~Chapter 20~

Joel

Gaston was a nasty, obnoxious man who was far from the company I would ever like to keep, but Noella insisted. If I could succeed in distracting Gaston in such a way that Noella could find the next magic mirror then I guess it would all be worth it. The two men led me back down the main street and going into a brightly lit building with a sign hanging just above the doorway reading: Snuggly Duckling. A very unique name for a pub, I thought. Gaston led the way inside with his minion, Lefou practically pushing me inside after him. Upon entry, many of the townsfolk greeted Gaston and the bartender greeted him as the three of us approached the bar counter. The bartender slid Gaston a pint of ale without even being asked. This man behind the counter was a stout man with a twisty moustache and even more intimidating, a hook on his right hand. The barkeep stared me down scrutinizing me from head to toe clearly identifying me as an outsider, but being with Gaston clearly gave me an in. Maybe I could use that to my advantage somehow. Gaston chugged down the drink and slammed it down on the counter wiping his mouth and burping loudly before waving at the bartender for an additional round. As Gaston was working on getting plastered, I glanced around noticing all the animal heads, antlers, and various trophies on display throughout the tavern.

"They're something aren't they?" Gaston asked after he had finished his pint.

"What?" I replied not knowing to what he was referring to.

"His trophies, numbskull!" Lefou piped up dryly.

Gaston stood up throwing his arms up as if displaying his hunting prowess.

"Have you ever seen such hunting skills in your life?" Gaston asked.

"Eh, it's quite good…" I shrugged.

He clearly didn't like my answer grimacing immediately.

"But…" Gaston pressed.

"But I think I might have you beat." I said casually.

Gaston raised his brows clearly feeling surprised that I made such a declaration.

"Sounds like a wager." Lefou replied sharply.

"A brilliant idea, Lefou." Gaston agreed, "In one hour, we each will find and kill all the game we can and whoever kills the most wins."

"Easy enough." I shrugged, "What are the stakes?"

"You win? I owe you a dinner special. Filet mignon with potatoes." Gaston replied.

"And if you win?" I asked.

"You leave Belle and your companion to me with no interference."

The lust in his eyes was clear and that made me the most angry. The stakes were far from even, but I knew my skill set. I wasn't worried.

"Deal." I said offering my hand which Gaston took firmly with a sinister smile on his face.

"Where do we start?" I asked.

"Follow me and I'll show you." Gaston added immediately getting up escorting me out of the tavern.

Gaston led me maybe a quarter mile from town square into the surrounding woods. Lefou gave me further instructions stating I could kill game wherever I found it and I only had an hour. On the way out here, I already spotted a few bucks prancing around, so I wasn't worried about lack of game. At least it wasn't snowing, but it didn't matter. I was the queen's huntsman after all.

"Would you like to use one of my rifles?" Gaston asked.

I shook my head pulling my bow off my back. It didn't glow like it used to since the fight with Ursula, but at least it could still fire arrows.

"No thanks, I have my bow."

Gaston shrugged with a smirk.

"Your loss, newcomer."

"How will we know when the time is up?" I asked.

"Meet back here at sundown." Gaston replied gesturing toward the fading horizon.

Lefou propped himself up on a large rock near us taking out a handkerchief from his pocket.

"Hunters, take your marks." Lefou proclaimed like some big shot announcer waving his handkerchief around.

"Enough." Gaston shouted surprising Lefou making him drop the handkerchief.

"May the best hunter win." Lefou muttered sheepishly.

"I intend to." Gaston growled and took off with his rifle heading south from where we were.

I spotted tracks nearby along with droppings, so those led me to doe grazing just about fifty yards from the starting position. Silently, I drew my bow crouching slowly not wanting to disturb the animal. Just as I was releasing the arrow, I heard a rifle shot in the distance and it spooked the deer. My initial arrow missed, but I quickly brought it down with two more arrows that hit cleanly. Another rifle shot fired as I removed my arrow from the doe and birds squaked from the trees overhead flying away in fear. At this rate, Gaston would scare away all the game. I picked up the doe and threw it over my shoulder hauling it back to the starting point with Lefou since it was so close, so I wouldn't have to carry it around. I glanced over my shoulder at the horizon. I had time, but not too much. With Gaston's rifle fires, I had to act quickly to win this bet. For the rest of the time, I found all the animals I could hunt. I shot five rabbits, four squirrels, and a large buck bringing my animal total to eleven. The sun was almost set by the time I got the buck and I headed back with my haul. I made it back to Lefou who looked amazed by my animal pack, but Gaston wasn't back yet.

