Rumplestiltskin (6 page)

“Now, can we partake of some food?” He chuckled at her look. “I only ask because I assume you are more famished than I. Knowing the king as I do, he has probably neglected to send you up some nourishment, and if we are going to be awake all night spinning this straw into gold, we will most definitely need something to keep our vigor going strong.”

“I—uh—you—?”

“Yes?”

“Halt! I cannot follow all of this train of thought quite so quickly. Can you step back a pace or two and tell me again about the part of spinning the straw into gold first? You say we will be doing it?”

“Well, of course! That is why I am here, is it not?”

She choked. “Is—is it?”

“Well, that is why I came.”

“Truly?” She grasped his hand tighter. “You are not jesting?”

“No. I am quite purposely here to help you, my lady.”

She brought his hand up to her mouth, her shoulders shaking greatly, as she processed all he was saying. Aubrynn’s eyes darted back and forth between each of his as she asked, “You honestly can do this? You—you can change straw into gold?”

“Yes. It took me some time but I finally figured out how while you were sleep—”

She rushed forth, interrupting his tiresome monologue and kissed him quite soundly upon the lips.

It was not quite the kiss Rumple had always imagined experiencing with a beautiful maiden—especially with her sobbing, incoherent mutterings and salty tears, but who was he to complain?

Without another thought he wrapped his arms quite tightly around the girl and kissed her back. He was not sure when another such opportunity would arise, and so of course decided it was best to make the most of it.

And sob Aubrynn did. Great heaving sobs upon the poor man’s mouth, neck and chest and mouth again. “Thank you,” she muttered at the end. “Thank you. Just thank you, so very, very much.” She pulled back a bit and wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her dress and her fingertips, his arms still holding her tight. “How will I ever thank you?”

“Ahem.” A couple of surprise laughs burst forth from him before he stated, “I think you all ready have.”

Embarrassed and a bit disconcerted, she broke from his hold completely. “I am sorry. It seems that is all I will be saying to you, is how sorry I am. But I am terribly sorry for accosting you just now. I do not know what came over me. Honestly, I am a much more calm person—not prone to such emotional outbursts and behavior as you have seen.”

“Yes, so you have told me before. However, I do find it hard to believe.”

Aubrynn flushed. “Please do not tease me. I am sorry to behave as I did.”

He schooled his features. “Do not be. I certainly am most enlivened by your—uh—enthusiasm for life. Your distinct zest and eagerness is refreshing and definitely anything but boring.”

She leaned down and collected a pile of straw from the floor and tossed it at him. “You sir, are no gentleman.”

He grinned. “I know. I am a savage, remember?”

“I do not believe I will ever be able to forget.” Her smile matched his.

“Good. So, may we eat now?”

Aubrynn laughed. He looked so much like a little boy, with his twinkling eyes and silly grin, there was no help for it. She simply had to laugh.

CHAPTER NINE

AUBRYNN STOKED THE FIRE, placing another log on top and churning it to bring some more light into the room while Rumple went downstairs to raid the kitchens and find something for them to partake. He promised he did it all the time and that the cook was used to him foraging for food. And would most likely have something set aside for him.

She bit her lip as she prodded the logs a tad more. He really was quite remarkable in his concern for her. What man would have thought she would be hungry? Who would have cared or remembered her as he did? And how did he come to be here, now out of all the times she needed him most—he suddenly appeared.

He must be an angel. Something divine and not quite real, for who else would have thought of her first before their own needs? She knew her own father would have never done such a thing. Frankly, she had never known of a man who was as undoubtedly gentle and genuine as this Rumplestiltskin seemed to be. He could have very easily come after he had some supper of his own, but he did not—waiting first to see if she needed something.

Her heart warmed. She folded her arms and stepped away from the fire, her eyes taking in the stark room. What would she have done without him? Looking upon the spindle, she walked over to the old instrument and sat down where he had been. Could he truly turn straw into gold? Her gaze fell to the odd piece of straw at her feet. Half gold, half straw.

