Thank you all for your kind reviews Sycamoreleaf, Mira SeverusSirius Black-Snape, Monica Kyler, Rumbellelover, vanillaface, 1SuperKawaii, AshRedDragon, thedoctorsgirl42, StalkingRory, Llamachick, sevy MMAD, Guest, Iseewithperfectclarity, Alexander Ripley, S. Solstace
I do not own Once Upon a Time
Chapter 42- Day 38 – The curse
There was great commotion in Kriemont. The villagers' last memory was the one of the Evil Queen blowing a strange powder towards them. The next moment they witnessed magic dissipate in the air, transforming stony limbs into flesh. It happened so fast that they wondered if their eyes had deceived them. It only could be fruit of their imagination. But then, how to explain everybody had imagined the same thing? After the first moments of surprise, people started talking on top of each other, originating a confusion of shouts and fierce discussions. Everybody had too many questions and too few answers. Could it be they all had been turn into stone? And if so, for how long? After all, their eyes met an early morning instead of a late afternoon. Suddenly one voice broke all other's.
"Where's papa?"
Soon, one by one, villagers would silence themselves, noticing the absence of the cripple, the Queen and her escort. They stared at each other and a small timid murmur grew among the mob.
"Stiltskin! Where's Rumpelstiltskin? Where's my son!" Baelfire's voice seemed to wake up Charleston from some strange trance. Rumpelstitlskin was standing next to him just a moment ago. He could still feel his son's strong grip around his arm. The old man turned around nervously, searching for his son and realized he was not the only one missing. "Where's the Queen? Where are they?"
Nobody could comprehend what was happening. The members of the cripple's family stared worriedly at each other. Quickly they started to understand that something really big had happened which they had missed. Something to which Rumpelstiltskin and the Queen were bonded.
"Why did you have to upset her?" Elisabeth suddenly spat at her husband, finally having connected the dots. "Why couldn't you just control your temperament for once in your life?"
"I am sorry Beth." Charleston whispered pitifully.
"You're sorry? For good sake! Only the gods know what that woman did to him!" The old woman cried, while the fear of loss consumed her heart.
"She asked him what he would do to save Kriemont." Baelfire spoke ghostly. He remembered the malicious look the dark beauty had given his father when he revealed his profession. "I think she was looking for a spinner."
"That's true! She did act differently when he told her he was a spinner." His uncle, Jonathan confirmed.
"Then she's taken him. I lost my only son!" Elisabeth moaned sorrowfully. "He is gone!"
And with this final sentence, the family gathered together and comforted each other the best they could.
The march back to the camps had started. Lord Byront and the other commanders were restless. Before departure they had scouted the frontier area. Nothing had been found. There were no traces of the enemy. No indications of danger. It was too calm. Too safe. A trap was surely being made and they had to avoid falling into it by all means. Belle had been blissful at the start of the journey, the last conversations with Abigail still hanging in her ears. But soon the observant princess noticed the tension in the group. She saw the worried looks be discreetly but unmistakably switched. And she sensed something odd in the air. After straining her senses for a while, the beauty noticed the unnatural silence. No animal made a sound. There was no rustling in the tree leaves, not a small breeze sweeping on the grass. The world was quiet. Too quiet.
Some villagers, feeling sorry for the family, organized a search party, just in case Rumpelstiltskin was somewhere hidden. Baelfire and his three cousins joined them, but after searching every house, street, stable and field, they realized it was pointless. Rumpelstiltskin, if he was even alive, wasn't in Kriemont. As the hours passed by, it became more evident that something bad had fallen upon the cripple. Yet, the youngest members of the Highland's family refused to give up hope. They discussed thousands of different possibilities, many feeding their wish that the good man was still alive. Then, around noon, a shocking news was delivered. They heard someone call out Baelfire and saw little Pinocchio running up the small hill in their direction. Magical Jiminy Cricket was grasping himself desperately on the boy's hat, trying to avoid falling and flying away with the wind.
"Baelfire! We have news!" The village carpenter's son cried out. He stopped opposite the teenager, grasping for air. Jiminy climbed on the child's hat to make himself more visible and hearable.
