Written for the May Menagerie 2018 For the lovely TheCompleteBookworm who requested Rumbelle and water. For this story, I will be posting up each chapter everyday for the remainder of the week. I also used some fairy lore to fill in the gaps regarding the swan mythologies, I hope you have fun reading this as it was a lot of fun to write. Thank you ^_^
Chapter 1: An Opportunity
Flying away from the castle window and into the mist, Rumpelstiltskin focused on the direction ahead of him avoiding the trees and cliffs. His heartbeat increased as the swan creature began having shortness of breath due to the speed he was flying and trying not to concentrate whether Zelena was following him. When he flew on a higher altitude, the creature noticed a small cove quickly diving into the small opening until he landed on the ground seeing the dark surroundings around him. He leaned his neck to the rocky wall, closing his eyes chest heaving as he caught his breath from the adrenaline of escaping Lady Zelena.
It would only be a matter of time before she discovered the tampered lock, sending him back to the gilded prison for all of eternity.
He still remembered the night she captured him, Rumpelstiltskin had been bathing at the Guterschnee River after he spend a month advising his charges, mostly royals and despondent nobles. Just as he went to gather his robes, Zelena came to him dressed in black with the moonlight highlighting her green skin. She sneered at him, plucking a single feather from his robe causing him to not only transform into a human but now controlled by her until all the feathers were placed back into the cloak. His pleas and bribes failed to impress the witch enough to let him go, she left him screaming for weeks hoping his mother Fiona, Queen of the Swan fairies would answer but sadly, she never replied. He later learned the cage she placed him slowly drained him of his powers, unable to communicate with anyone or even help himself conduct any magic unless she gave him the use of his robes for a quick regeneration followed by a commencement to her bidding.
Throughout his time with Zelena, Rumpelstiltskin did her bidding; turning straw into gold, strengthen her powers using the magic he absorbs from Lake Nostros and any other command she would instantly think of. He helped clean the blood from the bodies she killed after they no longer had any use for her, and then witness her training another prisoner since childhood in the hopes since of a successor. He never could estimate clearly how long Zelena held him captive as the terrains were covered with a thick fog and the cage gave him artificial sunlight but he knew based on how long the young archer had lived with amongst them, a decade had gone by.
The cave around him while complacent would not be an ideal place to hide for a long duration. Rumpelstiltskin scoured around finding the roof filled with jagged rocks, he started laughing at the irony of escaping a prison to dying from a cave in during his sleep. He tucked his wings back and walked out of the cave finding the mist had thickened.
Raising his wings, Rumpelstiltskin looked down at the cliff and flew out. Based on the little clarity given, the bottom appeared to be meadows. The fog begun to slowly clear where Rumpelstiltskin glimpsed a forest on the left side of the road, he took a turn feeling a burning sensation on the tip of his right wing scorching parts of his back. Rumpelstiltskin screamed looking at his wing glancing below spotting Zelena on her broomstick and Robyn, her ward riding on top of Locksley, her silver winged unicorn ecstatic to have found him.
"You think you can get away so easily from me, my fowl pet?" cackled the sorceress.
She threw another fireball to his side quickly ducking just before the flame touched his head. He froze at the sight of the green woman flying towards his altitude when without warning; Robyn shot an arrow at close proximity to Rumpelstiltskin allowing him to quickly reclaim his senses. He looked back at Robyn who was ready to shoot using her a special bow designed for her when he quickly began flying away with Zelena chasing him until he flew towards the Blanche Forest where Zelena was barred from entering due to the high concentration of light magic contained in the forest causing instant death to those who entered it with dark intentions in their souls.
Angry over the realization Rumpelstiltskin was no longer in her grasp, she shrieked an intense fury to the skies threw another fireball towards the forest, but barrier reflected the flame bouncing her off of her broom landing into the meadow amongst the trees.
