Two Kings, a Future Queen and a Spy
The very next day, after the Lundars left, the guards alerted Rapunzel and Eugene that Varian's balloon was back on Corona's horizon. "Eugene!" Rapunzel shouted excitedly, "Do you think Varian's already figured how to work the machine?"
"Not sure princess. I believe Varian could figure out something that fast, but wouldn't it take time to put all the crops in storage before he was able to get over here?"
"Oh yeah. And then he probably wouldn't take a balloon to get them over here. It would be more like a carriage to be able store more. Huh. Then why do you think he's already coming back Eugene?"
They had to wait to find out. When the balloon landed they found to their surprise that King Edmund was riding in it! When Edmund stepped out, Rapunzel blurted out, "Edmund what are you doing in there?"
"Well nice to see you too princess." The king replied good- naturedly.
She engulfed him in a big bear hug.
"I'm sorry! We're so happy to see you too! I just was surprised to see you riding in Varian's balloon!"
"Varian arrived at the Dark Kingdom shortly after your message to me that you thought that Egbert might have allied with the Humpherts. I didn't want to waste any time. Once Egbert has it in his head to do something he does it. I asked Varian if I could use his balloon to travel here. I knew it was the fastest way. He taught me a little how to fly it and I winged the rest. Your message confirming the alliance got to me just as I was leaving."
"Wow dad. I am surprised you got over here without killing yourself." Eugene commented wryly.
"Eugene! Your father's a very capable man!"
"Yeah but Rapunzel you know travel's not his thing, and then there's flight! Not even his messenger crows can fly very well!"
"Well I think it's amazing you got here and we're so grateful you braved the skies to get here so quickly!"
"Thank you princess!" Kind Edmund responded. "My son should listen to her more often."
"Dad did you just say a thought out loud again?"
"Drat!" The king said.
King Frederick and Queen Arianna greeted King Edmund and thanked him for his support.
"Especially considering you flew in that contraption to get here!" King Frederick noted, gesturing to the balloon. He didn't know if he would ever have the courage to fly in something like that, but he was exceedingly curious.
Rapunzel waited until King Edmund was settled in, but there was one question that burned in her mind.
"How is Varian?" She asked her father-in-law. She was glad to hear the teen had arrived safely.
"Do you know if he had made any progress on the machine before he left?"
"I only was at the Dark Kingdom a short time after he arrived, but by the time I left, he had already fixed it to where it was functioning again. He said now that it was fixed he was going to add some modifications to it to see if he could save the crops. He had a couple of ideas."
"That is good news!" She needed some of that.
She had another burning question about whether Varian had meant to say he thought someone had started the fire. She knew from Lance and the girls she had most likely been right, but now, especially after the matches were gone, she needed all extra the confirmation she could get. 'No pun intended, regarding the burning question.' She thought. Wow she was really on fire with these puns!
"Edmund, did Varian say anything about a fire?"
"Yes! He said to tell you that he found matches that would indicate that someone had started it. He tried to get the message to you before he left, but he didn't know who he could trust and he had to leave."
"Yes! I knew it!" Rapunzel exclaimed.
King Edmund looked at her in question.
"I mean, don't get me wrong, I am definitely not happy someone started the fire!" She explained herself. "This is just important information King Edmund! Since we have so much confirmation now that someone started the fire, once we can figure out who, maybe we can stop this war!"
"I hope you're right princess! Though I think whoever must have started this fire must have covered their tracks well."
"Not enough not to leave matches at the scene of the crime!" Noted Rapunzel.
Edmund admitted she had a good point. The days flew by. The day of the battle grew ever nearer.
"Son," King Edmund addressed Eugene. "You need training."
It was obvious that his dad meant fight training. The sword in his father's hand helped him make that conclusion.
"Hey I held my own against you." Eugene remonstrated defensively. He was only like this around his father.
"True." His father gauged. "But I wasn't exactly in my right mind then."
"You're not exactly in your right mind now." Eugene muttered under his breath.
"What was that?"
"Nothing."
King Edmund squared himself. "Look son, you got good informal training."
"Is that what they are calling it these days?" They both knew what he picked up was from the streets. "Well it's not to be underestimated." King Edmund complimented. "It survivalist fighting. From what I've seen from you, it's defensive motions, unpredictability, playing against someone's strengths to get away." He stepped towards Eugene. "But it's not the training of a prince."
He swung the sword directly at Eugene. Eugene instinctually dodged just in time. If he had stayed he could have been sliced in half.
"Dad are you crazy?!" He breathed. "You could have killed me!"
"But I didn't." His father calmly responded. "See that is what I mean. You instinctually escape threat." He threw the sword down. "But I am going to show you how to meet it."
He nodded at the sword. "Pick up the sword son, and swing it at me."
"Dad I am not really in the mood."
"Humor me."
"Ok." Eugene took the sword and swung it at his father trusting that he would dodge it as well. He saw no other weapon in his father's hand. However hidden in the folds of his cloak, his father took out a huge ax. The ax that he had first seen his father with. His father hooked the edge of his sword with his ax and bent it back so hard, that Eugene lost his grip and it clattered out of his hands.
"Nice trick." Eugene said breathless again. "But that's an ax. I don't think I can do that with a sword."
"No, maybe not." King Edmund said. "But I am going to teach you how to properly parry. We had never had time for the this before." In the following days, Edmund was true to his word.
