“Don’t look, Sebille!”
Her friend buried her face in Rapunzel’s back and squeezed tighter.
The griffin looped around above the castle, banking a hard left and soaring with his wings outstretched.
“Muir, take me to my brother! We have to help him.”
“No,” Muir said.
“We can’t leave him!”
“I leave three of my kin with him, I know what’s at stake. Your safety is my first priority.”
“I don’t care about my safety. We have to do something to—”
The castle rumbled before an explosion roared like a furious dragon and snuffed its lights from every corner of the palace. Not only in the castle, but in the city, each lantern, candle, and lamp going dark in a widening wave until even the ships in the port were blanketed in shadow.
“Joren!”
It brought a palpable feeling, like a manifestation of cold and bleak, living gloom moving ever closer, coming nearer and spreading across the air itself like a living oil stain.
The ground rushed past beneath them as Muir raced for the coastline, a sense of dread creeping over the back of Rapunzel’s neck.
She didn’t dare to look behind her again at the fast approaching wave. Feeling it was enough. She hugged the back of Muir’s neck and closed her eyes, a prayer on the tip of her tongue for her brother’s survival. Whatever her mother had done, it pulsed behind them like a hungry beast, and it was hot on her griffin’s tail.
The magic had a sound. A noise. She could feel it pounding in her soul, like the hammer blows of a smith working metal, each strike centered against her heart.
Muir shot out over the water. The sensation receded, and the creeping terror began to fade. She dared to look over her shoulder to see the force contained against the shoreline.
“It stopped,” Rapunzel said. “The magic halted at the water.”
The glistening cloud spread for miles above the city and shrouded it in darkness too thick for the dwindling sun to penetrate.
“Where will we go now, Muir?”
“There’s only one place we can go. We need to find Captain Vandry.”
Chapter
It seemed to Rapunzel that they had flown for hours, but the moon had barely moved across the sky when Muir angled back toward the Eisland coast. In the darkness, so far from any town, she couldn’t make out their location. Muir glided down to the rocky beach and lowered to his belly. Sebille clambered off and slumped on the solid ground, huddled within her shawl, but Rapunzel remained on his back.
“Why have we stopped? What are we doing here?”
“The Viridian Sea is too large and too dark to easily find the Twilight Witch. She flies enchanted sails and camouflages her ship when she doesn’t want to be seen. We’ll have to bunker down here until daybreak.”
“But—”
“I cannot fly forever, lass. Even I have my limits, and I am unaccustomed to carrying two. With one of you perhaps, I could travel for hours longer, but with two I risk the chance of exhausting without a place to land.”
“Of course, I’m sorry.” She hurried down from his back and dropped her shoulders. “I should have realized—”
Muir returned to his human shape and touched her chin, raising her gaze back to his. “Do not berate yourself for worrying. You left many behind, including your brother.”
She blinked, tears blurring her vision. “We have to go back for them.”
“We will, if we’re able, but not tonight. We need shelter, and then we’ll find the Twilight Witch. Then, and only then, will we plan what comes next.”
“Then we should at least start a fire.”
“No, the smoke and light would be seen for miles on a moonlit night like tonight, and I doubt the queen will have let us go so easily. She’ll have people looking for us.”
“But we’ll freeze,” Rapunzel argued. “Sebille and I aren’t so fortunate as to have feathers, and we both left without a stitch more than we’re wearing.”
“There’s a small cave further up the beach,” Sebille said in a soft voice. Both he and Rapunzel turned to look at her.
“You’re certain?” he asked.
“Yes. My family used to come to this coast in the summers when I was a child. I recognize the rock pillars.” She pointed to the right at the spear-like outcroppings jutting from the water.
“It’s better than nothing at all,” Rapunzel said.
In silence, they made their way up the beach until they found the cavern Sebille spoke of. As described, it wasn’t deep, but recessed far enough to provide cover from above and block out most of the wind.
