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The King and Eugene searched the forest for two nights before stumbling upon an important discovery. Eugene, exhausted, rested against a vine-covered rock, and fell through. Quickly getting to his feet, he looked around, and realised where he was.
"The tower!" he whispered, and ran through the tunnel, and out the other side. There, the tower still stood; tall and proud. Eugene grabbed his two daggers he carried with him, and proceeded to climb. When he reached the top, he came face-to-face with an old enemy, and a sharp pain in his side reminded him of past events.
"We meet again, Flynn Rider," Gothel sneered.
"Where's Lillian?" Flynn gasped, out of breath from his climb.
"Not here," Gothel replied. She was aged. "I did have her, but she must have escaped during the night. Down the hair." She pointed to the long strip of brown hair, dangling out the window. "Shame, too, really. She was very helpful to me."
"How so?" Eugene asked sceptically.
"Her hair," Mother Gothel answered, and Eugene needed no explanation; Gothel gave one anyway.
"She must have inherited the powers her mother had."
"But Rapunzel lost her powers."
"That may be so, but Lilly has them."
"So if she's hurt, she'll be all right," Eugene said to himself with a sigh of relief. Gothel heard him.
"Not entirely," she said seriously. "It depends how much power she has left."
"What do you mean?" Eugene asked.
"Her power is only temporary – it won't last forever. She only used it on me, like I told her."
"Lilly doesn't have to listen to you!" Eugene snapped, holding his daggers out. "What have you done with her?"
"I've done absolutely nothing," Gothel told him, only a little startled by the weapons. "You have my word." She smiled deviously. Eugene put his daggers away, and, while never taking his eyes of Gothel, he slid down the length of hair, and was gone.
Back at the palace, a messenger boy raced through the castle halls, desperately trying to find the Queen and Princess. He had an urgent message that had to be delivered right away! He finally found the two in the Prince and Princess's room, where the Queen was brushing Rapunzel's hair, and Rapunzel was blowing her nose for what had to be the one hundredth time since Eugene left.
"Your Majesties, I have an urgent message," the messenger puffed.
"What is it?" the Queen asked. The messenger handed her a scroll, gave her and Rapunzel a quick bow, and was gone. The Queen unrolled the scroll, and read the message. Her hand flew to her mouth and she gasped.
"What is it, Mother?" Rapunzel asked anxiously. "Nothing's happened to Eugene and Father, has it?" She was already worried enough as it was, what with little Lillian missing, and having nothing to do but sit around the castle and wait while her father and her husband searched for her.
"It's a ransom," the Queen said under her breath. Rapunzel's eyes widened as the Queen read it aloud.
"It says: To the King and Queen, Prince and Princess or Corona,
I suppose you're all wondering where your precious baby Princess is. We can tell you!
We've kidnapped her, and if you want her back, you will give us a payment of twelve million silver coins by midnight this Friday. Leave the money near the old windmill outside the town, and when we find it there, we'll leave the Princess there if we get what we want.
Don't try to find us, or something terrible may happen to little Lilly.
Stabbingtons"
"The Stabbingtons?" Rapunzel exclaimed. "I thought those brutes were hanged!"
"They escaped the prison a several years back," the Queen sighed. "I thought you knew."
"No," Rapunzel shook her head. "Otherwise I wouldn't have let Lilly play in the woods so often." She blinked back tears. "What do we do?"
"Give them what they want," the Queen answered, and rang the servants' bell. A maid entered the room shortly after.
"Go to the bank in the town, and take out twelve million silvers coins."
"We don't have that much, your Majesty," the maid said with a quick curtsy. Rapunzel looked panicked.
"Then have the people gather under the balcony," the Queen said. "I have an announcement." The maid gave a quick curtsy, and was about to leave when the Queen continued.
"And send someone into the forest to fetch my husband and son-in-law."
"Yesem, your majesty," the maid said. "Good day your majesties." And she scurried off with her orders.
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