Had quite some busy days, the reason for the later update. My apologies.

Thank you: Guest, TeamTHEFT, RedWolf198, megumisakura, Queen of Light 17, Grace5231973, thedoctorsgirl42, AshRedDragon, Arekanderu, Guest

I do not own Once Upon a Time

Chapter 57 - days 58 to 60: Byront's plan

Belle woke up with a stir at her friends words.

"Who? What?" The beauty said confused as she slowly got up

"The scouts!" Snow hurriedly said.

Not another word was needed. Belle practically stormed out of her tent and ran to the marquee. There was no way her pace could match the speed her heart was racing, desperate to hear some news about her father. The moment she stepped inside, she knew something really wrong was going on. The first person she saw was Rumpelstiltkin. His pale tense features and nervous look in his eyes said it all.

"What happened? Do you have news of my father?" She shouted, panic taking hold of her.

"My lady, I'm afraid your father's present condition is not of our knowledge." One of the members of the High Council said.

"But…But…" She mumbled confused. Rumpelstiltskin carefully guided Belle to a chair, gently holding her by her shoulders. Meanwhile Snow entered at that moment, breathless, for she was unable to keep up with her friend's pace. "W-What's happening?" Belle asked, more frightened by the second.

"We are afraid we underestimated Queen Regina." One of the men said. "She joined her army and Leostille's in Avonlea. The castle is under her control. And to make matters worse, she managed to gather quite a large number of ogres too." Belle felt her legs go numb and was glad she was sitting.

"How many?"

"About a thousand ogres and eighty thousand men."

"And we?"

"We have forty-five thousand men." Lord Frederic said.

"Then we are lost." Belle said beaten, all hope vanishing and leaving her defeated. "How is even possible they got here before us? It took us two weeks to reach Avonlea and we took the fastest road!"

"Magic." Snow White bitterly explained. "She used magic. I'm sure she has been following us through her magical mirrors and brought the soldiers magically to Avonlea." Belle was shaking from the nerves but had no more strength left to talk.

"So, what do we do now?" Rumpelstiltskin asked.

"Well, we might be outnumbered, but if we are smart and use what's been given to us wisely… we actually might defeat the Queen." Commander Byront said with a glint in his eye.

"How?"

"I think it is time Prince James and Princess Snow attempt to persuade their soldiers to join us now."

Commander Byront's plan was simple but dangerous. His goal was to increase the already existing divisions within Regina and George's armies. His goal was to win over the prince and princess' loyal soldiers to their army and also win the hearts of those who were still undecided about which party to support. So, he came up with the plan that would stir up things in Armithil's castle. He gave order to produce the largest quantity of flyers possible. A message was created to be repeatedly sent by arrows to Avonlea's castle. When the soldiers saw the arrows fly randomly into the castle, their first impulse was to prepare for battle, but then they saw the parchments. One soldier picket up the message and read it out loud so his Snowland and Leostille's comrades could hear it:

We, Princess Snow White and Prince James, live. As you may know, we were betrayed by our kingdom's sovereigns. But we will not let them defeat us! We will fight for our birthright, bring them to justice and give you the rulers you truly deserve. But we cannot fight alone. And this is why we humbly plead you to join us. Tomorrow, look for us on the hillside before the gates.

This act was repeated during the following minutes and the message provoked a great commotion inside the fortified city walls. Soldiers discussed matters of rightfulness and loyalty. Heated arguments followed and the divisions inside the large armies grew greater. The noise of a multitude of angry and passionate voices rose in the air like thunder and the daily tasks were quickly forgotten. King George and Queen Regina came outside to see what was going on. The evil Queen sneered disgustingly when she read the message, while King George threatened anybody who would trade the army for Prince James or Princess Snow would suffer a horrible death. But not even the oppressive power of the tyrants managed to calm down the soldiers. Commander Byront's wish for division was granted and, even in forced silence, groups were formed.

The next day, soldiers waited expectantly for the royal couple to show themselves on the hill. They were not disappointed. Mounted on gorgeous white stallions, the prince and princess rode side by side and appeared before their soldiers at noon. They were greeted by joyfully cheers and a wave of deadly arrows, which were deflected by the Blue Fairy's magic, for much of the Evil Queen's disdain.

"My brave men! If you wish for a world of justice and freedom, join us! Fight with us! Together we will defeat Queen Regina and King George!" Prince James shouted and his calling was answered with a thunder of many voices.

"Together we will join forces with our old allies, Armithil and the City of Gold. Together we will fight as one and win! Together, we will build a new world of peace and beauty!" Princess Snow called passionately and again voices rose in the air with great rumbling.

