Belle Tames the Beast

Belle and others are sent to slay a creature that has been tormenting a small village.

Acknowledgements

Thank you to Erica Blumeenthal for her book 500 Fantasy writing prompts



Beauty is sent to kill the beast. She’s been training for this moment for years

























Belle Tames the Beast



Chapter 1

.

Off the coast of California and Oregon state lies an island called fairy tale island. This island is one of mystery because up until recently there had been nothing but open water. Now this island was filled with happiness and joy. But something evil and unknown was happening, and the towns elder Mayor Rosco Rat had issued an area wide curfew telling all the residents to stay in their homes after sundown because it was not safe and they did not want anyone hurt. Even though there were those who enjoyed the cool night air, all the residents followed these warnings and scurried indoors as the sun began to set.

However, during the day the mayor and the others in town were busy coming up with ideas to rid themselves of the creature that stalked the night looking for innocent souls to devower. None of the town's folk did not know where this creature came from or why it was using the night as cover to do harm to those who lived there.

At one town hall meeting the mayor reported that they had tried everything to trap and capture the creature, but nothing worked. Then a young girl spoke up. Well, she wasn’t so young she was a teenager really who had been watching the men go out and fail. She stepped up to the mic and said 3 words “Kill with kindness.”

“Thats impossible. This is a dangerous creature we need to get rid of it.”

“Have you tried?” She continued. “Everything else you have tried failed.” nobody said anything, so she continued." Look I'm not saying make the creature a pet. But before we deal with it whether kill it or release it elsewhere the first thing you must do is catch it. Right?”

“Well yea,” The mayor said his jowls swaying back and forth as he shook his head. “And sending in men full force isn’t working. So, as they say send in a woman to do a man's job. I’m not saying these women go in alone, they will have back up but do it quietly.”

After this young girl finished the mayor just sat there.

“You aren’t going to let a girl tell you what to do are you mayor?” A man said standing in the crowd. As those around him began yelling and chanting “kill it kill it.”

“Now now, simmer down.” He said as he tried to quiet the crowd down. “Young lady, just how do you suggest we do that when we can’t even get close to it.”

“Call in the women worriers.”

“And just who are they?”

“They are an elite force of women who are specially trained to handle such things as this.”

“Is that so?”

Then another woman stood “Yes. Every year young girls are chosen among others to be trained to handle such matters when all else fails.

“And just who are these women?” The mayor questioned.

Just then three young girls stood. Their names were Beauty Belle, Blonde Goldilocks, and Alysia Hemingway. Who was Alice in wonderland’s granddaughter.

These three young ladies were chosen from all the others to find the answers to those which were hidden in the forests beyond their small village. When each one was born, they were groomed to be the warriors of the village. Belle Goldilocks and Alysia trained every day in the art of combat and cunning skills that those who came before them did not have. Belle had her beauty and could charm the most ferocious beast, Goldilocks could communicate with bears, and Alysia was a detective on a mission to find her grandmother who went wandering in an unknown location and was lost.

Each day these three would meet at the gym and train for two hours just before sunset. Then on their 21st birthday they were summoned to the town council and issued a request.

Chief Bryan Troll who sat in the seat next to Mayor Rosco and was in charge of finding just the right person or persons to help restore order to the small island.

“Order …. Order…” he said, pounding his gavel on the table in front of him. “I call this meeting to order.” He continued as everyone began taking their seats.

After everyone settled, Mayor Rosco began the meeting. “Good morning, everyone. We call this meeting to discuss the problems and solutions of our little island once again. As most of you know over the years many have gone out in search for this beast that is causing havoc but come back beaten, if they came back at all. What we have learned is that those that went out were men. So, after much thought we chose three descendants of those past ladies who vanished to try and bring them all home and restore peace once again.

As he paused, everyone cheered. To introduce these three, I turn the mic over to Chief Bryan.” Everyone murmured to themselves as the two men switched positions.

“Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, As the mayor said we have three ladies who are willing and have been trained to bring an end to the troubles we have faced. And without farther ado here they are; Belle, Goldi and Alysia. Ladies if you will please set up and introduce yourself to those who may not know you.

While most knew the three , there were a few who did not. And it was those who came up and introduced themselves to the girls.

Once everyone had resettled in their seats the mayor and chief took turns speaking as to what the three were going to do and about how long it would take. After the meeting everyone gathered at the cafe and had one final meal with them before they headed out onto their journey of the unknown.

Standing together talking, a young rabbit named Baxter came up to speak with Belle. “Excuse me ladies?” He said.

“Hey Baxter,” Belle said as the others walked away to let the two talk for a moment.

“Hey, do you think you can really capture the beast and stop him from scaring us?”

“I sure am going to try.” Belle smiled down at him. “We all are. We want to enjoy the evening air as well. And whoever is stopping us from doing that needs to know we don’t like it and want him to stop.”

