Dawn
Chapter 10
Desperate Souls
"Being brave doesn't mean you go looking for trouble."
"Wake it up son. We're going now, we're going now!" His fathers urgent desperate voice begged as he gently shook him awake. Baelfire knew this was coming. They had lowered the age to fourteen and in a few days time it would be his birthday. The horror of the war came to the home front that morning. His childhood friend and the girl he had a crush on for moons was taken right before his very eyes. He was about to offer himself in her place before he saw what the dark one was capable of, and he cursed himself for being such a coward. He should have stopped those knights. He should have done something. Instead the boy like any child buried himself into his father's side. Not that it mattered much. In a few days time the knights would come for him too. That was why his father had packed everything they owned into sheepskin sacks and prepared for them to flee under the cover of night.
Bae however had different feelings about the war. If the law called him to fight, he wanted to fight. He yearned for adventure outside their little hovel. He loved his papa dearly and he had never spoken an unkind word to him. He was a loving and gentle yet timid soul and he'd always love him. Yet there were times that his papa was too overprotective. He still saw him as a little boy and Bae was growing up and becoming a man. Perhaps it was sensible to wait until he was older to have adventure in the great wide somewhere but still, the call of the wild was still roaring in his ear. He knew that there would be danger on the front but it was a risk he was willing to take. It wasn't just for himself but for his poor father who was forever labeled as the town coward. The duke had often advertised that serving in the war was a path to knighthood. If he became a knight, he could take care of his papa forever and make a new name. They'd never want for anything ever again. He was aging quickly with facing poverty and his lame leg. Though his father tried to deny it he knew he went without eating just to give Bae what he needed.
That and his desire to see the world overwhelmed him. He heard stories of the other kingdoms and wanted to see them for himself even through military campaigns. He was ready to fight for his future and for his family. And now here they were, running away and hiding once again. Bae wondered if his fate was to spend his entire life hiding, running. A family of cowards constantly looking for a corner to hide in. After a few lengths of the road, the only sound the cooing of owls and the sound of his father's walking stick ticking the ground, the boy finally broke the silence. "It feels wrong to run away." He finally admitted, looking back towards the village that he was never going to see again, his friends that he would not get to fight alongside as brothers. The older man shook his head, clutching him protectively to his body, fearful that the wind itself might take him away. "No my son. I can't lose ye Bae. I won't have ye going to no ogre's war. The war is unjust, brutal and bigger than ye think." There was something in his fathers eyes that he didn't recognize. The father and son were always safe to be honest with each other which was why Bae felt safe to bring up his feelings. He knew something about this war that he wasn't saying. "Ye don't know what war is like. What they do to ye.."
The silence once again enveloped them for a moment. Out of the corner of his eye Bae saw a flash of golden glittering fur beyond the bushes. The moon was waxing. Perhaps it was its light shining off the waters of the nearby river. He had an eerie sensation of being watched. Sometimes he heard soft pained growls and grunts from the woods just like his father's. Another trick of the light it seemed but he could swear he saw golden amber eyes watching them which sometimes seemed green as well, watching them from the ravine. The presence wasn't malicious however. It seemed familiar, like his strange dreams of being in a far off land of stretching grasslands, exotic animals and the roaring of lions, a soft glow of morning light surrounding an almost angelic golden skinned beast looking down towards him with love and worry.
He was snapped out of his thoughts by the scrambling of hooves and the clanking of armor. The soldiers had caught up to them. Bae stood tall and grabbed the nearest rock he could find, though he wouldn't use it until it was necessary. Maybe his father would see reason that he had to go. Or maybe he could convince his support. Yet he still tried to hide him. "Go! In the ditch, go!" The spinner cried out fearfully, the only time he had ever heard his father raise his voice at him. He turned to push him into the bushes but they were stopped. A group of at least ten nights came out of the wood like malicious spirits. Their armor gleamed wickedly as their cold swords flashed. They were upper level nights, Hordor himself, the general who held the dark one's leash grinning with amusement as he looked down towards them as if he had scraped them off his boots. He could feel his poor father shuddering with fear, but his arm was still clutched protectively around him.
