Once Upon A Time ~ Book 1

Chapter 45 - The Dagger

The boy lay asleep on his bed in the cottage.
"Bae, Bae." called his father, Rumpelstiltskin quietly. "Wake it up, son. Come on, wake it up, son!" he shook him awake. "We're going Bae. We're going now, come on, come on."
Bae got out of his bed.

They walked away, in the darkness from the village.
"It feels wrong to run away." said Bae.
"Well, it's worse to die, son. I'm not having you taken away to that Ogre's war."
"Alms?" said a man by the road. "Alms for the poor, alms for the poor?"
Rumpelstiltskin stopped. "Yes." he ruffled through his bag.
"Oh, thank you. Thank you. Thank you, thank you." he said happily.
He gave the man some alms and they walked on.
"Are you sure there's no other way?" asked Bae.
"Oh, I can't lose you, Bae. You're all I've got left, son. You don't understand what war is like. What they do to you."
Suddenly they heard horses hooves from behind them.
"Quite, hide! In the ditch, hide! Go, go! Go!" he told Bae.
"Stop right there!" called the gaurd on the lead horse.
The horses neayed as they came to a halt next to Bae and his father.
"What are you doing on the King's road?" asked the same gaurd that took Moraine away. He had a hard, cruel face.
"We have some wool to sell at the fair in Longbourne, sir." said his father.
"I know you, don't I?" he said jumping from his horse.
He stepped back a little as the gaurd walked towards him.
"What was your name?.......... Spindleshanks?........... Threadwhistle?........."
The other gaurds laughed.
"..........Hobblefoot?"
"His name is Rumplestiltskin!" interrupted Bae.
"Hush, boy!" said Rumplestiltskin.
"Rumple.......ahhhh....." he remembered. "The man who ran."
Bae looked at the gaurd, confused.
"Is this your boy?" he said to Rumplestiltskin glancing at Bae.
He said nothing.
"How old is he?" he looked at Bae again. "What's your name?"
"I am Baelfire and I'm thirteen." he said in a confident tone.
"When's your birthday?"
"In this day's time."
"Hush, boy." Rumplestiltskin tryed to interrupt.
"Did you teach him how to run as well, Rumplestiltskin?"
He said nothing again, fear in his eyes.
"Did he tell you?" the gaurd asked Bae. "Did he tell you how he ran and the ogres turned the tide of the battle and all the others were killed. And he returned home to a wife who could not bear the sight of him?" the gaurd went on.
"Please." said Rumplestiltskin.
"You see, woman do not like to be married to cowards."
"Please don't speak to my boy like that."
Bae looked from his father to the gaurd in relisation.
"It's treason to avoid service." the gaurd said to Rumplestiltskin.
"Take the boy now." he said to the gaurds.
"No,no, no, no!" Rumplestiltskin pleaded. "What do you want?"
"What do I want?" he smiled. "You have no money, no influence, no land, no title, no power. The truth is, all you really have is fealty........ Kiss my boot."
He looked at the gaurds for a moment. "I don't understand."
"You asked my price. Kiss my boot."
"Not on front of my boy........."
"Kiss my boot!" he demanded, holding the handle of his sword.
Rumplestiltskin fell to the ground, quickly and crawled towards the gaurds boot. Then he bent down and kissed his boot.
The gaurd laughed and stared at the boy then at Rumplestiltskin. The other gaurds laughed alone with him. Then he kicked his straight in the face.
Rumplestiltskin fell back accross the earthen ground.
"Papa!" cryed Bae and fell down next to him.
The gaurd jumped back on his horse and they all left them in the darkness.
Suddenly the old man collecting alms they had met on the road ran towards them.
Rumplestiltskin cowaded in fear.
"No, no, no. It's okay." said the man. "Let me help you. Let me help you home." he helped him up.
"Thank you, old man." said Bae.
"I don't have any money to pay you."
"I can think of another way."
"You just feed me whatever you can spare, and I'll find a way to be your benefactor." he said as he helped him walk alone the road.
"Come."

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Cameras flashed as the media took pictures of Regina and Sidney Glass smiling in her office.
"Everyone deserves to feel safe in their own homes. That's why Sidney Glass is my choice for post of sherif." said Regina to the media. She indicated to Sidney. "This man has put the needs of Storybrook above his own for as long as any of us can remember as chief editor of the Storybrook Daily Mirror. Please welcome your new sherif."
She turned to Sidney and began to pin the sherifs badge onto his suit.
"Hang on a second." said Emma's voice from outside of the office.
"Oh, Miss. Swan this is not appropriate." said Regina.
She walked inside. "The only thing that is not appropriate is this ceremony. She does not have the power to appoint him." Emma said to the media.
"The town charter clearly states the Mayor shall appoint........" she started.
"A candidate. You can appoint a candidate. It calls for an election."
"The term candidate is applied loosely."
"No, it's not. It requires a vote. And guess what Madam Mayor, I'm running."
"Fine. So is Sidney."
"I am?" said Sidney.
Regina glanced at him.
"I am." he corrected.
"With my full support. I guess we'll learn a little something about the will of the people."
"I guess we will." said Emma.

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Rumplestiltskin filled a bowl with stew in his cottage.
"Another day gone." he saidand gave the man the bowl of stew. "There'll be no fleeing now."
"No." said the man. "You need to find another way. You need to choose a different path."
"Choose? What choice do I have?"
"Everyone has a choice."
"I'm the town coward. The only choice I have is which corner to hide in. I'm lame, friendless." his voice was hoarse now. "The only thing I've got is my boy." he pointing to Bae who lay in his bed, asleep. "And they're gonna take him away from me. If they take him away, I will truly, truly become dust."
The man leaned forward. "Not if you have power."
"You may as well say diamonds."
"Get a hold of yourself. Think. Why do you think that someone as powerful as the Dark One would work for a useless fool like the Duke of the Frontlands?" his eyes were bulging as went on.
"Tell me."
"The Duke has the Dark One in thrall. He's enslaving him with the power of a mystical dagger. And on the blade is written a name. The true name of the Dark One....... If you were to steal the dagger, then you would control the Dark One yourself, and then no one would be able to take your son away from you."
"What?...... To keep a man like the Dark One as a slave? No, I can't. I'd be terrified."
"Then perhaps, instead of controlling the power,........you need to take it."

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Mr. Gold sat in his shop staring at a flame he lite on a fire lighter. Suddenly the bell ran on the door. He enlighten the flame and looked up. "Regina." he said.
She closed the door of the shop and turned the open sigh to closed.
"Shall I move some things? Make a bit of space for your rage?"
She began to walk towards him. "You found that loophole in the town charter."
"Legal documents. Contracts, if you like. Always been a fascination of mine."
"Yes, you love to trifle with technicalities."
"I like small weapons, you see?.... The needle, the pen, the fine point of a deal. Subtlety. Not your style, I know."
"You're a bastard."
He chuckled. "I think your grief is getting the better of you, Regina. Shame what happened to Graham."
"Don't you talk about him." she steped closer to him. "You know nothing."
"What is there to know? He died."
"Are you really going up against me?"
"Not directly."
"We are, after all, both invested in the common good. We're just picking different sides."
"Well I think you picked a really slow horse this time.it's not like you to back a loser."
"She hasn't lost yet."
"She will."
"Never underestimate someone who is actingfor their child."
"He's not her child....... Not legally."
"Oh..... Now look who's trifling with technicalities?"
Regina stared into his eyes, cocealing her rage.