Emma was standing on the deck of the ship watching the men make preparations to dock. The trip took almost the whole night and at first light, she spotted land.
"Which one is the Captain?" she asked the young boy. There was still a big mystery as to why these men tried to kidnap some woman named Milah. If she were to ever encounter a woman named Milah, she would have to warn her that these men were set to capture her.
"The captain will rendezvous with us later," the young boy said.
Emma hoped she wouldn't have to meet the Captain. Graham seemed nice enough to deal with and was willing to let her off at the next port.
She looked around for other ships she could board and sail back to whichever port got her closest to Rumpelstiltskin's castle.
As they lowered the gangplank, Emma turned to the boy and said, "Well, it was nice to meet you. I never caught your name."
The boy answered, "It is Henry."
"Henry is a fine name."
Henry blushed and brought her to the first mate.
"Well, Miss Swan. As you can see there are no other ships to take you away from here and I feel I am responsible for your safety and well-being. I invite you to come with us to a house that the Captain rented," Graham told her.
"Will I be able to get passage to another port tomorrow?" Emma inquired.
"We can see what ships are in port tomorrow," Graham said. "But for now, I will fetch you a warm cloak and take you to the house. You will be properly chaperoned by Smee, Fitch, and myself."
She wasn't sure if they were appropriate chaperones but she would rather spend a night in a warm house than on a drafty, cold ship.
Graham found her a fur-lined cloak with a hood to wear and escorted her off the ship. The port city was a rather small city. She remembered her trip to Arendelle to attend the coronation of Queen Elsa then later on the marriage of her sister Anna to Kristoff. The city of Arendelle was much larger than this and still quite a distance away. If she had to travel to get aid or refuge, it would probably quite a strenuous trip to Arendelle.
They walked past a few vendors and street merchants hawking their wares to an office. Graham went inside to speak to an agent and he came out with a map to the house they were supposed to take shelter in. Graham went to a stable to purchase four horses they would use to make the journey to this house along with supplies.
Emma was nervous that they would have to travel a long way to get to this house. It might be difficult to check if there were ships in port but the alternative was to stay on the ship with some dubious looking ship hands. She was taking a chance to travel to the house.
They traversed winding streets, crossing stone bridges, until they gained the outer limits of the city, heading north along a wide road that led them through a thick forest. The low, leaden clouds continued to dull the eastern light and deepen the gloom beneath the trees. The snow started off as light but then started to stick forming a white blanket on the ground.
They topped a ridge and Emma was surprised to find the path led to an ancient castle nestled on a low bluff. Picking their way around a fallen gate, they passed through the gatehouse into the courtyard. A dilapidated stable stood nearby. Emma's anxieties started to increase when she saw the conditions of this supposed "house."
"I hope this isn't the house we are supposed to stay in," Emma asked of Graham.
"I believe this is the house, though it's more like a castle," Graham observed.
"This castle looks like an ancient pile of rocks," Emma exclaimed.
"I'm sorry to say that this is where we will be staying until the Captain gets here," Graham said reluctantly. "Had it been up to me I would have rented something more comfortable to house a fine lady such as you, but alas."
"This must not be a very wealthy Captain if he houses his crew in a place like this," Emma exclaimed. "Or he has to have a very wicked sense of humor."
Smee started wringing his hands and said, "Maybe if it was givin' a good cleanin'?"
Emma looked at him in stunned belief, "Well, you'll be on your knees scrubbing floors, mending windows, pegging up shutters, sweeping chimneys, and dusting rafters until next spring and it might show a modicum of improvement."
Emma glanced about in growing dismay. For some reason, she had envisioned a warm bath, warm meal and a private chamber with a down bed.
"We'll make an accounting of what needs to be done and go into town tomorrow. As for tonight, we'll just have to make do with what little comfort we can find," Graham commented.
They entered the dilapidated building and shivered from the chilly draft that swept through the hall. Smee and Fitch, the tall bean pole, fetched the supplies, settled the horses and started the fire in the hall.
Emma decided to investigate the upper chambers making sure to be careful walking up the steps in case it started to crumble. The upper floor consisted of two bedrooms. Emma inspected the rooms and both were covered with a thick layer of dirt and dust. The windows were thankfully intact. She wouldn't want to battle the leaks of cold air that would come through. Huge tapestries hung from the ceiling covering the wood panel walls. These would need to be taken out and beaten to get the dust out. When she went to check them out, she moved the tapestry slightly and a swarm of bats came flying out. The air suddenly filled with small, chittering black creatures made her scream. Fitch burst into the doorway swinging an axe and cleaving nothing but air. Emma was thankful that she fell to the floor before an errant swing of the axe struck her. She proceeded to crawl to the doorway. Fitch had gallantly cleared the room but still kept swinging. The bats fleeing out the door and into the rest of the keep.
"Okay, that's enough, Fitch. You've won the battle," Emma called out.
Fitch halted, almost teetering until he steadied himself. Fitch panted, "I must have killed- " he looked around for evidence of his destruction, "-at least a hundred or so?"
"I think the power of your blows flung them all out the windows," Emma allowed even though the windows were intact. She didn't want his act of heroism to go to waste.
"You're funny, Miss Swan," Fitch responded. "This will all have to be cleaned before it is fit to occupy. I'll look for a bucket and water."
"Thanks, Fitch," Emma said.
The bats flew out the door and they made sure there were no other stragglers. They all started sweeping, scrubbing and dusting the main hall where they were to hunker down for the night. Once it was fit to sleep in, they concentrated on dinner.
Graham was surprisingly rather adept at preparing a meal. He started a meat stew with vegetables, laid out a bread and cheese plate, and poured some wine. He whispered something to Smee and Fitch. They began to ladle themselves some food and made their quick excuses to attend something in the stables while taking their plates and cups with them. That left Graham and Emma to dine alone together.
