Karyn meanwhile, was navigating her way out of the labyrinthine castle when she ran into Jon's mother. However, this woman was evidently Jon's mother by the fact she was obviously the Queen of the castle "“ what resemblance she had to the person Karyn knew as Jon's mom was not yet known.
The Queen held her head up high, looking down at Karyn over her nose as she approached. She walked with such determined pace that her high-collared cloak and sleek, straight black billowed behind her. Her skin was pale and her eyebrows arched, her face struck glum. There were features that she shared with Jon, her plump lips and large eyes "“ her pointy ears, of course "“ but where there were marks of beauty in Jon, on her mother's face they were eerily unpleasant. If anything she looked like a Disney villainess, albeit one with huge boobs (they were only half as big of Jon's, which still meant a bigger pair than most Karyn had ever seen)...
"You! Girl!" the Queen said as she stopped alongside Karyn. "Why are you not tending to my daughter, Allaria?"
"Er..." Karyn realised from the woman's tone, she might be in trouble. She replied honestly, "Her highness requested... to be alone. Your highness."
"Then you are available to run an errand for me," the Queen smirked, a cold and worrisome smile that sent shivers down Karyn's spine.
"O-of course, your highness," Karyn tried her best to curtsey, and she only half-succeeded. Something about Jon's mother scared her, and she didn't want to find out what. "How may I serve you?"
"Well girl, if you show any modicum of ability for your position, you are no doubt already aware of the impending ball to be hosted by his devilishly handsome majesty, Prince Biff, tonight at his castle on Beaumont Drive."
"The... ball, of course your highness," Karyn bluffed. So Biff was a prince, eh?
"And of course, my eldest daughter has been invited," the Queen's thin nostrils flared as she thought of Jon. "Princess Allaria may be as lazy as a nursing sow, but her extraordinary beauty could still prove an asset to this castle. If the wealthy Prince Biff were to see her at her best, one is certain he will succumb to her titillating burdens. He is only human, after all. A marriage between our houses would prove of great benefit to our bloodline's lineage.... not to mention our treasury."
"Your highness wishes me to help... her highness... prepare for the ball?"
"Well of course," the Queen nodded, "that should go without saying. What I have in mind for you, girl, is something that should help ensure Prince Biff falls under my daughter's spell and no one else's."
"Sorry, of course," Karyn tried another curtsey, which proved slightly better than before. "Instruct me, your highness."
"Do you know the human Princess called Sarah, of the McMillan house?"
Sarah, hmm? Of course she would have to be royalty, Karyn thought. "I know her, highness."
"Deliver unto her this apple," Jon's mother produced an apple from behind her back, dark red and almost unnaturally glossy, "and ensure she devours it."
"Er, okay your highness," Karyn took the apple gingerly from the Queen's long-nailed clutch.
"It is poisoned," she added.
"Poisoned??"
"Poison indeed, but not of the fatal variety. Word has it that Princess Sarah also seeks Biff's adoration. The spell I've placed on this apple will safely eliminate her from the contest."
Karyn was at a loss. She hated Sarah, but enough to 'poison' her? Besides... "I don't think Princess Sarah will accept any gift from me, your highness. We know each other, and we are not friends."
"Then I will ensure she does not recognise you," said the Queen, as she waved her hand.
Karyn felt dizzy for just a moment, but the vertigo passed as suddenly as it came. "What was that?" she asked.
"A simple spell. I have given you the face of a hideous crone. If you cover under a cloak and hood, Sarah will doubtlessly not recognise you."
"W-what?" Karyn gasped. "My face!"
Her hands clutched at her features. Instead of her youthful skin she felt uneven or absent teeth, a crooked and lumpy nose, and tough, hairy warts. Despite herself, she began to sob.
"Hush girl," the Queen said, without an ounce of sympathy, "and be thankful I did not give you the body of a crone to match. Your visage will return once your task is complete. Now go."
Holding her deformed face in one hand and the poisoned apple in another, Karyn ran from the evil queen as fast as she could.