Oh, my word. He has done it!

Quickly she fetched the thing up and twirled it about in her fingers, trying desperately to remember what he had said about attempting to create this article before she kissed him. Something about it being many tries before he was able to…perhaps.

She looked up, her eyes focusing in on nothing particular across the room. How long had he been attempting the impossible? How long had he sat here in this room trying to achieve her feat for her? Who would do such a thing? Who would work for hours helping someone else—involving themselves with someone else’s deeds and finding a solution for them? Who would concern themselves over such things?

After a minute of silence, it dawned on her.

Me. She sat straighter upon the small stool. Me. I would. But, was there really someone else out there who loved as I did? Who cared about people and life and who risked their own to help someone else? Someone besides me?

Her heart began to glow. Quite perfectly and happily within its chest—it glowed and beat and lived and breathed and all of everything good.

Who was this man? Who was he honestly?

She knew he wished her to think of him as rumpled and stilted, but how could she? Yes, he was crippled—distinctively so. And his features were distorted to a point, but not too badly. Were they? He was not quite so ugly as to not be considered beautiful. He sincerely was beautiful. His smile, his wit, his friendliness and ease, his laughter—they all exuded such beauty. How could one look at him and not think him wonderful?

She had only known him a few hours, but he was perchance the greatest friend and ally she had ever made.

He was an angel. She knew it. He had to have been. So perfect and divine and—and well, perfect.

Needing to do something, Aubrynn stood up and set the golden straw upon the seat and then looked around the room. Seeing an old broom leaning against the wall near the bed, she collected the thing and began to sweep up the bits of fallen hay. Clearing the floor and tidying up the room allowed her to feel productive. He had said they would be spinning the straw as soon as they had eaten, so she took it upon herself to collect a pile and set it closest to the spindle which would allow the work to go faster. Unsure of exactly what she would be expected to do, she wanted him to know she would help him as best she could and be of any assistance he needed.

Soon after another small sweep of the newly fallen hay, Rumple walked in the hidden doorway. His arms were bundled full of goodies. She quickly set the broom against the wall and helped him into the room.

“How did you carry this all up those stairs?” she asked, glancing down at his hobbled foot.

He smirked boyishly. “I have magical powers, remember?”

Aubrynn rolled her eyes as she removed one of the heavy loads. “Does this magic power include lightening bundles?”

“Actually, it does.”

“Oh.” She was surprised. “Well, that must be helpful.”

He grunted as he set the rest of the load upon the ground. “You have no idea, especially on days like this.” Lowering himself to the floor, he gingerly moved his leg out of the way. “So we are in luck, my fair maiden.”

“We are?” She was quick to join him, settling her skirts upon the newly swept ground.

“Yes. It seems the kitchen staff was anticipating your meal, so there were even extra things lying about for you.”

She smiled as he unwrapped and removed a few peeled boiled eggs, two different cheeses, muffins, some cold ham, a large chunk of bread, two apples, a peach, dried nuts, and several tarts. “My goodness! This is a meal fit for a king! How will we be able to eat half this much food?”

He grinned and bit into a boiled egg. “That is the beauty of it. We do not have to eat this all—now we have something to break our fast too.”

His grey-blue eyes danced in the firelight as he chewed, quite proud of himself. Aubrynn did not hesitate to slice some cheese with a small knife he had revealed and began to nibble upon it. As the delicious cheese made its way down her throat she realized how completely famished she was.

“You are an angel!” she exclaimed as she bit into a chunk of newly broken bread—her hand quickly finding an apple. “How did you know I would be this hungry? I did not even know I was this hungry.”

He shrugged his shoulders and then answered around a mouthful of ham, “Just an inkling I had.”

“You will, mayhap, forget my manners for a moment as I catch up to my appetite?” She grinned her own mouth full of apple.

“Of course!” He chuckled. “As you can see, my savageness has come out as well. So let us be merry beasts together.”

