AU at end.
The third tale that is to be told begins with a wish, a couple's wish for a child. The couple were of good hearts, yet were not fortunate enough to bear children. They were rulers of a prosperous harmonious kingdom, whose citizens had want for nothing. They spent many years talking to charlatans and shamans, magicians and wise women searching for answers and ways to bear children. Finally they came across an old wise woman who told the couple that she could give them their wish, but only if they picked and ate the Rapunzel lettuce from the garden of a witch.
The couple knew of a witch's garden. It was feared of. The witch had forbidden any mortal soul from entering. However, the couple's desire to bear a child was stronger than their fear of the witch. So, one night they stole into the garden, picked some Rapunzel lettuce and together ate it. They believed they could escape the garden without the witch being any wiser to their presence.
However, upon exiting the garden they came across the witch who demanded, as a consequence, that their first born child would be delivered to her, allowing her to raise the child as her own. The couple, aware of their own foolish impulsive actions, reluctantly agreed.
And so it came to pass that nine months later the woman gave birth to twin girls. The first was as radiant as the sunshine, however the second was fragile and sickly.
When the witch came, the couple tried to convince her that the sickly child had been the first born, but the witch knew better and without question took hold of the golden firstborn daughter and departed.
She locked the young girl in a solitary room at the top of a tower far from the land in which she was born.
True to her word the witch cared for the girl as though she were her own daughter and the girl grew to be a fair maiden of beauty and grace. She had a thin face that was somewhat softened with gentle pink rounded cheeks and dark brown eyes. Without question her most defining feature was her long golden hair which, by the girl's seventh birthday, brushed along the floors, tickling her ankles. And it continued to grow. Neither the witch nor the girl wished to cut the beauteous hair.
Eventually the hair became the length of the tower itself and the witch would climb the hair as it hung from a hook to reach the tower room.
Rapunzel neither loved nor hated the witch. She knew that the witch was not her natural mother, despite her attempts at acting like such. However Rapunzel remained loyal to the witch for she was, after all, the only other human contact she had. As such she had a certain level of affection for the old crone. The witch remained her only known mother and the only person to love her for the first twenty years of her life, for the witch did truly love her. Despite Rapunzel's desire to avoid loving the woman, her fondness and loyalty slowly became love.
Unbeknownst to Rapunzel, by her sixteenth year tales of a dazzling damsel in an unclimbable tower had begun to circulate the land. Such tales travelled across seven kingdoms as peasants and noblemen alike would dream of leaving their ordinary lives to find this tower and the princess that allegedly lived within its walls.
However, despite being the wishes and dreams of many, there was no man, knight, squire or peasant who considered braving the dangerous and perilsome journey alone.
And so for a further three years, Rapunzel remained in the tower with no potential rescuers to aid her.
However on the very eve of her twentieth birthday, across nine kingdoms and two bodies of water; a world away from her, a prince heard of her story. That very same night, the Prince decided to ride off in search of the tower and its inhabitant.
Prince Nathaniel had lied to his parents, and indeed the entire court, when he had spoken of his desire to find and rescue the woman from the tower.
His parents had believed he wanted to marry her.
The court believed he wanted to disappear for a while.
They knew nothing.
Prince Nathaniel was just searching for a challenge.
Challenges were his lifeblood. They were what kept him young and youthful. The challenges he accepted were not solely based upon brute strength, but required a cunning and wit of mind. He had passed every challenge he had ever been set, either by himself or others. The people of the kingdom within which he lived, came to believe that there was no challenge that would deter the Prince or, indeed, no challenge he would be unable to accomplish.
Nathaniel had few memories of the beginning of his obsession with challenges; however his uncle had told him that his first challenge had been when he was a young boy of barely five years old. He had accompanied his father with his political aides to their neighbouring kingdom Diom. The Princess of Diom, who was more than three his age, was known to be among the most gifted of storytellers and he would spend hours listening to her tales, revelling in her twisting words.
Then one day she did not tell him a story, but a truth.
She told him that beyond the castle, in the forest that bordered their realm, lived a mare that was half-crazed and mad with hunger for human flesh. The horse, she told him, was larger than any of its kin and its coat was three times as thick, making it uncommonly difficult to vanquish.