"Wow," Lefou commented on my haul that I slapped down on the ground off my shoulders, "Your bow doesn't miss. How many animals did you get?"

"Eleven." I replied.

As Lefou stood there admiring my hunting skills, three quick shots were fired in the distance.

"Bear!" A voice bellowed loudly.

"Gaston!" Lefou yelled.

"Let's go help." I insisted charging into the woods following the voice.

Lefou called out for Gaston, but no reply came. We shot through a small clearing and I was certain Gaston's voice came from around this area. Lefou started babbling nervously as I glanced around. I glanced at the ground in the surrounding area and there were no signs of a bear. I heard a snap of a twig behind me and I spun around quickly to only receive a firm blow to the head and I collapsed on the ground.

When I came to, I had a splitting headache and was tied to the trunk of a wide oak tree. I groaned heavily feeling out of it, but also frustrated putting the pieces to the puzzle together that Gaston double crossed me. It wasn't surprising, but I was more upset with myself that I let him get away with it. I gave him an opening, which he easily exploited. Judging by the moon in the sky, I had been out a few hours at least. I still had all my gear, so he didn't rob me to my surprise. The ropes were pretty tight, so I tried wriggling myself free and after several minutes of this. I had loosened the ropes enough to be able to reach my pocket knife. Once I freed myself, I glanced around knowing I was much farther from town and wasn't exactly certain what direction to head in. Noella had to be wondering where I was. I promised to meet up with her at Belle's home. I was certain Gaston would have returned to town declaring a outrageous lie to hide his attempted murder. I had to get back, but I was alone in this unfamiliar territory and I glanced around. There were no human tracks anywhere, even my own from earlier. Gaston really didn't want me returning.

I began to head in the direction I remembered from earlier, but not too far off, I heard the howling of a pack of wolves and I opted to turn right around and go around them avoiding them all together. It was full moon tonight, so that worked in my favor lighting my path as much as it was able. After walking around the woods for maybe an hour, the wind began to pick up and the temperature began to drop. I rubbed up and down my arms trying to keep myself warm. Soon, the howling began to grow. The wolves had probably picked up my scent and were tracking me. I had to act quickly and stealthy. If worse came to worse, I had my bow, but even I was no match for an entire pack. I backed against a large boulder covered in ivy and pressed myself against it sliding against its surface. After four steps, I fell backward through just some ivy that was no longer against the rock. I was in small tunnel between two large outcrops of boulders. I made my way through and out into the open again into the moonlight and soon it began to rain. Immediately feeling thankful because that would hide my scent more from the wolves tracking me. Fatigue was hitting me hard and I rubbed my eyes immediately noticing a tall tower several yards in front of me. Astonished, I rubbed my eyes again wondering if my eyes were deceiving me due to exhaustion. I stumbled my way up to the tower and put my hand on the cold stones. It was real and more important, shelter for the night. I circled around it and found a small opening of rocks pulled out. Immediately it led me up some stairs. It was a tall tower, so there were many stairs, but once I made it up to the top, I peaked out through the floor that I came out of. This was clearly someone's home.

"Hello?" I called out stepping out from the staircase and began looking around. No answer to my call came, but as I circled a sharp corner, I came out into the main room and there on the ground with his left hand chained to a pillar, was an unconscious man, with a wound in his chest. He was in worse shape than I was. I ran to his side gently shaking him by the shoulders.

"Hey, wake up, are you okay?" I said calmly, but firm. I repeated this several times before the man's eyes opened finally.

I didn't know anything about this man or who he was or why he was chained in here. Was he a prisoner? Could I trust him? Why was he left here alone? Or maybe another victim of Gaston's. The man looked at me groggily in a stupor. Judging by the blood soaked into his white shirt under his green vest, he had lost a lot of blood. He was still trying to come to, so I took the liberty to inspect the wound. I slowly lifted his shirt up where the blood was and there was no wound at all. This puzzled me.

"Hey, I'm a friend. Can you tell me your name?" I asked the man.

"It's...Eugene." He stammered before passing out.

I checked his forehead and he had no fever and clearly no wound regardless of the blood stain on his shirt. The rain turned from a soft drizzle to an all out storm with drops hitting the stones outside and I could hear the pelting drops against the roof. This tower was my shelter for the night, but how could I sleep with a stranger not knowing if I could trust him or not. He was chained to the pillar though. I checked the durability of the restraints and checked the man for weapons. He was unarmed, but I did find a small dagger on the floor by the large window. Half of the blade was stained with blood. Covering all my bases, I compared the width of the knife to the slice through Eugene's shirt where the blood stain was. It was a match. Though this didn't prove whether he was innocent or not. He could have been jabbed in self defense of possibly robbing this place or perhaps maybe he was a victim. Though he lay there unconscious, his face looked tired like he had been through a lot. Until he came to, I couldn't ask more questions, so for now, I opted to keep him restrained for my own safety. Not that I couldn't take him if it came to a fight, but he looked to be in good shape.

