Evermore: The Rylakian Heir

by Caroline Metzlaff

  “Hello? Is someone there?” She forced the words out, sounding much braver than she actually felt, although not sure as to whether she really wanted a response or not.

  Something or someone grunted. The sound came from up high. It was followed by more scuffling sounds, unable to see anything Rapunzel felt her fear returning rapidly.

  “Is anyone there? It’s impolite not to answer.” She called out, hoping she sounded much stronger than she felt.

  “Well hell, it’s hard to talk when you’re squished up like a pancake you know.” A female voice called back and a thud was heard as something, or someone rather hit the floor...hard.

  There was a snapping sound and suddenly the small cavern room was illuminated by a soft light. Rapunzel’s eyes widened as she found herself gazing at a tall thin woman dressed in purple traveling clothes. Her slightly pointed ears, eyebrows and heart shaped face identified her as an elf.

  “So you’re Rapunzel.” The elf muttered as she paced, inspecting Rapunzel closely; something Rapunzel did not appreciate in the least.

  “Wow...you have some hair. Let’s see what I can do about this.” She said as she knelt down and grabbed the chains that bound Rapunzel to the stalagmite.

  “Please, who are you?” Rapunzel asked nervously as the purple elf began working on the chain. “I have no family so I am worth nothing as ransom.”

  Magella laughed out loud. “Worth nothing? Sweetie you could not be more wrong.” She stopped and looked up as she realised the blond girl’s evident unease. “Oh I’m not kidnapping you. I’m here with Manuel, you know him right? Tall, scary vampire?”

  “Manuel is here?” Rapunzel’s face light up at the mention of his name as hope suddenly flooded back.

  “He should be, if not he will be soon.”

  “Manuel has come for me?” Rapunzel asked as if she couldn’t quite believe she was being rescued.

  “As if anything could stop him. Damn. This is the problem with rescue vs. theft. No intel. Now if I had known I would be dealing with chains like this I would have brought some sort of a cutter. Listen, I can’t break you out.” Magella sat back in frustration.

  Rapunzel’s beautiful face fell.

  “I’m going to find Manuel, and if he isn’t here yet I’ll get the wolf, he’s pretty strong. Maybe he can break it with his big meat paws.” She laughed a little as she got up. “Don’t worry, you are being rescued, Manuel really is unstoppable.”

  She stopped and turned back. “He terrifies me.” She added with a small shudder.

  Placing a newly broken glow stick beside Rapunzel, the elf strode through the only available exit hoping she would find Manuel and quickly.

  ~~*~~

  Magella turned the corner carefully on the narrow stone walkway. This walkway appeared to run around the entire circumference of this particular cavern room, disappearing into another tunnel at the far end. Looking down she had to admire the beautiful display of stalagmites below her, and suddenly she was grabbed and thrown up against a wall.

  The hands that secured her were incredibly strong and pale. The face that loomed over her was incredibly beautiful, and fierce.

  “Manuel.” She managed.

  He scanned her face briefly before recognising her and dismissing her with a look. His hands relaxed and she shook herself out, gasping.

  “I found another entrance. Very large, very wide. It opens up in the water, but it’s not very deep.” She tried not to babble, still somewhat shaken.

  “It’s a little tricky to navigate, but it seems much safer to whisk your Rapunzel out through the back rather than engaging the goblins and trolls.”

  He nodded, seemingly uninterested as he continued up the pathway, a look of concentration on his face. His entire focus was on sensing Rapunzel, he knew she was near, he felt her. It was maddening to be this close and still not know where she was; he had to find her and soon.

  Looking down the side of the pathway to the cave floor with her glow stick, Magella could see Mercury and Leo crawling out from a tunnel beneath them, apparently their path had ended. Mercury waved as he saw Magella, she gestured for the boys to climb up and join them. She then realised that she had forgotten to tell the vampire that she had found Rapunzel.

  “I found Rapunzel-” She began, that caught Manuel’s attention immediately, he caught her arm and brought her closer to him; his intense black eyes mere millimetres from her own.

  “Where is she?” He asked quietly.

