Neither Maximus nor Eugene noticed Mother Gothel and the black snake following them as they rode down the forest trail just outside of town. When Eugene paused to consult the map the wizard had kindly supplied, the snake said as he watched Eugene scratch his head and Maximus looking disgusted as the trail was quite obviously marked. "The horse is way sssmarter than the thief."
Mother Gothel nodded solemnly. "Yes he is, but don't underestimate the thief like I did."
The snake hissed as he watched Eugene almost fall off as Maximus started to ride off and whacked Eugene's head against a low-lying branch. "They're going to need sssome help or we'll never get the SSSun SSStone."
Mother Gothel looked at herself. "I don't believe he's forgotten who I am and he's certainly not going to accept your help."
"Not in these forms they wouldn't. I agree." A cloud of smoke surrounded them and when it vanished it revealed a blond elf woman in Robin Hood green standing beside a dark-skinned, slender male elf dressed in black. "In these forms we ssshould be fine. Everyone loves elves."
"Really?" Mother Gothel asked with a frown. "I always found them to be untrustworthy."
The black elf shook his head. "Listen to how you sssound. I can't change your voice and Eugene will recognize it as sssoon as you speak. You go back to the palace and use your ssskills as a healer to keep Rapunzel alive until I get back with the ssstone. I'll go help these two idiots." He turned and ran down the trail.
Mother Gothel sighed. "What about your damned hissing?" She shook her head. "Well, it looks like Ray and I are going to be together again." She turned and began to run up the trail back to the palace, finding her new form was good for speed.
Eugene and Maximus looked up in surprise as the black elf joined them. "Hi." He declared. "I heard in town you were ssseeking the dragon Drin and I want to help you."
"And you are?" Eugene asked as he pushed his helmet back up on his head. Maximus just stared suspiciously.
"SSSorry." He tossed back his long black hair over his shoulder. He had the typical thin elf face, pointed ears and big black eyes. "I'm called Gladril Ortho Trenhel or just Gladril for ssshort and I am a dragon ssseeker."
"Seeker. Not hunter?"" Eugene asked.
Maximus hoped Eugene didn't remark on the poor elf's obvious speech impediment. Elves were very touchy about such things.
Gladril smiled. "There are no live dragon hunters as dragons always win. SSSo it's not a career path which lasts very long. I ssseek them for their knowledge and sssometimes we can make a trade for our mutual benefits."
"So, we don't have to fight this dragon to get the Sun Stone?" Eugene asked as he scratched his head.
"Nope." Gladril said with a smile.
Eugene and Maximus looked at each other. "I like this plan." Eugene declared. "I can get behind this plan."
Maximus nodded his head vigorously. Anything that didn't involve him being cooked with an apple in his mouth was fine by the brave steed, but he was still going to watch their new companion and he'd come prepared with an anti-magic locket he'd taken off some crooks he'd arrested. They set off down the trail together.
Mother Gothel arrived at the servants' entrance just as dark was falling. She wasn't going to use the main entrance as it was too heavily guarded and her detainment there would surely draw the attention of the wizard. She didn't trust him as far as she could throw him.
She waited quietly until a woman she recognized as the midwife came out the door. She was older than she had appeared the last time Mother Gothel had seen her which was nearly twenty years ago but that hooked nose was unmistakable.
She fell in beside the woman who had her shawl pulled up around her shoulders against the chill of the night. "You are the midwife to the princess, are you not?"
The midwife snorted. "Yes. And to her mother before her. And you be?"
"Forgive me. As you can see I'm an elf. My name is Missrel and I hear you are in need of a healer who can treat the Yellow Death."
The midwife stopped and starred at her. "And you can cure this affliction?" The skepticism was heavy in her aged voice.
Mother Gothel sighed sadly. "There is only one cure for the Yellow Death and that is a potion derived from the Sun Flower itself. No. I have no cure. Just remedies and methods to relieve pain and hold death back for a while until such a cure can be found."
The midwife grabbed her hand and squeezed it hard as she hissed. "And of course you need gold to cross your hand before you reveal these remedies."
Mother Gothel shook her head. "I only ask a roof over my head and to be allowed to help the poor child."
"Come." The midwife tugged on her hand. "She is resting poorly and needs any help she can get." She led her back through the gate, explained to the guards this was her new assistant, and it was just that easy to get in.
Mother Gothel reflected that after several hundred years she understood humans and their weaknesses and their strengths well enough that force was only to be used as a distraction at best. Twenty minutes later she was standing beside the princess' bed and when she saw Ray she thought she herself would be ill.
