A Tangled Fairy Tale
Prologue
A young boy of 24 on a hunting trip found her in the woods, a beaten and battered beauty with close cropped brown hair with beautiful, big green eyes. He had gotten lost in those green pools and he'd admit later to His Majesty, it was the main reason he had rescued her in the first place.
The girl, she couldn't be more than 16 years old, needed attending and the closest place he thought to bring her was to his three maiden aunt's house hidden deep in the woods of the fourth island kingdom, Charon. There she would gain her strength back and maybe later they would find out who she was and where she was from. The girl was barely conscious as it was.
"Help me," she cried as she stretched out her arms to him and he knew he was hooked. Explaining this to the Prince would be another matter.
He scooped her up in his arms and carried her into the clearing where another was waiting.
"Where the heck have you been and what is that in your arms?" his companion frowned as he stared at his bundle.
"Quick, we've got to get her to safety before she's discovered."
"Who the heck is she?"
"I'm not exactly sure and I'm not even sure how she got here," the boy said, "but she's got to be hidden away until I can be sure that I'm right about her." He looked at his companion. "Father will know right away once he sees her. He's been following this story in the local papers."
His companion frowned and shook his head. "You don't think that she's…"
The boy smiled and nodded. "I do, but as I said I can't be sure. It will take time to identify her. She looks familiar, but we have to play safe. Someone must be looking for her. For now, she must recover. We could use the fame and most likely the fortune that's sure to come with it."
His companion shook her head. "We've got to get back and I don't know why you think that we need…"
But the boy wasn't paying attention anymore, he was staring down at her unconscious form.
"Let's get her over to my aunt's house. They'll keep her safe and they'll be glad of the company. They will be able to keep a secret, I know."
His companion frowned again. "You forget who they have living next door."
The boy looked up. "The old witch with her two stepdaughters? Come on, man? It's not like these two houses are on top of one another. They'll never know what the heck I'm bringing over. We can visit her from time to time and see how she's doing."
The other boy shook his head. He wasn't sure he wanted to be a part of this.
"What about a name?"
"Right now, we'll call her after my favorite flower, Rose, until we found out her true identity. We don't need to attract attention, not just yet."
His companion nodded and, abandoning their hunting trip, mounted their horses, the 20 year old holding the girl in his arms.
XXXXXXXX
Aunt Flora looked down at the small bundle of arms and legs. "
"Why, she's light as a feather," the tiny woman exclaimed. She looked at her two equally tiny sisters.
"Well," Aunt Fauna answered. "he certainly knows that we'll keep her safe from harm, isn't that right, Merry?"
The third sister nodded her head in agreement. "And he knows that we've been waiting for something like this. We've always wanted a little girl to raise and he knows it."
"We've just got to keep it from his father for a while, until they discover who she really is and how she got here to this island kingdom. If it's who he thinks she is, she doesn't belong here at all and will have to be…"
"Shh," Flora said. "Let's not think about that now. We'll raise her as if she was our own. We'll find out later who she really is."
And the three tiny women turned their attention to their new charge.
XXXXXXXX
"What is with you two? This isn't the first time, you know?" Narissa Stabbington screamed at her twin sons. She looked up at her husband, Jasper, who was standing in back of the two boys. "Well, I see that Flotsam and Jetsam over there can't seem to do anything right. Somehow, that girl keeps slipping through our fingers." She scowled. "And where were you all this time?"
"Those aren't our names," the twins called out in unison. "I'm Jasper," the one with the sideburns called out, "and he's Horace."
Nathaniel frowned and turned his attention to the twins. "Keep quiet, you two,
"I told you not to use the boys, Narissa," said shaking his head. "They're not strong enough to deal with this."
"Apparently, neither are you." Narissa sighed and shook her head. "We need an heir to the throne, Nathaniel, not to mention that reward money. The girl is also supposed to have magic powers, remember?"
"Gothel was supposed to deliver her, but she betrayed all of us," Ursula, Narissa's, sister chimed in. "She got greedy and kept her for herself. Now we have to finish the job she started."
Nathaniel turned to face his sister in law. "Lucas will take over Corsica, Urs," he said shaking his head, "whether he marries this princess or not. Besides, we don't even know if it's really her. The girl's been missing since she was a baby and all of a sudden she turns up in the Kingdom of Charon? How the heck did she get from Corona to the furthest of the Four Kingdoms?"
"And passed us right by without me knowing about it," Narissa said, it's impossible. I would have known about it." She paced back and forth. "
"Well, the Queen of Corona is your sister," Nathaniel shot back. "You're supposed to be the witch in the family."
Narissa looked up. "Giselle's the oldest, Nathaniel, then Ursula, then me. The magic seems to be inherited by the women in the family. Rapunzel should have them as well. None of the boys in the family ever retained it. We were all trained to use them for good. But Urs and I had training in the dark arts thanks to her husband, Anakin."
"Yes," Nathaniel answered, rolling his eyes. "And that's why Giselle never went over to the dark side because…"
"Because she was destined to marry Robert, Ursula said, changing the subject. "Just as my Lucas is meant to marry Rapunzel," Ursula said. "He is the next in line, adopted or not. This way, Rapunzel will learn what we already know and we will be able to taint the Corona bloodline once and for all."
"That Prince Eugene was always in the way, though." Narissa said. "Rapunzel was promised to him when they were children. He's part of the ruling family on Charon and we've got to get him out of the way."
And how do you propose to do that?" Urs contributed, plucking herself down in one of the parlor chairs. "He's been missing way before this happened. Edward and Nancy Fitzherbert claim that the Prince is on holiday."
"You think that he might have something to do with this? Maybe that was why she was found in Charon," Nathaniel answered. "Makes sense, doesn't it?"
"But how did she get there in the first place?"
"That's what we have to find out, don't we?"
They all nodded in agreement.
XXXXXX
Robert stood on the castle portico shaking his head. Sixteen years he sent up the lanterns, every year on his daughter's birthday. It was a small hope, but he always heard nothing. He had held out hope when he learned that a girl had been found; a girl the same age as his daughter, but she had disappeared just as quickly. How the heck would she have gotten to Charon though, he just couldn't figure it out.
And so he dismissed the idea. It was too ridiculous to even think about. She had to be here on the island somewhere, but where?
He searched high and low, Now he was going to have to expand that search to the other three Island Kingdoms, Corsica, Caledonia and of course, Charon. She had to be there somewhere. He just didn't want to have anything to with the Stabbingtons or his brother in law, Nathaniel. And Ursula had married the older King of Corsica, Anakin, into the Vader family and inherited his son, Lucas. Anakin however died of mysterious circumstances. It was said that he had fallen into a well and was never heard from again. The dark side had consumed his part of the family on Caledonia thanks to Anakin and had invaded the Stabbingtons on Corsica. With the Prince missing on Charon and his daughter gone, it was starting to threaten Corona and Charon as well.
This was not a good sign. Something had to be done and quickly as possible. He would continue to send up the lanterns until she was found or someone would bring her home.
Or he would take matters into his own hands if it came to that. He knew that Giselle was against it, but he was tired of waiting. He missed her so much.