JMJ
CHAPITRE DIX
The dragon's snarl before popping LeFou like a piece of candy into its mouth must have been heard on the other side of the door, for the visitors just outside did not bother knocking as they threw the door open just in time to see LeFou disappeared behind that cage of teeth.
"Timothée! No!" shrieked a voice too late.
It belonged to Claudie, but what stopped the dragon from swallowing its prey whole was not the sight of her or M. Humbert or even the servant who had brought them there. It was the sight of a little pale face as white as a sheet and with eyes filled with terror just behind his shorter sister. It was the face of Celeste, and she held her small fists to her chest and looked about to cry.
The dragon froze and then immediately spat LeFou back out onto the floor where he still covered his head with his arms as he rolled against the wall. The dragon itself shrunk down like some part of a very strange dream, and it was certainly a nightmare for Celeste who saw then before her eyes how the dragon nearly took on the form of her fiancée. But hardly had the dragon recognized that Celeste recognized Timothée when a new rage flared up.
Throwing itself like a burning ball through the nearest window the dragon, growing again rapidly flew out into the sky in a growling rage.
Claudie was the first to move in the silent scene remaining in the broken bedroom as she bounded to LeFou's side and threw her arms around him.
"Oh, Guillaume! You're alive!" she gasped.
"Hiya, Claudie," LeFou moaned and then hugged her back wearily, though she withdrew a bit in involuntary disgust from the sticky dragon saliva covering LeFou from head to foot.
Taking her apron she tried to wipe his face like one would a dirty child, but LeFou backed away.
"Hey, c'mon!" LeFou complained.
"Timothée …" Celeste breathed stepping towards the broken window and looking out with sorrow, and she turned to Claudie. "Why didn't you tell me?"
Claudie stiffened and turned away uncomfortably.
"We have to stop him," said M. Humbert.
"I'll tell the master," said the servant.
M. Humbert nodded.
"Right. We gotta go after him." LeFou stood up a little shakily, and sticking out his tongue with distaste he moved his limp slimy bangs out of his face, but he looked determined. Almost uncharacteristically determined.
"Oh, no!" said Claudie. "You're staying here! I don't want the dragon to kill you."
"This is between Timothée and me!" LeFou declared. "And I'm gunna go help find him."
With soggy shoes he marched out of the room.
#
Thus began the search. The dragon seemed to have disappeared off the face of the earth. One could only assume this meant that Timothée was back to human form somewhere, but it seemed an impossible task to find him. Most likely he did not want to be found.
LeFou, after a while, was convinced by his family and the others that it was not a good idea to face Timothée alone, and his temporary bravery seemed to have vanished as hopeless as Timothée. For hours he traveled alongside his sister and the huntsman; the three of them were searching together in the wood. Claudie called out, and so did LeFou, but the only answers were the scampering of squirrels and birds taking flight out of their path.
At last they took a break, and the huntsman stopped at a stream to get some water and to sit down to think about their next move. It was not every day that he hunted down a dragon, but he knew there had to be a way to figure out the dragon's movements.
"While he's a dragon," muttered the huntsman, "he does think like a dragon, right?"
"I think so," said Claudie.
"Burning fields, kidnapping girl, yeah," said LeFou with a broad shrug.
"Then probably will continue thinking as a dragon now," said the huntsman. "Where would a dragon go in such a state beyond rage and complete distress besides? In a cave, I'd think. There are many on the other side of the river."
"I don't know if it works quite like that," said Claudie, seating herself beside him. "The dragon, I think, only gets angry not distressed."
"I don't think so," said the huntsman. "If that had been the case, it most likely would have returned in a swoop back to the castle and destroyed everyone in that bedroom with one blast of fire."
"Well, I suppose a sulky dragon would try to find a cave or something, like you said," said Claudie; she thought a moment and then realized the LeFou had suddenly become rather silent, which concerned her. Looking up she began to ask, "Guillaume. You were with Timothée for a while by yourself (and the dragon, I'm assuming). What do you—Guillaume!"
She looked around, but LeFou was nowhere in sight. Standing up in alarm she looked over at the river, hoping that he had just gone to get a drink, but he was still nowhere.
"Where could he have gone?"
The huntsman, calm as usual, glanced up for a moment and then turned to Claudie. "Probably to follow the trail."
"What?" Claudie demanded.
