~Contents~

March 1309
1. Introduction: A Rumor from the North

June 28, 1309
2. Chapter I: The Tear of Heaven ~ introduces the magic golden flower

June 21, 1378
3. Chapter II (i): The Storm ~ introduces Rapunzel's ninth-great grandfather
4. Chapter II (ii): Elijah's Horses ~ introduces Maximus's ancestors
5. Chapter II (iii): The Hidden Tower ~ introduces the tower in the wilderness
6. Chapter II (iv): Mother ~ introduces Gothel
7. Chapter II (v): The Vow ~ introduces fourteenth-century pub thugs

May 15, 1457
8. Chapter III: Servant of the Crown ~ introduces the first "King" of Korona, Rapunzel's seventh-great grandfather

July 18 to August 2, 1706
9. Chapter IV (i): The Princess of Radziwill ~ introduces Rapunzel's parents, the King and Queen
10. Chapter IV (ii) Unexpected Negotiations ~ introduces Rapunzel's maternal grandfather
11. Chapter IV (iii) Strawberry-picking and Cold Knees
12. Chapter IV (iv) The Grand Ball
13. Chapter IV (v) The Secret

INTRODUCTION
March 1309

A Rumor from the North

When they had first arrived in Gdansk a year ago, the Knights of the Teutonic Order had cared only for gold. Some fifty years had passed since they had left the Christian Holy Land at the end of the Crusades, and now back in Europe, a new purpose called them. They were now an army for hire.

Wladislaw the Elbow-High of the Poles had called them. Drive out the usurping Germans from the port city of Gdansk and you shall have your reward, he told the Order. So it did, but Wladislaw's payment had never come. Determined not to give the city to him for nothing, the Order stayed.

So it was that, as the Order's first year in Gdansk neared an end, a rumor reached the ears of the Grand Master in Venice – something wonderful and far more valuable than all the gold of the would-be Polish King. If it was true, there could be no question of yielding Gdansk to anyone, whatever the payment. Could it be that the secret prophecies the Order had discovered in Palestine had been fulfilled by the shores of the Baltic? Might that divine gift even now be outside the walls of Gdansk, within the Order's very grasp?

The Grand Master dispatched his most trusted servant to find the answer.

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