Rapunzel huddled with Sebille at the back, making use of what few leaves and grasses she could to fashion a nest of sorts. Something to cushion the cold, hard ground. Muir sat a few feet away with his mirror in hand and spoke in his native language. While she couldn’t understand a single word, the lyrical sound made her wish she could.
“Is everything all right?” she asked after he put the device away.
“Aye. Vandry has given me a marker to follow once the sun rises. I also spoke with my king and queen.”
“To them both?”
“They rule as equals. Is this not how things are in Eisland?”
“Power has always been with the ruling family. My father, his father before him, his grandmother.”
“So, if you had ascended the throne….”
“Then I would have full authority and my husband, you, would be second in power. Should I die, the crown would pass first to the oldest of any able-bodied children I’ve born, or to my brother if we had none.”
Muir shifted and fluffed his feathers, both wings closed against his body. He looked so damned warm and comfortable, the lucky bastard, with his plush feline fur and those enormous feathers against his breast. Envious, she eyed him for a while until Muir raised both wings.
“There’s space for two,” he offered.
Sebille scrambled closer and claimed the left wing. Rapunzel slid beneath the right and tucked her body against his side. With nothing more than their shawls and his body heat to provide their warmth, they crowded close in the cramped space. Sebille fell asleep within moments, exhausted by their ordeal, but Rapunzel found rest elusive.
“Please tell me what happened,” she whispered. “How did my brother’s nonviolent overthrow become this?”
“Do you really wish to know? I don’t think the answers will comfort you.”
“Nothing about any of this is comforting. Even so, I want the truth. I think I deserve it.”
“You do.” Muir sighed, a strange sound coming through his beak, almost like a whistle. He started at the beginning and left nothing out as far as she could tell. She listened without interruption, every new revelation seeming to break her world a little more.
“I wish we had gone back for Joren,” she whispered.
“Your safety was his chief concern, and I honored that request.”
“He could be dead.” She closed her eyes and turned her face against his feathers. The down tickled her cheeks and smelled of the pleasant musk and spice she associated with Muir’s human body. Soon, Sebille’s soft snores and the howl of the wind outside became the only sound in the tiny cavern.
“You cannot think like that,” Muir said after a moment.
“How am I supposed to think? All these years I’ve been imprisoned by who I assumed was my father, but you tell me it was my mother all this time. My apathetic, drunken, uncaring mother.”
“I don’t know what to tell you, lass. It was an unexpected turn of events. Did you have any idea your mother held such magic?”
“No, but maybe I should have.”
“What do you mean?”
“Magic is passed down through families. Father doesn’t have the talent. Not an ounce, and I know from my study of our paternal line that there hasn’t been a magician for several generations. My grandfather had no magic, nor did my great-grandfather.”
“S
o it comes through your mother’s line?”
Rapunzel nodded. “I’ve seen mother cast a spell or two, but they were harmless, innocuous things. A casual glamour, a shimmer of light. Coaxing a budding flower to achieve full bloom within seconds. Animating a puppet to dance for us. She would make these little miracles for my brother and me when we were tots, to entertain us.”
“While you turn into a snow nymph.”
“That’s not precisely what I do, and it took years to manage that trick, thanks to these.” She lifted her hands and shook the shackles around her wrists. “I project my will into the snow and manipulate it. But snow isn’t a living, breathing thing. If she took possession of my father, then… that is a dark magic beyond my knowledge.”
“Captain Vandry may be able to break your shackles. She’s a talented mage, and I have no doubt she may have seen similar contraptions before.”
“Where is she?”
“I told her to sail for the east. Your brother has contacts in Floren who are waiting to receive us.”
Rapunzel gazed toward the cavern opening and sighed. “My brother….”
“Hold on to hope. It’s my belief she won’t kill him.”
“How could you possibly know that?”
