As the days vapidly crawled inch by inch upon the peace filled world, so to did life in the accursed castle. In the sunlit hours amongst the dank belly of the foul keep, Cora and the Dark One schemed, sharpened their wit to fine, murderous points, and plied their hands to mischief and malice in their bleak tower and in the night they burned through their anger by fiery passion that coiled darkly about their lonely souls and bound them tightly as one sordid entity.
The peril of the cunning witch's dreaded words from their first meeting in Dead Man's forest wriggled into the fiend's morbidly sly heart with every illustrious sunrise. Rarely deals found their way to their ears or desperate wanting of princes and warlords and noble folk. Deals were getting scarcer and scarcer. The people of the realms were content with their leaders and their lives. War did not strew the land and monsters that did lurk in the caverns and caves kept once more to themselves in the face of the peaceful days.
Happiness was blossoming throughout the realms in a spring of utter jubilation and desperation waned into a shadow of utopia.
There had to be something done about such facts, they both knew seriously. Some tragedy or error was needed big enough to plunge there world back into tumult. Greedy rulers once more needed to ascend thrones and desperate souls need to wring their hands and plead for help. Both of course carried different reasons why they wanted deals once more, but as long as they did not prove blockades in one another's path they were staunch allies in the plot to secure their lucrative deal makings once more.
"You plan a curse?" The Dark One questioned though the words came out more like a remark. Black nailed index fingers under his scaled chin, he leaned back in the seat next to Cora's stone work table. Ankles crossed he rested his calf high black leather boots up on the stone face. His sable eyes looked over the tips of his silver buckled boots to the sorceress he bedded.
A vile little laugh echoed almost melodically sinister from her crimson lips. Her eyes pinioned upon him as though he were some simpleton that amused her from some jape. "Just a curse, Rumpel? You know me better than that. This will not just be any curse. This will be no mere sleeping potion or a transformation hex! Such a curse as I intend will be talked about for ages. The curse to end all curses."
"And how do you managed to create such a grandly sinister feat?" He flourished his talons lazily through the air. Such magic as she talked about was hard to come by. For a powerful curse she intended all the dark magic in the realms would not suffice.
"Magic of course." Her eyes glimmered with devilish exuberance. "So much magic the power can barely be contained. So much magic put together the power will implode upon itself, bursting like a plump slug between our fingertips."
She would call for such vast amounts of magic, the power would be uncontrollable, errant and wild. And when magic was loose….
Intrigue slashed across his gray-gold scales with a coal of burning interest. A cunning smirk forged upon his gray lips, his midnight eyes gleaming. Her words, as with many things about Cora interested him to no small degree. "Go on Dearie; how do you expect to finish this illustrious quest?"
"One piece of magic at a time." She hissed exuberantly, her eyes glowing with a blazing madness. Placing the palms of her hand on the table, she leaned over like some menacing gargoyle upon a buttress perch. "With our magic together we can easily concentrate darkness, but for other magic's, good magic and wild magic, we need to set gathering those."
The fiend nodded sagaciously, his eyes flashing with knowing. So that was how she meant to enact such a curse as was never seen before. "That's why you want my help. That's why you so allured me in the forest, all for to aid plucking up tendrils of magic."
"I can't collect all this mystic essence alone." She proffered her hand to the large vermilion tinted glass in the windows. "There is so much power out there, I would be foolish to try and bend such puissance to my will." And above anything, Cora was no fool.
"How much have you collected so far?" He drawled lowly, feigning only mild interest once more in her dastardly plots.
Her delicate shoulders, bedecked with a blue gown, heaved in a shrug. Turning her face from him her eyes strafed to a chest laying upon a wide stone table covered with shadow in the back of the room. Dark. sleek wood, of some ancient tree long lost to man, composed the large chest. Black iron bands forged of magic strapped across the chest and dusty gold filigree embroidered the edges. Runes of swirling crimson engraved the chest's heavy sides and lid as though they were branded upon the vessel.
