Chapter 29: A Pity and a Sin
Belle was surrounded. The books lay open wide across every surface of her immense mattress. Her fingers flew quickly as her mind raced and her eyes darted across the faded words. Her body was exhausted. With a small sigh, she stretched her legs out straight and flexed her bandaged feet. Her stomach growled and she rubbed a hand over the flat of it before reaching for the flaky chocolate croissant that sat by her bed.
The answers were all so close. She thought. So close. She knew it.
"You cannot be comfortable."
The voice was a deep velvet rumble that rolled around in her head and made Belle's insides tremble even before she opened her eyes.
"Savior." It demanded roughly and Belle frowned as she slowly peeked through her eyelids.
The light was behind the Beast and he cast a massive shadow throughout the room. Belle's heart jumped at the sight of him.
Belle pushed her hair from her face and moved to sit up before realizing that she was already in a seated position. The heavy books were stacked high against her and her upper body felt stiff as she pushed herself off of them. The leather covers stuck to the skin of her arm.
"I'm fine." Belle mumbled and rubbed at a particularly unpleasant crease on her cheek. "I must have dozed off for a moment." She answered sounding dazed and drowsy.
"Obviously. The maids could not awaken you."
"Really?" Belle's eyes widened in embarrassment.
"Really." The Beast responded in a dry tone. Belle watched as he crossed his arms over his chest and tucked his hands within the dips of his elbows. Her lips and throat felt dry and she swallowed twice.
The room fell silent for a moment. The Beast turned and growled over his shoulder.
"Eat." He nodded his heavy horns to a full tray by the bed before he continued. "Then meet me in the library. I have found more books for you." With his orders given, he was gone. A rumpled and weary Belle simply stared at the closed door behind him. It was a full minute before she moved. Part of her wanted to lay back and refuse.
"Eat." She crossed her arms and did her best Beast impersonation.
The Beast was so ill-mannered he made Gaston look like a prince. Belle frowned and twisted a curl at the memory of her friend. She pushed the thought of him as far from her mind as she had ever been able to, which was never a very great distance. Then, she stood and stretched her aching arms above her head. Every inch of her body resisted movement. Her muscles creaked and her bones cracked.
But the smell of tea and cakes wafted to her nose and beckoned her closer. The tray was beautiful and Belle wrapped her fingers around a delicately painted teacup. The amber liquid ran down her throat and filled her belly with warmth. The first smile of the day played on the corners of her lips.
The Beast greeted her with a frown when she arrived in the library not twenty minutes after he awakened her. His head popped up as she approached and a slight growl escaped his lips. He strode toward her, obviously irritated, and snatched the bulky books from her arms.
"The servants will do the lifting while you remain in the castle, Savior." He snapped and plopped them on the same table that had held their dinner the night before.
"I don't mind…" Belle began, running her newly empty hands down her borrowed red dress. The color was a dramatic contrast to the cloak that lay across her arm and was not something she would normally wear. The crimson gown swept her arms and kissed her pale shoulders with lace. It cinched at the waist and petaled out delicately to her toes like a rose.
The Beast cut off her words with a look and motioned for her to sit in the same seat she had chosen for their meal.
"I assume you ate?" He asked as she took her place. Belle nodded. Before she could speak he continued. "Good. At least you obeyed in that."
Belle stared at the Beast for a moment, too stunned to speak. When she finally began to form words, the creature cut her off.
"Did you discover anything useful?"
Belle's brow furrowed and she flipped a long curl from her eyes. "I did find some interesting facts in my studies…"
"Tell me." The Beast demanded immediately, taking a step closer to Belle. His bright blue eyes glowed as he stood to wait.
He looked different by the morning light. His fur seemed somewhat tamed. The white and gold coat that covered his chest gleamed in the light from the open window. Belle wondered absently if he still wore her bandages underneath.
Belle paused only briefly before nodding and reaching for the book that lay on top of her returned stack. She cracked it open and began to fan through the pages. When she finally stopped she turned her eyes up to the Beast and pointed.
"Here, in the second paragraph." She announced, flicking her eyes away from to the Beast to the page. "See, it tells of the Enchanted. I mean, not in great detail," she shrugged with a sigh, "but it speaks of their strengths and weaknesses."
"So." The Beast growled low. His body had come nearer and Belle's pulse quickened.
"Um," Belle bit her lip and focused on the ancient book before her, "well, if we know the weaknesses of the Enchanted, and we know that the dark beast defeated them, we might assume that those could be attributes that the dark beast possesses. The Enchanted were far too powerful to just be defeated by brute strength alone." Belle paused again and cast her eyes up to the Beast.
His face was close and he was staring at the pages in her hand. Belle saw him reach for them. She sat back in what she hoped appeared to be a subtle change of position.
If he noticed, he did not let on.
"Though powerful beyond all others, the Enchanted are not without their weaknesses." The Beast began to read aloud. His voice filled the enormous room with a polished whisper, dark and smooth like marble. "As a giant may fall to a mouse, so too might an Enchanted to a weaker foe." He looked further down in the text. "Weaknesses: Hypnotism, Self-Destruction, or Mind Control. Stupefying and Sovereign Berserk abilities." He paused and stared at Belle with hard eyes. "And finally, Lykodeces."
"Death by wolves." Belle breathed slowly.
"Death by wolves." The Beast agreed. "Yes, but there is something else to the word." He turned his tremendous body around and strode for a bookshelf a few steps away.
His large paw ran along the spines of several volumes before stopping suddenly and snatching a skinny black notebook. With almost lightning movements, he was back standing before Belle and flipping furiously through the pages.
"Ah," he said, pausing and dropping the small open book on the table before the girl.
Belle sat forward slowly and looked down at the page. The text was small and she had to bend closer to see. The words made a chill run down her spine.
She read out loud in a solemn tone. "And it was a cruel death. And it was a slow death. For the wolves had overpowered them with an unnatural strength. Evil and dark and deranged as though urged by more than hunger. Demonic, as though mutated by dark magics. Lykodeces was his cause of death. And the people mourned." Belle stopped and raised her gaze to the magnificent beast. "Whose journal is this?" Belle suddenly felt cold. She reached for her cloak and draped herself. When she looked up the Beast was pacing.
"A servant to a late king. It's a death scroll, an account of a royal death. There are hundreds going back through history." The Beast stopped his pacing and stared down at the small female. "The wolves were being manipulated by dark magic. It makes sense. How else could the dark beast control such a large pack? It you're right, Savior, we can assume that the dark beast used one or all of these types of magic to defeat the Enchanted. Hypnotism, Self-Destruction, Mind Control, Stupefying and Sovereign Berserk abilities. What do you know of these methods?" He asked bending down and placing his paws on the table before her.
His size was intimidating, as were the horns that twisted to the ceiling and the claws that gripped the table, but Belle held his gaze.
"Not enough."
The Beast nodded once and turned to the walls of books. "Then we begin."
A.N. All rights to Walt Disney
Hello, readers. Here we have a genuine study party. What are your thoughts on this team up? I don't know about you, but I want to read those books. Let me know your thoughts on this chapter, don't make me use my stupefying or berserk abilities!
I want to thank my reviewers, especially PastOneta, brighteyes, pinkdynamite, Tek Sonay, and Bookloverdream and my lovely guest reviewers. You guys have no idea how much your reviews mean to me. It is such an encouragement to keep writing this story. As always, thank you for reading, reviewing, following and/or favoriting. –S.