“Because she had twelve years to do away with either of you, but she didn’t. She locked you away. She allowed Joren to train into a powerful mage. And there’s one more reason. During the fight, she ordered the guards not to harm Joren. I believe she needs him for something. Perhaps she intends to use him as a puppet on the throne as well.”
“Maybe.”
“Are you warm enough?”
“Your wing makes a good blanket. I’m sure Sebille would agree, were she awake.”
“You should join her and try to sleep. You’ll need your strength. We all will for what is to come.”
* * *
True to his word, Muir picked out the Twilight Witch against the dawn horizon despite it appearing no larger than a grain of sand on a canvas of blue to Rapunzel’s human eyes.
They traveled at an alarming altitude, higher than the kites children often flew in the parks, but it was during this time that Rapunzel saw breathtaking sights below them. There were sea birds soaring on the winds, the eagles she’d once watched while on a pleasure boat ride, and magnificent water mammals rising from below the foam-capped waves. Those were her favorite to watch, especially when they appeared to swim in synchronization like a galloping herd of wild ponies.
While there must have been at least a hundred miles between them, he crossed the distance in what felt like minutes. At times when the cold wind became too much, she buried her face in the fluff at the base of his neck, the down feathers impossibly soft and so warm despite the cold ocean air.
Sebille clung to her as they swooped down toward the vessel. While part of Rapunzel wanted to scream in terror at the steep plunge, the other part of her wanted to whoop in exhilaration. Muir pulled up at the last moment and landed with perfect grace on the swaying deck.
“That was wonderful,” she whispered. Muir turned his head and peered at her with one golden eye.
“Was it?”
“Yes. I’ve never flown so fast on my own.”
“I never wish to do so again,” Sebille muttered behind her.
Two men stepped over, as big and brawny as Muir himself, and helped the women from the griffin’s back. Sebille sank down on the deck on her hands and knees the moment her feet touched the wooden planks. Sympathy moved Rapunzel to kneel beside her friend and rub her back.
“We’re safe now, Sebille.”
“I know, Your Highness. I’m sorry. It’s just all too much I suppose.”
“Is she all right?” Back in his human guise, Muir stepped over and regarded them both in concern. A woman with a patch over her eye stood beside him.
“We’re fine,” Rapunzel replied. “It’s been a hard night, is all.”
“Then allow me to get you both comfortable, Your Highness,” the woman said. She bowed at the waist. “I welcome you to the Twilight Witch and would be honored if you took my cabin to rest.”
“Oh, no, I couldn't possibly put you out,” Rapunzel said.
“You won’t. I barely sleep as it is. Please.” Vandry offered a hand to Sebille. “There’s room for you both.”
“Thank you.”
Muir assisted her to her feet but dropped his hand once she was steady, as if he couldn’t bear to touch her. So much for their joyous marriage. Thus far, nothing about the happy ending she’d expected had come true. Her brother should have been sitting on the throne and righting the wrongs enacted by her father’s strict regime, and she should have been celebrating her freedom alongside a wonderful, courageous man, even if he was a foreigner from a kingdom that may as well have been a magical paradise in another realm.
Rapunzel swallowed back the lump in her throat and followed the former pirate across the deck. Even Captain Vandry failed to live up to her terrifying reputation as the heartless magical scourge of the Viridian Sea. With all the stories she’d heard about pirates over the years, she’d expected a hard-looking woman with a murderous gang of cutthroats at her command. Instead, everyone appeared rather normal. While they lacked the uniforms and wardrobe of a proper naval crew, there was an unexpected civility about them. They weren’t an unruly band of thieves after all.
“Here we are. You two ladies should be quite comfortable in here.”
The captain opened a door into a large stateroom. No treasure gleamed from overflowing chests, but there were a surprising number of books, and one wall displayed several maps with coastlines Rapunzel didn’t recognize from any of her studies. A large bed filled the space beneath the windows.
“Where will you sleep?” Sebille asked.