As they trained, Eugen thought of something. "Hey dad speaking of training, I just remembered something. Where is Hector? One of your Brotherhood warriors sworn to help you? Isn't he going to help you with the fight?"
"No, son he is not."
"What, does he still hate us all that much?" At first Hector had chased Rapunzel and her friends on their journey to the Dark Kingdom, before he found out who they were.
"No son, he's not joining the fight for a different reason. And I allowed him to stay at the Dark Kingdom."
"A different reason? What like the Lundars? It seems like everyone has a reason not to help us!"
"Trust me son it is a good reason. And besides don't you think your dear old dad is enough of a help to you?" King Edmund met Eugene's sword again with such force that he nearly disarmed him. Eugene hung on this time, just barely. He grinned. He was getting the hang of this.
While Eugene trained, drilled the guards, and prepared otherwise for battle, Rapunzel did everything she could to stop the battle from happening. She waited on news from Varian. She hadn't heard anything from Cassandra yet. She wasn't sure if her letter reached her. Then, in the forthcoming weeks she found that one of the livery servants had went to check the carriage porch to see if anyone needed assistance, and saw that the Humphert's carriage pointed downward, as their horse was unhitched. When he asked about it, startled that maybe it had been stolen, one of the guards told him Wolfgang had only taken it out on a joy ride. It was a huge piece of evidence. It meant Wolfgang could have had the means to travel to Varian's farm to start the fire.
Although when Rapunzel asked the livery servant which guard it was, he couldn't tell her. "They all kind of look alike?" He said embarrassed. It was vexing, but Rapunzel had to admit it was true. With none of the guards at the castle reporting anything, she had to assume it was a rebel guard he had talked to. The weeks flew by. Finally, in the midst of all her other duties and the sleep she needed, she came enthusiastically to talk to Eugene. "Eugene!" She caught him in between his father's training, and his training of the guards. "You won't believe what I just found out!"
"What?"
"After the fire started, a servant said that she heard from her sister, who heard from her cousin, who heard from-"
"What did they hear?" Eugene interrupted.
"The cousin's friend heard Rebekah Humphert commend Wolfgang for unhitching their horse to use it in the efforts to help with the fire."
Eugene thought for a minute. "But we know that he helped volunteer for the fire at first. He just got never past the set up to get to the fields as far as we know."
"But Eugene! Don't you see? If Wolfgang had already unhitched the horse earlier for a joyride before the fire, why would Rebekah say he unhitched it to help with volunteering after the fire? The horse was already unhitched!"
Realization dawned on Eugene. "He must have been out with that horse the entire time! She was trying to cover for him! He could have just arrived back from starting the fire." Rapunzel nodded earnestly in confirmation. Eugene finished his last thought. "And that means all the Humpherts must have been in on this!"
"Yes!" Rapunzel said, proud of her discovery. "Though, it's still not enough." She admitted glumly. "Even if I find the friend who heard Rebekah directly, the Humpherts could just say he hitched and unhitched the horse twice. I need to have someone who saw him returning to the castle after the fire." She paused, shaking her head. "This was so sneaky Eugene, they knew everyone would be inside the palace for the baby shower. They knew the whole kingdom was there to attend. That's how they were able to get away with this."
"Did you try asking any of the shop owners?" asked Eugene. "Wolfgang would have had to ride through plaza to get back to the palace grounds, if he was returning from Varian's fields."
In response Rapunzel said, "Well, as you know, the doctor's been keeping a close eye on me." Eugene knew that was an understatement. The man had been outright suffocating in his efforts to make sure the princess didn't violate his no travel request.
"So I have really been only able to ask people inside the palace."
It was yet another reason why the investigation went so slowly! It also seemed people were still scared, that if they only came forward now, after all this time, they would be labelled as traitors, no matter how gentle her efforts. This also made made things more difficult to delegate.
"I would send a servant out to the shops to ask, but I think the task is too sensitive. Therefore, it would be nice if someone else would do it for me." She grinned, making obvious who 'someone else' meant. Eugene realized what he just volunteered himself for.
"Alright, I'll find time between training to go check."
She raised herself up to give him a kiss.
This was going too slow. Varian was beyond frustrated. Back at the Dark Kingdom, he had fixed the amber machine, but everything he tried to safely encase the crops wasn't working. He thought at first if he only made a vacuum, or was able to get the machine to form the amber like a long tunnel, he could stuff the crops inside and then use something to cork the holes at either end.
Yet the amber was so hard to control. No matter how he modified his machine to get the substance to form how he wanted, it always came out a little differently. Either it would come out like a long solid cylinder without enough of a hole. Or It would turn out gargantuan, and too heavy to transport. Or the opening at end the hole would be too jagged to push crops through. He had thought fleetingly of encasing the crops within the amber and then melting the amber around them.
He had long since figured out what destroyed the amber. It was heat. That is, very high, intense amounts of heat. But heat used like that would also disintegrate the crops within the amber. It had been what happened to his father's note after he and it were encased. He had figured out that it was this intense heat that destroyed the amber, when he saw Rapunzel work the Moonstone's 'wither and decay' spell to free his father. That part hadn't been just a dream. It was a memory incorporated in princess Rapunzel's dream. It really happened in the past.
