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Chapter 25 – Day 13: Full Moon

They travelled fast, in a speed Rumpelstiltskin knew he would never manage to keep up for long. But the new fear stimulated his adrenaline and made him go almost as fast as his fellow travelers. They walked and walked until dusk brought the world into a darker place. They all agreed to continue travelling during nighttime, since it was full moon and the world was illuminated enough to the see path clearly. Fear wiped away any tiredness or sleep from the travelers, who walked persistently. They ignored the signs of exhaustion, for they were all too afraid to halt. The voice of an owl or the howling of wolves far away made their blood freeze. The sound of the wind between the trees and the rustling behind the bushes resulted in suppressed frights and gasps.

Baelfire was terrified. Never before had he felt as scared for his life as now. The image of all that blood spread on the pure white snow refused to leave his mind. He never had seen a dead body before. If someone in the village died of accident or illness, the children were never allowed nearby. They were protected from the harsh reality, that life was a fleeting and fragile thing. Baelfire knew differently now. His world had turned around too many times the past two weeks. All peace and happiness that once seemed granted was now something to treasure. He often would drag himself closer to his father, seeking protection in the warmth of the man's body, something he had stopped doing for a while now.

As for Belle, she feared this would be their end. And she could not accept it. There was still too much she had to do, to see, to live. She had a kingdom to save and a father to rescue. She had to tell Rumpelstiltskin how she felt and feel the touch of his lips on hers. She wanted to feel love. She wanted to travel and see the world. Live adventures in peaceful times. Marry and have a family. There was so much she wanted. She could not die now. Not today. Not even close to today.

The road was buried under a thick layer of snow. Stumbling became a regular thing, making the journey more difficult. Still, nobody was prepared to stop. The thought of falling asleep with a flesh eating monster at loose was inconceivable. At a certain point, Rumpelstiltskin fell on his face for the hundredth time. Baelfire ran quickly to help him. When the cripple got up again, he was struck by an odd sensation. He felt the hair on the back on his neck lift up and knew something was wrong. He watched scared at the puffs of his breath in the icy air and strained his ears to listen.

"Something is wrong." He suddenly said. Belle and Baelfire looked worriedly at him, afraid it would be his leg. "Listen." They listened.

"I hear nothing." Belle said.

"Exactly." The man said.

Realization fell upon the teenager and the princess. Nature was dead still. All night long they had heard the wind and the sound of night birds. But now, it was absolute silence. It was like if nature had silenced itself and sat back to witness a deadly storm coming to destroy all in its path. The three companions joined closer, torches in the air, straining their eyes in the dark shadows of the night. For a moment there was nothing and Rumpelstiltskin was starting to believe he was just paranoid, but suddenly all three turned to the same spot. There was a clear rustling behind the black curtain of night and then they heard a soft but threatening growling. A large dark silhouette emerged slowly between the trees, exhibiting its white fangs and staring at the small group with its yellow murderous eyes. All three hearts felt panic. They watched petrified at an abnormally large wolf that eyed them hungrily, thirsty for their blood.

Rumpelstiltskin's instinct screamed to run. But he knew his leg wouldn't allow him to run. Besides, run to where? The beast was surely to catch him within seconds. So he refused to move and instead directed his torch at the animal's direction. He could feel the grasp of his son's shaky hand on his clothes, seeking helplessly for protection. The cripple's heart sunk. He could not let his son die. He could not let Belle die. He took a few deep breaths. He would stand his ground and protect his loved ones as long as he could. This time, there was no running for nobody.

All three torches were pointed at the overgrown wolf. It shrunk its eyes upset, showing its displeasure by displaying its sharp teeth. The monster paced very slowly around them, studying, looking for a breach in this little but dangerous fire barrier. Rumpelstitlskin was shocked to see the animal was actually analyzing the situation. Predator's and prey's eyes met for brief moments. The man realized this was no ordinary wolf. It thought like a human.