“I’m not averse to taking a hammock with the rest of my crew,” Vandry replied. She studied them both, lips pursed, and ran her gaze up and down their clothes. “There’s a chest over there with clothes. You’re welcome to anything you like that fits. You and I are not so different in stature, Princess, so you might find something suitable.”
“Thank you again, Captain.”
“It’s my pleasure. I’ll have some food brought up shortly.”
“Captain?”
Vandry turned from the doorway and looked back to her. “Yes?”
“Where does my husband—Muir sleep?”
A single auburn brow rose. “He has one of the officer staterooms, one deck below us. Take the ladderway just out here in the passage, first door on the left.”
“Thank you.”
“Of course. Freshen up, eat, and then I imagine you’ll want those cuffs off. I’ll gather a few things and meet you on deck when you’re ready, Princess.”
* * *
Sebille chose to stay in the cabin after they ate, and Rapunzel didn’t argue with her. Despite being raised on the coast, her friend had never been fond of sailing. She turned green even when walking onto a docked ship.
Rapunzel, on the other hand, loved the sea. She carried many fond memories of afternoons aboard a ship with her brother.
The Twilight Witch was a beautiful vessel, though different in design from anything Eisland had ever built. She ran her fingers across the railing as she stood out of the crew’s way, admiring the deep indigo swirls in the wooden grain.
“It’s called drakeswood by some. Others name it witch’s oak.” Vandry moved to Rapunzel’s side and smiled.
“I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“There aren’t many who have, but fewer have traveled the seas as far as I do. Now, are you ready to be free from your binds?”
More questions about the ship lay at the tip of Rapunzel’s tongue, but she bit them back. Something about Vandry’s abrupt change in subject warned her against pressing further, and the idea of having full control of her magic returned to her held more importance than her curiosity.
“Please. I’ve tried everything over the years to get them off. I even greased
my hands up once with butter, but the blasted things wouldn’t budge.”
Vandry’s lips turned up at the edges, and her one visible eye gleamed bright with amusement. “I think we can do a little better than butter.”
Runes flared beneath the captain’s touch as she ran her fingers over the bracelets. They glowed deep violet then red. Vandry muttered an incantation, the language full of harsh consonants and deep vowels Rapunzel didn’t recognize. The metal bands warmed to the touch, and when it seemed they were close to burning her skin, the runes shattered and the bracelets cracked.
“There we are.” Vandry knocked the pieces into the sea. “How do you feel?”
Rapunzel rubbed her wrists across the paler strips of flesh. After so many years with them on, it felt strange to be rid of them, but otherwise nothing had changed.
“Rather fine. I suppose I expected… I don’t know.”
“Try a spell. Something small.”
Something small. Rapunzel turned her gaze back to the sea, to the waves breaking against the hull, and reached out toward the water with one hand. Salt laden wind whipped through her hair and tossed her bangs around her face.
Magic coursed through her body like a flood. Rapunzel had meant to call up an orb of water to manipulate, a game she and Joren had played many times. Instead, a geyser shot up, a twisting funnel that sprayed water down over the ship. Alarmed cries rose from the crew. By contrast, Vandry remained exactly where she stood, arms crossed over her chest, expression calm.
“Very nice,” she said, “but I think most of my crew have already bathed this day.” She paused a beat. “Most of them.”
“Yes, right.” Rapunzel pulled back her power. The geyser thinned, slowed, and finally collapsed back into the sea. When she turned around, she found every person staring at her. Including Muir. Only Vandry appeared unruffled by her magical display.
“Magical ability usually weakens when restrained for so long, but yours has done the opposite. How peculiar. With proper training, you’d make quite the formidable sorceress, Your Highness.”
Vandry’s praise filled her with warmth. Rapunzel looked up, straightened her shoulders, and cast aside her embarrassment. “Thank you, Captain. I know we don’t have much time before we arrive in Floren, but would you do me the honor of sharing your knowledge?”
Rapunzel and the Griffin Prince Page 15