8

Fiery Vengeance

Rumple was down at the stables, getting Sirocco ready for Gaston when he felt the magic on his collar suddenly fizzle and die. It fell off of him and clanked on the ground beside the stallion's hooves. For one moment he was too startled to do anything but stare at it . . .and then he realized he was free. She's done it! I'm free! He thought triumphantly. Extreme elation and love for the fiery beauty that he had danced with at the ball flowed through him then, till he was almost drunk upon it and the heady sensation of the magic that was his lifeblood surging through him unfettered. He was no longer bound, no longer a slave. Now he was a Mage Lord . . .and Gaston had better start running. Sirocco stepped upon the collar, trampling it into the straw and snapping it apart, and the bejeweled master collar suddenly appeared in Rumple's hands.

Recognizing this for what it was, he commanded it to free all those now enslaved, then he used it in one brief pulse to destroy all the collars, so no one else could be enslaved. Knowing that there would very shortly be a bloody revolt going on, he Fetched both Bae and Aileen from their caregiver and hugged them.

"Papa! You got your magic back!" Bae cried as he realized what happened.

"Yay!" Aileen cheered.

"Yes, my wee ones, my magic is back, and now I need to get you two out of here . . . before the fighting starts," he murmured. He looked at Sirocco, already saddled and ready to go.

Then he put both children on the stallion's back.

"Go for a ride?" Aileen queried, unafraid. She had been on horses before, back in Prytainia, Rumple used to put her on her pony and lead her around, and Bae had one as well.

"Yes, dearie."

"Papa, are you coming?" asked Bae worriedly.

Rumple hesitated. He should go with them, but he knew they would need him here . . .but how could he let his defenseless children ride alone through the City? And then into Prytainia?

Suddenly a small hand tugged on his tunic. "Rumple, I'll go."

It was Killian, his small face serious.

"Lad, I . . ."

"I can ride good as any man, and I'll make sure they get where you want 'em to go," the stableboy said. He patted his belt where he had a rather large knife.

"Killian, are you sure?"

"Yup. I don't wanna be here when things get rough," the boy shuddered. Before Rumple could say anything, he hopped up on Sirocco's back behind Bae, balancing easily and holding the younger boy. "We're gonna go on a little trip, right?"

"Yes. Aileen, Bae, I'm sending Killian with you because I need to stay here for a bit, so please mind him. Sirocco will take you to Captain Robin's camp in Prytainia."

He waved his hand and a sack appeared. "Here's some food and water and blankets in case you need to stop." He gestured again and Sirocco's shoes sparkled. "I've enchanted his shoes so he can run like lightning so hopefully you'll get to the Forest Mage camp in a matter of hours."

Then he bent and whispered in Sirocco's ear where he had to go and to protect the children.

The stallion whuffed his hair and snorted his understanding.

"Okay. Sirocco knows where to go, so just hang on and let him take you there. Don't stop for anything until you reach Captain Robin's camp, and then just stay there and wait for me."

"How long will you be?" asked Bae.

"I don't know . . .maybe a day or two, son. But I will be back." He hugged and kissed his children again. "Now safe journey! I'll see you soon!" Then he sent Sirocco on his way with a sharp smack on his rump.

The stallion whinnied and bolted, his enchanted horseshoes twinkling, and in a flicker he was gone, running across the yard and down the road out of the city, the three children clinging to his back.

Knowing that very possibly a dragon might be paying a visit to the city, Rumple released all the horses from their stalls and sent them outside of it. Then he contacted Regina through his link. Regina, we're free, and the Spinner Revolution has begun!

I know! And now, at long last, the Galatians shall know the wrath of the Prytani! She sent back. I'm gathering the troops now!

Rumple nodded, and then his eyes flew to the palace, where the arrogant nobles and the king resided, and he decided to pay a visit to Belle to thank her, and then get her and Maurice away as well, before he went to speak with Prince David and see if he really wanted to help the newly freed Mage Lords.

He vanished from the yard and reappeared upon Belle's balcony.

His blood quickened at the thought of seeing her again, and he hoped she was already packing and ready to flee this stone prison, for he didn't want her caught up in the rioting and fighting that was about to begin, or the gods forbid, the attack by the gold dragon queen. He went to the balcony doors and opened them with a touch. Then he went inside, calling softly, "Belle? It's Rumplestiltskin."

