ch5

The horses were happy to rest a bit, and enjoy a cool drink from the stream as did the men who dismounted from their backs. The trees of the forest offered them a canopy of shade as they knelt by the stream and dipped their hands into the cool clear water. Each man had a small pouch of filled with hardtack biscuits as well as a wine sack, and a ration of oats for each of their horses. After drinking their fill of water, they sat on the mossy rocks for a quick lunch break. Prince Adam however was more interested in finding the cottage than eating any dry and tasteless biscuit. As the Prince allowed the guards and his servant Lumiere to eat and talk freely, he began to walk along the stream's bank that had been carved into the forrest's floor. He was about thirty feet away when he paused and surveyed his surroundings. Lumiere noticed his Prince had ventured on his own, and stood to join his master. "Your highness," he spoke up, without trying to yell and attract any unwanted attention. "You should not go off alone in this place."

Adam turned and gave Lumiere a friendly wave. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. I might not have those claws anymore, but I've got this instead." He reached down and patted his sheath which held his father's sword. Lumiere paid no mind however, and continued to walk after him.

"If its all the same to you sire, I will stay behind a little ways, so to watch your back. We can't be too careful, you know." He politely, yet firmly insisted. Adam smiled knowing there was no point in arguing, then turned and began to move forward again.

"All right then, I know not to argue with a frenchman. Belle is always telling me, that we're such a stubborn bunch."

Lumiere chuckled, "I agree your highness, we frenchmen can be quite unreasonable at times, or, at least that's what Fifi tells me." Both were now chuckling as they made their way up the stream. For the next several moments, they walked quietly looking for any signs of activity up ahead. As Adam continued to study his surroundings carefully, he couldn't help but be amazed how a place this peaceful and serene, could have such a dark and dastardly reputation. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Lumiere standing a foot or so away from him, ready to die for his prince if the need would come. Adam vaguely recalled stories his father told of Lumiere serving as a soldier in his Majesty's army, but never brought the subject up, just in case Lumiere was uncomfortable about the topic. In stead, Adam smiled and sighed contently, feeling such gratitude to have dear friends like Lumiere under his service.

When he was a child, he didn't understand that the majority of those serving in his castle had fallen out of the good graces of other (more powerful or affluent) monarchs, such as His Majesty, and Adam's great uncle, King Louis XV. It wasn't until he and Belle traveled to Paris for their honeymoon, that he discovered, his lovely castle, the Chateau En Harmonie, his birth home, was known to the royals and staff at Versailles as, the "dépotoir" (garbage lot). Not for its appearances of course, at least that's what one of King Louis XVI's attendants assured Prince Adam, but because it was where all the "useless" or "good for nothing" servants ended up. This outrageous discovery infuriated Adam to his core, not because it was his castle being insulted, but rather his staff, his closest and trustworthy friends. The only person he ever confined this news to, was Belle, who was so infuriated, and offended by this, that Adam literally had to hold her back from marching straight into the thrown room and giving the King and Queen a piece of her mind! They left the next morning and on the way home decided to never tell another soul what they were told.

Prince Adam glanced back at Lumiere again and smiled to himself. Even though he and Belle never spoke of what they learned at Versailles, they some times tried to guess what someone must have done to end up there at Chateau En Harmonie. Both he and Belle were convinced Lumiere must have flirted with the wrong damsel; women were certainly his one weakness. Of course, neither of them had the never to ever ask Lumiere to explain his back story no matter how intriguing that story would be.

Looking back, choosing to go to Paris for their honeymoon was a huge mistake to say the least, but hindsight is always twenty-twenty. He always promised Belle a second honeymoon, and perhaps now more than ever she deserved it. It was there and then Adam decided when he returned home this time, and see their daughter made human again, they could take that journey she has always longed for, somewhere far away and exotic. North Africa perhaps? Maybe even the island of Saint-Domingue over in the new world? Or better yet, New Orleans. As he moved along the bank, stepping over old rotting fallen branches and mossy stones, a sudden breeze came up from no where. Nothing to be alarmed of, it was just as any other breeze, or so it seemed. He glanced over his shoulder to see Lumiere was still just a about a foot away from him. Adam turned his head to watch his steps but spoke up loudly enough for his servant to hear. "Lumiere, when we return, I am taking Belle on a vacation, a second honeymoon in fact. Where do you think I should take her?"

Adam continued to walk on, assuming Lumiere must be thinking of his response carefully. But after a minute or so, it seemed odd for Lumiere not to say even a word. Adam turned his head again, but now Lumiere was just standing there with a profoundly confessed look on his face.