Ray was burning up with fever and thrashing on her bed while the attendants tried to restrain her. "Here now." Mother Gothel cried. "Put a bite stick in her mouth so she doesn't bite her own tongue off." When none was proffered she stuck the side of her own hand into Rapunzel's mouth and refused to cry out when Ray bit down so hard that she drew blood and her teeth ground against bone.
With a look of disgust the midwife procured the stick and they managed to put it in the girl's mouth. Mother Gothel quickly wrapped her bleeding hand in a cloth and called out. "We need willow bark tea to break the fever and syrup of the poppy to dull her pain."
"Get them." The midwife hissed. "And notify that idiot doctor that he's needed." When they hesitated she snapped. "Quickly, you fools." They scrambled to obey.
Mother Gothel crawled up on the bed and wrapped her arms around the sick woman who had once been her adopted child. "It's alright, Ray. Mother is here now. It'll be alright, baby." She crooned to her as she cried and tears ran down her cheeks.
And she continued to hold her repeating these words over and over like a prayer while she restrained the distraught mother to be and in that moment through the golden light of love still burning inside Rapunzel the bindings the Sisterhood had placed on her failed and Gothel began to remember who she really was and what her original purpose was.
In the meantime the wizard alerted by a magic spell examined Rapunzel's condition from afar. He nodded. "With the help she's getting she'll survive the night. I'm going back to bed." With that he blew out the candle.
After a while Rapunzel quieted and when the willow-bark tea was offered she didn't resist when they made her drink some. In another half hour her fever eased and she started to fall asleep but when they tried to separate the two they found Rapunzel's arms were locked tight about the woman holding her and she wouldn't let go.
The doctor arrived and after he had checked her out he agreed with all that Missrel had ordered and he made up the mild solution of the poppy to be administered if the pain became too much again. "I'll be glad to work with a healer who knows so much." He said as he squeezed Mother Gothel's shoulder. "I'm glad you were here." They left the two of them together.
During the night Rapunzel cried out softly in her sleep. "Mommy, I'm hurting."
Mother Gothel whispered in her ear. "It'll be okay, Ray. I'm here."
"I had a bad dream, Mommy." She whispered back. "I dreamed you hated me and wanted to hurt me bad."
"I had the same nightmare, child. But don't worry as the part of me that loves you never really left. Now sleep and we'll talk later." There was a sigh followed by soft snoring.
Mother Gothel remembered everything now and she hated what she'd become after her rape which she now suspected had been created by the Sisterhood to reclaim her. As a result to protect the one she loved she'd almost destroyed the one she loved. Her chin lifted defiantly. She had made her decision. The Sisterhood could go hang. All that was important was Ray and her child. She kissed her girl's forehead and cuddled her head against her chest, singing a lullaby just as she had when Ray was five.
Eugene stared at the cave entrance from which a column of grey smoke was pouring. "It looks like he's cooking a late dinner. Maybe we should wait." Maximus snorted in disgust at such stupidity.
The black elf sniffed the air sticking his tongue out. "I think he's already eaten. I can sssmell baked mutton."
"Baahha." A white sheep with a black face staggered out of the cave mouth and down the hill. As it passed Eugene noted that its wool smelled a little scorched and its eyes were crossed.
Maximus led the way into the cave mouth as they walked down the stream that flowed out of it. A little way further in and the stream vanished into a hole in the wall. The way became drier and they started seeing lights in alcoves along the walls. Statues of centaurs or fauns appeared in some of the alcoves and in others there were paintings of forests and mountains. In one there was a painting of a black dragon with red wings.
"Like all his kind Drin has a lot of ssself pride." The elf remarked.
They arrived at a large wooden door with a purple pull rope. An arrow pointed at a book on a table and a placard above the book proclaimed. 'Sign in here and pull cord'. Another sign said. 'All trades considered'.
Eugene took the pen attached to a wire and signed his name. He offered it to the elf who declined. "It's your trade not mine."
"Are you sure?" He asked. "Maybe he has something that could help your speech impediment."
The elf frowned at him. "What ssspeech impediment?"
Maximus snorted in disgust and seized the pull rope in his mouth and tugged. There was a large 'Gong' sound which echoed and re-echoed.
"Come in." A deep voice roared. The doors split in two and swung inward to reveal descending stairs lit up by glowing bulbs set into the walls. As they hesitated the deep voice rumbled. "Either come in or just go away as I'm finishing my roast lamb."
"Let's go." The black elf said and started down the stairs.
Eugene felt a tug on one of the sword hilts sticking out of his belt and felt it jerked away. He looked up to see Maximus with the hilt gripped tightly in his teeth. The horse bobbed his head urging him onward. With a sigh Eugene drew his other sword and followed the black elf.
