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Disney Fan-Fiction - Hunters and Hunted Ch. 4
Deviation Actions
Literature Text
“Sir, he’s resu…!”
“Get…needle….”
“Heart…decreasing...”
“Damn…some…get me…”
“…losing…”
Samuel’s eyes fluttered open to see the last rays of sunlight streak through the cracks of the walls. The salty perfume of the sea mixed with an earthy odor filled his nostrils like a long lost memory. He tried to move his hands but it was only the left fingers that twitched in response. As he attempted to rise up immediately his head ached and his vision swam while a tingling sensation ran through his right arm and hand.
A woman’s voice hushed him and he turned over to see the upside down face of Anastasia looking down at him.
“Don’t move too much, you were hit pretty hard on the head,” she told him in a low voice.
“Yeah, eavesdropping wasn’t all that great of a plan as I hoped,” he said sarcastically as feeling came back to his right hand that he had been laying on.
As his blinking eyes adjusted to the low light he saw that he was in a large room with walls made of old wood and a thatched roof with poles erected in a semicircle that reached to the beams overhead. Around each pole was a ragged group of three or four individuals, mostly men but with a few women. Most looked like they had been crying. All were asleep, chained with manacles around their wrists that were attached to the pole.
“How long have we been here?” he asked as he peered through a small hole in the roof. “And do you have any idea where ‘here’ is?”
“Several hours at least,” answered Anastasia as she reached to soothe the bump the size of a goose egg on his head. “They must have hit you pretty hard because you haven’t moved since they’ve brought you in. I was caught almost immediately after you left the room. They bound and gagged us and put a bag over our heads. I think we were in town for a little while before they took us out here. As for where we are, we must be pretty close to the sea since we can smell it. However, I don’t think we’re in the town because I haven’t heard anything outside besides the men that kidnapped us.” She pointed to an elderly man with thick white hair and mustache and half-moon spectacles perched on a pink, cherry nose. “They brought him a little while after us.”
Sam recognized him as the woodcarver from a story he had seen long ago.
“Have you tried to use your magic to escape?”
“Yes but it made a lot of noise and they caught me before I could leave. They’ve posted guards outside since then but I think they might have wandered off.”
“Why?”
“Something about hearing strange noises in the distance.”
Sam smirked. “The Dark One. How long ago was this?”
“I don’t know. Maybe an hour or less.”
The smirk retreated to frown. “Something’s gone wrong then. He should be able to handle a few guards with no problems.” He looked up at the chains. “Do you think that you can get us out of here now?”
“I can try.”
____________________________________________________________________________________________
The goblin scampered underneath an abandoned cart like a roach finding shelter under the cracks of a kitchen sink. Its large eyes darted up and down the street, while quick breaths were inhaled between its toothy beak. The boiled leather and scale mail gently rattled from its dark, quivering body. It gave a short gasp as it heard a cry pierce the still night as if it were a bell tolling the hour. As sudden as it had appeared, the sound was cut off and a deep silence weighed down upon the dark world, watching, waiting.
The goblin once again glanced down the street and from its hiding place it could make out an alley nestled between a forge and a home. It hoped that could be a way out of this formerly quant village that had suddenly revealed a monster that roamed the streets at night. It hoped and prayed to its dark mistress that it could reach the alley before it was spotted. The sound of hooves approaching encouraged the goblin to ready itself to sprint. It didn’t want to be caught by the denizens of the village all alone and with no means to defend itself. Not after kidnapping several people and children while they slept in the night.
As the sound grew closer, the creature braced itself in order to sprint as fast as it could to the alley. Suddenly, its foot slipped on the soft dirt, kicking it out from its hiding place. Fear gripped its heart at the noise and it froze. It hoped that the rider didn’t hear it. However, confusion joined in its fear as the sound of the hooves had stopped as suddenly as the cry before it. There was no whinny or panting that came from the animal. Its head began to turn, its wide eyes growing bigger as terror gripped its heart with cold hands. A swishing sound was heard before the street behind it was alit from a blaze, and in another instant the cart rattled from an unseen force. At once the wood began to heat up, and the goblin glanced up to see that the top of the cart was on fire from the blaze. Squeaking in panic as if it were a mouse found by a cat, the creature bolted from underneath the cart and ran as fast as its bone thin legs could manage.
Hooves were once more heard behind the goblin, but in its current state the noise didn’t register in its mind. It just needed to get away, to escape from the fiery end that was about to be cast upon it. It didn’t even see the giant paw that swung from around the corner that struck it underneath the jaw, clapping it shut with a crack, sending the creature onto its back. Stars exploded in its vision for several long seconds but when they dissipated, the sight that entered the goblin’s vision made it wish that they had stayed.
“Mmm, going somewhere, little snack?” asked the massive lion.
The goblin looked from the animal to the horse and rider that was beside it. At first, it thought that the rider sat so high that its head couldn’t be seen, but in an instant the flickering light from the fire illuminated armor and horse. The creature could now see that there was no head resting on the broad shoulders, and at once it recognized the two beings it had seen from a distance at Maleficent’s castle months ago. The fact that the creature now recognized them and their relationship to his mistress made their presence all the more terrifying for the poor soul.
“Now,” continued the king of beasts. “You’re going to tell us where the man who attacked you had went.”
______________________________________________________________________________________________
“Are you sure it was a good idea to threaten those…creatures?”
“Well, as you saw, I was going to kill the three of them one by one until they told me what I wanted to hear,” Rumpelstiltskin answered the little bug sitting on his shoulder. “But I suppose threatening their short, miserable lives is as close as I could get.”
“Do you always treat situations with violence or threats of violence?” inquired the insect.
The Dark One raised his hand as if to flick the bug off. “You’re not here to be my conscience, Jiminy. Keep trying and you’re going to find that this is your final stop.”
“Okay, okay, fine.”
The hand went back down as Rumpel made his way down the seaside dirt road. “Besides, it’s not like they are capable of sitting down sharing tea and crumpets with us, Dearie. These goblins understand one thing and one thing only: violence. The fear that Maleficent strikes in them, they share with the rest of the world.”
Jiminy Cricket nodded solemnly and understandably. He had seen first hand what the goblins had done this very night. He had witnessed homes being broken into, screams between parent and child as both were separated before they were silenced, and entire homes looted by humans who accompanied them. He had hidden himself inside a toyshop owned by an elderly man, but it wasn’t long before that was broken in as well. Jiminy fled into the night once again and began to call for help despite his small stature and his small voice. No one heard his call and rushed out of their homes to help him except for a darkly dressed wizard with a scaly complexion who somehow had heard him and materialized behind the cricket. Jiminy directed him to the toyshop but they found no sign of the goblins or humans. It wasn’t long before they came across the small patrol of the creatures with one of them escaping in the confusion of the attack. It didn’t take much out of Rumpelstiltskin to persuade them to spill their guts over the details behind the raids including those responsible but most importantly where the prisoners were being kept.