"We've travelled fast and swift to the neighborly village and discovered three days have passed since the Queen was here."
"Three days?" Baelfire and his cousins uttered in unison.
"Yes. And Jane, the little shepherding, was the first one to visit our village during this period of time. She brought the mayor and some wise men to check us. According to them, everybody was turned into white alabaster!" Jiminy revealed. "Her Majesty put a curse on us and turned us into stone during three days."
"So what made us turn back?" Angelina spoke out hers and the boy's thoughts.
"The curse was broken! Don't you see? Rumpelstiltskin was tasked to save the village, remember? Whatever the Queen wanted, he succeeded in doing it!"
Baelfire and his cousins stared at each other, a new great hope filling their hearts. They smiled and rejoiced at the thought the cripple was alive and had saved them, but still, they were worried. The main question still remained in the air.
"But where is he now?" Baelfire asked.
"I'm afraid I don't know." The insect hesitated and quickly pondered if he should reveal his suspicions. His conscience told him he should not hide anything. "He could be kept as prisoner by the Queen…That would be the most probable possibility. I've been trying to contact the Blue Fairy. She's my friend, you see? And she knows a lot about magic and what is going on around. I'm confident she can aid us in this problem. But I've had no answer yet, which is odd, quite odd." He spoke the last part mostly to himself. Baelfire, his cousins and Pinocchio switched worried looks. Their hope and fears persisted.
The party of seventy men rode quietly under the shade of the tall trees in the Dark Forest. Lord Gaston was leading the way and suddenly halted when he reached the edge of a clearing. Lord Byront and the other commanders joined him.
"It's too risky." The old soldier declared. "We'll have to go around."
The moment the men turned their horses, a great flock of black ravens filled the sky above the clearing. Archers prepared to fire their arrows, while soldiers took their swords out, their blades ready to strike. Belle stared terrified as she watched the immensity of black birds. Never in her life had she seen this many ravens together. They flew in circles up in the sky and suddenly descended to the grass, creating a great black and revolving column.
"So, it has started." Commander Byront whispered. He gestured Lord Gaston to protect Belle and all men were set to strike.
A figure appeared in the middle of the column of ravens. Suddenly, as quickly as the birds came, they flew away and disappeared not leaving a single black feather behind. Belle gasped terrified. On the spot where the column had been, stood now a woman. She was beautiful, tall and gracious, with blond curly hair and light eyes. The women's eyes met and Maleficent took a few graceful steps.
"We finally meet." Maleficent's melodic voice reached Belle.
Commander Byront gave the order to strike and a sea of arrows darkened the skies for moments. But Maleficent was still pacing slowly. Not one arrow had touched her. Lord Gaston quickly helped Belle descend from her horse and put himself on front of her her, ready to protect the Lady of Armithil with his life.
"How adorable." Maleficent whispered, misinterpreting Gaston's behavior as an act of love.
All soldiers ran to Maleficent, their swords cutting the air, the white metal shinning under the sun. They were all lifted by a strange wind and then dropped back on the hard ground. But they did not get up again. The men were magically paralyzed. Maleficent walked coolly and relaxed. Gaston stood with one arm pointing his sword towards the sorceress and the other shielding Belle from danger.
"Love…such a foolish sentiment."
"Stay away! I will strike you!" Lord Gaston screamed, his hands ready to kill, his dark eyes full of murder lust.
"Such a shame. So handsome." She raised her right hand towards Gaston and he stared shocked at her. He was unable to move. Belle screamed from behind him, begging vainly for the sorceress to stop. "Before I finish with your miserable lives, let me tell you what's going to happen, Princess Belle of Armithil. Soon I'm going to curse you. Not the sleeping curse, my dear. A much worse and implacable curse. You'll suffer a slow death, incarcerated in a prison of stone. Of course, like all curses, it can be broken. In your case, true love kiss is the only way to save you. But it has to happen today, before sundown; otherwise the effects of the curse will be permanent." Belle was silenced at the doomed words. Maleficent's malicious smile faded and an expression of immeasurable hate contorted the sorceress' beautiful face. "But this time…this time true love will not save you!"