There was a fireplace nearby with wood ready to go, so I built one up and propped myself against the wall sitting against it comfortably. My eyes gazed into the flames feeling mesmerized and within a few minutes I fell fast asleep. My anxious thoughts were running rampant of regrouping with Noella. Those thoughts manifested into my subconscious heavily. There was darkness all around and suddenly ahead of me several yards away was a spotlight and I saw Noella. Then across from her in another spotlight was Corissa looking at me with anger in her eyes.

"Kill her Joel!" Corissa ordered.

Suddenly my bow appeared in my hand and I rose the weapon to aim at Noella, but my hands were shaking fiercely. After several moments that seemed to last forever, I threw down the bow unable to fire.

"I can't do it." I yelled, "I won't hurt her!"

"If you won't then I will…" Corissa growled.

Her hand began to glow an eerie color of green and took aim at Noella. The power released and Noella shrieked.

I shot up quickly panting heavily with beads of sweat running down my face. What a dream or rather a horrific nightmare. Once my breaths calmed down, I tried to doze off again, but I couldn't so I ended up remaining awake. I stoked the fire a few times before Eugene finally came to. He shot up like I did in a panic.

"Rapunzel!" He yelled.

I quickly walked over to him kneeling by his side putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Whoa, take it easy there Eugene." I said calmly. "Slow your breathing."

"W-Who are you?" He asked, "Where's Rapunzel? Is she alright?"

The poor man was frantically looking around and he tried to stand, but was halted by the restraints.

"My name is Joel." I replied calmly once again trying to get Eugene out of panic mode.

Though apparently we were one and the same, two guys in the middle of the woods looking for a girl. Thinking about that fact alone brought a smile to my face and I covered my mouth to hide it discreetly.

"I don't know any Rapunzel. I was passing through the nearby town, went for a hunt, got lost, and tried to seek shelter and I stumbled upon this tower...and I found you here. End of story." I explained keeping the details vague just trying to gauge him.

Eugene began to glance around and blink his eyes a few times as if he was unsure if this was reality or not. He started to yank his hand from the restraints forcefully suddenly.

"Joel, was it?" Eugene asked.

I nodded.

"Be a friend and help me out, would ya?" He asked continuing to yank at the restraints.

I hesitated and he clearly noticed looking surprised that I wasn't releasing him no questions asked.

"C'mon man, I have to find Rapunzel! That crazy woman might still have her...though I did trim her hair…" Eugene mumbled randomly thinking out loud.

Eugene seemed desperate to find this woman and we did share than common interest of looking for someone, so I opted to release him against possibly what used to be my better judgment.

"Screw it…" I said shrugging dramatically.

I looked around for a key to the irons, but found none. However, in the kitchen I found some butter on a plate and I thought Eugene might manage to slide out from the cuffs if it was slippery enough. I helped him lather up his hand and it started to slide through, but it wasn't enough ultimately. In a last ditch effort, I pulled out my pocket knife and tried to loosen the few screws on the cuff. It worked and soon Eugene was finally free.

"Thanks Joel." He said offering his buttered hand.

I smirked and Eugene looked embarrassed.

"Ah, that won't work." He laughed awkwardly offering his other hand, which I politely shook.

"So what exactly happened to you?" I asked immediately starting my light interrogation.

"Well you don't miss a beat, do you?" Eugene said raising a brow, "And to answer your question...that's a long story…"

"We have time...it's still dark outside and there is a large pack of wolves in the area...it's probably a better idea to wait until morning." I reasoned.

"But...I'll lose her…" Eugene mumbled glancing out the window with desperation in his face.

"I'm looking for someone too and in the morning we can head back to town together, but for now, we just get to wait." I replied.

"A-Alright, guess you have a point." Eugene said sitting down in a slump.

"So Eugene...what's your story? How did you get here and what's with being chained to the wall?" I asked without missing a beat.

Eugene glanced at me seriously bringing this hands to his chin and resting on his fists.

"You really wanna know Joel?" He asked.

"I asked didn't I?" I replied smugly.

Eugene paused looking down and then in moments shooting his gaze back up at me very dramatically.

"This is the story of how I died…" Eugene began.

This was going to be good. I could tell.