"I've mostly collected wild magic so far." She admitted serenely. Always graceful, the witch all but floated upon the draft to the chest. Her small hands caressed the magical vessel almost like her pet ravens oily wings. "Wild magic is so much easier to take. Ancient, long bearded druids and rocks don't put up much of a fight."
Pulling his leather clad legs down to the floor, the Dark One lifted a singular claw as though she were forgetting something rather important. "If you've forgotten, good magic won't be so trivial to take, Dearie. The fairies guard such power with their very irksome tiny lives."
Cora turned her head back to him, her cherry lips pursed haughtily and almond eyes cool. His impish delight could be rather annoying at times. "I know this, Rumpel." She wrapped her dark lacey mantle about her shoulders. Her slender fingers, like raven talons, smoothed at the dark fibers. "That's why I need you. Together we will locate where their deposits of good magic are kept. When everything is near completion we shall assault them in a surprise attack and steal their magic. Whilst they are still reeling we engage the plan."
"My my Dearie you certainly have thought about this quite long." The Dark One commented in a tittering chuckle. Rising from his chair he slowly prowled near the woman.
The shadows enraptures him, dimming the light of his scaled skin in the banked flames of the hearth. His eyes, even darker the cruel shadows cloaked about them glowed with their pitiless sable.
Her cunning was unmatched save to his own wit, her cruelty surpassing even his. She was dark, deliciously dark, glorious vile and evil. She fit him so perfectly two black souls meshing into one mass-less orb of tainted malice and hate. The thought was almost too much to bear.
Placing a delicate hand upon his gray-gold cheek, a small grin ghosted about the very edges of her lips. "I've thought about this for a very long time, Rumpel. You should know I don't run into anything blindly." Her head canted slightly to the right, a plucked brow perched. "So are you in?"
"Indeed I am." He grabbed her fierily by the hips, closing the distance betwixt her to him. His lips barely pried apart formed every word carefully in a lust filled hiss. "When do we begin?"
Oh she had been waiting for this moment, the moment to claim her revenge. Coyly she placed a hand on his linen jerkin and pushed him away, her body suddenly cold, leaving him bereft of her touch. A vengeful grin weaseled against her pale visage in cruel delight. She hadn't forgotten about his spurned passion, not even in her desire to see the word become undone.
An evil smile widened upon her ruby lips. "I've already stared Rumpel." She replied, enjoying the frustration upon his ugly face. "My journey to continue harvesting wild magic will continue. I will do so alone. If both of us started lurking about the druidic haunts the fairies would grow more than a little suspicious. You will wait until the last of that magic is gathered then we shall get underway. At the last the fairies will be attacked and the plot at its zenith."
"I've never been good at waiting." Replied the fiend menacingly, his eyes ablaze with wanton want. He knew he had fallen for a trap the moment she smiled her triumphant smirk, but that did nothing to quell the galloping lust in his blood.
Anger and hate and lust flared betwixt them like lightening crackling against their bodies. His eyes gouged into her, as she stood coolly aloof, unwilling to take him in her arms. No, he would not be receiving an inkling of her charms just yet.
Dancing away, the witch grinned victoriously. A vile laugh spewed from her throat in cruel melody that stung his husk of a heart. "Patience Rumpel it will be worth the effort in the end. Besides, me gathering magic does not imply that you will have nothing to do. You'll still have me for s long as the reaping takes."
A half smile carved his face at her sensual tone. Taking a step forward he held his arms out but she lifted a hand.
Dare he think her vengeance was complete? "Not now Rumpel dear." She cooed tauntingly. "There is a ritual I simply must get too. An arch druid in a sacred grove performing an ancient rite of powerful magic. You do understand don't you?" Her bottom lip pouted out mockingly.
"You tease me Cora." He snarled but made no move to sweep her up. His body hummed for her, but he would not touch a woman if she did not wish to be touched. "Not a very wise thing to do to a monster."
Another laugh, far harsher, barked from her lips. "Teasing is beneath me Rumpel. I punish." At that she waved a hand carelessly about her. Black mist trailed up in snaking tendril of onyx from her feet slowly shadowing her in magic. The fog engulfed her bit by bit transforming her body into vaporous, vile fumes like dark swamp mist. "You have full reign of the keep while I'm away." She informed as the smoke began to disintegrate her body and take her away at her behest.
