So sorry for the two weeks break guys! I had to finish up my Masters degree. That's all over now so back to weekly updates.
Chapter Text
"Will there be a tour, oh a party? Maybe a little parade? Oh... I know that they sometimes get the school children to sing welcome songs. I'd love that. Oh, and the library, I must see the library! I read in one of the history books that they used to have the most books in all the kingdoms and they hired scribes who constantly copied out the old books so they wouldn't be lost when they got old and started to disintegrate a bit. You said he reads books, at least we'll have something in common."
Rapunzel was practically skipping as she turned to Varian, stopping speaking for the first time in almost twenty minutes.
Varian glanced nervously over at Cassandra.
"He reads?" Rapunzel said, her eyebrows furrowing. "I mean... it's not a deal breaker. Why are you looking like that? What's the matter?"
Cassandra looked at Varian, it was true, over the last few weeks he had been growing increasingly anxious. Right now, as they walked through a large flat landscape that hadn't changed in days, he even looked like he was about to throw up, all pale and clammy.
Cassandra sighed. They had been looking for the right time to bring up Varian's concerns, but Rapunzel had been unusually quiet for the first few days of their trip, and then... well, she'd been even more unusually vocal.
"Uh... Rapunzel, there's something I think you should know."
***
Rapunzel's parents looked shocked as she threw the door of their carriage open and swung herself up through the door, landing in a huff half on half off the seat next to her mother.
"Dear, you should have got the driver to stop the horses. That was unnecessarily dangerous." Her mother admonished.
"Has the dark kingdom called off my engagement?"
Rapunzel was expecting shock, maybe even confusion. But all she saw was her parents faces harden into a strange calmness. There was no rebuttal, no asking her to explain what she meant or why she asked. Their silence told her everything she needed to know.
"Then why am I travelling all the way to the dark kingdom?"
"The Prince Regent Hector called off your engagement, but as it was set by the king then I did not see that he had the authority to do so. Rapunzel, there are many things you don't understand." Her father explained slowly.
"Because you've never let me understand them. You always ask me to follow what you say without question, and I've always done so, but my whole life you have told me that I have to marry Prince Eugene because it's mutually beneficial to our countries and it would protect again Saporian attack. But, if the engagement was called off years ago then why.."
"I told you Rapunzel, the wedding was not called off in an acceptable way."
"Rapunzel." Her mother said gently. "We want you to make a good match, one that you'd be happy with too, but your father is right, and you were never released properly from your engagement, meaning that you could not become engaged to another. The Prince Regent Horace was supposed to be a caretaker governor until prince Eugene came of age and could take his throne, he didn't have the power to make the decision to end an official engagement, but he tried to. We've been in limbo all these years. We expected the answer to come when Prince Eugene was officially crowned, as actual King he could make the decision and you would be free to marry, but that was supposed to happen three years ago, and we don't know why it didn't. All our letters asking for updates on the situation have been returned unopened. We have been left with no choice but to confront Hector and Prince Eugene to try and get a legally binding dissolvement of your engagement or... "
"Or I marry him. Despite the fact he's not king, so is not going to help us."
"He is the rightful heir." Her Father stated.
"Then why is he twenty-four and not the king?"
"That is also what we need to find out. He may have been officially declared incompetent."
"But from what I've heard about him he dousn't seem to have any serious mental or physical defects. I know the way this works; he would become king unless there was a serious concern that he would be unable to rule even with council."
"There could be another reason it would be decided. It's a delicate matter though, which is why a conversation in person might be best." Her Mother said gently.
"Another reason? There is no other reason mentioned in my books."
"The Kingdom Lords could have voted to sideline Eugene for the throne, in favor of the second in line, Hector, if there was substantial proof that Eugene would never provide an heir. That way there is less jumping around in the line of succession and the children of Hector would be raised to be the next Kings with their father on the throne rather than Eugene."
Rapunzel stared at her parents' expectant faces, trying to take in what she was being told.
"I don't understand, how... how would they know that?"
"That's... beside the point. These are the questions that we have and why we are going to find the answers." Her Father stated, his cheeks seeming to color a little.
"Well, you could have told me something. This entire time I've been thinking I was going to go and meet my future husband, and that people would celebrate me being there, but instead I'm going into an unknown situation."
"I'm sorry Rapunzel, maybe I should have trusted you more. It's just, until we know for sure what is going to happen, we can't have rumors going around."
