When the captors came to waken the the three of them they found something that resembled a domino fall. Grace resting her head on Eilonwy's leg, the princess' hand resting protectively on her head, the maid resting her head on the madman's lap, his hand gently resting on her golden hair, keeping watch over her, and his own head slumped into the mud a little.
The brutish quiet man sent a kick into Jefferson's leg to get him to wake. He glared up at him.
"Wake up" he urged Eilonwy softly, not wanting her to be treated as he had been by ways of a morning greeting. She moved to get up and he helped her to sit up and she gently shook Grace's shoulders, rousing her from her slumbers. Then the three were loaded back into the cart.
Two days passed, two days in which they observed the orb to follow them, but it was helpless to do anything. They also noted they were headed west. So at least the direction was right, though what slave traders, for that is what these villains were, were doing roaming the free lands and abducting innocent travellers was a mystery. Surely there was a law enforcement, the castle guards had roamed the forest to stop these sort of violations before.
On the dawn of their third day as captives, the morning breeze blew in from the west and Eilonwy woke up first. Her nose waking the rest of her senses, she had smelt the sea. She could sense it in the air. She sat up and looked to the west, knowing that somewhere, not too far away, was the sea. The sea that had mean freedom but now likely meant servitude in strange lands. She bit back a couple tears. They spilled out despite her best efforts. Jefferson woke to the sound of her quiet snuffling. His ear picking it out over the sounds of chirping birds and waking squirrels. He sat up, pulling her close to his side. He had never seen her cry, she had always been the bravest one of their little band. He wasn't quite sure how to react, but he did his best to put an arm around her despite his bonds.
"I just want to go home" she said softly in the midst of her tears.
"I know" he consoled "I know" and he took her hand and held it until it was time for them to be loaded onto the cart again.
"Where is that good for nothing Guilford?" the lean man asked in exasperation.
"How should I know?" the biggest one of the captors said dimly.
"Do we wait for him?"
"No, he knows where we are going, if he wants to miss out on his portion of the payment, than that's his own affair" the lean man said as he whipped up the nag that drew the cart. The dark haired man had disappeared and so had Eilonwy's orb. They speculated quietly amongst each other whether he had somehow captured her magic bauble and left rather than share the reward for it with his comrades.
Noon came with hot sun and a cool breeze blowing up now and again bringing the salty tang of the ocean. Jefferson took Eilonwy's hand. He knew how bitter it was for her to have something she loved so much tainted by it being the way she would be sold as a slave. He felt helpless, he wanted to do something, anything to free them. Even if it meant him being taken. He knew someone would watch over Grace at least. But no ideas would come.
The cart went down into a dell and while it struggled up the other side, the lean slave driver thrashing his poor horse to an inch of her life the sound of several horse hooves pounding the undergrowth of the forest rose. The dell was quickly hemmed in by a circle of guards. Eilonwy squeaked as she pointed to the crest on the pennant and Jefferson took this as a good sign, as did Grace.
Within a minute, after pointless struggle, the three men were all bound. Three of the guards came up to prisoners and freed them. Then the man with the matted hair strode forward, now in the armour of a Knight of Llyr. He helped Grace and Jefferson off from the cart and when Eilonwy moved for him to help her down he bowed deeply, down on one knee. "Your highness" he said.
"Arise" she responded "it's Robert isn't it?" she asked "son of the stable master."
"Indeed my lady, and lieutenant to the Captain of the Guard now. It is beyond all of our wishes and hopes to see you safely home again. We thought you lost forever by the wicked queen's curse" he said rising to his feet and helping her out of the cart.
"I'm grateful for your aid, I had lost hope of ever seeing home again when that band of villains set upon us" she explained.
"A horse for her highness" Robert commanded and helped her up. "And one for her friends" he added and Jefferson awkwardly climbed aback the horse and Grace was handed up to him.
"Who reigns in Llyr?" Eilonwy asked as Robert rode alongside her, Jefferson riding just behind. He could almost feel her slipping away from him into the body of her old life. A life of responsibility and cares of a weighty nature. He sighed and Grace looked behind her to see his gaze on the golden-red of the back Eilonwy's head. Her orb now floating alongside her as she rode.
"Your mother is regent" Robert answered.
"A-and my father?" she asked, knowing he must be dead for her mother to be ruling.
"He died, he was trying to seek a way to wherever the curse had taken you, but he was set upon and his horse returned riderless to the palace, the saddle covered in blood" he stated soberly.
She hung her head. She wished he had lived, she wanted to see him more than anything. She turned her head to look behind at the father-daughter pair that rode behind, flashing them a warm smile.
"Who are they?" he asked.
"Friends, they helped me to reach the Enchanted Forest again and have aided me along the way. Treat them with the best Llyr has to offer, they are to want for nothing. They have suffered much, both in this realm and in Storybrooke" she said.
"Storybrooke?" he inquired.
"Yes, it is a strange land, full of machines and foreign buildings, even the ships don't look right, but it wasn't at all unpleasant until the curse lifted and we all remembered who we really were. Then it was misery."
"The curse is lifted? This is joyous news!" Robert exclaimed.
"Not quite, all of us remember, but getting back here is difficult" she said.
"How did you achieve it?"
"Magic, my friend Jefferson is a dimension jumper, or was, and he crafted us a hat to find our way home" she answered.
"Jefferson?" Robert pondered "there was a rather rogueish jumper who went by that name years ago" he observed.
"Well whatever his past, he is now under my protection and he and his daughter Grace are to be treated with all due respect. You owe him my return" she said firmly.
"As your highness wishes" Robert complied.
By sunset they had came out of the forest and were riding up the beach towards the lights of the Castle of Llyr. Eilonwy's heart soared. She breathed in the salt air and felt the night wind lift her loose hair and blow it around. She smiled. The sound of the hooves of their horses falling on the cobbles of the bridge to the castle on the rock promontory filled her with peace. She was finally home.
Robert went to send guards to alert the queen that her daughter had come home at long last. And in that time Jefferson came over and helped Eilonwy down from her horse. The three stayed together. Guards came and went offering their assistance and rejoicing at her return but their exultations were met with polite and warm replies and their offers were all deferred to the care of her friends. She wanted to see Jefferson and Grace happy, fed, washed and dressed in something other than the tatters that were left after their abuse at the hands of the slavers.
Eilonwy limped forward leaning on Jefferson's arm. She wanted to run upstairs to her room and fly onto her bed and sleep for a week. She wanted to go to the garden and play in the fountain. She desired to taste all the sweetness of home all at once after so much absence.
She looked up, a woman with greying hair in a rich crimson dress with gold embroidery stood staring as if frozen. Then she burst forward. Throwing aside decorum. Eilonwy let go of Jefferson's arm and limped forward, but he could see the pain so dropping Grace's hand he used his two hands to steady her week side as she moved towards her mother. He stepped back as the two women joined together in an embrace. Grace eventually rejoined her father, taking his hand as they watched the tears flow from the queen's green eyes and Eilonwy's blue shed a few too.