He glanced around the comfortably appointed suite. The bed appeared barely slept in and there was no movement behind the changing screen and Rumple began to hope that Belle had managed to leave, until he spotted a small chest upon the floor . . .next to Belle's still form.

"Gods!" he cried in horror, rushing over to her.

His first thought upon seeing her pale waxen features was she had been given some kind of sedative, or she had hit her head when she fell and was unconscious. But when he touched her, his magical healing sense told him quite plainly it was poison . . . and it had almost reached her heart.

Frantic, he started to try and heal her, but soon realized that it would take too long . . .he stared at her, dread creeping through him, and he knew then he could not bear to lose her, not now, not like this . . .and so he called upon the oldest magic of all—the magic of true love—and he lifted the limp Belle in his arms and kissed her hard.

I love you. Live for me, he urged her soundlessly. I love you for all eternity and I shall love you for all the days of my life and beyond. Live for me!

And even as he thought it, a surge of brilliant white magic flowed through him and into her, sweeping away the insidious poison in her blood, restoring and healing and making anew what had been damaged, and affirming for all of time that Rumplestiltskin Gold, Mage Lord of Prytainia, loved Lady Belle Farraher, ambassador's daughter, of Avonlea.

As the restorative magic of True Love's Kiss swept through Belle, the door to her suite opened and Brianna returned with a tray of cider and some fresh bread. "Sorry I'm late, mistress, but something's going on in the kitchen, some people didn't show for work and—ohh!"

She nearly dropped the tray on the floor at the sight that met her eyes . . .her mistress being kissed like there was no tomorrow by Rumplestiltskin . . .and a little way beyond them lay an empty box, like one you would use to keep important papers in or jewelry.

"Ohh good heavens!"

Rumple gently lifted his head, breaking the kiss, and glancing behind him said, "She was almost dead from some kind of poison, so I kissed her. Now best you go pack, because you need to get out of here."

Brianna didn't move. "Poison! Is she all right!"

In answer Belle opened her eyes. "Rumple . . .I . . .found the collar . . . you're free . . ."

"I know, sweetheart. And now the Spinner Revolution has begun. How do you feel? You were poisoned, do you know how?"

Belle shook her head slightly, glorying in the fact that she was in his arms, and his touch sent frissions of delight down her spine. "No . . .I took the collar out after picking the lock and I sent it to you . . . then I felt awful and I fainted."

Rumple frowned. "You were poisoned. Perhaps . . . there was poison on the box or when you unlocked it? Ahh, it doesn't matter now. Can you stand? We should leave as quickly as possible. In a little while this palace is going to be crawling with my people fighting the Galatians. And if I'm not mistaken . . . that golden queen will be here also, now that my protection spell over Gaston has been revoked."

"How did you save me? With magic?" she asked softly.

"Yes. With the greatest magic of all—True Love," he answered tenderly.

She couldn't keep the grin off of her face. "I love you too . .. I didn't want to admit it before . . . but it's so . . ."

"It's a very puzzling conundrum," he chuckled. "And one we can ponder another time." He helped her to stand. "Come, pack a bag and warn your father, and we'll go. My people won't be very rational soon and I don't want you hurt."

Brianna had already set down the tray and begin packing her mistress a small bag. "Milady, I got the shock of my life when I came in here . . . and you were on the floor in his arms and he was kissing you breathless like some hero in a tale! Fair took my breath away, it did!"

Belle laughed. "I'd say the same except I think he gave me back mine!"

She felt almost giddy, like she had imbibed in too much claret, and as she added a few more things to the bag thought about how delighted she was to be free of that odious betrothal and could follow her heart . . . which led to a Mage Lord.

But much as she delighted in finding out that Rumple loved her . . .and that she loved him . . .she knew that now was not the time to dwell upon such feelings. Danger loomed in the shadows and she had to warn Maurice and make sure he and Brianna were well out of its path. As for herself, she was not leaving Rumplestiltskin's side.

She pressed the bag into Brianna's hands. "Take this, and go wake my father. Tell him to meet me in the great hall downstairs. Hurry!"

As Brianna departed, she turned to Rumple and said, "When I left him, George was passed out on the bed due to a certain tea . . .and that's how I found the chest with the master collar in it when I searched his quarters."

