The Witch's Tower - Tamara Grantham (e reader books .TXT) 📗
- Author: Tamara Grantham
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Book online «The Witch's Tower - Tamara Grantham (e reader books .TXT) 📗». Author Tamara Grantham
“Rapunzel, I’m sorry, but I have to do this. Please, you know I wouldn’t hurt you. Let me do this.”
She nodded, tears brimming in her eyes. She didn’t resist as I opened the shears and attempted to cut the hair, but the tangled masses were too thick, and I had no choice but to separate the strands and cut them in small sections. Rapunzel didn’t flinch as I cut the first sections, and then more.
Behind us, a soldier leapt into the room. He screamed as Raj fought him back. I wished I could cut her hair faster, but I could only cut small chunks at a time. As the hair fell away, a glow emanated around her head in a golden halo.
Was it possible? Did Rapunzel have her own natural magic the same as me?
The glow increased as I cut the last strand. Rapunzel turned toward me. Tears flowed down her face.
“Did I hurt you?” I asked.
“No.”
“What’s the matter?”
“Nothing. I feel like myself again.”
“You do?”
“Yes.” She smiled up at me—a genuine expression of joy. One I hadn’t seen in a very long time. “Gothel, you saved me.”
She hugged me, her bony frame embracing me with more strength than I thought possible. When she pulled away, I grabbed her hand. I knew we didn’t have much time, but I had to tell her the truth.
“Rapunzel, there’s something I need you to know about me. My father isn’t who I thought. He’s the high sorcerer—which makes us half-sisters.”
“Sisters?”
I nodded.
“Is it really true?”
“Yes. My mother told me after I used my magic.”
“You used magic?”
I nodded. “My aunts were hurting someone, and my magic reacted. That’s never happened to me before. I didn’t understand it. But then my mother told me that someone with that kind of magic has to have two magical parents.”
“Yes. I know. I have it, too.”
“You do?”
“Yes. My mother was a sorceress, but she never told anyone. I only recently learned to use my magic. That’s how I was able to break your spell and hide in the well.”
Beside us, the prince stirred. Rubbing his forehead, he moaned as he sat up.
“Where am I?” he asked.
“In my tower,” Rapunzel said. “Don’t you remember? We’ve been sitting in that dreadful well for the last day and a half.”
“A tower—and a well? What?”
“You were under a spell,” I said.
A choked scream came from near the window as Raj defeated the soldier. The limp body of the soldier slumped as Raj turned to face us. His heavy breathing made his broad chest rise and fall as he neared us.
“Prince Merek?” Raj asked.
“Raj?”
“It’s good to see you awake,” Raj said, kneeling beside the prince. They clapped one another’s shoulders.
“Raj, what’s happening? Where am I? The last thing I remember, I was climbing into the tower, and then… oh yes. You.” He looked at Rapunzel. “You’re the princess, aren’t you?”
She nodded, biting her lip. Her hair fell loosely to her shoulders, glowing faintly with a golden light as the shears had done. She looked like a grown woman now—no longer the child she had once been.
Prince Merek got to his feet, holding to the edge of the well as he straightened. “I came to rescue you. Am I too late for that?”
“No,” she said shyly. “You’re not too late.”
Their gazes met, and Rapunzel’s cheeks turned pink. Prince Merek took a step toward her, walking on shaky feet until he got to her side and held out his hand. “Will you allow me to free you from this tower?”
“Yes, of course.” She took his hand.
Prince Merek flashed us a smile. “Well, it seems rescuing the princess from the tower wasn’t nearly as hard as you thought, Raj.”
“That’s because you slept through it,” Raj mumbled.
A roar erupted behind us. I turned around as heat blasted my face. A raging fireball knocked me from my feet. The others screamed as they landed beside me.
A cloaked figure coalesced in front of the window. As his form took shape, I gasped, peering into the familiar blue eyes that conjured memories from my childhood—eyes that looked a lot like my own now that I thought about it.
The high sorcerer. My father.
We got to our feet as the high sorcerer approached us. His bootsteps echoed through the tower. A breeze came from the window, making his cloak billow around his muscled frame sheathed in black armor. Like his soldiers, the red emblem of the coiled basilisk had been etched into his breastplate. His silvery white hair appeared blue in the moonlight, and his staff carved with a snake’s head thumped the floor as he walked toward us.
Several soldiers entered the room behind him. My blood turned cold as I recognized the bald head and beefy frame of the guardsman who’d stabbed me. My abdomen throbbed with phantom pain as his eyes glittered with madness and rage.
An uncontrolled shiver ran down my spine.
“That one,” the soldier said, pointing to Raj. “He took the witch from the tower and nearly killed me.”
“An Outlander?” the high sorcerer said, his voice deep and smooth, those two words bringing back a host of memories I wanted to forget.
“Yes, that’s him.”
“I wondered how it happened,” the high sorcerer said. “When my squadron reported that my daughter had been left unguarded, and Gothel was missing, I thought there must have been a mistake. Gothel would never leave the tower willingly. She knew the consequences. She knew the punishment.” His sharp eyes flashed with hate as he focused on me. “But then I learned someone had aided her in her escape. A squire in King Duc’Line’s army. An Outlander boy. An Outlander!” His raised voice made me jump. My heart raced, remembering that same voice before he hit my mother. Over and over again until she was too weak to scream.
The blood.
Sweat beaded on my skin, and the palpable fear froze my joints. The memories came back in a rush. He’d beaten her. He would do the same to me.
He paced toward Raj. “I wanted to kill her and this Outlander, but look, my daughter Rapunzel has revived from the spell—and what else do I find? Prince Merek’s son ready to steal her away from me. How can this be? How can so many betray me? There will be so much bloodshed on this night, but it will not be undeserved. You—all of you—will be executed. Your bodies will be torn to pieces and hung to rot in the four corners of my kingdom as a warning to all.”
“No,” Rapunzel cried. “You can’t! I’m your daughter—and so is Gothel. You can’t kill your own children. Please, Father. Don’t do this!”
“Gothel.” His eyebrows rose as he looked at me. “Is this true?”
I stood tall. “It’s true. Mother isn’t dead. She lives with her sisters in the northern lands. She told me. You are my father. I possess magic, just like you, and I will use it if I have to.” Granted, I’d only ever used it once, and wasn’t sure how to control it, but he didn’t need to know that.
“No,” he snapped. “It makes no difference if you are my flesh and blood. You have defied me. You all have defied me. You all will die.”
“Not if I’ve got anything to do with it,” Raj said, his voice deep and full of warning. The intensity of his words made me pause. I’d never heard him speak with such fervor. If I had been anyone else, I would’ve been frightened. He stepped in front of us, blocking us from the high sorcerer as he grasped his sword. “You won’t harm anyone.”
High Sorcerer Varlocke laughed. “I’ll kill you all, and you’ll suffer the most, Outlander. You and your people are a plague. After I kill you, I’ll take your body to what remains of the Outlander people. I’ll burn it for all to see, and then I’ll slaughter every last one of your kind until no one remains.”
If Varlocke’s words bothered him, Raj didn’t let it show. “Not if you’re dead.”
Raj lunged at him, striking with a fierce attack aimed for the high sorcerer’s heart. The high sorcerer struck out with his staff. Lightning exploded from its tip. Raj dodged aside, but the bolt caught his hand. He screamed, losing his grip on the sword. It clattered to the ground. The high sorcerer grabbed up the weapon and tossed it out the window. Raj unsheathed his father’s blade using his uninjured hand, then leapt at the high sorcerer and stabbed his shoulder.
The emperor screamed. “Kill them all!” he bellowed.
Chaos erupted as the
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