10
Triumph
As Rumple turned away from King David, Regina and Robin escorted a medium sized dark haired woman with her hands bound over to him. She was dressed in a fancy Galatian ballgown, but it was torn and dirty at the hem. Her hair was falling down from its coronet and she glared at Rumple with a sneer on her pouty pretty lips.
Rumple blinked, startled. For a moment he was speechless.
"Rumple, we found her hiding in Gaston's manor house and decided to let you deal with her," Regina said coldly. "I wanted to roast her, but Robin said the most wrong was done to you and your House, therefore her justice was yours to mete out."
"She calls herself Milana now, but you know her as—" Robin began.
"Milah!" spat Rumple, loathing in both syllables of her name. "My former wife . . .who betrayed me for a Galatian bastard's promises and his bed!"
"He offered me more than you ever could!" she snarled, struggling to get free of her captors.
"Was it worth it then . . to become a Galatian noble's whore?" Rumple growled in rage. "Was it worth it, dearie, to betray your husband, your children, your family, and your people? You sold us out for a damned arrogant prig who put you up in his house and gave you silks and satins and pretty jewels and dressed you up like a prize chicken at the fair! Well, dearie, you can't make a silk scarf out of third-rate burlap! And no matter what he gave you or what name you called yourself, the fact remains that you're nothing but a lowdown dirty traitor! My parents, who were never anything but kind to you died in the courtyard of their own house—beheaded by your wicked lover! And your children and I were sold into slavery like animals, collared like dogs, and treated worse than dirt under his boots."
He stabbed a finger at her.
"But now he's dead, torn apart by the claws of a golden dragon as payment for murdering her hatchlings! And now I am free and can give you a taste of my justice, dearest wife!"
Milah paled. "The Stone?"
Rumple shook his head briefly. "No. I don't need the gods to advise me on this. Your fate was decided long ago, when you betrayed us all that night and ran off with your Galatian scum lover!"
"What—what are you going to do to me?" she trembled.
He was unmoved. He had seen his parents executed before his eyes, their heads toppled into a basket while he was helpless to prevent it.
"Only what you deserve. First—this!" and he set his hand upon her forehead and intoned, "What you reap, so shall you sow, feel now the pain, the death, you bestowed!"
His hand glowed purple and Milah twisted and screamed as he made her feel all the pain and agony of those she had betrayed. Including the final death throes of both his parents.
She would have collapsed but Regina and Robin prevented her, their faces like alabaster.
Belle bit her lip, but made no protest, though inwardly she cringed a bit. But she understood why Rumple did what he did, and she could not blame him for it. Had Milah done such to her papa . . .
Finally Milah went limp, gasping, tears falling down her cheeks.
"Mercy . . . Mage Lord Gold . . ."
Rumple's expressive face became terribly cold, like carved rock.
"I shall give you the same mercy you did my parents."
Then he gestured, twisting his hands together.
And Milah stiffened and became a gilded statue. Upon the base read the following inscription—Milah Villeux, the infamous Prytani who betrayed her people and her family—such is the fate of a traitor!
Regina and Robin stepped away from the statue.
Rumple looked at David. "You can put it in your hall or your courtyard or whatever. Leave it here for the birds and animals to piss on for all I care. But make sure people see it . . .so all will remember the fate of the Prytani traitor."
Then he turned away, and Regina spat on the statue. So did Robin.
The other Prytani mages followed suit, and even Belle did. David and his guards did as well. So did the Galatians in the square wearing the gold thread.
Suddenly there was a flurry in the Prytani ranks and a woman with hair as dark as night dressed like an archer in brown pants and a tunic with a bow slung over her shoulder and skin as white as her namesake approached. But her eyes were not on the statue or even in Rumple, but on the Galatian monarch. "David!" she called softly.
David stared at her. "Snow!" he muttered, and then he took the Prytani mage in his arms and kissed her soundly.
Galatian and Prytani stared at the amazing sight . . .then they began to applaud.
When Snow broke off the kiss, looking flushed and happy, she held up a beryl ring surrounded by diamonds. "When last we met, Your Majesty, you said that if we ever won our freedom from your uncle, you would keep the promise you spoke before the traveling cleric and honor the troth you pledged me upon this ring."
"I did," responded the king. He clasped his hand in hers and said, "The pledge I made to you, Lady Snow White Broceliande, was to marry you in full sight of my court and make you my queen and our kingdoms whole with this joining. And I shall keep my word, and in a year and a day, we shall be wed!" He held up her hand with the ring on it. "Welcome, Galatians, my betrothed and your future queen!"
There was loud cheering, though a few looked shocked and disgruntled. But the Prytani did not seem surprised, for they had known long ago who their Forest Mage had been drawn to and they were happy she had found her heart at last.
"Congratulations!" Rumple said to the couple.
"We wish you joy," Belle added, smiling, and hoping that someday Rumple would put his ring on her finger.
"Thank you," Snow said, beaming.
"We'll send out invitations soon," David promised.
Rumple held out his arm for Belle.
She placed her hand on his, and smiled at him for the courtly gesture. "Are we done here, Rumple?"
"Yes. I have done all I set out to do. And now I can go home."
He looked at her tenderly. "Will you come with me?"
"Do you even have to ask?" Then she twined her arms about him. "Take me home, Rumplestiltskin Gold."
"As you wish."
Then he transported them away upon the wings of magic.
Page~*~*~*~Break
"Papa!" cried Bae as soon as Rumple appeared in the quiet tree town the Forest Mages lived in called Sherwood. He ran out of the little house he had been staying in along with some of the remaining mages and their families and threw his arms around Rumple. "You've come home!"
