Chapter 7

Belle felt a rush of cold air on her face, and inadvertently shut her eyes against the chill. She'd been having such a wonderful dream, one of those dreams so vivid it felt real, and she momentarily forgot where she was when she finally opened her eyes.

Regretfully giving into the pull of reality, Belle yawned and looked around, not remembering where she was at first, momentarily confused to not find herself in her bedroom. Then the events of the previous day came rushing back to her, and she found herself wishing she could go back to sleep. Without really thinking, she pulled the thick covers up to her chin and pushed her head deep into the soft pillows, closing her eyes again and thinking of her dream.

Belle had just about fallen back to sleep when she heard a loud bang, and, startled, she sat up. Looking around the chamber, she saw nothing out of the ordinary, and when her heart rate slowed back to normal she realized how cold she was and shivered.

Knowing her curiosity would not allow her to go back to sleep, Belle sighed and got out of the bed. She walked over to the closet where they had deposited their clothes the night before and took out her warmest travelling cloak. Wrapping it around herself, she grabbed her brush and ran it absently through her hair before heading down the long spiral stairs that lead into the castle's Great Hall.

When she reached the bottom of the stairs, Belle once again looked around and saw nothing out of the ordinary. Surely the bang had come from here? And where was Rumple? She had been alone in the bedchamber when she awoke, but she hadn't thought much of it. Now, though, she began to wonder what he was up to.

Belle walked around the hall, not sure if she should search the castle or wait here and see if he came back. To her great relief, she didn't have to worry for long. She heard footsteps coming up the stairs behind her, and as she turned she saw her husband emerging from the castle's basement.

"Oh, you're awake," he said, sounding surprised but nonetheless pleased to see her.

Skipping the pleasantries, Belle said, "What was that noise?"

Holding his hands behind his back, a look of confusion flashed across Rumple's face, for only a second, and then it was replaced with a mischievous grin. "Oh," he laughed to himself, "I was, um, looking for something in the basement. In the process, I might have knocked over a barrel or two." Amused despite himself, he shook his head and remembered that he was talking to his wife. "Did I wake you?"

Belle smiled, "Sort of." Stifling a yawn, she asked, "Did you find what you were looking for?"

Rumple looked at her with a triumphant grin, and said, "Yes, as a matter of fact I did."

As he stood there grinning at her, she realized he wasn't going to give her any information willingly. She'd have to drag it out of him; he too much enjoyed being the center of attention. His devious grin and the levity of his voice reminded her of how he used to be, of the man she had met so long ago in her father's castle, and come to know so well here in these halls. Reminded her of the imp she had fallen in love with.

Bringing her thoughts back to the present, Belle attempted to get some information out of him. "And, what were you looking for, exactly?" she asked, enjoying their verbal battles, but still somewhat irked at his inability to be straightforward.

"This!" He said, for the first time revealing the hands that had been hidden behind his back. In his hand he held a rolled up piece of parchment, which didn't look like anything important to Belle.

When Rumple made no move to show her what it was, Belle forgot her earlier attempts at stifling and yawned dramatically. "And," she said, once again sounding both intrigued and annoyed, "What is that?"

"A scroll." He sounded so serious that Belle figured he didn't realize how much his verbal playfulness was annoying her.

"Yes," she sighed, "I can see that."

All of a sudden, Rumple's face became much more serious, and his earlier levity was gone. "This is a very important scroll, Belle," he said in the voice he reserved just for her. He only used that tone when he was going to explain something to her, and usually something very important. That tone got her attention.

Now that he was in a more serious mood, Belle doubted that she'd have to drag the information out of him, and waited for him to continue. Her patience was rewarded when he said, "This scroll is how we are going to find our wizard."

Belle looked at him in shock, and then glanced down at the rolled up paper in his hand. She very much wanted to know what they were going to have to do to find this wizard. "What does it say?" she asked.

"Well, nothing yet," Rumple said, and began to unroll the scroll. As he had said, it was blank. Belle gave him one of her confused looks, and he smiled before adding in a mysterious voice, "It's magic," as if that explained everything.

Seeing that she still didn't understand, Rumple went on. "You see, this scroll has a locator spell on it, but not your typical locator spell. Normally, you have to put a locator spell on something that belonged to the person. This scroll, however, is different. This spell allows the scroll to locate the one person in the realm who has the most powerful magic. At one time, that was me. That's why I have it. I hid it in the cellar downstairs, because I didn't want anyone to be able to use it to locate me."

Seeing where he was going, Belle said, "And now you think it will locate the wizard, because his magic is supposedly stronger than yours."