“I hope that you’re still not trying to convince me to save the children first,” spoke the warlock, interrupting Jiminy’s thoughts.
“I realize that you can’t be in two places at once but are you really set on leaving the children in their situation? From what you’ve explained to me about Pleasure Island, there’s very little chance that they could make it out.”
“I don’t like it much either but I have… a friend, Samuel, who is probably being kept at the barn with the other people. He was missing earlier today since we didn’t meet up after searching the town.”
“Where did you come from?” Rumpelstiltskin answered by giving a “why-do-you-ask?” look. “You don’t really look like you’re from around here and your boots are starting to have that worn look.”
The cricket pointed to the pair in emphasis.
Rumpel pondered for a moment to decide just how much he was willing to tell. “We were supposed to get passage out to sea, but I learned that the last ship from Arendelle had left with the tide. There were no fishing vessels that were built to go out into the open water either. However, there was a trade ship that was due to arrive from Agrabah by the end of the week and we could…”
They had stopped in the middle of the road, surrounded on all sides by fields of tall grass. The salty smell of the sea was faint as was the sound of waves in the distance to their left. Rumpelstiltskin glanced around at random, ears straining to listen past the breeze that whistled through the grass. Jiminy looked around as well but he could see just as far as Rumpel.
“What is it?” he asked in a whisper.
“I thought I heard something,” came the answer, and the two continued slowly this time. They hadn’t taken five paces when they stopped again only this time the Dark One’s nose was pointed into the air.
“There’s something in the air, but the wind keeps shifting. It’s too faint for me to pick it up clearly.”
“You think it’s something dangerous?”
“Well, we’re walking in the middle of a sea of grass at night with strange smells and noises. What does that tell you?”
“Err…”
“It tells me that we’re about to be in danger. And if I wanted throw an ambush on someone down this path, I would either attack from the sides up at that bend or-“ he whirled around and casted a ball of flame at the grass behind him and sent a massive hyena fleeing in panic. “Behind.”
However, his minor victory was short-lived as he caught sight of another beast that charged at him from the grass. It was too close to cast another spell, so the wizard teleported a few feet away to allow for room to maneuver. To his surprise, the next ball that he casted had no effect on the animal as it crossed the space between them in a single leap. Once more the animal missed with the claws slashing open air and the bared teeth clamping shut on nothing.
The fire that had struck the grass had now turned wild and was beginning to grow. Like some hungry beast, it gobbled the dried parts of the grass while the healthier and fresher parts resisted at least for a little while before they too were claimed. The wind helped to spread the fire’s hunger as the other side of the road was now beginning to smoke. It wouldn’t be long before a wall of flames blocked the way back to the town. Unfortunately, Rumpelstiltskin’s focus was more on the two resilient and larger hyenas that cackled at him.
“Yeesh, what has Maleficent been feeding you?” he quipped as his hands now crackled and sparked with lightning.
“I don’t want to know,” squeaked Jiminy as he held onto the back of Rumpel’s shoulder. A small snap made him turn to see Shenzi preparing to pounce from the grass behind them.
“Rumpel, behind you!”
His warning was given too late as the Dark One unleashed a torrent of lightning onto the other two hyenas, sending them back. Shenzi leapt forward, struck him in the back, and sent both flying. The force of the impact felt like he was kicked by four mules at once, and it had left him breathless facedown on the ground. The weight of the large animal holding him down didn’t help matters.
“Finally, after weeks of searching, we’ve finally caught up to you,” she gloated with glee.
“Yeah, we haven’t had some decent chow since in a couple days while tracking you down,” commented Benzi as he peered down with a greedy look. “I know that we’re supposed to deliver you to the mean old lady but I wonder if she’ll be okay with part of you. The important parts anyway.”
“Yeah, it’s not like he needs an arm or a leg to talk,” agreed Shenzi and the two of them laughed. “Just the head!”
As the topic switched to food, the two of them barely noticed the third member of their party hungrily approach Rumpel’s still form only to freeze as he came up to his arm. Sniffing the bare hand and the covered arm, Ed hummed thoughtfully to himself. Brow furrowed in a frown, he glanced down the road, sniffing the air, before turning to the other side with the still burning grass and doing the same. He then began to gesture to the road and grunt incomprehensibly.
“…All I’m saying is that maybe we want to widen our diet,” continued Shenzi.
“All right, I’m with you there, but you don’t know any seasoning,” pointed out Benzi. “And I’m not eating anything that’s not meat.”
“Fine by me. So, which one of us is going to get the fish?” She noticed Ed’s paw pointing. “You volunteering, Ed?”
Benzi cocked his head to the side to see where his friend was pointing.
“I think he’s pointing to that building that we passed by a while ago. Hey, didn’t we pick up this guy’s scent there?”
Ed nodded vigorously.
“Yeah, we did along with a whole bunch of humans. I thought we were pretty close to him there too,” agreed Shenzi. “Hey, Ed, why are you shaking your head?”
Ed pointed to the other direction.
“Okay, I think what Ed is saying is that he came from the town,” said Benzi and Ed nodded again.
Shenzi looked confused. “Well, that can’t be right. How can he be in two places at once?”
“Maybe he just jumped or vanished or whatever he does from that place to the town?” pointed out Benzi.
Ed shook his head again.
“You’re right, Ed, if he could do that why would he need to walk down the road into our trap?” A thought entered Shenzi’s mind and she moved off of Rumpel to sniff the air down the road towards the direction of the barn. “That’s weird. I could still smell him down there.”
“Let me smell. The fire and smoke is starting to get a little too close anyway,” said Benzi as he joined her. “So, what do you think could be the reason?”
“I have no idea,” Shenzi turned around to see the fire was getting closer to them and was beginning to mess with their senses. “But I think that Scar and Headless should know about this. We’ll meet them there at the building.”
She bent down to pick up Rumpel by the back of his clothing only to come up with nothing.
“What?”
A red shimmer rippled across the body and it dissolved into smoke leaving the three hyenas surprised and disappointed.
“Nuts. They’re not going to be happy about this.”
_____________________________________________________________________________________
“What has Maleficent been feeding this guy?”
Samuel and Anastasia had been running for what seemed like hours through the fields and low hills but it was more like half an hour. The laughter behind them told the pair that they were as likely to escape from the massive lion as a rodent from a raptor. They had managed to escape the barn and freed the prisoners within an hour. By the end of it, Anastasia was tired and so Sam stayed with her as the refugees and townspeople began to carefully make their way back to their homes. There was no sign of any returning guards. As they rested, the two discussed other options in fighting against the Overtaking. Sam realized that the three of them wouldn’t be enough and wanted to begin uniting those kingdoms that haven’t yet been invaded.
“Some places could be used for those seeking asylum, whether they be refugees, heroes, or heroines,” he told her. “We’re going to need to find a map in order to properly plan this out.”
