Chapter 13

"Have you seen this couple?" the Captain asked Big Nose and Lena who happened to be standing behind the bar when the Guards barged in. They were everywhere, the common room, the upstairs and a few some of them around the back and into the kitchen area, right past Lena and Attila.

Lena frowned. "You just can't come busting in here….."

"It's way too late now, Lena," Big Nose said to his wife. "Leave it be."

The Captain stared at her. He held up one wanted poster of Rider and the other a sketch of Princess Rapunzel.

Lena stared back and then at the sketches. She shrugged her shoulders, huffed and walked into the kitchen, letting the swinging doors close behind her.

"They're not here," Shorty said, still sitting by the bar. "I don't think they were ever here. Are they together?"

Big Nose and the Captain stared at Shorty and looked up at each other.

"He's right, Captain, I've never seen those two in my life."

The Captain looked a little surprised. "It's been reported that these two have been seen in this vicinity.

Attila came out from the kitchen and glared at the Captain.

Now why don't you just move along," he thundered. "Big Nose is telling the truth. There's nothing here for you."

"He's right, Captain, they're not here. One of the guards called out from the steps.

"They're not in here either," another guard called out from the common room.

"What about outside? There's a barn? Did we check that?"

The guards, 10 in all stared at one another. They just realized the mistake they made.

They ran outside and split up in groups of 5, two men to a group. Four guards checked the back and front of the barn, while two more searched the inside, hoping against hope that the couple the guards were looking for were holed up inside the barn.

Four teams reported that nothing was out of the ordinary. Rapunzel and Rider were no where to be found, especially at the Inn of the Seven Dwarves.

The fifth team was still out there somewhere, the Captain guessing inside the barn. He wasn't sure how long the team would be there or how long to wait before he pulled them out of there altogether.

The Captain was inside the common room, staring out the window. He was looking at nothing; there were trees in every direction. He was growing impatient, he wanted to get back and with this mission accomplished. He wasn't used to defeat and he certainly wasn't used to disappointment. Situations like this hardly ever happened, but the few times that they did, the Captain wanted his performance to stand out. He liked to be hero and for all intents and purposes, he liked to spoken of as a hero, not as a fool or a bumbling idiot. The Queen wasn't so forgiving when the Captain couldn't come through for her.

He pulled away and paced the floor, trying to think. Everything piece of evidence the Queen had presented him pointed to this place. The Queen was sure that this woman was alive and well. The orders had been to find her and bring her back and it would be up to the Queen as to what the final outcome would be.

That was more or less the plan, she hadn't told him anything else. Who knows what she would do with the other four men who had been missing? Who knows if they were even alive or dead at this point?

The Captain continued his pacing. There was definitely no cooperation from these Thugs. He couldn't get anything out of them, no matter how much the Queen insisted she was right.

He stopped pacing and nodded his head. He had made his decision. The Queen wasn't going to like it, but there was nothing else he could do.

The Captain placed his helmet firmly on his head and strode out of the common room, past the bar area and out into the yard. He made his way to the barn to find the two guardsmen who went inside.

He was calling off the search. How he would break it to the Queen was his responsibility and his alone.

XXXXXXX

Eugene pushed Rapunzel deeper into the barn. They weren't far from the temporary guest rooms where Bastian and the twins stayed just last night.

Eugene's first instinct was to crawl into the unmade beds and pretend to be asleep, but Rapunzel was having none of it. It wouldn't work, she told the hunter/bandit, they'd see right through his plan.

Nodding silently, they moved further into the darkness as the two guards rattled around the barn, turning things over and talking loudly as they moved closer and closer to the two of them. It was all the two of them could do to keep still as the guards moved past the horses and barnyard animals letting them loose so that they could search their stalls and any other hiding places that they deemed worthy. Chickens squawked and ran as the two guards trampled underfoot, moving closer and closer to Eugene and Rapunzel hiding in the darkness. They were almost upon them, almost toward the unmade beds when another voice called the two guardsmen back; something about calling off the search and leaving. It was time to retreat, to call it day and head for home. There was nothing here, the voice continued, it was time to go.

Rapunzel and Eugene heard their footsteps as they headed toward the front of the barn and finally all was still. Their eyes met and locked in disbelief and happiness as all three voices faded away. They waited until they heard the door to the inn slam before they ran out the barn's back door.

They found Maximus waiting patiently beside the barn and it had looked as though he was packed and ready with supplies. What they hadn't seen was Shorty, who because of his size and weight, could slip in and out of the shadows easily. He was used to it and was taking full advantage of that now.

"Someone will get you when it's all over," Shorty assured Eugene as he held the reins while Eugene helped Rapunzel up. When the two were safely on astride Max, Shorty transferred the reins to Eugene and patted Max on the back.

"Safe journey you two. Everything is well in hand," he told them. And as Eugene spurred Max onward, Shorty watched until they disappeared into the village. They'd be safe for a while, at least until the guards departed for Corona anyway.