SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES, henry mills

chapter nine

CHAPTER NINE
RESCUE MISSION

─────────

Over the years that she had been hunting vampires, Josie had been involved in a number of larger plans that involved raiding lairs and taking down a group of vampires at once. She had even helped her father take down a coven of witches once, which had not been easy but it had been made easier by the previous enchantment they'd put on her crossbow.

Regardless of those, of all the plans she'd been a part of that had at first seemed doomed to fail but ended up with a success or all of the plans that had seemed like they would succeed and then had or even the plans that they were sure were solid but had instead failed, Josie didn't like their current plan.

It was too soon. They didn't know enough about their foe. And even if her father had faced Morgana once before, he didn't seem keen on sharing what he'd learned from the encounter. Josie knew that they needed to rescue Zelena, she was Regina's sister and baby Marian needed her mother. But knowing what she needed to do and believing they would succeed were two very different things.

After discussing the plan in the tavern, the group had gone their separate ways to collect the supplies they needed and for those who wouldn't be joining the rescue mission to go about whatever else they might need to do that day. It would only be a few of them actually going, after all, there was no need for everyone else to halt their days.

Josie made sure her crossbow was properly loaded with as many bolts as it could hold and made sure her quiver was fully stocked as well and hung securely on her belt. Though they hoped to avoid conflict and just escape with Zelena unseen, she knew it was possible that would not be the case. She wouldn't be holding out hope.

Josie, Abraham and Nicholai met up with Emma, Regina and Robin on the edge of the woods to make the treacherous journey to where Abraham knew Morgana's lair to be. Though the Storybrooke residents knew the dangers - or lack thereof, rather - of their own forest, the dark forests of Nightmoor were another story entirely. They'd warned them briefly when they first met of the dangers, but aside from Robin, none of them had needed to venture within since their two worlds collided. As if Josie wasn't nervous enough about how this rescue would play out, they had to hike through the woods to get there.

Luckily, they didn't have to hike far. Just enough that the city was well out of sight and no sound would carry to the residents that lived closest to the forest's edge. Just deep enough to put them squarely within the forest's realm of danger and just far enough from any help coming quickly.

They stopped just out of sight of the remains of what was surely once a grand home. Vines grew over the white stone walls, creeping over the edges of where they had broken or worn away with time. The roof held together in only a few places, collapsing in on itself in most others. Through a larger hole in one of the walls, Josie could see that even the floor of the second storey hadn't held the test of time and mostly collapsed.

"This is where Morgana is holed up?" Regina asked Abraham.

"Yes," Abraham confirmed. "She was holding us in the basement of the home. Though she did not venture down there often, preferring to remain on the main level of the home where we could not see her."

"So you would never know where she is, preventing any plans of escape from being properly hatched," Nicholai guessed.

"Yes, correct," Abraham said, smiling proudly at him. "We discussed attempting it but Morgana's routine was impossible to predict so every plan relied too heavily on assuming we were in the clear."

"Let's just get on with the plan, shall we?" Robin said.

"Of course, of course, my apologies," Abraham said. "As we said, we will split up and one group will engage with Morgana to distract her and the other will sneak down to the cells to release Zelena."