"Then he should still be out of it . . .which means we can infiltrate the palace and perhaps take it without too much trouble," Rumple said, and concentrated, sending this message to Jefferson and the other Mage Lords. He beckoned to her. "Come, we need to get you out of sight before—"

"I'm not leaving you."

"What? Belle, don't be stubborn, there's going to be a bloodbath here in an hour or more and . .."

"I'm staying. My father and Brianna should leave, but I'm staying with you."

"It's not safe, dammit!"

"Nowhere is safe in Galatia right now," she countered. "And I feel safer with you than riding across the country, hoping to escape a dragon's wrath. And don't tell me she isn't coming here! I'm not stupid!"

"No, you're a stubborn ass, more's the pity!" he snapped. "Follow me then."

They exited her room and were going down the hallway when they heard the first of the alarm klaxons sound in the city.

Page~*~*~*~Break

Down in the city, Maleficent heard the alarms sounding and smiled in her office at the Dragon's Hoard. The alarms were only rung in direst need, like if the city were being invaded by ogres. . .or targeted by a vengeful dragon.

"Mistress!" gasped Raven, her major domo. "Have you heard the news?"

"I've heard the alarms. 'Twould seem the dragon approaches."

"Not only that . . . . but our people . . .are free of the collars! The Mage Lords are free!" he waved the golden thread around. "The Spinner Rebellion has begun! All magic has its price . . . and the price to be paid is now!"

Maleficent smirked, her lips curling up in a diabolical grin. "Indeed. And the Galatian king and his foolish courtiers shall reap the whirlwind of destruction. Go then, Raven, and send my regards . . ." She waved him away.

As the major domo fled back down the corridor, his raven headdress bobbing, Maleficent took out a miniature of a young girl with golden hair and deep blue eyes. "Aurelia, love . . .your spinner stands poised to take back the life that was undone . . .and in your memory, my dear child, I shall aid him . . ." She kissed the miniature, then tucked it into her pocket.

Aurelia had been hers from the moment she had found the wailing babe wrapped in a blanket tucked next to a fallen spindle in the wreckage of her smoking castle . . .a castle destroyed by fire . . .leaving only one survivor, the baby protected by True Love's magic, and the sacrifice of her mother. Back then Mal had not been a dark practitioner, merely a Prytani shifter mage . . .and she had taken the golden child as her own.

Aurelia had grown up knowing only Mal as her mama, and proved to have an unusual talent for spinning . . . a talent that drew her to the Nexus, the capital of Prytainia, where the Mage Lords dwelled, and there she had met the shy Mage Lord spinner Rumplestiltskin . . .and lost her heart to him. She had never come home again, instead marrying Mage Lord Gold and becoming his wife. Oh, Mal was free to visit her daughter whenever she wished, but it wasn't the same. Aurelia was now a wife and mother and her golden child was no more.

Thus Maleficent had lost her daughter . . . and in an attempt to fill the emptiness in her heart, turned to the forbidden arts to ease the loneliness, and was discovered by Cora Mills and cast out. It was after her exile that Aurelia had become pregnant with Aileen . . .and died after the birth of her daughter.

Maleficent had never forgiven herself . . . or the Mage Lords who had cast her out and left her beloved child to die without her mother's last embrace. But now . . .now it was time to let the old grudges die, and unite against a common enemy, King George and the Galatians who held the Prytani captive.

Drawing her black cloak around her, Maleficent strode from her office, and with a wave of her hand, transported herself to the roof of the Dragon's Hoard. There was a reason her gambling hall was called that, and a reason the black dragon on the rooftop was crouched atop it.

Maleficent was about to show the Galatians why.

She smiled, a wicked fierce grin. Then she held out her staff, which she had stored alot of her power before she was exiled. The dragon's claw staff glowed . . . and a greenish light washed over her.

Then her tall frame twisted, writhed, and became a huge scaled behemoth with large leathery wings and twin horns atop its head.

The black dragon screamed in fury . . . and then launched itself into the sky.

As soon as the collars had fallen from about their necks, Jefferson and Henry had teleported to the city walls and lit the fuses of the explosives they had planted there a week ago. The firework bombs exploded, sending colorful flares and fanciful lights high in the sky, both a distraction to the Galatians and a signal to the Forest Mages waiting to launch an attack of their own.

And as colorful strings of light popped overhead, the city walls crumbled under the explosive force of concussive magic, leaving smoking rubble and gaping holes for the army to pass through into the city.