Looking up she then saw it too. A trail of smoke in the trees wafted above them from a particular direction.
"Guillaume!" Claudie cried angrily throwing out her hands in front of her. "Why didn't he say anything!?"
"He didn't want to waste time," suggested the huntsman rising to his feet. He motioned Claudie to follow. "He's a spontaneous fellow."
"No, you don't understand!" Claudie explained. "Guillaume tells all the world the least bit of thought that flickers through his mind!"
"It doesn't change the fact that he left us," said the huntsman. "He did almost get eaten. That can affect a person. Come, mademoiselle. We'll catch up with him."
#
Truth be told, LeFou had been quite eager at first to point out the smoke when he looked above him, but just as he had opened his mouth and the huntsman got a word in before him, LeFou withdrew his hand, and that strange feeling of courage overtook him again. He did not know how, but he knew the dragon was truly between himself and Timothée. He doubted it had truly anything to do with Celeste, except that the dragon was preventing the marriage. If that was all the case, LeFou decided that the breaking of the curse had to do with him somehow.
Thus picking himself up very carefully, he managed to slip away. Not even the huntsman suspected him. Providence seemed to be with him in this. Thus, with courage and determination growing still, he followed the smoke away from his company and found his way along the river to a log. It seemed sturdy enough so he climbed up and began to cross.
At the middle it groaned just a little, and LeFou thought of going back the way from which he had come. He began to step back a pace and turn around, but at the loud snap behind him he let out a squeak and raced across the rest of the log. Tumbling into the brush on the bank, he shook his head and lifted himself up again to survey the still remaining log, but he saw too the huntsman and his sister.
"Guillaume!" called Claudie. "Wait for us!"
With a shrug, LeFou decided he would. There would be no reason to flee from them, but just as the huntsman began to cross the log, the snapping in the middle sounded again, and its cracking became visible. The water beneath was rapid and rocky and relatively deep, and the huntsman relinquished his weight upon it. It would not hold up to his crossing, for LeFou had already damaged it too much. He probably would have risked it on his own, but with a lady present he would certainly be gentlemanly enough to use a different way.
"Come on," said the huntsman. "I know a place upstream where there is an easy path across on the rocks."
"Okay," agreed Claudie.
"Wait for us," the huntsman then called to LeFou. "We'll be right there."
"Right!" agreed LeFou with a salute.
He meant it sincerely as he watched his sister and the huntsman make their way upstream until they disappeared in the foliage, but as waited and shifted his weight impatiently, he thought that Timothée probably would not get anywhere with the huntsman there. Claudie sure. But not the huntsman. He was a calm, confident stranger, and not the sort around which Timothée ever felt comfortable. No. LeFou would just have to get to Timothée before that.
Sorry, Claudie, nothing personal, he thought with a shrug, and thus he continued on his way.
In an upward climb, he followed the smoke along a rocky slope. Up, up, he started a mini rocky slide or two along his way. His collarbone began to ache, but he was almost there by then, to a cave. It had to be where Timothée was hiding, and obviously still in dragon form breathing heavily and fuming a toxic cloud of smoke. This started LeFou up into a bout of coughing and gagging as he reached the entrance of the cave quite exhausted, and heaving a heavy breath beneath the smog he squinted into the gloom and tried to spot the dragon.
"Timothée," he whispered through a cupped hand.
No answer.
The heavy breathing continued as before.
LeFou twiddled his fingers uneasily and cringed, but nonetheless he continued onward on tiptoe with eyes peeled for any sign of movement. His new shoes clapped the stone floor and echoed unsavorily, but the dragon did not seem to notice. Stopping suddenly, LeFou glanced back at the entrance as though afraid it would block him in of its own accord, but he saw nothing except a bird flying very far away over the wood. With a gulp he continued onwards hunched with fear, but he called out again just a little louder than the first time, "Timothée? Are you there?"
Still nothing changed, and still LeFou could see nothing. He tripped over a stone in his path face first on the cave floor, but he quickly picked himself up and brushed himself off as he looked above him half hoping and half dreading a pair of angry eyes to be glaring down at him. The dragon must have been deeper in than the echoes of his breath led on.