"And you've had so much to deal with coming out of the valley that we didn't want to worry you." Her Mother said gently reaching for her hand.
Rapunzel sighed, pulling away.
"I'm stronger than you think I am."
***
Eugene buried his head in his hands. The book he'd found in the library had contained old trade agreements. It had started with a transcript, his father in a meeting with delegates from Koto, he could almost hear the man's booming voice making jokes whilst he'd sat at the long table in the room just off the great hall. Then they'd got down into the details, and what he'd found was pages and pages of math's, precise measurements, weights, trading prices, how much time and money and man hours it took to move various consignments of one product or another between their countries.
In this book somewhere, was probably the key to success, the key to making their country an ally again, the key to reopening the trade routes. The only problem was, Eugene couldn't understand it. He'd had tutors, but he'd never been a brilliant student, and as he'd entered his teen years Hector had given him more freedom, and the tutors had started to disappear. He'd not complained at the time, it had allowed him to run free with Stalyon, and their new friend Lance. Now, he realized how stupid he'd been to not study when he could, his country was struggling, and he didn't have the knowledge to help.
He looked up as the door slammed open. He winced slightly as a cloud of dust became unsettled, everybody was banned from this study, and Eugene came here so rarely himself.
"There you are you little traitor." Hectors face was contorted in rage, his small frame puffed out in anger.
Eugene lazily leaned back in the chair quirking an eyebrow, Hector was prone to tempers. They had terrified Eugene as a child, but they no longer had the same effect. He no longer cared enough for any threat, and words to affect him. He stared his almost panting uncle down, waiting for an explanation.
"What have you been telling them, when did you write to them?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Corona!"
"Corona..." Eugene looked down at the book, he knew there was an agreement with Corona sketched out at the beginning of it, but he'd skipped ahead, needing to understand Koto. "All our agreements with Corona ended years ago."
"Except one! You went behind my back and invited them, didn't you?"
"Who? Corona... is an ambassador from Corona coming? Why would they do that?"
"Don't play dumb."
"But dear Uncle, I am dumb, remember, you remind me every day."
Hector snarled at him and turned away. He seemed to gain a little more control before turning back.
"King Fredrick, Queen Arrianna, and Princess Rapunzel are currently on their way here, with a heavily armed caravan and half their army."
"Wait what an army? Are we at war?"
"Stop playing dumb Eugene."
"Okay, so... we're not a war, which is good seeing as we disbanded most of our army because we couldn't afford to pay them. Wait, wasn't I engaged to Princess Rapunzel at some point? Like... years ago when my Dad was... before..."
"Yes. You were engaged, but I told them that the engagement was off."
"So, why are they coming?"
"To marry you to their daughter."
"But the engagement is off, right?"
"Apparently Dear old Fredrick did not accept that we didn't want his filthy offspring."
"Okay, so ... what are we going to do?"
"We're going to get rid of them."
"Okay, how? I mean, if they're heavily armed then we're going to have to do this in a way that doesn't start a war, I mean, we'd most definitely loose."
"Are you sure you didn't answer any of their letters?"
"They sent letters, what did they say?"
"I don't know I didn't read them."
"That might have been a mistake."
Hector glared at him.
"You!" Hector said pointing at Eugene. "You're going to get rid of them."
"Me? How?"
"By refusing to marry the Princess."
"Okay."
"Okay?" Hector asked suspiciously.
"Yes, I mean I can do that. I just say no. It can't be that difficult, I mean... as you know I've never said no to a woman before but how hard can it be?"
Hector glared at him for a moment, then muttering under his breath he left, slamming the door and making more dust fall to the floor. Eugene looked up to the painting that dominated the far wall. It was his mother and father, not an official portrait, but a personal one. His mother was the focus, and Eugene had the feeling that it had been moved here after her death. In the picture his father was stood slightly behind his mother, his large frame looming over her, she was sat on a couch, reading a book, and hid father was leaning over a pointing out something. His mother was caught In the painting as if she had just turned to look up at him, her face half turned, a wide smile looking up at him, fondness and trust. They had been the age he was now when this painting had been completed, and Edmund was already known to be one of the best kings the Dark Kingdom had ever known.
"You'd know why they were coming, and Mum would know just the right way to say thing so we all parted friends." Eugene sighed. "I really hope I don't start a war."