“When I was in Maleficent’s castle, I saw several people be taken into the dungeons,” she said to him. “They looked like really large animals but walked like people.”
“Mickey and his friends,” he explained. “I came with them. We’re going to need to free them. One of them has a magical wizard’s hat.”
“Really?”
Sam, who smiled at her, did not lose Anastasia’s interested look.
“Yeah, if we free them I think he could give you some lessons. You’ve gotten pretty good since we’ve met.”
Anastasia smiled, looking away to hide the red on her cheeks that could be seen from the moonlight. “Nothing like Rumpelstiltskin though.”
Something soft and warm brushed against her skin and she looked down to see the young man’s hand on hers.
“There’s no one that’s like him,” he told her. “He’s the Dark One or something. But that shouldn’t stop you from trying to do your best. What do you say Anstasia the Warrior-Sorceress?”
She couldn’t help but snicker at that, which didn’t seem to satisfy him.
“Not good enough, eh? What about ‘Last of the Huns?’” She snorted and gave him a disapproving look. “All right, all right, not that. I get it. Sore subject. ‘The Scarlet Sorceress?’ No? ‘The Ruby Witch?’ ‘The Fiery Enchantress?’”
Anastasia couldn’t hold back any longer and broke out laughing. “What about ‘Anastasia the Time Traveler?’”
“What?”
“You’re right. I think Scarlet Sorceress is better.”
“No, what do you mean by ‘Time Traveler?’”
Anastasia turned to see that Sam was genuinely surprised.
“That’s where I’m from,” she explained. “My mother wanted to stop Rumpelstiltskin. So she brought us to the past.”
“Why would she want to stop Rumpelstiltskin?”
Anastasia shrugged. “I suppose because he defeated the Villains.”
“But why?” persisted Sam. “I thought I was destined to do that. And what does she hope to gain from defeating Rumpelstiltskin? She’s got a magical wand. Can’t she use it to grant you, your sister, and her happiness?”
She shrugged again. “I suppose. She didn’t really say anything about what she wanted before she sent me away.”
Seeing her uncomfortable, Sam decided to steer the conversation in another direction. “How far into the future did you come from?”
Her face tightened as she frowned in deep thought. She hadn’t really given thought to this timeline business. Everything was happening so fast that she didn’t have time for it. It was nearly a minute until she answered.
“I don’t know. Maybe a year. Maybe less. I heard that Rumpelstiltskin had died a little while before we left but just as we were about to leave he approached us. To stop us, I think.”
“Stop you? Are you sure?”
“Yes. Why?”
The young warrior licked his lips nervously. “Because that’s what he said when I first met him. That he was here to protect me from your mother.” He fell silent as his mind began to make sense of the information. “Do you think that he came-“
He was interrupted by the sound of a deep roar that awoke a nearby murder of crows and made the pair jump out of their skins. Stumbling to their feet, they quickly pelted for the hills as fast as they could. Scar pursued them after a brief moment to give them a head start, and within minutes he was closing the distance. His magically augmented form allowed him to cross three times as much distance as he normally would. While on his hunt for Rumpelstiltskin, he and the hyenas quickly had to adjust their daily routines and hunting styles. While their larger bodies were harder to hide, their speed and endurance allowed them to catch their prey without breaking a sweat. During their main hunt, multiple farms and pastures were depleted of vast quantities of livestock in order to fill the bellies of the beasts. Farmers or herders who attempted to defend their animals were either scared off or put on the menu (the former tended to be enough for the vast majority of the instances).
“We need to split up!” gasped Sam as the pair was beginning to near a small grove.
Anastasia winced at the stitching in her side. “Are you crazy?!”
He stopped at the tree line, panting as he rested against a trunk.
“Listen, I’ll draw him off while you get away.” The sorceress looked like she was about to argue some more but he cut her off. “I’ve got a magical sword, remember? I’ve got a better chance in holding him off. You need to find Rumpelstiltskin and bring him here.”
“I can help you!”
“You can help by getting Rumpel! I’m sorry to say, but you’re magic isn’t enough in this situation and you don’t have the martial skill. I know. We’ve dueled. Now go!”
The two stared hard at each other as if daring the other to get the final word in. Then Anastasia did something that caught the young man by surprise: she leaned up and kissed him on the cheek.
“Be careful and try not to die,” she said as she turned around and passed through the grove.
Samuel was frozen for a second at the action before he turned to face the coming lion. Withdrawing his sword from its scabbard and throwing the empty sheath to the ground, he stood ready with the blade facing his adversary. The monstrous beast approached slowly, his green eyes twinkling emeralds in the moonlight. The rest of the body was an immense shadow that blanketed the ground and moved with heavy footfalls.
“You’ve certainly made this hunt interesting,” congratulated the lion. “I can’t help but overhear your conversation with the woman. You say that you’re not Rumpelstiltskin, but I can smell his scent on you.”
“Ew, gross. Now you’ve put that image in my head.”
Scar ignored the remark. “Speaking of scents, the woman’s is also familiar. I wasn’t sure at first where I picked it up before when I first caught it a few days ago, but now that I’ve caught up to the source, I’ve figured it out. She is the offspring of the Lady Tremaine, isn’t she? Her mother will be overjoyed when we bring her back.”
“What if she doesn’t want to go back?” sneered Sam as he adjusted the blade.
Scar chuckled in amusement at the young warrior’s foolish posturing of putting up a brave face.
“She won’t have a choice in the manner.” He smiled as that wiped off the other’s smirk. “And neither will YOU!”
Scar leaped into the air with his forward limbs extended in front of him, mouth agape, claws extended. For a brief moment, Sam forgot all of his training with Rumpelstiltskin and the Chinese army. He forgot that he was a warrior. He forgot about Anastasia and the mission at hand. All of his focus was on the blade in his hands and keeping it in front of him. All he was was a man facing a wild beast.
Before Sam could blink, Scar was jolted from the air as if pushed by an invisible force and fell on his side to the ground. A roar of frustration erupted from the animal’s cavernous maw as he struggled to rise but was pressed down again. Sam looked around for any sign of his scaly savior but he could see no one approach. He turned back to the strange sight before him as the lion continued to fight against the invisible force to no avail. He then began to notice a dark flicker whenever the lion attempted to get up. Circling the scene, he got as close as he dared to peer underneath the massive black body of Scar to see two shadows. He couldn’t make it the second but he was sure that it was what was holding the beast in place. His eyes drifted to the sword in his hand as a small, dark voice whispered, “Kill him. Kill him now while he’s helpless.”
However, the opportunity to give serious thought to the act disappeared as he heard a high pitch scream interrupt the growls next to him. Forgetting about the captive before him, he rushed as fast as his tired legs could carry him through the grove and up to a high bluff. In the distance, he could make out a horse and two riders galloping away. Even from a mile away, he could make out the Headless Horseman and Anastasia sitting on the horse. Three shapes, almost as big as the stallion, intercepted them from the right and ran alongside them. Their laughter could be heard fading away.