When she said the incantation to free his father, the amber imprisoning him had melted as if its molecular structure was decomposing. He didn't know it, but he came to the same conclusion of Rapunzel, that there must have been some sort of time reversal element to the incantation she used, decomposing the amber, as if it had never existed in its current state. His father had been lucky that he had not been scorched as he was freed, but he had extricated himself and Rapunzel stopped her incantation before it affected him fully. If Varian hadn't given up on snapping her out of that spell, it might have been too late for all of them. It must have been why the 'wither and decay' spell worked so slowly.
He suspected it used time reversal and high amounts of heat. He shuddered. He put his fist down. There must be another way to use this amber to encase the crops, where getting them out wouldn't damage them as well. The pressure was building. King Edmund had left because Corona was soon to be at war! He and his father needed to get back safely with stored crops to stop it from happening! He was running out of time. He had to have some answers.
Eugene visited every shop in plaza without any answers. The shop owners had shut down during the party, planning to leave slightly before it ended, to reopen. No one wanted to miss the event. So no one had seen Wolfgang returning. When he returned without success, Rapunzel hung onto hope, but the battle was now only two days nigh. Varian wrote to her of his progress, and even that seemed to be going slow, but he wasn't giving up yet.
An answer to one of her questions, finally came the day before the battle was set. Very early that morning servants woke them up, reporting they heard an incredibly rough knock on the castle door before the sun rose. "Eugene!" She cried. "Do you think they've already begun the battle?"
"If so, I've slept in for it." He replied. He knew he was being crabby, but it seemed there was always something interrupting his beauty sleep these days.
"Do you want someone else to look into it?" She asked sympathetically.
"No, no I will give it a look." He sighed, rubbing his eyes. "It would be the guards reporting in and not the servants though, if it were an enemy at the gate. At least I hope so. If they've all turned on me, don't know if I am up to fighting the entire Royal Guard by myself today."
Thank goodness it was Big nose, Toll, Gunther, Urf, Atilla, Killer, Fang, Vladmir, and Shorty at the door!
"Hello gang! What brings us the pleasure?" Rapunzel greeted.
"We wanted to show we could be punctual." Attila answered, eyeing Eugene. 'Boy for big men they sure are sensitive.' The prince-consort thought. The group and their unfiltered zest for life, filled the castle with noise and fellowship. "It won't be long now princess!" The group relayed when speaking of the birth of her children. "What are ya going to name them?"
"Well we haven't really talked about it in a while have we?" Rapunzel recognized.
"We haven't really been able to talk much about anything other than what's happening tomorrow." Eugene agreed.
"That's it!" Big Nose put his foot down, quite literally, with all his extra toes. "You two need time to get out!" He had always been a hopeless romantic. "You're going to be parents soon for Pete's sake!"
"Yeah, Yeah!" The group uttered. The entire group collectively picked both Eugene and Rapunzel up and hoisted them on their shoulders, carrying them who knows where.
"Where are you taking us?" Rapunzel asked.
"Somewhere you all can talk in privacy!" Gunther answered. It was meant to be kind, but it came out gruffly. "Um guys, don't get me wrong, we appreciate this! But do you remember I can't walk very well?" The princess asked.
"You can still sit in a canoe!" The men responded.
"Eugene we totally forgot about the canoes!" In the past, they often rowed out on the bay surrounding the castle to talk into the night. Yet lately they had stopped coming out here as they adjusted to a new reality. "I totally forgot we could still do this!" Rapunzel actually squealed. Eugene laughed. "We can watch the sunrise instead of the sunset out here Eugene! We've never done that before."
Eugene suddenly frowned. He remembered morning drills. It was the day before the battle. The Snuggly Duckling men were already plopping he and Rapunzel down into the boat. They were gentle enough with her, but with him it splashed around and they both had hang onto the sides to steady it. "Um guys? This is amazingly nice, but unfortunately, I kind of have guard duty! There's a battle tomorrow." He pointed to his Captain's uniform he had already donned. A voice unexpectedly called out. "I'll take care of it son. I will ask King Frederick, but I don't think he will mind me giving them a bit of my training this morning." It was King Edmund. From all the experiences of his past, he was always on high alert, so when he heard the knocking he immediately came down to investigate and saw the whole thing play out.
"I can officially say I am ok with it. Take the day if you need." Yet another voice rang out. King Frederick and Queen Arianna were also woken up by the servants and also came to investigate, getting to the scene of the chaos a little later. "Wow dad thanks." Eugene said, genuinely relieved. "Thank you your majesty." He knew how important the battle was, but the men would do well under his father's tutelage. And he really wanted this day with Rapunzel. His father came up to the boat, before Eugene untied it and whispered in his ear. "Enjoy her while you can son." He advised, speaking of Rapunzel. "In case the worst happens. Enjoy her before it is too late."
His dad was always sunny, Eugene thought sarcastically. However he nodded. He knew that the council was coming from a good place in King Edmund's heart. King Edmund had lost his wife, and Eugene's mother. The thought sobered Eugene, and he clasped his wife's hand. Upon looking at him, Rapunzel was pretty sure what Edmund had whispered to him. She clasped his hand too. She didn't know what would happen to her in the next month or so, but she also didn't know what would happen to him tomorrow. Suddenly she shivered.
"Look you brutes! She's cold! Didn't you all think about how it would be cold out here?" Toll pointed out. It was cold. It was the dead of winter now. Corona rarely got cold enough to snow, but the pre-dawn air was still chilly. Abruptly all the men piled on their viking like furs on Rapunzel and Eugene, making sure they were thoroughly covered and warm, especially the princess. The men's fur cloaks stunk a little, who knew what kind of mileage they had seen with their owners, but they did the trick.
