The Moon Calls

1

"Hyah!" Rapunzel cried with excitement as she urged her horse on as she raced through the woods.

"Log!" Varian warned her from behind her and she dodged around it, laughing as the Eugene's horse nearly stumbled into it.

"You doing okay, Varian?" Rapunzel asked, glancing back at him.

He only held on a bit tighter. "Mmhm."

She giggled and looked forward. "Don't worry, you'll get the hang of horse-riding soon. It's so much more fun when you're holding the reins!"

"Eyes forward, Sunshine!" Eugene teased as he raced past her.

"Oh no, you don't!" She spurred the horse on faster.

"Princess!"

"Oh, shoot. They caught up." Varian looked behind them.

"Looks like they're getting quicker about chipping themselves out of your goo." Rapunzel looked over her shoulder, then at Eugene. "We need to lose them!"

"Princess!"

"This way!" Eugene led them down another path and then they leaped over a wide river before landing hard. Rapunzel looked back at their pursuers and then at Varian. "You okay? That was a hard fall."

"I'm fine, Rapunzel! Geez, I'm not made of glass." He bumped his head against her back with a roll of the eyes.

She giggled.

"Hey, why not ride back with me, Varian?" Eugene suggested as they continued on.

"What's in it for me?" Varian asked teasingly.

"What's in it for her?" Eugene raised an eyebrow.

"Favoritism." Varian said shamelessly.

Rapunzel laughed.

"Oh, shoot, there's more." Eugene looked at Rapunzel. "Man, they're persistent. We'll have to split up. Meet you two at the wall?"

Varian and Rapunzel nodded and then they split off from Eugene, riding off into the woods with the guards splitting off as well to follow them.

"How's Pascal doing?" Rapunzel asked.

Varian looked at the chameleon nestled in Rapunzel's hair on her shoulder. "Seems comfortable."

"Okay. Hang on, both of you!" She leaped over a large hole in the ground and the guards had to find a way around it, not wanting to test their luck.

"We're almost to Old Corona!" Varian told her.

"Finally." She laughed a bit. "But, we're not going in, we're going around!" She turned slightly and continued on, finally reaching the wall. The horse helped them both up onto it and they sat down to look out at the horizon.

"Look at that view, boys." She said, smiling.

Varian chuckled a bit. "There's so much world out there. Don't you just wanna go see it?"

"We almost did." Rapunzel shuddered.

Varian nodded, thinking of their near-kidnapping by the Stabbington Brothers.

"Haha!" Eugene said as he got up, catching their attention. "Okay, okay, I know what you're thinking. Now, it may have seemed like you won, but you gotta take into account that my hair is actually longer than yours now, so we gotta factor in wind resistance." He ran his hand through his hair.

"Sorry, wind resistance doesn't work like that." Varian teased him. "Your body would've been weighing you down more than your hair ever would."

"Nerd." Eugene playfully nudged him as he sat down next to him.