The Golden Braid

  “Sir Gerek has been with us for a long time.”

  “Yes, he told me.” She should not have admitted to knowing that intimate bit of knowledge. “That is, I know that knights are sent as young boys to live with the noble family where they will train as knights.”

  “He told me how you saved him from that brigand by throwing a knife and striking his arm. Where did you learn to throw like that?”

  “Some village boys were throwing knives and I wanted to know how to do it too. I asked them to teach me and they did.”

  “Did you know the knife would strike him in the arm?”

  “That is what I was aiming for. My aim is good since I used to practice a lot.” She could see Lady Rose smiling in the mirror.

  “Did you know I had another daughter besides Margaretha, Kirstyn, and Adela?”

  “You had another?”

  “Yes, and she had hair as blond as yours.” Lady Rose stared at Rapunzel’s yellow-blond braid in the mirror, which lay across her shoulder.

  “What happened to her?” Rapunzel asked softly.

  Lady Rose sighed. “When she was three years old, she fell in the river. We never found her body.” Tears glistened in her eyes.

  “I’m so sorry that happened.”

  “Thank you, my dear. It was a horrible time, but God comforted me. Margaretha was a baby, and I had to be strong for my two older boys, Valten and Gabehart. But it still feels like there’s a hole in my heart. Have you ever felt that way?”

  Rapunzel thought for a moment. “If I let myself think about it, I sometimes feel that way about my parents. I’ll never know who they were, I suppose, and it does leave an emptiness inside me.”

  Lady Rose nodded. “I think it is very understandable that you would feel that way.” She turned around and clasped Rapunzel’s hand and smiled. “I’m so glad you’re here with us, Rapunzel.”

  Tears pricked her eyes. She missed her mother, but she also wished her mother was as kind and loving and nurturing as Lady Rose. If only she could throw her arms around her and feel comforted.

  “If you don’t need me anymore, I’ll go and take care of Lady Margaretha and Lady Kirstyn.”

  “That will be very good. Thank you, my dear.”

  She let go of Rapunzel’s hand, and Rapunzel rushed out of the room before any tears could spill.

  “Rapunzel.” Frau Adelheit motioned her forward with her hand. “I need some help with the linens.” She looked at Cook. “That is, if you can spare her.”

  Cook turned her hand back and forth in the air. “We are not busy. Take her.”

  Rapunzel followed Frau Adelheit out of the room. She only hoped she would not have to sew.

  Duke Wilhelm, Lord Hamlin, Sir Gerek, and Lord Claybrook had all been away for the last week, so Rapunzel and the other kitchen maids’ work had been much lighter.

  She was not exactly sure where they’d all gone—something about capturing brigands on the roads north of Hagenheim. But gossip said that Sir Gerek had gone to arrange a marriage with Lady Lankouwen. And if a few tears leaked onto Rapunzel’s pillow the last couple of nights as she thought of him marrying, she would not admit it to anyone. Sir Gerek had been her friend, and she had always known he would marry an heiress. It was as she had expected and as it should be.

  Frau Adelheit led her to the laundry storage room and pointed to a large basket filled with linens. “I need you to fold these.”

  Rapunzel immediately set to work, and Frau Adelheit began counting sheets, making notes on a piece of parchment on her little desk, and then started folding from another large basket.

  Rapunzel glanced around. There were no less than six large baskets full of linens just like the one Rapunzel was folding from. They would be here a long time.

  Frau Adelheit suddenly broke the silence. “I heard about what happened to you, getting attacked on the road and Sir Gerek saving you.” She snapped the sheet she was holding before folding it in a perfect square. “Has he behaved in a suitable manner toward you?”

  “Very much so.” She ran her thumb over the scar on the palm of her right hand and reached for another sheet. “He lets me borrow his books.” There had never been anything improper between them, though no one seemed to believe it.

  Frau Adelheit asked her more questions, and she even told Rapunzel about her own childhood. They had to pass the time, and since they had to work in the same room together, talking to Frau Adelheit was less awkward than remaining silent.

