Rapunzel and the Griffin Prince

by Savage, Vivienne

  Poor odds surrounded them from every angle. Princess Teagan remained embroiled in battle with the warship. Unable to penetrate the magician’s defenses by air, she’d landed on the main deck, screaming fire from her tooth-filled maw and sweeping her tail over the Ridaeron sailors attempting to fend her off. James watched her desperate scramble to reach their battlemage.

  To his left, a magical explosion threatened to capsize the Scarlet Brigade, and one of King Morgan’s ships was dead in the water with a broken mast. Another Mordenian ship burned, its magician probably among the dead. With each passing second, their chances of victory seemed slimmer. The battle had turned too fast. “I want Belle to take Peter and anyone who doesn’t want to die.”

  “We’re not going to die,” Belle said. “Have faith.”

  James glanced at her. “Eliza’s at the end of her stamina, and Callum is wounded. We’re not faring well.”

  “Have faith,” Belle repeated.

  The Prince Constantine’s Fury swung to reveal her starboard hull. James prepared for the inevitable onslaught and braced himself. His memories of the ship were a set of guns capable of firing explosive oil flasks.

  Guns roared and a volley of explosives burst from the cannons. They streaked past the Jolly Roger and slammed into the approaching Ridaeron ship. Moments later, the familiar sails of the Twilight Witch came into view alongside the Fury.

  James stared. It took a few moments for his brain to catch up to what his eyes had seen, for the sight of Eisland ships joining their side had taken him by complete surprise. Anastasia hadn’t mentioned that.

  When he glanced at Belle, she merely grinned at him and chirped, “They’re on our side.”

  * * *

  Joaidane had spent much of the past day scraping hidden runes beneath the snow on the western plain, an insidious surprise awaiting any of the black-eyed soldiers who approached Floren.

  Attuning it to the dark magic had been a difficult but necessary condition to avoid blowing up Milo’s men during their patrols. Afterward, he’d claimed the city’s clocktower belfry as his home base since the seven-floor structure was central to all other buildings of the city and teeming with energy—the kind of energy attained over decades from admirers and busy people passing each day. It also provided complete visibility of both the western plains and the eastern coast.

  He looked north toward the mountains and wondered how Muir and Rapunzel fared. They hadn’t contacted him again, though he’d noticed an absence of the Northern Lights the previous night, their mesmerizing blue and green glow gone from the sky. Had they been successful?

  A detail of six soldiers had accompanied Joaidane to the clocktower, two of them holding telescopes, the others arming the ballistae he’d ordered them to haul to the upper level. Thankfully, the lift had been operable.

  “Grand Enchanter, we have movement on the western side.”

  Joaidane glanced to the mountain on the northwestern side of the city. “That mountain there, does it hold any significance to the people here?”

  “The mountain?” The soldier blinked at him. “No, not at all? Why?”

  “Excellent. Thank you.”

  The words of the ifrit tongue came to Joaidane easily, though he hadn’t cast destructive spells over so vast a distance in years. If ever. The occasional practice session from the tower under his mother’s tutelage hadn’t prepared him for participating in a war.

  But he would try. Joaidane chanted in their flowing, magical tongue, gathering the energy around him, feeling it in his soul and buzzing across his skin. His voice grew louder, while the wide-eyed old clocktower guardian beside him watched in awe.

  At the height of the incantation, he rubbed both palms together briskly then thrust them toward the mountain’s southwestern face. At first, nothing happened. He stood within a quiet belfry witnessing the spectacle down below as hundreds of soldiers marched toward the city. The old man beside him squinted, removed his spectacles, and buffed them against his shirt before replacing them on his old nose.

  “Ah, messere, I think something did not work well.”

  Joaidane glanced at the clocktower guardian. “Give it a moment.”

  The nine-foot-long second hand ticked five times behind them, preceding a tremendous roar, a rumble that shook the city itself when the mountain peak snapped and came sliding down the cliff, bringing with it a devastating avalanche.

