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Cassandra jolted awake, her heart hammering in her chest. She reached for her knife as her eyes searched the shadows of her room – still dark, too early for Owl to have returned from hunting. So, what had woken her? She jumped again at the banging of a fist against her door.
“By order of the King, open this door, or we will open it by force!”
Even muffled by the thick oak and stone walls, the voice was unmistakable: her father. Tossing back the covers, Cassandra leapt out of bed, tugging a coarse wool shift over her head as she charged the door and threw it wide open.
“Dad, what the hell is going on?”
The Captain glared down at her as the men flanking him abashedly averted their eyes from her minimal state of dress. “You have been summoned by the King for immediate audience.”
At a small signal, two of the guardsmen grabbed Cassandra’s arms, pulling her from her room, and shoving her down the hall. At the sudden change of motion, she tripped over her bare feet and only avoided falling flat on her face by the rough hands restraining her.
“Damn it, Stan, Pete, let go of me! I can walk on my own power.” She spit at them, struggling to gain control of her limbs, the wool scratching at her skin.
“We’re sorry, Miss Cassandra,” Pete spoke quietly just as Stan mumbled an apology about following orders.
“Enough! You will be silent until addressed by King Frederic.”
Cassandra strained her neck to look back at her father, his face carefully manipulated in a scowl of general disgruntlement and the only evidence of guilt, in the eye contact he refused to grace her with. Huffing, she turned forward, allowing Stan and Pete to guide her through the castle. But every step closer to the throne room only increased the growing dread in her stomach and the barrage of black rocks she imagined piercing her back. Whatever this was, it wasn’t going to be pretty.
All too soon, Cassandra and her armored entourage arrived at the tall, ornate double doors of the throne room. The piked guardsmen ushered them in, shooting pitying glances her way until a scolding look from their captain set them straight. Atop the dais in the pre-dawn moonlight, under ghostly banners and towers of birthday presents and flowers for the princess, stood King Frederic. Dressed in full regality, his mouth was set in a firm line behind his thick beard and mustache.
“Kneel.”
Stan and Pete pressed down on Cassandra’s shoulders, forcing her to her knees before she could even comply. The guards retreated to the far corners of the room, excepting the Captain, who moved to stand at the base of the raised platform.
“Miss Cassandra Landrik of Corona,” Frederic’s voice boomed down at her. “Define the word ‘treason.’”
Her stomach turned to ice. “Your Majesty? What is this about?”
“Answer your king, Cassandra.”
Cassandra glared at her father, but he stubbornly kept his eyes on the space above her head. She straightened her shoulders, trying her best to ignore the humiliation and shame of being before the king in nothing but a thin dress. “Treason is the crime of betraying one’s country, Your Majesty.”
His flaming blue eyes turned towards her with piercing accuracy. “That is but half the definition.”
A stray pebble dug into her shin and Cassandra desperately wanted to adjust, but under the King’s gaze, she dared not move an inch. “I don’t understand.”
“Treason, Miss Cassandra,” King Frederic’s eyes bore into her as he descended the dais, “is the crime of betraying one’s country, particularly, overthrowing its monarch by attempting to kill or injure a member of the royal family.”
He was standing so close now that Cassandra was forced to tilt her head back to look up at him. “Yes, Your Majesty.”
“So, by this definition, do you admit to your own guilt?”
“To treason? Of course not, sir!” She gasped at the sudden ringing in her ear. Her hands, cool from the stone floor, flew to cup her cheek now hot and stinging, completely astounded at having been slapped.
“So, you deny kidnapping the princess six months ago and taking her outside Corona’s walls? Both disobeying a direct order from your king and risking injury or death to my daughter!”
Cassandra was too stunned to flinch as the spittle of King Frederic’s outrage splashed her face. How did he find out? “Your Majesty, please, it wasn’t like that.”
“Did you or did you not, girl?” His face contorted with fury.
Her pulse throbbed behind her eyes as she hesitated, her muscles tense and ready to run. What could she say? “I did,” she finally conceded.
Frederic turned suddenly, and Cassandra slumped forward, released from his scathing attention. She watched the king jab a thick, ringed finger into the Captain’s breastplate. “You promised she’d be different.”
Her father remained silent, only shifting a solemn look towards Cassandra for a moment before redirecting his gaze to the floor. She wished her father’s betrayal was shocking.
Cassandra got to her feet, doggedly determined to keep herself steady. “Your Majesty, Rapunzel felt trapped. I only intended to help her, but I assure you, I would lay down my life to protect her. You must understand.”
“You are a Lady in Waiting, not a guard!” Frederic spun back to her, his hands balled into tight fists. “You have absolutely no idea what those rocks could have done. I should have you hanged for attempted murder of the crown princess!”
