DISCLAIMER:: do not own. just borrowing for creative expression. no profit obtained.
A/N:: so, my hardrive crashed and i lost most of the work i've done for this story. so that sucked. but i did get a big portion of it back thanks to carbonite, not all, but most, so all is not lost. thanks to everyone who's stuck around with this story and all newcomers. this is just getting started and i feel very blessed at how well it's being recieved. reviews are always appreciated. feed the muse as she will sing for me.
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-Chapter 12: All There's Left To Do Is Run-
It was pitch black when her eyes opened. She blinked several times, allowing them to adjust to the darkness in her bed chamber. She never woke up this early in the Enchanted Forest, there was little need for such early mornings in the life of a monarch. She sat up quickly and went to the wash basin to clean her face. The water was cold but she didn't dare call the servants to heat it up. Besides, the icy chill of the stagnant liquid helped to wash away the last vestiges of sleep. She dressed quickly, pulling on a pair of thick riding trousers and a loose fitting cambric tunic. She grabbed her best riding cloak and the small rucksack she'd prepared the night before and slipped out of her chambers. Dawn couldn't be terribly far off and they needed to be long gone before the first rays of sun kissed the land.
The inner garden was empty, her father not yet there. She put a hand to the statue of her mother, resting it delicately over the hand of the stone woman. "I miss you. Father and I must leave the palace. My only regret is having to leave you behind. But we will return for you. Regina… she has magic. If anyone can find a way to heal you, it's her. We will come back for you. I promise."
"Emma?"
She turned to see her father slipping into the garden through the gate, his own rucksack tossed over a shoulder.
"Come. We need to go before dawn." He held out a hand to her just as a sickening thud sounded. His eyes rolled back in his head and he slipped to the ground.
"Father!" She crouched down next to him.
"Leaving so soon?"
The Queen's head whipped up to see Hadrian and a few of his personal guard standing in the gateway, the King with his sword in hand, the hilt of which had obviously been used to knock out her father.
The King turned to his guards. "Close the door behind me. Don't open it until I tell you." The men gave a quick nod and closed the gate behind him. He turned back to the former King, unconscious on the ground, and the reigning Queen.
"What do you want Hadrian?"
He skirted around the perimeter, confident that his guards would adequately hold off the only exit from the small garden.
"My Queen, you wound me. I was just out for a stroll before dawn."
"With your guards about you?" She shook her head. "Do not talk to me in falsehoods. How long have you known my plans?"
His polite mask slipped away, revealing his thinly veiled temper. "Who is it?"
"Who is what?"
"There's someone else, is there not?"
They were circling the statue of Snow White, eyes locked on each other as they each moved around it at the same pace in a round robin, one never gaining on the other.
"You know I only have eyes for you my King."
He smirked. "Now who is the one telling falsehoods?" He gave her a grin, but it felt almost like a snarl. "I've seen it in your eyes. Something has changed. You have grown distant."
"Maybe the truth has finally caught up to my skirt tails Hadrian! Did you ever think that? I am tired of service and duty and pretending! I want adventure and true love! I won't find that here."
Hadrian froze. "So you choose a coward's way then? You wish to abdicate the throne to run away? All in the name of adventure?" He shook his head. "Life is not a fairytale Emma!"
Emma shrugged sadly. "But it should be and I'm willing to fight for that." She took a deep breath. "Just let me go Hadrian. Aren't you tired of the charade?"
For a moment, it actually appeared as if the King would relent. But that was short lived as he shook his head. "I fear I cannot let you leave. You are my security to the throne. I cannot hope to hold it once you've gone, just as you cannot hope to survive out there."
"I shall have my father."
Hadrian scoffed. "A shamed man in the eyes of his people. He has no honour here. And neither will you. They shall name you deserter."
Emma narrowed her eyes. "Then I will face my fate at the hands of my people. I will not let you decide my life for me."
Hadrian's gripped on the hilt of his sword, made from the finest steel in the kingdom, nigh unbreakable, just a little harder, his knuckles going white. "I am your husband!"
"You are a title to me, nothing more!" She narrowed her eyes at him. "There is someone else. I am sorry if my happiness compromises your claim to the throne, but I will have it."
