Secret Passage
Bae coughed again as Morraine lay him on Rumpelstiltskin's desk. "Just breathe," she said. "Breathe deeply and evenly." He nodded and commenced obeying her instructions. She kissed him on the forehead and walked into the front of the store. The woman was still perusing the streets. What was she waiting for? Morraine wondered. Whatever it was, it would have to wait until she stopped trying to kill Bae.
Morraine chewed her lip. There was much to do and she had no idea how much time she had. She had to get herself and Bae back into the Enchanted Forest and to Rumpelstiltskin. She had to protect Bae from the strange woman's deadly magic. She had to help lead the Merry Men, or lead them outright if Bae was still too ill, against the soldiers of Wonderland and whoever else wanted them dead and gone.
She suddenly remembered the Ogre War, after the incident the night of her arrival. She was given a weapon and sent into the trenches to die, but she had a reason to live: she had learned the previous night, in a roundabout fashion, that she was now free to marry whoever she chose, and she chose Bae, long before she knew she was to marry anyone else. That gave her enough hope to sustain the wounds she took during the two weeks between when Bae was supposed to have joined her and Rumpelstiltskin's rescue of the children on the front lines.
That same calm settled over her again as she watched the woman. She opened a window, nocked an arrow, and took aim.
But the woman noticed before Morraine could fire, flicked her wrist, and sent a large chunk of the wall flying, Morraine with it. "M?" Bae asked in a strangled voice. Morraine ran to the back office. "What's happening out there?" He struggled to sit up, but she gestured for him to stay down and began her search of the wall. "What're you looking for?"
"If anything, your father's paranoid," she said. "There's a hidden door or something around here somewhere."
"Try..." He gasped. "She's close."
"Try where, Bae?" Bae gestured to the wall immediately behind the desk.
"Of course," she whispered. "Brilliance." She moved to the wall and tapped on it. Bae gasped again. "Hold on." She spotted a crack in the wal, braced herself against one side of it, and pushed. the wall gave an inch or so. "We're almost there. We're going to be fine."
"Oh, there you are," the woman said from the curtained doorway. Bae was shaking, and his face was contorted in agony. Morraine grabbed him and deliberately ran into the wall. This time the wall gave completely, and she turned and pushed the makeshift door closed against the woman's magic. She managed this to a particularly violent spell and sank to her knes, panting. "It's going to be alright," she said to Bae, lying in a heap on the stone floor. "I won't let her near you." He nodded and gave himself to a brief but violent coughing fit. She waited for a moment before slowly retreating from the door and picking him up.
"Where're we going?" he asked when they started down the tunnel.
"Away from that woman," she replied.
"Other than that."
"No idea." He nodded. "Try not to use to much energy, alright? You're probably very weak, and I know you've been very ill. Now, I need you to stay in a magic-free environment. I'll handle everything else."
"What if you get captured?"
"Then I'll fight my way out. Baelfire," she said in a low voice, "right now, my top priority is you."
"What if you can't fight your way out? What if she kills you?"
"Bae, stop thinking too much. It's not good for you right now. You're in how much pain?"
"M, while you're worrying about me, someone needs to worry about you, and it looks like that someone's going to be me." He stumbled slightly.
"There. That proves my point."
He took a few deep breaths. "I'm not a senile old bat. I can think and recover at the same time."
"If she finds you, you're as good as dead."
Bae nodded, and Morraine eased him into a sitting position against the wall before positioning herself next to him.