  The soldiers on Floren’s wall stared. Their awed gazes followed the crashing wave of snow and rock down the mountain to the valley below. The deluge swept down over the back half of the approaching army, taking out nearly half their number in one fell swoop.

  “I’ve never seen the like,” the guard beside him whispered. “It’s as though Eisen himself has granted you favor.”

  Joaidane grinned. “So long as I have not angered him.”

  The moment he spoke, the blue skies above Floren darkened to a bleak, dismal shade of gray obscured by even darker clouds rolling in from the coastline. They grew blacker by the second, and thunder rolled with loud booms and reverberating roars.

  He may have spoken too soon. Had he angered their god by daring to destroy a portion of the mountain range?

  When Joaidane dashed to the opposite side of the clocktower belfry and stepped onto the ledge, he saw lightning dancing over the horizon in the fiercest storm to cross his vision in three centuries. He stared at it initially. Bolts came lancing down on the water in tight arcs. It wasn’t until he studied the clouds that he saw the flashes of avian silhouettes in the dismal gray cover, moving ever closer to the coast each time the storm highlighted their massive bodies. The griffins from Cairn Ocland were coming.

  “Reinforcements have arrived, gentlemen. We only need to hold the line.”

  Chapter

  An unnatural stillness hung over Jonquilles, contrasting the once lively port city that had thrived and celebrated until the late hours of the night, always busy, always filled with wine, music, and song. The eerie silence sent a cold trickle of dread creeping down Rapunzel’s spine. No one stirred and no lights shone, making her beloved home seem a frozen wasteland.

  Muir landed them in the castle courtyard unchallenged. She slid from his back and touched her cloak, the Northern Light a comforting weight in her pocket.

  “I don’t like this.” Muir took his human shape and moved to her side. “Where are the guards?”

  “Maybe she’s sent everyone to Floren. What need does she have for guards when everyone here is under her spell?”

  He grunted but didn’t argue her logic.

  Together, they made their way into the palace’s dismal entrance hall. Castle Icedale’s empty space no longer resembled the home she remembered, the once grand chamber lacking the energy once generated by lively staff and dedicated guards. In the time since Rapunzel’s escape, Gothel had transformed the castle into a place of darkness.

  As they proceeded into the next corridor, the hairs on her arms raised and goosebumps broke over her skin. The air itself smelled of something dank and unusual.

  “Wait a moment.” Rapunzel grabbed Muir’s arm and tugged him back.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Look.” She pulled the last loaf of bread from her pack and tossed it ahead in the hallway. The bun exploded into flames before it struck the floor, becoming little more than a pile of dull ash.

  Muir stared. “How did you know?”

  “I sensed it. My skin prickled a bit, and I just knew. We should be careful. There could be more.”

  They passed two alcoves in the corridor once occupied by busts of past rulers. Now they were replaced by gaudy statues of armed knights sculpted from ebony glass. Muir froze midstep. He grabbed her by the arm and jerked her back just as a sword sliced down from the recess to their right. The blade came within a foot of her face.

  Then Muir’s sword whistled as it came out of the scabbard, and he charged the black guard with with a lunge too fast for Rapunzel’s eyes to track. Metal rang against
metal in their frenzied clash of steel. The second statue animated at that moment and lurched forward with a battle-ax rivaling a shield in size.

  Rapunzel iced the floor beneath the second knight’s feet. He slipped, brought down by the weight of his own weapon, and shattered against the marble. Muir drove his opponent backward until the knight struck the wall, and then he ran him through. The knight broke apart into a million glittering shards.

  “Were those people, do you think?” she asked, her voice soft.

  “I don’t honestly know. Whatever they were, they weren’t human anymore, lass, and we’ve ended whatever misery she fashioned them with.”

  They met more of the black knights on the way to the throne room, always in pairs, but they presented no more of a challenge than the first two. Still, the attacks wore at them, until even Muir’s brow glistened with sweat.

  The throne doors stood open wide. Beyond, no lights lit the vast room, save for a pulsing blue glow at the far end. It took her a moment to make sense of it, to realize the sapphire throne itself shone like a beacon. And draped across the seat, as if she belonged there, sat her mother.

