Chapter Two—"Traps Come in Pairs"
"That's the mark of the Black Fairy."
Belle's head snapped around; Regina's voice sounded like it came from beyond the grave, and when she caught sight of the other woman's face, she saw a stricken expression that she had not seen since the day Regina had to let Henry go. The Queen and Robin had finished off the dragon while Little John led Belle and the others into battle against the flying monkeys and other guards on the small town of Bremen, but Regina had returned to help with the prisoners. Having a sorcerer along generally seemed to cow captured guards and townspeople into submission, and since Belle didn't want to hurt anyone they didn't have to, Regina's presence was extremely useful. Of course, Regina's methods could still sometimes use a bit of work—that fireball hadn't missed the sheriff by much—the townsfolk were now separated from the hired guards and hopefully providing Alan-a-Dale with useful information.
Some of them probably needed to change their undergarments after Regina's little display, but Belle supposed that was minor enough damage. Still, she shot the older woman a scowl as she came over to stand next to her, just on principle.
Thankfully, the mark wasn't on any of the people; instead it was on the side of one of the few stone buildings the town boasted of. The building was built low to the ground and completely made of stone, from the sloping roof to the walls themselves. Only the door was made of wood, heavily reinforced with iron and a sizeable lock. The mark was carved into the stone to the immediate right of the door, less than a foot tall and at eye level. It was a simple symbol, looking like two of the upside down letter "V", with an arrow drawn through the middle of both, pointing to the left. The mark was vaguely familiar, but Belle couldn't remember having seen it anywhere outside a book.
"Are you certain?" Robin asked Regina, as Belle started digging through her bag.
Regina grimaced. "Unfortunately. One of the most important things anyone who uses magic learns is to avoid anything with that on it. Even if you're playing with Dark Magic, it's not worth toying with something of hers."
"Then why would it be here?" Robin stepped up to study the mark more closely, scowling. "Hasn't the Black Fairy been dead for hundreds of years?"
"Of course," Belle answered, searching through the old book for the right page, just as Regina replied:
"Dead is negotiable when you're talking about fairies. Particularly that fairy."
"Dead is dead," Robin objected. "Isn't it?"
"No. History says she's dead, but Tinker Bell said that the Blue Fairy only exiled her. That means she's out there somewhere, presumably unable to reach our world," Regina replied, stepping up next to Robin to run a hand over the mark, just inches away from touching the stone. "But there have been…sightings over the centuries. People who claim these marks appear for no reason, and that creatures that only the Black Fairy could control are still doing her bidding. She still has followers."
Belle found the right page, and bit her lip. "It's the right mark," she said quietly.
"I did tell you." Regina shot her a glare, but there was no actual rancor behind the expression. "And it's new. This mark…it's about a year old."
"How is that possible?" Robin asked.
Regina rolled her eyes. "Well, someone obviously put it here. The question is why."
"Has anyone thought to ask what became of the Black Fairy's wand when your curse hit?" Belle asked as the thought suddenly occurred to her. "It was in the shop, but…"
Her eyes met Regina as the Queen twisted to face her, and Belle could feel their hearts do a synchronized stutter. The Witch was enough of a threat. The last thing they needed was for someone to have gotten ahold of the Black Fairy's wand and to be trying to bring her back from wherever the Blue Fairy had exiled her to. Regina was certain that she could beat the Witch, but if even the Blue Fairy had proven unable to actually kill the Black Fairy, what could mere humans do against her? Belle had read the Black Fairy's section in her book months ago, and there was maddeningly little information on the evil "Fae", but nothing she remembered was in any way good.
"That could be a problem," Regina breathed. Belle could only nod, her throat tight. Robin, however, cleared his throat.
"So…not to interrupt the academic discussion here," the outlaw said diffidently, "but do we want to go in the little stone house, or not? I'm presuming that whatever magical item we came here for is probably in there, given that the place has a 'keep out' sign and all."