Blankets and hot chocolate in mugs, as well as an entire picnic basket full of breakfast food, were brought in from the castle as well. Eugene was surprised the little canoe managed to stay afloat with all that in it, but somehow it did. They untied it and rowed out, the sunrise breaking through the last vestiges of night with the force of hope.
Egbert Lundar was starting to get intrigued by Rebekah Humphert. He had pegged her as another high born lady without any mettle to speak of at all, but she seemed a little more complicated than his first impression. Some of the guards and Lundars had shockingly mistaken her as the maid. She was made to do all the chores around the house. Egbert wasn't sure why, at first. He knew they had servants. They lounged around in the cottage that made their servant's quarters these days, although the outdoor landsmen were still allowed to work the grounds. Despite their decreased workload, he still heard them complaining. He overheard the woodsman grumble that someone must have switched out his ax, because the one he had wasn't half as efficient for chopping firewood as the one he had before. 'Pheasants!' Egbert thought. 'Aren't all axes the same?'
He tried to puzzle out why Rebekah father was cruelly putting her, his upper class daughter, to task at things far beneath her social status. Then it came to him. The very reason that they had servants was the reason they weren't using them, and the reason she was doing their work instead. That seemed like an oxymoron, but he figured a cautious man like Phineas would not leave trusting his servants to chance. They daily planned parts of their rebellion in the manor. Servants' ears could be a vehicle for gossip and flapping mouths to the king. Still it seemed unfair. Rebekah's mother, Sapphias stayed crying, holed up in her room for the most part. Perhaps overwhelmed by grief for her son.
Whatever Rebekah must have felt about it, she remained silent and dutiful, going about the chores without complaint. The only times she disappeared for long periods at a time was when she went down to tend to the hounds. The animals had quieted a bit more lately, but they had kept them caged the entire time, despite the Lundars insistence that they could let them out sometimes. The Humpherts were an odd family. Outer appearance meant everything and they apparently valued propriety to a fault. He began to be too curious about what she was doing down there. So one day he followed her. He made sure not to be seen. He didn't want her feel like he was spying on her. He was only curious that was all. The curiosity paid off.
As he watched, she looked around and he ducked to stay out of view. He thought she might have caught sight of him, so he stayed hidden for a long time. By the time he felt sure he was not made and peeked again she had disappeared. There were a few changes though. The dog crate was pushed to the side and the rug underneath it was rolled up. He wondered at it and then his eyes landed on a latch. When he peered at it more carefully, from a safe distance, he could see that the latch went to a trap door. Egbert was aghast. 'A trap door?' He thought. 'What could it mean?' If he had seen Rebekah enter in, he would have seen that she brought plates that he had assumed had been for the dogs down where the trap door led to give to her brother and the tailor. He did not see it. As it was, the fact that she had disappeared, was enough intrigue for him. Something very strange was afoot!
"We have to figure this out somehow Eugene! What about Vivian? Veronica? Oooh or what about Victoria or Elizabeth?" Rapunzel immediately started in on suggesting baby names once they had taken in all the pink hues of the sunrise and they faded into winter's blues.
"Nah, too cliche." Eugene said. "I've thought of more boy names! Ok you ready! I think these are winners! How about Elroy, Walter, Warren, Samuel or Scott?"
None of those names, particularly nestled a home in Rapunzel's heart. "Sorry Eugene, not sure those are the ones."
"Oh really sunshine? I thought for sure I had it with one of those!"
"It's ok." She secretly wondered how he could be so right on with nicknames, but not as good with real names. It must be a family trait.
"Maybe we will have to meet these two before we give them their names."
Her stomach moved. The twins were kicking! Those two were strong! No matter how wornout or tired she felt, she was comforted by the fact that the life inside her seemed to be doing well.
"Eugene feel!" She reached to take his hand, grateful to share this moment with him. It had seemed like before whenever the twins moved, whenever she tried to alert him they stopped. Now the timing was perfect. He grinned ear to ear in wonder. It felt like a miracle. "Yup! Those are Fitzherbert twins alright!" She was so beautiful. Eugene noticed how much light was in Rapunzel's eyes, even without the SunDrop. He put down the oars and held her hands. They bent their heads together, all the unspoken thoughts hung in between them. They spoke of all their memories, including of how they met and fell in love. "We're really good role models!" Rapunzel laughed. "You a thief, and me hitting you unconscious with a frying pan!"
"Eh I deserved it." Eugene smiled.
"How do you think we'll tell our children of how we met?"
Eugene thought for a moment. "Maybe..'This is the story of how I died.'"
"Oh Eugene that's so macbre!"
"Yeah but you have to admit it's a dramatic opening!"
After Rebekah had disappeared underneath a trap door, Egbert thought. For what purpose would a lady go down underneath a manor? He got a little closer. He thought the dogs would bark at him and give him away, but they were too busy working on the steaks Rebekah and brought them. That and Egbert had lived for almost a month in the old Humphert manor and his scent was now familiar to them. High bred himself, he knew old manors usually led down to cellars or makeshift dungeons, or crypts. 'Crypts.' Egbert thought.
Could there be ancestral catacombs beneath the Humpherts' old house? And if so, why would Rebekah be going down there? What reason would a lady have to go to so ghastly a place that held her dead ancestors and family members, visiting for such a long time? How macabre! The question led to the answer. She was visiting her brother. Despite the kings heinous accusations that Lord Humphert was greatly exaggerating Wolfgang's death, the Lundars and guards were above asking odious questions like what the Humpherts did for burial.
