The Huntsmen Read online

  The Huntsmen

  Naughty Fairy Tales [2]

  Honor James

  JK Publishing, Inc. (2014)

  * * *

  Warning: For Mature Adult Audiences. Contains language and actions some may deem offensive. Sexually explicit content. MFMM

  In book two of the Naughty Fairy Tales: Growing up in a castle is every little girl’s dream. However, for Snow White, it turned into a nightmare when her stepmother threw her into the dungeon to rot her life away. An opportunity arises and she finds herself free. Free to run and, if she’s lucky, to one day return and see her stepmother removed from her seat on a throne that doesn't belong to her.

  They’ve been hired to find the missing girl, but have yet to decide whether they will take the job. As huntsmen, they know the woods of the many kingdoms well, and there is nowhere a young woman on the run could hide from them. What Dierk, Baldric and Niklaus don’t expect is to become embroiled in a battle for a throne when they find the young woman and she pleads with them to help her free her people.

  Choices, everyone has them, everyone must make them and accept the consequences that come from them. When these four embark on their journey to find those willing to help tear a throne from greedy fingers, they also find themselves on a journey of discovery—One of themselves and who they are to be as a group. What they find along the way is a love like nothing before. A love so strong it can make or break an entire kingdom, and each other.

  The Huntsmen

  Naughty Fairy Tales

  Book Two

  by Honor James

  © Copyright January 2014 JK Publishing, Inc.

  ISBN#9781310245527

  All cover art and logo © Copyright January 2014 by JK Publishing, Inc.

  All rights reserved.

  Edited by S.M. Crouch

  Artwork by Risque Design

  Published by JK Publishing, Inc.

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  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales are entirely coincidental.

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  Dedication

  For everyone that saw me through this first year of pure terror and unbelievable excitement. From the bottom of my heart, thank you, thank you, thank you.

  And, for my readers, you guys rock and I could never do this without each and every one of you urging me on day in and out. You are amazing and no one could ask for better fans than I have in you.

  Table of Contents

  Dedication

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Epilogue

  Books by Honor James

  Excerpt from Goldie and Her Bears

  Excerpt from Ares

  Prologue

  Sometimes waking was the worst part. Waking in the filth of the dungeons where she had spent her childhood. It was in those moments, the brief time between being asleep and being awake that she was able to forget everything. In those precious moments she was able to recall a time before. A time before the darkness. A time before her father was gone. A moment when she felt freedom, and then reality crashed in on her with brutal clarity. She both loved and hated those moments, loved them because they reminded her of why she continued to breathe, why she continued to fight for life and hated them because when they ended she was back in the darkness once more.

  A deep and heavy sigh escaped her lips as she looked up at the rocky ceiling above her. The steady drip-drip-drip from the stalactites above her only enunciated the sorrow she felt deep inside.

  Thirteen years. She had been locked in her own father’s dungeon for thirteen years. Locked away since the moment of her eleventh birthday, kept from all, thought to be removed from the mortal realm. Hidden until all hope was lost. Sighing, she rose from her niche and moved to the small hole that looked out onto the courtyard. It wasn’t large enough for her to even put a finger through, but it was large enough that she was able to breathe the scent of the oceans, if only for a moment before the entire yard was filled with people.

  She had tried before to call out for help, to get a guard to help her, but it only resulted in the deaths of the ones who had tried. It also roused the other females locked in the same punishment she suffered and got them into trouble. She no longer called out for help. She no longer tried to escape. To do so with the aid of another would only cause their death, and that simply was not something she would accept. She would not be the cause of another man’s death, period.

  She would be free. Somehow, someway, she knew that she’d be free again. She simply had to be patient. Once more she began to do her daily routine. She paced the small cavern and once more began to work at the small opening at the back of the cavern in hopes that she would somehow get free.

  *****

  “Bring her to me,” the Queen demanded from her throne.

  “Her, Majesty?” the man asked with obvious concern.

  “Did I stutter? Do I need to call another in?” she asked and turned a sco
rnful look to him.

  “No, Majesty. I…I will get her now,” he whispered, his head bowed so deeply that he was practically dragging the ground with it.

