Golden (15 page)

“What are you talking about?” I asked.

“I told you,” Harry said. “It's the reason I was late in the first place. I spotted a band of armed men I decided it would be better to avoid. They could still be roaming around.”

“So you're going to sit around here and wait for them to show up?” I inquired. “What good will that do? They can't come up here any more than we can come down.”

“Well, I think it would be lovely if Harry stayed,” Rue put in. “It will give me somebody to talk to.”

“What's the matter?” I asked. “Don't I count?”

“Not at the moment, you don't,” Rue replied.

“I'll see you tomorrow, then,” Harry said. “I hope you feel better, Parsley.”

“My name,” I said through clenched teeth, “is Rapunzel.”

Then I turned and marched back inside the tower.

Fourteen

“I don't understand what's the matter with you,” Rue said, as she came in right behind me. “I did what you asked. I met your friend. He seems nice.”

“He certainly seemed to like you,” I answered shortly.

“What's that supposed to mean?” she said. “I thought . . .,” she stopped, and, to my horror, I watched as her eyes filled with tears. “Don't you
want
him to like me?”

“Of course I do,” I said. I'd thought I'd already experienced the most miserable day of my life, followed shortly by the most painful and confusing. Now I knew that I'd been wrong. Today was much worse than either one of those, for it combined all those elements into one.

I
can't blame Rue,
I thought. That would be taking the coward's way out. How could I blame her for failing to notice what I hadn't noticed myself until now? The fact that the only way I realized I was in love with Harry was by watching him fall for her like a ton of bricks could hardly be considered Rue's fault.

“Don't pay any attention to me. I'm sorry.”

Rue stared at me for one long moment. “I've come
to the conclusion that you are impossible,” she declared.

“I know that,” I said. “I know it.”

“The most impossible brat its ever been my misfortune to know. Stop doing that, by the way. And stop interrupting.”

“Stop doing what?” I asked.

“Agreeing with me at exactly the moment you're not supposed to.”

I could feel my lips start to twitch into a smile, even as my heart wanted to weep. She was waking up by leaps and bounds now.

“I solemnly swear never to agree with you again,” I said. “Not only that, I apologize.”

“Impossible. Definitely,” Rue said. We stood, face to face, and regarded each other for a while. “Something just happened, didn't it?” she said. “Something important. I'm just not sure I know what it was.”

“You went outside,” I said. “You proved you don't have to be a prisoner anymore. Now all we have to do is to figure out how to find that stupid door.”

“And how to open it. Don't forget that part.”

“I'm not likely to,” I responded.

Find the door. Open it so Rue could be free. Free to walk out of the tower and straight into Harry's waiting arms.

That night I could not sleep. Not surprising, I suppose. In the first place, there was the undeniable fact
that I felt I ought to be doing something other than sleeping. I only had tonight, tomorrow, and the night that followed, after all. But, though I racked my brains, I couldn't think of a single, solitary act I should, or could, be performing.

I'd walked the tower from the top to the bottom, climbing up and down that great curving stair until my legs ached, and seen no sign of any door. Rue had sat at her loom, passing the shuttle back and forth, and hadn't said a word. Not long after, the sun had gone down in a great blaze of red, and I had given up entirely. After a while, Rue had gathered Mr. Jones up in her arms and gone to sleep. But my eyes stayed wide open.

How can I help her?
I thought. How could I find the way to free Rue's heart, when I could no longer find my own?

For it seemed to me that my heart was lost. It roamed through some vast, uncharted wilderness, like the forest I could see when I looked out from the tower's top. It was dark where my heart roamed. The territory was so unfamiliar that, merely by setting foot within it, my heart had lost its way. It might wander in this dark place forever and never be found.

What if it's never even missed?
I thought. At this my fear grew so great that my body could no longer remain still. I got up, and, on feet as silent as I could make them, I moved to the closest pane of glass, pushed it open, and stepped outside. The bright, clear day had been followed by an all but moonless
night. The sky above me was a great and single sweep of dark. In it the stars sparkled like water drops. I found the closest one. Or maybe it was simply the biggest, pulsing now blue, now white.

“I don't even know what to wish for,” I said, altogether failing to notice that I had spoken aloud. I often did this, particularly when I was troubled and trying to sort things out.

“I don't seem to know much of anything at all. How can I find the key to awaken someone else's heart, when I can't even keep track of my own?”

“Take mine.”

I was glad I was nowhere near the railing, because the sound of a second voice so startled me that, if I'd been at the towers edge, chances were good I'd have tumbled right off it in surprise.

“That isn't funny, Harry,” I said.

“I wasn't joking,” the voice replied. “I'm not Harry, either.”

“What do you mean you're not Harry?” I said, though now that I knew to listen I had to acknowledge that the voice didn't sound quite right. “Who are you?”

“My name is Alexander,” my unknown visitor replied. “Though most people simply say, ‘Your Highness.'”

“Why would they do that?” I asked.

“Because I'm a prince,” Alexander answered simply. “And you are?”