However, Sam didn’t have time to make a move to pursue them as he heard pounding footfalls coming up behind him. After rolling away along the edge, he looked up to see Scar stopping right where he was only a second before. Raising his sword, he brought it down in a slash just as he turned to the warrior. The blade formed a sickening gash across the left side of the lion’s face, passing over the eye. The animal roared in pain with his left paw covering the wound as he backed away only for his rear limbs to lose their footing. In a blink of an eye, the beast vanished over the edge followed by a sickening crack and thud. Sam rushed over to see him lying still on the ground with a broken boulder beside him. Even in the shadows and low light, he could tell that the body wasn’t breathing. He stared at it for what seemed like ages before he could finally wrest his eyes away from the sight and gaze out into the distance. There was no sign of the riders or the hyenas.
He didn’t know how long he stood on the bluff. It might have been minutes, hours, days, or even weeks. He continued to stare at the body with a hard lump in his throat. He hoped that Scar was simply playing dead in an attempt to bring the young man closer in order to finish the job. Or if the plan failed, he would simply and slowly rise up and limp away, perhaps to lead Sam to where his companions could be taking Anastasia. In that fantasy, he entertained the thought that he could help Scar heal his injuries while taking him prisoner and only give him back to the enemy in return for Anastasia. As neither idea seemed to play itself out, his gaze turned to the clear sky above him. The full moon shone with its brilliance but he was looking for something smaller and even brighter in the night sky. He could make out a pair of stars all on their own in the east and another pair to the south but none were the one that he was looking for. None were the blue of the Wishing Star. Nothing could make him relieve himself with the guilt that was swelling up inside of him like that of a bottomless well. And so he didn’t notice the arrival of Rumpelstiltskin until he approached.
“It-it was an accident,” he nervously said to the imp. “He attacked me, I stepped away and struck his face. He then slipped.” The Dark One looked down onto the body and then back at him with a curious expression. “He is dead?”
He watched as the sorcerer silently stood at the edge and extended his hand. As he anxiously waited for a response, Sam’s eyes were cast down to his feet. Then something caught his eye: Rumpelstiltskin had no shadow! He opened his mouth to raise the question, but the Dark One caught him off.
“He’s dead.” The imp looked back to Sam to see him shutting his eyes as if in pain by the news. “You did good.”
“Doesn’t feel that way,” spoke Sam in a low voice. “The first time that I killed…someone…and I can’t help but shake off the feeling of guilt.”
“Why should you feel guilty if you say it was an accident?”
“If it wasn’t for my strike, then he wouldn’t have fell. It wasn’t even a hard strike either. I didn’t mean it for it to happen that way.”
“How did you want it to happen?”
Sam shrugged. “Over at the grove there, I meant to fight him. He was chasing Anastasia and I, and I wanted to fight him there to give her a chance to escape, to live. I-I thought I was ready to fight him, but when he leaped at me I forgot everything. I was afraid.
“I was saved by some unseen magic, but when I looked around you weren’t there. Scar was held down by something invisible…or maybe unseen…and I had an opportunity to finish it there. But…but I couldn’t. I’m not someone who sees an enemy and is prepared to kill it. Not like-”
The two locked eyes and for a brief moment he was about to say “you” to the imp. Instead he broke the stare and gazed down the cliff.
“Like them. Before I could do anything I heard Anastasia scream. I ran over here to see them taking her away. That was when Scar attacked again. Now we’re standing here with no way to know where they could’ve went or what they will do to Anastasia.”
“That doesn’t matter.”
The words shocked Sam enough for him to be silent and he jerked his head to stare dumbstruck at Rumpelstiltskin. The dark sorcerer answered Sam’s dumbfounded stare with a stern one and when he spoke it wasn’t with the normal, high, maniacal tone but a cold and almost cruel one. The last time he spoke like this was in China.
“Listen to me before you get caught up in some idea about conducting dashing heroics. We already have a mission, remember? We need to get to a ship or a harbor that will reach Captain Hook’s vessel, which will take us to Neverland. We need to enlist the aid of the fairies there in stopping the environmental destruction that’s spreading. Maybe even Peter Pan if we’re lucky if he’s not captured. She was our prisoner and now they’ve taken her back to her mother.”
Sam glared at him. “She was our prisoner. Now she’s my friend and I’m going to save her. If you even cared to have friends, then would you not save them if they were in trouble?” He raised the sword chest high between them with the point directed at Rumpelstiltskin. “Now you can help me or you can try and stop me. Drag me away to our mission if you have to, but I swear that I will fight every second of it to get away from you and get to her.”
Impressed, Rumpel conceited and took a step back from the sword. “You care that much about her, do you?”
The young hero lowered the weapon. “I care enough to know that she doesn’t deserve the treatment that she’s about to receive from the Villains even if one of them is her mother. Now where do you think that they could’ve taken her?”
“From here? Anywhere,” he answered. “But our real concern is keeping our distance as we track them. Those hyenas can smell us from a greater distance than they normally would and can distinguish the freshness of our trail after some time. Which means that if they pick up our scent, then we lose any hope of catching them by surprise.”
“What if we were to drive them so hard that they become tired and be unable to prepare for a surprise that we could spring on them?”
Rumpel nodded in agreement. “That could work.”
“Then let’s hunt ourselves some Villains,” stated the warrior as he deftly rested the large sword on his shoulder.
“Get…needle….”
“Heart…decreasing...”
“Damn…some…get me…”
“…losing…”
Samuel’s eyes fluttered open to see the last rays of sunlight streak through the cracks of the walls. The salty perfume of the sea mixed with an earthy odor filled his nostrils like a long lost memory. He tried to move his hands but it was only the left fingers that twitched in response. As he attempted to rise up immediately his head ached and his vision swam while a tingling sensation ran through his right arm and hand.
A woman’s voice hushed him and he turned over to see the upside down face of Anastasia looking down at him.
“Don’t move too much, you were hit pretty hard on the head,” she told him in a low voice.
“Yeah, eavesdropping wasn’t all that great of a plan as I hoped,” he said sarcastically as feeling came back to his right hand that he had been laying on.
As his blinking eyes adjusted to the low light he saw that he was in a large room with walls made of old wood and a thatched roof with poles erected in a semicircle that reached to the beams overhead. Around each pole was a ragged group of three or four individuals, mostly men but with a few women. Most looked like they had been crying. All were asleep, chained with manacles around their wrists that were attached to the pole.
“How long have we been here?” he asked as he peered through a small hole in the roof. “And do you have any idea where ‘here’ is?”