The Princess told him that a knight of her father's court had left yesterday to kill the wild beast, however his sword and shield had been found not hours later.
Then, with the practice and pause of a true storyteller, she told Nathaniel that the knight's left arm had been found hanging from a tree. Nathaniel found himself absorbing every piece of information the Princess was able to give him.
He learnt that the mare seemed to only calm once having eaten a morsel of human flesh. Nathaniel enquired how large a morsel was and the Princess considered his question.
Then taking one of his hands between her own she cupped his hand above her right hand and with her left hand, pointed with a delicate porcelain finger at his middle finger.
"That is a morsel."
Nathaniel frowned, his eyes still downcast staring at his hand, the Princess furrowed her brow before pulling her hands back to herself.
Nathaniel enquired about the animal's strengths and weaknesses, its preferred haunts and diet. The Princess answered his questions with initial patience, however after three hours of questioning, retired from his presence.
Nathaniel did not sleep that night instead planning his tomorrow, setting out early the following morning, intent on saving the Princess and people of Diom from the crazed horse.
Quietly, without noise, Prince Nathaniel snuck into Diom's stables where his father's horse was saddled. His father had always proudly proclaimed that the horses muzzles and grits that were made in their kingdom were able to calm even the most unmannered of horses. Nathaniel quietly stole one of the reins and muzzles from his father's horses stable before leaving the castle grounds and heading to the forest.
Within minutes of entering the forest, Prince Nathaniel was utterly lost in the depths of the forest with no notion of escape.
All thoughts of escape fled his mind when he heard the distant clattering of hooves that seemed to be coming closer to him. Clambering up a tree, Nathaniel shrouded himself amongst the foliage of the leaves and waited.
Finally, the crazed mare entered his field of vision and, whether by pure luck or a goddess's wish, halted abruptly under the tree he was sitting on.
Prince Nathaniel did not hesitate to consider his luck and jumped from the tree upon the mare. Instantly the mare began to buck wildly, doing everything in its power to dislodge him, however Nathaniel held onto the mare with determination.
Recalling the Princess' words, Nathaniel closed his eyes tight and clenched his hand into a fist, before elongating his middle finger. Then without pause for reconsideration, Nathaniel thrust his hand before the mare's mouth and instantly his hand was met with a searing pain.
Instantly, the mare stopped trying to buck Nathaniel from its back and stood stock still. Pulling his hand towards his chest, Nathaniel let no sound escape his mouth and instead firmly muzzled and reined the mare with his uninjured hand.
Able to sit firmly upon the stead's back, Nathaniel tore a piece of his clothing into strips and bandaged his now four-fingered hand, albeit with little skill.
Taking the reins of the mare tentatively, Nathaniel urged him into a gallop through the forest in search for the castle.
He found the mare to be nimble, able to dodge around trees with even the closest proximity. He had not been on many horses in his short life, however he was certain that this horse was uncharacteristically fast.
It took him longer to find the castle again than it did to tame the crazed mare.
Upon returning to the castle, he interrupted a search party being formed. The courtiers began to crowd around Nathaniel and the mare, until the mare snorted loudly. The courtiers scattered, tripping over each other in their attempts to escape proximity with the mare. One of the knights in the crowd pulled out his sword in an ill-disguised attempt to slay the mare.
"Do not harm him, he's mine. Any man who harms him will die."
Despite his young age, the Prince's statement was met with bows and solemn expressions.
He pulled himself off the mare and unbandaged his hand, holding out the blood-soaked bandage to the mare, who instantly plucked it from his hand and could be heard sucking the blood.
Almost unanimously all the courtiers shuddered and one lady fainted.
Upon hearing of the morning's events, the King of Diom instantly promised his daughter's hand in marriage to Prince Nathaniel when he grew of age. Despite the repeated urgings of his father that there was no more beauteous woman he could possibly find as a wife, Nathaniel turned down the offer.
That was the day that sparked the beginning of Prince Nathaniel's lust for challenges and his companionship with his mare, whom he named Dein.