"Look," said LeFou holding out his hands imploringly then. "I know we never been on good terms, and I know it's probably my fault." He thrust his hands back to his chest for emphasis. "I shouldn't've abandoned you all, especially when Pop needed help after the bull incident. I probably could have tried to be a blacksmith. Maybe I'd never be as good as Pop, but I could have managed. I didn't want to. It was boring, alright? I figured you'd just do it when you got older anyway. I was carried away." He shrugged. "You know. With Gaston." He paused twiddling his fingers again and looking down in thought for a moment. "But he didn't do anything like that blackmailing thing before—!"
The dragon could be heard letting out a snarl.
LeFou covered his head and cringed. "Okay, okay! I'm sorry!"
When the dragon did nothing more than shuffle a bit on its feet, LeFou eased a little and breathed a sigh of relief. He stifled another cough, yet it seemed that that was the last of the smoke.
"Right, right," LeFou said nodding. "This really is between you and me, isn't it? The dragon wants to eat me. You're angry at me. I'm sorry. I don't know how many times I have to say it. I said it like a million times, but I'm sorry. I mean it. I never been so sorry in my whole life! My whole life was a sham! Isn't that good enough?"
His shoulders slumped.
"You're probably angry at yourself though too," sighed LeFou quietly. "If it helps any. Celeste still loves you. She only wishes we told her sooner. I said we should've told her sooner. But, c'mon! You don't have to beat yourself up about that either!"
"I know."
LeFou looked up again in surprise and brightened up in an instant.
"Timothée!" he gasped.
His brother's form could just be made out in the darkness, and LeFou grabbed him around the middle in a hug. Then stepping back he shook Timothée's hand happily as in congratulations. "There you are! Good to see you! Great! Let's go, huh?"
But Timothée did not seem at all happy. "I tried to eat you … I …"
"Hey, it's fine! You didn't! See, I'm still here! I'm the one who had the problem," laughed LeFou. "So now that that's all settled let's go! Claudie and that huntsman guy are out there catching up!"
He began to pull Timothée away, but Timothée would not be led.
"Guillaume, just listen a minute."
LeFou stopped and turned around clearing his throat. "Okay. What?" he asked trying to contain his impatience.
"You were wrong, yeah, but so was I."
LeFou made a face. "What are you talking about?"
"I took everything you did more personally than you meant it," said Timothée sternly. "I didn't even want to invite you to the wedding. Claudie and Papa talked me into it. I hated you, and I think … I think that's why this happened."
LeFou's brow deepened all the more, lowered in profound confusion as he studied what could be made out of Timothée's face in the darkness.
"How could I start a new life with Celeste," said Timothée, "if I hated my own brother and you didn't even know it? I thought you didn't care about anyone or anything."
"Oh …well, I…" LeFou began rather muddled in tone, and then he grinned suddenly and wrapped his arms around his back. "Glad that's worked out!" He held out one hand then. "We'll just agree we were both chumps, and now we'll start over. How's that?"
"Sounds good," agreed Timothée.
He smiled then and allowed for a firm and resilient handshake as though binding an agreement between two friends.
"Now hopefully!" exclaimed LeFou motioning towards the exit, and Timothée followed after his brother bounding like a rabbit. "All you gotta do now that we made up is start your new life with Celeste and all, and the dragon won't come back again!"
Timothée didn't answer and LeFou winced, hesitant to turn around, but he did.
"Timothée?" he asked.
Slowly falling to his knees and looking very pale and ill in the light from the cave opening, Timothée did not look up but held his hands to the sides of his head. Then he moaned and clutched his chest.
"Whoa! What's wrong!? What's happening!?" LeFou cried.
For a moment he could see Timothée's clenched teeth starting to change and those eyes begin to intensify and redden as a queer growl escaped a mouth slightly protruding into a snout.
Beside himself with confusion and shock, LeFou stepped back speechless.
What could he possibly be angry about now!?
It was not fair!
Unless …
It was now only the dragon that was angry.
LeFou's eyes widened as in a rather unreal display the dragon separated itself from Timothée into another entity. It let out a roar of rage as Timothée fell to the ground, but he was not passed out. He lifted himself up onto his knees again, and LeFou bounded to his side as they watched the dragon grow in front of them.
"I think we broke the curse …" muttered LeFou. "Umm. How exactly did this whole thing happen again?"
Timothée did not answer, but LeFou could not blame him this time. He himself bit his lip shut in fright as they stared up at the dragon and the dragon in turn leered back.