Suddenly it roared dangerously and advanced at group. It would advance several times, saliva dripping as it madly barked, frustrated by the hot flames that protected its preys. It wanted to scare them off, create panic and force them into separation. But the more it advanced, the more they joined closer together. They did exactly the opposite of what the wolf intended.

So, it circled them another time, pondering its new attack. It stared at its preys, examining one by one closely. The cripple one was the weakest link, followed by the child and then the woman. The damn fire was in the way. The torches protecting the lusty flesh of their predator. The torches! Suddenly it leaped and clutched Rumpelstitlskin's torch out of his hands, the man falling back in surprise. Belle and Baelfire both shouted in fear and their fire almost hit the monster. It shrunk its eyes angrily, but a hint of victory was present in them. Rumpelstiltskin's torch fell far from him and quickly extinguished in the snow. This was the way the monster would attack the three helpless humans. It would break into their defenses, one by one and in the end, savor their flesh. Eyes were aimed now on Baelfire's torch. It growled dangerously. It's forebody lowered itself dangerously. It was preparing for another jump. It lifted up, run some paces to gain speed and jumped, aiming for the wood. But while the monster was in the air, a silver arrow hit its chest, making it fall heavily in the snow, unconscious.

The three gasped surprised and relieved. They looked at their rescuer, an old woman who rushed out of the dark forest with a bow on a hand and a red cloth on the other. She ignored the travelers and swiftly threw the red cloth over the lying wolf. Only then did she turn to them.

"Are you all right? Did she bite you?" The woman urgently asked. All three shook their heads. "Good, then you are safe." She sighed relieved.

The old woman turned around when she heard a soft moan coming from behind her. The three travelers watched in pure amazement as a human form rose from under the red cloth and a young woman with long dark hair emerged looking wobbly.

"She is the wolf?" Belle was the first one to manage to create a sentence in the mist of her state of shock.

"Wolf? Where? Who?" The woman with the red clothing asked, looking extremely confused. She stared surprised at the older woman and then at the three new faces staring back at her in utter shock.

"We need to get out of here, before that crazy man finds us."

"Where am I? How did I get here?" The young woman continued mumbling in her disorientation.

"She doesn't remember?" Was Rumpelstiltskin's turn, his voice higher than normal. The old woman looked apprehensive at the man and then back at former wolf.

"Remember what?" The girl asked, her voice shaky, sensing something really wrong was going on.

"You are the wolf!" Rumpelstiltskin stated at the unprepared woman.

"The wolf? Me?...Oh no, Peter!" The young woman was caught in pure shock. Realization was followed by despair and her legs gave away. The older woman caught her with the help of Belle. "What happened to Peter?"

"I'm sorry. I should have told you before." The old woman regretfully said. The girl bitterly realized she had unknowingly killed her childhood friend, her companion, her love.

"No…Oh no…" She whispered, all strength leaving her body at the understanding of what she was, what she did. Belle and the older woman were still holding her up.

"We really need to get out of here." The older woman insisted. "There are huntsmen looking for the wolf. They are being leaded by a madman. Red had no idea."

"We will help." Rumpelstiltskin immediately said. Baelfire and Belle stared at him surprised but then, they knew, he was right. Red was innocent. She was a young woman who had no idea of her powers. Actually, she herself was suffering the consequences of her powers.

"This way." The older woman said. "My name is Mrs. Lucas, but everybody calls me Granny. Red is my granddaughter. She inherited this curse from her father. Every month, during three nights, she transforms herself into this monster. At full moon she is at the peak of her power. This magic cloth stops her from transforming. I went through some trouble to get it."

"I didn't know…" Red spoke with a feeble voice, tears in her eyes.

She was the monster. The blood lusting monster that had killed already so many. Her grandmother felt nothing more than regret for her granddaughter. She realized, by trying to protect Red, she had endangered others, including her own granddaughter. But now the truth had been revealed and they could live now with the secret. Suddenly flames of other torches were seen in the distance, as well as the sound of men's voices and hunting dogs. Granny frowned upset.

