The Golden Braid

by Melanie Dickerson

  Mennek ignored her and went straight to the side of the baby’s bed. He whispered, “What do you think? Does he look like me?”

  The child was sleeping on his back, his curled hands by the side of his chubby cheek. Delicate wisps of brown hair covered his head. “I think there might be some resemblance in the cheeks,” Gerek answered.

  Mennek elbowed Gerek but kept smiling.

  Once they were back out in the corridor, Gerek said, “He is a fine boy, Mennek. I’m glad you’re taking good care of him.” But what his brother had said about not ever getting married . . . Mennek had witnessed more of their parents’ fights, more of his father’s anger and violence. For the first time, Gerek realized he was the fortunate one. He’d resented Mennek for being the oldest, for spending more time with their mother, for inheriting the castle and the title, for not being sent away to train as a knight. And yet Gerek was the one who had escaped some of the violence, had missed the horrible night when his mother was killed and his father jumped from the upper window. Gerek had grown up with Valten, a good and kind man, seeing the example of Duke Wilhelm, a truly noble man, and Lady Rose, a wonderful lady who had mothered him and shown him kindness.

  Gerek had much to be grateful for.

  They were both silent as they neared Gerek’s bedchamber door. Finally, Mennek said, “Hinrich and Ursel have been very good to me, like parents, especially when I was younger. I hope you also had someone like them, Gerek.”

  “I did.”

  Mennek nodded, clapped Gerek on the shoulder. Mennek turned to leave and Gerek went into his bedchamber.

  He barely glanced at the bed, but went to the door that adjoined his room to Rapunzel’s. He knocked on the door, then opened it a crack. “Rapunzel?”

  “Yes, I am here.”

  “I am here too,” Ursel called. “You can come in, if you like.”

  “I only wanted to make sure Rapunzel was safe.” Gerek closed the door, then waited, listening for Ursel to leave. A minute or two later, he heard their muffled voices, then the sound of the door closing. He knocked again. When he opened it, Rapunzel was directly on the other side.

  “I like your aunt. She made me feel so . . . lovable.” She was smiling, as if amused at herself.

  Lovable? Oh yes. She was lovable.

  “Do you need anything?”

  “No, Ursel is sending a servant to bring me some things.”

  “As soon as the servant leaves, will you knock on the door?”

  She gave him a quizzical frown but nodded.

  A few minutes later the door opened, then moments later, shut. Then came the gentle knock on the door between them.

  He opened the door. “Did you put down the crossbar on your door?”

  “Yes.” She stared up at him, her feet bare, and her hair was just as bare and hung around her shoulders like a curtain of gold in the dim light.

  “Please leave this door unbarred in case something happens, so I can come in and help you.”

  “Very well.”

  “If you need me, just scream.”

  “I will.” She gave him an amused smile.

  “So you trust me, then?”

  She looked him in the eye, her face only a foot away from his. “I do.”

  “You trust me not to do all those things your mother said—”

  “Not my mother. She is Gothel.”

  “You trust me not to do all those things Gothel warned you about?”

  “I do. I trust you.”

  Was he the only person in the world who knew how precious her trust was, who knew how difficult it was for her to give it? “Thank you.” He yearned to caress her cheek, to enfold her in his arms. But that could chase away her trust.

  “Gute nacht, Sir Gerek.”

  “Gute nacht, Rapunzel.”

  Rapunzel gathered sticks while Sir Gerek started the fire.

  They had traveled all day after leaving Castle Rimmel early that morning, and Rapunzel felt pleasantly drowsy. She wasn’t sure when she’d felt so safe and relaxed, even though they would be forced to sleep on the ground tonight.

  Sir Gerek toasted some of the bread over the fire and also fried some meat that his brother had provided. How wonderful that they were able to leave Gothel at his brother’s castle. Now she would not be constantly worried that Gothel would escape and slit their throats.

  They talked companionably until it was time to go to sleep.

  He handed her a gray wool blanket, then lay down next to the fire.

  “Don’t you have a blanket?”

  “I forgot to get one when we were at the castle, but I don’t need one. It’s warm enough now.”

  “The nights are still quite cool. Here, you take the blanket and I will put on the rest of my clothes. It’s the perfect solution.”

  “No, thank you. I don’t need it.”

  She let out an exasperated sigh. “Why are you being so kind to me? When I first met you, you couldn’t say a kind word to me. You disdained me because I was a peasant.”

  “I never disdained you.”

  Then it occurred to her. “Did Frau Adelheit tell you something about me?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, did she tell you who my parents are?” But even as she said the words, a lump formed in her throat.

  “What do you mean?” He sat up. “Did you find out who left you with Gothel? Who your parents are?”

  Apparently he didn’t know, and she wasn’t ready to tell him just yet. “I am only wondering why you became so kind to me. I’m trying to remember when it started.” She sat down near him, still holding the blanket, still determined to give it to him. “Did you start being kind to me when I began working at Hagenheim Castle? Or was it before that?”

  He had an anxious look in his eyes, his brow furrowed. “I was always kind to you. I saved your life, more than once.”