They descended a long way down and out of curiosity Eugene put a hand out towards one of the glowing bulbs. To his surprise he felt no heat. The only sound was the clip clop of Maximus' hooves on the stone stairs as they went down, down and down and then they were walking on a marble floor of a huge room.
Lights sprang up all around them revealing a black dragon with red wings getting up from a stone table with steaming bones piled on it and for a moment he paused to pick his teeth. Behind him a huge pile of treasure gleamed in the light revealing vases, jewels, chests, wands, staffs and hundreds of other objects. "What a hoard." Eugene exclaimed.
The dragon laughed deeply. "Hoard? You might call it that but it's my merchandize." He pointed up at a large sign which read. DRIN'S PAWN SHOP. NO DEAL TOO SMALL OR TOO LARGE. He leaned forward still towering over them. "Now what can I do for you gentlemen this fine evening? Make it quick as I grow bored easily."
Eugene felt a shove in his back as Maximus pushed him forward with his nose. The sword pricked him. "Hey, watch it." He growled over his shoulder and received a snort from Maximus. He turned back to the waiting dragon. "We're here to acquire a Sun Stone." Interestingly the elf gestured and Maximus pranced back beside the elf who grabbed his reins which strangely Maximus tolerated although he rolled his eyes.
"Interesting." The dragon replied looking bored. "I get little call for them. Why do you need one?"
"Our wizard needs it to create a life-saving potion for my wife and our unborn daughter to cure her of the Yellow Death." Eugene informed him.
Drin frowned. "For that to work you need the essence of the Flower of the Sun." He smiled. "You could purchase almost everything here with that one item and so I am assuming you have it." He rubbed his hands together. "All right. What do you have to trade?"
"One intelligent horse who's been ssspelled and a ssstupid thief who's wanted for ssstealing from every pawn shop within a hundred miles." The black elf said with a grin as he stepped forward holding out the reins in one hand and pressing his sword point into Eugene's back.
With a snort of rage Maximus reared up as if the spell didn't exist which with the locket in his saddlebags it didn't and slammed the flat of his sword blade down on the black elf's head. The elf collapsed and then his disguise dissolved into nothingness, leaving an unconscious black snake on the marble floor.
"Now you've got my complete attention and I'm no longer bored." Drin declared as he loomed over them with smoke pouring from between his jaws.
In the morning Mother Gothel gave Rapunzel some more willow bark tea and then fed her charge some broth laced with the right combination of herbs that she knew would reawaken her temporarily. It was a risk but Ray had to be aware as she needed her help if she was going to save her and the unborn child. She stroked the girl's hair. This illness reminded her so much of the time little Ray had caught that terrible fever and had almost died when she was five as her new powers had raged inside her unavailable for use before settling permanently in her hair.
She was removing the spoon for the last time when Rapunzel's eyes opened. She looked puzzled for a moment before her eyes focused and she said coldly. "Hello, Mother. I thought that was you I heard last night." She scooted back in the bed ready to shout.
Gothel looked down and with shock realized her disguise was gone. She waved her hands trying to calm her daughter down. "Ray, it's not what you think. I'm here to help you and your daughter. I just saved both your lives."
"I don't believe you." Rapunzel hissed. "The last time I saw you there was a rope about my waist and you'd stabbed poor Eugene."
Gothel hung her head. "All true but I let you save him and you also saw me die as I fell screaming to my death, didn't you?"
Rapunzel swallowed hard. "Yes. I saw the grave mound at the foot of the tower." She also remembered that she had found that she could still shed a tear for the woman Gothel had been when she was a child growing up.
Gothel pleaded earnestly. "Ray, I am not sure exactly what or who allowed me to come back. The Sisterhood thinks it was their powers and that it is my purpose to take possession of your daughter who will be the next light bearer for them. But they're wrong. I now remember things from before that time that I was under their power and I know now my purpose is to protect the two of you. Tonight I saved you and her but, Ray, there are terrible prices to pay before you and your daughter will be safe." She reached out a hand and touched Rapunzel's hand. Rapunzel stared at the hand but did not withdraw nor did she shout.
Mother Gothel withdrew her hand. "Ray, you must remember how I first helped you learn how to paint. You must remember the stories I read you and how together we explored the wonders to be found in story books after I taught you how to read. You must remember the nights I cared for you and rocked you in my arms when you were sick from the changes that your powers were bringing to your body." Tears streamed down her face. "But if you hate me so much, then please shout for the guards as in a world where one's own child hates you then there is no reason to live and it is far better to be dead." She waited fearfully, knowing the fate of millions hung on her adopted daughter's response.
