Eugene ran into the night, he had only just cleared the secret entrance to the tower when he heard hoof beats barrelling towards him. Fearing it was the guards he took cover behind a tree and peered out, he didn't have to wait long to see a flash of white as Max galloped past him. Eugene stepped out from behind the bush and shouted to him. Max screeched to a halt and turned back to Eugene.

"Hey Max, did you find her, is she ok?" Eugene asked in a rush. Max shook his head and lowered his eyes in shame. "But did you follow their trail some of the way?" Max picked up his head and nodded. "Great job Max, well, we've got a start, do you need a rest or can you take me as far as you followed them?" Max jumped to attention and stepped towards Eugene, Eugene leapt up onto his back and grabbed the reins. "Let's go Buddy." Eugene softly said and gave Max an affectionate rub behind his ears. The two were finally bonding, he smiled, Rapunzel will be happy about that at least. Then they took off at a blistering pace into the dark forest.

Some hours later they had reached the river where Max had lost Rapunzel's sent, it was nearing midnight and the duo were tired, hungry and feeling drained from the day's events.

"What do you say Max, do we get a few hours sleep and set off at first light?" Max lowered his head in defeat then gave a small nod.

"We'd struggle to track anything in the dark anyway, I think they would have stopped for the night too so they shouldn't get too far away from us." Eugene said, more trying to convince himself than Max. The two found a clearing and Eugene made a quick makeshift fire for them, the warmth was comforting and they lay their tired bodies down, it took a while to fall asleep on the hard ground but eventually exhaustion claimed them and they slept.

Rapunzel shivered and wrapped her hair around her for warmth. She had thought about trying to start a fire but all the wood around her was damp and she didn't want Gothel thinking she was trying to attract attention and escape. She had already taken enough abuse for one day. It was quiet in the forest and a low mist began to gather over the river, its icy fingers reached out towards her as it swirled above the water giving everything an eerie feeling. It made her wish that Eugene was by her side even more, she wouldn't have been scared if he was with her, but as it was she was on her own, in the dark jumping at the slightest sound and imagined shadows.

She had thought about trying to sleep but her stomach's growling had turned into a roar and she knew she wouldn't be able to sleep until she filled it with something. Pascal had fallen asleep on her shoulder and was gently wheezing into her ear but Rapunzel still heard the footsteps approaching. A lump of bread landed at her feet.

"There, don't say I never give you anything." Gothel snidely remarked. Rapunzel quickly grabbed the bread and tried to pull it apart, she could hardly break it with her fingers, it was so stale but she didn't care she bit into it and pulled with her teeth until she got a mouthful. "No need to act like an animal dear." Gothel said in disgust. Rapunzel just rolled her eyes as she devoured the bread.

"Now, the good news is." Gothel continued. "I've found a very kind gentleman in town who was willing to offer me a warm bed for the night, pity about you though, he just couldn't spare the room." Rapunzel blinked in disbelief, Gothel was going to leave her alone, chained up in a forest all night. "Don't look at me like that Rapunzel, it's not that cold of a night, and you'll be fine out here."

"I..I.." Rapunzel stuttered as she tried to find the words.

"Don't mumble Rapunzel!" Gothel chided her. "Look, I'm willing to offer you a deal." Gothel paused for effect. "Sing for me and I'll leave you my cape." Gothel primped her hair as she offered Rapunzel the deal.

"You want me to sing for you, after everything you've done and then you're just going to leave me here?" Rapunzel cried.

"I'll come back in the morning, honestly Rapunzel you really are such a drama queen. I could just force you to sing you know." Gothel smirked. "But out of the goodness of my heart I'm offering you an easy way out and something to keep you warm through the night, really Rapunzel; it hardly makes me the bad guy."

Rapunzel relented, part of her would be glad to be rid of Gothel for the night; it might even give her a chance to escape.

"Fine." Rapunzel grabbed a strand of her hair and tossed it towards Gothel.

"Flower, gleam and glow,
Let your power shine,
Make the clock reverse,
Bring back what once was mine."

"Heal what has been hurt,
Change the Fates' design,
Save what has been lost,
Bring back what once was mine,
What once was mine."

"There now, that wasn't so hard was it?" Gothel sneered. "Here." She threw her cape at Rapunzel. "See you in the morning dear." She cackled as she left the clearing.

Rapunzel sat in frustration, she picked at her stale bread, nibbling it as she waited for the anger boiling inside of her to simmer down. She gave some bread to Pascal but he was no more impressed with it than she was.

"C'mon Pascal, we have to eat." Rapunzel encouraged him but the little chameleon refused. "Can't say I blame you." Rapunzel sighed. With most of the night ahead of her Rapunzel began looking for a way to escape. She checked all of the pockets in Gothels cape but came up empty handed, she looked around the area for a sharp rock or stick that she might be able to use to pry apart the chains holding her, she found a few but none of them worked. Pascal helped by looking further afar and dragging rocks and sticks back to Rapunzel but none of them worked, either she wasn't strong enough or the rocks and sticks weren't.

"Nothing's working Pascal, what are we going to do?" She cried. The little chameleon put up his arms in defeat. Then, suddenly, he bounded on to all fours, scurried over to the bread and gathered a few crumbs up. "What is it?" Rapunzel questioned. Pascal dropped a crumb behind him and kept walking, a few steps later he dropped another crumb, and then a few steps later he dropped yet another. "You think we should leave a trail?" Rapunzel exclaimed excitedly. "For Eugene and Max to find!" She gushed and picked Pascal up holding him to her face and kissing him on the top of his head. "That's a wonderful idea! But what should we use?" Rapunzel thought out loud. "I know, my petit coat, Gothel won't notice if it's torn and Max might be able to track my scent from it."

Rapunzel picked up a sharp rock with renewed vigour and went about cutting her lace petit coat into small squares of fabric. An hour or so later she had small squares of lace tucked inside her shirt ready to be slipped into corners of rocks, left on branches of trees and thrown into bushes as Rapunzel and Gothel continued their journey out of the kingdom. With a feeling of satisfaction knowing that she had taken a step to free herself from Gothel, Rapunzel was able to curl up inside the cape and drift into sleep.