Rapunzel von Nachtburg's Arc

Chapter 2 of 2

Before dawn, Rapunzel sent for her own guards. Four men of Nachtburg came in silence, their blue-violet capes damp with mist, the moon-and-eagle crest on their chests catching the lamplight. She told them where she meant to go. Their captain frowned. "The dealer lives near the cursed wood, Princess. No one who trades with him comes back whole." Rapunzel held up a cloth-wrapped book. "People die while I wait. Tell no one. Not the queen, not the court." The captain bowed and did not argue again. They rode out the castle gate and down the country road. A weathered sign swung on rusted chains where the fields gave way to shadow. Dark Forest ahead. Black spruces loomed beyond it, their boughs heavy and still. The cottage sat two miles short of the tree line, its stone walls choked with moss and old vines. Rapunzel told the guards to wait by the horses. She climbed the cracked steps alone and knocked. The door opened to a small man no higher than her waist. He had sharp ears, a hooked nose, and leather straps crossed over a plain tunic. His pale eyes moved from her crown to her gown to the guards behind her. "A princess," he said flatly. "At my door. That is new." He did not bow. He stepped back to let her in. Inside, shelves bent under jars, mirrors, and knotted charms. Rapunzel unwrapped the book and set it on his table. "I need these pages read. They're written in a witch's cipher. Only a witch can break it. They say you trade in such things." He turned a page with one finger. His face gave nothing. "I can read it." He slid the book shut. "But I never read for free. You know this, or you would not have come at dawn." He folded his small hands. "Name your price, or hear mine." "I brought silver," she said. "Jewels. A ring of my mother's." "I have rooms of silver." He waved it away. "I want something no one else can give." His eyes fixed on her. "They say the Princess of Nachtburg weeps tears that heal any wound. Witch's tears. I want one. One vial. Filled by your own hand." Rapunzel went cold. In Rosenwald, healing tears could be proof of witch blood. The Order killed for less. One vial in his hands could end her. "Those tears could name me a witch," she said. "You'd hold my death in a bottle." "Yes." He pushed an empty vial across the table. "That is the trade. The cipher for the tear. Refuse, and walk out knowing nothing." She thought of the forest rotting, of the people already dead. Her hand closed around the vial. She pressed her thumb to her eye, forced the grief up, and let one tear fall into the glass. It glowed faintly. He took it and began to read. The locked door had opened. She had handed her enemy the one thing that could destroy her.