Chapter 3

easy peasy lemon squeezy

Okay – This must have been the grossest thing I have ever cleaned. Scrubbing the blood off the walls I try not to think too hard of what happened down below here. When I look at the man – I for one couldn't have thought he was capable of such torture. Well I do know he is the Dark One – yes. But really – was it even necessary for him to make this much of a mess. The water in the bucket is as red as the blood and I stood up to get fresh water. As I walk up the stairs the bucket slips out of my hands – spilling all the water over the stairs. "Argh! For Merlin sakes!" I grumble and when an idea popped up in my mind. "Could I…" I closed my eyes and imagine the towels that lay in the kitchen waiting for me. I remember the fabric and the color and - poof – green smoke showed the towels in my hand. I could do it!

The joy quickly escaped my thoughts as I looked at the stairs drained in watery-blood. Great! I thought while getting on my knees to mop everything up.

Finally – I am done cleaning the blasted place and make it out of the dungeon. "Is everything spotless?" He joked – in his own creepy way while I enter de great hall where I see him spinning. "Yes, sir." I reply coldly – hoping I would make it clear it was not something to joke about. "Who deserved such a bad treatment. What did they do wrong?" His eyes become dark and a nasty sickening smile spread across his face.

"That is none of your concern. But as you insist on it…" – which I didn't. "They broke the deal." He replied simply while getting of his chair walking out of the great hall. "Follow me, dearie." He says as he poofs away my bucket and cloths. I – as I am not a tall person – ran after him trying to catch up.

"I want you to go to the nearest village and fetch some fresh straw." Wait.. what? "You trust me to go out of the boundaries. You want me to go alone?" He turns around as I catch up with him. "Do I stutter? Now go, before I change my mind." With a snip of his fingers, my outfit changed into a nice elegant green dress with golden broidered flowers. "Thanks." I say almost cheerfully. "Yes, yes. Now of you go. You better return before dinner, dearie." I am already heading out and shout a 'I will!' his way. It was a nice day – the ones you hear in every happy song. Blue skies and I spied only a few white clouds. I have to walk past the forest and then I am getting the straw my teacher needs. As I walk I can't help but skip every once in a while. The fresh air was so much better than the filthy blood smell of the dungeon.

In the village I see a lot of different faces. I haven't seen them before. Hell I think my own village is miles away from here. "Hello milady, what can I do for you?" the man asks – while I only can think it's only obvious what I want. "I need a fresh pile of straw. The freshest you have, please." I say. My voice sounds weird to my ears as I only speak to Rumpelstiltskin or – myself.

"Here ya go. Freshest of them all. That will be 20 Shillings, Milady." The man says nicely. I grab my purse and got the money out for him to take.

"I haven't seen ya around here. Are you new?" Did they have to make this difficult? "Well, I'm from around. I just have to work hard." Well, that wasn't a lie. "I have to go." I say and got the hell out of there before the man could question me any longer. It was busy. I had to be careful not to crash into someone.

Everything so far so smooth. I walk my way through the crowd as the crowd gets harder and harder.

"Who is brave enough to stand up to the him!" A man on a wooden crate shouts to the audience. It was still. Well – that must be some guy. "He has taken everything we loved. Everything we cared for, and here we are..." He waved his hands, meaning everyone standing there. "All unhappy. Sadness is taking over in this town. We need to do something about this… this – Beast!" My stomach knotted together. Are they talking about Rumpel? I stop in my tracks to listen what he has to say. "Tonight we are going to call for him. We will catch him and then…" The man had this nasty grin on his face while getting a torch in this hand. Lighting it up he sets something on fire. I need to stand on my toes to see what it was that needed to be burnt down. "We will be set free of this despicable monster!" Everyone cheered and I could only stare at the ground.

I continued to walk forward towards the castle again. I needed to get there soon to tell him what I saw. Once I was at the foot of the woods I began to quicken my pace. You can't fool him. He will not be stupid enough to walk into this. No – he is a smart and scary man. He knows what to do. I don't know why – and I don't want to find out why – but I feel bad knowing what the village was up to. Did I start to care for him – Maybe. He was not that bad. How could he be? There was still something in him that made him – a man. "Well, well, well. What's the rush, dear?" Someone says interrupting my train of thoughts. I just ignore the man – whom was standing in front of me – and walk around him. I hear footsteps follow me and if I'm correct there were three human beings walking behind me. "Where are you going?" someone else asks. I still do not answer and used my skills I have learned from the Tavern to ignore them at my best. "it's getting dark and…" A hand grabs my should and turns me around. "if I'm not mistaken – that…" I looked at the man. He had blue eyes and he surely was strongly build. "is the way to his castle." I look at the ground – not saying a word. "are you going to his place. Because if you are – well, we simply could not let you do that. Not after what you heard back in our village." Dam it – I knew I shouldn't have stayed. But nooo – I just had to be curious! Okay – Let's go to plan B – RUN.