“Several hours at least,” answered Anastasia as she reached to soothe the bump the size of a goose egg on his head. “They must have hit you pretty hard because you haven’t moved since they’ve brought you in. I was caught almost immediately after you left the room. They bound and gagged us and put a bag over our heads. I think we were in town for a little while before they took us out here. As for where we are, we must be pretty close to the sea since we can smell it. However, I don’t think we’re in the town because I haven’t heard anything outside besides the men that kidnapped us.” She pointed to an elderly man with thick white hair and mustache and half-moon spectacles perched on a pink, cherry nose. “They brought him a little while after us.”
Sam recognized him as the woodcarver from a story he had seen long ago.
“Have you tried to use your magic to escape?”
“Yes but it made a lot of noise and they caught me before I could leave. They’ve posted guards outside since then but I think they might have wandered off.”
“Why?”
“Something about hearing strange noises in the distance.”
Sam smirked. “The Dark One. How long ago was this?”
“I don’t know. Maybe an hour or less.”
The smirk retreated to frown. “Something’s gone wrong then. He should be able to handle a few guards with no problems.” He looked up at the chains. “Do you think that you can get us out of here now?”
“I can try.”
____________________________________________________________________________________________
The goblin scampered underneath an abandoned cart like a roach finding shelter under the cracks of a kitchen sink. Its large eyes darted up and down the street, while quick breaths were inhaled between its toothy beak. The boiled leather and scale mail gently rattled from its dark, quivering body. It gave a short gasp as it heard a cry pierce the still night as if it were a bell tolling the hour. As sudden as it had appeared, the sound was cut off and a deep silence weighed down upon the dark world, watching, waiting.
The goblin once again glanced down the street and from its hiding place it could make out an alley nestled between a forge and a home. It hoped that could be a way out of this formerly quant village that had suddenly revealed a monster that roamed the streets at night. It hoped and prayed to its dark mistress that it could reach the alley before it was spotted. The sound of hooves approaching encouraged the goblin to ready itself to sprint. It didn’t want to be caught by the denizens of the village all alone and with no means to defend itself. Not after kidnapping several people and children while they slept in the night.
As the sound grew closer, the creature braced itself in order to sprint as fast as it could to the alley. Suddenly, its foot slipped on the soft dirt, kicking it out from its hiding place. Fear gripped its heart at the noise and it froze. It hoped that the rider didn’t hear it. However, confusion joined in its fear as the sound of the hooves had stopped as suddenly as the cry before it. There was no whinny or panting that came from the animal. Its head began to turn, its wide eyes growing bigger as terror gripped its heart with cold hands. A swishing sound was heard before the street behind it was alit from a blaze, and in another instant the cart rattled from an unseen force. At once the wood began to heat up, and the goblin glanced up to see that the top of the cart was on fire from the blaze. Squeaking in panic as if it were a mouse found by a cat, the creature bolted from underneath the cart and ran as fast as its bone thin legs could manage.
Hooves were once more heard behind the goblin, but in its current state the noise didn’t register in its mind. It just needed to get away, to escape from the fiery end that was about to be cast upon it. It didn’t even see the giant paw that swung from around the corner that struck it underneath the jaw, clapping it shut with a crack, sending the creature onto its back. Stars exploded in its vision for several long seconds but when they dissipated, the sight that entered the goblin’s vision made it wish that they had stayed.
“Mmm, going somewhere, little snack?” asked the massive lion.
The goblin looked from the animal to the horse and rider that was beside it. At first, it thought that the rider sat so high that its head couldn’t be seen, but in an instant the flickering light from the fire illuminated armor and horse. The creature could now see that there was no head resting on the broad shoulders, and at once it recognized the two beings it had seen from a distance at Maleficent’s castle months ago. The fact that the creature now recognized them and their relationship to his mistress made their presence all the more terrifying for the poor soul.
“Now,” continued the king of beasts. “You’re going to tell us where the man who attacked you had went.”
______________________________________________________________________________________________
“Are you sure it was a good idea to threaten those…creatures?”
“Well, as you saw, I was going to kill the three of them one by one until they told me what I wanted to hear,” Rumpelstiltskin answered the little bug sitting on his shoulder. “But I suppose threatening their short, miserable lives is as close as I could get.”
“Do you always treat situations with violence or threats of violence?” inquired the insect.
The Dark One raised his hand as if to flick the bug off. “You’re not here to be my conscience, Jiminy. Keep trying and you’re going to find that this is your final stop.”
“Okay, okay, fine.”
The hand went back down as Rumpel made his way down the seaside dirt road. “Besides, it’s not like they are capable of sitting down sharing tea and crumpets with us, Dearie. These goblins understand one thing and one thing only: violence. The fear that Maleficent strikes in them, they share with the rest of the world.”
Jiminy Cricket nodded solemnly and understandably. He had seen first hand what the goblins had done this very night. He had witnessed homes being broken into, screams between parent and child as both were separated before they were silenced, and entire homes looted by humans who accompanied them. He had hidden himself inside a toyshop owned by an elderly man, but it wasn’t long before that was broken in as well. Jiminy fled into the night once again and began to call for help despite his small stature and his small voice. No one heard his call and rushed out of their homes to help him except for a darkly dressed wizard with a scaly complexion who somehow had heard him and materialized behind the cricket. Jiminy directed him to the toyshop but they found no sign of the goblins or humans. It wasn’t long before they came across the small patrol of the creatures with one of them escaping in the confusion of the attack. It didn’t take much out of Rumpelstiltskin to persuade them to spill their guts over the details behind the raids including those responsible but most importantly where the prisoners were being kept.
“I hope that you’re still not trying to convince me to save the children first,” spoke the warlock, interrupting Jiminy’s thoughts.
“I realize that you can’t be in two places at once but are you really set on leaving the children in their situation? From what you’ve explained to me about Pleasure Island, there’s very little chance that they could make it out.”
“I don’t like it much either but I have… a friend, Samuel, who is probably being kept at the barn with the other people. He was missing earlier today since we didn’t meet up after searching the town.”
“Where did you come from?” Rumpelstiltskin answered by giving a “why-do-you-ask?” look. “You don’t really look like you’re from around here and your boots are starting to have that worn look.”
The cricket pointed to the pair in emphasis.
Rumpel pondered for a moment to decide just how much he was willing to tell. “We were supposed to get passage out to sea, but I learned that the last ship from Arendelle had left with the tide. There were no fishing vessels that were built to go out into the open water either. However, there was a trade ship that was due to arrive from Agrabah by the end of the week and we could…”
They had stopped in the middle of the road, surrounded on all sides by fields of tall grass. The salty smell of the sea was faint as was the sound of waves in the distance to their left. Rumpelstiltskin glanced around at random, ears straining to listen past the breeze that whistled through the grass. Jiminy looked around as well but he could see just as far as Rumpel.
“What is it?” he asked in a whisper.
“I thought I heard something,” came the answer, and the two continued slowly this time. They hadn’t taken five paces when they stopped again only this time the Dark One’s nose was pointed into the air.
“There’s something in the air, but the wind keeps shifting. It’s too faint for me to pick it up clearly.”
“You think it’s something dangerous?”
