CH. 4 Bought on Stolen Wine
"In there," said Gaston, dismounting his horse behind Belle. He pointed to the moonlit structure, intending her to walk as instructed.
Belle instead tried to make a run for the woods — but with barely a step, Gaston snatched her in his strong arms and simply lifted her over his shoulder. He carried her into the building like a sack of meat.
The so-called "lodge" was more of a one-room log shed with no windows. Even in the daylight the interior was like a cave; by night it was like stepping into a black hole. It had a fireplace and some furnishings, but it was intended mainly as a place for a hunter to store his kills and get some rest between outings.
It was now night, and one could scarcely distinguish the inside from the outside. Gaston's existing familiarity with the place was all that guided him.
Belle released a sob. "No, no, no…"
"Jeez! Belle, knock it off!" he snapped, his tone annoyed. "No one can hear you out here."
Gaston flung her down on something soft — it felt like a bed. She screamed. Then Gaston vanished from her side and instead began fiddling with the cabin's only door, shutting off the faint light from outside.
"It's so dark in here," remarked Belle, shivering in the silence.
"Well, imagine that! We didn't come in here to read."
The door was at last secured to his satisfaction, and he effortlessly lifted a great wooden storage cabinet from nearby to place in front of it, making it that much harder to escape without his assistance.
Finally, with all the security taken care of, he felt around in the darkness till he located the fireplace. He started up a fire, finally giving light and warmth to the little room.
Belle looked a mess: her hair had come loose and was tangled around her windburnt face, which was now all puffy from weeping.
Gaston couldn't help but laugh. "Belle! You look terrified!"
"I am terrified!" she shrieked, her fear twisting into annoyance at his overall jovial attitude. "You've just kidnapped me and taken me to a shack in the forest!"
"What, exactly, do you think I'm planning to do to you?"
"If you don't know, then I don't want to give you ideas!" she screamed.
"I think those books of yours have given you enough ideas," said Gaston with a shake of his head.
"Let me go, Gaston!"
"Ah, Belle, you know I'm not going to start giving away free milk when I'm trying to get you to buy the cow."
He still had every intention of getting her to marry him, whether she liked it or not.
"I have figured everything out," he continued. "Once you explained to me about the Prince and his castle, I realized my mistake. See, I had figured you'd want to marry me in a hurry and get on with life as soon as possible, but now I see — you just need time to get to know me!"
Belle's jaw nearly hit the floor. "I know more than enough about you, Gaston."
"Ha! Well, it sounds like it took about three days of a Beast, or maybe a Prince, holding you in his castle dungeon before you emerged as his faithful fiancée. So, I would surmise… maybe half a week locked up here with me?"
"You are out of your mind, Gaston!" screamed Belle, now suddenly even more horrified by the realization she was with a man who was just plain crazy rather than malicious.
"It does seem you've got a penchant for the type," Gaston said as he plopped himself onto the bed beside her, the force of his massive weight causing her to go flying from the mattress with a shriek.
…
The Prince was very dismayed at finding that Belle's beloved father disliked him so. But being fresh off having wooed the daughter, despite literally being a hideous monster, it seemed to him that it must be possible to again change his ways and to display that change, in order to compel Maurice too to like him.
"Maurice?" said the Prince after a long time walking in silence.
"Now what?" moaned Maurice.
"I… I wanted to tell you again how sorry I am about locking you in the tower overnight."
"You just have to keep bringing that up, don't you?"
The Prince hesitated, surprised. "Was… was there… something else you were upset about?"
"YOU KIDNAPPED MY DAUGHTER AND HELD HER PRISONER!" screamed Maurice.
"Oh! But… well… I would lie if I said I was sorry for that," said the Prince, rubbing the back of his head in guilt. "And besides, I didn't kidnap her. She offered to take your place."
Maurice let out a frustrated cry and tried to speed up his step. His legs were much shorter than the Prince's, and it was difficult for him to walk ahead of him for more than a few seconds before being overtaken by the strapping youth.
"More bark than bite, aren't you?" said Maurice to the Prince. "What happened to the vicious monster who could snuff out a fire just by entering the room?"
"That wasn't me," said Matthieu. "I mean — I was the Beast, but, that's not what I was really like. Ah, Maurice! You can't imagine it! At eleven years old — turned into a monster! Isolated! Forced into this curse, where I must fall in love to break it! Then, with only a few days before the point of no return, when I'd be a Beast forever — everyone in the castle on edge — you showed up. It had been so long since anyone had come to the castle."
"Well I should be glad for that, if my treatment is any indication of how you treat the visitors."
"I was just — so upset — so disappointed that after so much waiting it would be a man that arrived. An old man."
"So you only treat pretty young girls with any courtesy?"
"Well, it is so much easier since I'm actually attracted to girls… but I knew I was going to have to do whatever it would take to break the spell, and I couldn't have you run off before I got up my nerve."
"Got up your nerve for what?" said Maurice. Then, his eyes bulged in horrified realization. "Great googlymoogly, you were intending to seduce me?"
"That's… a strong word…" said the Prince, embarrassed. "But it was the spell. I had to fall in love with someone and get them to love me back before the deadline. Nothing else could break the curse. You were the only human around, so…"
"You absolute animal!" cried Maurice, aghast. "You'd have just fallen in love with anyone that walked into your castle?"