"Exactly," Rumple grinned, proud of himself and his wife, too.

Eager to get on with their journey, Belle said, "So how does it work? Do we have to follow a floating scroll around the forest to find him?"

Rumple laughed at that and said, "No, no, nothing like that. This type of locator spell creates a map. All we have to do is enact the spell, and it will give us a map to the person with the most powerful magic in the realm."

"Okay, so enact it then," Belle said, as much out of curiosity as eagerness to begin.

Rumple smiled at her, glad that she was so willing to stay by his side through this. Even happier that she wasn't worried about the journey, he wouldn't blame her if she had doubts. Shifting his gaze from her face down to the parchment, he waved his hand over the scroll and watched in satisfaction as the purple haze cleared and the beginnings of a map formed on the parchment.

When the map had fully appeared, Belle found that the writings on it were in another language. She recognized it as the one used by the fairies in their writing, but she hadn't learned to read it. Hoping Rumple knew more than she did, she asked, "What does it say?"

Rumple was frowning at the parchment, and looked up at her in slight confusion, "It says," he muttered, "that we need to go to the Queen's castle."

"The Queen's castle?" Belle echoed, not sure what else to say. When Rumple simply nodded, Belle said, "Why would a wizard be there?"

"Well," he sighed, "that's where Zelena took up residence when she came on her little visit to the Enchanted Forest. Must just be a nice place to stay."

Belle shook her head. "Zelena only went there to force a confrontation with her sister. Regina isn't even here anymore, so why would anyone go there?"

Hearing a slight bit of desperation in her voice, Rumple said, "I don't know, but what does it matter? If that's where the wizard is, that's where we'll go, too. We best get our things together, there's nothing left for us to do."

Attempting to ignore the inner worries she felt, Belle gave a weak attempt at a smile and nodded. Following Rumple as he turned and walked back up the stairs to the bed chamber, Belle tried her best to tell herself that all would turn out fine.

Once they had all their things collected and had changed into their best travelling clothes, the two of them walked down the stairs and back into the castle's great hall. Belle wasn't sure exactly what to expect, but she just assumed Rumple would somehow use his magic to get them to the Queen's castle in a matter of seconds.

She was surprised, then, when they walked out of the castle and she found two horses standing there, already saddled and packed with supplies. "Are, are those for us?" She asked dubiously.

Rumple laughed and said, "You didn't think we were going to walk the entire way did you?"

In truth, Belle had no idea how far it was from the Dark Castle to the Queen's castle, so she just shrugged and said, "I figured you'd just use magic to get us there."

Rumple immediately shook his head and said, "No, I can't do that. I don't know what kind of magic the wizard has there, and what kind of spells he might have cast around the castle. It would be too dangerous to use magic to get there, because if he saw us as a threat there's no telling what he could do."

Belle nodded. "That makes sense," she said, for she didn't really have any other reply. She turned toward the horses, and looked them over. "I assume this one's mine," she said with a smile as she walked toward the one with a dark tan sidesaddle. When Rumple confirmed that it was, she began to appraise it. Her mount was a beautiful tan palfrey, and as she stroked its main she decided it would be good to ride again. It had been a very long time since she'd ridden a horse.

"Do like it?" Rumple asked as he brushed his horse down.

"Yes," she smiled, "Does she have a name?"

Rumple smiled and shook his head. "No, neither of them have names yet. You can name them, if you want."

He was pleased when Belle beamed, and he watched her as she thought about what to call their new travelling companions.

"Well," Belle said, looking his horse over as well. His was a spirited black Arabian, and it reminded her of her father's horse she used to see in the stables when she was a young girl. "When I was young, I had a small grey horse named Aidan. I told myself that if I ever got a girl horse, they'd be best friends, and I'd name her Nadia. I never got the chance to do that, so…"

Rumple was smiling widely now, and she realized how ridiculous she sounded. Blushing, she said quickly, "I was young…"

"I think that's a great name," Rumple said, which only made her blush more. "And what about mine?"

"Midnight," she said without hesitation. Then, she added with another blush, "I know, it's cliché, but he reminds me of my father's horse whose name was also midnight."

Rumple smiled, and walked over to wrap his arms gently around her waist. Her innocent, childish demeanor was more endearing to him than she'd ever know, "Those will do wonderfully," he said with a loving grin. "I think you've gotten our journey of to a wonderful start." She smiled, some of the embarrassed redness receding from her face.

So glad that he finally had a partner to go through life's journeys with, Rumple leaned in and kissed her, hoping that the rest of their journey would be as blissfully pleasant as this morning had been.