It has been a while since my last upload, yet this seems the best place this story that came to me in a dream.
Chapter 1
"Do you have the price?" the mercenary asked, resting a hand on the pommel of his sword.
"Yes, yes," the man in dark replied. His cloak seemed to bend the light around him, twisting it and turning it so that, even in the brightest sunlight, he seemed little more than a shadow, "Your services have been of great value to the Master of Shadows many times over, Ryder, and I hope you will not disappoint this time."
He tossed a purse heavy with gold coins out, one which the mercenary deftly caught and tucked away into a hidden pocket, "I will get the job done. Just tell me where to find your man."
"Not man," the shadowy man replied, "Woman. Years ago, one of the Master's witches went rogue, kidnapping the King's Daughter for her own ends. We finally found where she is. So, now, we're hiring you to take care of her."
"So you want me to find the daughter, and kill the witch."
"Just find the daughter. Killing the witch is not mandatory."
"Understood. Any ideas as to where she is?"
"Last I saw, she was to the east," Ryder's client replied, "In a very tall tower. Just keep in mind that the witch is rather powerful, and-"
Ryder cut him off, "I've fought their like before. Just let me work."
The barest shift of his hood revealed a nod, "And remember, you will receive one hundred times that amount once you bring her to the Hold of Shades. Two hundred if you bring the witch's head."
Ryder cringed, torn between his love for gold and his hatred of fighting witches. "Just hold to your end of the bargain," the mercenary said, "I'll bring the king's daughter and the witch's head."
The mercenary turned to leave, the grip on his sword hilt tightening in case he needed to use it, and he felt his client's presence disappear, seeming to melt away like snow in the spring.
They always unnerved him, the emissaries of the Master of Shadows, but they paid well, and this job would most likely get him that much closer to his dream.
Flynn Ryder sighed, taking a hand off his sword and stretching his back, shouldering the satchel he carried his supplies in and beginning to march. East, he thought. East into the land where he was wanted for doing his job, and East to collect his greatest pay day.
Rapunzel sat in her high tower, combing the knots out of the ends of her hair. Mother liked it when it was straight, and one was not wise to disappoint Mother.
"I just don't get why I have to keep it so damn tidy!" she said to nobody in particular, letting the ends of her hundred-foot long hair drop to the ground with a mild "thud".
Her pet lizard, Pascal, skittered across the floor and climbed up onto the bed with her, crawling up the back of her gray woolen dress to rest on her shoulders with a sigh and a flicker of his tongue. At least she thought Pascal was male.
She reached up to stroke his head, and he began to thrum like a loom at high speed, a subsonic purr that was reminiscent of a cat… or at least they said that cats purred in the books. Mother sometimes left, as often as twice a moon in order to bring Rapunzel something for creativity. Paints or books, or sometimes little wooden pens filled with colored clay that she could use to make bright pictures. Those were her favorites, yet Mother had not brought any of those back recently.
Looking out the tower window over the grotto where she lived, she sighed longingly. Almost twenty years, now. Almost a fully-grown woman and she could not recall any time outside the tower. Yes, it was nice, peaceful, calm, but she didn't like being so alone, save for when Mother was here, and whenever Pascal felt like cuddling… but Mother wasn't always here, and Pascal didn't talk.
Letting out another sigh and walking away from the window, she grabbed a handful of her hair and flicked a wrist, the lock flying out to strike the shutters of the window and snap them shut. Years of being alone with increasingly long hair would do that for you… teach you fun little tricks like jumping rope, whipping it to sometimes painful effect… or at least that's how it felt when it backfired.
"Rapunzel, let down your hair!" a voice called from the base of the tower. Mother!
Rapunzel's face lit up and she flicked her hair out the window, letting the weight of it carry the ends through the hook just outside the tower to float down in a golden curtain. Soon, she felt two gentle tugs on the end of her hair, and began pulling it back up, arm length by arm length.
