(No P.O.V.) -Some hours later-
It was a little past mid-morning, and the dead goblins except for one, killed by the group or Adam, has been thrown over the bridge into the gorge. Monsters like the goblins didn't deserve a burial, and besides, with winter approaching, some of the group figured that that the wild bears and wolves would appreciate the 'gifts'.
The last surviving goblin has been unconscious for the past few hours, chained and roped up to a chair, in a dark room with no windows, deep in the castle. Emma saw to give the goblin a proper hit to the head, not hard enough to cause a concussion, but enough to knock him out for quite some time while the group went to scour the castle for food, blankets, and wood for the whole horde of survivors and rescued pets to be safe in the untouched library, and Grumpy found all of the survivors' beloved armor, jewelry, etc.
When the goblin came to, he was blinded momentarily by the brightness of the flames as they came on very quickly at the sound of a whistle, and as the flames dulled slightly, the goblin was then able to see a candelabra on the table a feet away from him, and footsteps sounded out behind him, "Nice of you to join us, goblin.".
The goblin tried to move, but he was quite wrapped tight to the chair, so he was only able to move his head to face the voice, hearing the distinct female tone, "What you want, bitch?". The woman chuckled lowly as she stepped into the range of the flames, the light revealing her as Emma, inches away from the goblin.
"I'd watch that attitude if I were you. Now, I suppose you are a lower rank of goblin, since you seem smaller and weaker than that leader of yours, Creeper.", Emma raised an eyebrow with a stoic face. The goblin growled lowly, "Gribble not weak! Smart like Creeper!".
Emma grinned slyly, "Creeper's dead, Gribble, if that's your name.". The goblin widened his eyes and snarled, "You lying to Gribble! Gribble kill you!", struggling to get out of the chains and ropes, but after a few minutes of attempting, he slowed down, panting, with Emma asking deadpan, "Are you finished?".
Gribble growled lowly, "Creeper leader, can not die!", and Emma sighed heavily, "You need convincing, then. Beast?". Growls filled the air as sounds of claws clicked loudly as they touched stone, and the flames' light revealed Beast, all on fours, and batting forward by a claw, came slowly by Gribble's chair, is the severed head of Creeper.
Gribble was silent and shell-shocked for the next couple of minutes as he stared at the head of his deceased leader, and exhaled lowly with a barely loud growl, "Gribble believe you.". Emma smiled somberly, "Good. Beast, if you will.". Beast growled lowly and walked over to shove Creeper's head back into the darkness while glaring at Gribble, and stayed in the dim darkness, bordering the light range of the flames.
Emma smiled slyly, "Now, shall we begin? Who's behind the kidnapping of Princess Cinderella?". Gribble growled lowly, "Brother goblins. Orders.". Emma nodded, "I see. And who gave the orders?".
Gribble snarled softly, "Arrogant man, name of Gaston.". Beast suddenly growled so loud, fangs bared in the dim light, looking enraged, and Emma gave a motion of her hand, "Easy, Beast. We still have to get him to talk more.".
Emma turned back to Gribble, looking thoughtful, "There's always a hierarchy of those things. And Gaston ain't smart yet dangerous. Who's higher up beyond him, goblin?". Gribble growled lowly, "Not telling, human!".
Emma raised an eyebrow, "Perhaps a little persuasion would convince you more.", before punching Gribble in the ribs, the painful bellow coming out of him as there was the distinct sound of splintering. Emma hummed lightly as she glanced at her knuckles momentarily, "A tad tougher than human skin, indeed, but vulnerable without armor.".
Gribble panted heavily, feeling pain momentarily as he breathed too deeply a moment before looking up at Emma, becoming a tad more afraid than before, and tried to back away when Emma looked down, glaring at him.
"Who's higher up beyond Gaston?", Emma spoke lowly, and Gribble blinked slowly before exhaling, "Gaston answer to Scar. Scar answer to Frollo. Frollo answer to him.".