"What are you doing on the king's row?" The older man's brown eyes were wide with fear. It always broke his heart to see his father like this. "We were just on our way. We have some wool to sell at the fair at Longboats." He had to say this about his father, his mind was like a steel trap. He could think on his feet better than he could walk on them. There was indeed a fair going on. Hordor however had seen through it. "What's your name. Hmm I know." His men began to snicker as his father shivered with fear. "Spindleshanks. Threadwhistle. Hobblefoot." With each insult his father cowered more towards the ground but his protective grip will remained around his son. Baelfire would no longer be silent. Perhaps he was just the son of the town coward but he wasn't going to stand by while his future was decided for him. The young man summoned his courage. He'd laugh in the face of danger, especially those who were cruel to the man who raised him. "His name's Rumplestiltskin!" He spoke up boldly standing protectively in front of his father as he whimpered and begged for him to be silent. "Hush,boy…" Hordor smirked again. "Ah. The man who ran….did he tell you? Did he tell you how he deserted when the ogres allied with the animal kingdom, and the lion pride attacked the front lines? Did he tell you how he injured himself when the hyenas and wolves launched themselves into battle and the ogres turned the tide? And then he returned home to a wife who couldn't stand the sight of him. You see, women do not like being married to cowards." Avoiding Bae's shock he asked another sharp question. "Is this your boy? Are you teaching him how to run as well? What's your name, son?" "My name's Baelfire and I'm thirteen!" Bae shouted back without fear as his father practically begged him to lower his head, hissing into his ear as tears streamed down his cheeks. "When's your birthday." "In three days time." "Hush boy!"
"Its treason to avoid service." The general spoke coolly. "Take the boy now." That and that alone made his father cry out in protest. "No no no!" He begged, his arm wrapping more tightly around him, clutching Bae close to his heart like a mother whose newborn baby boy was being taken from her arms. Tears of desperation streamed down his cheeks. "What do ye want?! I'll give ye anything! Please! Don't take him…" the general only smirked. "You have no land. No money. No power. Even your association with that she beast is but a rumor. All you have his fealty." Bae noticed that when the word "beast" was used the horses immediately began to turn on their riders, snorting as if something offensive had made them angry. They stomped their hooves and began angrily snorting and tossing their heads. In return for their insolence the riders lashed them with their crops. "Ungrateful brutes." Hordor leaned forward. "Kiss my boot." He dismounted from his horse and stood in front of his father, pushing Bae out of the way into into another soldiers hands. "You asked my price. Kiss my boot." The spinner whimpered, Bae's heart shattering as he watched his father crumble. "Not in front of my boy.." "KISS MY BOOT!" As a soldier clutched his arm he watched with sadness as his father fell down in submission, seizing Hordors boot and kissing it. The soldier only laughed and kicked his poor father hard in the face, watching with horror as blood shot out of his nose. Another two soldiers began to pummel him with their fists and boots into his fathers shrunken starving stomach as he gagged and cried out loudly in pain.
After watching his father crumple over in the grass, Baelfire felt a strange rage build up within him. On impulse, the boy grabbed his walking stick and waved it around harshly at the nights, standing in front of his dizzy pain racked papa. "Get back! Get back!" With nasty grins, Hordor and his men came closer, mocking laughter flowing like poison from their lips. They cackled like hyenas. "That was it!? I certainly hope you'll fare better on the front, boy." His heart hammering, Bae tried to retort, but as he opened his mouth another unexpected sound exploded into the air.
A roar of a lion had replaced the boy's cracked defensive shouting. The knights stared up in confusion and terror as something sprang up and over Rumple and Bae where they were hiding. It was the biggest cat that he had ever seen. It was in fact, a lioness, bigger than any lion he had seen in a banner of a kingdom or on a shield or coat of arms. The huge tawny mass of sinew and glittering golden fur pounced over him and into the men. Her amber eyes were cold with murderous fury, her black lips peeled back to show large, wickedly sharp, bone crushing fangs. She pummeled the men onto their backs, their armor folding and crumpling like tin. Her massive clawed paws pinned them helplessly to the ground. She let out a powerful enraged roar right into their faces, producing a hot wind that blew back their helmets and their hair. They babbled in fear, and a dark stain began to spread on one of the knights trousers. If not for the fact that his papa was crumpled on the ground whimpering in pain, and the fact that there was a huge predator in their company, it would have been funny to see the men who had terrorized them so fearful. They whimpered in defense. The horses merely stood by before bowing low to not their masters, but to the lioness who attacked them.
"Q..Queen Goldenstar…"
"W..we…trained for this…."
"L…life or death.."
"L..let us go.."
"SILENCE!" the lioness roared again, this time forming words in an enraged high pitched but none the less terrifying yowling Scottish accented voice that was coming from the collar around her neck. They quickly nodded. "W..we're gonna shut it right now…" Hordor himself whimpered and cowered beneath those claws. The lioness bared her teeth and emitted a low savage growl, her slaver dripping on the faces of the now terrified knights. Her paws began to glow with magick and burn the men's chests. "If ye EVER come near my humans again…" Hordor laughed nervously, sweat dripping down his forehead. "Oh these are your humans!? We had no idea did we Bernard." The other knight quickly shook his head. "R..right! And we didn't know this was your territory light one, we swear it, did we Edward?" Always having been the idiot of the group, and nervous about being killed by the dark one's counterpart, he actually nodded his head.