  “I must admit, I didn’t think you’d have the nerve to come and face me yourself.”

  “Where’s my brother?”

  “Don’t you worry about him. He still has a use to me, unlike you.”

  The first attack came on a wave of fire. The searing lash struck between Rapunzel and Muir, forcing them to each dive to opposite sides of the room. She struck the floor and rolled as Faolan had taught her, then sprang to her feet in time to throw up an ice shield against the next attack. Gothel’s fire struck her barrier and sizzled. Steam hissed into the air.

  Then another sound reached her ears. Growls, deep and threatening.

  “No, it cannot be,” Muir said. Kaid stepped out from the shadows in his lumbering bear shape, with Lileas and Coinneach prowling behind him. All three shifters had black eyes. Deep down, Rapunzel knew Muir had hoped their magical gifts would somehow protect them from the curse.

  “Take care of the bird for me, pets. I’ll deal with my daughter.”

  A fiery whip lashed out from Gothel’s hand, only to meet empty space as Rapunzel iced the floor and used it to glide beyond reach. She channeled her focus—her anger and her iron resolve—and released a powerful blast that howled through the room with a blizzard’s force. Gothel stumbled back.

  Across the room, Lileas leapt at Muir. He struck out with his sword pommel and caught the wolf across her muzzle.

  Gothel left her little chance to see more or even attempt to aid her husband. The next attack came as black lightning, each powerful bolt obliterating whatever spell Rapunzel threw up, forcing her to remain on the defensive.

  “Why do this? Why? We were your family. You were supposed to love us.”

  “Love you?” Gothel chuckled. “You were both a means to an end. A way to secure this throne for myself. Behaving as your mother was merely another role. A game to benefit me.”

  Rapunzel blinked away the stinging moisture in her eyes. She’d always known her mother resented birthing twins, but she’d never expected such profound hate.

  A pained roar rent the air, and for one terrifying heartbeat, Rapunzel thought Muir had been hurt, but it was Lileas who flew through the air and struck the throne with a wince-inducing crack. Gothel scowled and turned her magic on the injured wolf. Black energy surrounded her, turning her glossy fur the black and hard sheen of obsidian glass.

  Imbued with new strength, Lileas charged back into the fray.

  “You cannot win. I am stronger than you,” Gothel taunted. Behind her, the throne pulsed and released a powerful blast. The empty frame where the mirror had been shimmered. Rapunzel shielded herself, but her gaze never left the throne.

  If that was the source, then that was where she needed to be.

  Rapunzel abandoned her cover behind the pillar and charged forward. Her magic surrounded her, infused her, until she streamed forward as a frigid blast, her whole body comprised of snow and ice.

  Gothel’s eyes widened. She cried out just as Rapunzel crashed into her and retook her solid shape. The queen hit the wall and slumped to the floor.

  “You think your new magic trick will stop me?” Gothel asked. She laughed and picked herself up from the floor. “You’ve changed nothing. I still own this kingdom and all within it. Soon, your pet will either be torn apart by my darlings, or he’ll be blinded by his own hatred. He cannot fight it for long.”

  Despite herself, Rapunzel glanced to where Muir continued to hold his own against his countrymen. His friends. He’d taken his griffin form, using his ability to fly to keep out of their reach while they snarled and salivated.

  One moment of distraction cost Rapunzel dearly. Agony lanced across her body and burned a line down her back. Too late, she tore her attention back to Gothel and disrupted the spell with a surge of hail. Muir shrieked and tried to come for her, but Kaid lunged upward and dragged him to the ground by one wing.

  Remove her source of power… Yukina’s voice whispered through her mind.

  Ignoring the pain, Rapunzel conjured a jagged spear of ice, fashioning it between her hands. Gothel laughed.

  “You can’t hurt me.”

  “This isn’t for you.” She released the spell. An icy missile slammed into the throne, shattering the gemstone before Gothel could do more than cry out. The resulting explosion of magic washed over her at point-blank range, heat and wind and fury released with the physical manifestations of hatred and despair. A relentless volley of surging power rushed through her until she wanted to double over and vomit.

