JMJ

CHAPITRE ONZE

"I despise this place!" hissed the dragon in a low rumbling and eerily inhuman voice. "I could not even have the satisfaction of having Timothée swallow his brother whole in his hatred for him before heading for the castle to destroy it!"

LeFou and Timothée stared at each other for a second and then back up at the dragon.

"Then why couldn't you just destroy the castle yourself?" demanded LeFou despite himself. It was just a legitimate question.

The dragon snarled warningly, and LeFou ducked behind Timothée still on his knees on the cave floor.

"I couldn't! They broke the curse! I couldn't destroy them! They're ready now …" It smiled queerly, sinisterly, directly at LeFou peeking out from behind Timothée's shoulder. "But you weren't …"

The dragon shrunk in size, the rage left and it melted into a beautiful humanlike shape. With long fair hair, a perfectly formed feminine form and a glittering gown, she was gorgeous to behold, except for her eyes, which were cold as ice on her high held head.

"I have desired vengeance against the people of the castle and the people in its wake since they banished me all those centuries ago. Their ancestors of ancient times knew how to respect me, but them? They threw me out and ever after I haunted them when I could, when those evil or selfish enough would unwittingly call me back. Many times have I tried and failed to destroy this place, and such attempts are too long ago now to mention. But before the dragon I thought I had it completely at an end when young Prince Adam had been so cold and so stupid, and he called me back. The beast would destroy the prince, the castle, and ever would the people in its wake feel dread of him. When the prince and princess broke the curse, I set to work with something new. I was tired of failing. I would be more directly involved with the one whom I would curse next and it would be something that would work quicker than several years. I would have gone to Gaston, but even before I reached his broken body at the bottom of that gulch far, far below, I knew there was not a chance for life to be found in him, so I went back to the castle. Only briefly. The white light lifted the darkness of the curse, but before every last corner brightened I did find a shoe left behind by one of the villagers. Yours, LeFou. I'm an enchantress. It did not take long to find to whom it belonged, but you weren't good enough. Stupid. Wayward. Selfish. Certainly weak-willed enough and easy to manipulate into doing depraved things, but you weren't capable of the rage I needed. Then I discovered your brother ... so much anger. There was potential in him. There was passion. Turmoil. I decided to wait a little while still before I began it — when life grew back to normal in the little town and the castle and they would not be expecting it. I came to him. He can tell you. I got him to speak of his anger for you, his downright hatred for you. I knew which buttons to press so I could curse him. After that I only needed to direct his rage to the castle once he had destroyed you, but now that the curse has been broken I can only say that there is still yet one vengeance I can play if only against you."

LeFou gulped, but the enchantress was not speaking to him anymore. She was speaking to Timothée.

"I cannot lay a magic finger upon the castle or its inhabitants without someone's help. Not for another generation or so. They've already been tried. But there is one person in particular that I may be able at least to kill before my power runs out this time around, for I certainly won't be able to curse her. But, they will all think it was you who did it."

And she turned into the dragon once more. With heavy wings she began to fly out of the cave, the force of her flight pushed both Timothée and LeFou into the floor, but neither were hurt.

Timothée was up first in a panic.

"She's after Celeste!" he cried.

"Of course, she's after Celeste," said LeFou rubbing his head. "What are we gunna do?"

"Timothée! Wait!" It was the voice of Claudie outside as she watched in dismay the dragon which she thought to be her brother swooping overhead.

"The huntsman!" cried LeFou snapping his fingers. "He shot you down once!"

"But they think it's me," said Timothée.

"Then c'mon!" shouted LeFou dragging him out of the cave as fast as he could. "Let's show 'em you're back to normal!"

Once outside LeFou saw Claudie and the huntsman almost at the entrance, and he called out to them. "Hey! Timothée's up here!"

Claudie did not quite hear what he brother said, and she looked up with exasperations at first, but both huntsman and girl saw Timothée at LeFou's side. With a gasp she lunged for Timothée and embraced him. But there was no time to explain or comfort.

"Who's that then!" demanded the huntsman turning to the dragon.

"Shoot it down!" gasped Timothée, thrusting a finger up towards it.

Barely had Timothée finished his phrase when the huntsman aimed and fired, but it was already too far away. The huntsman was far from daunted however, and he raced for the fallen log. Timothée chased after him, leaving Claudie and LeFou to hurry behind. The log cracked beneath the huntsman's weight, but he paid little heed. Timothée, unaware of the danger of the log (and it would not have stopped him even if he had known) leapt across too. It snapped in the middle this time, but the huntsman quickly caught the boy by the arm before he could fall into the river. Once steadied, they both were astride the huntsman's horse within seconds.