The whole idea that they would lie about such a thing was preposterous! Who would lie about something like that? Now quite accidentally, he had stumbled on some answers. The Humpherts had buried Wolfgang in their family's private sect, and Rebekah was quietly visiting her brother down there in mourning. The trap door started to creak open. Rebekah was returning!
Egbert had gotten too close now to flee out of sight. He decided to address Rebekah directly. Rebekah's face appeared and the first thing she saw were Egbert's boots. "Ahhhhhh!" She screeched. She quickly rushed up and slammed the trap door behind her before anything could be heard or seen. Not that Egbert could have seen anything down the long dark stairway that led to the cellar. At her scream the dogs did start barking. "Sir!" She yelled over the racket. "How dare you! Are you spying on me? I would think someone so well bred as you would have better manners!"He took her arm gently to lead her away from the bedlam. She wanted to resist him, but if he knew what she had been up to, than resistance would be futile.
"Forgive me my lady." Egbert began courteously. "I did not mean to spy. I just had the thought that you were being poorly used as a maid when I know in fact you are minor royalty! I wondered where you escaped to for long periods of the day when you went to feed the dogs. Now I know."
"You know?" Rebekah barely managed to get out. If only her father had listened to her and allowed Wolfgang to leave when they had the chance! Her normally stoic countenance was extremely disheveled.
"Yes." Egbert replied. "You are visiting your brother."
Tears did not come easily to Rebekah, but she almost cried. "Sir, I can explain."
"You don't have to explain." Egbert interrupted. "You are allowed to visit him in your grief."
"In my grief?" Rebekah questioned. What could he be talking about?
"Yes! Beneath this house are your family's catacombs are they not? You are visiting your brother in mourning?"
"Well...yes, yes that is what I am doing." Answered Rebekah assuaged that Egbert had provided a logical answer for her and their secret was still safe.
"I understand. And forgive my intrusion."
"You are forgiven." Replied Rebekah. He bowed and walked away. That was too close! She had to tell Father that they had to get Wolfgang and maybe even Antonio out of here. It would be a matter of time before Rapunzel and Eugene figured this out.
Rapunzel and Eugene returned around lunchtime refreshed and renewed, just in time to solve one mystery that had plagued them. They were greeted at the dock by none other than Shorty, Urf and Friedborg. "What an odd group!" Noted Eugene.
"Hey Rapunzel, hey Eugene," Shorty greeted the opposite people with their opposite names in his off kilter manner. "Friedborg here has been waiting to tell you something." He pointed to the princess. "Tell me something?" Rapunzel asked, both surprised that Friedborg actually had something to say and wanting to make sure Shorty actually meant her.
"Yup."
It happened that Urf the mime knew sign language and that is how Friedborg communicated! Friedborg could hear but couldn't speak well. The people who had spoken to before, like her Aunt Willow had known sign language! Friedborg hadn't actually spoken out loud to her. It would have been nice if her aunt had told them that!
Friedborg had something very important to communicate with Rapunzel and she signed it to Urf. Urf the mime, mimed Friedborg's message out and Shorty interpreted the mime. "I speak mime!" He said.
It turned out that when all the handmaidens were fighting over how to sort baby shower gifts the day of the baby shower, Friedborg took some upstairs to the nursery to sort some of them out later. The room had a large window and balcony that faced the town plaza. While she was up there she heard the town warning bell. She didn't hear Armon yell "Fire!" like everyone else so she naturally looked out the window.
She saw the trail of smoke the guards saw, but from her elevated view, she also saw a lone rider at the edges of forest coming onto the bridge on a brown horse, just entering the plaza. She went to get a closer look and as the rider neared, he dismounted his horse and walked with it instead. She recognized him as Wolfgang. His features were too distinct to mistake him. She then exited the room, and walked down the steps of the ballroom to exit out the door like everyone else. She didn't think that Wolfgang had started the fire at the time, until Rapunzel got her information about the matches from Varian. Then Friedborg didn't know how to tell Rapunzel. "Friedborg!" Rapunzel hugged the girl. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! That's just the information I needed! And I am going to have to learn sign language!" She turned to Eugene. "C'mon Eugene! Let's hitch up the royal carriage. We've got a battle to stop! We're off to the Humpherts manor!"
They arrived shortly at the Humpherts manor to the shock of all its inhabitants. Eugene had sent a guard ahead of them to announce their arrival and to let them know it would be their last peaceful meeting before the battle was due to take place, but it looked like everyone at the Humpherts barely had time to prepare themselves. Rapunzel and Eugene arrived with a white truce flag, but King Frederick insisted on them bringing all the royal guard that supported them, just in case the Humpherts and Lundars tried anything funny. King Edmund insisted on going too. He wanted to see Duke Egbert Lundar face to face before the day of the battle.
King Frederick knew he couldn't stop his daughter from going to the Humpherts, nor could Eugene, nor even the doctor. Not when it was something this important. He begged her to be careful, but even he doubted his cousin would try anything that brash with her. Lord Humphert had pegged a good part of the rebellion on the state of her health. Lord Humphert knew that almost Corona believed in the princess. It was only in getting them to believe that, due to her health, she would no longer be able to lead them, that he rallied many of them to his side. A small part of King Frederick hoped that, if the Lundars and guards saw the princess so alert, it would give them cause to doubt the doom and gloom that Lord Humphert had painted. Nothing was for certain. No, King Frederick knew to his great shame, that it was his leadership that Lord Humphert had gotten some of the citizens of Corona to rebel against. It was because of this, Eugene insisted that King Frederick not go. "We don't need two kings, and a future queen, all at the same place at the same time. That just sounds like a bad game of chess your majesty." The king reluctantly agreed.