“Why would he do this though? We have never done anything to hurt him.”

“I wish I had the answers to that right now. But before long we will be back, and I may be able to answer that. In the land of fairy tales anything is possible, and it could be caused by one small thing being out of balance. But don’t worry, we will figure it out.” Belle said trying to reassure him that all would be well soon.

Before long the town was saying and waving goodbye to the three warriors wishing them a safe and quick return with the answers and solutions to restore the island once again.

Chapter 2

As Belle, Goldi and Alysia began walking away from the village and the safety it held, they began to have small doubts of what lay ahead. And it was those doubts that would doom them if they could not control them. And they did that by singing happy songs that brought them joy and laughter. Even though each one had their own mission, they vowed to stay together because it was when they were separated that trouble happened and those who were sent out never returned. And they all wanted to come back to the village triumphant in the knowledge that they had solved the problem and conquered what evil lay beyond in the woods.

The farther they got from the lights of the village, the darker it got. They would only have the torches that they brought to light the way. And if those went out at once they would be completely in the dark. While they had all been in these parts of the forest it had been in the daytime and was not quite as scary.

Before the trouble happened on the island, fairies and elves enjoyed the cool evening air and bright starry nights. The event that caused the problem was a beast who had been roaming the forest for some time. It seemed like things changed overnight. The beast had been friendly and protective of those in the village then as if overnight he grew angry and unhappy.

Those who went out to see if order could be restored never came back. And those who did come back were mauled and injured. That's when the curfew was issued and a plan had been put in place. Team after team of men had been sent out with no success and that’s when they had decided to try sending out women. If they couldn’t kill it with bullets, they would kill it with kindness.

“According to the map, this is where the first team went missing.” Alysia said as she looked from the map to the surrounding forest.

“So, then the second and third teams were around that area, “Goldi said, looking from the map and pointing to various spots ahead of her.

“Then where should we set up base camp to try and find this beast? Belle asked.

“Smack dab in the middle.” Belle said with her hands on her hips. “With each of us facing a different direction. That way nothing can sneak up on us. Hopefully.”

“Yea we still don’t know what we are really dealing with yet.” Alysia said as they looked around at the surrounding area. There were trees everywhere with no open spots to reveal a scuffle or attack. But it had been a while so animals could have tracked their footprints with limbs and leaves falling. And there had been recent storms with gusty winds spreading debris from other areas of the forest. All they could do is record everything they found and where it was. But for now, they needed to set up camp before the sun set. And that’s what they did. By nightfall the fire had been lit, and food was heating.

As they sat eating and quietly talking, they found themselves listening to the noises of the forest. The branches swaying back and forth with the leaves as the wind softly created a cool breeze to usher in the night. Leaves on the ground rustle with small creatures scurrying here and there as they get ready to bed down for the night.

When dinner was done and dishes washed and put away along with any food, they began setting up cameras in various directions to catch anything while they slept. Then they connected the cameras to their phones so they would be notified when something was close by, and they could see from the safety of inside the tents.

While they were all gearing up to defeat whatever was out there, it would be Belle who would lead the group to defeat this beast. After everyone said goodnight and headed into their tents Belle pulled out the picture of the beast that was terrorizing the village. It was only when she looked into his eyes did she recognize him.

It was the wolf she had befriended when she was a child. If that was the case, she should be able to catch him and set things right. But as she fell asleep, she wondered what had happened to him to cause such destruction in the village that was set on the bank of the island.

Her eyes closed as the image of a small girl and a wolf cub came into view. She remembered meeting the cub and its parents as did others. But for some reason, she and this wolf cub connected somehow. From that moment they shared a bond no other person or animal had shared. But until she had been trained in combat did they dare send her out to see just what trouble was targeting the area.

As she dreamt, outside somewhere in the distance wolves sent howls into the air shattering the silence that blanketed the night. The more she dreamt she found herself watching as the cub grew up into the fierce beast he now was. That’s also when she began to see just what might be causing the attacks on the island.

When she and the others woke, they would have to review the footage and see what if anything happened during the night. But for now, Belle found herself slipping deeper into sleep as the night wore on. At the sound of an alarm the three woke and exited the tents in search of coffee and food before beginning their day of exploration.

“So how did everyone sleep?” Goldi asked as she began getting the coffee ready.

“Pretty, good,” Belle began. “But I had the weirdest dream.” Alysia retrieved the camera footage so they could see just what happened while they slept. ““I dreamed about the wolf cub that we all met when we were little. Remember the wolf cub?”

“Yep, he was so cute” Alysia said as she prepared breakfast of eggs, sausage and hashbrowns. “Wonder what happened to him?”

“I don’t know, but I think he is the one we are looking for. It’s just a weird feeling I’m getting.” Belle said as she prepared the playback. She had set up the second camera to continue filming while she was looking at past footage.