"Lumiere?" the prince called out, but his servant did not respond at all.

"Lumiere!?" he barked gruffly so that he was certain Lumiere had heard him that time. Lumiere however, did not call back, but instead turned back and began to trot away.

Adam tried to run after him, but quickly noticed the strangest thing. It seemed as if he was going nowhere. His feet were moving, they were hitting the ground, but he made no progress along the path from where he just came. He spotted a tall slender tree just off to his right, and watched it as he moved his feet forward, amazed to see the distance between him and the tree never changed. He began to yell out for Lumiere, while running, then breaking into a full sprint for what he knew had to be a good three maybe four minutes. Still the distance between himself and that tree did not change. He was so winded that he had to bend over to catch his breath. He then decided to try an experiment and turned to move forward again, away from his men. In this direction he made progress. Was there something or someone herding him in the direction he should go? Or perhaps leading him to a trap?

Determined to return to Lumiere and his guards, Adam spun around on his heels, leaned his upper body forward as if to tackle a giant, and sprinted as fast as he could in the direction he came. He soon found that same spot where he had been halted before and just like the first time, he could not press any further as hard as he tried. With every once of strength he had he lifted his arms and pushed against the air, as if there were a huge invisible brick wall stood in his way. He could almost feel there was a kind of "wall" as it were, but instead of having the viscosity of brick, it had a kind of elasticity to it. He pressed in as hard as he could, only to have the "wall" absorb his force. Adam then had the idea to put his back against this "wall," and try it from that angle, then he tried leaning into it with his shoulder. Nothing worked. Suddenly he saw Lumiere and the guards coming his way and he called out to them. "Lumiere, something's blocking my way; See if you can break through it."

But it was as if Lumiere didn't hear a word he said. There Lumiere stood, just a couple of yards away and apparently giving the men instructions to spread out and search for the prince. "Lumiere!"

Adam bellowed as loud as he could, wishing he could muster up that fierce roar he once had. He yelled out Lumiere's name repeated, with the man now just a few inches from him. "I might as well be in Agrabah," the prince grumbled under his breath as he stared blankly at his servant who just stood there, looking thoroughly puzzled by the prince's disappearance. How is it that he could see Lumiere, but Lumiere could not see him? Adam backed up and stubbornly charged this invisible wall. As his body came in contact with this anomaly, his inertia slowed considerably until he felt himself actually snap backward so hard that he was knocked to the ground. Angrily he pounded his fists onto the ground. "AGH!"

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

Forte calmly turned around from mon coeur, the pi organ, but the moment he realized Denise had not one thread of clothing on her body, he quickly turned his head, covering his left eye from accidentally catching another glimpse of the nude girl. "Good heavens child!" he railed in shock. "Have you no shame?"

Denise looked down at her own body then rolled her eyes. "Don't worry Forte, everything's already covered up by all this fur."

"That's not the point, child!" he insisted as he turned his back to her, and began to take off his top shirt then handed it to her from the side as he cautiously looked away. "Here, put this on."

Denise took the shirt while shaking her head. "All right, if it will make you happy."

"Nothing makes me happy," Forte dryly joked as he then looked for a barrel to sit on.

"Funny," he began to muse aloud. "From up there, this place seemed a lot bigger."

He found the barrel of his choice, and took out a handkerchief to wipe off the dust from its top, "…and cleaner."

Denise, now wearing the shirt, squatted down on the ground sitting comfortably on her legs. "Forte…" she meekly began her apology.

"I-I'm sorry; I mean, I'm really sorry that I upset you so much yesterday. Can you forgive me?"

At first he wasn't quite sure how he should respond. Her apology was a good step toward healing, that much he realized to himself, but was he really ready to let go and move on, like he had been trying to encourage himself to do? He had never been good at expressing himself with simple words, that was what his music was for. He tried to open his mouth and say something, but every word that tried to jump from his brain and onto his tongue somehow lost its way. He ended up with his mouth partly open, looking every bit as stupid as he felt. He closed his mouth shut, deciding to change the subject altogether.

"Why on earth did you strip off your clothes, then disappear without telling us where you were going?" he scolded, trying to sound more upset with her than he actually was.

Denise shrugged her shoulders, "I needed to find something out," she explained. "I needed to know how it felt to run on all fours. You know on my hands and legs. I needed to know how fast I could go if I ran that way."

"And did you find out?" he asked restlessly.