Graham pulled out a seat for Emma and served her food. Emma started getting uncomfortable because it felt like she was being courted. She did not want to make the mistake of getting close to one of her abductors.
"How is the food, Miss Swan?" Graham asked.
"It's very good. You seem to have a knack for taking something simple and making it into something pleasing to the palate," Emma said.
"I hold your complements in very high esteem, my lady," Graham answered with a smile.
"You seem to have much better manners than your cohorts," Emma commented. "It makes me wonder how you ended up with this gang of kidnappers."
Graham looked amused. "I was returning a favor for an old friend," Graham said. "And I'm glad I did, because it led me to meeting you."
Emma shifted uncomfortably. He was handsome enough but she needed to get back to her self-appointed mission of getting her father free and her family back together. It was the only thing that was constantly on her mind.
"So when should I be ready to be taken to port tomorrow?" Emma asked trying to get conversation back to her mission.
"I'll take you back first thing," Graham said. He knew from looking at the water in the river and the snow that no ships will be coming in and out of port for fear of the river freezing over. He would take her into town to show her that it was of no use. He wondered whether Captain Jones would be able to make it before the river froze. If he did they certainly wouldn't be sailing out. They would all be stuck and the thought of being stranded with the enchanting Miss Swan made his eyes twinkle and his heart sing.
They finished their dinner chatting companionably. Smee and Fitch came back to bring more firewood. They all hunkered down to sleep in the hall since it was the only clean, warm room in the keep.
Emma settled herself in a heap of blankets, lying on a pile of furs, trying to get some sleep. Tears glistened on her eyelashes as memories of her father assailed her. Was he alive? In some prison? Was he being tortured? Was her mother going to get caught? She wanted desperately to be gone from this place, to have her father free and to be at home with her family. She looked toward tomorrow when she would be en route to Rumpelstiltskin's castle, hoping he hadn't changed his mind about helping her. It was this thought she held on to when sleep claimed her.
The next day Graham took her back into town. He was trying to be very charming and Emma responded with brief courtesy. When they arrived, she saw there were no ships in the harbor except the one she arrived on and she was informed that one wasn't leaving.
"Where are the other ships?" Emma asked Graham.
"It seems none came into port today," Graham answered.
Emma couldn't help but show the disappointment in her face that Graham felt sorry so he took her to lunch and walked with her around the town.
"We'll come back tomorrow to see if there are any ships leaving, alright?" Graham told her. They had shopped for more supplies to bring back to the ancient castle.
This gave Emma little comfort because she knew she would have to spend another night in that cold, dirty keep.
They arrived back at the keep in the late afternoon to find Smee and Fitch fixing the roof. They started preparing the master chamber for the Captain when he arrived. Emma decided she needed more privacy for the night and cleaned a bedroom she found on the ground floor. Cleaning kept her busy and she wanted to be tired when she went to sleep so she wouldn't be assailed by her anxieties when night time came.
Emma sat through another evening meal with Graham. Graham tried his best to cheer her up, but the more time passed in this place, the more Emma got upset and angry.
"Who is the Captain that failed to kidnap Milah?" Emma asked.
Graham answered, "Captain Killian Jones of the Jolly Roger wanted to kidnap the Dark One's wife, Milah. He met her a few weeks ago when she begged him to take her away. He obliged and when she found out the Dark One was looking for her, she fled," Graham told her.
"Why isn't he with you?" Emma asked.
"He set up the diversion and he is most likely trying to outrun the Dark One's wrath," Graham said.
"Well, that seems like a stupid plan," Emma commented. "And stealing away someone's wife, he sounds like a scoundrel."
"To be fair, she wanted to leave her husband," Graham said.
"But didn't she run away from Captain Jones as well?" Emma asked.
"For fear of the wrath the Dark One would reign down on all our heads," Graham answered.
"So now I get stuck here because those two louts were too drunk to tell the difference between two women," Emma exclaimed.
"They were drunk?" Graham asked.
"I smelled the rum on them when they were abducting me and then they complained they were never going to listen to their Captain when they were drunk," Emma said. "He's responsible for this."
The rest of the evening Graham kept trying to calm Emma down but her anger started climbing each moment she spent in the keep. He finally bid her good night. Emma went to bed still fuming. The longer she stayed there, the more she felt helpless to assist her family to safety. She knew Ruby, Granny and Neal would be sick with worry when she didn't turn up. Emma would be able to get no word about her mother and father. It was the worst situation she could probably dream of and the person who was responsible was Captain Killian Jones. Oh what she would do if she got her hands on him, she thought.
Captain Jones arrived at the keep. He was unhappy that the agent who rented the house to him had swindled him and gave him this ancient castle to stay in while the house he should have gotten was rented to someone else. The agent of course pocketed the difference. He was going to have to deal with the agent later, preferably with the tip of his sword. Thank goodness he received a message from Graham at the tavern he visited when he got into port telling him where they would be. He was able to get directions to the ancient castle from people in town.
He was tired but looking forward to spending the night with Milah. He hoped she would forgive him for the conditions she had to put up with and for the abduction. He knew he could overcome her ill humor with his charms. He bounded up the stairs to see if she stayed in the master suite. When he checked, she was not there. Then he passed the sleeping Smee, Fitch and Graham to find a bedroom on the ground floor.
Emma had heard his footsteps approaching the door. She wasn't sure who it was but she didn't think whoever came was up to any good. She hid behind the door, holding a small step stool and ready to swing it at any brigand who dared disturb her.
He knocked on the door. "Milah, are you asleep? It's Killian."