Henry flung up his hand, wearing a hat with a glittering golden thread upon it, given to him by Jeff, who also wore one. "All magic comes with a price! And the price to be paid is now!" the boy yelled the slogan of the rebellion.

"Okay, kid. Now get your butt on the horse your mother sent and get outta here," Jeff ordered.

"What? But Jeff . . . I wanna help!"protested the boy. "I can fight."

"You did help, Henry. You helped me make a way for Robin and Graham to come into the city and aid the rest of us. Now I promised your mom I'd get you safe away from here once that was done." The tall Mage Lord, whose family were milliners, held the reins of a big brown hunter with a white blaze. "Get on Rocinante, kid, and ride like the wind back home. He knows the way."

Henry looked like he wanted to argue some more . . . until he saw a huge winged shape pass overhead. "Dragon!" he squealed.

Rocinante reared.

"Whoa!" Jeff cried, and had to wrestle the frightened animal down. "Easy. Henry, get on the horse! Now! Or by the gods I'll tie you over the saddle myself!"

Seeing Jeff meant what he said, Henry mounted Rocinante. "Good luck! And tell my mom—I'll see her at home!"

Then he put his boots to the horse's flanks and rode through the hole in the wall and out into the countryside, heading back to a land he thought he would never see again, his homeland of Prytainia.

Page~*~*~*~Break

Revenge...the dragon craved it...and she would have it. Her children slaughtered...and her justice would be to kill the killer and those who had spawned him.

The murderer was somewhere in that village, and no amount of magic would keep her from finding the one responsible and crushing them in her massive claws or incinerating them with her fire.

Every beat of her great wings brought her closer to the murderer and closer to the justice, she, Daenarelys the Golden, would take for herself and her dead dragonets.

In the courtyard of George's palace, Belle hugged her father and Brianna while Rumple stood awkwardly off to one side, wishing Belle would take his advice and leave with them. He didn't want her put in danger, she had already nearly died once for him and his, there was no need for her to risk her neck a second time.

People streamed out of the palace, most of them servants, terrified over the klaxons wailing, knowing full well the city was under attack, and not just by the Prytani, but by the golden dragon. A lot of those remaining wore the golden thread in their cap or pinned to their dresses, indicating they supported the Spinner revolution.

Many of the nobles were still abed, suffering from a surfeit of drink and partying and those who were awake were confused and caught off guard.

There were far more supporters of the Prytani than expected. They concealed their discontent for the Galatians behind a mask. Now they would stand with them and die with them if necessary.

Rumple knew he should try to rally them together, but right then his concern was the tempestuous woman in front of him and her ambassador father and servant.

"Rumple, I am going with you and you will not convince me otherwise," Belle said stubbornly.

"Dammit, can't you see? You almost died once for me, I can't permit that a second time," he argued. "Please, go with them. I can send you all away outside the city." He looked at Maurice. "Can't you try and persuade her?"

"No, he cannot. You may need my help,
Rumplestiltskin."

"You've already been help. You've freed us all," he began desperately. "Why are you willing to risk your life for us, we're not even your own people?"

Her eyes locked with his. "Because I love you! And your people are now my people. That is what true love is...accepting everything that you are...as my own."

He swallowed hard. "I know . . .but I don't want you to die for me, Belle! Aurelia already died because of me . . .I cannot go through that again."

"I am not going to die. My love, we will take back what was ours and we will stop the dragon from revenging herself on the blood of innocents." Belle said confidently. Some would consider her naive, that she was not.

"Oh, gods and hells!" Rumple threw up his hands. "If I thought it would do any good, I'd magic you off with your father and maid servant. But I doubt even that would stop you for long and then you'd want to skewer me. All right, but stay close by me. Ambassador, Brianna, stand close together. This won't hurt, but it'll feel a bit dizzying. I'll transport you to my homeland, where my people shall take care of you until I return. Tell them Mage Lord Gold sent you."

"We'll see you soon, Papa...Brianna..."

"Belle, be careful!" Maurice said worriedly. "Take care of my daughter . . .or you'll deal with me!"

Brianna laughed. "And there speaks a father, even if you're a high and mighty Mage Lord!"

Rumple snorted. "Not so high and mighty as all that. Farewell." He gestured, and purple smoke swirled about them and carried them away . . .to the Forest retreat of his mage people, where they could wait in safety until he and Belle returned to them . . .along with his children.