Cassandra heard his voice as if she were underwater, strangled, clawing for air. “Rapunzel would never allow it,” She said breathlessly, her hands fluttering up to her throat, already feeling the ghost of a noose. She looked sharply up at the king. “My execution would only push her further away.”
“You’re right.” Frederic pinched the bridge of his nose, inhaling deep to regain his composure. “Even after everything you’ve done, Rapunzel is alive. That being said, I will simply have to banish you from Corona Isle.”
“No!” Her heart raced with panic.
“You will no longer have any contact with Princess Rapunzel, and arrangements will be made for your immediate transfer to the convent of the Poor Sisters of Assisi.”
“Please, Your Majesty.” Cassandra battled a wave of nausea as the room spun around her. “I don’t care what happens to me, I know I messed up. But please, today’s her birthday. At least let me say goodbye and explain.”
King Frederic regarded her with cold disbelief. “And give you another chance to hurt my daughter? Absolutely not, because don’t think for a second, I’m unaware of your involvement with the criminal, Varian.”
“Varian?” Cassandra balked.
“Don’t be sly, girl. You wrote to him requesting he send cleaning supplies. A young boy sending cleaning supplies, Cassandra?” He shook his head patronizingly. “Obviously, that was some sort of code to lure Rapunzel closer to the rocks and harm her. And to think you almost got away with the stunt in the Royal Vault.”
She would have been speechless if not for the complete absurdity of the situation. “I wrote him, yes, but not because of some grand scheme to harm Rapunzel. I had just recovered from a broken leg, and he has these cleaning…” she stuttered trying to explain the alchemist’s invention but ultimately landed lamely on ‘things.’ “All I wanted was his help, but he never wrote back. Which I’m sure you’re very much aware of since you’ve been intercepting my mail!”
“I will do as I wish in my kingdom!” Frederic roared.
Cassandra squared off with her king, past the point of fear and very comfortably settled in righteous anger. “Like ignore the black rocks until they come knocking on your doorstep?! What’s the plan, Your Majesty? Wait until they tear down the entire castle!”
“Be gone with you!” Frederic stalked towards her again. “Ever since you entered her life, Rapunzel has grown rebellious and willful. And I will not have you continue putting her in danger!”
“Ha!” Cassandra barked humorlessly. “You don’t know your daughter very well if you think I’m the one putting her in danger!”
“I refuse to hear any more of this nonsense.” Frederic turned his back on her, as broad and unmoving as a castle curtain wall. “Captain!”
“Sir!” The Captain’s heels clicked to attention as he saluted.
“See that the child remains out of my sight and far away from the princess until her departure.”
Before her father could grab her, Cassandra’s feet were moving her out of the throne room. She may have been dragged here in the middle of the night, stricken, and insulted, but by god, she would walk out on her own two feet. It was not going to end like this.
*****
After being escorted back to her room and graciously allowed to change into decent clothes, Cassandra was tossed into the barn and told to take inventory of hay bales. An absolute waste of time as everything was already strictly accounted for by the stable master, but she took her temporary assignment without comment. Not that it mattered much when she heard the lock bolted behind her. Thankfully, there was more sunlight here than in the cells beneath the castle… Small mercies.
Looking up at the window high above the hay loft, Cassandra guessed it was already late-morning, the heat rising with the humidity of summer. She had spent the first few hours of early light cursing the king and feeling sorry for herself, but she quickly became restless, wondering when the princess would notice her absence. Of all the days, of course Rapunzel would be distracted by birthday celebrations and breakfast in the garden with her parents. Cassandra could be halfway to the Sisters of Assisi before any of her friends had a spare moment to think of her. Shit.
Her mind drifted back to King Frederic, the damn fool. She growled in frustration, throwing a sleeve of hay across the barn. She watched it explode with grim satisfaction, letting it flutter to the ground in a mess of dry golden strands. She told Rapunzel their trip out of Corona had to remain a secret! And what did she do? Turn right around and tell Eugene. It must have been, Eugene. She screamed, tugging at her hair. Fuck!
Cassandra focused on her breathing. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale… Calm down. Exhale. At least she wasn’t being hanged. Her arrival at the convent would be noted and reported back to the King, but so what? If she was already sentenced as a traitor, what did it matter if she was also charged with desertion? As long as she remained ‘banished,’ who would come after her?
The Captain. Without a doubt, her father would hunt her down if ordered by the king. She would really have to be careful out there, keep her cool, be smart. But to what end? Cassandra was confident in her own abilities, knew she could evade capture, but she also wasn’t naive enough to believe her troubles would end as soon as she made it out of Corona. She needed a course of action, a target to aim for. But what did she want?
She lugged another bale of hay across the room, stacking and re-stacking the heavy cubes against the far wall just to exert her pent up energy. She wanted to stay. She wanted to roll her eyes at Rapunzel’s dumb, charming ideas. She wanted to kick Eugene’s ass and volley cutting remarks until one of them laughed. Hell, she even wanted to stay up late listening to Lance’s dramatic retellings of his adventures by firelight — despite knowing they were all fabricated to pieces.