“Well, we’re walking in the middle of a sea of grass at night with strange smells and noises. What does that tell you?”
“Err…”
“It tells me that we’re about to be in danger. And if I wanted throw an ambush on someone down this path, I would either attack from the sides up at that bend or-“ he whirled around and casted a ball of flame at the grass behind him and sent a massive hyena fleeing in panic. “Behind.”
However, his minor victory was short-lived as he caught sight of another beast that charged at him from the grass. It was too close to cast another spell, so the wizard teleported a few feet away to allow for room to maneuver. To his surprise, the next ball that he casted had no effect on the animal as it crossed the space between them in a single leap. Once more the animal missed with the claws slashing open air and the bared teeth clamping shut on nothing.
The fire that had struck the grass had now turned wild and was beginning to grow. Like some hungry beast, it gobbled the dried parts of the grass while the healthier and fresher parts resisted at least for a little while before they too were claimed. The wind helped to spread the fire’s hunger as the other side of the road was now beginning to smoke. It wouldn’t be long before a wall of flames blocked the way back to the town. Unfortunately, Rumpelstiltskin’s focus was more on the two resilient and larger hyenas that cackled at him.
“Yeesh, what has Maleficent been feeding you?” he quipped as his hands now crackled and sparked with lightning.
“I don’t want to know,” squeaked Jiminy as he held onto the back of Rumpel’s shoulder. A small snap made him turn to see Shenzi preparing to pounce from the grass behind them.
“Rumpel, behind you!”
His warning was given too late as the Dark One unleashed a torrent of lightning onto the other two hyenas, sending them back. Shenzi leapt forward, struck him in the back, and sent both flying. The force of the impact felt like he was kicked by four mules at once, and it had left him breathless facedown on the ground. The weight of the large animal holding him down didn’t help matters.
“Finally, after weeks of searching, we’ve finally caught up to you,” she gloated with glee.
“Yeah, we haven’t had some decent chow since in a couple days while tracking you down,” commented Benzi as he peered down with a greedy look. “I know that we’re supposed to deliver you to the mean old lady but I wonder if she’ll be okay with part of you. The important parts anyway.”
“Yeah, it’s not like he needs an arm or a leg to talk,” agreed Shenzi and the two of them laughed. “Just the head!”
As the topic switched to food, the two of them barely noticed the third member of their party hungrily approach Rumpel’s still form only to freeze as he came up to his arm. Sniffing the bare hand and the covered arm, Ed hummed thoughtfully to himself. Brow furrowed in a frown, he glanced down the road, sniffing the air, before turning to the other side with the still burning grass and doing the same. He then began to gesture to the road and grunt incomprehensibly.
“…All I’m saying is that maybe we want to widen our diet,” continued Shenzi.
“All right, I’m with you there, but you don’t know any seasoning,” pointed out Benzi. “And I’m not eating anything that’s not meat.”
“Fine by me. So, which one of us is going to get the fish?” She noticed Ed’s paw pointing. “You volunteering, Ed?”
Benzi cocked his head to the side to see where his friend was pointing.
“I think he’s pointing to that building that we passed by a while ago. Hey, didn’t we pick up this guy’s scent there?”
Ed nodded vigorously.
“Yeah, we did along with a whole bunch of humans. I thought we were pretty close to him there too,” agreed Shenzi. “Hey, Ed, why are you shaking your head?”
Ed pointed to the other direction.
“Okay, I think what Ed is saying is that he came from the town,” said Benzi and Ed nodded again.
Shenzi looked confused. “Well, that can’t be right. How can he be in two places at once?”
“Maybe he just jumped or vanished or whatever he does from that place to the town?” pointed out Benzi.
Ed shook his head again.
“You’re right, Ed, if he could do that why would he need to walk down the road into our trap?” A thought entered Shenzi’s mind and she moved off of Rumpel to sniff the air down the road towards the direction of the barn. “That’s weird. I could still smell him down there.”
“Let me smell. The fire and smoke is starting to get a little too close anyway,” said Benzi as he joined her. “So, what do you think could be the reason?”
“I have no idea,” Shenzi turned around to see the fire was getting closer to them and was beginning to mess with their senses. “But I think that Scar and Headless should know about this. We’ll meet them there at the building.”
She bent down to pick up Rumpel by the back of his clothing only to come up with nothing.
“What?”
A red shimmer rippled across the body and it dissolved into smoke leaving the three hyenas surprised and disappointed.
“Nuts. They’re not going to be happy about this.”
_____________________________________________________________________________________
“What has Maleficent been feeding this guy?”
Samuel and Anastasia had been running for what seemed like hours through the fields and low hills but it was more like half an hour. The laughter behind them told the pair that they were as likely to escape from the massive lion as a rodent from a raptor. They had managed to escape the barn and freed the prisoners within an hour. By the end of it, Anastasia was tired and so Sam stayed with her as the refugees and townspeople began to carefully make their way back to their homes. There was no sign of any returning guards. As they rested, the two discussed other options in fighting against the Overtaking. Sam realized that the three of them wouldn’t be enough and wanted to begin uniting those kingdoms that haven’t yet been invaded.
“Some places could be used for those seeking asylum, whether they be refugees, heroes, or heroines,” he told her. “We’re going to need to find a map in order to properly plan this out.”
“When I was in Maleficent’s castle, I saw several people be taken into the dungeons,” she said to him. “They looked like really large animals but walked like people.”
“Mickey and his friends,” he explained. “I came with them. We’re going to need to free them. One of them has a magical wizard’s hat.”
“Really?”
Sam, who smiled at her, did not lose Anastasia’s interested look.
“Yeah, if we free them I think he could give you some lessons. You’ve gotten pretty good since we’ve met.”
Anastasia smiled, looking away to hide the red on her cheeks that could be seen from the moonlight. “Nothing like Rumpelstiltskin though.”
Something soft and warm brushed against her skin and she looked down to see the young man’s hand on hers.
“There’s no one that’s like him,” he told her. “He’s the Dark One or something. But that shouldn’t stop you from trying to do your best. What do you say Anstasia the Warrior-Sorceress?”
She couldn’t help but snicker at that, which didn’t seem to satisfy him.
“Not good enough, eh? What about ‘Last of the Huns?’” She snorted and gave him a disapproving look. “All right, all right, not that. I get it. Sore subject. ‘The Scarlet Sorceress?’ No? ‘The Ruby Witch?’ ‘The Fiery Enchantress?’”
Anastasia couldn’t hold back any longer and broke out laughing. “What about ‘Anastasia the Time Traveler?’”
“What?”
“You’re right. I think Scarlet Sorceress is better.”
“No, what do you mean by ‘Time Traveler?’”
Anastasia turned to see that Sam was genuinely surprised.
“That’s where I’m from,” she explained. “My mother wanted to stop Rumpelstiltskin. So she brought us to the past.”
“Why would she want to stop Rumpelstiltskin?”