I drop the basket and make it to run. Well at least - I tried. I didn't make it far. The dress is too heavy and the men are way faster than I am. "Where do you think you are going? Now we have something to trade." I kick and scream – hoping I would hit just wright. But who am I kidding. Naturally they took me back to the village. Hands and legs tied firmly together. I try to beg them to let me go, but a cloth in my mouth prevent me from doing so. How do I get in this kind of situations – really?! First day out of the castle and this happens. I bet this would be the last time I fetch his straw.

The sun made its way down, making the sky orange - the last rays hit the night air. I could just see it from the window across me. I hope he's not going to be really mad. Would this break our deal. I could not stop thinking of everything. The most random things flow across my mind till the door opens and two men came in. "It's your time to shine now, harlot!" You say what! My brows knit together and I couldn't help it but my face just showed anger. The man feels really pleased with himself – seeing my anger-face.

They dragged me to the same market I had watched the crowd. "Dark One. I command thee, show yourself. We've got a deal to make!" He big man shout pretty loud. I chuckle inwardly – morons. Did they really think this was going to work. I look around. Just a handful of men are standing around me. Two of them holding me. When no one appears the man took another breath but then there was a poof. There he is – finally! I look towards the ground, ashamed of the whole situation.

"Why are you – " He pointed his finger at all of the men. "asking for me in the middle of the night – for me." He ignores me totally – pretending to not know me at all. "We have a deal to make. For too long to terrorize our people. We are tired of your games." He giggles impishly. "Tired. But dear gentlemen. The game has just began!" For the first time he quickly looks at me - scans me over. "Wat is it you need, because it seems like you've got something that is mine." The men holding me tightens their grip. "You leave us alone and we give you your harlot back." The big man spat. "Hah! No can do." He says – mocking the man dramatically. "You see. You have what is mine. Now give it back and I will spare your miserable lives."

"I suspect we would be going this way." In a second the big bully took out his sword and I was bent forward. "It would be a waste of blood, wouldn't it. Dark One." He speaks the last words like venom. Rumpel however didn't look impressed at all. "You really don't want this. But if you insist." I blink my eyes and in a few seconds the men let me go as they grabbed their throats for air. He has slit them and blood pours out like a little fountain. Since I was bent over I lost my balance and make my way to fall onto the ground. I yelp but I never hit the hard ground. Instead my teacher holds me tight and pulls me towards him.

My heart was in my throat. First off all because of this whole big thing. Second – I was standing abnormally close to him. The closest I've ever been. My head rest on this chest and my hands find a way towards his arms to steady myself. The Dragon leather feels cool against the heat of my cheeks. It's so weird – but yet so right. Merlin! What the hell is wrong with me. At this point I'm too afraid to move so I just stand there – awkward really – watching him spat at the man: "You go. Tell them what I do to people who dare to steal from me." For good measurements he slices through the skin of the man's face. That – was going to make a nasty scar!

"Hold on." He says softly. I already did, but I even tightened my grip more. "We are going home."

"How dare they!" He says as we land in the dining room. "How dare they!" He repeats while heading for his spinning wheel. I just stand there, wordless. What am I supposed to do? Walk away, leave him alone? Am I to be punished? "I'm sorry." I almost whisper – slamming my head mentally at being so stupid. It makes him spin around and watch me intently. "How did this happen. You were supposed to get me straw and head back immediately." I looked at the ground fiddling with the hem of my sleeve. "Well – I – I was on my way, but then there were a lot of people on the market. I noticed they were talking about you." I said. A finger raises my chin and for the second time today I feel really uncomfortable for standing this close. "About me?" He repeats – eyes as curious of that of a cat. "They wanted to hurt you. To destroy you." When he doesn't say a thing I continued: "Well, I guess at that point I'd heard enough and rushed my way through so I could tell it to you. That's what caught their attention – I think." He grins seeing me blush as he brushed a stand of hair out of my face. He just knows how to make this knot in my stomach tighten. "You cared about me? How adorable, dearie. But let me tell you – you never need to worry about me. I know everything." With that he made his way towards the spinning wheel again waving me away. "You are dismissed. Tomorrow morning your lesson will start again. We need to focus on your defense."