Once they were gone, he turned to suggest to Belle that they go to find Prince David and start organizing the members of the Revolution when a huge shadow fell over the courtyard.

"The dragon!" Belle gasped.

"Ahh, hells!" Realizing the dragon needed to be dealt with first, Rumple put his arm around her. "We're going to the topmost turret in the northwest corner. Hopefully I can make a deal with her before she torches everything in the city . . .including innocent people."

"She'll want nothing else but the hide of the one who killed her dragonets, Rumple..."

"That I have no problem with," he snorted. "But I have a feeling that even that might not satisfy her . . .a dragon in blood rage is the most dangerous creature in the realms."

"Then what do you suggest? Is there a spell you can use to subdue her?"

"No. Any spell I cast might be deflected . . . a gold dragon is the strongest of all magical creatures. Plus casting at her might cause her to attack me, or see me as a threat. I must use my wits." Then he transported them both to the high windy turret, where he could see the dragon's glistening form hovering in the pale sky.

She took his hand in hers and held it tightly. Though she was no mage, she would offer him the strength of her love.

Rumple lifted his hands and used a small amount of his magic to amplify his voice and he called, "Lady Queen, I would speak with you. I am Mage Lord Rumplestiltskin Gold . . .and once the Prytani were friends with your kind. In honor of that friendship, I ask that you hear what I have to say."

Daena turned her great wedge-shaped head in his direction, her green eyes glittering.

My children have been slaughtered and I WILL have my revenge!

Rumple winced at the savage bloodlust and terrible sorrow in her mindspeech. "I know . . . and I shall help you seek out the one responsible, Great One . . .but first I must beg a favor of you."

Why must a Mage Lord need a favor from me?

Rumple shivered for this close to her, she emanated an aura of awe and shock that made him long to kneel at her feet in worship. Dragon aura, they called it, and even he was not immune to it. "Great Queen, there are many of my people down in the city . . .and they had naught to do with the deaths of your children. Nor did many other Galatians. I ask your clemency for them . .. and request you stay your wrath and not destroy all of us for what one had done."

You ask for mercy for the ones that have enslaved you? Do you not seek your own justice for the many wrongs they have done you now?

Rumple nodded. "Aye, I do. But justice doesn't mean slaughtering all the people in this city. Many of them support me and mine. For those who actively persecuted me and my people . . .they shall pay magic's price and suffer for it."

And if I agree to your terms, sparing the lives of the people in this village...you will bring me the one who slaughtered my children?

"I shall. In fact, I shall help you find him, Lady." Rumple said. "I am sorry your lost your children. If I could have prevented it, I would have. No parent should lose a child untimely." He said sincerely.

A part of my heart and soul was lost to me with the slaughter of my dragonets but if the murderer is brought to me for MY justice...we have an accord, Rumplestiltskin...and the people of this village will be spared.

"Agreed, lady Queen."

Belle pressed her hand to her heart, breathing a sigh of relief.

The golden queen eyed her curiously. And who is this beside you? I smelled her scent outside my lair.

"I am Belle, lady Queen..."

"This is Belle Farraher, Great One. She is from Avonlea, and she is my beloved." Rumple answered.

Ah, I see...she is your mate then.

"Umm . . . well . . .not yet . . .but . . ." he stammered, blushing.

She is Mage Lord, for I sense the strong bond between you, as strong as it was with my own mate...the father of my precious dragonets.

"Rumple, what is she saying?" Belle asked. It had to be something her beloved was not comfortable hearing judging from the faint blush in his cheeks.

"She . . ahh . . . thinks you're my . . . mate. . . ."

"Your...oh!" Now she felt her own cheeks heat at the thought.

Yet she would like that...very much.

Daena chuckled. Why so uncomfortable, Mage Lord? You need a mate . . . no one should be alone forever. She flew closer to the turret, so close they could count her glittering golden scales.

"Umm . . . no . . .but . . . well . . . we've just started seeing each other . . ."

Daena snorted. You humans have strange mating customs.

Rumple was now scarlet. "Uh . . . yes, I suppose so . . ."

I had many good years with my mate. I do not think I will choose another.

"I thought the same after Milah betrayed me . . .but I managed to find my heart at a dance in winter. Perhaps . . . you may also," Rumple said respectfully.