After the initial stir caused by their arrival, Lord Humphert made a great show of greeting them. "Well what do we owe this honor to?" He announced loudly. "Have you already come to surrender?" The guards on his side laughed, the guards on their side bristled and tensed. It sort of reminded Eugene of the beginning of a dog fight he had seen once. "No Lord Humphert we have not." Rapunzel's voice called out. She was still sitting inside the carriage with the door open so she could see and communicate out, and those outside could see and communicate with her.
Eugene was a little afraid it would let on how ill she still was, but it actually made her look very regal. "Princess!" For once, Lord Humphert looked genuinely startled. It was endlessly satisfying. He made an effort to recover. "You are ill and yet King Frederick and the Captain allow you to travel out! Another example of their lack of judgment. Your father and husband should take better care of you."
"I don't need to be taken care of, Lord Humphert. And yes, I am ill, but felt like this was important enough to come down here.
Phineas, we've come here to ask you to please stop your lies." The princess said quietly, yet still loud enough for the gathering to hear. The last simple statement, and its polite directness, had a hushing affect on the entire group. "We know your son Wolfgang started the fire and now he is missing to avoid suspicion."
"Princess!" Lord Humphert scoffed in a grand attempt to conceal his inner panic. "Your illness has made you delusional. Where do you come up with such wild imaginings?"
Rapunzel and Eugene took turns explaining how there was no lightning in the storm that supposedly started the fire and that Varian had found two matches at the fire's starting point, confirmed by King Edmund.
"Wolfgang was seen leaving the baby shower early." The princess went on. They explained how servants and a witness had seen how it seemed his horse was unhitched the entire time before and after the fire, and how Friedborg had seen Wolfgang returning from the forest to the plaza with the trail of smoke behind him. "You Humpherts are all in on this." Eugene took over for Rapunzel. "We think Wolfgang may be hiding there in your manor. Give him up now."
"Stop this war while you still can Lord Humphert. Think of your family." The princess rejoined, praying she would break through his resistance.
"Wolfgang is in the house!" A contemptuous voice responded.
"What?" asked Eugene. He was surprised the confession came so easily.
Duke Egbert Lundar stepped out into the view of the group. He had listened quietly in the background before. "He is in the house, or at least underneath it. He is in the family's catacombs! I have seen Rebekah Humphert go down to visit to mourn him in her private grief nearly every day!" Rebekah, who was there, looked like she was caught off guard by the attention and looked fearful. Egbert had not seen each and every time she disappeared to visit, or the food she brought down. She did not know if she would be found out now, if anyone else had seen anything. The others who were loyal to the Humpherts, mistook her look as embarrassment.
Egbert's revelation, from Eugene and Rapunzel's perspective, had a devastating effect, but they did not know if he was lying.
"Now listen to your story!" The duke continued. "You say there was no lightning in the storm. How do you know that? Were you able to see over the entire land of Corona? Isn't it possible for a storm to have one lightning strike? Then you said you found matches. Where are they?"
They hesitated. "They were destroyed in a lab accident, when trying to retrieve them from Varian's."
Groans went up from the crowd. With difficulty, Rapunzel made her voice louder to speak over the crowd. "Lance Strongbow and his girls saw them!"
"The former thieves?" Phineas laughed looking at the crowd.
"Hey the princess is telling the truth!" Asserted Eugene. "Think of this, she's so honest she didn't even think of burning up two matches and presenting them to you as the ones they found. She could have done that, but she didn't because she knows she's telling the truth!" He winked at Rapunzel.
"Yeah that's right! Varian told me about them too!" King Edmund declared.
"Even so, look at your so called witnesses!" Egbert went on, his voice lined with ridicule. "A mad king!" He looked at Edmund in the eye. "A mad scientist, who isn't even here! Former thieves, servants, pheasants and a mute!" He looked around at those listening. "You are grasping at straws!" He looked specifically at Eugene. "This is an attempt to avoid responsibility for a man's death! Eugene Fitzherbert you call him! That's not even his real name! He hasn't changed since he was a thief. He may have fooled everyone else," He gazed at Rapunzel, "But he has not fooled me! Now leave this family to their grief!"
The guards loyal to the king, who had seen Eugene risking his life at the fire, who had not seen Wolfgang there at all, and had seen the flames put out shouted, "LIAR!"
The opposing guards shouted back, and both sides were vociferously yelling at each other.
"We'll see you tomorrow at the battle." Lord Humphert vowed over the fray.
Eugene had no choice but to command the guards to report back to the palace. He entered back into the carriage.
King Edmund had taken his own horse. He lingered a little longer. "Egbert!" He yelled after the duke. "I've known you since you were a boy! I am giving you one last chance to stop this! One!"
The Duke of Craterron only engaged his eyes for a second and then walked away. It was enough of an answer. King Edmund rode off. On the way back Eugene held Rapunzel. This was not the outcome she had wanted.
