Forgotten Magic

Chapter 30

I drag Varian into an alleyway. He didn't seem to be trying. "Okay, so what's all this about?"

He looks at me, sort of half fazed. "What?"

"Stealing from the royals? What are you thinking?"

"It-it's for the best of the kingdom," he stammers, a familiar expression crossing his face.

"The-" I sighed. "Oh...whatever. I don't know what you're up to, but I'm watching you."

We leave the alleyway and find Rapunzel waiting for us.

"I think I need to get back to the castle," I explain. "I might be in trouble already."

Varian gives me a questioning look, but doesn't ask any questions.

"Oh come on, I think we can sneak past him," Raps encourages. "This shouldn't take too long, right?" She eyes Varian who nods.

"Not long at all," he adds. "Plus...um.......oh, never mind. Let's go."

. . .

A few minutes later, I'm pressed up against a door on one aide of the castle.

"Agh! Princess," Varian whispers, "what are we doing here? The flower would most likely be in the royal vault and that is on the other side-"

"Other side of the castle, I know," Rapunzel assures him. "But if we wanna get past the vault's security, our best bet is to use the underground tunnels, and Hers De Sonne's journal has a complete map of them." She pushes open the large doors and enters an unlit room.

One of my hands is on Varian's arm, the other on the door as I watch the princess walk up to the stand and get the journal. On her way back to us, she catches a glance of a portrait of the king and pauses.

Varian suddenly drags me into the room and approaches the princess.

"Rapunzel, you got what we came for. C'mon. Let's go," he ushers.

"Taking the journal. Stealing the flower. Varian, these are all acts of treason." The blonde looks at him desperately.

"This may be my dad's only hope. This...may be Corona's only hope," the alchemist begs. "Rapunzel, Corona needs our help."

And there it was again. Corona. Why did he all of a sudden care so much about Corona?

Rapunzel sighs deeply. "For Corona. Come on." I can tell she's beginning to regret it.

After a brief encounter with Eugene, we were almost out the front door. And then we meet my favorite royal guard.

"Oh!" Nickolas clears his throat, coming to a stop in front of Rapunzel. Varian and I duck around the corner. "Your highness. Have you, by any chance, seen chance, seen Savannah? She was with you last time I checked and-"

"Oh! No, I have no idea," the princess lies badly. "She said she wanted to talk to Cassandra. Maybe she's-"

He groans. "Oh brother...alright, thank you." And he leaves. Or, at least I think so because Rapunzel grabs my wrist and pulls me out the door.

. . .

"I found the entrance!" Varian hissed, sliding off the lid of a sewage drain. "Down here!" He jumps down and proceeds to help Rapunzel down. I hop down after them, Shadows around my shoulders, before catching a struggling Ruddiger.

With the help of the journal, Rapunzel leads us through the tunnels as well as a mess of booby traps. At first, I thought nothing of Varian's conversation. He was gabbling about the tech in the tunnels and so on.