"What about us!" cried LeFou gasping for breath and still with his sister on the other side of the river.

"We'll just have to wait here!" Claudie declared. "They have to catch it!"

And with that the horse sped away.

"Come on!" said Claudie pulling a wide-eyed, rather useless LeFou with her. "I'll show you the other way to cross. Then you tell me what's going on!"

#

The horse meanwhile was headed in the direction to the castle. Celeste had not gone to look as others had. M. Humbert in another party, and a couple more, were out in the wood somewhere, but Celeste waited at the gate in case Timothée returned on his own. Dutifully she waited there, and some of the servants were with her. The dragon hesitated, for it could not destroy them without help, but after purposefully shrinking the dragon to a more agile size, it reached out its talons and snatched Celeste off of the ground and into the air.

Those on the ground gasped and shouted, but the dragon did not flinch.

Upon a hill the huntsman and Timothée could see the girl as she screamed in the dragon's clutches.

"Get ready to catch her," said the huntsman.

"What?" Timothée demanded in disbelief.

"Éclair is the fastest of the prince's horses," said the huntsman while he took his aim. "When I shoot down the dragon, we'll catch the girl."

Timothée did not like the idea, but it was too late to protest, for again the huntsman fired. As the arrow struck the neck, the dragon staggered and began to fall. Then flew Éclair with all haste and with that perfect timing, which both horse and rider knew well. There was no other choice in the matter; Timothée held out his hands, and readied himself for the sudden weight.

He caught poor Celeste just barely, causing both to tumble off of the horse. Their only fortune was that they tumbled into a heap of soft grasses along the horse's path.

Bruised, bumped, and even a little bloody, they did not look altogether too well from the fall, but it could not have gone better. As Celeste threw her arms around her fiancée, Timothée held her close and they kissed in silence.

The huntsman meanwhile was looking around for the dragon. Its shriek had been tremendous, and almost feminine in a queer and monstrous way. He did not like not seeing a body, but there was no sign of the dragon coming back for vengeance, only a faint trace of some odd dust floating around them which glinted almost like tiny fiery red sparks that never reached a full flash before touching the ground. The smell of smoke was almost stifling.

At last the huntsman had to figure that the dragon had disintegrated.

Then he turned to the boy and the girl, and he could not help but smile even if a little wryly at the pair as they spoke in hushed voices together on their couch of grass. He told them he was going to the castle, but he knew they were not listening. They were close enough to the castle that they would be safe.

While the huntsman made his way back to tell everyone that the dragon had gone, Celeste said to Timothée, "I thought that the dragon was you."

"It was in me, yes," said Timothée, "I didn't know it could separate from me either. But it was controlled by an enchantress now or was the enchantress or something like that. It doesn't matter now I suppose, except that good did come out of it."

"Good?" asked Celeste, and then she smiled. "Trials often do when they're overcome."

#

"You should get married here," said the prince to the soon-to-be couple now well and rested at the castle. "We'll make it the grandest wedding for you."

"Thank you, your majesty," said Timothée with a smile and a humble bow. "That's most gracious of you, but if it's alright, we would like very much to get married where we originally planned in the city where Celeste's family lives."

"Are you sure?" asked Prince Adam.

"I guess a usual wedding would be more meaningful after such unusual events," agreed Celeste.

"I understand," said the prince.

"Pfft, someone might get married here," LeFou teased suddenly and most confidentially to his brother as he appeared at his side.

He tugged for Timothée to look and it was quite obvious how well Claudie and the huntsman were getting along seated together and talking like old friends.

Timothée smiled, but shooed him away.

Claudie and the huntsman were in fact rather reluctant to part with each other when it came time for the Humbert family, including the future Madame Humbert, to be on their way. But Claudie needed not fretted so. Wedding bells for a girl who thought she may never marry were not too far away for her.

They passed through the village and stopped for the night.

M. Humbert told the family that it may be time to start thinking about returning to their little town for good, especially how his two sons seemed eager to restart the blacksmith's place.

Next morning, as they discussed such plans over breakfast at the tavern, the only place to eat in town, LeFou suddenly excused himself and hurried out the door.

"What happening now?" asked Claudie.

Glancing out the window Timothée saw that the triplets and their mother were passing by …

"Lilou!" called LeFou.

Lilou turned around, as did Mme du Point and the other sisters.

"LeFou?" asked Lilou in surprise. She turned her mother. "I'll just be a minute."

