Chapter Ten

The echo sounded through the entire manor as the cellar door swung open to meet the wall. Arnaud hurried down the stairs, with Jacques and a sleepy eyed Adele in tow, Lina slumped over his shoulder.

"Tie her to the post," Jacques ordered. "And make certain that her hands do not free themselves from the gloves."

"Already done," Arnaud replied, indicating the rope wrapped securely around her wrists. Once he placed her on the ground, he tied the long end around the post.

Adele moved forward, looking over the pitiful sight with interest. "This?" she asked, glancing up at Jacques with scornful laughter. "This is what you have been afraid of for so many years, brother dear?"

"You have not seen what she can do," he replied, anger climbing to its highest peak. "And let us pray that you never have to."

Adele shrugged slightly, kneeling beside Lina to get a better look. "Her dress is still intact; I am impressed. She looks so much like her mother, it is a wonder that you did not—"

"Enough!" Jacques shouted, his patience entirely extinguished. "No one told you to follow us down here!"

Adele rose indignantly. "Very well, I know when I am not wanted."

"Perhaps it is best that you come back upstairs with me," Arnaud intervened, "I have to return tonight as it is, if only for a while. I can already hear Babette whining about her baby not returning home."

Jacques took a deep breath, and nodded. "Keep them off the scent as long as we need."

"How long is that?"

The dark man skulked sinisterly to hover over his captive, reaching out to stroke her cheek with the very hand she and her father had scarred years ago.

"Long enough to make the kill."


Upon arriving at the castle, Arnaud could not resist a smirk as, sure enough, the worried tones of a mother rang through the halls.

"I know she is not out there!" Babette was shouting, following Lumière as he made his way to the front hall. "You told me that! What I want to know is where she is!"

"And if I had the answer, I would not be panicking along with you right now, would I?" he retaliated, his tone a little more harsh than he would have preferred. With Arnaud taking in the scene from the doorway, Lumière turned, his expression taking on repentance as Babette glared at him with the look of death.

"I did not mean that to sound as it did," he said, lowering his voice to a calm, quieter volume.

"Whether you did or not, I did not deserve it," she quite literally snarled. "I told you to check on them sooner, but did you listen to me? Of course not! Now my daughter is missing and neither of us knows where she is!"

Allowing himself one last moment of gloating, Arnaud moved in to cover his tracks. "Is everything all right here?"

Babette ran to him immediately. "Captain Arnaud, merci le Dieu! Have you seen Lina by any chance? We have neither seen nor heard from her since she left earlier this evening!"

Arnaud paused before he replied, attempting to seem thoughtful. "Last I saw of her, I was making my nightly rounds on patrol. She was with that new young beau of hers."

Lumière stepped forward. "What time was that?"

The man shook his head. "I would say about twenty minutes ago, in that clearing where they always meet."

Babette glanced at Lumière subtly as he asked, still quite persistent as a concerned father would, "Are…you certain of that?"

Arnaud nodded. "Quite."

Before any more words could be shared, the clock in the massive great hall tolled the next hour, and the captain spoke again. "Do not fear for her, madame; my men will not rest until every inch of the grounds have been searched. If she is anywhere in the vicinity, we will find her. I will see to the search myself, starting this very instant!"

When he was gone, Babette asked, "You went to check on them then, and you found neither Lina or Etienne there."

"They were not," Lumière replied. After a thoughtful moment, he continued, embracing her gently, "Go to bed, ma plumette; I am going out to look for her myself."


"What on earth are you thinking!"

Lumière closed his eyes tightly in annoyance; Cogsworth never could keep his mouth shut. But that did not stop him as he quietly made his way out to the stables.

"If Lina is in as much trouble as you believe, then we must first tell the master! He will know the proper actions to take!"

"There is no time!" Lumière hissed quietly. "Arnaud knows more than he will admit, and I intend to find out how much more."

"What makes you so sure?"

"Listen, I know when I left to see Lina and Etienne in the clearing, and discovered they were gone," he explained. "Arnaud went there after I did, and he claims saw them there."

"Perhaps she was hiding from you," Cogsworth argued exasperated, breathless as he tried to keep up with his comrade. "She is exactly like you were at her age, hence would not want to be caught."

"No," Lumière said, reaching to open the stable doors. "She and I made a fair agreement that I would be able to check on her, and she has not broken it since. Something is not right."

Cogsworth planted his foot firmly in front of the door. "The last thing I want for your daughter is to see any harm come to her, but Lumière, if she is in danger, what exactly do you propose we do? Just saunter in and get her out? That will only put her at a greater risk."

The Frenchman responded with a simple smirk, and Cogsworth narrowed his eyes angrily.

"Don't look at me like that," he ordered. "Nothing good comes from that look!"

"You wound me, mon ami," Lumière laughed. "You think I would just throw us into the fire and not think first? Of course that will put her at a greater risk…if they knew we were there."

"What do you mean?"

His smirk only grew, and before his friend's eyes, Lumière began to change shape. As his tall height diminished, each of his cuffs became a sconce, his entire ensemble turning to metal. His hands and hair dissolved from view under two stalks of wax. In an instant, he became the candelabra he was so many years ago.

"Oh no!" his human companion said slowly. "No, no, no!"

"Oh come now!" Lumière grinned. "How else do you suggest we find out what is wrong?"

Cogsworth sighed defeated, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. "I am getting too old for this!"

In a moment, the older man transformed into his own former shape just as Lumière had before him. While his minimal stature grew even shorter, his pocket watch became a pendulum, wood enveloping him like a shell. His thin moustache pointed in awkward directions as arrows formed at the ends. When he opened his aggravated eyes again, he was a clock, eye level with Lumière once again.

The candelabra grinned wholeheartedly. "Cogsworth and Lumière on the case again! Lovely memories, non?"

"Don't you start," Cogsworth warned with a deadly scowl. Taking a moment to look around, he folded his arms impatiently. "Well now, Monsieur I-Have-A-Plan-Not-To-Fear, what is the next phase in this God forsaken plot of yours?"

Lumière did not answer, but instead pulled on the door with what little strength he had. When it was open enough for them to get inside, he gestured for Cogsworth to follow. The poor clock, after squeezing tightly through, was still reluctant, but did as he was silently told.

"It's Arnaud's saddlebag," Lumière whispered, indicating a leather bag hanging near the stall where the captain's horse was kept. Running, or what one could consider running for a candelabra, he raced to a tall bound stack of hay sitting next to it.

"You have the better hands between us," he said. "Climb up, then help me do so."

"You had better planned on giving me a boost," Cogsworth retorted. "I am not as tall as I used to be."

"As if you ever were," Lumière muttered, blowing out the flames on his hands before he held them out to help him climb.

With a bit of a struggle, they succeeded as Cogsworth then helped to pull him up. Just in time too, for the moment they climbed into the saddlebag, they heard Arnaud's footsteps as he made his way to the stall. With a jolt, the bag was gathered and tied, the bumpy ride only beginning.


A/N: Short and sweet, and very long to update. My apologies. But now that the juices are going, and I can focus more on this one, expect sooner updates and longer chaps again. Thanks to all!