Perhaps...if the fates are kind. Now we must have justice against those who have wronged us. Only then will you be free to build a life with your mate.

"Yes. Only when the price has been paid shall our ghosts rest easy."

Then come upon my back, Rumplestiltskin and Belle, and show me where the murderer of my children is. Daena invited.

The golden queen set one huge clawed foot upon the turret. Use my foot to climb up on my back. Then cast a charm to stay upon me, mage. I do not want the wind to snatch you away.

Rumple carefully climbed up the broad scaled foot. It was a bit like scaling a mountain . . .if the mountain was made of gold.

The dragon scales were not slippery, and he found walking on them a bit odd, but the dragon did not seem discomfited by it.

Belle removed her heeled boots and followed Rumple's descent. She discarded the boots fearing the heels would harm the dragon though it's massive claw was twice the size of one of the towers in her castle.

Your mate did not need to remove her footwear Rumplestiltskin...it would not have harmed me.

Rumple turned from straddling the dragon's back inbetween the first and second ridges on her neck. "Belle was being thoughtful, Great One." He held out his hand for Belle.

Indeed...a true mate for one such as yourself.

Rumple took Belle's hand and helped her behind him. "All set?" he said. Then he cast a spell to make them stick upon the dragon's back.

Belle wrapped her arms around his waist and held on tightly.

"We're ready, lady Queen."

Take me to the murderer of my children, Daena commanded.

Rumple thought for a moment where Gaston would be. Then he said, "Go towards the stables . . . you should find him there."

Daena growled. An animal amongst animals...!

The dragon flew up and over the crenellations and over the stables, her keen eyes and nose searching the ground for any hint of Gaston.

And in the air she caught his vile scent.

Ahhh now I have him! she sent, her mindvoice joyous with the reckoning to come.

Gaston was furious. He had woken up with a pounding headache and Rumple's medicine for it had made him puke. Now he was on his way down to the stables to get Demon, but found that all the horses, including his own, were missing . . . and so was Rumple! When he tried to summon him through the collar, he got no response.

Where the hell was that worthless cur? He would have him whipped for his insolence!

Then he heard the ominous flap of wings and looked up, his mouth falling open in horror and disbelief. "D-Dragon!" he screamed. "Rumplestiltskin! Get your ass over here!"

The terrible dragonfear aura swept over him and he froze in place, trembling like a leaf and urine soaked his breeches and made a puddle on the ground.

Daena could now smell the human's fear and oh how she relished it. She would show this coward no mercy as he showed none to her children!

The dragon settled to the ground, snarling.

Gaston screamed and backed away in fear. "Don't hurt me..." he sobbed like an infant. He was so terrified he didn't even notice the two humans clinging to the dragon's back.

Daena howled in rage, her mouth opening, showing her razor sharp fangs the size of long swords.

Rumple hugged Belle. "Look away, dearie. I don't think you want to see this."

"No...I don't...but those poor dragonets didn't deserve what he did to them either..."

MURDERER! Now you shall taste MY vengeance!

Gaston fell on his knees. "Mercy! I beg you!"

I shall show you the same mercy you gave my children-NONE!

"Noooo!"

Daena lunged, and grasped the hapless knight in her claw. Ignoring his pleas, she used her other talon and fangs to tear Gaston to shreds, until there was nothing left but bloody scraps drifting through the air. She knew another dragon might have eaten the knight, but she would not lower herself to such a thing, for the murderer's flesh was probably tainted with his evil and she had no desire to taste it.

Then the dragon wept for her lost children.

Her tears turned to crystal shards . . .as often happened when dragons wept out of great sorrow and they pinged upon the ground like hail.

Rumple patted the sleek hide. "Lady, my condolences." Tears shimmered in his own eyes, for a gold dragon was a sacred creature and to harm one was sacrilege to a Prytani.

Belle patted her as well, offering what little comfort she could to the grieving mother.

Then Rumple had an idea that might help ease her pain somewhat. And he summoned the dragonets hides and heads from where they rested upon the wall of the great hall. "Lady Queen, here are your children's remains . . . so that you may lay them to rest in the manner you deem fit." The remains appeared in front of her.

I will...give them their last rites...in the tradition of our species...

Daena began keening, a high wild sound, like the wailing of a lost soul. Then she sang softly, in the tongue of her kindred, "Mythraela and Dellinaryth, my children, may the gods of sky and fire welcome you home. Sleep forever, my little sparks, in the embrace of eternity."