The sisters eyed each other with confused glances, but her mother agreed and went on. Lisette and Laurette followed behind but did not dutifully keep up as they glanced behind their shoulders suspiciously and curiously.

"So! How's it going?" asked LeFou cheerily.

"Well, we just got the money from the castle to rebuild our house," said Lilou with a shrug. "Papa almost didn't want to accept it, you know. His independence and pride was hurt a little."

"Say that's swell," said LeFou swiping the air with his fist. "Uh! That you're getting your house back!" He laughed.

"Are you going to stay with your father then?"

"Actually, we were all thinking of coming back," said LeFou. Then he hesitated in a manner a little unusual for him, and Lilou stared hard as she wondered what was wrong.

"You are feeling better, right?" she asked. "You're shoulder? Or collarbone, was it?"

"Oh, sure! I got the best treatment at the castle," said LeFou happily. "No treatment cures better than royal treatment." But he quickly lowered his voice then to say more seriously, "I was wondering, though." And he grinned toothily, a little nervously. "How would you like to marry me?"

Lilou was taken aback, and at first she was not sure she had heard him correctly.

"What?"

"Would you marry me," said LeFou again stronger and with more confidence. "And we'll live here."

"Me! Marry LeFou!" she gasped in horror.

But LeFou shook his head with closed eyes and waved his hands in front of him.

"No, no, no," he assured her. "Not LeFou." He grinned again and raised his brows up and down. "Guillaume Humbert!"

"Who's that!?" Lilou demanded.

LeFou made a face but cleared it up again as he held his hand boldly to his chest.

"Me, of course!" he said.

Lilou paused a moment, again studying him carefully.

"You mean, you're name isn't 'LeFou?'"

LeFou laughed. "No. You think the priest lets a guy get baptized with a name like that for a Christian name? C'mon, Lilou, I'm serious."

"You are?"

"Yes."

He did look serious now. Almost grim.

"… Madame Humbert, huh?" asked Lilou.

LeFou nodded.

"Well, I'll admit that even though I knew you my whole life, I never thought of marrying you," said Lilou crossing her arms. "Even if Gaston hadn't been there, I still never would have thought it. I don't know. I probably wouldn't even've known you, really. But I mean you are kind of a weird little thing even if I did always think you were funny."

LeFou shrugged and only agreed; though he had not lost optimism yet. "I promise I'll make a good husband! I'll work hard! Get a house! Take care of you!"

"Calm down." With a smile she made a final examination of the little man in front of her then she said, "I'd love to marry you, Guillaume Humbert." And here Lilou kissed him on the cheek.

Guillaume smiled goofily.

Lisette and Laurette stared in wide-eyed and open jawed in disbelief and completely speechless.

They thought at once how revolting such a match was if not a marriage that certainly would end unhappily. Marrying LeFou was a mockery of the marriage one of them might have had in marrying Gaston, but Lilou on that night the dragon attacked her home had been given a chance to think about her life, especially on that hill where the dragon had left her and LeFou before the huntsman arrived to save them.

Almost getting killed and almost watching someone else get killed before one's eyes put things in perspective. She had come to an understanding of sorts about herself that Gaston had never really wanted to marry any three of the sisters. She did not yet know what Guillaume knew about him, but she had come to an acceptance that it was foolish to long to marry someone who he never wanted to marry her in the first place, and the poor man was dead besides. Of course she had not thought of marriage with LeFou (or rather Guillaume) until he brought it up himself, but it made sense somehow. It made more sense to her than anything had since Gaston's death.

Thus, in the end M. Armand Humbert retired a happy old man of three most contentedly married children. First Timothée married Celeste. His daughter Claudie married then the castle huntsman. And even Guillaume, who he thought would remain eternally a bachelor and a rather helpless character besides, married one of the most beautiful girls in town, had six or seven little boys and girls, and became a rather good blacksmith along with Timothée as his partner.

The only thing that stalled Guillaume's marriage was that it took some time for M. du Point to think about it. He had certainly hoped for better for his daughters, but Guillaume managed to prove himself. In fact, far later Lilou's marriage turned out the happiest out of the triplets. The other two had married solely for station, not even for looks, for no one in their minds could replace Gaston.

The bond between Guillaume and Lilou was inseparable. Guillaume's friendship with his family became strong. Oh, certainly he was still LeFou at times, but his natural loyalty was now placed where it belonged.

"And no one knows loyalty like Guillaume Humbert!" Timothée often teased, but he meant it more than most could guess.

FIN