Daughter of Darkness (OUAT fanfic)

Chapter 6

The witches gather around a black cauldron, chanting until the liquid begins to boil. Winds move through the cottage, shaking it's foundation, flipping my hair in every direction. It's a force powerful enough to propel me forward. 

The dark one grabs my arm, holding me beside him. He braces himself against a sturdy beam. 

It takes time and a lot of energy to make a portal to another realm. 

The tallest of the witches moves her hand in a circle, and a ring of orange light appears. 

"Our compensation," she says, and the dark one wiggles his fingers. The useless cauldrons stacked in the other room are replaced by stacks of gold coins. "It was a pleasure doing business with you, dark one." 

"And with you," he says, taking my hand. "Shall we, Princess?" 

I don't have a choice. My voice is gone. He pulls me through the portal, and we leave my realm. 

As the circle of light disappears behind us, my mouth opens. "They have the cauldron," I say, following him through a kinder forest, one with birds singing and owls hooting. It's the middle of the day in this realm, wherever we are. "I'm sure of it." 

"Doesn't matter, dearie." He steps toward me. "We're not in Prydain anymore." 

"People will die!" I scream, but my voice is muffled by a cloud of purple smoke. When it clears, I'm standing in the dining room of a castle. The windows are covered by thick curtains, but there is no dust. "Where are we?" 

Footsteps click through the threshold, and Rumplestiltskin's eyes soften ever so slightly. He steps around me, blocking my view as a woman enters. 

"Oh, Rumplestiltskin. You're back." She wears a blue dress. Her brunette hair trails over her shoulder in loose curls. "Do you need anything?" 

"Uh, yes. . ." He steps to the side. "Show our visitor to an empty room," he says, motioning to me. "She'll be staying with us for quite some time." 

The woman hesitates. Her smile fades for a moment then returns at full force, wrinkling her eyes. "You can follow me," she says, nodding to the open doors. 

"Uh, Belle. . ." Rumplestiltskin raises his finger, and the woman turns willingly. She is not under the control of the dark one. His voice trembles a little. "Have the table set for three tonight." 

-

Belle leads me through the hallways, to a set of stairs leading to a second level. A set of double doors opens to an unoccupied bedroom. "Has he kidnapped you?" 

I take in the maroon decorations, standing in the foot of a canopied bed. "Define kidnapping." 

"Kidnapping," the woman says, entering the room. She opens the curtains and light shines across dark hardwoods. "The action of abducting someone and holding them captive." 

"Hmm." I open an armoire by the wall. It's empty. "I suppose I have been kidnapped." 

I didn't want to leave my realm. He glued my lips shut and pulled me through a portal without considering I might have wanted to fend for myself in the forest or die at the hands of the horned king. 

I want to save my kingdom, but I can't do that from here. 

Belle opens the blinds covering a second window. "Who are you?"

"I'm Princess Eilonwy of Prydain," I say. 

"I'm Belle." Her grin is comforting, that of a mother or of an older sister who truly cares. "How old are you?" 

"Ten," I answer. 

"You're very brave for being so young," she says. "If you don't mind me asking, why did the dark one kidnap you?" 

"I don't know why he took me. My land is overcome by darkness," I explain. "The dark one assisted me in escaping my prison cell, and in return, I retrieved his dagger from the horned king." 

"The horned king?" Belle's brow tenses. "I've heard that name before. . ." 

"He's a faceless demon looking to unleash an army of undead warriors." I test my weight against a mattress, resting my hips against a soft foam. The beds are not as lavish in Prydain. The dark one lives in luxury. "He's searching for a magic cauldron." 

"The black cauldron," Belle says. She waves me forward, and I follow her to the opposite end of the hallway, into a library with walls lined with thousands of novels. 

She ascends a set of stairs to a second level of books, then she climbs a ladder, taking a novel in her hands. 

The History of Prydain. 

"I've read this book before," I say. Too many times. "It gives me no information about the horned king or his motive." 

"There's more," she tells me, placing the book in my hands. She climbs the ladder three more times, gathering novels.

I skim the first paragraph of a book titled The Land of Death. All of the information I need is gripped between my hands. "Thank you, Belle. You have been so kind to show me this." 

"Of course," she says. "If you need anything while you're here, Eilonwy, don't be afraid to ask. Most days, I spend my time reading. . . or cleaning." 

When I enter the bedroom at the end of the hall, I am greeted by a spinning wheel and a basket of straw. The dark one's spell book sits on a desk near the window. I open the armoire, and it's filled with clothes, dresses fit for a princess, pants fit for a warrior, and shoes fit for a traveler. 

I lock the door and fall across the bed with the books from the library sprawled around me. 

The more I read, the less I wish to know. 

The Lord of Death is mentioned alongside my mother's name in print. My life, my entire lineage, is a lie, outlined in a Prydain royal family tree dating back thousands of years. 

It is written that my mother was a charlatan. She may have been an enchantress, but she was not as good as she portrayed herself to be. The man who raised me to be pure, the father I grew to love, was once a commoner, but according to the words in this history book, I do not share his blood. He was not meant to rule Prydain; he was meant to die so that I could reign.

The Horned King is doing someone else's dirty work. 

Prydain is and has forever been bound by a hidden darkness. It is a realm destined to be ruled by a descendent of a god referred to as Arawn, Lord of the Land of Death. His spirit powers the black cauldron. He sent the horned king to capture me. He rules the underworld. 

Here, in the Enchanted Forest, this god goes by another name. 

Hades.