Over the years that followed Prince Nathaniel accepted and completed all manner of challenges presented to him. From even the smallest suggestion to the grandest formal challenge, nothing escaped his eyes.
He had saved an exiled princess and restored her kingdom to her, fighting off the barbarian war lord and his army that had overtaken her lands. That had taken him two months. The Princess had offered herself to Nathaniel who, once again refused.
He had been formally challenged by a demonic priest to weigh himself against a feather to test whether his soul was pure enough to avoid death. Nathaniel had replaced the bird's feather with a large golden feather made overnight by a blacksmith. When he had weighed himself against the feather the following morning, he had proven himself lighter and the demonic priest that had challenged him was forced to return to the underworld.
Nathaniel had crossed the legendary stream of fire, throwing rocks in until they formed a precarious but crossable bridge. He had reached the other side of the stream and had survived the attacks of the three deadly harpies long enough to pick a golden pomegranate that would save Dien from the wound he had received when he had been ambushed at an inn.
He had saved a child bride from a cursed pearl necklace that would suck the vitality of its owner until they withered away to less than a living skeletal figure. The Prince had had to ride Dien faster than the pair had ever ridden before in an effort to throw the necklace into a volcano to stop it from draining away the life of the child. Upon his return, Prince Nathaniel had learned that the cursed necklace had been given to her as a gift by her purportedly loving husband. Their subsequent divorce lead to the girl's father offering the child as a bride to Nathaniel. Despite their having become good friends, Nathaniel, once again declined the offer of marriage.
His most recent challenge had been a face off against a vampyre hiding in a deep basement that was contained within a haunted city, where demons and monsters roamed throughout the day and night. He had been sent to collect an ancient golden girdle for an Amazonian warrior Queen. The timing of collecting the girdle was difficult, as he had to hide himself from the monsters that would kill him without a moment's notice. It had taken him a while perfecting his skills of deception to the lengths that would be necessary to preserve his life in the city, however he was finally able to sneak into the walls of the city and sneak out without detection with the golden girdle. He had returned the artefact to the Amazonian Queen and returned to his parent's castle.
The peace he had craved upon his return had been short-lived.
His parents, and especially his mother, had begun to pester him; about marriage.
His mother would spend every waking second beside her son, shooting off questions.
"What did you think of the Lady Annabelle? Wasn't she pretty?"
"What about Duchess Yana? She could go riding and hunting with you. Wouldn't you rather like that?"
"You should write to the Princess of Diom that you helped save. Madame Rosa told me that she still isn't married yet. Maybe you could…"
"Are you looking for a wife that can sew or would you prefer a wife who can ride horseback?"
"Are you searching for a woman to converse with, or simply a pretty face?"
"Do you want a wife at all?"
"You must marry a wife, if you are discreet you could, in fact, keep a lover. Male or female." Nathaniel had shirked at the very idea.
"Darling, you could marry for display. There is no need to really love the woman."
Finally Nathaniel could take her continuous comments no longer.
It had been his good fortune that the story of a damsel at the top of an unclimbable tower began to circulate the castle just as he was wishing to leave.
He had announced his departure to the court and his parents that same day.
Saddling Dien and preparing his travel belongings, Prince Nathaniel sought the local tavern, the source of constant whispers and, more often than not, capable of providing answers and possibilities that would otherwise not be considered.
Traversing the tavern searching for information, Prince Nathaniel had come across a range of people and creatures. Finally, after buying numerous drinks for men with no information, Nathaniel had come across a man he had been able to confer with. He had, however, been told that the only information he would be able to garner would be regarding the distance he had yet to travel.
The man claimed that the woman in the tower was to be found seven kingdoms away.
The only directions he gave were to follow the Zephyrus wind.
Nathaniel questioned him further, hoping to gain more insight into the mysteries tower, however it appeared the man's ability to hold a drink relied solely upon his interest in the conversation. Suffice to say, Prince Nathaniel left soon after the man began singing tunes with the cleavage baring barmaid.
He began his journey across seven Westward kingdoms.
Perilous and fraught with many untold dangers it may have been, but that had never proved a deterrent to Prince Nathaniel before and was unlikely to act as one now.
