Once Upon A Time ~ Book 1

Chapter 30 - Elf tonic

Henry stood near the entrance to the mine. He stared at it and took a deep breath then began to walk briskly to the entrance. He stepped under the yellow 'NO ENTRY' and began to climb down, through the rubble, his flashlight lite.

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Rumpelstiltskin sat in his dark, creepy castle, the only light being the moonlight shining through the stain glassed windows.
He spun on his spining wheel, the plain thread on one side and the thread made from pure gold on the another side.
From the shadows of the castle, Jiminy walked info the moonlight nervously.
Rumpelstiltskin chuckled evily. "Thank you very much."
Jiminy placed a bag of treasures on a table next to him.
"And the names?" asked Rumpelstiltskin. "To whom did these treasures belong?"
Jiminy took from his waist coat a sheet of folded parchment, he unfolded it and placed it on the bag.
Rumpelstiltskin cut some of the gold thread and walked over to Jiminy. "Gold thread, for your thievery." he threw the threat to him. "Thank you. You can go."
Jiminy stodd the gold thread in his pocket and began to walk away.
"But you want something else. Don't you?" he said spining more gold thread into a small bowl.
Jiminy stopped and listened.
He poured a liquid into the bowl. "Something with magic?"
Jiminy turned and walked back to him. "Every year I'm stuck in that same damn wagon. I wanna be free. I wannabe someone else. But something keeps holding me back."
"Something or someone?"
The gold had now melted in with the liquid and had turned an orange colour.
"It's my parents."
He waved his hands over the bowl and the liquid disappeared, in its place was a small bottle. "Then I have exactly what you need." he held out the bottle. "This will set you free. Pour it, sprinkle it, put it in their curds and whey. Anything will work."
Jiminy reached out to take it.
"Ah!" he pulled it away. "But you have nothing more to give to me." he chuckled again. "Tell you what, after the potion has done it's work, leave them where they are and I'll come collect them. It'll be my fee."
"What will become of them?"
He smiled. "Worry you not, they'll be in safe hands. And you'll be free."
Jiminy took the bottle this time and slowly began to walk away.

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Emma and Archie ran to the near the entrance to the mine.
"Henry!" called Emma.
"Henry!" Archie called for too.
Archies dog ran to the 'NO ENTRY' tape and barked aloud.
"Henry!"
"Henry! What you got there, Pongo?" said Archie to the dog and followed him to the tape.
"I don't think he's here." said Emma.
"I think he is." he picked up a candy bar that lay by the entrance. "Candy bar. He had these with him."

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Henry walked through the dark mines, guided by his flashlight. He walked along the tracks that the miners used before. He searched abd searched with no fear.
Then something caught his eye in the light of the flashlight. He walked over to the wall and pulled from a grove between the rocks a large piece of glass, like it was from an old ornament or a vase.
Henry examined it with his light.
Gravel rustled above and then there came rumbling. Henry looked up as the roof began to shake and rocks came tumbling down. Henry ran as fast as he could from the falling rocks, back, down along the mine.

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Up above Archie and Emma felt the ground beneath then shake and rumble.
Emma fell and Archie stepped into the mine.
"Henry!" he called frantically.
"Archie!" called Emma.
"Henry, it's not safe!"
"Henry!" cryed Emma as she began to run to the entrance.
"Henry!"
As Archie stepped down into the mine, the entrance collapsed behind him.
"Archie!"
Archie tumbled down the mine a little and got up beside a cart.
"Archie! Henry!" cryed Emma from the other side.
Archie lit a match and picked up his umbrella. "Henry." he said nervously. He walked down along the tracks. "Henry." he said a little louder.
Henry ran around the corner of the mine. "Archie, you're here to help me." he said.
"Henry! No, Henry, listen, we gotta get out of here, okay?"
"So you're still against me?" he stepped back.
"Henry, there's no time for that. Come on, Henry, come on."
"You don't believe me? You'll see. You'll see!" he turned and ran back down the track.
"Henry! Henry, Henry, come back!" Archie looked back for a moment then looked forward. "Henry!"

