The Moonlight Flower
Eugene hurt. Physically, yes he had bruises, but his pride had taken a beating as well. He had assumed, rather stupidly given the circumstances, that the marching feet he heard belonged to Eric, or even Nigel, and did not even entertain the idea that they might belong to a scout of the jade army until the soldier was right on top of him.
Eugene had blinked first and the soldier grabbed him. The jade hands were cold, like stone, and the grip was firm and unyielding. Eugene was forced to the ground and the hilt of a sword connected with the back of his head. Eugene knew no more.
He didn't know how long he was unconscious, but it was clearly long enough for the soldier to regroup with the rest of the army, for the Green King to get a couple of kicks in, and for them to carry Eugene's battered body back to the mound. He opened his eyes to the near darkness. The torches had all been relit and he had been laid on top of the marble tomb. The trapdoor had been activated and Eugene could see the light outside was beginning to fade.
It occurred to Eugene to wonder why he was still alive. If the Green King was so intent on having his revenge, why just give him some bruises? He raised his head off the marble to give himself a better view of the cavern. Soldiers surrounded him entirely, their pikes pointed at him in an unnervingly steady manner. Their gaze was unblinking, which was even more intimidating than their weaponry. Beyond the ring of guards, the remaining soldiers were lined in ranks before their king, who was seated on a throne that Eugene was sure hadn't been there on his previous visit. It appeared to be made out of tree roots, grown into the shape of a throne and still connected to the tree above.
There was no sign of Rapunzel, and that was good news to Eugene. As long as she was still out there, still free, still safe, he could face whatever the Green King decided to do to him.
xoxox
Rapunzel sat on her bed, staring at the floor and beyond it. She had to do something. She had to do something. But what?
She threw herself backwards to lie on the bed, and her head hit something solid. Frowning and sitting up again, rubbing the back of her head, Rapunzel turned to see her mother's book sitting on her pillow. She slowly opened it and began to read.
Rapunzel read voraciously, devouring the words at an extraordinary speed until she came across a phrase that gave her pause. She read it again, and then read it a third time out loud to make sure she understood it.
"The flower of the sun would wake him; the flower of the moon would sedate him."
And then a memory stirred...
Rapunzel had just turned five years old and had learned to read from a picture book. Now she had a question to ask Mother Gothel.
"Why do you call me 'Flower'?" she asked as they sat in front of the fire for their nightly ritual of hair brushing. "Flowers have petals, but I'm a girl and I don't have petals, so why do you call me 'Flower' when my name is Rapunzel and...?"
"Don't ramble, Rapunzel," Gothel chided. "It's worse than the mumbling." She gave a heavy, world-weary sigh, as though it was a great burden, but she would be a martyr to her daughter's whims and indulge her.
"Do you know what your name means, Rapunzel?" she asked, as she brushed. "It means a special type of flower. There was once a drop of sunlight that grew into a flower that glowed golden. When you were born, your hair glowed golden, just like that flower, and that's why I gave you your name."
Rapunzel liked that story, although she didn't know then that it wasn't the whole narrative, and Gothel had omitted some really important points, and had trod into unfamiliar territory and actually given a truthful, if incomplete, version of the legend.
She had been careless once before, after telling Rapunzel, among the many lies to keep the girl in her place, that flowers could only be grown indoors in pots. And then she had brought her a book containing all kinds of plants that grew outside. She would not be caught out like that again, and had now resolved to mix in a little truth to what she told Rapunzel, just in case the girl learned something that contradicted her mother. In the case of the story she told now, she was indulging in the truth because she happened to like the tale. After all, there were no books about it, and it wasn't as if Rapunzel was EVER going to leave the tower to prove her mother wrong.
"When I was a girl about your age, but prettier of course! Ha! I'm just kidding!" Gothel patted Rapunzel on the cheek and moved swiftly on with her tale, before the girl could burst into tears. "I was told a story about another flower. One that grew from a single drop of moonlight and would glow ivory. This flower had sharp spikes and pointy petals, and you mustn't ever touch it."
"Why not, mother?" Rapunzel asked, her emerald eyes growing wide. Gothel smiled.
"It would send you to sleep forever, child," she said, and her voice grew sinister. "And then who would sing to me?"
The little girl gasped at the horror of being sent to sleep and never waking and never singing to her mother again. She didn't like that thought and began to sing her own song to make the thought fade in the light of her glowing hair...
Rapunzel blinked slowly as the idea struck her. Maybe there was more than a grain of truth to what Gothel had told her. A flower that glowed ivory, with sharp spikes and pointy petals.
"Well, that shouldn't be too hard to find!" she said to Pascal who had only just been following Rapunzel's thinking out loud. He shrugged and pointed back to the book.
Rapunzel read the rest of the text, including a verse which seemed strangely familiar, but nothing else gave her any clues. Where would she even start looking?
Pascal darted over to Eugene's satchel, which hadn't been fully unpacked yet, and rummaged around to find the book Eugene had shown her containing the map to the Crescent Lake. Waving his tail in excitement, Pascal skimmed through the pages to find the illustration and then scampered up to Rapunzel to get her attention.
She hadn't noticed it at the time. Neither had Eugene, but then they hadn't been looking for it. There were two points on opposite sides of the lake. One quite clearly showed a five pointed flower with a sun image in the centre. The other...
Rapunzel gasped and held the book closer to examine it in detail. The other quite clearly showed a seven pointed flower, sharp and spiky. That had to be the moonlight flower. And Rapunzel knew exactly where to find it.
She climbed down the tower so fast she almost fell and swung herself onto Max's saddle. He pointed himself in the direction Eugene had been taken, but Rapunzel tugged his reins around.
"Not yet, Max," she said. "There's something I need first before I can save Eugene."
They rode off in the direction the map dictated. Rapunzel was horrified at the devastation they passed. Walking wounded tended to the grievously injured. Rubble was strewn across the path, forcing Max to perform some acrobatic leaps to avoid throwing his rider. Rapunzel desperately wanted to alight and help these people, but she knew that finding the moonlight flower, rescuing Eugene and stopping the Green King was the right thing to do right now, no matter how guilty that made her feel.
Max rode hard until the sun dipped low in the sky. He had stopped once at Rapunzel's request while she rechecked the map, but had otherwise galloped without showing any signs of fatigue. They reached the hill and immediately Rapunzel felt overwhelmed all over again.
The hill was more like a mountain. There was a path, but it was a rough dirt track covered in loose stones and grit. Rapunzel had dismounted, but still struggled to keep her footing as she led Max up the winding road to the site dictated by the map.
The moon rose overhead and shone brightly down on the spot they were heading for.
"There, Max!" Rapunzel pointed to the tiny silver flower. "And I can prove it."
She took the small book from a pouch on Max's saddle and thumbed through until she found the verse with oddly reminiscent lyrics. She guessed the tune would probably be the same too. The flower shone with an ethereal ivory glow as Rapunzel began to sing.
"Flower gleam and glow
Power running deep
Awake before their time
Return them to their sleep
Return to sleep"