Rumplestiltskin, the sultan of Azarajan sat upon his horse on the mountaintop gazing down at the battlefield below, his faithful bodyguards Graham and Jefferson at his side while his troops escorted prisoners from the defeated kingdoms of Agrabah and Avonlea back to the palace. His predecessor Zozo would have had them hanged, drawn and quartered as a warning to other nations of the penalties for invading and underestimating the small country on their borders while Rumple preferred negotiations first, only resorting to using force when all else failed and he would rather show mercy to his prisoners, unless they gave him cause to send them to the block.
"It was a great victory today my liege," Jefferson said.
"Indeed," the sultan murmured, turning his horse and riding back to the palace with Jefferson and Graham at his side. There was much to do now that Azarajan's two greatest rivals had been defeated. He needed to hold a meeting with Maurice the now deposed king of Avonlea and Jafar, the Grand Vizier of Agrabah to discuss the terms of their surrender. The first person he saw when he entered the throne room was his mother, the Valide Sultan Tatiana. Her son was the ruler of their land and she ruled his harem and acted as regent when he was away or ill.
"Well done, my dear boy. Well done," she said softly. "Now the other nations will think twice before attacking us and with the defeat of both Avonlea and Agrabah, we have expanded Azarajan's borders farther in ten years than your predecessor could in thirty."
And he had. Ten years ago he'd been a spinner barely making a living selling his wool and woven shawls and Afghans in the marketplace alongside his mother. Tatiana, always fiercely ambitious, wanted more for her son and set out to catch the eye of the childless and recently widowed sultan, Zozo. Rumor had it that the man put his wives to death when he grew bored with them...or just put anyone to death for his own amusement. The people were terrified of him yet no one dared oppose him and in Tatiana the sultan found a mistress who was cold and cunning as he was, so cunning that he hadn't realized until it was too late that she wanted her son on the throne and wasn't willing to wait long to make it happen. Once Zozo publicly named Rumplestiltskin as his successor Tatiana made her move and rid the kingdom of their hated sultan through poison.
"Thank you, Mother."
"Will you send for Cora or Milah tonight?"
"No. There are treaties and terms of surrender to be discussed with the Avonlea and Agrabah commanders. I will ask for one of them tomorrow evening if I desire to," he said and glanced over at Graham. "Find Baelfire and bring him to the council chambers."
"Yes, my liege."
Baelfire was the commander of the sultan's army, an orphan the sultan discovered on his first progress through the kingdom after he took the throne. Rumple treated the younger man like a son and to Bae, the new sultan of Azarajan became the father he never had before.
"Will you be visiting the harem at all?" Tatiana inquired.
"No, Mother," the sultan informed her and walked away, his bodyguards close at his heels. Tatiana smiled slyly and retreated to her own chambers. She pressed her hand against a loose stone in the wall and a panel slid open to reveal a staircase. She descended the steps and into a room where a young woman stood over a cauldron, stirring and chanting. She stepped back away from the cauldron and kneeled.
"My lady valide," she greeted and rose to her feet.
"The forces of Agrabah and Avonlea have been defeated as you predicted Regina."
"It is indeed a great victory for our lord sultan," the young alchemist said.
"And it seems that the sultan has lost the desire to bed his wives...or any woman. Your potion was a success."
"It has never failed before my lady valide. I must caution you...there may be some unpleasant side effects. The potion has been known to make a man who has lost his virility a bit...ill tempered."
"As long as it prevents him from siring an heir on those bitches Milah and Cora, I care not how ill-tempered it makes him," Tatiana said angrily. "I regret the day I brought Cora into the harem to distract Rumple's attentions away from that mindless sop Milah. She now intends to usurp my place as ruler of the harem and I will not allow that to happen. I'll see both of them on the block first."
Regina said nothing and returned to her work. She had a great deal of respect for the Valide Sultan who plucked her from the streets of Azarajan and gave her a place in her private household because of her talent for creating potions that healed many illnesses. She could also create poisons that were difficult to find remedies for yet this was a skill she rarely used. It still disturbed her that it had been one of her poisons that the valide used to rid Azarajan of its previous sultan and put her own son on the throne in his place. Still, Rumplestiltskin was a great improvement over his predecessor yet she feared this latest scheme of the valide's would transform him from a man into a beast.
Later that evening, Sultan Rumplestiltskin and his high commanders were gathered in the council chambers along with the deposed King Maurice of Avonlea and Jafar, the Grand Vizier of Agrabah.
"You will continue to serve as representatives of your lands to Azarajan but your armies will be disbanded," the sultan informed them. "However, you will be required to reside in my court. Your estates will be torn down and their lands put to better use."
"What?!" Maurice protested. "The castle has been in my family for centuries and you will destroy it?"
"Indeed. What need do you have of a grand estate when you will no longer be living in it? You will have lodgings more suitable to your position here at court as will you, Jafar. You will both return to your prospective countries in the morning under guard to gather your possessions and return to court."