Very soon her sinuous figure was nothing more than wispy clouds of dark power. Energy crackled from the ominous fog that danced upon the castles frigid draft.
"Don't be long." His words came out hungrily for her. Perhaps when she was back she would think to bed him again would be due, now that she finally had him bothered and wanting more than ever.
Her lips curled into a deliciously cunning smirk as the smoke banished her away to where she chose. Laughter, cruel and cold drifted hauntingly about the rafters. She always had the last laugh and the sweetest revenge.
Feral anger rose in the beast at such a cocky grin, but there was nothing he could do now. She had waited long for his lust to spring so hotly and now she was gone.
Leaning against the cold stone wall, the Dark One crossed his arm. Stoically forcing his rampaging blood to cool, he intrinsically measured Cora's words. Her plan was a good one, he admitted inwardly. There were flaws like in any plan, but solid nonetheless. So long as the fairies did not suspect their attack they could leave the do-gooders reeling like gnats swatted by a hand and enact their curse before they could gather.
Though the plan was good, the waiting was a definite drawback. Wild magic was not as difficult to gather but so little was enacted unlike good or bad magic. Wild magic would take a while to collect, and Cora was right to say they should refrain from both trying to greedily grab as much as they possibly could. Even the fairies who did not dabble in that sort of magic, nor had any connection to the druids at all could miss that.
Between the now rare deals, potions, and dallying with Cora there wouldn't be much for him to do until that time.
Sighing and resigning his fate of waiting, the sly Dark One lurched from his shadowy perch and slowly made his way to the thick door of Cora's tower. His boot steps thudded ominously about the tower like the measured strides of a lurking beast of fable. In the meantime to forge the base of the plan there would be a lot of spinning to do….
The main hall was dark as the fiend appeared in the large common area. An off-kiltering oddness clung to the drafty air like a strange smell, turning the Dark One's attentions away from his ancient wheel.
Standing prone like the naked marble statues in the dark corners the fiend tried to stitch together what curiosity befell the cold castle. Slowly his ebony eyes strafed across the main room. A fire usually guttered somberly in the large hearth casting light in the cavernous shadows. Smells from the kitchen at this hour normally filled the main hall with fragrances of meat and exotic spices and steeped tea, but there was not a scent upon the drafty wind.
Neither was their any hint of the slave girl, Belle. Normally she was finishing last minute chores and putting out a spread for he and Cora then serve them at their leisure. Yes, that was the matter, he concluded, the slave girl was not about.
Mind completely severed from thoughts of his wheel, the magical fiend ventured into the rarely tread halls of the servants. Dusty, gray cobwebs from years of inattention garlanded the walls and dirt and leavings of mice littered the floor. Darkness thick and clinging swathed the smooth, narrow aperture made only for the servants to get around unseen.
Bereft of a single torch the fiend easily made his way through the listless dark. She had to be somewhere in the castle. Cora had not dismissed her from last he knew. He considered calling her to the main hall but what would he ask. He wasn't hungry and his store of straw was fresh.
Trailing thought the halls the fiend came to the kitchens. The kitchens were not so far away from the main hall, but one could easily get lost maneuvering through the labyrinth that was Cora's castle. He hadn't exactly meant to find his way to the kitchen, but now that he was there, to check made sense.
Hums softly resonated pleasantly from the large kitchens as he crept near the gaping, unbarred maw leading down to the stone larder. A few wooden bowls clattered hollowly from the large kitchen and echoed down the hall, but that was the end of the noise. Heat pulsed from the stone maw of the larder filling the little hall with warm.
Peeking his straggly haired head inside his eyes caught a beautiful shadow dancing upon the wall. The figure looked like an angels shade taken and paintied against the coarse gray stone. When seeing the shadow to not see the person seemed anathema.
Clinging close to the warm stone he slid his body along the wall and crept into the kitchen. Silent as a shadow, he saw the girl, for the first time in a state of near ease from her busy servitude.