For a moment I just stood there – waiting for other words to stop me. But none came. Why did I feel so disappointed? What did I wanted to hear? "Good night." I say followed by: "Thank you for saving me." Then I left towards my room to sleep the horrors of today's events away.

The next few months went by quickly. I see the trees change from nice fresh green to brownish and eventually fall to the ground. I had a routine of cleaning the castle quick and quietly – then when I was all done, I either practiced magic – or draw in my room.

"Sarah, where are you?" I hear him coming up the stairs and quickly hid the piece of paper I was drawing on. "You know I'm in my room." He opens the door and looked at me suspicious. "What are you doing here? We need to practice, dearie." Ever since they – well – took me, he was keen on pushing me to learn more and more. Never though he came to get me at the end of the evening. There must be something special. "I'm coming." I said grabbing something to keep the cold out of my body. "Haven't I asked you to control a heat curse? You could freeze to death upstairs." I tried to do it, really. Fire isn't just – how does he say it – my thing. I always end up setting something on fire or overheating myself. Not a pretty sight. No my specialty lays in nature. He tries to learn me how to shape shift into bird, but all I can change are my arms into wings. It's very frustrating, though. He says I'm doing well, but I'm not seeing this as a good job. Defensive spells are my specialties by know. The Evil Queen herself can burst into this very castle and she would be able to even look at me. That – I am proud of.

We walk to our practice room and on the way I notice him being a bit – wat what is? – unusually happy. "What makes you so gleeful today, sir?" He turns around and ginned like he had a secret I wasn't allowed to know. – Well of course he had many, but you get where I'm going right? "Today you are going to learn how to fly." I frown. "I know, I'm doing that for ages." He laughs devilishly. "I've got a new method that will be effective. I thought about this for a long time. I should work." We go all the way up the tower to reach the room and when we get there I noticed the room is empty and the window open.

He guides me to the window and say: "I can get lost in my thoughts just by looking at this view." I agree. It's so nice – even when the trees were getting rid of their leaves. "It feels magical." And before I know it the hand – that lays on the small of my back pushes me forwards. I scream as I hear his voice in my head. Keep your control, you need to want it. To really want it. Well if this is the time to really want something, I'd better start wanting. The ground comes closer and closer and I am really concentrating on turning myself into a bird.

And then, when the ground coms really close and I'm just a second from finding my death – I feel two strong arms wrap around me. "You should really concentrate more on being a bird." He puts me roughly on the ground and with a purple smoke he is gone. "Are you coming?" He asked all the way up the tower. "You mean – I need to climb all the way back up?" He made this nasty noise as to insult me. "Of course you are going to climb all the way up. Or did you learn how to fly already." I know he could see me sulk and curse, but he just giggles. He just knows how to push my buttons. Like he has some sort of blueprint of me – or something. "allright…" I start – pointing my finger in the air as to make it seem more impressive. "I'm not going to be thrown out of the window again." He just looks at me- his finger on his chin as his arms are crossed. "what kind of bird do you love the most?" He asks. The question got me off my feet as I was prepared for anything – even been thrown out of the window again. "Well…I think a Swallow is a beautiful little creature." I answer. "Then, think of that while you want to change yourself into a bird. Visualize it and become one with your mind. Can you do that for me?" I sense his patience is not stretching any longer and I can almost see him being annoyed that his plan didn't turn out the way he had wanted to.

I close my eyes and see the Swallow who would build a nest near my home. I can feel it's freedom, it's need to fly and seek for more food.

"You did it dearie." I open my eyes and I notice I have become smaller. "I did it!" I chirp, knowing that he would understand me. I spread my wings and try to fly – only to crash onto the floor again. "We will practice that for another day." He picks me up and pet my feathers. "Now you need to change back. Just use the technique you used for turning yourself into a bird." Well that was easy. We practiced a little more until He was satisfied I could do it in one try. He dismissed me – saying something about that curse again – and I walk off to my room.

I feel so happy – I could do it! – I finally am able to turn myself into a beautiful Swallow. On my way I try some more spells – like a handy dusting spell – to make sure everything is clean.

As I lay on my bed I can only think: I did it – I did it – I did it! With that thought in mind my eyes close and I fall into a nice dream filled with flying Swallows.