"My daughter, what will become of her?"
"The lady Belle will be given what position the Valide Sultan sees fit in the harem."
"My daughter will not be one of your concubines! She is a princess!" Maurice protested.
"Former princess," the sultan corrected. "And despite rumors to the contrary, not all of the women in my harem share my bed. I consider most of them my daughters and treat them as such, not that it is any of your concern."
"My liege," Jafar spoke up. "Now that our nations have been united, I would like to now serve you as Royal Vizier."
"I will think on it," was the sultan's reply to Jafar's unasked question. He was well aware of the man's reputation in Agrabah as a plotter and schemer and if there was one thing he did learn from his predecessor it was that you kept your friends close and your enemies closer. Both men were potential threats that needed to be kept in check.
"Per the sultan's request, I will be stationing some of my legions in both Avonlea and Agrabah," Bae informed them. "To maintain peace and any uprisings will be dealt with...quickly."
The discussions went on until late in the evening. The sultan, now exhausted, called the meeting to an end. Before he was escorted back to his chambers, he walked with Baelfire to the stables. The young soldier was packing his saddlebags for his ride to Avonlea and Agrabah.
"Take care, Bae. I do not trust either Jafar or Maurice not to stage an uprising when they return to their countries. If you suspect that any plots are afoot or something seems amiss, you have my permission to act in whatever way you see fit. My only request is that you use sound judgment and show mercy to those whom are worthy of it."
"Don't I always, Papa?" he asked softly.
"Yes you do," Rumple murmured. "I feel my life was blessed the day I found you and I don't want to lose you."
"Don't worry about me. I'm taking my best soldiers with me."
"Do they include a certain fair haired maiden named Emma?" the sultan teased. Like Bae, the young woman had also been an orphan taken in by the sultan and from an early age she proved herself as good a soldier as his Bae. He had his hopes that the two of them would wed but Bae hadn't gotten around to posing the question yet.
"It does. She'd have my head if I left without her."
Rumple laughed. "That she would."
The two men embraced and Bae mounted his horse, riding off for Avonlea. Rumple returned to his chambers where his servants were placing the dishes for his evening meal on the table.
"Ahhh, chocolate covered strawberries. My favorite."
His food taster picked up one of the strawberries and took a bite. After several minutes he showed no signs of poison. Rumple dismissed him and the rest of the servants with a wave of his hand and sat down to eat. Before he would have asked one of his wives to join him but both of them were more interested in begetting an heir or satisfying their lusts rather than engaging in conversation. Cora, in the beginning had proven to be a worthy discussion companion. Now she spent most of the time complaining about his mother and Milah, even him now that he no longer had the desire to bed her or any woman for that matter. He was no longer a young man and assumed his condition was brought on by his age. He did want a child of his own, an heir for the throne but if he could not sire one, he would gladly proclaim Baelfire his successor.
He picked up one of the strawberries and bit into it, enjoying its sweet taste. Even when he was a poor spinner, they were one delicacy he never did without. Once he finished the first one, he reached for a second. Just as his fingers were about to grasp another from the bowl he was overcome by nausea.
"David...David!" he shouted out. The servant rushed into the room, gasping in horror when he discovered his master crouched on the floor vomiting violently.
"Fetch the Lady Regina!" David ordered another servant. "My liege...we must get you into bed."
"Can't..." he groaned and vomited again. Minutes later Regina entered the room.
"What has happened?" she demanded and knelt at the sultan's side. David explained to her what he'd seen and together the two of them helped him into bed.
Once she finished examining the sultan, Regina left his chambers in search of the Valide Sultan. She found her mistress in her salon having a cup of tea with Princess Ariel, daughter of King Tritan of Atlantica.
"Forgive me my lady valide but I must speak with you in private about an urgent matter," Regina said.
"Go on. We'll speak more when you return," Princess Ariel said to the older woman.
"Come," the valide instructed the young sorceress and the two of them walked down the hall and into the secret passage down to Regina's private quarters. "What has happened?"
"The sultan has been poisoned, my lady valide," Regina informed her.
"What? Are you certain? Does he still live?" the valide asked frantically.
"Fortunately I have encountered this poison before and was able to create an antidote but it will take several days before the sultan is fully recovered."
"How was it administered?"
"The most efficient way to introduce this type of poison into a victim's system is through food or drink. Its taste and odor mimics that of the strawberry, a fruit that is a favorite of the sultan's."
"But his food is tasted!" the valide protested.
"My lady valide a food taster's loyalty can be bought for the right price and as we are both aware, there are certain herbs one can take to build an immunity against many poisons. I suspect our food taster may be using such an herb."
"Then we will find out. Have the traitor brought to my chambers," the valide commanded. "We will discover who is responsible for this and have them brought to the block and may the gods have mercy on their worthless souls for I surely will not! I have worked too hard to keep my son on this throne!"