  Frau Adelheit’s parents had both worked at Hagenheim Castle but were now dead, and so was her husband—and Rapunzel told her how she had run away from her mother to work at the castle. She learned about Frau Adelheit’s three grown children, and Rapunzel told her about the strange things her mother had said when she saw Rapunzel with Sir Gerek.

  “I think you did the right thing by getting away from her,” Frau Adelheit said. “But perhaps she will change now that she sees the consequences of her words.”

  “Yes, perhaps.”

  When had she ever talked to anyone like this? She had not even told Cristobel all these things. Mother had made her feel as if she could not trust anyone, and she realized now that was not normal. Other people were not so closemouthed. Other people were not afraid that all men were unscrupulous. Mother’s influence had caused Rapunzel to think in a way that was not healthy or conducive to having relationships with people. People had faults and were not perfect, but they weren’t all out to hurt her, as her mother had tried to convince her.

  They only had one more basket of linens to fold, and they both started on it.

  “For a long time,” Rapunzel said, “I’ve wondered if my mother lied to me about where I came from.”

  “What makes you think she may have lied to you?” Frau Adelheit asked.

  “She used to tell me that she found me as a baby in the rapunzel patch behind our house. Then she changed the story and said I was abandoned at her front door when I was about three years old. I always got the feeling that there was more to the story than she was telling me, but she would become angry if I questioned her about it.

  “And I have this scar on my hand.” Rapunzel held out her right hand so the candlelight was shining on it for Frau Adelheit to see. “I asked Mother about it once, but she said she didn’t know how I got it. I thought that was strange, if the second story was true. After all, if I was a baby when someone left me in her garden, then I must have gotten the scar after I came to live with her. How could she not know how I got it? Although if the other story was true and I was three when she found me, then—What’s wrong?”

  Frau Adelheit had taken hold of Rapunzel’s hand and was staring at it with her mouth open. “O holy angels in heaven,” she rasped. “It cannot be.” Tears glistened as she turned her body to face Rapunzel and stared at her—not into her eyes, but at her face, as though searching her features.

  “What is it? Tell me.”

  “I think . . . I think . . . Oh, heavenly saints.” She made the sign of the cross over her chest as a tear dripped from her eye.

  “Tell me!” Rapunzel’s heart was in her throat. “Do you know who my parents were?”

  “You have the exact same scar that—” Her breath hitched. She pressed her hand over her mouth, then said, “The same scar that Duke Wilhelm and Lady Rose’s oldest daughter, Elsebeth, had.”

  Rapunzel’s face tingled. “Duke Wilhelm and Lady Rose? That is not possible. They would never abandon their child.” A realization was washing over her. She tried to grasp it.

  “No, of course not. But when Elsebeth was three, she fell into the river. I knew the nursemaid. She was watching Elsebeth and Gabehart, and she tried to get to the little girl, but she was carried downriver. They never found her body, but we all assumed she had drowned.” Her eyes were wide and tears puddled under her bottom eyelid. “But . . . but she could have lived.”

  Frau Adelheit found a small cloth and wiped her cheeks. Her voice shook. “When little Elsebeth had just turned t
hree, she was running and fell. There happened to be a piece of pottery, a shard from a broken pitcher, on the ground, and it cut her right hand very badly. I was nearby and ran to get a cloth to wrap around her hand, and they carried her to Frau Lena. It made quite a scar—a curved scar just like the one on your hand, in just the same place. Rapunzel, I think . . . I know . . . you are Elsebeth.”

  Rapunzel was numb all over, her thoughts spinning. “I-I don’t understand. Why would Mother lie about where she found me? Could she have known who I was?” She covered her own mouth as her lips and chin began to tremble. Was it possible? Could she be the daughter of Lady Rose and Duke Wilhelm?

  “But I-I look nothing like Duke Wilhelm or Lady Rose.”

  “There is a resemblance. Kirstyn and Adela both have blond hair, though not quite as golden as yours, and though your eyes are as blue as Duke Wilhelm’s, they have the same look as Lady Rose’s. I have heard that the duchess, Duke Wilhelm’s mother, had golden-blond hair like yours. Oh yes, you definitely have the family resemblance.” She nodded over and over as she stared at her.