Belle had almost forgotten about their actual mission. "Can you tell if it's there?" she asked Regina, who shook her head.
"The entire building is heavily shielded with magic like I've never seen before. Although…it does seem to be more focused on keeping something in rather than keeping us out. I can probably open the door."
"Oh, that's an idea, love. Open the magically sealed door when we have no idea what's inside it." But Robin grinned, slinging his bow off of his shoulder and notching an arrow. "I'm game. Open away."
Regina glared. "Can you ever be serious?"
"I can only be so flippant because I have the most beautiful sorcerer in the world at my side."
"You only say that because my skin isn't green," Regina shot back, and Belle snickered despite herself. Listening to the constant battle of wits between Robin and Regina was entertainment all in itself, and she really was glad that Regina had found someone sharp enough to keep up with her. However, they were wasting time. Sunset would occur in an hour or so, and their plan called for them to leave Bremen before darkness fell. Robin and his men always argued that the woods were safer than any town after dark, and after traveling with them for two weeks on the way there, Belle had to admit that they knew their business well.
"So," she started pointedly. "Are we going to open this door or not? This is likely why we came here in the first place."
"My vote's already in for opening it, but Regina's the door-woman," Robin replied. "Your call, love."
"You always use that word like you want something," Regina groused, but Belle could see the laughter in her eyes. Then she shrugged. "Why the hell not? My list of enemies is depressingly short these days, anyway."
Without further comment, Regina raised her hands and went to work.
"I still think that this is the mother of all bad ideas."
David shot him an exasperated look, and Baelfire sighed. There were times when he found Prince Charming to be entirely too good, honorable, and trusting—and this moment clearly defined them all. Baelfire was all for keeping his word, but depending upon an enemy to do the same thing was just plain stupid.
"Look, if the Witch is asking to parley, that means we're really getting somewhere," David pointed out for the fourth time. Baelfire resisted the urge to growl.
"Or it means she just wants an easy way to kill you," he replied. Again.
"If she tries to kill those she's meeting with under a flag of truce, no one will ever meet with her again," their leader said stubbornly. "The Witch knows that, which is why she'll be there to talk."
"Am I seriously the only one here who can think like a bad guy?" Baelfire asked plaintively, glancing helplessly at the assembled group of good and honorable fighters. Prince Thomas looked offended, of course. Mulan was thoughtful, but shared David's stubborn sense of honor, so she was no help. Fredrick, newly arrived while Midas was still recruiting, looked like he thought Baelfire was crazy (and possibly far beneath his social station). Abigail, holding his hand, looked like she might actually agree with Baelfire's point of view, but certainly didn't speak up.
This time he did groan. "I guess I am. Well, then, since Regina isn't here to put this bluntly to you, I'll do it. The Witch doesn't have to play by the rules, and she won't. She wants to decapitate the resistance, and that means you." Pointing a finger at David, he continued: "We might have destroyed her main army, but the Witch has plenty more creatures where these came from. She has no reason to negotiate honorably. And even more importantly, she's a witch. We're kind of short on magic users at the moment, and Regina's not here to take her down if she gets frisky. I say you ignore the invitation and we go find another one of her armies to beat up on."
"If we refuse to open negotiations now, the Witch might never be willing to talk again," Thomas replied, and Baelfire tried not to cross his arms impatiently as the younger man went on: "That's how honorable war is conducted, and any parley will only work to our advantage. Our men need time to rest and recuperate."
"Thomas is right," David cut in before Baelfire could say something he was afraid he wouldn't regret. "Any time that we buy with negotiations will only help us."
Unless you wind up dead, he managed to resist the urge to say. Thankfully, Abigail spoke up:
"Baelfire does have a point," she interjected calmly. "We all know that evil doesn't fight fair, and the Witch does have every reason to want you dead, David."
"I'm not that important."
Abigail chuckled softly. "Then why ask for you by name?"