With each country he crossed he sought more information regarding the woman in the tower.
He had learnt no new information until the fifth country he navigated whereupon he learnt that the woman within the tower was being held there by a witch. As he ventured further into the country he learnt that the witch had originated from the mountains that were, by now, visible to him. He learnt that she had left her mountainous cave and kidnapped this woman from her parents as a child before locking her away in the tower. She had never let the girl have contact with any other person so it became clear to Nathaniel that he would have to avoid detection in order to safely rescue the woman.
As he passed across the border into the sixth country, Prince Nathaniel began to hear more rumours and whispers about the tower. It was said that from the top of the tower a person could hold out their hand and touch the clouds or cup their hand and drink from the raindrops that pooled there. The tower was thought to be unclimbable, with no footholds or grooves to allow a man to climb it. Nobody Nathaniel spoke to seemed to know precisely what the tower was made of either. He heard tales of a shimmering glass tower, smooth to the touch, like ice. He had been told that the tower was made of crystal, diamonds, marble, stone, granite… with each new story, came a new material. It was becoming evident that nobody really knew anything about the tower, other than the fact that there was a single room at its uppermost point where the woman was being held. Nathaniel became certain that the sole way to climb the tower was surely known by the witch, and therefore he would have to wait, hidden, to see how the witch climbed the tower.
Upon reaching the seventh country, Nathaniel found himself less interested in many of the rumours of the tower. The rumours of this nation were solely focused upon the woman at the top of the tower. Men whispered of her golden hair that was thought to be as long as the tower itself. Women enviously muttered of her kindness and grace. Everyone in the land agreed that her hair was long, fair and golden and that her eyes were a bright sparkling green. However, for all the rumours surrounding her appearance, Nathaniel found he wasn't interested in what they had to say, even if they were all in agreement.
Finally he reached the border of the 'tower nation' and pushed Dien into a last burst of speed. Together, the pair were able to race towards the tower, which rose high against the mountains and forests of the nation, like some pin that had been stabbed into the Earth's pincushion.
Standing at the base of the tower, Nathaniel raised his head to judge the height.
Nowhere near the clouds.
He reached out to touch the tower. Definitely not glass, crystal, diamonds or marble or granite or any other material he recognised. Nathaniel's eyes trawled across the surface of the tower, searching for footholds or uneven surfaces with which to climb, however he found none, the tower was completely smooth to the touch. Which raised the question of how to climb the seemingly unclimbable tower?
He would have to sit and wait for the witch. There had to be a way to reach the top of the tower, if he stayed and waited, eventually the witch would come – she had to.
And so he waited, hiding himself amongst the trees and ferns, (distancing himself from the collection of brambles and thorns) close and yet far enough from the tower to avoid detection.
He tried to study the tower as he waited, he squinted his eyes against the sun in an effort to make out the figure in the tower, to no avail. He spent hours pulling at the grass around his seated form, just as a way to pass the time. He sat beside Dien and talked to him, gently scratching his ears and brushing his coat.
It took twenty four hours before Nathaniel finally saw a figure walk over to the tower. Crouching low behind the foliage around him and patting Dien's nose to keep him silent, Nathaniel strained his senses; watching the figure huddle beside the tower and knock their knuckles against it three times before his ears were able to hear the hoarse whisper from the figure.
Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair. Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair. Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair.
He watched in awed silence as a sudden burst of light seemed to burst from the tower. A second later he chided himself for his ridiculous thinking, it was not light but golden hair that was streaming from the tower to fall towards the earth, it's length precisely measuring the length of the tower. Nathaniel watched stunned as the figure on the ground curled first one hand into the hair before lifting themselves off the ground and beginning to climb the hair as one would a rope. Nathaniel's eyes followed the agonisingly long climb of the figure, until finally they hauled themselves into the blackness at the top of the tower and the golden tresses were dragged upward back into the darkness.
He remained crouching in silence, his eyes hooked on the tower and the small sliver of darkness of the window where the gold had vanished. His knees and thighs began to burn and ache, his eyes were beginning to drift from the tower. Without realising it he found himself leaning against a tree and the last thing he remembered seeing was the outline of the tower, high above him, blocking his view of the stars that he was sure were sparkling in the sky.