Anastasia shrugged. “I suppose because he defeated the Villains.”
“But why?” persisted Sam. “I thought I was destined to do that. And what does she hope to gain from defeating Rumpelstiltskin? She’s got a magical wand. Can’t she use it to grant you, your sister, and her happiness?”
She shrugged again. “I suppose. She didn’t really say anything about what she wanted before she sent me away.”
Seeing her uncomfortable, Sam decided to steer the conversation in another direction. “How far into the future did you come from?”
Her face tightened as she frowned in deep thought. She hadn’t really given thought to this timeline business. Everything was happening so fast that she didn’t have time for it. It was nearly a minute until she answered.
“I don’t know. Maybe a year. Maybe less. I heard that Rumpelstiltskin had died a little while before we left but just as we were about to leave he approached us. To stop us, I think.”
“Stop you? Are you sure?”
“Yes. Why?”
The young warrior licked his lips nervously. “Because that’s what he said when I first met him. That he was here to protect me from your mother.” He fell silent as his mind began to make sense of the information. “Do you think that he came-“
He was interrupted by the sound of a deep roar that awoke a nearby murder of crows and made the pair jump out of their skins. Stumbling to their feet, they quickly pelted for the hills as fast as they could. Scar pursued them after a brief moment to give them a head start, and within minutes he was closing the distance. His magically augmented form allowed him to cross three times as much distance as he normally would. While on his hunt for Rumpelstiltskin, he and the hyenas quickly had to adjust their daily routines and hunting styles. While their larger bodies were harder to hide, their speed and endurance allowed them to catch their prey without breaking a sweat. During their main hunt, multiple farms and pastures were depleted of vast quantities of livestock in order to fill the bellies of the beasts. Farmers or herders who attempted to defend their animals were either scared off or put on the menu (the former tended to be enough for the vast majority of the instances).
“We need to split up!” gasped Sam as the pair was beginning to near a small grove.
Anastasia winced at the stitching in her side. “Are you crazy?!”
He stopped at the tree line, panting as he rested against a trunk.
“Listen, I’ll draw him off while you get away.” The sorceress looked like she was about to argue some more but he cut her off. “I’ve got a magical sword, remember? I’ve got a better chance in holding him off. You need to find Rumpelstiltskin and bring him here.”
“I can help you!”
“You can help by getting Rumpel! I’m sorry to say, but you’re magic isn’t enough in this situation and you don’t have the martial skill. I know. We’ve dueled. Now go!”
The two stared hard at each other as if daring the other to get the final word in. Then Anastasia did something that caught the young man by surprise: she leaned up and kissed him on the cheek.
“Be careful and try not to die,” she said as she turned around and passed through the grove.
Samuel was frozen for a second at the action before he turned to face the coming lion. Withdrawing his sword from its scabbard and throwing the empty sheath to the ground, he stood ready with the blade facing his adversary. The monstrous beast approached slowly, his green eyes twinkling emeralds in the moonlight. The rest of the body was an immense shadow that blanketed the ground and moved with heavy footfalls.
“You’ve certainly made this hunt interesting,” congratulated the lion. “I can’t help but overhear your conversation with the woman. You say that you’re not Rumpelstiltskin, but I can smell his scent on you.”
“Ew, gross. Now you’ve put that image in my head.”
Scar ignored the remark. “Speaking of scents, the woman’s is also familiar. I wasn’t sure at first where I picked it up before when I first caught it a few days ago, but now that I’ve caught up to the source, I’ve figured it out. She is the offspring of the Lady Tremaine, isn’t she? Her mother will be overjoyed when we bring her back.”
“What if she doesn’t want to go back?” sneered Sam as he adjusted the blade.
Scar chuckled in amusement at the young warrior’s foolish posturing of putting up a brave face.
“She won’t have a choice in the manner.” He smiled as that wiped off the other’s smirk. “And neither will YOU!”
Scar leaped into the air with his forward limbs extended in front of him, mouth agape, claws extended. For a brief moment, Sam forgot all of his training with Rumpelstiltskin and the Chinese army. He forgot that he was a warrior. He forgot about Anastasia and the mission at hand. All of his focus was on the blade in his hands and keeping it in front of him. All he was was a man facing a wild beast.
Before Sam could blink, Scar was jolted from the air as if pushed by an invisible force and fell on his side to the ground. A roar of frustration erupted from the animal’s cavernous maw as he struggled to rise but was pressed down again. Sam looked around for any sign of his scaly savior but he could see no one approach. He turned back to the strange sight before him as the lion continued to fight against the invisible force to no avail. He then began to notice a dark flicker whenever the lion attempted to get up. Circling the scene, he got as close as he dared to peer underneath the massive black body of Scar to see two shadows. He couldn’t make it the second but he was sure that it was what was holding the beast in place. His eyes drifted to the sword in his hand as a small, dark voice whispered, “Kill him. Kill him now while he’s helpless.”
However, the opportunity to give serious thought to the act disappeared as he heard a high pitch scream interrupt the growls next to him. Forgetting about the captive before him, he rushed as fast as his tired legs could carry him through the grove and up to a high bluff. In the distance, he could make out a horse and two riders galloping away. Even from a mile away, he could make out the Headless Horseman and Anastasia sitting on the horse. Three shapes, almost as big as the stallion, intercepted them from the right and ran alongside them. Their laughter could be heard fading away.
However, Sam didn’t have time to make a move to pursue them as he heard pounding footfalls coming up behind him. After rolling away along the edge, he looked up to see Scar stopping right where he was only a second before. Raising his sword, he brought it down in a slash just as he turned to the warrior. The blade formed a sickening gash across the left side of the lion’s face, passing over the eye. The animal roared in pain with his left paw covering the wound as he backed away only for his rear limbs to lose their footing. In a blink of an eye, the beast vanished over the edge followed by a sickening crack and thud. Sam rushed over to see him lying still on the ground with a broken boulder beside him. Even in the shadows and low light, he could tell that the body wasn’t breathing. He stared at it for what seemed like ages before he could finally wrest his eyes away from the sight and gaze out into the distance. There was no sign of the riders or the hyenas.
He didn’t know how long he stood on the bluff. It might have been minutes, hours, days, or even weeks. He continued to stare at the body with a hard lump in his throat. He hoped that Scar was simply playing dead in an attempt to bring the young man closer in order to finish the job. Or if the plan failed, he would simply and slowly rise up and limp away, perhaps to lead Sam to where his companions could be taking Anastasia. In that fantasy, he entertained the thought that he could help Scar heal his injuries while taking him prisoner and only give him back to the enemy in return for Anastasia. As neither idea seemed to play itself out, his gaze turned to the clear sky above him. The full moon shone with its brilliance but he was looking for something smaller and even brighter in the night sky. He could make out a pair of stars all on their own in the east and another pair to the south but none were the one that he was looking for. None were the blue of the Wishing Star. Nothing could make him relieve himself with the guilt that was swelling up inside of him like that of a bottomless well. And so he didn’t notice the arrival of Rumpelstiltskin until he approached.