Elbows on the large stone table the beauty leaned over a red bound book. A plate of morning's bread and a wedge of cheese sat on a wooden plate before her. Tendrils of her honey amber hair slipped from a frayed cord of leather tied about her silky mane. Her feet kicked vapidly from her perch on a wooden stool.
Hunched over, she sat engrossed in the tome upon the stone table. Her cerulean eyes darted from word to word drinking in the fantastic tale that lay before her. So encompassed in the be spelling tale she did not even notice his presence lingering about the larder. Stretching a hand out before her she only diverted a scant amount of her attention to paw for another chuck of bread as she read.
A smile involuntarily crossed the Dark One's mouth to view her in such an ensorcelled prison for once of her own making. Seeing her there, book in hand, mind off on some grand adventure outside of her slavery seemed perfectly natural.
Nimbly taking a few steps forward on cat's paws the fiend leaned over her shoulder just slightly. "Good book?"
Shocked by the voice, the beauty stared from her perch. The stool keened over to the right and clattered to the floor at her sudden movement. Surprise mingled with fear glazed her lovely face as she stumbled up and turned about. Dread and terror as one danced in her cobalt eyes as she saw the Dark One before her.
Why was he there?
"Master…." The word stammered nervously past her lips. Her assiduous fingers fumbled and grasped for the scarlet leather skin of the book as she tried to look anywhere but at him. If guilt had a face the look would have been hers. "I thought you had left with Mistress Cora. She said you'd both be gone."
He arched a brow. "Is that so?"
Nodding anxiously she palmed the small book like some sort of contraband she'd stolen from a scared shrine. "If I had known you were still here I would have prepared you supper."
"And not picked up a book from the library." He nudged his head faintly to the red tome, his eyes upon her and the book.
The beauty flinched though his words were gently accusing and not barking with imperious offence. Red stained her creamy cheeks but she could not deny his words in the slightest. Cora would kill her if she knew. "It's only when she's away and never until after my chores are done."
She would not be a fool and try to tell a lie. There was no way to cajole her way out of what he saw right there. She was caught red handed with no way of escape. The only way to buffer the fact was too tell him true things.
Even with her secret love for reading she would be a fool to not do her chores first. She knew the temptation of prying open a tome and how she became enveloped. The fact that she had not even heard him come in nor seen his shadow dark over her proved that!
Amused, the fiend waggled a scolding finger in her face. "Ah so a bit of rebellion we have here. Right under Cora's nose no less."
In his dark heart he knew she couldn't be all the cowed slave she was to Cora's face. Though she never displayed the freedom in her heart, he knew there lurked a part of her beneath the skin. There seemed something bright and free behind her brightly intelligent eyes when she looked up at him. She was a slave but certainly did the very least to appear such when Cora was not skulking about.
Her fingers trembled upon the spine of the book but she did not reply. Head bowed she looked at the floor as though drawing strength for some punishment to come.
Pity welled in the Dark One though he could not say why. There seemed no reason to make her so miserable but she was, and as such was reduced to daring punishment simply for an inkling of pleasure.
"I didn't come here to catch you reading." He remarked to break the sorrowful silence. "I don't care if you read. I came to eat."
Belle nodded dutifully. "I'll bring tea and supper to the main hall."
"No." He tossed his head. Slipping into a stool oppose of her fallen seat he motioned to the loaf and the cheese setting out. "I'll just have what you're having, right here. After all…." He winked and trilled insanely. "Cora isn't here. And since your doing a grand job of it, time to break the rules myself."
A small chuckle escaped her lips towards his witty quip. For a brief moment a smile alit her face like a ray of light before falling again to dudgeon. She was still in a perilous place and knew her hazard for being caught.
Helping himself to the plenty of the table, Belle righted her stool and slid down into her own seat numbly. Helplessness and terror and confusion replaced the surprise upon her lovely features. What was he doing? Was he taunting her, trying to find a way to cause her nightmares?