Nathaniel awoke to a pounding head and the gentle nudging of Dien pushing against his back with his nose. Nathaniel rubbed his eyes and stretched his legs, wincing as his calves screamed in agony. Swallowing heavily before reaching over for his waterskin, Nathaniel looked towards the tower and started when he saw a figure climbing back down the tower on the rope-like golden hair.
He waited until the figure disappeared amongst the underbrush before he moved from his hiding spot and strode to the base of the tower and, imitating the rasping voice of the witch repeated the words thrice over.
Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair. Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair. Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair.
Once more, the golden tresses spilled forth from the tower, landing to brush his boots. Threading his fingers into the weaves of hair, Nathaniel began to climb.
It was strength-sapping, made no easier by his four-fingered hand, he paused a moment to wonder how the witch was able to climb the hair at such a speed.
Finally however, he reached the window and hauled himself in, letting his feet hit the stone floor as his eyes rose to face the figure standing in shock before him.
Looking at her with a critical eye, Nathaniel saw the stories surrounding her beauty were not exaggerated, she was incredibly gorgeous. His eyes moved from her golden hairline, along her sharp cheekbones and down her jawline to land staring on her glistening pale pink lips. His eyes rose, seeing her dark green eyes were wide and watery as she stared at him with fear. His eyes trailed down her body, noting her flat chest and thin legs before being drawn to her hair, trailing down her back and lying on the floor between them.
Critically, Nathaniel supposed that she was beautiful, honestly though, he did not find himself attracted to the girl.
He held his hands up calmly, looking her steadily in the eye, as he would for wild beasts.
Judging by her still open mouth, Nathaniel assumed that she was unlikely to speak first. It was down to him. Nathaniel smirked slightly, remembering a similar moment in a tavern when he had been forced to make conversation among rival clans of knights. He had succeeded then, and he was determined to succeed with this girl before him.
"Don't be frightened, I swear I won't hurt you. My name is Nathaniel and… I was going to help you get out of this tower."
She gave what he thought was a greatly exaggerated sigh, before finally smiling. Her words came tumbling out in a heavily accented voice.
"I know you won't hurt me. I can see your aura." Nathaniel found his own mouth unconsciously drop,
"It's blue." She explained at his baffled look.
"Uh… huh."
That seemed to be the only sound he found himself able to make. They fell into silence.
"You've travelled a long way." She finally spoke, her hands falling into her hair and threading themselves through it.
Nathaniel nodded, still unsure about how to address the girl.
It was a challenge. She was a challenge.
"I travelled across seven kingdoms to reach you, to save you." He spoke with a romantic lilt to his voice. Her smile grew, as did his confidence.
"Can I ask you your name?"
"You said it before you climbed the tower. It's Rapunzel." Nathaniel frowned at her teasing before continuing.
"Well Rapunzel, I am here to get you out of this tower." At this pronouncement she simply laughed.
"I don't want to leave this tower." She said condescendingly. He glared at her, hating her patronising tone and the hint of sarcasm she used. She finally let go of her hair and gestured grandly around the small circular room they were currently standing in.
"Everything I want is here. There is nothing that I need that lies outside of that window." She seemed to laugh at the very suggestion and Nathaniel found himself calculating how to make her leave the tower.
Her desire to stay was clearly the main drawback, which meant that he had to find a reason for her to leave. His mind began flicking through things she might want but not have. Food, clothes, gold, as he looked around the circular room he saw these in abundance, stacked in haphazard piles. The sole thing she didn't have was company. Nathaniel instantly saw the possibility for manipulation.
Having made this connection, within a second Nathaniel had strode across the brief space between them and had pressed his lips flush against hers, bringing his hand up against the back of her neck pulling her towards him.
She gasped at the ferocity of the kiss and it was a few moments before he could feel her begin to reciprocate.
He felt her hands trail up along his arms and shoulders awkwardly before settling on his neck and head in the lightest of touches.
Nathaniel felt himself grow more heated and as the kiss began to deepen on both sides, he slowly began to back her towards the bed.