At this Gaston's sword left his hand and flew in the air like if an invisible hand was handling it. Before he had time to understand what was happening, the champion of Armithil felt a sharp pain pierce his abdomen. He looked down and gasped in shock as the cold blade deepened itself in his belly, warm red blood dripping from its white steal. He could hear Belle screaming from behind him. He looked up and saw Maleficent staring coldly at him. The hero of Armithil fell on the ground, pain and cold engulfing his body. He stared at the tree tops and watched them become blurry until darkness filled his eyes. And with the last thought of having failed, life departed from his body.
"Nooooo! Why did you have to kill him?" Belle screamed. She never loved Gaston. She didn't even consider him much of a friend. But to watch him be slaughtered in such a cold blooded way was revolting. It had been cowardly from Maleficent, for the great soldier didn't even have the chance to defend himself. "You beast!"
"My, my. Such harsh words. Don't worry my dear. Soon you won't remember anything. In fact, you will feel, see and hear nothing." Maleficent grinned triumphantly and Belle took a step back alarmed. She watched in confusion the sorceress place some white dust on her hand and blow it on her.
It was half way the afternoon when Princess Belle's messenger finally reached Kriemont. After four long days of travel the small and slender figure still rode determinably. The messenger was informed that Rumpelstiltskin lived in the house at the top of the small hill, past the grain fields. The messenger smiled with the announcement of the fulfillment of this important mission. Four teenagers sat underneath a tree, by the appointed house and stared at the rider with curiosity. The messenger descended the horse.
"I was sent to find Rumpelstiltskin, these are orders of Princess Belle, Lady of Armithil.
One by one, the soldiers got up. The magic that paralyzed them had been lifted. Lord Byront was devastated. The soldiers stared mournfully at the honorable senior soldier on his knees weeping before the dead body of Lord Gaston. Of Princess Belle, not a single trace was to be found. Maleficent had won and the princess was gone.
The messenger cursed for having come too late. The teenagers, one of them claiming to be the son of Rumpelstiltskin, recounted the most recent happenings.
"I have failed!"
"But he could still be alive!" Baelfire spoke with desperate hope. "If he is in the castle, we can set him free!"
"Easier said than done. There is no way we can release him. I'm the only one here with the military experience. And you are nothing but children."
"Still, there must be a way. You are no ordinary soldier, are you?" Angelina pointed out wisely. She smiled when the messenger took off the helmet, the boys gasping in amazement.
"You are a girl!" Humbert whispered, fascinated already by the soldier's beauty.
"Not a girl. A woman." She turned to Angelina. "My name is Mulan and I have fought many battles. None against a powerful sorceress such as Her Majesty. But there might be a way. For that, I must return to my camp and explain the situation to Princess Belle and Commander Byront."
"I will go with you!" Baelfire told her determinately. Rafael and Humbert followed. In normal circumstances, Mulan would have rejected the idea, but the looks of willpower of the tree boys told her instincts she should take them to the camp.
"I must remain here with my baby and my husband." Angelina told. "But I'll help with the preparations."
And so, the five youngsters created a new bond and an important alliance that would determine the fate of the world.
Maleficent and Regina switched smiles. Their plan was going on smoothly. Princess Belle was transformed into white stone and was hidden in Regina's highest tower. Far from everybody, far from salvation. In only a few hours, the sun would set down and the effects of the curse would be permanent. Queen Regina liked this new curse her friend had created and shared with her. It was bendable and she had tried out it in a small insignificant village. To her surprise, the spinner, who was now sleeping unaware of the current happenings, had succeeded in completing his task. As she had expected, the curse had been lifted. It was a handy curse, for the user could determine the time it would take for the effects to become permanent and, best of all, could determine the way to break it. But she had chosen not to use this curse on Snow. Instead she had reserved a particular red apple for the princess. She knew the curse would never be lifted. Prince James, Snow's true love, was imprisoned in her dungeons and an escape was for him impossible.
The sorceresses exited the tower, leaving the cold statue of Belle alone and abandoned. They laughed wickedly, already feeling the sweet taste of revenge and victory in their mouths.
It all comes down here.
So, what are your thoughts?
Please review :)