Chapter Twelve

As the door closed heavily, signifying the murderer's exit, Lumière lit his hands aglow as he and Cogsworth stepped towards Lina once again.

"That man will not live after tonight, I can assure you," he said softly, addressing the room in general, neither of the two in particular.

"There is no time for death threats, you ninny!" Cogsworth scolded. "Start up the old burners; we've got to get out of here!"

As Lumière started to climb towards the rope, Lina nudged him away. "Papa, stop. He is right; we do not have a lot of time."

He looked at her confused. "First of all, never admit that Cogsworth is right in my presence." This, of course, earned him an indignant scowl from said clock. "Secondly, what do you mean stop?"

Lina gave her hands a tug, the gloves starting to slide off. Perfect, Arnaud did not tie them as tightly as he thought! With a grin of definite success, she replied, "I can burn through this myself; just help me get these off."

"Do you know what will happen if Jacques finds you turned loose?" Lumière argued.

"Most likely what he will do if he finds the both of you trying to do the same."

Lumière sighed uncertainly, glancing to Cogsworth for some assistance. The clock raised his arms in a neutral response.

"Reminding you of someone, is she?" he asked knowingly. "Precisely like you were at her age?"

Lumière rolled his eyes. "You are such a help," he grumbled sarcastically. While Cogsworth took to Lina's other shoulder to help, Lumière tugged away at the glove as he addressed his daughter. "Well then, I see you have all the answers; what exactly are we supposed to do while you burn yourself free?"

"I will stay here in case he returns while you both find Etienne," she answered casually.

"Oh, absolutely!" Lumière nodded, his sarcasm still present. "Leave you here unprotected with no guarantee that Jacques will not return; that is a grand idea!"

Lina sighed. "What other choice is there? You will do more good by helping him and let me handle this myself!"

Cogsworth continued as they lifted the first glove off. "How do you propose we find him? The boy could be anywhere in this pitiful excuse of a hole! It would be impossible to find him!"

"Oui, you have a point," Lina nodded, slowly breaking into the hereditary smirk.

Cogsworth groaned at the foreboding sight. "Not again! That look is what brought me here in the first place!"

"It would be impossible for two humans, of course," Lina explained. "But for two seemingly innocent objects, I see no danger ahead."

"Don't you start that, young lady!" Cogsworth argued adamantly. "We came for you and you alone. When we return to the castle, we shall tell the master and come back for the boy with reinforcements if necessary."

Lina pouted adorably. "Oh, all right then. Although all your efforts would be in vain if I were to die of a broken heart! I can not believe I was so foolish to think that someone as intelligent, caring, brave, and wonderful as you would be able to help Papa in getting freeing Etienne. He could not possibly do it without your strong guidance!"

Lumière was about to protest instinctively, but one look silenced him. Cogsworth, on the other hand, gave her one last pleading glance, desperate to leave as soon as possible, but her eyes only grew wider and more heart wrenching. As when she was able to do when she was little, Lina had forced him into an inevitable surrender.

"I have yet to figure out which of you will send me to my death first," the poor man groaned as the pair removed the second glove. "Lumière…where should we start?"

Lumière could not resist a smile as Cogsworth jumped down to the floor.

"That's my girl," he whispered to her proudly before doing the same. "Swear that you will be careful! Keep your ears and eyes open if you hear anything!"

"I swear," Lina promised. "Go on, he needs you more than I do."

Her words did not ease his fear, but he nodded in agreement. Drawing a small, uncomfortable looking stool under the doorknob, they both climbed on, Lumière boosting Cogsworth up to open it. Before they left, the candelabra sent one last promising glance to his daughter.

After laughing gently hearing her father tell his companion what a pushover he was, Lina looked up at the rope. Grasping where Lumière already given it a decent starting burn, she closed her eyes and concentrated.

"Palmus bursto flamus."


"If we make it out of here alive, it will be a miracle!" Cogsworth muttered, relaxing after yet another watchful eyed guard passed by the place where they had safely posed. Lumière hushed him, however, as he heard a noise through a barred door. Gesturing for Cogsworth to follow, he cautiously made his way to it to peek inside.

"Ah ha, there he is," he cried in a triumphant whisper.

Sure enough, inside was Etienne's understandably weak form sprawled over the solid ground. Examining the wide space between the bars, Lumière shimmied his way through before helping a struggling Cogsworth to follow suit.

"Well, we found him," Cogsworth agreed, wobbling over to the boy. "Now what? I doubt Lina has told him anything about the spell. He is certain to think he is losing his mind if we wake him up."

"I know, but what other choice do we have?" Lumière asked, gently giving Etienne's shoulder a shake. "Etienne? Etienne, wake up."

"Here now, lad," Cogsworth added, patting his face with his small metal hand. "Come on then, do get up!"

After a moment, Etienne stirred, squeezing tight his closed sensitive eyes at the hint of Lumière's flame light. The pair jumped out of the way as he rolled onto his stomach to prop himself onto his forearm. Rubbing his eyes faintly, he opened them to take a look around the room, trying to focus using the candlelight.

"Who…who's there?" he asked.

"It is only us," a familiar voice answered.

Etienne forced himself to sit up and glanced around the room, puzzled to find no one. "Who? I do not see you."

"Down here."

Neither Lumière nor Cogsworth expected anything less than the reaction they received. Once confused, Etienne's expression now revealed shock at the sight of a clock and candelabra that could talk and move like humans.

"What the…? I must be dreaming, losing my very mind!" he stuttered, trying to force himself away in fear, his voice rising with every word.

