Rapunzel von Nachtburg's Arc

Chapter 1 of 2

Rapunzel spread three of Hedwig's spell books across the table in the castle library. She had come to Rosenwald to find what was poisoning the Dark Forest and destroy it. The answer sat in front of her, and she could not read it. The pages that named the forest's sickness were written in cipher. Her godmother had raised her, locked her in a tower for six years once she reached twelve years of age, taught her plants and poisons, then left her this one locked door. She traced the strange marks with her finger. Twined letters. Numbers that were not numbers. She had tried for six nights. The ink told her nothing. The door opened. Prince Valentin stepped in, a candle in one hand, no servant behind him. The crown prince of Rosenwald, son of Snow White, moved like a man who went where he pleased. He had told the court openly that the Order's witch hunts went too far. His mother called him her most diplomatic headache. Rapunzel trusted that honesty more than anyone else's in this castle. "You've been down here every night," Valentin said. He set the candle beside her books. "My wife keeps a lamp lit for you. She worries." "I can't read it." Rapunzel turned a page toward him. "The parts that matter are in a cipher. Hedwig raised me, and she still kept secrets from me." Valentin leaned over the marks. His smile faded. "That isn't a scholar's code. A witch made this. For another witch." "I know." Rapunzel closed the book. Her hands stayed on the cover. "I think only a witch can break it. One who knows these old hands." Valentin straightened. He understood at once. "You want to bring a witch into this. My mother would never allow it. If the Order learned you consulted one, they'd sentence the witch to death. They might start asking why a princess reads these books so well." "Then your mother can't know. The Order can't know." Rapunzel met his eyes. "The forest gets worse every week. People die while I stare at marks I can't read. I need someone who trades in secrets like these." Valentin was quiet. He rubbed the edge of the table. She waited for him to refuse, to tell her this was madness. "There is one who deals with desperate witches," he said at last. "A small man. He was exiled from this kingdom a century ago, over a deal gone sour with a dead queen. He came back anyway. He collects magic the way others collect coin." Valentin looked at her hard. "He never gives anything for free. And if we go to him, I never told you his name." "Then tell me where to find him." Valentin picked up his candle. "Tomorrow. Before dawn, before the guards change. Bring nothing the Order could trace." He left her with the books and the dark. For the first time in six nights, Rapunzel felt the locked door begin to give. She did not yet know the price of opening it.