She saw the flash of steel, even in the pre-dawn gloom, moments before he swung. She heard the thundering crack as steel connected with stone and it wasn't until the first shards of stone hit her face that she realized he hadn't been aiming for her at all. He'd hit his mark. The top half of the statue lay in ruins all around her.
"What have you done?" She fell to her knees, scrambling to collect the fragmented pieces of what had once been her mother.
"That… is what true love gets you Emma. True love is a fable told to Princesses when they are too young to know the truth of the world. True love does not exist."
"No!"
A blur flew at Hadrian and he barely had enough time to raise his sword and block the blow that was rained down on him. Steel kissed steel as reigning and former King clashed, sword to sword. There was murder in both their eyes and Emma scrambled to her feet, looking around for a weapon. She had hoped to make a clean getaway and to pass easily through the guards, bringing her short sword would have just drawn suspicion. She grabbed the only thing available to her, a piece of the broken statue, and hefted it into her hand, watching as the men continued to fight.
The guards outside the door to the garden had finally taken notice of the quarrel going on in the confines of the inner garden, but she and her father held the only keys. They were using the hilts of their swords to bang against the lock, attempting to pry it open. It might work, but it would take time. Sure that they were secure against the threat of Hadrian's guards, she turned back to the fighting men.
Hadrian had relieved her father of his weapon and had him trapped against one of the walls. He was closing in.
"Hadrian don't!" She knew she wouldn't make it in time.
He raised his sword to deliver the final blow. A whistle filled the air and he dropped the sword just short of her father's throat as an arrow protruded from his arm.
Emma looked up and saw a white cloaked figure crouched on the top of the ten foot high stone wall that encased the inner garden. The figure had already drawn another arrow and held it at the ready, this time aimed for Hadrian's heart.
James took the opportunity caused by the distraction to scoop up Hadrian's sword. Like the young King had done to him earlier, he smacked him across the temple with its hilt. Hadrian fell to the ground, not unconscious but subdued. James stepped forward and tossed her Hadrian's sword and retrieved his own.
The white cloaked figure was firing on the guards outside the gate, causing them to scatter.
The second they saw their opportunity, the royals seized it, grabbing their rucksacks and running from the garden, heading straight for the stables.
Freedom and another horse were waiting for them, saddled and ready. She didn't pause to question the convenience of it, just hopped up into the saddle and spurred the horse towards the road. They wouldn't have much of a lead; they needed to take advantage while they could. They were out through the main gate, the portcullis already mysteriously raised, within a minute and out onto the open road. Emma looked over her shoulder and sent her silent gratitude to the figure in the white cloak, for saving her father and for buying her freedom.
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"We should wrap through the woods and approach the city from the opposite side."
Emma looked over. They'd been riding for well on five hours and neither of them had uttered a word. The voice cutting through the silence seemed foreign somehow.
"If Hadrian managed to somehow get word to the city to be prepared for our arrival, they will have rallied their forces at this gate. We'll have less resistance if we enter from the South Gate. Come." He led the way into the trees.
"Do you think he was right?"
"Right about what?" James kept his eyes forward, searching the trees for signs of enemies.
"Maybe true love is meant for adversity and then a quick end. Maybe it truly is never meant to last."
James finally glanced at her. "I'd be more wary if it were easy. The things in life worth having are always the things you must fight for. Never forget that Emma. Because what are they to you if you're not willing to overcome the odds to have them?"
Emma smiled to herself. This was the hero of her childhood, the King and Dragonslayer that she had chased all over the castle, pulling on his trouser leg and demanding to be taken along on his adventures. He was back.
"I'm sorry about mother."
His shoulders sagged just the littlest bit at the mention of Snow White. "I will never feel for another woman what I felt for your mother. She was the love of my life. But I realize now that she would not be happy with the way I've lived my life these past years. Your mother was a strong woman before all else Emma; she had to be. She lost her mother early in life and the last thing she would have wanted was to do the same thing to you. But she had the opportunity to have from her father what she lost with her mother. You weren't as fortunate and for that, it is I who must give you my apologies. If I hadn't been so consumed in my grief, I never would have abdicated the throne. You never would have been forced into the marriage to Hadrian."
Emma shrugged. "I find that life is often a series of circumstances, some unfortunate, others not, but all are intertwined. Good cannot exist where evil does not also dwell."
