Belle, his little Belle, shut up in the prison of a monster. Stumbling through the cold village, Maurice's mind was whirling with ideas, crazy, useless ideas, to rescue Belle, quickly discarded. An appeal to the King to send an army? No, who would believe such a letter? It would be dismissed as the rantings of a lunatic.
Stretching a shaking hand out to the nearest doorway, he fought for breath. The chill of the small stone cell still hadn't left him. It was bleak beyond belief, a little stone window open to the freezing air, and nothing but a pile of old straw to curl up in at night. Tears of memory closed his throat at the thought of his brave girl taking his place in imprisonment.
A machine to distract the monster as he snuck into the castle to free Belle? No, such plans needed aid - more than an old man could achieve on his own. He needed aid to find her, to free her...assistance from the good people of Villeneuve? But who would follow an old man, already thought to be going out of his wits, into wolf-infested woods?
When he looked up again, he saw a shaft of light warm the muddy ground as men made their way into the tavern for the evening. The tallest of the men carried a musket over his shoulder.
Captain Gaston? Rumor had it that he had eyes only for Belle. Certainly some flowers had appeared on the table and Belle had seemed distracted over the last few days. Maurice knew the man by reputation as a captain of at least eight years' experience in the army and a competent hunter. He was unquestionably a popular man around and about. No-one would believe a madman ranting about a castle and a monster but wolves and the cold were real enough and there was a strong man who might love Belle well enough to follow her trail to its destination. His mind made up, Maurice plunged into the tavern.
The tavern was already filling up as workers downed their first pints and warmed themselves against the chilly early evening by a roaring fire.
'Help! I need help! Messieurs, please help me…my daughter is lost!' Men and women stopped where they were, mugs suspended in mid aid, jaws dropped with astonishment.
'Belle is lost in the woods.' Now Maurice was back in the warm, he found himself shaking and coughing. 'I was returning from the c-city w-when my horse threw me in the w-woods and bolted. Philippe, he, he smelled wolves. He must have bolted for h-home.' He drew a deep breath. 'When I made my way back, the house was dark and empty with all things left in a hurry….'
'I did hear a horse go by fast', put in a farmhand. 'Just when I was up in Monsieur Henri's fields.'
'Yes! Surely that was her.' Maurice clutched at the edge of the bar, coughing and women crowded around him clucking sympathetically. 'Poor old man' and 'Here, get him a drink to get his breath back.' Still red in the face with his coughs, Maurice looked up at the tallest man. Instinctively, the crowd turned to him too.
'Belle is lost in the woods?' he cried. 'Why, then we must rescue her!' Springing up onto a table, his gaze swept the room. 'Come, good people! It is a matter for all men to rescue a girl from danger.' The women hurrahed with approval but more than a few men shrank back, muttering, 'Aye, but there's wolves and that' and 'Alright for him to say but it'll be night in no time at all.'
Fixing the dissenters with a piercing eye, the Captain continued to exhort them. 'If it was your own daughters…or wives…who were lost, wouldn't you look for help from your friends?' This seemed to win most of the men over and when the Captain promised to stand pints for all men who joined the search party, the crowd was his entirely.
'Women! Search the village! Perhaps she is close by, lost or hiding. Men! We gather in the Square in five minutes!' Gaston leaped lightly down, making his way through the crowd to Maurice. His eyes were bright.
'Sir. I swear that I will restore Belle to you safely. You should wait here and recover.'
Before Gaston could turn away, Maurice caught his sleeve. 'I…I cannot thank you enough, Captain.' He reached out and gripped his hand, briefly remembering the days when he had been young and in love. 'But I cannot stay here while Belle is in danger. I will search until my strength goes.'
The captain gave him with a distinctly military look of one appraising resources and strategies. 'Le Fou!' he bellowed over the heads of the crowd. 'Three cloaks and get my crossbow. Sir,' he turned back to Maurice. 'Can you ride now?'