Mother did this often enough that it kept Rapunzel's arms strong, though they were slender. In no time at all, the curly black hair that topped Mother's head poked up just outside the window. One last pull, and Mother grabbed the edge of the window and jumped inside, settling down on the floor with a pack on her back and a basket in one arm. "Rapunzel, my dear! Come and give your old mother a hug."
Grinning widely, the young lady obliged, running across the wooden floor to leap into the older woman's arms. Though she was Rapunzel's mother, she appeared no older than thirty, though that was because Rapunzel took great care in keeping her young. "How are you, my dear?" Mother asked, the same question as always, but one that made Rapunzel happy.
"I've been keeping just fine, Mother. I've been lonely, though."
"Well, now I'm back, and we can finally have a nice dinner together. Since it's so close to your birthday, I figure that I'll make your favorite hazelnut soup."
Rapunzel clapped her hands in joy, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet. Mother's hazelnut soup was the best, just the right amount of sweet and salty that could make you feel like you were snuggled up in the warmest fur blanket.
Mother began walking to the wood fire stove, taking a passing kettle so she could put it on to heat up some water for tea, "So, Rapunzel, did you draw anything new?"
She always asked about Rapunzel's drawings, paintings, and those rare occasions when she wrote, yet these drawings she'd been making recently had troubled Mother.
"I have, Mother," she said, and walked back to her room to come out with a small stack of parchments, "I keep on seeing this man in my dreams, and I can't help but draw him."
Mother and Rapunzel sat down at the table together, and the young woman slid the papers across the table so Mother could see them, "I'm sorry if they upset you, but it's what I've been feeling like drawing recently."
Mother nodded thoughtfully. She couldn't stay angry at Rapunzel long, on those rare occasions when she did get furious, and began looking over the arrayed drawings.
They were all variations of the same man, tall, handsome, like a hero in the stories. He had wavy brown hair and a pointy goatish beard that he always kept neatly trimmed. He always seemed to be wearing a combination of trousers, shirt, vest and coat, the coat so long that it almost touched his heels, and a sword at his side.
Rapunzel had read about swords in the books, but this one seemed strange, a gently curving blade with a straight crossguard. He had drawn it in her dream once, and revealed it to have a sun on one side of the blade and a crescent moon on the other, glimmering and gleaming as if by magic. One of the drawings was a close-up of the sword itself, and the side with the sun. He intrigued her, there was no doubt about that, since he always showed up when she slept and always seemed sad, as if he was looking for something that was just out of reach.
Mother finished looking over the assorted drawings and pushed them back to Rapunzel, hiding her distress very well, though her daughter could still tell when she was distressed. "Do you know why you dream of him, Rapunzel?" she said, rising so she could slice the nuts for the soup.
"No, Mother, I don't. It's just one of those people that keep on showing up in my dreams, like the man and woman with the crown and those frightening twins, one with the hairy cheeks, the other with the eyepatch."
Mother began slicing away at the hazelnuts, her hands shaking slightly, enough so that the knife blade slipped, causing her to cut a finger. "Ow!" she said, sticking the wounded extremity in her mouth to suck on it.
Rapunzel went over, "I'm sorry. It's my fault you're upset," she said, taking Mother's wounded hand and wrapping the finger with a lock of hair. As she had several times before, Rapunzel began to sing softly.
"Flower, gleam and glow,
Let your powers shine,
Make the clock reverse,
Bring back what once was mine.
Heal what has been hurt,
Change the fates' design,
Save what has been lost,
Bring back what once was mine…"
As she sang, her hair began to glow, the full length filling the tower with a golden light. When she removed the lock from around Mother's finger, the cut was healed, and Mother smiled.
"Thank you, Rapunzel. Now, would you like to help mummy cook?"
As her mother smiled at her, Rapunzel smiled back, removing a few spices from one of the cabinets.
Yes, this is similar to the original story, but it takes place in a darker, more sinister world. Hope you enjoyed it, and please review. Anything I can do to make the next few chapters better.