If Striker had known about Desdemona's magic mirror then he probably wouldn't have tried to trick her with the heart of a pig. Especially when one had a temper as short and ill as hers. When the mirror revealed where he was, she had the guards track him down and shoot him with gold-tinted arrows though she ordered that he not be killed. He was to captured and brought before her in gold chains. He was thrown at her feet, bound in gold shackles, and when she dismissed the guards to leave them alone, she unleashed a storm of pure rage upon him.
"Liar! Traitor! Scum of the earth!" She screeched at him.
"What did I do?" He asked, his body burned and scorched by the gold material that was deadly to his kind.
"Don't play innocent with me! You know what you did! Charlotte is still alive! You didn't kill her!"
"Oh...That." He said. "How did you find out?"
"Never mind that! How dare you attempt to deceive me! I should have you hanged! Or drawn and quartered! Or better yet, encase you in molten gold!"
"Alright so she still walks the earth, but it wasn't my fault! Some freak of nature apprehended me and she escaped into the forest. But so what? She'll never get out of those woods. She'll never return to the kingdom. She no longer constitutes a serious threat to your throne. Why not forget her?"
"Because you imbecile, in the forest or in the kingdom she is still more beautiful than me! And that weakens my power!"
"You know as much as I take pride in my appearance, cause I'm one damn good looking alp." He chuckled. "Even I think that you take yours way too far. You really need to get yourself a hobby or something."
"Mock me all you wish, but remember that you're the one in chains here. I'd adjust my tone if I were you."
"Fair enough. So what are you going to do with me?"
"I should kill you but I still need you. I need you to find Charlotte and finish the job!"
"Are you serious? Find her in that forest? That's like a labyrinth of trees! It'll take me weeks maybe even months to find her!"
"Not my problem."
"And if I refuse?"
"Then you die."
"Fine and for my last words, I'll tell everyone that you hired me to kill the princess."
But Desdemona only laughed at his threat.
"I figured that you would try blackmail, so I did a little research on your past jobs and came upon one that was quite interesting."
"What do you mean?"
"Well let's just say afterward, I sent a message to the king of Poland. You remember him don't you? Hired you to do away with a little boy but he escaped, didn't he? Of course King Vincent didn't find out about that. Until now of course."
Fear and terror became evident in Striker's face as he finally realized that seriousness of the situation.
"What did you tell him?"
"Only that there's a young man running around in the forest who is about twenty-one years old, the exact same age the boy would be now, and that he has eyes as dark as a Moor's and wears a ring with a Scottish symbol. Now what do you think are the odds of Vincent thinking that all that is just a mere coincidence? Not in your favor I'm guessing."
"He can't know that I botched that job!" Striker was now panicked. "He told me twelve years ago that if I failed he wouldn't kill me, he'd sell me as a slave to the Americas!"
"Would serve you right if you ask me. Of course he doesn't have to know the truth. He's planning a little trip to my kingdom, apparently that bratty son of his ran away and how he's trying to find him, so I could always invite him to have dinner with me and slip him a potion that makes him forget the message I sent."
"Alright, alright, I get the idea. I kill the princess and you bury my secret."
"Exactly. However this time we'll have to be especially careful and clever with getting rid of Charlotte. You can't just hunt her down and tear out her heart as I wanted you to do before. She's now under the protection of your fellow alps and they won't leave her alone for a second, I'm sure."
"So what do you have in mind?"
"As the old saying goes, you can catch flies better with honey than vinegar."
To further explain, she snapped her fingers and the gold shackles released Striker, next she placed her hand on the wall. The wall opened to reveal a long, spiral, stairway that led deep, down, underneath the castle. Down the two of them went until they entered a massive, shady catacomb that was like a murky abyss of darkness. Crawling insects, snakes, rats, and skeletal remains could be spotted in various corners and the only known light came from the torches that were instantly set aflame by a flick of Desdemona's wrist.
This place was once an ancient dudgeon where prisoners were not only locked away but tortured as well. After King Percival's father died he walled up the dudgeon but Desdemona discovered a secret passageway to the abandoned rooms. She soon turned it into her own laboratory where she could practice her witchcraft in secret.
"Wait here." Desdemona ordered Striker when she stopped at a door.
With a mere touch of her hand, the door unlocked and in she went, magically relic king it behind her. She entered a room which had a cauldron at the center and was lined with shelves holding is filled with spell books, potions, magical ingredients, various glass tubes, vials, kegs and bottles. Desdemona quickly pulled one spell book down off the shelf, opened it up, and flipped through a large number of pages before settling on one in particular. Then after reading the page carefully she went over to pick up one of the many snakes slipping and slithering in out of this room. The snake merely coiled itself around her fore-arm and when she whispered to it the chant from the page that she had just read, the snake was instantly changed into a pretty, purple lace of silk.
"Now here's what you're going to do." She instructed Striker. "I know you alps can shape-shift, so I want you to go find Charlotte disguised as a peddler selling pretty wears. You are to make sure that this lace is tied to her bodice and that is tied tight. Once that is done, the lace will squeeze the life out of her like a snake constricting a mouse."
"One problem." Striker said. "My disguises only fool humans. Animals and other alps, like the ones with that girl, will be able to see right through me. One whiff of my scent is all they'll need."
"Easily fixed. I'll brew a spray that will mask your true scent."
"Really? How can you do that?"
"I have special powers you idiot!" She snapped at him, losing her patience. "Do you want me to demonstrate them on your miserable hide?!"
"No! No!" He said taking a step back. "Damn, you have issues! And that's coming from me of all people."
"I don't have the time or the desire to answer stupid questions! I already have enough things that I have to deal with now. That treacherous maid. Niffty got away from me and I know it's only a matter of time before she starts voicing her suspicions of me to the kingdom! I'm sure no one will believe her, but I'd rather not take that risk and then there's Mother."
"Ah yes dear Dolores." Striker chuckled. "Haven't seen her in years, how is the old girl?"
"She doesn't believe my husband the king is dead either, she's been pestering me about where he is and about where my daughter and stepdaughter are. Vagatha is going to be staying with her for a few days so that should keep her quiet for awhile. Meddlesome old woman! Why parents just mind their own damn business?"
"You got me, I never had parents."
It took Desdemona about an hour and a half to brew a potion that would hide Striker's scent then she gave him everything else he needed, including a hair brush Charlotte had used in order for him to track her down, and sent him off to eliminate her.
"All it takes is for him to synch up her bodice with that lace and then I'll be the fairest once more." She laughed, admiring her reflection in the magic mirror.
However when magic is involved, particularly dark magic and witchcraft, nothing is ever that simple. You see, Desdemona had underestimated her stepdaughter far worse than you'd think. Unknown to her and everyone in the kingdom, well everyone save for them the all knowing mirror of course, Charlotte had her own form of magic within herself. She wasn't a witch like Desdemona or Dolores, but she did have a power. The greatest power of all, as we the readers would discover eventually.