Denise lit up so that her tail began to wag. "Oh, yes I did! I found out what its like to run like a horse, charging into battle!"

She then stood up and walked over to Forte, sitting on a different barrel just a few inches from his left side."I know poppa's gone out to find a way to change me back, but… you know what Forte?"

She asked as she looked out in into the distance in front of her. Forte had no qualms expressing to Denise his dislike for guessing games. He groaned quietly as his head dropped to his chest. "Your highness, sense 'what' is such a vague topic, would you care to offer me a bit more detail?"

Denise turned to give the man a strange look. She knew sarcasm when she heard it, but wasn't ready to confront it. So, instead she merely cocked her head while she explained to him what she meant. "I don't want to change back. I like being this way."

Forte threw his head back grinning from ear to ear, almost ready to burst out a hearty laugh. 'Oh the irony,' he thought to himself.

"You don't say, Princess? Well, imagine that. Wanting to stay in your cursed form instead of returning to your human self. Gee, I can't begin to understand what that would feel like."

Again, Denise picked up his blatant sarcasm but this time chose to confront him. "I said I was sorry."

"Yes, well, I'm still deciding whether or not to accept your apology," he scoffed half jokingly.

Denise rolled her eyes impatiently. "Have it you way. I still think you are better off as a human."

Forte turned his head to give her a flouted sneer, "Enlighten me, will you?"

Denise huffed in mild exasperation, "Bet it was nice to finally walk out of this place yesterday."

"Oh so I have mobility again, big deal." Forte carefully masked any hint of agreement with a stinging tone of mockery.

Denise groaned, but saw right trough his facade. "You look a lot better as a human by the way, and without that wig, you look…"

Denise paused as she thoughtfully considered her words. Forte waited for her to finish her sentence with a dull expression. "I look like… what?"

"Fascinating," Denise finally decided. "You look positively fascinating."

Forte raised his head and looked out into the distance, rolling Denise's compliment over in his mind. "Fascinating," he quietly repeated, with a pleased look on his face.

"Well, that still doesn't excuse the fact that you took away my chance to be immortal," he continue to argue with Denise, mostly for the fun of it.

"Who would want to live forever when everyone you know will die?" she asked rhetorically.

"Ah, I would!" his eyes and smile widened as he insisted with a great deal of enthusiasm.

Not really having any way to argue, she tossed her head and snapped, "That's stupid!"

Forte grinned to himself, completely satisfied he had won. "Well, it was all I had to look forward to, that is, until you decided to ruin it for me. Now, it would seem the fates have chosen to give me a taste of justice. You found your silver lining in the black cloud of transformation, just as I had found mine, and just as I, you will have to return to your human form because there is no way your parents would allow you to remain a beast. Even if," Forte's voice then softened and he gave the young princess a gentle smile. "you too, look rather fascinating."

Denise smiled, as she began to swing her legs to and fro, softly bumping the barrel with her heels. "You think I look fascinating too?"

Forte nodded in a matter of fact way, "Yes of course you look fascinating. How many other young princesses do you know have horns, fangs, claws, a long bushy tail and covered in fur?"

Denise giggled cheerfully. She wasn't the least bit ashamed of her appearance, but rather proud. She could now say she felt a particular connection to he father that no one else had. Besides all that, she now felt more alive than she ever imagined she could feel. Everything around her, had a kind of significance that she could not sense before. Every odor, every sound, even the vibrations she felt from the ground and air had meaning to her now. Give all this up? Never!

"Well, Maestro, suppose I have to fall in love in order to change back; I just won't fall in love." Denise smartly replied, feeling smug.

"No wiser words have ever been spoken dear child," Forte assured her. "But, the day will come when you will see that certain someone, and that's when cupid's arrow will strike, sealing your fate. That will be the end of your days of freely running around in the nude."

Denise shook her in defiance. "Nope, it's not going to happen. I think all boys are yucky!"

Forte chuckled to himself, "Your brother is a boy and so is you father, or, w-was a boy as I once was, so very, very long ago. Do you think we're yucky?"

"Yes, I do." Denise sniggered at her own joke.

"Well, your yucky too!" Forte joked back with a tinge of resent.

"Now, your highness," Forte rose to his feet, straightening his undershirt and trousers. "Are you ready to come out of here and put on some real clothes?"

With her hands on her hips, Denise gave Forte a haughty glare. "That depends if you are, Maestro."

He caught the meaning of what she was saying and took a deep satisfying breath. "Ready as I'll ever be, your highness."