They told the disappointing news to Rapunzel's parents and Snuggly Duckling entourage back at the castle. King Edmund arrived shortly after they did. They sat down to discuss what Egbert had just told him. Was Egbert lying? Was the question. King Edmund didn't think so. "The thing about Egbert is, as much as a blockhead as he can be, he has been always been a straightforward sort of fellow. Honest and open, about just about everything, including contempt. Maybe especially conempt." He rumbled. "No I think the key to look at is what words Egbert used. "I know a thing or two about grief." Edmund lamented briefly. "Notice that Egbert said 'her private grief' when referring to Rebekah Humphert. If I was grieving, I wouldn't just invite a complete stranger to come join in!"
"So you are saying you don't think Egbert was really with her when she went down to visit?"
"No, I don't think he was. I think Egbert was honest about what he thought he saw, but I think he might have misread what he saw, or the Humpherts lied to him."
King Frederick thought for a moment. "The thing is I really don't know if the Humpherts manor is old enough to have catacombs beneath it. Only the truly grand old establishments will sometimes have catacombs, like Varian's for example." He tried to think for a moment. "The Humpherts' manor was gifted them by one of our ancestors a long time ago, but it is not located in Old Corona like Varian's house is."
"Is there a way to find out if the house has catacombs?" Rapunzel asked.
"Well the thing is, since it used to be part of royal holdings, its blueprints would still be part of the royal archives in the library."
"I can look that up!" Rapunzel perked up. "If there aren't any catacombs, it would prove it once and for all that the Humpherts' story isn't true!"
Once she arrived at the castle library she was once again greeted by the size and scope of the hundreds of books they had! She asked a servant for help locating the royal archives. This was going to take a while though. As she poured through the books, looking for the blueprints of the Humpherts' manor, she was interrupted by the sound of Eugene clearing his throat. She looked out the window, it was already sunset. "Oh no! Eugene, it can't be that time already!"
"I'm afraid so sunshine."
She embraced him. "Eugene all that stuff Egbert said about you-"
He didn't want to rehash it. "No worries princess."
"Eugene I believe in you." Her hand was on his arm.
"I know you do Rapunzel. Don't give up." He pointed at the books. He know he didn't really need to tell her that. She ate perseverance for breakfast. That reminded him. "Rapunzel did you eat after breakfast?" It was dinnertime now and they had skipped lunch going to the Humpherts. "I am not hungry Eugene."
He was a little worried, but he couldn't blame her. For once, he wasn't either.
Rapunzel could tell from Eugene's restless look that he needed to get out into the night air, to have time to think and plan, before the battle began tomorrow. As hard as it was, she let him go. He kissed her forehead, but she grabbed him and kissed him on the lips. She held onto his hand until the last minute. Eugene procured Maximus from the stables for a night ride before the next day came.
Free in the night air, he thought of what Egbert said, "avoid responsibility". Even his father and Cassandra seemed to imply he was better at avoiding, better at escaping, when they tried to give him advice on how to fight. Well if he was better at escaping, then that was just what he would do. No use playing against his strengths any more. He rode off through the plaza towards the forest. He would not be at the palace grounds for the battle tomorrow.
"We have to get him out of here! Them out of here!" Rebekah whispered urgently, once more trying to convince her father. "Didn't you see what happened today?"
"Yes I did! Ha!" He barely was quiet enough not to be overheard. "That was brilliant Rebekah! I have to admit I would have not thought of catacombs! You are so clever!" Rebekah knew she had not thought of it. Egbert had made that assumption all on his own. Eventually though they were going to run out of lies to tell. Her father was still going on. "Those feminine wiles. You are so crafty!"
"Father they are going to find out."
"Enough Rebekah!" Phineas retorted in a tone he rarely used around her. "Now you have an excuse to go down there that no one will question. We will win this battle tomorrow, and then, in our victory, all will be well. You will see." Rebekah did see. She saw a lot. Her fingers and joints were aching from all the work she was used to her servants doing. She was never overly demonstrative about pain, or anything else she was feeling, so she did not complain, but she could see no end in sight.
Varian had just about had it. He wasn't finding anyway for this amber making machine to work to store crops. His father, Quirin was doing all he could to help him. He gave Varian sample crops to try to store. He dutifully took Varian's instructions for each machine modification to the Dark Kingdom's black smith, returning again and again with each failed attempt. On the last attempt at a machine modification that failed to safely contain the crops in a way they could be extracted again, Varian pulled his goggles up, threw his gloves down and was tempted to throw the machine to smash it into smithereens. He didn't, but his long growl of frustration made it obvious he was beyond exasperated. "Aaarrrggggh! I don't know why anything won't work!"
"I am sure you'll think of something son." Quirin assured calmly. "You always do." He picked up Varian's gloves and handed them back to him. "Maybe take a break, and clear your head. Look it at from a different angle."
Varian let that advice settle for a bit. Quirin continued.
"Well I am going to help out the blacksmith. I promised I would help him out with melting down the Lundars' bronze travelling trunks. He is having a hard time finding time for that with all these machine modifications he is helping us with." Varian had to digest what he had heard. "What? The Lundars have bronze travelling trunks?" He knew that the group of Lundars, who still supported King Edmund, and wanted nothing to do with Duke Egbert's rebellion, had now returned to the Dark Kingdom to take over the restoration. They had decided they were done with being nomads and were home to stay. So they were getting rid of their luggage containers. But why were they bronze?
"Bronze travelling trunks?" He repeated, unable to get past it. "Why do they have bronze travelling trunks?"