  Realising that stalling was not in her best interest, and she would far rather prefer to give the information than for Manuel to take it; she turned her head quickly to break eye contact. “I’ll take you there.”

  Manuel gave her a little push to get going and quickly gathering herself, she led the way. Leo and Mercury climbed up the rock bed and joined them as they followed the natural pathway upwards. Things were looking up.

  ~~*~~

  The glow stick Magella had left with her illuminated the room just enough for Rapunzel to make out her surroundings. Not that there was much to view, but anything seemed better after being trapped in complete darkness. Yet even the small glowing light couldn’t erase the empty, lonely feeling that consumed her; even should she be rescued, she had nowhere to go. The Mother was the only family she had, and she had imprisoned her...yet again.

  Something, less a sound than a feeling alerted her and she raised her bowed head.

  Standing in what served as a doorway in her cavernous prison, was Manuel. The sight of him was so over whelming that the tears that she had been struggling to hold back, slid unbidden down her pale cheeks. He really had come for her.

  Instantly he was at her side, stroking her hair and murmuring softly; she clung to him as best she could considering her chains and allowed him to comfort her.

  Magella stepped away from the doorway to allow them some privacy, gesturing to the boys to leave them be as well. In that moment, she had witnessed a completely different side of the lethal vampire, one she never could have imagined. She wasn’t sure how to process it, but it seemed indecent to intrude, she may be a thief, but she was a decent one. Manuel’s reaction to the girl was just so unexpected.

  “You came for me.” Rapunzel whispered.

  “Hell itself couldn’t have stopped me.”

  No more words were needed, in that moment she knew it was true. Taking the chains that bound Rapunzel’s wrists in his hands, he carefully broke them in two as if they were nothing more than clay. Gently he unwound them from around her wrists and threw them to the side. She looked up at him with huge eyes, quite willing to let him take the lead. He picked her up in his arms as if she weighed a feather and carried her out in to the hallway.

  Mercury and Leo shuffled from foot to foot; neither knew quite what to say at first. Mercury offered a shy smile at Rapunzel who had wrapped her arms around Manuel’s neck, her long silvery blonde hair trailed behind her.

  Leo made a small bow. “Lady Rapunzel. It is good to see you well.”

  Unable to speak her eyes filled with tears of gratitude for the small group that had risked their lives to rescue her. All she had left in the world was her small group of friends, and Manuel. She now knew she would always have Manuel.

  She shook her head as the words became stuck in her lovely throat. Manuel held her tighter.

  “You don’t have to say anything.” Mercury wasn’t good with female tears.

  Looking away he noticed her masses of hair trailing behind. He nudged the Prince. “That’s going to make our escape tricky if it just hangs like that, Leo?”

  Leo and Mercury began gathering her hair into coils before handing it back to Rapunzel, who after receiving the bundles, laid her head on Manuel’s shoulder, a welcomed sense of safety and security blanketing her.

  “Magella has found an alternate entrance; we shall use it as our escape route.” Manuel announced as he turned to look at Magella for directions.

  “From what evil are we escaping? What h
as the Mother Goethal employed?” Rapunzel asked uneasily.

  Manuel was silent for a minute. He had no desire to upset her further with tales of the unsavoury characters guarding the mouth of the cave, but he would never lie to her. Not now, not ever.

  Everyone waited for the powerful vampire to decide how to proceed. Manuel looked down at Rapunzel, nestled so securely in his arms and wondered where to begin.

  “Rapunzel, this Mother Goethal apparently engaged in many undesirable friendships, she has employed a number of such characters to ensure your imprisonment. I have no wish to drag you through such ugliness and violence.” He spoke gently.

  “Goblins and trolls then, perhaps some ogres or imps even.” She interpreted.

  The boys exchanged surprised looks with Magella. It seemed strange to hear those words escape from innocent Rapunzel’s mouth.

  “Correct.” Manuel affirmed. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”

  “I know.” She replied quietly, and they shared a soft smile.

