Chapter 27
"Why did you tie her up? She isn't a prisoner." I roused from whatever induced sleep I was put in. "Elsa, open your eyes." My eyes opened and blurred colours danced across my vision. I blinked a few times and shook my head to clear it. When I opened them again I found a familiar pair of green eyes staring back at me.
"Rapunzel?" I asked, my voice croaking. When my head cleared more I realised what happened. "Where am I? Jack is going to panic, send me back." I whispered, clutching her wrists.
"Okay, I need circulation." I let her go and she crouched down lower. "I know you're here with Jack and your daughter, it's okay, Eugene went to tell him what's happening" I relaxed.
"Wait, how do you know about Jack? I send word that Jackson died, but not that he came back as Jack." Rapunzel smiled,
"I know more than you think, cousin." She smiled mischievously and Pascal appeared on her shoulder. "He's a rather talented intelligence agent." I laughed and scratched the little chameleon's chin.
"Why did you have your guard drug me and bring me into the castle?" She sat down on a chair next to me and set her hands in her lap.
"I know you're running from the Southerners, and I thought I should warn you to leave now; they're already in Corona. Elias is anyway, he's here for political reasons, but he wont hesitate to bring his forces up from the ship to take you back to his mother. He doesn't love me enough to betray his family." I laughed, remembering a conversation with the King of the Isles long ago about his son's affections for Rapunzel.
"You had to bring me all the way down here for that?" I asked, looking around to find we were in Rapunzel's private library.
"Well, that and something that will help you get rid of all the people looking to hurt your daughter." She stood up and went over to one wall of the library, pulling on a lantern and tipping over a couple of books and pressing in the nose of a bust of her father, sliding open the bookcase to reveal a small room behind. She motioned for me to follow her into the small room and she disappeared inside.
"What is this?" She frowned, flicking through a couple of the books.
"When my father fell ill a few months ago, my mother taught me how to open this room; it's our family history. You have one at Arendelle too; but I suspect your parents never showed you how to open it, or where it is." I looked at the book she was holding, there was no title stitched into the leather cover.
"I've read all my father's books on our family. How is that going to help me?" She smiled,
"I would bet you haven't read this one." She opened a page and sat the book in front of me. 'Alana the Whisperer' was written in shining gold ink at the top of the page, and a painting of a woman with golden hair was below it, with a face uncannily similar to my own. Besides the painting was what seemed to be her story;
Alana was born to the King and Queen of Corona, the first on record to have the gift of her descendants of being born into the gift of magic. Alana was born with her parents' deep raven hair, which shocked the kingdom all the more when it began to turn to the iconic golden locks of her descendants' magical inheritance. Alana had the gift of speech, being able to charm human and animal alike to do her will, though she never used this to do more than calm her father's rages and soothe the dying to feel no pain as they passed on. Her heart was more pure than any before her and her intentions more so. She passed on her gift to the youngest of her twin sons Alexander, her eldest son Stefan left without, before passing in her late years as she slept, with her sons, their wives and her beloved husband Henry by her side.
I was entranced, and turned to the next page to find a double spread of Stefan and Alexander, the two men framing the pages with Stefan on the far left and his brother on the far right.
'Stefan the Lacking'
Stefan, though he was lacking in the gift as many others in Alana's line would in future times, was a kind and just man like his mother, though not magical he seemed to have a knack for his mother's methods of talking people into doing his will. He would later father a daughter to his Queen Leah who inherited her grandmother Alana's gift.
'Alexander the Phoenix'
Alexander, youngest son of Queen Alana and brother to King Stefan, inherited his mother's magic in the form of controlling heat. He was lacking in the kindness his brother held, though he was more controlled prior to his mother's death, and burned down several of his brother's kingdom's villages before he was finally captured and imprisoned by his brother Stefan. Stefan tried his best to reform his brother before Alexander tried to destroy Stefan and his wife, which included his unborn niece. Alexander's brother later executed him by Alexander's wife's demand, fearing for their children's safety around their father. Alexander had four children, two daughters who didn't inherit the gift, and three sons, two of which; Damon and Finley, who did.
"I know who Stefan is. He's Aurora's father. Our great Aunt Aurora, she left Corona to rule Uncle Phillip's kingdom somewhere in the north. Cousin Finley's grandmother." Rapunzel smiled.