Cassandra hadn’t had friends for very long, and she was loathe to admit how much she needed them. When had she become so dependent? It was embarrassing… Sniffling, she told herself it was only the dust irritating her eyes and nothing more, but her thoughts swirled around time and how long it took for a person to become a habit. What promoted a stranger to acquaintance to friend to something more, something necessary to live? Her back already sore, Cassandra lifted another bale of hay, blinking at the sudden light falling on her like wildfire. They found her.
*****
She was rougher than she should have been pulling him out of the wreckage. No, fuck that. The runt was lucky to receive any mercy at all after what he put them through. After what he put her through! With a wheezing breath, Cassandra threw Varian to the ground, stamping her boot into the space between his shoulder blades as she tied his wrists tight behind his back. The boy squirmed under her weight in a halfhearted attempt to resist arrest, but they both knew his brief reign of terror was over.
“Congratulations, Cassie,” Varian sneered, half his face in the mud. “Your first taste of conquest. Your father must be so proud of his precious little girl.”
Cassandra bit her tongue, refusing to give him the satisfaction of a response. Once she was certain the ropes would hold, she lifted him back to his feet, wincing as her rib cage tweaked uncomfortably.
“Aww, did I hurt you?” He crooned with mock concern. “You know I only wanted to get your attention.”
“Shut up, Varian,” Cassandra growled, shoving him towards the prisoner containment unit now rolling towards the small attack force picking themselves up from the rubble of automatons and black rocks.
“Cassandra.”
Her eyes narrowed as King Frederic lumbered up the path, his face haggard. “Your Majesty.”
The King’s eyes shifted between Cassandra and the boy in her custody as he fussed with the cuffs of his sleeves. “Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it.” She stalked away from the king, pulling Varian along with her and handing him over to a fresh guard, who proceeded to pat him down for contraband. Once she wiped off her muddy gloves on her tunic, she realized Frederic was still standing hesitantly nearby. “What? Are you going to escort me to the Sisters yourself?”
Frederic didn’t flinch under her hostility, only regarded her with something annoyingly close to remorse. “No, that will not be necessary. I think it’s safe to say we can both forget the unfortunate events of this morning. You did a good job.”
Cassandra stilled, knowing she could never forget, and yet, a glimmer of hope sparked unbidden in her heart. “You must know I would do anything for my country.”
Frederic nodded. “Of course. If you still want it, you can keep your position as Lady in Waiting to the princess. Or,” he paused, swallowing hard. “We can have you enrolled at Murwiks for military strategy.”
Cassandra stared at him in disbelief. “Murwiks?”
“I, myself, attended Murwiks as a boy. There really is no better education.”
He smiled, the olive branch tantalizingly close, but Cassandra hesitated. She looked over at Rapunzel for an answer, but her best friend was patiently allowing Eugene to fuss over her and didn’t notice. Cassandra’s heart twinged with an inexplicable pull as she witnessed the easy confidence Rapunzel exuded, as if a fragment of her soul recognized itself in the princess. Hadn’t this new sense of self assurance come from her?
She turned to where Varian sat slumped against the prison unit, a dark, simmering shadow of his former self. In the growing twilight, his face looked wan and sickly, caked with mud, and framed by unkempt hair. Ruddiger, frightened and desperate for comfort, tried to force his round body under Varian’s listless hand without success. The poor creature.
Cassandra’s anger dissipated in a sudden wave of exhaustion, her heart breaking. He was just a kid. A kid she was supposed to protect. If she hadn’t been glued to Rapunzel’s side, could she have done more? Saved him from this fate? She had been researching the rocks, heard Varian’s name in her fruitless quest for answers. The Wizard of Old Corona… It was her fault for dragging him into this mess. Her fault Quirin was trapped in amber, her fault Varian would be put behind bars. She, alone, had wrecked an entire family. Could Murwiks have prepared her for that?
Indecision gripped her, forcing her to confront her own cowardice. “I’ll think about it.” Cassandra looked up at the king who simply nodded, eager to return to Arianna’s side. She went to the boy.
“Hey, Varian.” She spoke softy, crouching before him. “I um… I wanted to say that I’m sorry.” She paused, waiting for the boy to respond, sighing when he refused to acknowledge her presence. “I never thought it would end like this.”
At last, he raised his alarming blue eyes to her, and she tried not to fidget under the sudden direct and concentrated fury. “I gave you every chance to help me.”
“I know,” Cassandra whispered. “I guess- I thought we had more time”
Varian spit at her feet. She didn’t know what she had expected. Standing slowly, Cassandra left him to sulk, and made her way over to Rapunzel, hoping her friend could help alleviate the sting of failure.