"Allow me to acquire him Milady," announce Robyn still on her steed. Zelena looked at her ward with annoyance seeing her on the steed with an air of grace while she was on the floor in defeat. "Using Locksley, I can break the barriers of the Blanche Forest."
"Fine," proclaimed Zelena. "I expect a full report when you arrive."
Robyn raised her hands in a form of a curtsey. "Understood." She pulled the reins of Locksley ordering the steed flying to the forest easily breaking the barrier.
Thank goodness for unicorns, now where are you Swan Prince.
Rumpelstiltskin continued flying into the forest not noticing his locations changing around him as the area turned from a dark green to a lighter clearing of leaves and carefully maintained trees. Breathing heavily to maintain his speed seeing a large apple tree on his path. He knew stopping would not be a wise a choice, however the apples looked delicious from hanging from the trees ready to be picked. He saw some apples already on the ground spotting onto the tree for rest.
Keep it together; you only need to get to a body of water.
"Rumpelstiltskin!" Robyn shouted getting his attention when she shooting an arrow towards one of the apples on the branches quickly striking it to the floor staring across from the direction of the swan creature. "This time I won't miss."
"You can't kill me." He stated with absolute certainty. At worst, the arrows would hurt him but were not strong enough to break his skin.
Robyn continued aiming her arrow at the creature. "Zelena laced my arrows using your gold, these will kill you and you know it." The swan creature's eyes bulged in horror in seeing the tips of the arrow normally blue were from the gold he made Zelena on a daily basis. Defeated, Rumpelstiltskin lowered his head tugging his wings close to this head transforming him into his human persona using his white feathered cloak hiding his upper torso, grateful Zelena allowed him to wear trousers during his transformations.
"All I ask if you do it quickly."
He closed his eyes hearing the footsteps creep up to him, his thoughts went to his former home of Lake Boyne, and the clear blue water gave the other fairies their window into the outside world then back to his younger brother Baelfire, who was only a child when he last saw him. The boy viewed him practically a father in which Rumpelstiltskin felt guilty telling the child he would join him on his run when Baelfire was older only to see the boy with a sad expression believing each encounter would be their last.
A snap of the twigs brought Rumpelstiltskin away from his thoughts when he noticed the deed was taking too long. He opened his eyes finding Robyn grabbing the apple from the ground and pulling the arrow out of it and taking a bit of the fruit before winking back at him using her wrist to clean the juice from her mouth.
"There is a castle nearby with a lake that might be able to regenerate you. If you are going to take off your cloak, I suggest you find some clothes as there might be humans lurking who are not as immune to your good looks as I."
While Rumpelstiltskin and Robyn hardly ever had gotten along other than the occasional small talk, he had become fond her overtime as her curiosity and determination allowed him believed she was a clone to Baelfire, "What will happen to you?"
Robyn looked at Rumpelstiltskin then at her apple taking another bite. "Absolutely nothing. I am completely loyal to Lady Zelena, how could she suspect I have the willpower to disobey her, especially when I failed to stop you from jumping into a waterfall after you impaired your wing."
Few moments surprised Rumpelstiltskin where the audacity of The Archer completely took him back. "Thank you"
"Get out of here Swan Prince, enjoy your freedom."
He bowed to her placing his cloak over his head transforming him back into a swan then he left her. Some part of him suspected Robyn might have been lying to ease his conscious over her safety while he also knew Zelena never took her heart believing she acquired the perfect servant trained from a young age than a pet whose obedience was obtained through the squeeze of a heart. Nevertheless, he placed the notion in the back of his thoughts focused on finding this supposed lake.
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Belle never took pleasure in the hunt. She knew the necessity of the sport for population control within the province but she found the sport to be dull, especially when her hunting companion used it as a means to impress her with his exploits. on animals who from how Gaston explained it, where never given a chance for a fair fight from the elaborate booby traps he was proud of making.
"What do you think?" asked Gaston getting Belle's attention.