  The Queen nodded and turned to look out the window once more. “Soon, very soon it shall be over and then we will have reason to go to war with our neighbor,” she all but purred at her own genius.

  “Yes, sister, you have planned this out perfectly,” the man said from the shadows as he stepped out slightly so the sun caught only his perfect side. “To the people she is and has always been a symbol of hope, a piece of the old King who would one day rule, but now sending her to that old bastard and making sure she dies along the way. Simply brilliant, two birds, one stone.”

  Smiling smugly, she nodded. “I am rather brilliant aren’t I?” she asked with a grin and then waved her brother back to the shadows. “We don’t want her seeing you before she has to, now do we? After all, the poor girl has been in the dungeons for so very long that she simply won’t know what to think about a man as strong, as virile, as amazing as you, brother dear.”

  Gushing at his sisters’ praise, the man nodded and watched her. “It will all have to be handled with delicate care, sister dear, would you like for me to be one of her escorts?” He tried, and failed, to hide the lust that he had in his words.

  Turning with an angry glare, red in her eyes, she growled, “You are not to sully yourself with one such as her. She’s a strumpet, a whore. She gives herself to all of the guardsmen and I allow it because it keeps their mouths silent.”

  Watching him flinch, she felt a perverse satisfaction at the lies she told. “Now leave me. When I meet with my dearest stepdaughter, I want to be alone. A mother should be able to give the news of a wedding to her daughter, right?”

  “Of course, Majesty,” he said and with a flourish and bow, he left the Queen to tell the woman of her fate, marriage to a man that was easily five times her age. Then he would wait in the wings to kill the brat once and for all. Well, after he had a taste of her body for himself, that was.

  Chapter One

  Once upon a time...

  "This is the one you are to find," the old crone said, lifting the image she'd scratched onto the vellum for them to view.

  "Aye," the first huntsman said, lifting their sketching of the girl. Looking to his fellow huntsmen, he got nods of agreement and turned it to the crone. "The Queen would not say who she was beyond a liar and a thief. Rumors swirl rampant at court the Queen perhaps lies. We wish to know if you can delve for the truth and help guide us true."

  The crone cackled as she nodded, "For a price, young huntsmen, for a price."

  Like they hadn't known that was coming. "What would your fee be, crone?" the second huntsman asked, stepping up to the left of the first man.

  Tapping a finger to the table, she stared at them for a time and then smiled, "A favor in the future, Huntsmen, a favor to be named at any time and of anything at some date to come."

  The third man of their trio stepped up to the right and crossed his arms over his chest, "Terms for such a favor should be weighed and measured and not left blind to all but you, crone."

  "He's a smart one, ain't he," she cackled, wiggling a crooked finger at him. "Fine, the terms are as follows, Huntsmen," her voice lost its tremble and she straightened more than her appearance would lend credence to. "Within the next year I will ask a favor of you three, one part to come from each of you and you’ll have in turn one year to complete your portion of the favor. It will not directly cause death to any you know or care for. It will not directly be of a personal nature to any of you. It will not directly have any adverse effects on what comes of your finding the girl in white. Do these terms suit you?" she asked, pointing a hard look to them each.

  "They suit as long as you swear it will never cause any issue to those we know," the first huntsman said softly. Getting her nod, he looked to the others before he gave a firm nod in turn, "We agree to the terms of the request for favor in exchange for the information we need. Now our terms for the information," he told her and smiled coldly when she appeared stunned. "What, did you think we would not have terms of our own, crone?"

  "Speak them," she hissed out softly.

  "We need to know the truth of the Queen’s claims for one. Is the girl a liar and a thief? Next, we will need a manner in which to find her, she apparently has the help of the woodsland children who know the many glens and places to hide. Lastly, we needs know if we are wise in accepting the bounty for the girl’s head by the Queen or if it’s wiser to take the side of the girl and protect her from what comes."

  Nodding slowly, the crone smacked her hand to the table, "Done, return in two hours and I will have what you have requested, but know if you fail to return promptly in two hours your chance for the information will be gone for all time."

