Chapter 10

Lucius Hunt was stabbed on a Wednesday. On Friday morning Ivy Walker was gone from the village and later that same morning Noah Percy escaped the room he'd been confined in through a broken window.

Soon whispers of the reason of Ivy Walker's disappearance began to roam. None of the elders deigned to confirm the rumors, but Bessie Morton had overheard their heated argument as an impromptu council meeting had been orchestrated shorty after the severity of Lucius Hunt's condition had become clear.

As it would seem, Ivy Walker had requested and been granted permission by her father to cross Covington's Woods and go to the towns to obtain medicine that would heal Lucius's Hunts affliction.
She had crossed the boarder on Thursday night, accompanied by Christop Crane and Finton Coin, the three of them dressed in safe color and carrying protective stones to keep the creatures at bay. But early Friday morning both young men had returned, unharmed but terrified by their experience.

It was Ivy's quest and she, and she alone was to cross the woods and enter the towns.

Many of the townsfolk never expected to see the girl alive again. Blind, unprotected and unaware she stood no chance against the horror that dwelled in the woods. A horror that would certainly prey on a defenseless girl and tear her to pieces.
Perhaps, all in all, it would be kindness. Her tombstone could be placed next to that of Lucius Hunt and they would always be together in some way.

The only person who truly seemed to believe that Ivy would succeed in her endeavor appeared to be her father, who had defended his choice fiercely against the other elders.
Bessie Morton claimed to have heard him raving against Adeline Clark, who had voiced her objections most strongly, claiming that in the end it was innocence that they wanted to protect.

Sadly, it seemed that innocence was the very thing that was being jeopardized by the events that took place in the following days.
Noah Percy's disappearance came as a shock to everyone, including the elders and that more than anything fueled the terror that took hold of the village once again.
Something dark and dangerous was on the loose and instead of being able to keep it out by boarders and rituals, it appeared to have emerged from amongst them.

The village became dosed in dread, parents forbidding their children to go outdoors, even going as far as to keep them home from school, until Mr. Walker sternly put a stop to that.
Upon anxious demand, the Watch Tower was now manned by two guards at all times and there was talk of increasing the number of rehearsal drills to once a week.

Surprisingly enough no search party was organized to look for Noah Percy, the elders insisting that they would take care of that among themselves.

And against all odds, Lucius Hunt kept fighting for his life, stubbornly and insistingly clinging to it, even as the infection scourged his body.

Ivy Walker returned to the Village, alive and well on Saturday morning, carrying a small linen back with two peculiar looking bottles, labeled with strange markings.

She was covered in blood, mud, twigs, dirt, gravel and countless other, unmentionable things and once her mother had cleaned her up it became apparent that she was also rather badly scratched and bruised, with all of her fingernails torn and a nasty cut across her collarbone.

But the most devastating things was the sight of her usual so empty eyes filled with terror.

Of course it was only a matter of hours before the story of what had befallen her began to spread. After Christop Crane and Finton Coin had returned she had continued her journey through the woods. For the most part her journey had been swift and uneventful, until she had fallen into a pit.

When she had managed to climb out of that and continue her journey, she had encountered a lone creature that has been roaming the woods.
Hurrying back to the pit, she had stood on the edge, waiting for the creature to catch up with her and grab her, only stepping aside at the very last second so that the creature dived head first into the pit with considerably speed, the fall presumingly breaking its neck.

After that obtaining the precious medicine had been relatively easy and Ivy had quickly been able to start the journey back, almost running the entire time in her haste to make it back to the village before Lucius Hunt would succumb to his injuries.

Many praised her bravery and most of the men grudgingly admitted that she had probably been more fearless than any of them would have been in the same situation.
And yet it was clear that the experience had shaken her deeply.
She kept a vigil watch at Lucius' bed, waiting impatiently for any sign of improvement of his condition. And after her initial telling of the story, she refused to relate anything else.

The medicine she had brought back from the towns were of a very strong and healing kind and within days Lucius Hunt began to heal, albeit slowly, leaving the townsfolk perplexed.
It appeared that Ivy Walker had single-handedly cheated the creatures in the woods and saved the life of the man she loved.