She nuzzled the remains of her children, plucked a scale from each of them and then drew in a breath. Then she breathed out, one sharp burst of flame, which turned from bright orange to blue. and then the remains were incinerated, returning to the fire of creation that had made them all.

"Rumple..." Belle wept softly. Her heart ached for the mother dragon.

Rumple stroked her hair as she cried against him, weeping himself for innocence lost never to be regained.

They sleep now...they sleep...

Daena held up the two scales and a glittering golden chain appeared and she strung them on it and placed it around her neck. And I wear their scales close to my heart for remembrance. Two tears gathered in her eyes and fell.

She caught them in her foot. Take these tears, Mage Lord. They can make a powerful healing draught . . .and counteract any poison. Consider it my gift to you for aiding me.

Rumple reached out and took them. They sparkled like fallen stars in his hand and he could feel the warmth of their magic. "Thank you, Lady Queen."

He took the tears and tucked them into his pocket. Then he waved a hand and released them from the spell that held them to her back. As he slid down her to the ground, Daena looked at him.

My sorrow shall ease in time, Mage Lord, for time heals all wounds eventually.

This he knew well.

For so many years he mourned his Aurelia, never thinking he could love someone as much again...until Belle.

He could not imagine enduring the pain that was hers...the loss of her children...two precious beings she gave life to. Oh how he'd come close to losing his own precious child...

Belle slid down the dragon's broad shoulder to the ground, wincing a bit as her stocking feet came into contact with the cobbles. "I'm sorry I couldn't save them. Gaston . . . wouldn't listen to me . . ."

I know, child...and now others are safe from the likes of him and justice done for my children.

She dipped her head. Go in peace, Mage Lord Gold and Lady Farraher. And know that today you have earn the honor of being called my friend.

"As you have ours, Lady Queen."

Rumple was in shock. To be named dragonfriend was something that happened only in tales nowadays.

My name is Daenarelys, but you may call me Daena.

"Thank you . . .Daena," Rumple said, still amazed.

He told Belle what Daena had sent.

"But that's wonderful Rumple. Rare but wonderful. It's a gift."

"An unlooked for and unexpected one."

They are the best kind, Rumple, the gold dragon sent. Now, as per our agreement, I shall leave and not destroy your city. But for one last thing . . .

Her tail whipped out . . . crushing part of the great hall where her children's hides had been displayed. There had been no one inside or nearby.

Then she launched herself into the sky, becoming airborne with a few sweeps of her wings. Fare thee well, friends. If ever you have need . . .speak my name three times and I shall come.

"We will...fare thee well, Lady Queen."

Rumple summoned Belle's boots to him. "Here, dearie. Put your boots on, because we might have to do a little running." He could hear the sounds of distress and anger drifting towards him and knew it meant the Prytani were fighting the Galatian guardsmen.

"I'll not run, but I will stay and fight."

"All right. Do you know how to handle a weapon? Like a staff or a knife? Maybe a bow?"

"I can wield a staff, Rumple but not a knife or bow."

"Then here you go, dearie." He held out his hands and a blackwood staff capped with copper appeared in them. "This is enchanted to always hit what you aim at."

"Oh I can strike what I aim at well Rumple, especially when I am angry."

"Good, because you'll need to."

Then he conjured one last thing, a golden thread. "Put this on. If we happen to get separated, this will tell what side you're on."

"I'm hoping it won't come to that but if it does thank you, Rumple."

He gestured and his yellow tunic and pants became his dragon print vest and pants and crimson tunic. "There! Now I'm ready to lead my people."

And she would walk beside him.

But before they could move, they heard the sound of people screaming and a dragon's keening roar and a rush of flame as Maleficent breathed and set the city ablaze.

"Rumple...what...another dragon?"

"I . . .there shouldn't be . . ." Then he saw the black shape in the sky and groaned. "Ahh . . .damn you, Maleficent! Aurelia would not have wanted this!"

"Who is she? Can you stop her?"

"She is an exiled Prytani shifter mage. And I have to stop her, before we're all roasted!" he cried. But he was unsure how.

A/N: Sorry this took so long, but I was having difficulty bringing all the elements together and distracted by my dad's upcoming surgery. Thanks to CJ for her help with the last part with the dragon. Please review and let me know what you think!