"Because she wants to keep us off balance?" David replied dubiously.
"Because she's got a spy or two in our army, I'm sure." This time, Baelfire couldn't stop the comment from coming out, and got to watch Thomas and Frederick bristle as a reward.
Please don't tell me that our people would never betray us. Frightened people do ridiculously stupid things to keep their family and friends safe. Baelfire had learned a lot about fear and intimidation in Neverland, and he knew that even old friends from Storybrooke might turn into deadly enemies if the stakes got high enough here in the Enchanted Forest. Sometimes, the ridiculously honorable royals were such…well, fairytale characters. He had to suppress a smile at that thought.
"Is that thought amusing to you?" Thomas demanded.
He sighed. "No. Not at all. None of this is, actually." Compared to the fresh faced prince, he felt every one of his two-hundred and sixty-odd years. But baiting Thomas further would only make the other royals turn on him, so Baelfire transferred his full attention back to David. "Okay. You're determined to go, so fine. But I get to run the security for our end, and you wear this."
Before he'd even finished the last sentence, Baelfire held a golden bracelet out to the prince. David looked at it curiously.
"I didn't know you cared so much, Baelfire. It's not even my birthday," he joked, and as usual, David's charm broke through the tension. Even Thomas chuckled a little.
"It's a shield of sorts, full of protective spells. The bracelet is pretty old, but Regina says it should still work fine. Belle found it when she was cleaning out some old cabinets," he explained. And I brought it along because I knew you'd do something crazily stupidly honorable sooner or later, he didn't need to add. Charming clearly saw him thinking it.
"How long should it give me if she starts throwing magic my way?" David asked, sliding the bracelet onto his left wrist.
"Anything from a minute to a half an hour. Regina wasn't too sure. It's not her work."
David smiled. "Well, from what I remember about your father in this world, I'd bet closer to a half an hour, but I'll be careful."
"Always a good idea."
"Are you sure about this, Tinker Bell?" Snow asked quietly, trying not to fidget. The baby was finally quiet, and any movement on her part would undoubtedly change that, so she was doing her best to resist the urge to pace.
This news wasn't helping.
Tinker Bell nodded. "I know I don't spend as much time at…home as Blue wants me to, but I do drop by every now and then. And I couldn't help but overhear the conversation between her and some of the more senior fairies."
"What exactly were they saying?" Snow asked, taking a deep breath. She didn't want to consider why the Blue Fairy hadn't shared this information with them, but she was certain that was because the Blue Fairy was even busier than Snow and her allies were. Still, any news of another enemy had to be important. The Wicked Witch was quite bad enough.
"She said that the Black Fairy had escaped her exile while you were all under the curse," Tinker Bell replied bluntly, and Snow's stomach dropped out.
"What?"
"I know." Tink looked ready to be sick. "The Black Fairy was from before my time, but believe me when I say that she's bad news. No one knows how Blue managed to exile her, but everyone knows how powerful she was. And how evil."
Snow sucked in a deep breath. "So where did the Black Fairy go, then?"
"No one knows. Or if she knows, Blue isn't saying so." Tink swallowed, and Snow didn't like the doubtful look on her face. Blue always had reasons, and they usually turned out to be very good ones. "I'm worried, Snow," the green fairy whispered. "Something's happening. Blue and the others are shutting me out more and more because I've chosen to stay with all of you instead of working with them, but they're preparing for something. And they're not telling me about it."
"I'm sure she'll let us know in time," Snow soothed her friend.
When she'd initially met the abrasive and haunted fairy, she never would have expected Tinker Bell to become a true friend, but this last year had changed so many things about the life Snow White had once expected to have. The time before that in Storybrooke, both immediately before the curse was broken and the months afterwards, had changed even more, and she knew that she was a far cry from the princess who had warred against Regina. She was harder, more suspicious, and stronger in ways she had never wanted to be.