“Rapunzel.”

“Pleased to make your acquaintance, Rapunzel,” the voice claiming to be a prince named Alexander replied. “I don't suppose I could convince you to come out where I could get a better look at you?”

“It's too dark,” I said at once. I was curious, I had to admit. Maybe I'd just had one too many surprises for one day, but I decided to stay right where I was. “There's no moon. It wouldn't make a difference anyhow.”

“I suppose you're right,” he said on what sounded suspiciously like a sigh. “Any chance I could convince you anyhow? I could say something princely and poetic. Something along the lines of love lending my eyes extra sight.”

“You could,” I acknowledged, as amusement began to take the place of shock. “But I wouldn't believe you, so you might as well save your breath. Are all princes this handy with words?”

“I think so,” Alexander said. “All the ones I know are. It sort of goes along with the territory, I think. You know—diplomacy.”

“So statescraft is only lies dressed up?”

“Of course not,” he replied at once. “Though princes are taught early how to woo. It's how wars are averted, more often than not. Is your father worried about his neighbor? Fearful that he covets territory not his own? The solution is simple. Have your son marry the neighbor's daughter, never mind the fact that he hasn't set eyes upon her since she was six years old. Not that she's to know this is the cause, of
course. Your number one duty, before anything else, is to convince her that your sudden devotion is nothing less than true love.”

So that's the way it is,
I thought. Now that my ears were learning how to listen, I could detect the strain of bitterness running through Prince Alexander's voice.

“I'm not a princess. You needn't practice your fine words on me.”

“How can you not be a princess? You're in a tower.”

“Good point,” I said, beginning to be charmed in spite of myself. “Though it is an obvious one that changes nothing. I am still just plain Rapunzel.” An idea was beginning to form in the back of my mind. So far it was just an outline. “Do princes see only what is right in front of them?” I asked.

“Some do, some don't,” Alexander answered solemnly. “The best ones, the ones who grow up to be wise kings, know how to see what is there as well as what is not. That's what my father always says, anyhow.”

“And will you master this skill, do you think?” I asked.

“I hope so,” Alexander said. “For I am my father's only son.”

“Oh, so you are on a quest, then,” I said. “To help you gain wisdom and enlightenment.”

“Not exactly,” the prince answered with a snort. “I wasn't joking about the king of the neighboring
kingdom. He really is thinking of invading, and his army is much larger than ours. My father and his council are seriously considering marrying me to the kings daughter as a means of negotiating a way out. I've tried to reconcile myself, but...”

His voice trailed off.

“I'm sorry,” I said, and meant it. At least when it came to helping Rue, I'd had a genuine choice. It sounded very much like Prince Alexander had none.

“You're sure you're not a princess?” he asked, his tone wistful. “It would solve so much.”

“Quite sure,” I said. “Though I am held in this place by enchantment. Might that help?”

“Absolutely,” Alexander said at once, his voice picking up. “Damsels in enchanted distress trump neighboring princesses every single time. Nothing could be better than you being enchanted, in fact, for the princess's father is terrified by magic of any kind. I shall rescue you. We'll get married and live happily ever after. Meanwhile the king and his soldiers slink home in disgrace. How does that sound?”

“Like a fine plan,” I said. “Always assuming it can be accomplished.”

“But that's where you come in,” Alexander pronounced. “If you'll just give me even one clue about the best way to free you, it would be a great help. Enchanted maidens often do this, you know.”

“Where I come from, we call that cheating,” I said.

“No,” he countered swiftly. “Not if it's done in the
cause of true love. If it's in the cause of true love, then we're in this together, striving against impossible odds.”

“The only impossible thing around here is you,” I said, though I did suddenly remember the way Rue had called me impossible only several hours before. At once, the idea that had been forming and re-forming in the back of my mind took a definite shape.

Rue,
I thought. Rue, who feared she could never fall in love yet dreamed of being set free by a knight in shining armor. Not quite a description of Alexander, it was true, but pretty close.

“Why are you here?” I asked. “Why aren't you stargazing from the battlements of home? Tell me the truth. You have to, if you're going to attempt to free me in the cause of true love.”

“The truth is that I ran away,” he said, after a moment's pause. “And after that, I got lost. I encountered a band of our neighbor's soldiers in the woods. I think they were a scouting party. By the time I'd successfully avoided them, I realized I didn't have the faintest idea where I was. Then I saw the tower, and then I heard your voice.”

“You could be in danger if you stay here, then,” I said, suddenly alarmed.

“They were going in the opposite direction,” Alexander said. “Please don't tell me I'd be better off at home. I might be safer, for a little while anyway, but not better off. The only way I'll go is if you come with me.”

“I've already told you,” I said. “This tower is enchanted. I can't just come down.”

“Then I'll stay until I find the way to free you,” Alexander said stubbornly. “A real prince never abandons his true love.”

“I am not your true love,” I said. “You just met me not five minutes ago.”

“Haven't you ever heard of love at first sight?”