Now with coffee and breakfast ready they all sat down to eat, drink and watch. What they saw was indeed a wolf entering the camp area and circling several times as he sniffed each tent.

“That’s strange,” Bella said as she rewound the camera and took a closer look at the markings on the fir of the wolf. “Oh, my word, that's the cub we met when it was young.”

“How do you know?” Alysia said.

“I remember the marking on his ear. It was a circle of dark brown with an inner circle of white. See there.” She said pausing the video and pointing to the spot.

“Oh my gosh, you're right, I remember him now.” Goldi smiled. “But is he the one who is actually causing the trouble?”

“There’s only one way to find out, try and track him to see where he goes and what he’s doing?”

“I was thinking the same thing. My dream also showed me that later in his life, visitors came to the island, unknown to anyone in our village and caught his mom.

“Oh no!” Goldi gasped.

“While they didn’t kill her, they bred her so that she would have other wolves. Those cubs would take off the island when they were old enough. What they did after that i don’t know. But the dream showed they did this several times.”

“So, our mission is to find the cub and find her. Or find her and find the cub.”

“Exactly.” Belle said.

“Looks like we have our day cut out for us.” Alysia took a deep breath.

With breakfast finished, and dishes and the campsite clean, they headed out in search of this wolf cub and the rest of his pack. If Belle did have a connection with the now grown cub it would be easy. The only question she had was if this wolf, why was he attacking her village? If only she could ask him.


Chapter 3

After determining which direction the wolf headed after leaving the camp they headed off in that direction. The farther they got into the woods the more Dence the brush and trees became, and they would have gotten lost if they did not have the compass. Within minutes they were hearing wolves as growling began behind them. Slowly turning they saw they were being surrounded by wolves.

As they slowly tuned, they spotted the one who was in their camp the night before.

“Flicker, it's me Belle.”

Suddenly his ears perked up and his ear flicked as if something landed on it. Shortly he slowly walked over to her sniffing. And within seconds he was next to her nudging her hand.

“What is it, have you been entering our village?”

He just licked her hand.

“If you have lay down.”

“He won't-” and just then he laid at her feet.

“Tell me he doesn't understand her.” Goldie told Alysia.

Okay, why have you been coming into the village?” she asked .

Just then the wolf got up and ran away.

All three just looked at each other then the direction of the wolf.

“Don’t stand there follow him.” Belle said as they all hurried to catch up. Just as they were headed toward it, he disappeared. But as they continued running, they saw him ahead as he stood there watching them. When they grew closer, he turned and continued running furthering the distance between them. Before long they came upon a clearing and saw a wolf laying there whining in pain as cubs lay near her.


“She's wounded,” Belle said as she approached cautiously. “It's okay girl, I want to help you.” she continued as she held her hand out so the wolf could sniff seeing that she was not a threat.

“Look around for leaves and vines as well as a big branch to use as leverage to open this trap.” As Alysia and Goldi hurried to find the things Belle assessed the damage the trap had caused and spoke softly to the animal.

Before long the supplies were gathered and the animal free. But none of them ran from the three as she worked to bandage the wounded paw. “Now you leave that on and not chew it off. It needs to heal.”

“How did you find me?” The wolf suddenly asked.

“Oh, you can talk,”

“Only to certain people. “The mother wolf said.

“Well, your cub there,” she said pointing to the young adventurer. “Came in search of help. And my village spent hours training us to come and capture or find out where the wolf was and why he chose our village. “

“My guess because you knew me and knew you would help.”

“Well, I’m glad I could. But we have a bigger problem and that is how are we going to keep those who set the trap away.”

“I think once the villages know what is happening, they will do their part to help keep them off the island. This is supposed to be a peaceful place.”


"Then when we get back we need to tell everyone and come up with a plan.” Goldie said with her hand on her hips. “ No one should mess with the animals on our island.”

“I like her mama.” One of the cubs said.

“Me too,” Mama said. “Now we need to get these three back to their village.”

“Oh no, you rest that paw we have time.. And now that we know where you are we can come back and check on you.”

So, the girls and the wolves camped out a few more days as Mama wolfs paw healed and grew stronger. Before long the three adventurers were on her back and heading back to the village with the cubs beside her.


Chapter 4

“Hey, look they are back!” one of the young children yelled as she saw the girls come into the village riding on a wolf. They weren't sure to be happy or afraid until Belle called from the back of the wolf.

“Don’t be afraid, they will not hurt you.” She said with outstretched arms. When she reached the center of the town the wolf lowered herself and Belle and the others jumped off her back.

As everyone gathered a few of the children pet the animals while Belle explained what had happened. It was not only wolves that were in danger so were the other creatures of the island and a plan was soon formed that there would be guards and soldiers guarding the perimeter of the island keeping unwanted visitors out.


And from that moment on the villager's and the animals learned to trust each other as they lived together happily ever after.



The end.