  Rapunzel examined the scar on her hand, her heart thumping erratically. “Are you sure? Are you sure it’s the same scar?” Could she truly be the lost daughter of Lady Rose and Duke Wilhelm? It made sense, but it also seemed the most far-fetched thing imaginable.

  Frau Adelheit took her hand and turned it toward the light again. “It’s exactly the way I remember it. And you look to be the correct age—three years younger than Gabe and two years older than Margaretha.”

  “What . . . what should I do?”

  “You have to tell Lady Rose.”

  “I’m afraid to tell her. What if we’re wrong? Perhaps I should talk to Mother first.”

  Frau Adelheit looked thoughtful. “I suppose it cannot hurt to wait. But as soon as you show Lady Rose that scar, she will know you are her Elsebeth.”

  Mother must have found Rapunzel . . . Elsebeth . . . in the river and didn’t know who she was. “I have to find Mother and ask her.” But what if she had deliberately stolen Rapunzel away from her rightful parents? No, surely she could not have done anything so horrendous.

  “I will first speak to Mother about this. I must find out what she knows, what she did . . . how this happened.”

  “But didn’t she threaten to give you a sleeping potion and take you away from here and lock you up? I do not think you should confront her, not alone. If she did take you, knowing you were the duke’s daughter, then she may do something terrible. You don’t know what she might do. Promise me you will not leave the castle.”

  “Very well. I promise.” A heaviness settled inside as she thought about how her mother—the only mother she could remember, the mother who needed her to brush her hair and sing to her at night or she couldn’t fall asleep—must have known whose child she was and took her as her own anyway. How could she be so cruel? The breath squeezed painfully out of her chest, her mind going blank with the horror of it.

  Gerek was back at Hagenheim Castle. He had been gone for several days, as he had gone to visit Lady Lankouwen to arrange a marriage with her. He had found her quite willing. Although nothing was settled and they were not betrothed, Lady Lankouwen wished to send a letter to the king and await his approval. Then they could publish the banns and marry.

  He should feel joyful about the prospect of securing his own future, a sturdy castle, and fertile lands. The arrangement was wise and profitable, and Lady Lankouwen seemed pleased. She had even kissed him on the cheek when he left, and he had kissed her hand. Perhaps it would even be an affectionate marriage.

  In his absence, Duke Wilhelm and Valten had gone and would not be back for several more days. So when he saw three of Claybrook’s guards huddled together, he wondered why they and Lord Claybrook were not with the duke.

  One of them looked up and saw Gerek, and they stopped talking and took a step away from each other.

  “Good morning,” Gerek said.

  “Good morning,” they mumbled.

  He walked past them, but when he looked over his shoulder, they were leaning in to continue whatever conversation he had interrupted.

  Were they scheming something? Gerek stopped just out of sight of them and listened, but he couldn’t make out what they were saying. Not wanting them to discover him eavesdropping, he continued on down the corridor.

  Perhaps Gerek could find out something from listening in to some of the other guards’ conversations.

  He strode out of the castle and toward the gatehouse, trying to look like all the other people milling around the castle bailey who were either servants or skilled craftsmen, like the castle blacksmith and the saddle maker. Having just come back from Lady Lankouwen’s estate, Gerek wasn’t wearing his usual Hagenheim colors, and he hoped to blend in.

  As he stood looking in at the blacksmith’s open work area, he glanced at the gatehouse and noticed the same three guards he’d seen talking in the corridor now walking toward the gatehouse. Only one of Duke Wilhelm’s guards was inside, and he stepped outside to greet them. The three of Claybrook’s men moved toward him in a rush, then pushed him inside.

  Gerek started forward, reaching for his sword at his hip, but then remembered he’d left it in the barracks. He glanced around, but no one else noticed what they’d done.

  He watched two of the men drag the guard’s limp body to a nearby shed. They soon emerged and walked back to the gatehouse to join the one who had stayed, as if he belonged there.

  With a sick feeling, he realized Lord Claybrook and his men were starting to take over Hagenheim.