"In a perfect world, one I've never known,
I would never need to face the world alone,
He can have the world, I'll create my own,
I may not be brave, to strong, or smart,
But somewhere in my secret heart."
Eugene jumped as he heard heavy footfalls coming up the stairs that led to the office. He knew it wasn't Hector. Hector somehow managed to never make any noise. Eugene stood up moving to the front of the desk. Lance's face peered around the door, Eugene felt a spike of annoyance that his friend defiantly didn't deserve, but honestly... how did he always manage to find him.
"Heyy...."
"Hi."
"Was somebody singing?"
"Uh.. yeah, there was a maid."
"Maid sounded like a bloke. Did she jump out the window?" Lance asked looking around the room.
"I don't sing alright! It was referred sound or something."
Lance shrugged, then shuffled nervously.
"So uh.. the word amongst the servants' quarters is that you have a fiancé coming to visit."
"Yep, I guess so."
"How come I never knew you had a fiancé?"
" I guess I forgot. We were engaged as children."
"So... what does she look like..."
"I don't know."
"You don't know what your own fiancé looks like?"
"Well, there would have been an official portrait sent, but she was a baby." Eugene tried to explain.
"A baby? Man, that's fucked up."
"That's being a Prince for you."
"Yeah... you had it real hard growing up in a castle with three whole meals a day."
"Alright, alright, what did you want?"
"I'm guessing the Princess is bringing jewels, right? Maybe a dowry? You know the orphanage in town could use some new blankets, winters have bene getting pretty harsh lately."
"We're not stealing from the Princess."
"True, but there's people travelling with her, we might be able to grab some stragglers. Or ... you know...we could just check out the Corona lot."
Eugene sighed and gave a short nod.
"Tell Stalyon. I'll try and get some more information about when they'll be here."
***
"Well... they were heavily armed." Lance said as he walked along beside Eugene and Stalyon.
"They were." Eugene replied distractedly.
They had just been out to spy on the caravan from Corona, it was as Hector had said. They were travelling what he estimated to be six hundred men. A lot for a small kingdom, enough to easily overpower the Dark Kingdom given the way their defences had been lately. They had no choice but to let them into the Kingdom and try to find a diplomatic answer to whatever the issue was. It wasn't as if Eugene even really cared about the throne, they could have it if that's what they had come for. He cared about his people, the villages of wood workers, the little farmsteads run by retired warriors, normal people who had struggled in the recent years. The whole country had been through troubling times since his father had died, he just wanted them to be okay.
"So... is there something we don't know?" Lance asked.
"Probably, you don't know much." Stalyon replied quickly.
"Will you guys shut up for just a moment." Eugene snapped. He was aware of the look that passed between his friends. They walked in silence for a few minutes before he felt a hand slide onto his shoulder.
"Nothing bad is going to happen Eugene. Why would anybody want to go to the trouble of trying to attack our Kingdom? We don't have anything worth taking anymore." Stalyon said.
"We used to, didn't we? We used to be a Kingdom that was worth something. We used to trade, we used to have an impressive army, we used to be a rich country. I don't understand what's happened, I never understand what's happening, or how to make things better for our people."
Stalyon rolled her eyes.
"You're too sensitive."
"I know." Eugene sighed, he'd heard the words before. His thoughts, his emotions, Staylon had always made it clear that he had too many of them. He tried to hold everything in these days, tried to seem more carefree, and some days he could even fool himself.
"Shush... guys..." Lance came up to them. "Listen."
They were quiet for a moment, there was the slight sound of voices, the clicking of horse's hooves.
"I bet a job will take your mind off things, you want to help the people, I think you know what to do."
"The army is still close by..." Eugene said. "It would be a bad idea."
"We could get in and out fast." Stalyon said. "Come on Flynn Rider, where's your sense of adventure?"
"Okay. We'll just take a look."
They were close to a spot they knew well, they had used it for ambushes before. Their was a rock outcrop that rose some ten feet above the road, it was covered with thick underbrush. It provided a vantage point, easy to see and easy to hide.
Crouching low, looking through a gap in the bushes Eugene could see two women riding. He quickly scouted the area, taking in the facts in a practiced manner. There were no guards and there had been nobody else on the road between them and the army. The women's clothing, it was rich, noblewomen travelling alone, probably from Corona as their clothing wasn't from anywhere he had seen before. He could practically feel the excitement coming off of Stalyon and Lance
"Let's go." Lance said, already tying a mask around his eyes.
