Chapter Three

Belle paced the stone floor of her bed chambers waiting until it was safe to sneak down to the dungeons to set the girl and her brother free. The girl's brother, Rumplestiltskin, she remembered from a long time ago when she was a child as someone she had played with growing up. They had grown apart when she was obligated with her responsibilities as heir to her father's throne, and she was also obligated to spend time with her fiancé.

This was not the first time she had to help someone, whom her father had put in prison so it was a task she was used to doing. Feeling restless, she decided now would be a good time to leave for the dungeons. She approached her wardrobe opening the doors finding the deep purple cloak shoved in the corner waiting for her to use. It was something her mother left her before she died and Belle often used it to sneak out of the palace late at night and in the early morning. It was one of the two things she held on to as memory of her mother. The other was the necklace that Belle wore that had a violet colored stone on it. She clutched the stone before she clasped the cloak shut around her neck and lifted the hood to shadow her face.

The door quietly whined as Belle carefully opened it, but thank the gods no one was in the hallway so her cringe at the sound was pointless. The slippers she chose to wear hid the thudding of her feet on the cold stone floor as she traversed the hallway, aware that if she was not quiet enough she could be caught and questioned. Surprisingly, she was not caught, but she came close when she had to step over a sleeping guard that had fallen to the floor. She paused, mid step, just as the guard mumbled and adjusted his position, but did not open his eyes. Sighing with relief, Belle finished stepping over the guard. She reached the library where a secret passageway was hidden behind one of the shelves leading to the dungeons. It was the perfect location since nobody but Belle used the library.

The only light was the shining yellow of candle she carried. "Ow," Belle muttered shaking her hand as the hot wax dripped on her pale hand leaving an unpleasant welt.

Behind the bookshelf was the door that was hidden, which was rather heavy, being covered with several books and tomes, but Belle had done this so many times she no longer noticed the weight of the shelf. Her cousin David, who knew about her little adventures, would often tease her whenever they visited each other. He would tell her it was unnatural for a woman to be as strong, if not stronger, than a man. She would roll her eyes knowing it was all in good fun. It still took a few minutes to open the secret door as she pushed as hard as she could on shelf that blocked her path. Finally, Belle unveiled the door hidden behind the bookshelf.

The entrance behind the secret door was wide enough for her to fit through with Belle's head just touching the top. The hallway was cavernous as it grew colder and she traveled deeper inside the foreboding hallway. The path down to the dungeons sloped downward in a dangerous maze of stone hallways, but after twenty five minutes she finally came to the door that would lead to the dungeons. With trepidation, she stuck the spare key she had, a key one of guards had slipped her a long time ago that she kept hidden in her cleavage, in the lock. Inside was what appeared to be an endless hallway of cells, and one of them held the girl Snow and her brother Rumple.

Snow sat on piles of straw doodling with a stick, in the dust on the dungeon ground, a random picture while Rumple paced restlessly, occasionally glaring at his sister.

"Damn it Snow! Why did you have to go hunting on the king's land?!" He muttered angrily.

"So basically, I was supposed to let us starve, or were we supposed to survive on broth and bread crumbs," she snapped, "or maybe I could travel to another kingdom, which could take days, months of travel." She narrowed her eyes at her older brother and returned to stare moodily at the ground. Her pants were probably covered in shit, not that it mattered much, and she desperately wanted to bathe in the river.

Rumple sighed. "Alright you have a point there, but you should have been more careful," he said.

"I know Rumple, but I didn't exactly plan on being caught by anyone, particularly that brute 'Ser' Gaston," she replied.

"Be careful with what you say Snow," Rumple warned, "people could be listening that shouldn't be, especially rude eavesdroppers, who hide in the shadows." He spoke the last part intentionally louder than necessary. "Show yourself coward."

Belle who had been hiding within the shadows between the cells stepped out from behind her hiding place with her hood remaining in place as she revealed herself. She carefully disguised her voice to that of a woman, who was confident and had no fear. "It's seems I'm not as apt at hiding myself as I had hoped."

"Don't worry Dearie; it wasn't from lack of effort. I just happened to be looking in your direction," Rumple explained, "now tell me, friend or foe?"

"If I were foe what makes you think I would tell you?" She asked smirking.

"True, very true," he replied.

"But either way I am no friend of the king so I'm going to help you escape," she said stepping a little closer to the circle of light that was created by the moon's glow. Rumple's eyes cast downward for a moment with just enough time to see the women's feet were small and they wore satin slippers, clearly a noble and female. The voice sounded vaguely familiar, but he could not place it. She had adjusted her voice an octave lower. The cloaked woman approached them and slipped the key into the lock, twisting it a couple of times to unlock the door.

As she pulled open the door, the metal of the door made a small clacking sound as it swung open on its hinges. "Follow me," she said, "someone might have heard that."

"You said yourself Dearie that if you were a foe you wouldn't tell us," Rumple replied narrowing his eyes at the woman not following her just yet.

Belle rolled her eyes. "Both ways you don't have much of a choice, and I told you I'm no friend to the king."