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Jiminy and his parents walked, in the night towards a little farm cottage.
They arrived at the door, but Jiminy stopped and turned to them. "Look. Can't we skip this tonight? We do t need the money."
"Everything isn't about money, Jiminy. It's about the principle." said his mother.
"A commitment to excellence." said his father and he pulled a little bottle from his coat.
"Excellence at stealing money."
"Now go ahead and take the Elf tonic, Jiminy."
They both laughed and Jiminy took the bottle, unwillingly.
His mother stepped forward and knocked on the door.
A young couple opened the door.
"Ohhhhh! Such beautiful young people." said his mother.
"Pardon me. Do you have a place at your hearth for an honest man and......." he hesitated and looked at his parents smiling. ".......his elderly parents?" said Jiminy to the couple.
The man smiled. "Of course. Come in."
His mother chuckled gleefully.
"I'll heat up some broth." said the the woman, smiling at their joy.
"Oh, we love broth." she went on.
His parents walked in. "Oh, what a beautiful home." said he said.
"Your cobbles are so even." she said.
"And that's real thatch."
"Honey, that's a big ham."

They all sat around the kitchen in the cottage.
The woman handed Jiminy a bowl of broth.
"Thank you for you kindness." he said and took the bowl.
His mother, glared at him for a moment then turned her head to her husband. "I just can't get it out of my mind. That family."
"Terrible way to go."
"What? What happened?" said c the woman sitting down at the table.
They looked at each other. "Plague." They said together.
The couple gasped and looked at each other.
"The next town over. We just passed through." said Jiminy mother.
"The plague?" said the woman.
"Well, a plague certainly." she said.
"Is it coming here?" asked the man. "Are you okay?" he leaned back.
"Us? No, we're immune." said Jiminys father.
"We have Elf tonic." said his wife.
"Made by elves, from elves."
"Four out of five court physicians recommend it."
"Fifth one died before he could try it."
They both laughed and Jiminy looked discustedly at them.
"Well, you have it, right? Smart folks like you?" she said.
"We've never heard of it." said the woman.
"Oh, no!" she cryed.
"Oh, dear God!"
"Oh, no. You're gonna die. You need Elf tonic." said Jiminy.
"Oh, I wish we had extra." she said.
"We don't have extra." he said.
"There is no extra." said Jiminy.
"We could pay you." said the woman.
"We have a tiny bottle." he said.
"But we need thar for ourselves."
She said.
"What can we give you?" the man said.
"Surely there must be something here you would want." said the woman.
They looked around the room.
"I'm sure we could come up with something." she said.

Jiminys father packed away objects, merchandise and coins into a sack.
"We, I guess we should start loading up." said Jiminys mother.
They carried the sacks, Jiminy held open the door and they stepped outside.
Jiminy walked over to the couple who stood arm in arm. "Here you go." he handed them a little bottle.
"Thank you." said the man.
"Thank you." the woman repeated. They both smiled greatful as they took the bottle.
Jiminy smiled, but it quickly faded when he turned and shut the door.
His parents loaded the wagon as he ran towards them.
"Those are good people. They would never hurt us like that." he said.
"And that's where they went wrong." said his mother.
"It's better to be the kind of people that take........." said his father.
"Istead of those that get taken from."
Jiminy pulled the little bottle from his coat and looked at it.
"I'm sorry." said Jiminy.
His mother eyes the bottle.
"You've given me no other choice." He threw the contence of the bottle at them.
They gasped in terror, but nothing happened.
"How frail do you think we are, son?" said his mother.
"Rainwater won't hurt us."
Jiminy looked down at the bottle.
"I'm pretty good at sleight of hand, Jiminy." he laughed.
"You switched them?" Jiminy turned to look a the cottage. "If this was the Elf tonic......"
"Oh, my, we must've given whatever you had to that family." said his father.
"Oh, I hope it wasn't dangerous." said his mother.
They both chuckled as Jiminy ran back to the cottage.
Jiminy walked into the cottage and looked around. The couple were gone, but the bottle lay on the ground, a small bit of the contence spilled.
He reached down and picked the bottle up. As he stood up his eye caught two wooden dolls sitting upright on the bed, arm in arm.
Jiminy gasped for air and fell back on a chair.
His patents walked into the room and began laughing.
"Oh, look at that." said his father.
"New puppets for the act." his mother said.
They laughed. Tears came to Jiminys eyes.
"Mama? Papa?" called a boys voice from near by. The same little boy from the fair ran into the cottage carrying a pale of water.
"Who are you?" he said to Jiminys parents.
He then turned and saw the dolls sitting on the bed. He dropped the pale of water. "Mama? Papa?" he cryed. He turned to Jiminy. "What did you do to them? What did you do to them?" he cryed.