Eugene's Treasure:
Chapter 8
The morning sun rose in the distance and the warm rays danced across the walls of the bedroom. Rapunzel squinted in her sleep as the blinding sun shone on her face. Suddenly it went away, something was blocking it. She opened her sleepy eyes.
"Eugene?" she looked at the handsome man lying next to her. he supporting his upper body on one arm. Eugene just smiled and slowly ran his hand through her hair.
"Hey Blondie" he whispered. He leaned down and planted a kiss on her lips. Suddenly something small ran through the room and jumped onto the bed, surprising the royal couple and they pulled away.
"Eww" the little girl stated wrinkling up her nose. "You were kissing" she made a face and stuck out her tongue. The royal couple just laughed as Julia ran out of the room.
The royal family sat down for breakfast. The king, the queen, Eugene, Rapunzel, and Julia. Rapunzel looked at her plate of eggs and bacon for a moment then raised a hand to call a servant over. Eugene watched her with curiosity while he had the feeling the queen knew exactly what her daughter was doing. Rapunzel looked up at the servant, her eyelashes batting.
"Do you possibly have any…" she hesitated for a moment. The servant waited patiently as Eugene stared at his wife, waiting for her to continue. "…any watermelon?" she smiled ever so innocently. The servant looked confused for a moment as Eugene looked surprised. "uh, ill check your highness." The servant said as he left the room. Rapunzel grinned and looked over to see Eugene.
"Watermelon…you asked for watermelon?" he asked, chuckling slightly.
"What?" she asked innocently looking at her mother.
"It's normal to have cravings when women are pregnant Eugene" the queen said simply and lifted her glass to her mouth. Eugene smiled and remembered when Rapunzel was pregnant with Susan. She would ask for the strangest things in the middle of the night. He smiled at the memory and held Rapunzel's hand. "Sorry, I forgot" he said looking in to her sparkling green eyes. She smiled back when she looked past Eugene and giggled. "uh, Eugene…someone just look your toast." Eugene swerved his head around to see Julia noisily chomping on his toast. "Hey!" he said as the rest of the family laughed. The king raised his coffee cup to his mouth and spoke before taking a sip. "So when will Julia's celebration be?" Rapunzel exchanged looks with the queen. "Monday" the queen stated as Rapunzel nodded. The king nodded in agreement as Eugene winked at the smiling little girl sitting next to him.
….
Everyone in Corona once again was bustling about. Shopkeepers hung kingdom flags across the streets and women and young girls bought and made dresses for the celebration of the new princess. Among all the busyness of the streets, two figures dressed in black sat at the local bar, watching the kingdom excitement through the window.
"So what your saying is" one of the men said. "is that tonight is the celebration for the orphan girl that the prince and princess have adopted?" The other man dressed in a black cape nodded slowly. "and if we kidnap that orphan, then they will be willing to do and pay anything to get her back…right?" once again, the man nodded. The first man smirked. "Henry" the man in the cape was whispering now and pulled out a large sac of coins. "They say the prince is very close to the girl…and he will do anything to keep her safe…if he interferes." The man pointed his chin to the dagger hiding under Henry's cape. Henry greedily grasped the sac of coins and smiled wickedly. "It will be done" he then got up from the table and left the pub, disappearing into the crowd.
….
Eugene straitened his vest and the kingdom's symbol on his chest. He heard the door creak open behind him and he turned to see Julia and Rapunzel enter the room. Julia happily skipped over to him. She had a beautiful blue dress on and Eugene noticed right away how it matched her eyes. Her hair had been curled for the special occasion and atop of her head, sat a small simple crown. Eugene knelt down beside his princess. "You look beautiful" he said with a smile on his face. She returned the smile. "You do to!" she said happily as she traced her fingers over the shining metal on his chest. Eugene chuckled and stood up to see his wife. His jaw fell agape when he saw her. She had on a beautiful purple gown on and the sparkling crown was upon her head. She was gorgeous, even though her belly stuck out because she was pregnant. Rapunzel blushed. "Uh…how do I look?" she said looking down at herself. Eugene walked over to her and held her hands. "Amazing" he whispered and kissed her cheek. The queen entered the room, dressed up as well. "its time! Are you ready?" she asked excitedly. "Yeah!" Julia squealed as she grabbed Eugene's hand and dragged him out into the hallway. Rapunzel giggled and followed her family.