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They saw no resistance at the South Gate of Port Emerald. The guards barely even glanced their direction as they waved them into the city. They found the stables quickly and paid for the housing of their steeds before setting off towards the harbour.
Emma stared up at the dilapidated inn. A faded wooden sign hung from a pole, its paint peeling, the words The Three Fish barely visible under the damage wrought by age. The building itself had obviously seen better days. The roof seemed slightly caved in places and the boards of the walls had been eroded by decades of exposure to the salt air coming off the sea.
"She wanted to meet you here?" James looked at the inn uncertainly. There had been several more respectable establishments closer to the heart of the city.
Emma nodded. She lead the way up the plank walkway to the door and pushed in. The great room was full of sailors and captains, bawdy men singing and gesticulating loudly as beer sloshed from their cups. A woman was moving among the table, refilling cups just as fast as they emptied. When she noticed the newcomers, she bustled over.
The innkeep was a thickset woman, squat and rotund in stature. She had bright red hair that she pulled back into a long braid. Her brown eyes were small and held an air of suspicion. She wore her dresses low cut, leaving her ample cleavage exposed to the roving eyes of the inn's patrons. Emma noticed a rather unique tattoo over the woman's heart, but before she could truly examine it, the woman cleared her throat, drawing the blonde's attention northward to her eyes.
"Will ye be needing a room?"
"I'd like the deluxe room." Emma replayed Regina's instructions over in her mind.
The innkeep nodded slowly. She placed two fingers over her lips and then moved them down to the tattoo over her heart. Realizing the woman was waiting for something, but having no clue what to do, Emma just repeated the gesture. Seemingly satisfied, the woman produced a long key from the pocket of her apron. She placed it into Emma's hand. "I trust ye know the way." She didn't wait for an answer but went to go refill more cups for the obnoxious sailors.
Emma went to the staircase that led up to the rooms and ascended. At the top she looked first left then right and turned down the corridor to the right. She saw her goal. The corridor ended in a door, just as Regina had said it would. She stopped in front of it, the anticipation causing her heart to hammer in her chest. She stuck the key into the lock and turned it. She opened the door and found herself faced with another set of stairs. She looked over her shoulder to make sure her father shut the door behind them and then ascended the second staircase. She emerged into a rather large bed chamber. And there, standing by the window, was Regina.
Emma felt her heart lift and suddenly she couldn't quite remember why she'd questioned whether true love existed. This swelling of her emotions could be explained as nothing else.
Regina smiled, her eyes only for Emma. "You returned to me."
Emma nodded. "I promised you I would." She crossed the room and threw her arms around the brunette's waist, pulling her into a hug.
"Oh Emma, how I missed you my darling." She pressed a kiss to the blonde's hair.
A clearing of the throat caused both women to be reminded of the other occupant in the room. They both looked towards the doorway, where James was shifting uncomfortably.
Regina pursed her lips to avoid frowning. "Charming."
"Have a good sleep? I see the years have done nothing to improve your disposition."
Her eyes narrowed at his mocking tone.
"Will you two stop it?" Emma looked between the two other occupants of the room. "We're on the same side here and we don't have time for old feuds." She turned to Regina. "Hadrian caught us leaving."
Regina's gaze instantly shifted to Emma, her eyes filled with concern. "How much of a lead do you have on him?"
Emma shook her head. "There's no way to be certain, but no more than a couple hours at best. I'd wager closer to an hour. He was very cross with me." She removed the stone from the pocket of her cloak. She hadn't been able to bring herself to drop it while they fled. It was all she truly had left of her now, besides the blood running through her veins, the only piece of her that remained. "He…"
"I'm going to go downstairs. I could use a meal." James didn't want to hear her say the words. He turned on his heel and disappear down the staircase as fast as his legs could carry him.
The second he was gone, Regina visibly relaxed and pulled Emma tighter against her. She led Emma over to the bed and sat upon it, pulling Emma down into her lap as she rested back against the headboard. "Tell me everything, sweet one."
And so Emma did, sparing no detail of what had transpired once she had arrived at the palace the day before to when she had fled this morning. She stumbled over the part about Hadrian breaking her mother's… what had once been her mother's body, still clutching the piece she'd kept in a white knuckled hold.