Breaking off chunks of bread and cheese he ate voraciously. His sable eyes remained pinioned upon her never diverting even as he chewed. He leaned upon the table, his pointed black nails rapping against the coarse stone table top in a rhythmic tattoo.
Though her head was bowed she could feel the heat of his gaze burning into her brain. The press of his eyes branded against her skin. What she would have paid for the chance to wriggle away.
His lips formed into a wide Cheshire grin as he chewed a crust of warm bread. "Now tell me, why I should not inform your mistress about this little incident?"
Perhaps she was willing to make a deal, he supposed eagerly. The last bargain he'd made had been months ago and he was itching to hammer out an agreement once more. At the thought, the darkness in him swirled approvingly. He did so love having blackmail in the annals of his mind, ready to be plucked up for some later purpose.
"Please don't tell the mistress." She blurted desperately. Hot tears welled in her sky blue eyes as she clutched the book near to her banging heart. "I know I shouldn't but…." She paused uncertainly, her words dry on her heavy tongue.
Did she dare tell him of the last thing that made her life not so miserable in the castle? He was the Dark One; would he use her only secret comfort to cause her pain? But no, anyone who would interfere through Cora's anger to save a slave wouldn't… she hoped.
Sighing softly she plunged into the unknown. "This is the last thing I cherish." The beauty revealed quietly. "Cora allots me nothing of good in this slavery. This is a risk I take for an inkling of happiness from time to time. It's not much, but books are all I have. Please don't tell her."
Despite his desire for a deal, the Dark One's heart lurched. Her words, so fragile from such a strong soul drowned his desire for a bargain and snuffed out the thought of blackmail in a gale wind. Darkness reared to squelch the thought but memorize of his past life re-surged full force to battle with his cold emotions.
He had once done something ignoble for someone he cherished. He had once broken rules and risked cowardice for his boy.
"Can't say I will." He munched thoughtfully on a mouthful of bread. "But I can't say I won't either. Don't think because of one time I'm of the disputation to dole out favors to slaves."
The curtains. Rumpelstiltskin could have cursed himself even as the words left his mouth. Why did he have to bring that up!
Perching her head up for just a moment, even in the throes of fear, the beauty allowed a smile to tilt her pink lips. Her cobalt eyes glimmered in the banked hearth light for a mere moment before she declined her head, once more the dutiful, cowed slave. "Thank you again for that." She dared not pin point exactly what he did, but they both knew what she spoke of.
Inwardly they both knew the subject too tender to broach by name. Perhaps only merely alluding to the instance was a puerile thing, but neither could summon enough courage to say so aloud.
"Nothing to thank." He swallowed a boulder of half chewed dry bread. Nerves thrilled involuntarily through his wiry body. He did not like the subject of the curtains, they made him feel strange.
"But-" She began.
He raised a gray-gold talon to stop her. Standing sharply, he frowned darkly. "No. Thank me all you want but I didn't do it for you. I wanted to spin and your shrieks of agony would have distracted me. I could care less if Cora beats you or not. What your mistress said that day was true; you were just lucky." Wrapping darkness about him like some protective cloak, he stared down at her icily to deny the falseness he felt in his heart. "Is that clear slave?"
She made not a sound. Just like with Cora and misery she would not reply. She would not give up what she felt in her heart.
"Very well, have your foolish thoughts." He snarled between thin gray lips. "After supper you are dismissed to your quarters. I would suggest that you go there post haste lest Cora decides to come home early. You wouldn't want to be up when I tell her about the book."
Horror stirred in Belle's heart but still she remained silent. Would he all because she chose to believe his actions kindness? Was he so against being thought well of?
Satisfied he had made his point of stopping Cora from being her not being for her, the Dark One allowed the carapace of impenetrable darkness to fall away. An insipid smile curled his lips. Somehow instilling terror in her did not have the same feeling he expected.
Disappointed and curious the fiend straightened the wrinkles in his clothes. "If that's all I'll be at the wheel."
Before she could say another word he disappeared in a blaze of purple fumes. His mind reeled as he tried to figure out why he found no pleasure in frightening her nor anger that she refused to reply.