And no-one dared to voice the dread they were experiencing for the ramifications of her actions.

For Gold, the fortnight after Ivy Walker's journey to the towns passed in dream-like blur. He had learned of the events that had taken place like everyone else and was likewise worried, but the most part of his thoughts and actions now revolved around Belle.

They were not together every day. It was simply not possible under the watchful eye of her father and the heavy scrutiny of the rest of the town.
Yet, the thrill of their secret meetings ensured his mind wasn't able to focus on much else than when he was to see her and hold her in his arms again.

Belle in particular proved to be downright crafty in finding ways for them to be together. She always found an excuse for completing an errand that would have her out and about in the hours before dusk, ensuring she ran into him while he was taking his customary evening walk.
On these occasions they couldn't do more than walk beside each other and talk, barely allowing themselves the tiniest hint of a touch for the fear of being discovered, but he cherished the moments all the same, happy to just spend time with her.

He initiated another meeting in the reading room where they shared a few lovely kisses, but being afraid the entire time that someone was going to walk in on them turned that into a rather nerve-wrecking affair.

He liked it better when she found an excuse to come to his shop and he could switch the sign on the door to 'closed' and lead her to the backroom under the pretense of showing her the yarn he was currently working on.
There they could kiss and embrace at leisure and although he never quite worked up the courage to initiate anything more than passionate kisses and a few coy touches as they were in a place that he still considered to be relatively public.

Nevertheless, her unexpected visits were the highlight of his day and her craved her warmth and her laughter as much as he yearned for her touch.

On a few occasions she managed to come to his house in the evening and stay for a few hours, time he treasured beyond anything else in his life.

Belle was breathtaking in every way. She was inexperienced and self-conscious at first and on their first night together he had discovered soon enough that she had never been with a man before.
It had almost made him stop, feeling that she was giving him too great a gift, allowing him to take something so precious from her.

Ensuring she was comfortable and satisfied and that her first time was as enjoyable and free of pain and distress as he could possibly make it, was nerve fraying.

Yet at the same time there was something indescribable gratifying in being her first.
The first to kiss her. The first to lavish his eyes on her beauty of her body, all creamy white skin and soft curves. The first to touch her and show her all the wonderful sensations her body was capable of. The first to taste every inch of her and making her writhe with delight. The first to coax surprised and breathy moans from her throat as he learned what she liked. The first to bring her to her peak and watch her face as her pleasure overtook her.

Because at the same time she was also insatiably curious and just as intent on discovering him and learning what made him cry out and render him helpless to her.

He had never felt happier or more fulfilled than during the stolen hours she spend in his bed and in his arms. In these hours it felt to him as if the world around them ceased to exist. Nothing mattered but her smiles, her happiness and her pleasure.

When she dozed off afterwards he held her tightly in his arms, not daring to release his hold on her in the slightest, instead continuing to caress her hair or the soft skin of her shoulders and back to ensure himself that she was really there. That it was all real.

He never slept, their time together being too precious, too beautiful to him to waste even a second of it sleeping.

They had silently agreed not breathe a word of their relationship to anyone. Maurice French would throw a fit and would do anything in his power to keep them apart and with all the terrible happenings of the past weeks, it simply wasn't prudent to cause more drama.

He tried to be sensible about it, but the secrecy of their relationship did nothing to alleviate the fear that lived in the pit of his stomach.
Someone as young and vibrant as Belle would never tie herself permanently to an old cripple like himself. She enjoyed their time together, but inevitably the time would come when he would have to let her go.

Her father would never approve and nor would the elders and Belle deserved so much better than to be subjected to their scorn because of him.
She deserved the world and everything else that he would never be able to give her.

He was living on borrowed time and every moment together could be their last.

And so he held her in the low light of an oil lamp as she slept, memorizing every single detail about her, from the way her hair curled at the nape of her neck to the way her eyelashes fluttered against her cheeks in her slumber.

It was never enough and more than he would ever thought he had.

Author's note: It's probably already fairly obvious, but from this point on the story no longer follows the events of the movie, but expands on what could have happened afterwards.