He stood looking at the tower the following day, watching as the witch repeated the words and the golden hair was thrown out.
He patted Dien with his four-fingered hand, waiting for the witch to be gone.
The golden spray of tresses poured out of the window after a few hours, allowing the witch to climb back down out of the tower before scurrying away. Nathaniel felt a brief curiosity to know where she disappeared to, but disregarded it in favour of returning to the challenge that Rapunzel presented him with.
He climbed the tower again and saw Rapunzel looking at him with those same bright green eyes, that instead of being filled with fear, were filled with trust. Misplaced trust, Nathaniel thought darkly.
As soon as both his feet were within the tower, Rapunzel had collided into his chest, wrapping her arms around him. Hesitantly, Nathaniel wrapped his arms around her.
"Come with me." He whispered throatily. "I will take you home with me." She paused the longest time before giving the slightest shake of her head. Nathaniel sighed softly before pulling her tighter against him.
For the third time, he climbed the tower. He had no need to hide from the witch this time, as Rapunzel had said that she would not be coming.
Reciting the words and climbing the tower, Nathaniel had lowered himself through the window again to see Rapunzel sitting crouched on the bed, tear trails staining her face.
Suddenly unsure of what he was supposed to do, Nathaniel swallowed, his eyes darting around the room, noting that the wardrobe was ajar and clothing was piled high around the floor.
Rapunzel lifted her head slowly to look at him.
Nathaniel was confused to see that through the tears she was smiling. Tentatively he walked over to sit beside her and let her lean onto him.
Again, with quiet trepidation, he could not help but say,
"Come with me."
Tears burst afresh on her face as she turned and buried her face into his chest. He frowned but waited for her to respond.
Eventually she did and in a soft barely audible whisper she spoke,
"I will."
Nathaniel smirked; challenge, what challenge? Three days. That was all the time it had taken him to get her out of the tower. Three days was nothing in comparison to the year he had spent trying to find the Amazonian girdle. Three days was the time it took the castle blacksmith to forge a battleaxe inlaid with gold. It took three days to travel between his own home and the castle Diom. Three days was nothing. Now the once entrapped Rapunzel would be free of her tower and able to travel to whichever kingdom she wished, marry who she wished, lead a life that she chooses to. Just as he himself wanted to.
"YOU FILTHY LITTLE WHORE!"
The high pitched rasping scream shattered the silence. Nathaniel would've sprung from his seat, had he not had Rapunzel leaning heavily on him, effectually roping him to the bed. Nathaniel shifted beneath her, twisting to lay his eyes upon a woman standing at the window. He did not recognise her, but he had no doubt that this was the witch that had entrapped Rapunzel.
The cliché images of witches that Nathaniel had known defied this woman's appearance. She was not of a beautiful other-worldly appearance, nor was she disparagingly ugly or repulsive. She appeared ordinary. Another face that would be unnoticeable in a crowd of people, unmemorable. She had a light olive skin tone with long dark red hair a circular face and piercing dark green eyes. She looked extremely similar to a tavern wench he knew in his kingdom. Ordinary.
Alas were she not ordinary there would be no sudden darkening of clouds or the flash of lightning that illuminated the tower room. Nathaniel could see the sheer power radiating off her skin, making her glow and causing her hair to crackle and move independently. If it were not for these sudden changes that developed, he would not have spared her a second thought.
As it was though, she appeared angry and judging by her display of power Nathaniel believed he was right to feel a certain degree of fear in her presence. Fear was something he had not felt for a long time now.
It was exhilarating. He hadn't felt this alive and enthused for two winters at best. A woman of true power stood before him, threatening him, and Nathaniel could feel his heart begin to speed.
Here was a real challenge.
Forget gaining the trust of a naïve and innocent young girl at the topmost turret. This woman before him sizzling with the power to threaten him and, by the looks of her glare, castrate and dismember him, was a real challenge. Manipulation alone would not suffice, unlike Rapunzel. He needed to employ other skills to calm her and make her trust him.
He pushed Rapunzel off himself and stood from the bed, intending to face the woman and calm her. But the second he stood she had darted faster than the wind to stand before him. Nathaniel jerked his head away from her sudden presence, as fear began to pump his heart faster. It was terrifying, electrifying.