  None of Duke Wilhelm’s guards were in sight. He needed armed men loyal to Duke Wilhelm. He needed to warn all of the guards and knights at the castle, and someone needed to inform Duke Wilhelm.

  He worked his way to the other side of the shed, where Claybrook’s guards couldn’t see him, and slipped inside.

  An open window let in enough light for Gerek to see the poor man slumped on the floor, his head and shoulders propped against the wall. He placed his fingers on the side of the man’s neck, feeling for the sign of a beating heart. He felt the blood flowing. A bleeding bump on his head seemed to be his only injury.

  Gerek hurried out of the shed and back toward Hagenheim Castle. He went around to the barracks to retrieve his sword. No one was there, so he went inside. Many of the knights and guards had gone with Duke Wilhelm, including Valten. Were there enough men loyal to the duke to fight off the foreign guards?

  He strode into the corridor and, upon approaching the Great Hall, he heard Claybrook’s voice. He stepped cautiously forward until he saw one of Claybrook’s men guarding the door.

  Gerek went back toward the kitchen, but everywhere he looked, he saw only Claybrook’s guards. Duke Wilhelm’s guards were nowhere in sight.

  He entered the kitchen. The only people inside were the servants. Rapunzel, along with the others, was chopping vegetables. He went toward her and bent to speak near her ear.

  “Have you seen any of Duke Wilhelm’s guards this morning?”

  “No.” She stared hard at him. “What is wrong?”

  The other servants were talking as they worked and were far enough away not to hear if he spoke softly. “I think Lord Claybrook is trying to take over Hagenheim Castle. You should leave while you’re still able to get away.”

  “What makes you think that?” Rapunzel’s blue eyes grew rounder.

  “I saw them knock the guard at the gatehouse unconscious and hide his body in the shed. They’re probably taking them out one by one to give themselves a greater advantage.”

  Rapunzel set her jaw and narrowed her eyes. “We must warn Lady Rose.”

  “You warn Lady Rose. I’ll try to warn the duke’s other guards, then I’ll come back for you.”

  “Shouldn’t you go find Duke Wilhelm and bring him back here?”

  “It will take two days or more to get to him, but yes, I will. But I had to warn you. I want you to be safe.” His heart squeezed
at the truth of his admission.

  “I can take care of myself, but I’m not leaving here without Lady Rose and her family. They mean a lot to me, more than I can explain at the moment.” She paused. “I’ll stay here and do what I can to protect them, or help them escape.”

  Was there ever a more courageous maiden? He wanted to at least squeeze her hand, but the other servants were starting to send furtive looks their way.

  “Go on. We’ll defend ourselves very well.”

  There was nothing else to do but nod and leave.

  Rapunzel ignored the questions of her fellow maidservants and hurried out of the Great Hall. But before she could get more than two steps into the corridor, she heard Lady Rose’s strident voice. “This is outrageous. You may tell Lord Claybrook that I am angry and disappointed that he would dare to stop me from going on a picnic with my family.”

  Rapunzel placed her hand over her knife, which was tucked in her pocket, as she crept forward. Four of Lord Claybrook’s guards were leading Lady Rose and her children up the stairs toward the solar.

  Rapunzel turned around—and came face-to-face with Gothel.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Mother had the same dark look on her face that she’d had the night before Rapunzel left home.

  “So you left your mother to become a maidservant.” Her face twisted as she said the word maidservant. “Did you think Sir Gerek would love you more than I did? He will never marry you.”

  She stepped toward Rapunzel, and Rapunzel took a step back. They were in the castle corridor, halfway between the Great Hall and the door that led outside to the kitchen. No one was around.

  “You threatened me,” Rapunzel said, her voice strangely calm in spite of the way she was feeling. “I was afraid of you, after the things you said and the way—”

  “You broke your mother’s heart. I didn’t know where you were. After all that I have done for you, you rejected me. What a daughter you have turned out to be.” Her jaw was set, her eyes black and cold as stone.

  “Have you come to give me your potion and drag me away? Why are you here, Mother?” She cringed at calling her that.