"Papa! Papa!" shrieked a smaller voice and Aileen raced out of the hut on her brother's heels, followed by a smaller little boy with long brown hair and only a pair of cutoff trousers. He looked to be about Bae's age, lean and wiry with big green eyes.
Aileen attached herself to Rumple's leg like a limpet. "Papa come home!"
Rumple bent and picked up his daughter, saying, "That's right, little spark, your papa's here!"
Aileen threw her arms about his neck and smothered him with kisses. "I missed you!"
"Me too!" Bae said, and was rewarded with a hug from Rumple's other hand.
"I missed you too."
"Papa, is Gaston dead?" asked Bae curiously.
"Gaston! Yuck!" Aileen made an ugly face.
This time, instead of reprimanding her, Rumple laughed.
Bae then made a gagging noise. "Makes me wanna puke!"
"Yes, dearie, Gaston is dead. The golden queen killed him."
Bae cheered. "Serves him right! No more nasty Gaston!"
Aileen clapped her hands and giggled.
Rumple noticed the little boy standing there staring. "Hello, dearie. Bae, who's your friend?"
"This is Tarzan, Papa. He 's a shifter mage . . . an' he can become an ape."
"Can you now? That's a fine talent."
"Uh huh. An' my mama an' papa can too. They're Kala and Kurchak Burroughs." The boy held out a hand. "Are you really Mage Lord Gold?"
"I am, dearie. Pleased to meet you." He shook the youngster's hand.
Just then another boy, this one wearing the tunic of a stableboy of the palace came out of the hut, yawning. "Willya keep it down? M'tryin' t'sleep!" His hair was sticking up.
Then he saw Rumple and cried, "Oh! It's you, Rumple!"
"Hello, Killian. How are you?"
"M'fine. Sleepy." He yawned again.
"I'm sorry I woke you, lad. Go back to sleep."
"Sure, Rumple! G'nite!" he waved and then disappeared back into the hut.
Belle had been standing beside Rumple calmly, watching the family reunion joyfully. She wondered where her father was, but was content to remain beside Rumple for a bit.
Rumple turned to her. "Bae, there's someone I'd like you to meet. This is Lady Belle Farraher of Avonlea, the ambassdar's daughter . . .and my guest here in Prytainia. Belle, this is my son, Baelfire Gold."
Bae held out a hand like he'd been taught. "How do you do, milady?"
"Please, just call me Belle," she said softly, smiling at him and taking his hand. "Pleased to meet you, Baelfire."
"Aww, it's Bae. 'Less I'm in trouble." Bae scuffed his foot on the ground.
"Aileen, can you say hello to Belle?" Rumple coaxed.
But Aileen hid her face in his shoulder. "No!"
Rumple flushed. "Uh . . .sorry . . she's being shy."
"It's all right," she reassured him. "Pleased to meet you, Aileen."
Aileen remained with her face hidden, her little hands holding Rumple as if she would never let him go.
Rumple patted her back. "Sometimes she gets like this. Err . . would you like to see where your papa is?"
"I can find him!" Tarzan piped up. "He's that tubby old man who rode in here earlier, right?"
Belle giggled, for Maurice was a bit portly.
"Yes, that's him."
"I can find him!" Tarzan said, then he blurred into a small ape and raced around the tree trunks and off down the path.
Bae sighed enviously. "I wish I could be a monkey, Papa."
"You'll have magic too one day, Bae." Rumple soothed.
The child pouted. "I wish I did now."
"Your magic will wake when it's time," his father told him. The Forest Mages were often magically talented as children.
"Me have magic too, Papa!" Aileen cried, a little crossly.
"You will, dearie, when you're older. Now can you say hello to Belle?"
But Aileen shook her head and hid her face again.
Bae rolled his eyes. "Papa, she's bein' a brat!"
"No, dearie. Just a bit scared because she's in a new place and all," the older Prytani told him.
"C'mon, Papa! I'll show you our home." Bae took his father by the hand and dragged him into the hut.
The little house was swept clean and a birch broom stood by the door. Killian slept in a woven hammock in the corner, and some mage lights lit the interior of the thatched hut. Brightly colored rugs and a small table with some chairs were in the middle of the floor. Two more hammocks were in the other corners of the room with woven blankets on them and a pillow each. Some chests lay inbetween them and a little cornhusk doll lay on the floor along with a ball with a red star on it.
"This looks very cozy, Bae," Rumple murmured softly.
"Uh huh and Tarzan plays with me an' so does Jane and Tarzan's sister Turk." Bae said happily. He had never had friends his age to play with in Galatia and he had missed that.
"Jane plays wif me too," muttered his little spark against his shoulder.
"That's good, baby," he said, and then they heard footsteps and Maurice came into the hut.
"Belle!" he cried and went to hug his daughter.
"Papa! You're all right!" she hugged him back.
Rumple went to try and put his own daughter down, but the child refused to let him go, whining, "Nooo . . . Papa hold me!"
"Shhh, spark, it's going to be okay," her father said and went to sit in one of the chairs, cuddling his baby on his lap. He could understand why she was clingy, she had a rough day and wanted the one thing that had always represented security to her—him.
Bae ran outside to play with Tarzan, and Rumple relaxed with Aileen while Belle told Maurice all that had gone on after he had left the castle. It took quite awhile and when she was through, she turned to see if Rumple wanted some tea and found him fast asleep, still holding his little girl in his arms.
Aileen stared at her warily, then put her thumb in her mouth and snuggled closer to her father.
Belle tucked a blanket about them then asked, "Papa, want some tea?" and went to put the kettle on the small wood stove.