"Hush now, Etienne," Lumière offered. "It is only us, strange as we may appear."

Etienne stared at them for a long hard moment. "Monsieur Lumière? Monsieur Cogsworth? Th-this is impossible…what happened to you?"

"It looks quite inexplicable, yes," Cogsworth sighed. "But you must believe us; you are still quite sane, I promise."

"I do not believe it," Etienne continued, pressing a hand to his hand to his forehead as if to check for a fever.

"I know, but for the moment, we can not explain it," Lumière said hurriedly. "All in good time, I swear you will hear the whole truth; right now, we must get Lina and yourself to safety. That is why we are here."

"Lina?" Etienne asked, his mind snapping to attention at the very mention of her name. "She is here? The monseigneur has her here?"

Lumière nodded, "Oui, and it will do little good should we waste any more precious minutes. Come, quickly now."

As they turned to the door, another bright light shone in the hallway and they waited with bated breath as it opened.

"Mon Dieu, you will all get yourselves killed if you talk any louder!" Lina hissed, as a mother would reprimand her children. On her pointer finger was a tiny flame.

Etienne, hastily but awkwardly, rose to his feet. The thought of her had been the only thing that kept Jacques' men from breaking whatever was left of his spirit. Her presence before him brought a newfound strength, and he unsteadily hurried into her embrace. Lina in turn held her flame lit finger far away from him, nevertheless holding him tightly against her.

"Lina, thank God; you are alive!" he whispered, burying his one hand deeply in her thick locks and drawing her forehead close to kiss it gently.

Oh to hell with her powers! Extinguishing the flame, Lina wrapped her arms around his neck, burying her face in his shoulder. "When I think of what he had done to you…"

"I know, I know," he soothed, swaying to rock her gently. "My fears precisely."

"Oh Lord," Cogsworth muttered under his breath, rolling his eyes and throwing his hands in the air exasperated. "We are going to die; we are most definitely going to die!"

Lumière shot him a harsh look, but unfortunately had to agree. "As painful as it is to ask, I beg you both to hold those thoughts; it will be much better if you can enjoy them alive and safe. If we stay here any longer, I assure you, you will be neither."

Lina and Etienne glanced down at them with an amused smile, silently submitting to his request. Mirroring the expressions, Lumière continued, "Très bien. Lina, take Cogsworth and help me light the way; Etienne, you are with me. Let's go."

Lina gathered the clock gently in her arm, as if he were a newborn babe, and with a snap, relit her finger. As Etienne picked up Lumière, he could not help but look at her curiously, and she simply smiled.

"Later, I promise," she said, answering his unasked question as they made their way with caution into the hallway.

Etienne walked ahead of her, being the one most associated with the manor. It had to be the single time in his entire life that he was grateful to have served there for so long; he knew of every nook and corner to hide in should there be a chance they would be caught.

When the small rescue party reached the front hall, the real challenge arose. The room was massive and open. Curtains and tapestries were high and off the ground, and uncovered windows allowed direct moonlight to shine into the room. The solitary place of shelter was in the shadows of the grand staircase, but even that was too dangerous. One look over the rails at the correct angle, and those in hiding would be discovered.

As Lumière darkened his flames, Etienne moved forward slowly, barely breathing in fear of making any sound. Glancing in each direction, listening for any movement, he only motioned for Lina and Cogsworth to follow when he felt group was out of harm's way.

Pointing her to the door, Lina watched as Etienne stepped aside to grab two prized mounted swords off the wall, and a few other items—she could not see what—from a side table drawer. Stowing the mysterious items securely in the leg of his trousers, he gathered the blades in his free hand, moving silently to join her again.

"A thief are you?" she breathed, her voice making a murmur sound like a shout, unable to suppress a grin.

"I would prefer to call it borrowing," he replied at the same volume. "Could not hurt to be prepared and use his own artillery against him if need be."

Lina nodded in agreement as Etienne reached for the doorknob. Biting his lip nervously, he turned it little by little with severe discretion until it clicked freely unlatched. Despite his pulling it open lightly, the hinges released a screeching creak, and all of them froze, paralyzed in fear. Etienne listened for any hints of danger, but continued seconds later, relieved when he heard none. The door was soon open wide, the path to freedom there before their eyes…

From upstairs, a shriek rang loud and clear throughout the manor; Etienne and Lina whirled around startled to find Adele at the top of the stairs. Without missing a beat, they followed their instincts to do all they could: run for their very lives.

"Jacques!" she screamed. "Jacques, hurry; they've escaped! They're getting away!"

The man himself answered her beckoning call seconds later, Arnaud close at his heels. Looking into Lina's room, he expectedly found nothing, swearing like a sailor as they ran for the hall. Finding the swords gone, his words grew more infuriated as he gathered another from the nearby study.

While Arnaud ran to untie his horse at the gate, Jacques hastened to the stables where a small boy bolted awake to saddle his master's horse. Clumsy from nerves at seeing him so angry and his strength very little, he stumbled a bit, dropping the heavy saddle that was slung over his shoulder, and resorted to dragging it towards the horse.

Desperately impatient, Jacques grabbed the child by the scruff of his neck, literally throwing him aside. "Out of my way, you filthy brat!" he ordered, putting the bridle on himself and jumping onto the animal bareback. The horse reared at the unexpected action, but nonetheless obeyed his master as Jacques kicked him into a run.

"Get moving, you idiot!" he shouted to Arnaud as he reached the gate. "Do not let them get away!"

And so the chase began, both horses' hooves pounding like thunder into the night.