But those inner changes were the reason why Tinker Bell's next words rang so true, no matter how badly Snow wanted to deny them.
"Don't trust her so much," Tink said so softly that Snow had to strain to hear her. "Blue isn't fighting the same battles you are. She's looking forward centuries. She does what she thinks must be done for the greater good, not what's good for us now."
Still, Snow didn't want to believe that. "Blue just gave us the ability to get Emma and Henry back," she pointed out.
"For her own reasons, I'm sure," said the fairy whom Blue had once refused to believe in. Twice, if Regina's tale was to be believed, and Snow had grown to know her stepmother too well to doubt her.
"I think you're being unduly pessimistic," she replied, wishing she could believe that.
Tink only frowned. "I hope I am."
Of course it was a trap. And of course Prince Thomas—who had gone along with Charming (because really, which other royal was dumb enough to wander in there? Not Princess Abigail, and certainly not Sir Frederick while he was with her)—managed to get himself seriously injured during the escape. Baelfire really tried not to stereotype Cinderella's prince, but the boy had fallen in love at first sight with a girl who'd only made it to the ball with magical help. And he'd also been stupid enough to try to help Ella get out of the deal she'd made in order to change her life, as if nothing bad could ever come of that. Put simply, the boy just wasn't that bright.
"I really miss cell phones right now," David groused as he and Baelfire eased Thomas off of his horse. Thankfully, the younger man was unconscious now, probably from blood loss despite the bandage that they'd tied over the gaping wound in his side.
Bae ran a tired hand over his face. "Tell me about it. I told you that was a trap."
"Now's not the time." Together, they lowered Thomas to the ground, and the boy moaned softly as David removed the blood-soaked bandage, peering at the seeping wound.
"We lost at least two dozen men," Bae pointed out, feeling petulant.
He'd been right, and the Witch had barely even waited for an exchange of pleasantries before she'd tried to kill both princes. Charming had jumped in front of Thomas, of course, and the bracelet had protected them both—until the Witch's so-called royal guard had come pouring into the pavilion and tried to cut them both to pieces. Luckily, Bae had been close enough with the cavalry to bail the pair out, but a full-scale battle had erupted within minutes, and it had taken all the skill Bae possessed to extract their forces from the situation. Charming had, of course, been so honorable that he'd left the bulk of their army away from the supposed parlay, but the Witch had done nothing of the sort, and their fifty man honor guard had been vastly outnumbered by the several thousand she'd keep hidden not far away.
Only twenty-one of their men made it back with Bae, Charming, and Thomas, and many of them were almost as badly wounded as Thomas. Attempting to parlay with the Wicked Witch had bought them nothing except more deaths. Now they were even worse off than before…and that wasn't even the worst of it. If Thomas died, Baelfire knew they'd lose his father's support. Oh, the King would probably stay for awhile, but he was a touchy man, and terribly protective over his family. Thomas had a younger brother, and under their kingdom's rules of succession, that brother took precedence over Princess Alexandra. Thomas' death would make him heir to the throne, and that meant Thomas' father would be desperate to make peace with the Wicked Witch so that he didn't lose his only remaining son.
Whether or not the Witch would accept his allegiance was up for grabs, but so far as Baelfire was concerned, that didn't matter. They couldn't afford to lose any more of their army. If they did, the war was all but lost.
"Not now!" Charming retorted, applying pressure to the wound. "Write Snow. Tell her we need Tinker Bell as quickly as possible."
"Got it." Scowling, Baelfire pulled out a small communications chalkboard and scribbled a note.
Regina had enchanted a dozen of them about a month after returning to the Enchanted Forest. None of their old technology worked there (at least not beyond its battery life, and it wasn't like they could build a cell phone tower, anyway), but Regina had come up with the idea of using small chalkboards to "text" back and forth in emergencies. They couldn't send long messages, but at least the words could cover long distances in the blink of an eye.