Slowly the hatred and fear ebbed away from behind Rapunzel's eyes as the light of goodness in her took over and the young woman reached out her hand. "You don't know how much I want to believe you. You don't know how much I missed my mother who sang me to sleep at night or how much I was filled with sorrow when I thought you'd lied to me and always been evil."
Tears were streaming down Mother Gothel's cheeks and she reached out her hand. "I'm sorry for all the bad things I did and I love you, Ray." Their hands touched and then their fingers intertwined.
Ray sobbed. "Oh God. You don't know what that does to me to hear you call me that again. I love you too." Then they were in each other's arms and crying hard. Mother and adopted daughter were reunited in love again.
Finally Ray pulled back and dried her tears. "What is happening to me, Mother?"
"Ray, the wizard has induced the Yellow Death in you to force you to take the potion from the Flower of the Sun that your birth mother took which created you as the light bearer. Now he intends that your daughter be the light bearer so that he can steal her for his own evil purposes."
Ray's eyes went wide and she curled her arms protectively around her swollen belly. "Not my baby. I won't let him take my baby from me."
Mother Gothel swallowed. "I'm sorry, my dear Ray. But soon you won't have a choice. Right now I am holding the Yellow Death back but it is only a short respite and within a day or two you'll be unconscious again. The good news is that the wizard has a left-over Flower potion like the one that he used on your mother and it combined with the Sun Stone that your husband has gone to get from the dragon Drin could cure you but its use will make your daughter the new light bearer."
Ray frowned. "You keep referring to the light bearer and that I was one. What is the light bearer exactly?"
Her godmother sighed. "This will take some time to explain. You have heard of the Phoenix haven't you?"
Ray frowned. "They say it is a myth. Some call it the firebird and they say that it bursts into flame and rises from its own ashes."
"The Phoenix is not a myth. This bird which can fly between worlds is how the drop of light that became the Sun Flower got here. It was carried here from the sun by the bird as its egg and laid where I found it when I was a little girl of age ten several hundred years ago. I was the first to see it sprout and bloom and because I had found it my people charged me with caring for it and keeping it safe until the next stage of its existence was to occur which was hundreds of years later. So, now you know why I was so fanatical about keeping myself alive, and to keep the flower safe I couldn't let anyone know about it."
"Rumors soon spread of the existence of the Sun Flower and the crazy old woman who wouldn't share its powers for the good of all. No one ever mentioned that if the Sun Flower was discovered that it would not have survived the rough handling such as it received when your father had it uprooted at the wizard's orders. I had powers but I didn't stop them as I realized that all this had been foretold to me long ago by the wise man of our people and that it had to happen in just this way."
"How old are you?" Ray whispered. "How old really?"
Mother Gothel considered this before she replied. "I remember Roman soldiers as a child when they came through our village. I'm at least as old as the time since the fall of the Roman Empire."
"That old." Ray shook her head. "You must've seen everything."
"I've seen too much and a lot of it was not pretty. I watched some of the barbarian warriors before you met them at the tavern. Before they were bathed in your internal light they were murderers and thieves and afterwards they were like loving little children. The Flower's light can create goodness but it can also be perverted to great evil to create an empire of evil when the one who uses the light bearer is immune to its charms as everyone else would become helpless in its light. This is one reason I wanted to isolate you so that you could not be turned into a weapon by someone who had no concern for you like the wizard or the Sisterhood."
"Unfortunately I failed you as I was one who got turned by the Sisterhood which is a worldwide organization of witches and other supernatural beings. I wouldn't join them and give you to them; so they had me waylaid and raped on one of my trips to get paints for you. Then they tortured me and turned me into one of them but used me only to gather energy from you as you were too old by then to be converted to the next stage of the light bearer."
"Oh God, Mother, I never knew. I'm so sorry." Ray hugged her hard. "You didn't fail me. I failed you. I was so naïve, self-centered, and short sighted that I never realized that the changes you underwent then were not because you hated me but because you'd been hurt."
Mother Gothel began to cry. "Ray, I wanted to tell you but I couldn't as they controlled me with spells. When Eugene freed you I hurled myself from the tower wanting only to die but I was not allowed that luxury."
Ray drew back and wiped her eyes. "You said we had only a short time before I relapse. What do we do now?"
Mother Gothel sighed. "You must convince your parents and enlist their aid as I believe the wizard intends your child evil just as he would've done to you if I had not spirited you away to try and ensure your change."
"I had been told by a wise man that I should encourage your change into the next stage of the light bearer but I hesitated and on the day it was supposed to happen I loved you so much that I couldn't let you go and I nursed you through the sickness and prevented the change."
Rapunzel stared at her. "What would I have changed into?"
"The new Phoenix." Mother Gothel whispered.