  When it was over, Gothel only sneered and gestured with her hands. Six more black knights stepped into the room. “I no longer need the sapphire throne. I am everywhere, and your rebellion stands no chance. I have waited years to take what was rightfully mine. Years to have what I deserve, what I have earned after suffering in this stinking chamber pot of a kingdom. And now I will turn it into something worthy.”

  Rapunzel raised her chin. Now she understood Yukina’s words and unspoken warning. “I know who you are. You tried once to ruin this kingdom and failed, but I won’t let you have Eisland. Return to whatever void you came from, Laverne, goddess of deceit and mischief!

  Gothel’s face contorted into a mask of seething hatred, turning her eyes black and sending deep creases across her brow. Her lips curled into a feral snarl. “How dare you speak that name to me?”

  One moment they were staring at each other across the throne, and in the next, Gothel was rushing at her, a streaming force of magic preceded by raw power.

  Because only love can banish evil and darkness, Rapunzel heard the voice again, a fading whisper against her memory. Siel’s tear was warm against her breast, and it felt heavier than ever. She tore the button inside her cloak during her effort to fumble the Northern Light from inside it, but the moment she exposed it, the stone flooded the room with fluctuating patterns of cyan, violet, and green light. It chased away the gloom and obliterated every shadow.

  Gothel shrieked, though Rapunzel couldn’t see her through the curtain of light. A sizzling noise filled the air, and agonizing screams threatened the princess’s hearing. Several seconds passed before the flare diminished and Rapunzel’s eyesight adjusted to the remaining light swimming through the once dismal chamber.

  The thing who had once been her mother had been reduced to little more than a charred, tarlike stain, the puddle black as night and smoldering. Everywhere else touched by the light glowed silver and blue. The darkness receded and restored the room to the pristine cobalt she’d known since childhood, lit by soft streams of blue winter light shining through the stained glass windows above.

  The glass encasing the royal soldiers shattered and dissolved into black dust. One wide-eyed man touched his chest and spun in a circle before gazing at her.

  “I’m… free. You freed me.”

  The others brushed pieces of dark mirror from their
uniforms and turned their awestruck faces toward her.

  “The princess freed us.”

  “We’re saved.”

  “Gods bless the princess.”

  Seconds passed, and then they all fell to a knee before her. “Our apologies, princess. We had no control over our actions, we couldn’t—”

  “I understand. I won’t hold it against you for what Gothel forced you to do. I only wish I could have rescued every single one of you.”

  Kaid transformed to his human body, but the two wolves remained in animal form. “Stars above, it’s like waking up from a nightmare.”

  Coinneach nodded. Blood glistened on his muzzle from Muir’s talons, and her griffin held his wing at an awkward angle.

  Rapunzel hurried to him at once and set her hand on his wing. He winced a bit.

  “Can I do anything for either of you?”

  Kaid grunted and stepped up to Muir to take the affected wing in both hands. “We have our own healin’, lass. Save the magic touch for the ones who need it.”

  Muir flinched when the bear set his dislocated wing. Then he folded both against his sides. “Agreed. I’ll be fine.”

  Coinneach groaned low and transformed. The same long slashes were on his human face as well. “They’ll close up soon.”

  Lileas nodded. When she transformed, a fading bruise remained on her left cheek.

  No matter where Rapunzel looked, she saw the imprisoned stirring from the curse. She sighed in relief, then jolted forward. “My brother. We must find my brother. Do you know where she put him?”

  Kaid nodded. “Aye. She mentioned him once to her captain of the guard. Said she’d stowed him in her bedchamber.”

  Rapunzel raced from the throne room and into the connecting corridor. For as long as she could remember, her mother had always kept a room apart from her father. There were no obstacles, no one to stop her, the remaining castle guardians transformed by her magic now shuddering awake.

  When she burst into the bedroom, she found her brother in the four-poster bed beneath the extravagant canopy and laying upon layers of plum silk. A fading aura of dark magic surrounded him, dwindling on its own before she even shone the light over the dismal space. “Joren!”