Snow's response showed up almost immediately, written in loopy and beautiful handwriting that replaced Bae's haphazard scrawl. Tink is on her way. How bad?
Sometimes Bae forgot that Emma's mother could have had kicked Xena's ass if the warrior princess had lived in the Enchanted Forest, but her succinct response reminded him so much of Emma that it hurt. Banishing those thoughts, he scrawled a quick answer:
About fifteen wounded, twenty-five or more dead. Got caught in an ambush that was supposed to be a parlay. David's okay.
Thomas was moaning, and Baelfire looked away from the tablet to hand David clean bandages. Pressure had slowed the bleeding, but Thomas still hadn't regained full consciousness. "That looks ugly," he said softly.
"It is," Charming said quietly. "Did Snow say how long Tink will be?"
"I'll ask."
He got that message in before Snow replied to the previous one, and a response came almost immediately. Swallowing, Bae looked up.
"Tink said an hour before she left. We're pretty far for her to fly, and she doesn't teleport."
David grimaced. "I don't suppose magic runs in your family, does it?"
"No. Dad didn't get his magic the, uh, normal way."
"Right. I suppose you'd have mentioned something by now if you could do magic, huh?" the prince replied with what Bae knew was forced cheer.
Bae sighed. "Yeah."
His opinion on magic was odd, Baelfire knew. Having grown up in a world where magic was a distant force, a power that belonged to the great and the important but not in his life, he'd never known much about it before his father had killed the Dark One. Then that act had changed everything, and he'd come to believe that magic itself was evil for what it had done to his papa. Because of that, he'd hated magic for the longest time, only to willingly come back to a world full of it…all for the love of a woman who was now stuck back in the world he'd run to in order to escape magic.
There were so many things about his life that made no logical sense. When he'd handed Pandora's Box back to his father in Neverland, Baelfire had accepted that magic wasn't necessarily evil. He'd started to hope that maybe, just maybe, his father really could change…and then he had watched his father kill himself in order to defeat Pan.
Self sacrifice was a kind of magic all of its own, Regina had told him when the pain had dulled to a muted roar. She'd never studied it much, having no intention of ever sacrificing her own life for some higher purpose, but Regina recalled having read something or another on it years earlier. Rumplestiltskin had never come out and said it, but that was what he'd meant when he'd repeatedly said that in order for Pan to die, he had to die. He'd been intending to sacrifice himself all along. And I didn't believe him.
Swallowing his own regrets back, Bae turned back to the pair of princes and concentrated on saving Thomas' life. They had a war to win, and no matter how many they had already lost, more would die before the war was over.
Suddenly, the door burst open, flying back against the outer wall hard enough to break the hinges. Regina sagged briefly. Almost an hour had passed since she'd started working to force the door open, and now she looked exhausted. But the Queen did not voice a word of complaint, instead flicking her wrist until a glowing blue ball of light appeared. The ball floated away from them, illuminating the dark interior of the building.
Regina and Belle entered together, cautiously, with Robin right on their heels, bow in hand. Regina's ball of flickering light made a slow circuit of a very empty room; there were a few boxes in one corner and straw on the floor, but there was no furniture and definitely no legendary magical items visible. The wooden crates in the corner didn't even have lids, and not a one of them had anything inside at all. The trio spread out warily, but there wasn't exactly much of the room to look at, and Belle heard Regina huff in annoyance.
"There's nothing here," Robin said after a moment, following the glowing ball into the far corner.
"Then why shield the building with magic?" Belle asked, studying a pile of straw near her right foot.
Regina growled: "To waste our time, probably."
"What, have they done this in every town they expect we'll wander into?" Robin wondered out loud. "That doesn't make any sense at all."
"Confusing your enemies isn't about making sense," Regina retorted. "Trust me. Being evil is something I know plenty about. We're wasting time here. There's no magical object. That message had to be a trick, something we were meant to find."
"Maybe you're right," Robin conceded, looking behind the door.