The lioness gave another enraged roar and when she did, released them. She was being merciful. The horses had ran away and before they did Bae could almost swear they dipped their heads in respect and gratitude to the great cat. The knights ran away like scared children, but not before the lioness raked her claws over their backsides to give them a final warning. They screamed in pain like little children and bolted. "You got lucky this time, coward! Your pet can't protect you or the boy forever!" He shouted bitterly over his shoulder. The lioness returned to Bae and pushed him gently down into the grass below her belly, standing over him and his father protectively, the creature let out another loud roar that could be heard through the forest, her deafening roars making the men bolt away. Once they were gone the lioness immediately became softer and gave a soft mumuring chirping sound. Eyes that had been hungrily enraged just moments who became soft and gentle once again. Bae's eyes widened as he recognized her eyes. Amber but sometimes green in the right light, she had the eyes of the strange golden skinned girl who had held him like a baby in his dreams.
A cloud of smoke surrounded the great cat as her shape changed. Standing before him was the proof that it had never been a dream. It was a memory. She was a young girl who couldn't have been but a year or two older than himself, with golden glittering skin, arm crutches under her hands and arms. Her hands bore claw like fingernails, her eyes catlike and amber, auburn fluffy hair giving her the appearance of having a mane. Incredibly the imp looked so much like his papa in her build and facial features that she could have passed as his twin sister if not for her difference in species. "Simba…" she spoke softly as she stepped forward and hugged him tightly, Bae nearly choking from her surprising strength. She seemed so fragile however. So frail. "Baelfire actually and…tell me how I know you?" Her translator spoke in a high pitched Scottish accent. "It's a long story. But my name is Goldenstar." She stepped back and cupped his cheek. "As in…the Queen of the animal kingdom!? The light one?! The one who…is the dark ones…" he noticed her expression immediately become sad. "Aye. I am." Her clawed finger stroked his cheek. "Should I know you?" Bae spoke softly, recognizing the eyes that looked on him with more fondness than he swore his mother had. "No. Ye were only a babe. I helped yer mum bring ye into this world. Ye were so fragile. Oh…so frail. I feared ye wouldn't make it. But your papa knew you'd be the strongest of them all.."
Her eyes widened as her catlike tail puffed with fear. "Your papa…" she immediately went to his fathers side. Bae also cried out in alarm. Battered and bruised, his father was dizzy and unable to stand. He was weak from hunger and blood loss, and as he struggled to get up she stopped him. Tears welled in her eyes as she gently rubbed his shoulders and laid down next to him, licking his head and grooming him as a cat would. "Goldenstar. Ye covered me…ye protected me…" he whimpered and she chirped softly and purred, shushing him. "It's alright dearie. Come home with me. Please. Please don't run anymore." He whimpered in a ragged voice. "B…but I have no money to pay ye…" she shook her head. "Ah no. I don't need it. I make gold. Just come home with me and I'll be your benefactor." He nodded in defeat before losing consciousness, passing out in her arms as she yowled in shock. Bae cried out as well. "Papa!" She looked up at him, an almost desperate look in her eyes as well, her soul as desperate as his.
"He will be alright. He just needs to sleep and be fattened up a bit." She assured him as she pressed her forehead to his. Bae couldn't help but close his eyes and nuzzle her back. It was as if she was in fact long lost sibling who had looked after him, a warmth and familiarity in the feel of her golden skinned in the sound of her purring. He wondered though how they were going to get anywhere. His papa wasn't waking up anytime soon. But his question was soon answered when the beast let go of her crutches and handed them into his hands with a pained grunt. He watched in awe as in all her frailty and though she could barely hold herself up, the she imp gathered his papa up into her arms, carrying him bridal style and whimpering through her own pain, using only her tail to balance herself. She flicked it for him to follow and he could hear her whining in pain with every step.
As they walked, Bae watched with awe as the girl carried him as gently as a mermaid saving a sailor through the waves. Though he could see the pain in her eyes, her grip on his papa only tightened, letting out a snarl at any human who shot them a look. They made their way towards the castle in the mountains. He had been hearing stories about the light and dark ones forbidding abode for many years, but as he held onto the cloak of the beast herself as she carried his father in her arms despite her own pain, one thing became clear to the boy. The monster was not as terrible as she appeared. She was lonely and just as desperate for a friend.