Gratefully, Aubrynn tucked in quite a bit more than she believed she would be able to. However, with a fully happy tummy she was more than willing to get to work and spin gold. Rumple dusted off his hands and began to help her fold everything away for later. Once it was all stored nicely upon her bed, he went and sat down at the spindle again, removing the golden straw from the seat first.

“This is a bit troublesome on my own, so I am hoping with you up, you could help feed the straw into the spindle itself. See? Like this.” He picked up a few pieces of hay from the pile she had next to the stool and began to spin the large wheel. She watched the way he held the straw in place on the string, feeding it slowly into the needle.

“Is that all there is to it, then?” she asked. “Just threading it into the needle?”

“Not quite.” He spun the wheel a final push and the straw wove through, but came out looking the exact same way it had before. She tried to catch it before it fluttered to the floor, but to no avail.

“So what is the trick?”

“Magic. I have to do the magic with this little thing or nothing will happen.” He pulled out the beautiful blue and black striped rock. “However, I will need help spinning and working the straw into the spindle, since I must hold onto my stone and concentrate somehow to create the gold.”

“So that is your secret, a little rock.”

“Yes.” He waggled his eyebrows. “Now you know everything.”

“Not quite.”

“Close enough. At least you know the most important parts. Well, are you ready to spin some straw into gold?”

“Yes!”

CHAPTER TEN

IT TOOK SEVERAL TRIES with both of them working together to eventually settle upon a system that would wholly spin the straw into gold. Aubrynn noticed quite early on he was right. As long as he did the spinning of the wheel and she fed the straw in, the magic would work. He had to be concentrating on the actual spinning for it to transform the straw into gold. So, she would feed the straw on the string as he continuously spun the wheel.

Once they became used to the task and got a bit quicker, they soon saw that the gold would come out in long strands and curl itself upon the floor, before hardening into the curled shape. It was still a very complicated task, one Rumple, especially, would have to concentrate extremely well to attain the transformation. Never before had he worked so hard for so many hours in a row to achieve the same outcome over and over again. It was tedious and difficult and worth every single smile Aubrynn would give him as their momentous miracle and chore began to truly transform the room.

Every half an hour or so, Rumple would stop to stretch his limbs, and using the magic stone he would lift the heavy gold off the floor and stack it in new piles where the hay had been against the wall.

One of the remarkable effects they noticed was that it would take approximately three or four pieces of straw to form the same size of gold. So the piece that he had initially made, they soon figured must have been at least four sizes as long on the gold end as it was now. It did not matter, since it allowed them more room to walk about the place as they continued to alter the large piles of hay into smaller stacks of gold.

By sunrise their unattainable task was nearly attainable. Both Rumple and Aubrynn had formed blisters upon their fingers—hers more so, due to the direct contact her knuckles and thumb had with the string, but his palm was quite worn with its consistent pushing of the wheel. They were cramped, emotionally and physically exhausted, but amazed at all they had accomplished. There was just one smallish sized pile of straw left. Approximately to the size of Aubrynn’s knees in height and the same in width—but she was simply too fatigued to even attempt getting it.

“Do you think the king will notice that little pile of hay when all the rest of the gold is gleaming before him?” she asked as she plopped down upon the floor once she had fed in the last of this collection of straw into the needle. Her back ached from leaning over the spindle for all those hours.

“Aubrynn, are you well? Do you need to sit here, on the seat?” Rumple made to move, but as he stood his right leg gave out on him. In a flash he tumbled down—sprawled crookedly facedown upon the floor next to her bed.

“Rumple!” She scrambled to her feet and knelt down beside him. “Are you hurt?”

He groaned in response and slowly flipped himself over. “Mayhap. I will let you know later.”

She half attempted to chuckle as she looked down at the wonderful man below her. “What happened? You were standing one moment and the next—”

“And the next I was slumped upon the floor looking the fool in front of a charming maiden.”

“You are not a fool! My goodness, who does not stumble every now and then? We all do.”

“Yes, well. Me more than most, I am certain.” He attempted a grin.