"No, wait... they're ladies of the Corona court, well.. the one in the pink dress is. High up as well from the looks of it, the other is a lady's maid."
"So.. this is what we do Rider. We steal from visiting dignitaries and pass it on to the orphanage, they're passing dignitaries, and the orphanage is in need of some new blankets for winter."
Eugene frowned and turned to Stalyon. Annoyed when he saw she too was putting on her mask.
"Stop worrying Eugene, the army is a half a mile away, and this will play in your favour."
"My favour?"
"We rob these ladies; they take the message back to the Princess that this country is rough and full of bandits. That'll help persuade your Princess that she dousn't want to stay here making babies with you."
Eugene sighed. "Okay, but we're quick about it, and if anything goes wrong, we just run back to the caverns under the castle. Agreed."
"Agreed."
***
"Your father said we won't arrive till tomorrow, but looking at the maps we're only a few miles from the main town."
"Yeah, we're camping the army on the perimeter just to make sure that they know we're here."
"He's expecting trouble isn't he?" Rapunzel said with a sigh.
"From what I've been picking up, we outnumber them by quite a bit. I think the idea is that if we camp out nearby, we appear peaceful to the people and not like an invading army."
"But, we're not an invading army right?"
"Right."
"Just making sure, I mean, it's not exactly easy to figure out what's going on anymore."
"I know. So how are you feeling about...."
Rapunzel didn't find out what Cassandra was going to ask, because at that moment her horse Max let out a whiny and reared. Rapunzel only had the time to dig her heels in as much as she could trying to keep hold but she felt herself slipping. She could hear Cassandra shout for her and felt hands firmly on her left knee.
"To your left."
She didn't question the unknown voice but instead let herself slip to the left as Maximus reared again, strong hands were there guiding her, sweeping her off her horse and keeping her from falling.
"Calm down boy." The calm voice said.
Rapunzel looked up to find herself in the arms of a strange man, strange because she didn't know him, and strange because he was wearing a piece of material over the top half of his face. Holes had been cut to show his eyes, amber and concerned. They stared at each other for a moment, but then the glimpse of emotion she'd seen their had closed off, she'd never know if she'd just imagined it.
"Whoops, hi there."
"Hi." She said. "You startled my horse."
"Well, he's a silly horse then, isn't he?"
Rapunzel looked around startled when she heard a grunting and saw that Cassandra's arms were being held behind her back by an auburn-haired woman also in a mask, another bigger framed man was pulling at Fidella's saddle bag. Rapunzel gripped the man's arm tightly for a moment as she felt his grip loosen on her then realised that her bare feet were now firmly on the ground.
"What's going on? Why are you wearing a mask?"
"Oh, I forgot, introductions, Flynn Rider. Highway man." The man said with a small bow, he took Rapunzel's hand and placed a small kiss on her knuckles, as he drew away she felt a small tug at her finger and noticed that he had pulled off her ring, the purple and gold one her mother had given her a few birthdays before.
"You're robbing us?" Rapunzel said.
"Correct. But don't worry." He said winking at her. "It won't hurt a bit. Some women seem to even enjoy it, a little excitement to lighten your day."
Rapunzel backed away, backing into the firm body of Maximus, her hands behind her back searching Maximus saddle trying to find her knife, but all her hand seemed to touch was the cold handle of a frying pan that she had been using that morning as a makeshift painting palette. Her fingers managed to free it from the saddle, she looked over to Cassandra who was watching her intently. Cassandra gave a small nod, then there was a deep grunt as Cassandra elbowed the girl holding her in the stomach and flipped her over her shoulder, Cassandra had drawn her sword within seconds. Rapunzel knew it was time to move. She pulled the frying pan out wielding it deftly at the man in the mask.
"Then you've really picked on the wrong Princess!" She said swinging at him. She felt the reverberations down into her wrist as the metal made contact with his face. He let out a groan as he stumbled backwards his face going up to his nose wiping blood away as he stared at her with wide eyes.
"You're the Princess..."
"As if you didn't know that." Cassandra huffed jumping between Rapunzel and Flynn Rider.
"Guys, abort mission!" The man, Flynn, shouted panicked. Rapunzel could see Cassandra's smirk.