  "Just be here, crone, we'll be back," the third huntsman said before they all turned and left the small shack she called home.

  *****

  "Baldric," he called out to his friend from where he crouched on the hill.

  "Dierk, Niklaus has found something," Baldric signaled the third of their party over and jogged to Niklaus. "What is it?" he asked crouching down.

  "As the crone said, she and the children came this way not two days ago," Niklaus said, looking up as Dierk came up to them. "But we have another problem," he waved them to follow and took them down the hill and to a path stopping to point to the soft dirt.

  "Bloody hells spawn," Baldric crouched down moving a leaf gently. "Royal horses," he cursed even more darkly under his breath before standing. "They’re on her trail and no more than a day behind her."

  "Unfortunately we're still hours behind them," Niklaus said, looking to the east where the trail led. "We need a way to gain on them fast."

  "We know these woods better than the Royal Guard and they’ll be limited to where they can ride," Dierk pointed out. "We take the hardest and fastest path and get between them and the girl in white."

  They were all in agreement as they raced through the woods.

  Minutes, hours, who knew how long it had been, Dierk held up a hand and they all came to an instant stop. Gathering around him, they looked where he pointed to the south, Royal Guardsmen. Not more than fifty yards away, most with their backs to their direction.

  "Slowly, move with the shadows," Baldric murmured quietly. Each man faded back slightly and eased their way around where the guard might see them. Each path was chosen with care and an understanding of the woods surrounding them. The only reason they made it without being spotted.

  Once in the clear, they found the trail one more time and, after a whispered conversation, set off for the girl once again. They were swiftly running out of time and if the crone's words were to be believed, if the guard got their hands on her, she was in for a much rougher time.

  Chapter Two

  She twisted and turned on the small pallet of bedding she had below her body. It was far softer than she had become accustomed to, but then again, everything the Woodland Children, the Lost Ones, had shown her so far had been far softer than she was used to. She heard her stepmother's voice again calling her as if through space and time.

  Skin as pale as snow, hair as dark as night, lips as red as blood, where are you my dear, dear Snow White?

  Jerking up with a sob torn from her lips and blade in hand, she looked about the small domed enclosure and found no one, nothing but the low burning fire. Placing a hand upon her chest, she forced herself to breathe. “She’s not here,” she whispered to herself. “When you face her next it will be the end of her miserable existence,” she promised. One of the vows she gave with each day she drew breath. The first was to free her people, and the second went hand-in-hand with the first, and that was to end the witch's life. She was a true witch, dark and evil magic, blood magic poured through that miserable woman.

  Cocking her head to the side, she listened to the Lost Ones as they ghosted from one plane to the next and sighed, “Sa
fe.” For the moment, but she felt it before long. “No longer,” she finished softly as she realized her brief reprieve had come to an end and it was time to move once more.

  Her goal was simple. She had to reach her uncle’s kingdom. He would raise arms for her once he knew that she was well and truly alive. He’d rally the forces of his knights and those of her other uncle to the south of the kingdom. Together they’d defeat the monstrous bitch that stole her father's life and rule from him. Even if it were the last thing she did, Snow would ensure that woman would never again move to another land to take hold of it. The witch made a fatal and tactical error taking her father's kingdom. The Queen had kept Snow alive when she didn’t know the truth of the Magic of the Three Kingdoms. It was her downfall and in the end, Snow would either defeat her or all three kingdoms would fall.

  "Got her," Dierk said softly when he caught the others attention.

  "And the Royal Guard does too," Baldric muttered as he came galloping over a hill nearly losing his footing but a quick twist kept him upright. "They’re picking up their pace."

  "Damn," Niklaus said looking around. "We need to slow them down and get the girl. Dierk, get the girl and take her to the cabin west of here, you know the one. Baldric, lets ensure the guards have something else to do for a time, shall we."

  "Right, the girl and get her to the cabin," Dierk said with a small salute. Taking off after her, he left his friends to deal with the guards. Racing full out for where he'd spotted the girl, he cursed when she changed direction. "Why do they always have to do this the hard way?" he asked no one in particular given there wasn't another soul around.