She bared her teeth, glaring at him. Nathaniel's frown was twitching to form a smirk as she spoke. Despite its harsh words and snarling menace, Nathaniel still found her voice soothing. Her anger was clear, as was her passion. She had earned his respect within mere minutes of being in his presence, she was like nobody he had ever met before.
"My Prince," She said mockingly, lowering herself into a half-curtsey as she smirked.
"To what honour, do Rapunzel and I owe to this entirely unexpected arrival?"
Nathaniel licked his lips as he watched her teasing, darting eyes. His mind was warning him to be wary and cautious with his words, but his fast pumping heart paid no heed to his mind and thought only of giving way to the witch's smirk.
"I came with the intention of rescuing Rapunzel from the tower and sparing her from your cruel heartedness."
As the words left his mouth his heart seemed to stop for a brief second as he doubted the cleverness of his tongue. Far from rising in wrath however, the witch let out a huff of amusement and Nathaniel was sure he saw the teasing glint in her eyes deepen.
"Rescuing her? Does she want to be rescued? Tell me dear," She whispered, leaning towards Rapunzel and stroking her cheek softly, "do you wish to leave this tower with this young man, this young Prince? Do you really want to leave the only home you've ever known? The only friend – family - you've ever known?"
Tears fell down Rapunzel's cheeks as she nodded her head. The witch raised her head, rolling it towards Nathaniel.
"My apologies Prince, she may want to leave but I will not allow her to leave." Staring him down she narrowed her eyes and Nathaniel saw her smile provocatively.
"I will always find her. She will always be mine."
Nathaniel felt his heart suddenly soar, as though suddenly possessed with wings. He knew that tone of voice, he could pinpoint it in the dark, without any teasing eyes or smirking lips to accompany it. His smirk deepened.
"Challenge accepted."
Nathaniel saw her eyes glisten for a second before she slunk up to stand before him and with a whispered, "let it begin," she had pushed him from the tower window.
He could see the tower window getting smaller as he fell and could feel the air rushing past him in whispering whistles. His own peril flashed in his mind as he waited for his body to fall onto the ground and his bones to shatter upon the hardened earth below. But the pain he expected never came.
When he hit the ground, it was not with the force he expected. He may have broken a number of bones, but surely death would be the natural occurrence from any fall such as the one he had just experienced. His sole explanation for his survival was the witch.
Lying at the base of the tower he was able to see the witch's head staring down at him, the wind blowing her hair around her head like fire. She saluted him and despite the pain in his body he stood up. He watched as she held her hand out, barely visible at the height she was at, before disappearing into the tower.
Nathaniel smirked as the tower began to crumble. Whatever material it had been made out of, it cracked like glass and crumbled like stone, giving way to pieces that landed on the grass just as he and the book had done. He was not worried, the witch had moved Rapunzel already, he had seen it in her salute. It had signalled the beginning of the challenge. The game was afoot.
It took him five months to find her. She was wandering barefoot in the desert with cracked lips, darkened skin and ragged hair. Someone – maybe she herself – looked to have cut her hair with a blunted knife, not bothering to keep her hair on a straight even level. The golden tresses he had seen strewn from the tower had dulled. Everything about her had changed, everything but her eyes, they remained as wide and innocent as ever, even despite having been wandering the desert for five months.
Upon seeing him her eyes lit up and she ran towards him as he vaulted from Dien, slamming into his chest and wrapping her arms tightly around him. Nathaniel easily let his arms encase her as she buried her face into his chest sobbing incomprehensibly. His eyes were scanning around the sparse expanse of sand as his skin burned in anticipation. She would come, he knew she would come. Perhaps she was already here.
And then, over the top of a sand dune, he saw her hair, still flaming red and coming closer.
"Run!" He yelled, pulling Rapunzel blindly behind him, unconcerned with whether she was able to keep up. His only concern at that moment was with playing the game they had set. Rapunzel was the centre piece, the red king on a chessboard they were both fighting for control over. She was the territory they were fighting to control, regardless of whether she wanted to play the game or not, she was the prize.