"You're not getting away that easily." Cassandra yelled, she swung her sword at him as he jumped back.
Rapunzel was aware of the other two thieves running past. Flynn Rider turned to follow, running into the forest at the side of the road.
Rapunzel looked around, alert now, she could see how out in the open she was, in a foreign land, where she was not expecting a happy welcome. She had begged her parents to let her go riding out in front with Cassandra just for twenty minutes, just to have some time not surrounded by a hundred soldiers. One last time to be with her friend before everything changed again. They had begrudgingly let her, still guilty about the secrets they'd been keeping. Now she realized how stupid she had been to not foresee this danger.
"Cassandra! Let him go!
"You're kidding right?"
"But you're meant to stay protect me." She reminded her. "I can't be left here all alone in the forest, what if there's another attack."
Cassandra's expression flickered from something akin to excitement, to realization. Slowly she walked back to Rapunzel's side.
"Are you hurt?"
Rapunzel ignored her, she was far more focused on Cassandra's sword, a small drop of red was balancing on it's tip before splashing to the ground.
"There's blood on your sword. You didn't hurt him did you?"
"No. I just glanced his arm. Why are you concerned about a highway man?"
"Well,.... It might not be his fault that he's a highway man. I mean... this is a poor country, perhaps it's the only way he eats, perhaps he has a family."
"People have choices Rapunzel. He made the choice to attack you."
"Do you think that it was an organized attack?"
"Just seemed like a bunch of idiots to me."
There was a clattering of metal against metal behind them, the heavy thudding of horses hooves against the compacted dirt of the trail. She turned to look as a group of a dozen of her fathers soldiers turned a bend and raced towards them. As they pulled up short a few feet from them Rapunzel saw that Cassandra's father was at their head. He jumped down and looked over her and Cassandra.
"We heard a ruckass."
Cassandra and Rapunzel looked at each other, two children caught with their hands in the cookie jar.
"Are you hurt?" John demanded.
"No." Rapunzel said.
"It was just some highway men father, nothing I couldn't handle."
Her father frowned.
"I told them that you shouldn't be riding alone out here, but they thought the army would keep people at bay."
"People are desperate I guess." Rapunzel said. " The people in this area are the poorest I've ever seen."
"The Prince Regent sets the highest taxes of any country." John explained. "You'll be riding back with us though. Princess take my horse."
Max whinned and nudged at her hand.
"Max can take me. He's a good horse." She said patting him on the nose to try and reassure him. "It's not his fault that the nasty man startled him." She said more to the horse than the captain of the Guard.
"Princess. My horse." The Captain's voice left no room for arguments.
"Okay." She sighed. She looked over at Cassandra. Her friend was silently humming, and Rapunzel could understand why. She'd known them long enough to know that the moment Cassandra and her father were alone he was going to give her a stern talking to. Ever since they had been children, whenever they'd been drawn to some kind of adventure, Cassandra would be the one to get in trouble.
"Uh... Captain. Can I have a moment please, in the uh... excitement, I seem to have had a slight wardrobe malfunction... I need Cass's help.."
The Captain's eyes widened. He blushed, even though Rapunzel knew there was absolutely nothing wrong with her dress.
"Ahem, of course. Guards, turn around."
She watched as all the guards turned their backs and then went over to Cassandra, taking her arm and walking a little further from the guards to be out of earshot.
"Your dress looks fine to me." Cassandra hissed at her.
"Shush... Look, I just wanted to say sorry." Rapunzel whispered.
"He's going to bring up the convent, I know it. He's going to threaten to send me to a convent and you'll be left on your own here with a man you've never met. I knew I should never have let you persuade your parents."
"I know I'm sorry, and remember I don't even know if I will be getting married. The prince regent doesn't want it."
"Why is there a Prince Regent anyways the guys is 24! Shouldn't he be the king by now?"
"You know that there might be reasons."
"He's an idiot or his dick doesn't work."
"That's my fiancé you're talking about...." Rapunzel admonished.
"Wait, where's you ring?"
Rapunzel looked down.
"The good looking one took it."
"Good looking one?" Cassandra said eyes widening. "You mean the vagabond?"
"Well... he wasn't bad looking."
"Seriously? That's what you're thinking about when you're getting robbed. I can't believe you." Cassandra huffed walking away.
Rapunzel sighed as she followed back towards the guards.