After her tale was done, Regina reached over and gently stroked the fingers clutching the stone fragment, willing them to relax. Once they did, she softly pulled the piece of stone from between Emma's fingers, bringing it closer to her face for examination. It was an eye, the curve of her cheek and half her smile. Regina wasn't surprised by how clearly she could recall Snow's features. She'd devoted so much of her adult life, her lonely life, to hating this woman. There were still times, even now, when she closed her eyes and that sickly sweet smile mocked her. She may no longer feel the unquenchable thirst for vengeance, maybe because this woman, her sworn enemy, had also given her the greatest gift, or maybe it was the knowledge that the woman had been disposed of while she'd slumbered, but she still did not have love for her. She probably never would, too much bad blood had passed between them.
Something puzzled her though. She traced her fingers along the rough hewn edges where the stone had broken away from the surrounding pieces. She probed through the porous rock with her magic, searching but coming up empty. "Emma." She looked down into the blonde's face, rapt with attention. "This came from the statue they brought back from the war, you're certain of it?"
Emma pulled away a little so she could better look at Regina and nodded. "Yes, I watched Hadrian destroy it before my very eyes."
Regina looked down at the stone. "This wasn't your mother."
Emma shook her head. "What are you saying? Of course it was; I told you…"
"I know what you told me, but I'm telling you, this is not the work of a gorgon. No soul was trapped within the confines of this stone. It is rock, nothing more. The outside, her likeness, is impeccable. It was almost certainly carved by magic, but it is not her."
Emma stood, pacing wildly. Finally she stopped and stared at Regina, disbelief written all over her face. "Are you telling me… that my mother is alive?"
Regina frowned. "I do not know. Many years have passed and I have been asleep for most of them. But I can tell you that if she is alive, she's probably being held somewhere. Someone… someone with a lot of power, went to a lot of trouble to make you believe her dead. I don't know why, but someone wanted everyone to think the Queen dead, so that no one would look for her."
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They had been discussing possible theories for only a quarter on the hour when James came up the stairs in a hurry. "Time to go."
Both women looked up at his worried expression.
"Are they downstairs?"
James nodded in response, grabbing his rucksack. "The room is pretty crowded. If we leave now, we may be able to sneak out past them."
They busied themselves gathering their stuff and then went down the stairs, James in the lead. He opened the door and immediately closed it again. He turned to the two women. "They're searching the rooms."
Emma felt panic seize her chest. "There's no way out."
Regina shook her head. "Yes there is. Follow me."
She ran back up the stairs and into the room. Regina looked to James. "Help me push the bed."
He frowned but did as she asked. With a groan of protest, the bed slid slowly across the wooden floor, slowly revealing a trapdoor. Regina reached down and lifted it. It revealed only the top of a ladder and a descent into pitch darkness. Regina glanced at Emma. "Down you go darling."
Emma hesitated only a moment before sinking through the hole and descending until the darkness swallowed her from view.
Regina looked to James. "You next."
A knock sounded at the door down the stairs. "We bid you open this door in the name of the King!"
James sank into the hole followed closely by Regina.
The pounding on the door became more insistent. "Open this door now or we will be forced to knock it down!"
She grabbed the trap door and nearly closed it, leaving it open just enough that with a quick and pointed wave of her fingers, the bed slid back into place over them just as the door to the room was broken open. The guards rushed in as the Regina softly let the door above her close, casting the three royals into complete darkness.
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Emma hid in the shadow to the residence nearest the stables, watching the guards who blocked the doors.
"We'll never be able to get them out."
"Do you have such little faith in me darling?"
Emma looked behind her at Regina. "Hadrian knows I wouldn't leave Freedom, he knows we must return eventually, no matter where we hide in Port Emerald, we must return here."
Regina waved off her concerns. "We just need a… distraction." She spied him coming, just as he did everyday, six times a day. Wanting to be prepared for any situation that may arise once Emma arrived, she had spent the entire previous day observing the goings on of Port Emerald. And precisely six times a day, the baker's boy carried the fresh bread out for his deliveries. "And here he comes now." With a wave of a hand the boy tripped, the contents of the crate in his arms scattering. And like clockwork, the town urchins slunk forward, seemingly out of nowhere and made a dash for the free meal. The baker's boy, having regained his footing, started to fight to grab for the fresh loaves. Yelling and pandemonium quickly ensued, drawing the attention of the guards by the stable doors. They strode forward across the square, yelling at the boys.