"Well," Quirin answered, "They weren't just travelling trunks at first, they were storage containers. They were made of bronze to protect their stuff against all the black rocks that would jut through at random. Then they used them as travelling trunks, as they travelled through different parts of their land, trying to find space away from the black rocks. The bronze was melted down from their former armor to make the trunks. Now the black rocks are gone and they don't have to travel any more. They figured they'd use the bronze for something else now. Perhaps tools and things. The black smith is talking to the Lundars to find out how they want it used."
"Bronze travelling trunks. Bronze travelling trunks. Melting them down."
"Yes Varian I believe we covered that."
Varian snapped to attention.
"You know what dad! I think you're right! I think I do need a break! I think I may have been looking at this from the wrong angle! Can you take me with you to the blacksmith's?"
Quirin was not sure where Varian was going with this, but he was glad to take his son with him. "Sure. The blacksmith will be probably happy to meet the man behind all the modifications he's been crafting." Truthfully Quirin was a little embarrassed that Varian had not been to see the blacksmith already. He was putting the man through a lot of work and hadn't even thanked him for all his efforts. Yet he knew his son could get tunnel vision sometimes, especially when he was working on a big project. And this was arguably one of the most important projects that Varian had ever taken. Varian spoke. "Thank you dad. And dad? You called me a man."
Quirin remembered now. He had said the blacksmith would be happy 'to meet the man behind all the modifications.'
"I did, didn't I?" He recalled with a smirk. "Well you deserve it!" He gave his son a noogie. Quirin was still slightly taller than him. For now.
"So son it sounds like you have a reason for going to the blacksmith's. What are you thinking?"
"I don't know yet. I have some research to do first."
Rapunzel had stayed up deep into the night scouring through the books. She was sprawled out on the floor peering through any of them that she thought might have blue prints or a clue. The servants tried to help her as much as they could, but they were also usy with her parents trying to make other preparations. Really the other reason she was up was that she knew Eugene was up too. She wondered what he was doing out there and if he had been sighted since he left. She worried for him. She yawned a few times, and caught herself sleeping for short periods before she'd wake up again. And then she finally found it! The blueprints were there.
She was sure from the location and name of the manor that this was the Humphert house gifted to them by there common ancestor. She looked at the date it was bequeathed. She looked at the date it was built. Neither told her if it was old enough for catacombs. She saw the structure of all the rooms and floors, finally, finally on a separate page it showed the undercarriage if the house. It was not what she expected. She looked at the clock. It was too late to try to show this to anyone today.
She would have to tell Eugene tomorrow once he got back. If he got back. What was wrong with her? She couldn't think that way! She must be tired. Now that she found what she was looking for, her body wouldn't let stay awake anymore. Her eyes felt heavy and she fell asleep right on the library floor. The servants alerted King Frederick of where she was when he didn't see her in her room. When he saw her asleep on the library's floor, the servants offered to take her back to her room, but King Frederick told them, no, he would do it.
He moved to pick her up off of the floor and noticed what page she was on in the book she was perusing. It was the blueprints! She had found them! As he looked at them too, he realized that this information had the potential to change the outcome of the entire war. She did it! Though it was too late now to stop tomorrow's battle. They would have to wait on that outcome.
He picked her up, still sleeping and carried her to take her to her room. He realized he hadn't carried her like this since she had been an infant, and now she was about to have his grandchild. 'Grandchildren' He corrected himself. He paused in front of her old room with her resplendent purple bed. This room came up first, so it would be easier to put her in there, but King Frederick passed it. He was worried about what her husband was doing and where he was too. However like Rapunzel he would have faith that he would do the right thing. It was so late now. The Royal Guard had already been sent out after him. They would do their duty and return with him in time to save the castle from being attacked. In a show of faith, he placed her in the room her and Eugene shared. He had to stop looking at Rapunzel as merely his amazingly capable daughter, or even as his princess. He had to start recognizing her for the queen she was becoming as well.
The night before the battle, Humpherts' spy in the palace saw King Frederick carry a sleeping Rapunzel out of the library. The servants nearby were strictly told not to touch the books down on the floor. They were to be kept exactly as they were. She wondered why. She went to investigate, and at first she was confused. They were only blueprints. But then on further investigation she realized these were blueprints to the Humpherts' manor! She looked closely at the page Rapunzel had looking at before. She heard a creak. She would need to hurry. She had turned the lights to the library and closed the doors, but someone else might check in here. Why would Rapunzel be looking at blueprints to the Humpherts' manor? She had heard something about the debacle when they visited the Humpherts' manor earlier that day to try to stop the battle. What was it they had said? Something about catacombs beneath the house? Were they trying to prove there weren't catacombs? But why?
She heard another creak. She hurried to close the book holding the blueprints, and put the other books out on the floor away in their proper order, to make it look like someone had just not heard the king's directive and was just trying to clean up. She took the book with the blueprints with her. If it was this important that they were not supposed to touch it, she better get it to Phineas. If he were caught and exposed, it would only be a matter of time before he exposed her to save his own neck. With a gulp, she realized that it might already be too late. Lord Humphert might be caught and brought in tomorrow after the battle and that would be it for her. If somehow he escaped, getting rid of this piece of evidence, whatever it was, might be her last chance to save her life and conceal her identity as a traitor within castle walls. She reminded herself though, that she was not the traitor. The royal family betrayed her first.