The Princess and the Mirror

Chapter 3

       

       After hours of constant bickering of whether or not they should forcefully take a strand of hair if Rapunzel chooses to not comply, they arrived at a tower.

"But why can't we just try to persuade her?" questioned the Prince.

"Because I'd rather take it."

Unsure of how to respond the Prince didn't answer back, instead he looked at the old, dark tower. It looked as if it had never seen the light of the sun, moss and vines covered the stone; the grass surrounding the tower was uncut, coming up above the Prince's knees.

"Are we supposed to climb again? I don't think I can handle another life threatening experience." He let out a light laugh, hoping Lilith wouldn't see through his fake confidence.

"Thankfully there is another entrance. We just have to find the right stone to press."

"WHAT? How are we supposed to find it? There are hundreds of stones on this tower!" The prince looks frustratedly at the tower, throwing his hands in the air.

"I don't know. There must be something different about the stone we need to press. Just start looking."

They go up to the tower walls and start pushing every stone. The sun starts to set sending the sky into a vision of pinks, purples and blues.

"We need to hurry" shouts Lilith. "Really?" the prince retorts, "Maybe we should just light a fire and forget about it till morning?"

"NO! It has to be tonight, we need to be in the tower tonight."

The prince starts towards Lilith and trips on a root of a tree and struggles to stop himself from falling to the ground, he slams into the tower with a crash.

A whoosh of stale air explodes around him with a swirl of dust and dirt as a doorway opens on the side of the tower.

"Huh, I guess that works." muttered the Prince, as he lit a makeshift torch.

As they start to claim the stairs, the Prince ponders on who this Rapunzel is? He had heard numerous stories of a beauty surpassing all others, who could enchant men to her will. He had also heard stories of a kidnapped Queen, who has been missing for years with the speculation that she'd been hidden away. The Prince made each step with trepidation, not knowing what would meet him at the top but what he actually found will forever be in his nightmares.

Upon reaching the top of the tower, the Prince turns the handle to the moldy door; slowly opening it while preparing himself for any monstrosities but instead all he found was a room in neglect, cobwebs strung from corner to corner; thick dust covered each surface. In the middle of the room was a bed, it looked as if it was once beautiful but now faded and threadbare, movement from under the blankets startled the Prince.

"Rapunzel?" The Prince was hesitant to speak, afraid he would scare off someone who may have not seen a person in years. The Prince softly walked to the bed, crouching down he saw a frail woman who looks like she hasn't eaten properly in years. Lilith tosses the dagger at the Prince's feet.

"Cut it off."

The Prince was hesitant, not wanting to hurt this woman more than she already has been, he swore at his ceremony that he would protect those that couldn't protect themselves; but he'd grown close and quite fond of Lilith, he wanted to help her as well. Rapunzel opened her light eyes and stared deeply into the Prince's eyes.

"She has lied." The Prince squints his eyes in confusion, who has lied? Lilith? Not possible, why would she lie to him?

"Ask the mirror for the truth, for it cannot lie." The Prince was unsure, he had a feeling he needed to trust the older woman, afterall he didn't want to follow through with something like this without knowing everything he could.

Lilith was standing near a table, she began adding the ingredients she collected into a pot of boiling water, paying no mind to the Prince. He spotted the satchel at the end of the bed and when Lilith wasn't looking he grabbed the mirror.

"Mirror mirror on the wall, tell me a story of what started it all."

"Once upon a time, in a treacherous world filled with death and despair, lived a beautiful Queen who bore a daughter with hair as black as tar, and skin as pale as corpses, with lips as red as blood. The Queen was loved throughout the lands except by her own flesh and blood, Lilith.

On Lilith's twelfth birthday, she stumbled upon a secret about her blood, Lilith wasn't a pure royal, she was born out of wedlock. That very day the King found out about the secret as well and didn't take it lightly. The King demanded for Lilith to be executed. Lilith's mother, in an effort to save her daughter, told Lillith the King's plan to execute her. But Lilith then made a plan of her own, and poisoned the King.

Her mother, realizing what her daughter had done, knew that Lilith wouldn't rest until she was Queen, so she sought out a witch from the ocean, to help cast a spell to protect her from her daughter. The witch created a magic tower with no visible entrances for the Queen to live out her days and hid this tower deep in the forest."

"Wait!" the Prince said looking at Rapunzel, "You're the Queen? She's your mother?" he asked, turning to Lilith.

Lilith walked slowly and calmly towards the Prince, revealing another dagger that was hidden in her sleeve; and as she gets closer, and closer to the Prince she points the dagger at the base of his neck, pressing him harder into the wall and says in a low voice,

"Mirror mirror on the wall, who is going to kill us all?"

"You."

THE END

OR IS IT?