"Go." Regina and the other two royals bolted from the shadow of the house and into the stable. They worked in tandem to locate and saddle their steeds, mindful that their window of opportunity was ever closing.
Once they had all mounted their horses and were ready to go, James looked towards Regina. "No matter what happens when we leave this stable, get her out the South Gate and don't stop riding."
Regina gave a sharp nod of understanding, catching the under currents of his suggestion that he'd sacrifice himself if need be to let them escape.
They spurred their horses and burst through from the stable doors, immediately calling the attention of everyone in the square, including the guards, who scrambled to get back across the square. "Halt in the name of the King!"
But they didn't halt. They took of at a gallop towards the South Gate, hearing the city alarm start to go off. They'd be closing the gates in response. They all pushed their steeds a little harder and within seconds they could see the doors, already closing, the gap to freedom getting ever smaller.
Loathe to do magic in public, but knowing Emma didn't want to leave her father behind, she muttered a spell under her breath that stopped the gate in its tracks, the men trying to close it exchanging confused looks with each other. They jumped out of the way just as the royals and their three horses came barreling through, sliding just barely through the gap.
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James wrapped the blanket tighter around himself as he stared at their small fire. Even he had to admit that magic, despite all the trouble it had caused in his life, could be a helpful tool. They'd been able to outrun the guards, the element of surprise to their advantage. Once they'd caught enough of a lead, they'd veered into the woods to confuse the tracks. It had been a long afternoon of evading, but he finally felt confident that their pursuers had lost a substantial amount of ground. The Evil Queen, for that's how he would always think of her, had still insisted on putting up magical wards around the clearing where they'd made their camp, just in case. He hadn't objected, whatever kept Emma safe was fine by him. News of her escape from Port Emerald and therefore Hadrian would not be able to be contained. Knowing his son-in-law, he'd probably spin some story to the public about how the former King had gone crazy and kidnapped his own daughter, with the help of some vagabond, to reclaim the throne he'd discarded so many years ago. It was exactly the kind of story Hadrian would spin; the young King's disgust for him had never been a well concealed secret. Emma had gone off the second they'd made camp, wanting to be alone with her thoughts. He wasn't sure what was bothering her, but she seemed troubled. Regina had stayed and was tending to the fire.
"She's risking her life to be with you." He couldn't bring himself to look at the brunette.
Regina sighed and sat on a fallen log on the other side of their small fire. "I know."
"If Hadrian catches up with us, we'll all be executed."
Regina nodded. "I know."
"Do you really?" He finally looked at her, a harsh glint in his eyes.
Regina nodded. "I cannot remove the traces of what I've done from this world. There are still many alive who remember my deeds and harbour great hatred for me in their hearts, the dwarves were proof positive of that. But Emma…" She said the name reverently, as if even to utter it was to worship it. "She is my redemption, the thing I never knew I was searching for. I can't desert her anymore than she can me. You more than anyone should know the binding ties of true love."
James scoffed. "I have a hard time believing true love could exist in a heart so black."
Regina nodded. "So do I."
James frowned, his eyes suspiciously searching hers for clues to her deception. Was this another of her tricks? A play on words to gain his favour? But of all the things he saw in her eyes, deception was not one of them.
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Emma stared out at the ocean from her rock perch. She wasn't sure how long she'd been out there when Regina appeared by her side, but it must have been quite a while from the concerned look on her face. Regina unfurled a saddle blanket and wrapped it around herself and the blonde as she sat next to her.
"What are you thinking of?"
"The other world. How things are quite easier there than they are here in many ways."
"Tell me of it."
Emma sighed. "Good and evil are muddied there. Life and the actions people take are open to interpretation. Executions are not quite as common, and certainly not for something as petty as leaving your husband. Women do that everyday there." She spent the rest of the night telling Regina all the differences, both good and bad between the two worlds in which she lived. And when sleep finally claimed her, she was curled up in her Queen's arms, and she was content.