  “Okay then.” Magella interrupted, becoming more uncomfortable by the minute surrounded by the obvious intensity of Manuel and Rapunzel’s feelings for one another. True love often made her feel sick. “Follow me.”

  ~~*~~

  With Magella leading the way the small group made their way through the mountain to the back entrance the elf had used earlier. In the warm glow of the sticks, the huge cave appeared more beautiful with each passing moment. Every so often one of the group would stop to examine an especially beautiful formation and speculate as to what it resembled. Rapunzel seemed to enjoy this game immensely, so Manuel grudgingly allowed the distraction. They knew they were approaching the end of the cavern when they began to smell the sea.

  As they stopped to examine yet another impressive stalactite design, Magella, bored with the exchange ventured on ahead. Rapunzel likened the stalactite to a royal crown and Leo agreed that she was not far off, offering to show her his coronation crown when they returned to Turin. Manuel smiled fondly at her apparent excitement, his arms full of Rapunzel’s abundant hair. Although he enjoyed his beauty’s happiness, he couldn’t quite shake the growing feeling of unease. A vampire’s senses were extremely well developed and the Great Oracle had said that they wouldn’t be alone. He wondered what surprises awaited them in the hidden caverns, scanning the room he realised that Magella was missing, an alarm went off in his head.

  “Magella.” His soft melodic voice carried throughout the cavern. A wild scurrying sound was heard in response.

  A pale and shaking Magella appeared in front of them shaking her head. “Back, back. We’re going the other way.” She whispered her voice wavering as she pulled Mercury and Leo with her.

  “I am not going to lead Rapunzel through a battle unnecessarily. I don’t have time or patience for elvish head games; this night is finite.” Manuel said evenly as he regarded the trembling elf. “Explain yourself.”

  “Because believe it or not, there are things out there that scare me more than you do.” She said

  “Like what?” The vampire responded with a lethal look.

  “Like that.” She replied, pointing back down the cavern.

  Everyone slowly turned as an enormous, brilliantly green and gold scaled face with huge iridescent eyes slowly swung out from the shadows, and focused in on them.

  They had awoken a dragon.

  Chapter 13

  The old Gypsy finally sat down behind her receiving table, the relief spread through all of her bones and she sighed aloud. Most knew that Mother Sardinia was extremely old, despite her appearance, but few knew how old the great Gypsy actually was. When the young Gypsy Alessa referred to Mother Sardinia as “Grandmother”, she was omitting more than one “Great”.

  She had just closed her heavily lashed eyes and began her evening meditations, as was her custom, when she felt the oddest sensation come over her...and then she heard a man’s voice.

  “Look in your ball Luv, and send some rain will you?”

  Suddenly her eyes snapped open, and she scanned the room in alarm, only to find herself completely alone. Quickly she set her crystal ball on her table, she closed her eyes in concentration and began waving her hands over the ball.

  What she saw in that magic ball made her jaw drop and her heart beat furiously.

  She hoped the spell could be evoked in time.

  ~~*~~

  Five sets of eyes watched the massive dragon’s head as it focused on the group. Brilliant shades of green and gold contrasted with vibrant purples across the exposed portion of the dragon’s head and neck. The dragon’s teeth were long, and white and as it snorted, a cloud of smoke funneled out of the large nostrils on its smooth and curiously flat snout. Stories have it that dragons breathe fire, but that’s somewhat inaccurate. Dragons can spit out a highly corrosive, hot acid, that when mixed with oxygen can and usually does ignite, but this only happens when they feel threatened; somewhat like the spraying of a skunk. This is something no one really wants to see firsthand since most people don’t live through it, and those who do, are scarred beyond recognition.

  Dragons rarely figure in day to day lives anymore, every so often someone would decide to go on a ‘dragon hunt’, but most of those adventurers never make it back. Dragons are formidable to say the least.

  Although they only saw the head and neck of the dragon, Mercury was pretty sure the rest of the dragon was huge as well, again rumour had it that they could reach one hundred feet from head to tail. How those creatures were able to fly was anyone’s guess; but fly they did. There was nothing more magnificent then the shadow cast by a dragon as he or she flew overhead, and nothing more frightening.