"If they ask, Red and I were also hunting and we accidently found you." Granny quickly ordered. She barely had spoken and the first dogs reached them, barking madly at them. A man on a horse followed the dogs, not waiting for the rest of the hunters.

"Who's there? Show yourself!" A clear commanding voice yelled. Belle froze at the spot. She felt her blood pomp faster and panic grow in her belly. She hurriedly covered her head with her woolen cape and prayed he would not see or recognize her.

"It's Granny and Red, Lord Gaston. We were hunting too and found these travelers in the secondary road. They had no idea of the danger that is at loose." The old woman spoke fearless. Gaston descended, gallant and brave and came closer, ignoring the fact the dogs were barking eagerly at Red.

"And what were you doing in the secondary road?" He asked as he approached Rumpelstiltskin who obviously was the leading traveler. He towered the shorter man, his eyes in fire. But the cripple was staring at the knight amazed. So this man was the legendary Gaston of Armithil, he thought. "Answer peasant!"

"I-I…We are heading to Snowland." Rumpelstiltskin quickly answered, suddenly fearing the other man's anger. "My village was destroyed by the ogres and…" But the cripple could not finish his sentence. Before he knew it, a cold blade was touching his neck.

"You run away?" Gaston spat with disgust.

"We were heading to Gaevo for trade and happened to miss the attacks!" Baelfire yelled at the tall and strong man, outraged his father was being threatened in such an unfair manner.

"Watch your words, you little prick!" He turned to the teenager, balancing his heavy sword before his eyes.

"Leave him alone! He's just a child!" Rumpelstiltskin begged scared, confused and shocked by the irrational behavior of Armithil's hero.

"Looks like you filthy peasants have lost your manners." Gaston spoke darkly. He looked at Rumpelstiltskin with clear disgust.

"Forgive me, my lord. We're just tired from the long travel." Rumpelstiltskin whispered, his head bend in a submissive manner. Gaston's lips curled up contented. He failed to notice the girl hidden under the woolen hood had her hands in fists and was tense of fury.

"That's much better. Now tell me, have you seen a large wolf lately?" He asked nonchalantly, enjoying the power he had over the cripple.

"No sir."

"Lucky you. A small cripple like you would never have lasted more than half a second." He cruelly mocked. Rumpelstiltskin felt extremely humiliated and loathed the arrogant knight internally. They were all the same. Arrogant, selfish and cruel. Nothing gallant about this one, anyway. "And what do we have here?" Gaston asked curious. He was in the mood to taunt these miserable peasants before returning to the hunt. He slowly walked in Belle's direction, who took a step backwards and shrunk, trying to hide better her face in the dark. "What's this? A shy girl? Let me see if you are pretty."

Baelfire wanted to hit Gaston but Rumpelstiltskin held him back in time and whispered "No". If they were lucky, he would grow bored of this game and leave them alone. But he was also afraid Lord Gaston would take interest on the girl. She was after all beautiful.

"You shouldn't come too close to her." Rumpelstiltskin suddenly warned. Gaston turned to him looking murderous. "She is sick. Has leprosy." Gaston's irate expression transformed into one of fear and disgust, as he quickly took a step back, distancing from the hooded girl.

"And you travel with her?"

"She's family. Cannot leave her behind! Anyway, we don't get it from her if we are careful." Rumpelstiltskin casually said. Belle smiled at the man's shrewdness. She wouldn't have thought of a better way of getting rid of Gaston.

"You mean you might have it already!" Gaston yelled petrified with the idea he could be already contaminated.

"I don't think so." Rumpelstiltskin played well the part of the fool. Gaston's eyes glistered in fear.

"I'll have you killed for this! You should have warned me before!" Gaston unreasonably yelled, his mind blinded by repugnance and panic. Madness had taken over him and he lifted his sword in the air, ready to strike all these sick peasants dead. Baelfire screamed of terror, Red and Granny yelled "No". But it was another voice that petrified Gaston and made him halt the sword in the middle of the air.

"Gaston! Stop it immediately!" Belle barked furious, revealing her face, livid of anger and fear.

I absolutely adored writting this chapter!

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