Before her brother could argue back, Snow interrupted. "Rumple she's right. Now, we need to go before we get caught." Rumple sighed in resignation and taking his sister's hand, gestured for the woman to lead them.

It took another 25 minutes of careful, quiet walking, and Belle paused to make sure they weren't being followed as they escaped the dungeons. They reached the entrance that led to outside soon enough, and once again Belle had to push on a stone wall to open the door. It was even more difficult than the entrance to the inside of this stone hallway. Rumple offered his physical strength to help as he had more muscle than her.

They stepped outside into the cool night air and so far they were alone, but not too far beyond the secret entrance was a tavern. Coming out of the tavern, were two leather clad soldiers, who were singing at the top of their lungs, slurring as they sang off key. One of the men was rather large and muscular with his stomaching bulging out of his shirt. The other man was somewhat skinnier with a mustache. Snow giggled at the scene before them and Rumple glared at Snow.

"Ssshhhh," Belle urged, putting her finger to her lips also glaring at Snow.

Snow covered her mouth stifling her giggles mouthing, "Sorry."

The two drunkards paused and looked around hearing a noise. They started searching for where the noise was coming from. "Come out, come out wherever you are little mouse," the larger man slurred smirking. "I know you're there. Come on out and we can have some fun."

The three companions remained hidden hoping the two men would get bored and think it was their imagination. Belle made a gesture, pointing that they go forward, as the men were drunk and would not be clever enough to notice. Reluctantly, Rumple nodded following Belle with his sister not far behind as the company made sure to stay in the shadows of the alleyways. The cobble stone streets were uneven with the edges sticking up from the ground. Right before they reached the end of the street, Belle's foot caught on a stone. She stumbled falling to the ground, her hood slipping off, revealing her auburn curls, and bright blue eyes as she turned looking back wide eyed with fright at being caught.

The men turned grinning mischievously at the sight of Snow helping Belle up, who was barely able to register that their rescuer was the princess. The two men came bumbling after them, and Rumple, grabbing Snow's hand, led them down the winding streets of Avonlea city. Both Belle and Rumple knew the streets of Avonlea, and could easily navigate through the city, unlike the two drunken men. The men were catching up though.

"Take my sister and go on ahead," Rumple ordered.

"Excuse me," both women exclaimed, mimicking the same the expression of irritation.

Rumple sighed with exasperation. "Snow, don't argue! Princess, "the word came out unnecessarily sarcastic, "my sister needs protection, and no offense, but I think I can handle to drunken men better than you at the moment." Biting her lip, Belle only agreed for Snow's sake, though she guessed Snow was very capable of defending herself, she liked the other girl and didn't want her to get killed or abused by these men.

"Come on," she offered to lead them out and Snow, giving her brother one last look, followed Belle.

Rumple stretched out his hands and with a flick of his wrist he sent the two men flying through the air. Snow probably wouldn't approve of him using his magic so publically, but the two men were too drunk to understand what was happening to them. He took off at a run as the men recovered from being tossed in the air as if they were rag dolls. He ran in several different directions as a way to confuse the two men, and threw sparks of fire if they actually got close enough to him. It took him some time, but he finally lost the idiots just as he reached the edge of the city and the entrance of the forest. Turning Rumple glanced around the area in front of him to see if he truly lost them, and just as he turned around he felt someone grab him by his foot yanking him down to the ground. He fell down a slope landing on his back. Suddenly his sister was looking at him with a questioning expression on her face. Rumple shrugged nodding ignoring her exasperated look as he stood up and dusted himself off.

"I take it now that you have escorted us out of the city you'll be returning to the castle," Rumple said as Belle revealed herself, having not bothered to lift her hood this time.

"I should, but my cousin sent me a letter requesting my presence and that's the safest place for the both of you," Belle replied.

"Safest? Your father is going to send guards after us?" Rumple asked smirking as he knew their getaway couldn't be that easy.

"Gaston has a bruised ego. You two rotting in jail won't satisfy him and if he finds out you have escaped, or that someone released you that will motivate him to have you hunted down. It probably also won't help that I am missing as well," Belle said warningly, "We should start our journey."

"Wait, were not taking you with us," Rumple said, "I'm not going to have your father and fiancé hunting us because they think we kidnapped."

"Rumple, she says she can take us some place safe, and she knows how Gaston will hunt us. She can help protect us from him and his guards," Snow argued, wanting to get out of there as soon as possible. Besides, Belle had gotten them this far, and she had defended Snow when she was being convicted.

Rumple, knowing how stubborn Snow could be, gave in letting Belle come with them to lead them to safety. He didn't trust her and would keep his guard up if she betrayed them to her father, or to anyone else for that matter.

"Alright lead the way princess," Rumple said gesturing in the direction into the forest.

Belle rolled her eyes at Rumple's sarcastic tone as she took the lead for their journey to her cousin's castle. She looked forward to seeing David after all this time, and wondered what that message he sent her last night meant. She would find out soon enough as long as they weren't found before then.