Still studying the floor, Belle shook her head. There was something else here, if only she could pinpoint exactly what it was that her instincts were telling her. Empty was too easy of an explanation. She let a breath out, speaking slowly. "I don't think so."
"There's nothing here," Regina snarled impatiently. "Look around. It's an empty room."
"And it's not even a big empty room," Robin added, lowering his bow. "I think Regina's right. We've been sent on a wild goose chase."
It sounded eminently logical, even the bit about the message having been a forgery designed to pull them away from the main war effort. And yet—Belle couldn't quite believe that. Her instincts were still screaming that something else was going on. As she kicked a pile of straw in frustration, Belle's toe caught on a small lip on the floor, sending her tumbling to the ground. She landed hard on her hands and knees, yelping as the palm of her left hand caught on something metal.
"Lady Belle, are you all right?" True to form, Robin leapt to her side, hooking a hand under her elbow to help Belle to her feet.
She blinked, staring at her hand. "I'm fine."
Before Robin could stop her, Belle dropped back to her hands and knees, running her hands along the floor and looking for the bit of metal she had cut her hand on. Within moments, she found it, and then, moving her hands outwards, was able to identify a square outline that was roughly four feet square. Unable to help herself, Belle started to grin.
"There's a trap door down here!" she exclaimed, her heart racing.
Regina swung into action. "Move and I'll open it," she ordered, the glowing ball already hovering over Belle. But Belle clambered to her knees instead of getting up.
"Why don't we just try to open it the normal way instead?" she replied, groping for and finding a handle buried beneath the dirt and the straw. "Help me pull it up, Robin."
The outlaw leaned over and grabbed the handle with her. Belle stood, and then they heaved together. Surprisingly, the trap door opened immediately, its hinges barely squeaking in protest. Belle shot Regina an apologetic smile.
"Let's save your magic for when we really need it."
"Right."
"There's a ladder here. I'll go first," Robin cut in before Regina could say more, slinging his bow over his shoulder and then matching actions to words. The ladder was steep and made of iron, almost straight up and down. Belle couldn't see how long the ladder was as Robin swung himself onto the first few rungs and started down; the bottom of it disappeared into an even darker gloom. The air coming from beneath the trapdoor was colder, too, which she supposed made sense since the ladder led into an underground chamber of some sort.
"Can you send that little ball of light down here, Regina?" Robin called up when the darkness had almost swallowed him.
"Sure." The blue ball zoomed through the opening, skirting past Robin and into the space beneath him. Peering down, Belle could just make out the floor beneath the outlaw, stone and covered in shadows of some sort. Was that dirt? Whatever it was, the floor looked like it was only a story or so beneath the room Belle was now in.
"It looks like a cellar of some sort," she told Regina as the sorceress leaned down next to her.
There was room enough on the ladder now; Robin was over halfway down. Without waiting for Regina, Belle hopped onto the ladder, hissing in pain when her cut hand made contact with cold metal. Still, the sting wasn't so bad, so she ignored the cut and headed down. She could wrap it up later. In the meantime, there was a mystery to investigate.
"I'm at the bottom!" Robin called up, and Belle quickened her pace. It was easier to climb now that she could see each rung, so her feet hit the ground shortly after Robin's. He headed left and she went right, with the ball of light hovering in between them.
Regina was on the ladder before Robin's soft exclamation of surprise startled Belle.
"Good heavens," the outlaw whispered, and Belle whirled around to follow his gaze.
There was a slender figure chained against the far wall, blindfolded, gagged, and covered in blood. Shoulder-length, matted hair covered most of his face, but Belle would have known those features anywhere. She launched into motion, sprinting forward before she even knew where her feet were carrying her.
"Rumplestiltskin!"
A/N:Thank you to all the wonderful folks who have reviewed so far! Please do take the time to let me know what you think of this story, and stay tuned for Chapter 3: "The Price", in which we learn the last year of Rumplestiltskin's story.