Today we are featuring Inklings Book Contest 2021 finalist Elise Choi! Elise finished 6th grade this past school year. Her story is a fairy-tale retelling called “The Henchman’s Task.”
THE HENCHMAN’S TASK
By Elise Choi
Today, I have a terrifying mission. Now, there’s nothing special in that–I have daunting missions all the time. This time though, the queen directed the mission to me herself, not the usual servant who brings me the instruction. However, this unusual circumstance is not the punchline. The real shocker is what she has asked me to do.
I am the Royal Henchman for the Queen of the Southern Kingdom. I do tasks for the queen all the time, like killing a rabbit for dinner or shooting the family of mice that keeps eating through the crops in the garden or, when necessary, guarding the palace against intruders or executing a prisoner. And although no one says it out loud, everyone knows that the queen is peculiar and locks herself in her room, pacing before her mirror. She is strict and mean–almost, I dare say, an evil queen. There are rumors that whenever someone disobeys her, they somehow go missing or die soon thereafter. I personally respect the queen but most people are intimidated by her menacing disposition.
In the morning, as I was getting dressed, the queen climbed all the way up to the highest floor of the left turret of the castle to pay me a visit.
“Hello, henchman. Today I have a mission for you which must be kept secret at all costs,” the queen said.
“Alright, your majesty. I can promise that. Now, what may I do for you?” I responded, still very shocked that the face of my entire kingdom was standing before me in my bedroom.
“I need you to kill the princess by noon. No questions, just follow my orders and make sure she is dead and hidden away where no one will find her. Make up a fake story once you’re done and be sure that I am never suspected for giving this command,” she told me.
And there was the punchline. The dreaded task. The impossible order.
The thing was, I had to agree or the queen would kill me on the spot and would blame it on a rogue wolf or suicide. And I knew that no one would question a thing. However, I didn’t think I could do it. I loved her stepdaughter Snow White like a little sister. She was kind and would always ask me for help with her schoolwork, treating me like an equal and not a lowly henchman. Ever since she was little, beautiful Snow White had always been generous, caring, and saw the best in others, even her stepmother who I now knew wanted her dead.
It was almost noon, almost time to kill the princess. I hid behind a pillar near the entrance of the castle and waited for Snow White to come back from her daily stroll through the village. I prepared myself to shoot the arrow. I took a deep breath and tried to focus on the extra money and not on the homicide before me. My heartbeat quickened, and I heard the cheerful hum of a familiar tune traveling toward the stone walls. Snow White was coming.
The castle gate creaked open, and I saw the young girl. Her gorgeous black hair, pale face, and large brown eyes happily surveyed her surroundings. I had no idea why the queen wanted her dead, probably for some vain or jealous reason. However, I could not ponder this now.
“Snow White?” I called out to the princess, wringing my sweaty hands, hoping I was making the right decision, one that could get me killed. Snow’s face broke in a welcoming smile.
“Hello, Mr. Henchman! Out on another task?” Snow White greeted me, heading towards me.
“Well, yes,” I stammered, then looked around to make sure we were alone. In a hushed voice, I warned the girl, “Listen to me, Snow. Your stepmother wants me to kill you–it is my task that I am to do without question.”
Snow White’s eyes widened in fear but then softened to a hurt, betrayed gaze.
“Now, you know that I am not a tenderhearted person, but I cannot kill you–you are like a little sister to me. Go into the woods, hide, and never come back,” I instructed her.
“But you have to kill me. Do it now and quickly! You’ll be executed if you don’t, you know that!” Snow White exclaimed, making me groan.
“Go now and never come back!” I exclaimed.
After a bit of quarreling, she finally relented, and I managed to drag the girl to the edge of the woods. Sad and worried for me, the young girl reluctantly entered the woods, and I saw her disappear into the trees.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Now it is two days later, and the queen has learned that Snow White is alive. She is furious and plans to have me executed. I await the archer who will take me to the woods to shoot me in secret and then bury my body. I scan my bedroom for the last time. Cold, bare walls. A small cushion made of feathers for my bed. An old basin for washing my feet. It was a simple life, but I had always been content to serve as the queen’s dutiful henchman, that is, until now. Now I just had one dying wish: that Snow White survives the woods and meets a kind prince so that I will not have died in vain.
The archer leads me deep into the woods. Just before sunset, he stops and straps me to a tree while he searches for a suitable clearing to bury my body. Standing there alone and unable to move, I notice a thin ray of light shining through the foliage, revealing an impossibly small cottage. There at the doorstep is a hunchbacked figure dressed in black. Its back is towards me but I can see it holding a basket.
The door opens and out peeks a familiar face. It’s Snow White; she is alive! I see her silhouette lean over and grab an apple from the basket. When the dark figure turns around to leave, I recognize the sinister, scheming face. Dread and loathing consume me. As the queen walks away from the cottage, her head tilts back letting out an awful cackle, and she nearly drops her basket of apples.
I suddenly remember that the archer never stripped me of the knife that all good henchmen keep concealed in their back pockets. My hands are tied behind me but with some wriggling, I manage to grip the handle. Then I cut the rope around my wrists. In a matter of moments, my whole body is untethered from the tree. I run towards the cottage. The queen is gone but Snow White’s body is collapsed on the ground. There is no heartbeat. I am too late. I fall to the ground, letting out an anguished cry. An innocent girl’s fate is now sealed, dead at such a young age.
The archer is approaching. I know there is time to escape, but I let the opportunity pass. Wretched is the fate of this lowly henchman. Despairingly, I grab the poisoned apple out of the dead girl’s hands and take a bite.
Support the Inklings Book Contest Today!
Your support of the Inklings Book Contest helps us connect with youth writers and provide them with free learning opportunities throughout the contest – as they prepare, as they enter, and as they revise their work as winners and finalists.
Will you support the next generation of writers as they find their voices and make their mark on the world?