Emma tilted her head lightly, "Him?". Gribble nodded his head, "No know name, but he big dangerous.". Emma looked at him for a long moment before exhaling slowly, "You speak the truth, Gribble the goblin. Now, what about the location of Princess Cinderella? I hear it's in the Black Mountains.".
Gribble widened his eyes, realizing that Emma wanted the details, the numbers, and snapped out with a growl, "You enemy. Not allow you to destroy fortress.". Emma blinked slowly, "Fortress, eh? Let me guess, it belonged to Maleficent once upon a time, did it?".
Gribble shook his head with a snarl, "Not telling more, human! I not weak!", before wincing at the motion of his ribs in pain, and Emma hummed lightly with a sigh, "I see. Beast, Plan B.".
Beast growled lowly as he walked deeper into the darkness for a moment before coming back with a bundled pack, and putting it on the table before walking back into the darkness on the border of the light range. Emma walked to the table, and unfolded it all open, revealing the group's knives.
Gribble can see the shine of those knives off the flames of the candelabra, and looked quite terrified when Emma picked up the biggest one of all, and speaking softly as she then pulled out a lantern under the table, putting it next to the candelabra, "Light it up, Lumiere.".
The candelabra became alive, and motioned to light the lantern up before hopping down from the table, and heading to Beast who only nodded silently when Emma turned around, looking emotionless for a moment before speaking, "You can go out, Beast. You don't have to see this.".
Beast grabbed Lumiere, and walked to the darkened door, opening it and closing it, leaving Emma and Gribble alone in the room. Emma exhaled deeply, "Let's try this again, shall we?", before walking closer to Gribble who was then attempting to make himself small as possible.
For a whole hour, screams filled the room, and through the crevices of the door, and in the hallway, Lumiere and Beast guarded the door, flinching and wincing at every scream, but still motionless as it's a goblin, a killer and rapist of humans.
When the door opened, only Emma came out, a determined frown on her face, "Lumiere, get my friends. Adam, take the goblin's body out of here.". Adam/Beast nodded, ignoring the sharp smell of blood that dotted Emma's clothes here and there, and went into the room to destroy the chains and ropes while Lumiere hopped on through the hallway to the library.
Adam/Beast took the muliated goblin, walking furiously to haul it ouf of the castle as Emma ordered, and Emma sighed lightly as she looked through her nearby backpack to pull out the maps and magic mirror, knowing that these objects would help her.
She used the mirror first to call for the Black Mountain fortress, but it couldn't, due to the force field of dark magic, and then asked for Princess Cinderella's husband's location, and it revealed the castle and Prince Charles looking awful like he hadn't slept properly in the past month. Emma then turned the mirror off, not wanting to intruding into Prince Charles's privacy even if the mirror doesn't allow talk contact.
She then turned to the maps, hearing footsteps in the distance, and looking up to see her comrades, and Zuri sighed lightly, "How bad?". Emma replied, "We need a army. And I know where to ask for one.", streaking a marker line from Adam/Beast's castle to Prince Charles' castle.
Logan spoke, "How big?". Emma sighed lightly, "A thousand goblins, and more monsters than just goblins. We need help.". Jason whistled lightly with a raised eyebrow, "How long?".
Emma frowned lightly, "One and a half week from here to the other castle. But three weeks from there to the Black Mountain Fortress, and to make it worse, it once belonged to Maleficent.". Pippa widened her eyes in horror, "But winter's worse up there! We can't waste time!".
Emma shook her head, "No, we cannot afford to lose time. We will get the rescued people back to their towns, but I have a feeling that several people would want to come along to fight.". Haku exhaled slowly, "Looks like we're invested in this war, then?".
Emma looked at him, "We already are.", referring to their vow made in Sherwood Hollow, and the others grimly nodded in agreement at her words, showing that they ain't backing out from this, knowing that Princess Cinderella and the rest of the whole world is of desperate need to be saved.