  “Oh no, you cannot claim to have always been kind to me.” She laughed. “You did save my life, but when I tried to help you, when you had the broken leg and the broken arm, you told me to leave you alone and stop trying to kill you, just because I was trying to help you off with your wet clothes. Remember that? And there was the time you told me you would never marry a peasant girl so I would stop talking to you.”

  Now he looked miserable, his sad brown eyes boring into hers. “I’m sorry I said that. I was insufferable and arrogant.”

  “That is exactly how I would have described you.”

  “Even now, you still think I’m so?” He leaned toward her, his face only inches from hers.

  “Why . . . no.” His tender tone and the suddenness of him moving toward her caused her to scoot back.

  “I know your mother—Gothel—taught you never to trust anyone,” he said, “but I’m not one of those men who takes a maiden’s love and then tosses her aside. I would never do that . . . to you or to anyone.”

  Her throat suddenly went dry.

  He stared at her a long moment, then said, “Good night, Rapunzel.” He turned over and lay with his back to her.

  She got up and put another underdress and kirtle on over the clothes she was already wearing. Since she was thinner now, they all managed to fit.

  Sir Gerek was lying down near the fire, his eyes closed. Rapunzel moved as quietly as she could toward his still form, then carefully laid the blanket over him.

  She lay down with her head near his and closed her eyes.

  Her eyes popped open. Something was touching her legs and was very gradually being laid over the rest of her body. She suspected it was the gray woolen blanket she had laid on Sir Gerek. When he finished, he walked back over to where he had been sleeping and lay down again.

  Gerek awoke with the blanket laying over him. How had she managed to cover him without him waking up? He sat up. She lay asleep on her side, her thick braid touching her cheek. The sun was casting a soft glow over her and making her look even more otherworldly.

  He found himself smiling as he draped the blanket o
ver her while she slept.

  When she awoke, he already had Donner saddled and breakfast ready.

  “When did you do this?” She held out the blanket. With the scolding half frown and lowered brows, she took his breath away. What would she do if he put his hands on either side of her face and kissed her lips? Probably slap him.

  He truly needed to get her back to Hagenheim as soon as possible. Because once he told her he wanted to marry her, the temptation to kiss her would be even stronger.

  He shrugged. “You looked cold.”

  She eyed him, shook her head, then folded the blanket.

  The morning started out sunny and slightly warm, but now that it was midday, storm clouds began to roll in.

  “Rain is coming,” he told her. “We can either go back to the village we passed more than two hours ago and ask someone for shelter, or we can go on and try to find shelter ahead of us somewhere.”

  Rapunzel looked up at the sky. “Perhaps it will not rain. The clouds may pass us with barely a sprinkling. It happens that way sometimes.”

  “Perhaps.”

  They kept moving and the clouds did seem to break. The wind grew quite strong in the afternoon and the air much cooler. Rapunzel had started to huddle against his chest with her arms tucked into him instead of around him.

  Just when he thought it wasn’t going to rain after all, the late-afternoon clouds began to darken again. He didn’t think there were any villages nearby, so as the rain began to fall in large drops, there was nowhere to take shelter except the trees just off the road. But even in the trees, they were still getting wet. Rapunzel shivered against his chest.

  He had to find them shelter, so they pressed on. This part of the country was hilly and rocky, as they passed along the northern edge of the Harz Mountains, but on this particular stretch of road, he saw no rock outcroppings.

  He followed the road while staying in the trees, finally spotting something, a small hill amongst the spruce and beech trees, so he headed toward it.

  When he reached the small hill, he dismounted. He moved some branches aside and discovered a dark hole in the side of the hill. He squatted beside it. It was only tall enough for him to enter on his knees.

  “I found a cave,” he told Rapunzel as he dug inside his saddlebag. He pulled out a tarp-covered torch and hovered over it to keep it dry while he lighted it. When he finally got it burning, he approached the open hole of the cave. Rapunzel was right behind him.

  “Stay back.” He put his arm out to keep her behind him. “Anything could be inside—a wild boar, a bear, or even a wolf.”

  He got down on his knees, holding the torch out in front of him as he proceeded into the dark little cave.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Rapunzel shivered inside the large rock chamber of the cave. Her teeth chattered uncontrollably as she hugged herself with one hand and held the torch with the other.

  Sir Gerek came back and picked up the bag he had brought with him. “You have to get out of those wet clothes. I’ll go back into the small corridor while you change.”

  “You have to change too.” Her speech sounded funny as she tried to talk through her rigid jaw and chattering teeth. And even though he was just as wet as she was, he wasn’t shivering. He still looked as masculine and handsome as ever—maybe more so—while she probably looked as bedraggled as a drowned weasel.

  They each found their extra clothing, which was mostly dry, and Gerek propped her torch in a crack in the wall, then disappeared around a bend in the cave corridor.

  Rapunzel stripped off her wet clothes as quickly as she could. Her extra underdress and kirtle were both safely in place when Sir Gerek called through the echoing chamber, “Are you dressed?”

  “I am.”

  He came in and snuffed out his torch on the floor of the cave. “No need to waste it,” he said. “We might need it later.”