“It-it was an accident,” he nervously said to the imp. “He attacked me, I stepped away and struck his face. He then slipped.” The Dark One looked down onto the body and then back at him with a curious expression. “He is dead?”
He watched as the sorcerer silently stood at the edge and extended his hand. As he anxiously waited for a response, Sam’s eyes were cast down to his feet. Then something caught his eye: Rumpelstiltskin had no shadow! He opened his mouth to raise the question, but the Dark One caught him off.
“He’s dead.” The imp looked back to Sam to see him shutting his eyes as if in pain by the news. “You did good.”
“Doesn’t feel that way,” spoke Sam in a low voice. “The first time that I killed…someone…and I can’t help but shake off the feeling of guilt.”
“Why should you feel guilty if you say it was an accident?”
“If it wasn’t for my strike, then he wouldn’t have fell. It wasn’t even a hard strike either. I didn’t mean it for it to happen that way.”
“How did you want it to happen?”
Sam shrugged. “Over at the grove there, I meant to fight him. He was chasing Anastasia and I, and I wanted to fight him there to give her a chance to escape, to live. I-I thought I was ready to fight him, but when he leaped at me I forgot everything. I was afraid.
“I was saved by some unseen magic, but when I looked around you weren’t there. Scar was held down by something invisible…or maybe unseen…and I had an opportunity to finish it there. But…but I couldn’t. I’m not someone who sees an enemy and is prepared to kill it. Not like-”
The two locked eyes and for a brief moment he was about to say “you” to the imp. Instead he broke the stare and gazed down the cliff.
“Like them. Before I could do anything I heard Anastasia scream. I ran over here to see them taking her away. That was when Scar attacked again. Now we’re standing here with no way to know where they could’ve went or what they will do to Anastasia.”
“That doesn’t matter.”
The words shocked Sam enough for him to be silent and he jerked his head to stare dumbstruck at Rumpelstiltskin. The dark sorcerer answered Sam’s dumbfounded stare with a stern one and when he spoke it wasn’t with the normal, high, maniacal tone but a cold and almost cruel one. The last time he spoke like this was in China.
“Listen to me before you get caught up in some idea about conducting dashing heroics. We already have a mission, remember? We need to get to a ship or a harbor that will reach Captain Hook’s vessel, which will take us to Neverland. We need to enlist the aid of the fairies there in stopping the environmental destruction that’s spreading. Maybe even Peter Pan if we’re lucky if he’s not captured. She was our prisoner and now they’ve taken her back to her mother.”
Sam glared at him. “She was our prisoner. Now she’s my friend and I’m going to save her. If you even cared to have friends, then would you not save them if they were in trouble?” He raised the sword chest high between them with the point directed at Rumpelstiltskin. “Now you can help me or you can try and stop me. Drag me away to our mission if you have to, but I swear that I will fight every second of it to get away from you and get to her.”
Impressed, Rumpel conceited and took a step back from the sword. “You care that much about her, do you?”
The young hero lowered the weapon. “I care enough to know that she doesn’t deserve the treatment that she’s about to receive from the Villains even if one of them is her mother. Now where do you think that they could’ve taken her?”
“From here? Anywhere,” he answered. “But our real concern is keeping our distance as we track them. Those hyenas can smell us from a greater distance than they normally would and can distinguish the freshness of our trail after some time. Which means that if they pick up our scent, then we lose any hope of catching them by surprise.”
“What if we were to drive them so hard that they become tired and be unable to prepare for a surprise that we could spring on them?”
Rumpel nodded in agreement. “That could work.”
“Then let’s hunt ourselves some Villains,” stated the warrior as he deftly rested the large sword on his shoulder.
The company is separated and comes under attack. Samuel must live with a grievous act. Rumpelstiltskin is convinced by Sam to help a new friend.
There are a few reasons why this chapter took so long to finish and post. Firstly, I had to combine two chapters in this one hence the divisions. Originally, the previous chapter was going to be the one that was wholly dedicated to the small town and this was the one where they were forced to separate by Scar, the Headless Horseman, and the Hyenas. Madam Mim was going to make an appearance too, but I cut her out as she would be too much of a wild card that could prevent the hunters to work effectively. Secondly, I realized after rereading previous chapters that I haven't put in Jiminy Cricket yet into this story and he met Rumpelstiltskin again later. I was originally going to have him be the one to free Anastasia and Sam. However, after analyzing what he said about Sam in those chapters that he appeared, I realized that the manner in which he talked about him indicated that the two hadn't met. So, I had to scrap that bit and start over. Thirdly, I've come to realize that I haven't yet done a serious talk in a while. In the beginning, I never thought how Rumpelstiltskin would come to grips with death and killing. He never rationalized the action until much later, and that rationalization would begin to be what drove him to continue doing it. I never really thought about having an opportunity to get into his head after the act of killing had taken place because, well, he was almost always whisked away to the next adventure to defeat the next villain. I never given thought until now how a human being would act after dealing death to another person even if that person was trying to kill them. It's not something you usually see in film especially in Disney.
Questions and comments are welcome!
Rumpelstiltskin is based off of the character of the same name from Once Upon a Time.
All Disney characters belong to Disney.
All OC's belong to me.
Previous chapter: spartans300.deviantart.com/art…
There are a few reasons why this chapter took so long to finish and post. Firstly, I had to combine two chapters in this one hence the divisions. Originally, the previous chapter was going to be the one that was wholly dedicated to the small town and this was the one where they were forced to separate by Scar, the Headless Horseman, and the Hyenas. Madam Mim was going to make an appearance too, but I cut her out as she would be too much of a wild card that could prevent the hunters to work effectively. Secondly, I realized after rereading previous chapters that I haven't put in Jiminy Cricket yet into this story and he met Rumpelstiltskin again later. I was originally going to have him be the one to free Anastasia and Sam. However, after analyzing what he said about Sam in those chapters that he appeared, I realized that the manner in which he talked about him indicated that the two hadn't met. So, I had to scrap that bit and start over. Thirdly, I've come to realize that I haven't yet done a serious talk in a while. In the beginning, I never thought how Rumpelstiltskin would come to grips with death and killing. He never rationalized the action until much later, and that rationalization would begin to be what drove him to continue doing it. I never really thought about having an opportunity to get into his head after the act of killing had taken place because, well, he was almost always whisked away to the next adventure to defeat the next villain. I never given thought until now how a human being would act after dealing death to another person even if that person was trying to kill them. It's not something you usually see in film especially in Disney.
Questions and comments are welcome!
Rumpelstiltskin is based off of the character of the same name from Once Upon a Time.
All Disney characters belong to Disney.
All OC's belong to me.
Previous chapter: spartans300.deviantart.com/art…
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The fight was entertaining