Outside of the palace doors, they were greeted by hook hand, big nose, and some of the other thugs who had been invited. Julia had met them before and they often played together. She cried out happily and ran to her giant-like friends. After a moment of exchanging greetings and giggles, the royal family was off to the celebration which was going to be held at the entrance of the town, just like when Rapunzel had returned.
After a little while of greeting people, the royal family got up on a platform and the king made a speech to present the new princess to the kingdom. Everyone cheered and soon, people were dancing to hook hand's piano music while others were feasting on the food set out for the celebration. Julia happily danced with Eugene while Rapunzel giggled and danced with bignose. During the dance, Eugene watched as Julia skipped through the crowd and suddenly she was out of sight. Eugene watched and waited for her to come skipping back, but after a few moments he realized she was gone. 'oh no..,' Eugene thought as he walked through the dancing people and looked down low hoping to see a small girl in a blue dress, but she wasn't there. He thought he caught a glimpse of her but it quickly vanished once again into the crowd. Wasting no time, he marched through the crowd and finally made through to the other side. What he saw next made him stop in his tracks. Behind a bush, far from the dancing, was Julia's small little crown, sparkling in the setting sun's rays. Without thinking to grab a few guards, Eugene dashed towards it and saw large footsteps leading down a path, farther into the brush. He picked up the crown and hurriedly followed the path.
Meanwhile, Rapunzel had become worried because Julia or Eugene was not to be seen anywhere. She pulled hookhand off the piano and while some other guy jumped on it.
"Hookhand!" Rapunzel said in a panicky tone. "Eugene and Julia are nowhere to be seen! Have you seen them?" But the thug just shook his head. Rapunzel was getting really worried now. "could you.." she started to say but the giant of a man raised his hand to stop her. "we will go look for them" he said in a deep voice that made Rapunzel feel somewhat safe. She sighed in relief. "Oh thank you!" and the group of thugs went in all different directions through the dancing crowd, trying not to knock over people as they went.
Eventually, they found traces of Eugene's heavy boots and followed the trail. The thugs stopped when they heard a cry of pain, it was a man, they could tell that much and he wasn't too far away. Hookhand led the group until they heard muffled grunts and pushed their way through some hedges. The thugs were surprised at what they saw. "Rider?" they all asked as they made their way over to the figure on the ground. Eugene groaned in pain as he clutched at his side. The thug's eyes widened when they saw what was causing the pain. A long arrow was embedded in Eugene's side. Hookhand knelt down next to Eugene and shifted him to get a better view of the injury. Eugene cried out in pain when he did this and gritted his teeth. "easy" said bignose as he ripped off some cloth from his sleeve and held it ready. One of the thug's ran back to get help while Hookhand moved Eugene's hand from his wound to get a better look. "It's deep" he said as he looked up at the thugs, then he turned to look into Eugene's pain-filled face. "It's going to have to come out" he said as he placed his large hand around the arrow. Eugene winced in agony. Any slight shifts of the arrow sent strong waves of pain through his entire body. Big nose sat ready to place the cloth on it to prevent bleeding, but Eugene had lost a lot of blood already. Placing his other hand over Eugene's shoulder, Hookhand tugged the arrow out with one swift move. "AAAAHHH!" Eugene yelled out in pain as bignose quickly placed the cloth over the bleeding gash. Suddenly Rapunzel, the king and queen, and some guards bursted though the shrubs. Rapunzel had heard Eugene's cry of pain and when she did, her heart stopped. "Eugene!" she cried as she knelt down beside Hookhand and immediately supported her husband's head. "What happened?" the king asked worriedly as he motioned his hand for some guards to fetch a doctor. Before hookhand could answer, Eugene did between grunts and winces. "Julia…they took…AHH!…Julia..." everyone's eyes widened in fear as the king immediately summoned the guards to search the entire kingdom. Eugene started to fade into blackness.
"no…NO! EUGENE!" rapunzel cried and started to choke up. Hookhand lifted up Eugene as gently as he could and started to head back to the castle. Rapunzel and her parents eagerly followed close behind.