  He pulled out the woolen blanket that they had taken turns covering each other with the night before. While at Castle Rimmel his brother had offered him food and whatever supplies he might need, but he had not thought to get an extra blanket.

  Rapunzel sat on the cool stone floor of the cave and started trying to unbraid her wet hair with stiff, cold fingers. She was still shivering, but the chattering of her teeth had lessened.

  “You have to get warm,” Sir Gerek said.

  She wouldn’t argue with that. She only wondered how he proposed for her to do it. “I’m unbraiding my hair so it will dry faster,” she said, her mouth still not working properly so her words sounded stilted. “And so I can squeeze the water out.”

  “Come here.” He motioned to her with his hand as he went to stand by the wall.

  She came and they sat down. He leaned against the wall, pulled her back against his chest, and wrapped the blanket around her.

  He seemed very businesslike, even as he took her braid and squeezed the water from it. He had it unbraided in only a few moments.

  She put her hands inside the blanket and under her arms. He wrapped his arms around her over the blanket, making her feel like a caterpillar in a cocoon.

  “You can lean your head back,” he said.

  “My hair will get you wet.”

  “It’s all right.” He touched her forehead and gently pulled her head back to rest on his shoulder.

  She suddenly felt cozy and comfortable. He was delightfully warm. Her feet were like ice, even though Ursel had given her some leather slippers since she had no shoes. But her feet had gotten wet, and now she tucked them underneath her to try to get them warm. But with the wool blanket and his arms around her, and with the surprising heat emanating from his chest warming her back, she soon stopped shivering.

  Their closeness should have felt awkward. One of them should speak and break the silence.

  “Rapunzel.” Finally, he spoke, his deep voice rumbling beside her ear. “Why did Frau Adelheit want me to find you so badly? She even convinced the rest of the knights to go out searching for you.”

  Her stomach lurched at the thought of telling him, even though she believed he would want to marry her as soon as he found out. Something held her back.

  “Are the other knights still looking for me? How interesting that you were the one to find me.”

  “No, they had returned to Hagenheim after a month or so.”

  “But you continued to look?” She held her breath as she waited for his answer.

  “Of course.”

  He was resting his jaw against her temple. She could feel his prickly facial hair against her skin. Her breathing became shallow, and she didn’t move.

  “I fasted and prayed,” he said softly, his chin brushing against her temple with every word, “and God told me which way to go.”

  Her breath came faster now. Finally, she whispered, “Thank you.”

  “Were you surprised when you saw me?”

  “I was a little surprised since I had not seen anyone except Gothel for such a long time. But I was also not surprised. I believed you would come for me.” She closed her eyes and thought back to that moment when she heard his voice and saw his face. “I was overjoyed to see you, to see a familiar face, someone who could help me escape from my mother.”

  For a moment he was very still. Then he squeezed her arm and said, “I should go see if it’s still raining.” He stood up, relighted his torch, and left.

  He returned. “Still raining. We should probably sleep here. It’s almost night anyway.” He brought out their food, and they ate.

  They talked a bit about various priests they had known throughout their lives. And those stories led to stories about their childhoods. Sir Gerek’s stories were mostly adventures involving Valten and Gabehart, and she couldn’t help but realize she was hearing about her own two older brothers as she learned more about Sir Gerek.

  Suddenly, she had an idea. “Were you there when Elsebeth, Valten and Gabehart’s sister, fell and cut her hand when she was three?”

  He raised his brows. �
��I was not there, but I heard about it. I had not been at Hagenheim very long and was a new page. But little Elsebeth showed her hand to me a few days later, when she saw me in the Great Hall. How did you know about that?”

  “Frau Adelheit told me.”

  “I remember thinking what a pretty little girl she was.” He stared at the wall, not really seeing it. “I was so sorry for Lady Rose when the little girl died. Her heart was broken over losing her. It was terribly sad.” He suddenly turned toward her. “I think I was rather in love with Lady Rose when I was a boy.”

  “With Lady Rose?”

  He nodded and smiled. “I was so young, and she was so kind to me when I arrived in Hagenheim. She knew about my mother being killed. I know she gave me preferential treatment, and she let me sleep in Valten and Gabe’s chamber. She asked about me often and took care of me herself when I was sick.”

  “I can see why you would love her.”

  “It was a boyish infatuation. You know how all the minstrels sing of courtly love and chivalry. I suppose I saw myself as her champion. But at some point, I realized Duke Wilhelm would not be tolerant of my infatuation, and I got over it.”

  Rapunzel smiled. “Did you never have a sweetheart your own age?”

  “There was a maidservant who very much wanted me to marry her when I was eighteen, but I told her many times that it was not possible. And then I went with Valten to fight in the tournaments, and she married a cobbler’s son.”

  “Ah, yes. Because you wanted to make your fortune by marrying an heiress.”

  “You make me sound very mercenary, and I was. But I’ve changed.” A mysterious look came over his face.

  “You have changed?”

  He nodded.

  “How?”

  “I will tell you . . . on the last day of our journey.”

  “Very well. And when you tell me your secret on the last day of our journey, I shall tell you mine.” She resisted the urge to look at the scar on her hand. Instead, she raised her brows at him and gave him her own mysterious smile.