"Yes, she had the gift, as you read, so did her son Phillip Junior and his son, cousin Finley." I stared, wide eyed, at my cousin.
"Cousin Finley has the gift? How did we never know?" Rapunzel flipped through the pages of the book to rest on another page.
Finley the Late
Young Finley showed now signs of inheriting Alana's gift until the age of fifteen, far later than any of the other descendants, who generally exhibited characteristics of the gift by the age of one…
"Well that explains it." She laughed, Finley was known for being a late bloomer in all areas of his life.
"I have something to show you." She continued to flick through the book, past the page with her painting, past mine and rested on a blank page with a single name at the top in gleaming gold ink;
Alyssa
"You started a page for her." I felt a tear brim in the corner of my eye.
"I thought I would hold off on the painting; it's generally done when the child comes of age." I hugged my cousin.
"It's all beautiful, but I still don't see how this can help me." Rapunzel closed the book with a slam.
"Do you even know how many cousins, uncles and aunts we have with the gift? Last time I checked there are at least seventeen family members with the gift, seventeen family members to stand by your side and protect your daughter." I flipped through the later entries of the book, looking at the portraits of my relatives and their various shades of golden hair. Philip, Andrew, Helga, Cinderella, Jonathan, George, Laila, Finley, Adam, Brandon, Lillian, Isobel, Damon, Abigail, Henry, Arthur and Nadia.
I need to find them.
*skip*
"Just tell me where they are Eugene." I heard Jack inside the cave and waited a moment before joining the small party inside.
"I told you, she's with Rapunzel; they're safe. She'll be back soon." Jack gave a sigh of exasperation.
"Ma?" I heard Alyssa, followed by a small sob and shushing sounds.
"Ma will be back, you heard, she's with Rapunzel." Jack murmured. I smiled to myself and parted the moss.
"Ma!" Alyssa jumped down from Jack's lap and stumbled her way over to me.
"Hey munchkin." Rapunzel greeted my daughter over my shoulder. Alyssa gripped my sleeve and stared at the strange face.
"It's okay, baby girl. It's your cousin Rapunzel. She's a friend." Alyssa let go of my sleeve and held her hand out to Rapunzel.
"Punzie my friend too." Introductions out of the way Rapunzel went over to Eugene and settled herself in his arms, fitting perfectly in the space they provided.
"Did you explain?" She asked her husband, his chin resting on her head.
"As best I could with my limited understanding." He pressed a kiss to her short brown hair and she smiled.
"I know we need to leave, and apparently we're headed to France. Three of your magical cousins are there." Alyssa squirmed and I put her down.
"Now after all that, did someone at least bring my kill back here?" Eugene stepped to the side to reveal the fire he and Jack built, and above it was part of an antelope carcass. "Good, I'm starving." Alyssa piped up again from her father's lap,
"Dinner?" Eugene tested the meat and found it cooked through. He carved some off and handed it to Jack, who cooled it in his hand and tore off bite size pieces for Alyssa, taking a bite for himself. My cousins stayed with us for dinner before deciding they had been away from the castle, from my uncle, too long.
"Come back some time, when you're all safe." Rapunzel farewelled us before joining her husband in returning to the castle.
"Sing me your song Daddy?" Alyssa tugged on Jack's jumper sleeve and he picked her up, taking his jumper off to wrap around her, leaving him in a long sleeved white tunic that almost blended into his skin. He began his strange song and her eyes slowly drooped and closed, sending her into sleep. He slowly rocked her back and forth on his shoulder as she slept, still mumbling the song into her ear.
"We have to go in the morning, find Cinderella and her children." He smiled,
"Almost everyone in your family has found their way into royalty, it wont be hard. Which of her children have the gift?" He asked quietly and resumed his song.
"Both if I remember correctly; Damon and Abigail." He nodded in thought, his song turned into soft humming in Alyssa's ear. Before long he was satisfied she was completely asleep and put her down in her makeshift crib, tightening the jumper around her shoulders. I watched her peaceful form sleeping with a soft smile on her face and decided she had the right idea and crawled into my own bed. Jack slid in beside me and I turned on my side to face him.
"I don't know what I'd have done if you didn't come back" I whispered. He smiled and pulled me to him, and that warm-coldness settled between us. I felt safer than I ever remember being just lying with Jack, our daughter metres away fast asleep.