They would continue to fight over her, because she was the key that brought them together.
It had taken her an embarrassingly long time to understand what was going on, what they were doing to her. It had taken her years to understand that she was a pawn in their game, to understand that that was all she had ever really been. She had never been more than a pawn, she meant nothing to either of them.
That wasn't quite true, she mused. She did have meaning to them, but she meant nothing more than a complex puzzle that both of them enjoyed far too much to ever truly finish.
She had never truly been a puzzle though, the witch had seen to that. She had always been obedient and had never allowed evil thoughts to trawl her mind, because somehow her mother – the witch, she corrected herself – had always known. Her thoughts had never gone beyond the tower, they had remained entrapped within the room, focused on her clothes and her hair. Looking back on it now, it seemed shamefully limited and childish.
It had been Nathaniel that had allowed her mind to travel beyond her tower room, or more accurately, he had brought the world into her tower.
He had come into her tower and her life had completely changed.
There were some days she wished he had never come, that she thought she would have preferred to have stayed forever ignorant, stuck in her tower.
But then she looked at him, at his smile and his aura; that was still blue no matter what he did to her. It didn't matter where he left her or for how long he ignored her or even the way he looked at the witch, he had stolen her heart and she would always see the goodness in his heart. Even if a part of her was screaming at her stupidity, it didn't matter, because unrequited love was stupid.
Rapunzel sighed, she was stupid.
She had tried to flee the desert with her Prince, trying to keep up with his long strides as his hand had pulled her stumbling along. But she hadn't been able to keep up with him, her months of walking through the deserts had left her frail and weak. She had tumbled to the ground causing him to swear, but beneath his anger she could've sworn she had heard him chuckle softly.
Glancing behind them, Rapunzel could see the witch had started running towards them. Her prince had whistled and his horse had come running. He had hauled her onto the horse behind him and kicked the horse into movement.
Rapunzel had wrapped her arms around him again, glancing back at the witch whose smile remained evident despite the growing distance between them. She could see the witch lifting her arms and had known her long enough to know when she was performing a spell.
The few sand particles that were being blown against her face suddenly, magically, increased in number so the sand was buffeting against her face, making it virtually impossible to see. Despite the lack of visibility, they had continued.
She had been safe for a year, living with her Prince and his family. They had been married a month after their arrival. It had been the happiest day of Rapunzel's life, they had been married under the sunlight in a wide open field surrounded by his family and the court. She had believed that was the day that would serve as the starting point of her happiness.
Her naivety had died quickly.
Her new husband had avoided and ignored her… until she had been kidnapped by the witch again. It was only when she was in the witch's presence that she commanded his full attention.
She had withstood six years of constantly being kidnapped and entrapped, teased and rescued, and she allowed herself to be ferried between the two in their own games, simply because she loved them both.
They had created a personalised torture chamber for her and she had willingly stepped into the iron maiden that was digging into her heart as they carted her body between their two hearts.
For the first twenty years of her life she had remained in the same place, stuck inside the tower room. It had been the constant in her life.
The only constant in her life having escaped the tower were the two certainties that she would forever love her Prince and that, for the rest of her life, she would be stuck playing their game, whether she liked it or not.
.
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So really there is no excuse for the slow update, but I will provide you with five words that are my defense: newfound Game of Thrones obsession. So really there is nothing for me to say other than I hope the next update won't be quite so long, I'm getting back into the habit of writing at every chance rather than feeding my Game of Thrones obsession, so here's hoping…
That, and this story was a pain to work out. I had to rewrite it three times over. As it is I'm still not sure I'm really satisfied with it, but given I've been stuck on this for weeks now I figured it wasn't going anywhere and in the hope of moving on from this and providing you with more chapters I decided to post this despite my reservations. So… Here. We. Go.
I had been sure that perilsome was a word. But, for all intents and purposes I choose not to see said red coloured line, as 'perilsome' fits within the sentence that I put it in. In the future chapters, I'll let you figure out which word is the 'apparently-grammatically-incorrect-but-sounds-like-a-real-word", since this seems to be becoming a thing with my writing.
Really, can you believe unbandaged isn't a word either? I was so sure… :S