The royal couple had to stride a bit away to avoid the arrows soldiers loyal to Regina and George's were shooting. Immediately chaos installed itself inside the castle walls. The divided soldiers fought among themselves, some trying to stop the archers, other running to the gates to desert the castle. Ogres outside became restless and started hitting the wall in their animalistic excitement. Queen Regina was forced to put a spell on them, or they would destroy the city walls and attack her own soldiers. Everything happened too fast and when she finally had the wild ogres under control, a large number of militaries was already abandoning the castle. She watched King George run outside, shouting and cursing uselessly at the deserters, promising them a torturous death once they would be caught. But he could do nothing as he got trapped in the revolted mob and his words ended being muffed by the voices of many. In the end he was unable to stop the militaries and was forced to watch, impotent, as many abandoned his cause.

Queen Regina, furious with the change of heart of these miserable soldiers, cast a spell, sending fire to the deserters. Many were hit and died or were severely wounded. Others retreated to the castle afraid of the Queen's fury. But a column of fairies flew over the burned soldiers and dropped fairy dust on them, healing them in that same instant. This brought the young men a new sense of hope and bravery. Again a multitude of soldiers left the castle's grounds. Queen Regina was about to strike again, but this time the Blue Fairy was faster and managed to immobilize her long enough. Prince James and Princess Snow smiled satisfied at the success of this risky quest and rode back with high hopes, followed by their loyal soldiers.

Commander Byront's plan had worked and by the end of the day, the numbers of Armithil and its allies' army had increased from forty-five thousand to sixty thousand. The numbers had exceeded his expectations and everybody was celebrating the new alliances. But the High Court reminded the great commanders that Queen Regina and King George may have lost many men, but they still had a comfortable advantage over Armithil with their sixty six thousand men and ogres. The battle was still far from being over.

Bram was cutting wood while Rumpelstiltskin gathered the chopped logs and loaded them in a hand-car. Wood was needed for the repair of catapults and for the camp fires, so the two friends were more than happy to be able to help. They commented the new developments of the war while they worked. They were in high spirits, for the new addition of soldiers from Snowland and Leostille had brought new hope. They felt stronger and more confident, truly believing they could win this war.

"We only can win! I mean, we have after all an army formed by four great kingdoms." Bram enthusiastically said.

"Not to mention three great commanders: the legendary Lord Byront from Armithil, the valiant Lord Frederic from the City of Gold and the fearless Prince James of Leostille." Rumpelstitlstin said eloquently, causing a chuckle from Bram.

"But one must not forget the two princesses. They are both quite extraordinary. Brave and determined. Not to mention they are a lovely sight" Bram added, giving the spinner a knowing look and both laughed at the joke. "Sooo…did you guys?"

"Hey! Mind of your own business!" Rumpelstiltskin protested and the woodcutter noticed he was not amused at all.

"So not. Well, hopefully this war will end soon, so you can marry and get on with it." Bram said casually, but had to snicker at the grunt coming from his friend.

"One can only wish." The spinner mumbled to his friend's amusement.

Bram sensing the annoyance in Rumpelstiltskin's tone, smoothly changed the subject to more casual matters and soon the two friends were laughing merrily as it was typical when they were together. Now and then, soldiers would bring empty hand-cars and take the loaded ones back to the camp. They laughed along, for the men's cheerfulness was a contagious one. Bram had to suppress his laughter each time a soldier would greet Rumpelstiltskin with a polite "m'lord".

"How many times do I have to tell you? Just call me Rumpelstiltskin! You make me feel like one of those old stiff snobs of the council." The spinner complained, much to everybody's amusement.

"I would expect you'd like the title." Bram said, when the soldiers were gone.

"Gods, no. I hate the title thing!"

"I don't get it. It's anybody's dream to achieve the status you won." Bram honestly said.

"Yeah, but there's a great difference between dream and reality. All that bloody protocol, senseless rules and stupid formalities." Rumpelstiltskin grumbled annoyed. "They have this whole list of weird signs they call ways of conduct…whatever that is. It so theatrical that it's actually ridiculous! Not to mention they expect me to be the model of high moral when they are the least of ethical persons in the world!" The spinner complained frustrated, raising his voice higher than he had wished and ranted it all in one breath.

"Wow. You must feel better now that you spit all that out." Bram said cheerfully, patting his friend's back with his usual generous force.

"Ah, actually, yes. I do feel better now." Rumpelstiltskin said with a silly satisfied smile. They stared at one other for some seconds and before they knew it, were laughing heartily again. And so they worked steadily without noticing the hours passing by.

It had been a long and exhausting day. Everybody worked diligently in the camp, each and every person contributing to the preparation for the final battle. At nightfall the commanders ordered all men to sleep, for they needed their rest. The previous excitement of the day was at night replaced by the nerves of anticipation and the young courageous men obeyed their leaders, wondering if this would be their last night in this Earth. In just a few hours, the world had fallen silent as the camp slept. If one wouldn't know, nobody would guess there was a war going on. Even the trees and night animals seemed quieter than usual.

It was the calm before the storm.

I missed Bram ;)

Trully struggled writting this chapter. It's not easy to write in between the short pauses of a full week. Hopefully the chapter sounds better to you than to me. Anyway, already started the next one and am enjoying it already more!

Review! :)