Belle stammered at the realization that Gaston was talking for the past ten minutes and she hardly paid attention. She considered the Duke of Legume a handsome and capable man; he would make an excellent husband which she suspected her father had the same consideration hence providing him an invitation to stay at the estate for the next few weeks under the guise of a council meeting between all the nobles in the Western lands. However, she had not been comfortable being left alone with him when the remainder of the party had decided to split up for more ground. Her father insisted as it meant she would get to know him better, but she knew of his reputation as a womanizer where she kept herself in a farther proximity when they interacted.
"Apologies; I just have a lot on mind at the moment." She feigned a smile to him assuring him of his worries.
Gaston chuckled back at her turning his attentions to his telescope. "A pretty little thing like you should not have anything to worry about. Perhaps it's the sun affecting your head, you shouldn't be outside this long as a woman can not only lose her head but the beautiful pale complexion"
She had to admit Gaston was brazen in his insults where it had shocked her he even had the audacity to say it to her face. Being the heir to her father's throne, Belle had already become accustomed to hearing the sneers and insults to the inferiority of her sex where in the past it resulted in several moments where she had lost her temper. She expected better from her suitors due to the amount of land she possessed where she began to ball her hand turning into a fist ready to the give the entitled Duke piece of her mind when she spotted her cousins Roger and his teenage daughter Alice riding to their direction allowing her to calm down, mouthing a sigh of relief seeing them greet her and the Duke.
"We thought there might be a better range to find some birds." Stated Alice looking directly at Belle giving her a reassurance of their true intentions. She could see Gaston was not too thrilled as seeing them getting their supplies ready to join them.
"There appears to be a flock of geese flying above us" shouted Rogers getting his bow ready when he and Belle looked at Gaston setting up the long bow he brought with a strange looks while Alice looked at them both with a strange expression. "Belle how about we go over there and I can teach you how to properly aim."
"That would be lovely" she demanded huddling towards Rogers seeing Gaston annoyed as he went the opposite direction with Alice staying in the background watching the results. "I could kiss you right now for saving my neck. He is such a bore" whispering to her cousin.
"Forget bore, the rest of the group made it sound your father set you up with a god. Idiot should know a long bow isn't good for long distant shooting."
They both groaned seeing Gaston shooting up at the geese as they suspected, he continued missing his targets where everyone stayed silence until Rogers and Belle followed suit capturing a few birds.
"Are you sure you wouldn't like to borrow my bow instead?" asked Roger to a flustered Gaston.
Gaston was about to answer when he looked up seeing a large bird blocking his view. "I can handle myself on the hunt." He proclaimed aiming his bow towards the bird shooting it. Due to its size, the rest of the group had trouble spotting where Gaston shot the bird as it continued flying for a few seconds until it began falling into the patch of forest straight ahead of the meadow.
"Aren't you going to get it?" asked Alice. "The poor thing might be suffering because of your bad shot."
Gaston looked at Alice scoffing at her. "Who cares, it would have died anyway."
He placed his bow in the back tightening the reigns of his horse when Belle began blocking their way. She stared at them angrily wanting to throw Gaston off of his horse or consider discussing with her father of his brutish behavior. "If you will excuse me, I best retire. The sun is getting to my dainty little head." Gaston shrugged his shoulders letting her leave while she declined Rogers and Alice's request to escort her back.
After a few minutes of finding the men going to the eastern part, Belle rode towards the lake finding the trees to have had a massive expansion on branches leaving her difficulty in finding the exact spot she saw the bird fall until she noticed a tree with several branches broken off. She inspected the branches finding something had pushed itself to the floor when she spotted on the bark fresh blood continuing to leave a trail to the lake along with human footprints.
"I could have sworn it was a bird Gaston shot, then again it was what he told us." She looked at one of the footprints seeing what appeared to be small strands of feathers, she ties Phillipe into the a nearby tree, placing the dagger she normally kept on her right thigh tightly into her hand following the footprints.