"I'd have tried to, I admit it," said Matthieu. "I think it was… really… it was fate that Belle should have come along in time," he said, his cheeks growing rosey in the moonlight at the fond recollection of her.
"Belle is easy for anyone to fall in love with!" cried Maurice, bursting the Prince's bubble. "Any fellow in this entire village would be glad to have her! Even Gaston likes her. Do you know who Gaston is?"
"Isn't he the one who had us sent to the asylum?"
Maurice rolled his eyes. "A prank, like the old man said! Gaston has a great sense of humor, you know. Everyone adores that fellow."
"Belle's never spoken very well of him…"
"That's because you've gone and scrambled her up with — with — your mind-control, fingering-voodoo!"
The startled Prince, caught between shock and amusement, couldn't suppress a laugh at Maurice's obscene accusation, causing him to halt mid-stride in an awkward fit of giggling.
"But — it's not an illusion! We're in love!" he said, catching his breath.
"Love can be real and be fleeting, young man. Belle needs to be with someone stable as a rock. Someone like Gaston! I'd have liked to see what he'd have done if you'd tossed him into a dungeon! Now — there's a man, and sure a fellow as ever was."
…
Gaston was becoming frustrated — why, Belle seemed like she was more interested in sleeping than in getting to know him! She was curled up on the end of the bed, tired eyes beginning to slide shut for longer and longer spans.
He took the fireplace poker and jabbed her a couple times like she was a log about to go out. "Hey! Wake up!"
Belle stirred easily enough at the obnoxious treatment.
He tossed away the poker with a clang, and started lighting some candles to try to brighten the place up and make it less inviting to doze. "Come on, Belle! How can you sleep at a time like this?" he scolded. "This is exciting! We're camping!"
"Camping is just a fancy name for vagrancy," muttered Belle groggily. She was incredibly tired, and Gaston seemed to want to keep her awake for a second night in a row.
"Vagrancy! Would a vagrant be surrounded by such luxury?"
"Do we even have any food in here? I'm so hungry," said Belle.
Gaston suddenly realized he hadn't accounted for that. "Well… maybe not at this very moment. But… I'll get us some food in the morning."
"You can't tell night from day in here," said Belle, exhausted. "Can't you go out and get something now?"
Gaston frowned. He wondered if Belle's hunger might be feigned in hopes he would leave her alone and give her a chance to escape. "Not a good time. Middle of the night — all the animals are out running around."
"Shouldn't that be the best time to get them?"
"Nah, the time to catch them is when they're asleep in the morning. Get 'em by surprise. Anyway, we don't need food! We have — each other!"
"No we don't!" cried Belle in anger. Then her tone shifted: she began to plead. "Please! Gaston! Just let me go! I just want to go home to my fiancé and my father!"
Gaston slammed his fist down angrily on the little table, causing the lit candles to bounce dangerously. Belle jumped at the noise.
"It's always 'I, Me, Mine, I, Me, Mine' with you, Belle!" seethed Gaston. "You ever stop and think about what I want? Hmm? You ever think 'Oh, Gaston's had such a long, hard day, he might need a foot massage about now?' No, you don't. You only think of yourself. Well, a few days with me and you'll change your tune on that, I guarantee it. And I'm not opening that door until you fall into line — I don't care if we both starve to death. I promise I can out-stubborn some girl if I can out-stubborn anyone — and I can!"
Belle began to cry.
…
"What do you mean I'm not good enough for Belle?" challenged the Prince.
Still walking towards the faint smoke and haze of the town in the dimming sunlight, Maurice argued back. "Putting on a show of refinement, putting on a show of how butch you are — but it's all nothing but illusion, isn't it? You're still just throwing tantrums like an eleven year old brat. Falling in love with whatever new plaything walks into the room. Now, I don't say it's out of the ordinary for a young man to behave that way, not at all. But Belle is a very special girl, and needs a very special man. You are not it. And what are you giving her now?" griped Maurice. "A haunted castle where adorable dishware lures you into a pit of Hell…"
The Prince hurriedly shook his head. "They were under the curse as well. The whole palace is transformed now. The servants are human! It's gorgeous! Erm…" Although he was far from feeling kindly towards Maurice at this moment, he knew Belle's wishes and the promises he had made. It was his duty to present them. "Belle and I were intending you to come live there with us."
Rather than the delight the Prince had expected, Maurice looked at him in an outraged horror.
"WHY WOULD I WANT TO GET NEAR THAT PLACE AGAIN?" he bellowed.
It hadn't really occurred to the Prince that Maurice might not accept the offer. "Hm. Well… I suppose you don't have to come. I… suppose we can come into the village to visit…"
"You won't be visiting anything!" cried Maurice. "Your monstrous, manicured — back-and-forth — hands are never touching my Belle again!"
The Prince was getting angry now. "Maurice!" he snapped, his muscles tensing beneath his silks, "I asked her to marry me, and she said yes. It's up to her, not you, whether or not we'll wed."
"She won't be saying yes once I get her freed from whatever — whatever your obscene — magical — mind warping — "
"For Pete's sake, it's not as if her hand wasn't down my pants at the time," grumbled the Prince, anticipating Maurice's complaint.
Suddenly Maurice let out a cry of alarm. Prince Matthieu initially thought it was just ongoing outrage from the father — but then, he saw what he saw:
Three large, burly fellows emerging from the copse along the road; armed to the teeth, with black bandanas over their faces.
Highwaymen.