Enchanted Adventure

XXV. Lady of the Lake

"So, why can't we help you look?"

"It'll require magic, Henry, Aubree. And magic-"

"Always comes with a price," Henry finished. "Bree and I've read the book, you know."

"I'm sorry, but I just can't let you two anywhere near this stuff. If you two really want to help me, you'll both go to school where I know you'll both be safe, okay?"

"Okay," Henry and I agreed.

Henry and I started towards the school bus. As soon as Grandpa left, Henry and I headed in another direction.

FTW

Third Person POV:

Emma and Mary Margaret were being led by one of the guards through the haven/village.

"Why can't you just listen to me?" Mary Margaret asked.

"Why couldn't you have trusted me?" Emma shot back. "I was just trying to find a way to get us home. I could've handled her."

"Cora? Don't be so sure. I've lived here, Emma. I know this world. And its dangers."

"Wait here," a guard told them.

"Is that why you came through the portal? Because you thought I was helpless here?" Emma asked.

"No... I came through to be with you," Mary Margaret replied, noticing a figure come from one of the huts. "Lancelot?"

"Snow?" Lancelot asked before the two embraced. "If I had known that you were the prisoners Mulan brought back, I never would have locked you away. Please - forgive me."

"Of course."

"Lancelot?" Emma questioned. "Really?"

"He's an old friend. We can trust him."

From across the camp, Aurora and Mulan were watching the reunion.

"Why is he embracing them?" Aurora wondered. "They were responsible for Phillip's death."

"You're new here, Aurora," Mulan replied. "Phillip trusted Lancelot. So must we."

"I want justice."

"Tread carefully. It's dangerous to confuse vengeance with justice. Do you understand me?" Aurora said nothing. "Do you understand me?"

"Yes." Aurora pulled out the dagger she'd concealed in her waistband.

Emma and Mary Margaret sat down to eat. Lancelot dropped a plate of strange looking meat on the table.

"What the hell is that?" Emma asked.

"That is chimera," Lancelot replied. "An acquired taste, but all our hunting part could bring back. One part lion, one part serpent, one part goat."

"Like turducken?"

Mary Margaret frowned. "I don't understand. We were told this land didn't even exist anymore. How dd you all escape the curse?"

"It is a mystery," Lancelot replied. "The curse struck and when the smoke cleared, most of us had been torn from this land. But some of us here, in this particular region, were left behind. We don't know how, and we don't know why. Finding the safe haven wasn't easy. Took some spilled blood. But worry not. You're safe here."

"We can't stay. My husband's back there, Emma's son and daughter - my grandson and granddaughter. We have to get back to them. Can you help us find a portal?"

"No, leaving is unwise. The Enchanted Forest is not as you remember it. The ogres have returned."

"Ogres?" Emma repeated. "Like, as in fee-fi-fo-fum?"