  “Guess that explains why there are no shadow spiders.” Mercury hissed at Leo, who nodded slowly in agreement.

  Shadow spiders grew to enormous sizes, and were known to trap anything that moved in their sticky webs, they suspended their victims well above ground, and slowly drained them at their leisure. It was a horrifying way to die. These loathsome creatures frequently made their nests in caves; they were terrified by only one creature...dragons.

  Everyone was terrified by dragons, and why wouldn’t they be.

  Rapunzel shrunk closer to Manuel; he held one hand up towards the dragon, for once, not appearing quite so in control.

  “You go on, I can deal with this.” The prince whispered breathlessly to the silent vampire. “If I can climb up to that outcropping over there, I can trap it between those rocks and cut off its head. I’ll catch up with you later.”

  “Normally I would agree. But you cannot kill this dragon.” Manuel hissed back, never once removing his own sharp eyes from the Dragon’s large beautiful eye.

  “Of course I can, my sword is of the finest quality.” The prince whispered reassuringly. “Get the girls to safety.”

  A low, menacing growl grew in the beautiful dragon’s gigantic chest that echoed ominously throughout the cavern. Mercury and Magella skittered back a step, tripping over each other in the process. Even Manuel looked afraid as he held Rapunzel’s hand out to Mercury, who clasped it gently in his own and led safely her away from the dragon.

  “Perhaps I worded that incorrectly. You can kill this dragon with your sword, but you may not.” Manuel explained apprehensively in hushed tones. “Dragons are neither good nor evil; they are neutral for the most part. Of course there are rare, rare exceptions, but those particular dragons are mentally ill, or under the control of a very powerful, magical being. Killing a dragon, such a magnificent beast, is such a terrible, terrible disregard of life.” Still speaking in his quietly, beautiful voice, Manuel continued to hold one hand up, as if trying to calm the huge dragon, never, never losing that eye contact.

  “I don’t know Manuel; he looks pretty evil to me.” Magella sucked her breath slowly in as she looked carefully around for a quick escape.

  “It is a female dragon, and from where she is standing, it is us who look evil.”

&n
bsp; “I come from a very long line of Dragon Slayers, Manuel; I can tell you that you are wrong. Dragons are, and always have been evil.” Leo said with a resolute shake of his head.

  Manuel spared the prince one weary, exasperated look. “I have been alive...I have been alive longer than any of you, and I can tell you that in all of my years, I have met very few truly evil creatures. I have found that humans are so quick to label something ‘evil’ when its customs are different than their own, or when it stands between them and something that they covet. Tell me, when your ancestors killed these dragons, they were after the dragon’s treasure where they not? Therefore since the dragon was defending its own, they labelled the dragon ‘evil’. Killing is always so much easier when what you kill is ‘evil’.”

  Leo thought for a minute in silence. Much of what Manuel had just said rang true for the prince; he lowered his sword in confusion mixed with a little shame. Dragon hunts did usually end with the ruthless plunder of the secret treasure; was that how they started? When put that way, it sounded...unethical; suddenly it was hard to believe that his own people partook in such a practise.

  “Well, we’re not taking any treasure right now, so why is it growling at us?” Mercury whispered, bringing the prince back to the very dangerous, ‘here and now’.

  “Oh aren’t we?” Manuel hissed again.

  The wolf and the prince exchanged a blank look.

  “Damn.” The purple thief whispered, and reluctantly pulled several exquisite rings out of her pockets, followed by a string of perfect pearls, and carefully lowered them all to the ground. “How did you know? How did she know?”

  “I didn’t.” Manuel‘s voice held just the barest hint of amusement. “That was not the treasure to which I was referring.”

  Mercury and Leo looked around questioningly.

  “Treasure is not always measured in shiny baubles.” The vampire explained, as his gaze flickered over Rapunzel.

  “So what you’re saying is that the dragon is going to eat us? All of us? The dragon is going to eat us because it thinks we took something from it and there’s nothing we can do about it because you won’t let us kill it?” Mercury grimaced at the thought. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I don’t think I’m down with this plan.”