~8~8~
The sun was just rising along the gauzy eastern horizon as Cora reentered her dreaded citadel. The sky was an ashen gray and smeared with milky pink foretelling rain in the late summer.
A smile crossed the witch lips as she vapidly strode up the stairs to her quarters. Satisfaction gleamed in her eyes like expensive dark pearls set in the hallows of her pale visage.
Taking her time, she juggled a hefty brown pouch between her hands. The leather purse was a hastily stitched bag made of unicorn hide. Magic could be bound only in contents made of other magical items.
The night had been a glorious success, Cora keened and fondled the bulging purse. The druids in their secret grove never suspected one of their cloaked ranks was she. At the very apex of their rituals there had been a blood bath from her accursed magic and now she held all their magic's in her grip like some hungry pick pocket.
Slipping into her room, a menacing shadow in the banked embers, the witch placed the sack of magical density on the night stand. Too tired to undress by hand, the witch promoted a magical mental command to shed her clothing. The darkness hid her sensual figure as she slipped under the feather, silken blankets.
"Have fun?" The Dark One's sleepy voice inquired from the other side of the bed.
Another smile illumed her face as she slipped beneath the frost hued covers. Now that he had been properly allowed to stew in his want she felt compelled to be in his arms again. "Not bad." She slipped into his hold.
"I can tell." He hummed pleasantly and curled an arm over her shoulder. "You reek of earth and fire."
She laughed vilely, her eyes twinkling in the dimness. "They never saw me coming. I managed to get a fair bit but we still have a ways to go." Relaxing she took their minds off her recent conquest of magic. Now there were different matters to approach. "Tell me." Cora yawned sleepily as she snuggled beside him. "Did you catch my slave girl up to anything tonight?"
So that was it, the fiend surmised instantly. That was why she had told Belle they'd both be gone. She wanted her to be caught in some trap.
He sniffled softly feigning fatigue. "Like what?"
"Something she shouldn't be." The witch laid her head on his bare chest. Her hands laid flat over his heart. "I have a feeling she does something when I'm away. Something she knows I would not approve of. In fact I'm certain she is." For years she had been trying to discover if the girl was doing anything whilst she was away. Any rebellion or freedom would not be tolerated. But the girl was a born free spirit and besides that a clever chit.
Like reading, Rumpel noted to himself inwardly. Oh yes she did something surely Cora wouldn't appreciate, especially cracking open a tome that brought her endless amounts of happiness. She would be livid if she knew, but then again he had no tie to this slave girl. If she defied her mistress Cora deserved to know. Besides she still thought him saving her from the curtains had been a kindness. With this he could deny her claim and prove he showed no favor to some one who bartered away their freedom.
A brief tinge of guilt assailed his black heart in a driving spear at the thought of relaying the slight rebellion to his evil lover. Cora was crueler than most and the girl wasn't doing any harm. Like anyone, all she wished was for a brief respite from her lot. An inkling of happiness was all she desired, something so trivial Cora could do more harm in a single order than the girl reading one precious book in the brief breath of spare time when Cora was away.
Settling the inward debate quickly the fiend vapidly tossed his head, his features hiding the truth in his heart. "Not that I could ascertain." He lied smoothly. "She fears you well enough Cora. She knows what would happen."
Satisfied and exhausted from her nights bloody workings, the witch closed her almond eyes contentedly. A sigh breathed lightly from her crescent lips as she let herself drift off in the throes of slumber. "Good." She replied, none the wiser what truth lay upon her lovers cold heart.
Laying there beside her in the blackness, the Dark One let the mask fall away from his features. Looking up to the ceiling, he watched the bickering shadows lurk upon the gilded images neatly painted above. His sable eyes strafed along the stone and paint with a troublesome gaze that spoke of the turmoil within.
Doubts and warnings clanged and crashed about in his head in an array of thoughts he could not discern properly. Why had he done such a merciful thing, why had he saved her again when he should not have the first time?
Head a jumble of contemplation, the fiend clapped his sable eyes shut, and tried to sleep, all the while cursing himself a fool.