Creeps in Like the Darkness [OUAT || Swan Princess Trio #5]

5 - Siege Perilous

In the mines, the dwarves were whistling as they hacked away at the mine's walls, "Our yield's way down, boys. I know Dopey's a tree, but we got to be more productive since he can't," Leroy said.

"He's producing oxygen," Happy said.

Everyone laughed before Leroy, "Hey. Let's stay focused," Leroy said.

"Yes," They all turned to see Elaine sitting on a rock, "No one wants a nasty surprise," Elaine said.

"You're not getting any dust, sister," Leroy said.

"Actually," Elaine jumped off the rock, "I'm shopping for something else today," She walked forward, "Something with... Edge," Elaine said as she took Happy's axe and looked at it.

"My axe," Happy said.

Elaine looked at him, "Oh, Happy, if there's something I learned as the Dark One," She walked towards him, "If your name is on something," She leaned to his ear, "Hold onto it," She whispered before disappearing a cloud of black smoke.

Flashback: Camelot - Six Weeks Ago...

Inside Merlin's tower, the group were looking for ingredients to free Merlin from the tree, "If we're going to free Merlin, we need witchbane," Regina said.

"Yeah, but the labels are all faded," Belle said.

"Forget the decloaking, it's not a glamour anyway," Callie said.

"You so sure?" Regina asked.

"If I'm getting this right, the tree could actually be him transfigured, right?" Katy said.

"We could find out with a sample," Belle said.

"Yeah, and when we snap off a twig and it turns into a finger, who's crying then?" Callie said.

"Hmm, true," Katy said.

"Exactly. Come on, someone. Witchbane," Regina said.

"You guys sure you don't want me to just wiggle my nose and get him out of that tree?" Elaine asked.

"No," Morgana said.

"Your magic is dark again. It's not worth it. Cilla and I will just keep pretending to be the powerful Saviours destined to free him and we can do this together," Regina said and Elaine rolled her eyes, leaning back into the seat she was sitting on.

"Regina's right, Elaine," David said as he was holding baby Neal.

Arthur entered the room, "I heard someone say a woman is right. That's always a safe assumption, isn't it, David? How are you progressing, Saviours?" Arthur asked Regina and Faye.

"Um... Progress. Slow but sure," Faye said.

"It's, uh... Marvellous having Merlin's own books to work with. It's like talking with the master," Belle said.

"Oh. What if we could talk to him?" Callie said as she was looking at a book.

"Yes," Regina chuckled, "You are... Very occasionally... A genius," Callie looked offended and Adam chuckled behind her, "If we talked to him, he can tell us how to get him out," Regina grabbed a book, "I saw something in here," Regina said as she started flipping through the pages then stopped at a page and held the book up to show everyone a picture of a toadstool.