the things he thought had been at peace, are now running rampant. As his little Snow turns 3, the Queen Allira White can barely make it out of bed. Even as young as she was, the little Snow still doted on her mother. After Willahalm announced he was leaving again, for he had heard stories of a witch at the far west corner of the kingdom who might be able to find a cure for the poison. Allira begs the king not to go, for she feels her end is coming near, and does not want to leave this world with him gone, nor does she want Snow to lose her mother alone, but the king couldn't ignore the rumor about the witch. As rumor had it, her beauty was no match for her poison cure. The King finds Galiana Wuthric, after several days of traveling, who does have the cure, or so she claims, and he begs Galiana to travel back with him, he purchases all the wagons she would need to load all her potions and tinctures, as well as the best and fastest horses money could by, just to race back as fast as possible, with Galiana in tow, but upon racing back to the castle, Queen White passes in her sleep.

As the once beautiful and kind Queen falls away, the Huntsman Jacob, sobbing on his knees while clutching the little princess snow to his chest. Calming her, letting her know she's not alone. His words aren't just for her, but for him as well, for Jacob had come to love the queen as a very near and dear friend. All the while, Snow sobbed quietly into the huntsmans chest, begging for her mother to stay.

The two horses he and Galiana were riding, come thundering across the gates, the wagons several hours behind, only to be greeted by servants holding each other in anguish and grief. He didn't even have to ask what happened, he just throws himself off his horse and makes way for his and his queens bedchamber, only to find Jacob, down on his knees, clutching Snow to his chest, tears spilling down both their cheeks. Willahalm throws him self down before his queen pulling his hair and crying out, begging for her to not leave him. If he had only left sooner, he could've been there to save her. If he had only listened to the rumors earlier, he could've saved his precious Allira, and he begs for forgiveness, even though he knows his loving wife is no longer there. Galiana Wuthrich slowly enters the chamber after filling the kind and Is delighted, though on the outside she shows pain and sorrow, to see the beautiful queen wasted away at the hands of her gift, for she was the haggard old woman in the market place. Galiana shows comfort to the king saying if only she had been in the castle this would never of happened. If she had heard of the queens ailments, she would've made haste, just so she didn't have to suffer like she did. The great king mourns for months, falling into a deep depression, but the witch, Galiana Wuthrich stays by his side, offering comfort and wisdom, as well as filling the Kings head with lies. After being alone for what seemed like for years, and growing used to having Galiana close and listening to his every word, as if enchanted by the witches beauty and her kind words, King Willahalm White asks for Galiana Wuthrich hand in marriage after a year of depression and being tired of being alone. She becomes Queen Galiana Wuthrich White, much to her delight and much to the despair of Snow.