The Royal Assassin

Chapter 1- Not So Clever Mom, Huh?

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I'm so hungry. Those rats seem to be mocking me with the food I've been giving them. But my hunger doesn't matter. I'll do anything for the slim chance of escaping, even if that means me becoming slim. I started starving myself about four weeks ago, although I have been eating meager portions of the poor excuse for food I'm given to keep myself alive. The chains keeping me from moving were just small enough to keep me from being able to detach them from my wrists, but my hope is that eventually I'll be able to slip them off if they're are just a little bit smaller. Now you're probably wondering why I would be causing myself such torture. I've been locked in a tower since I was seven, and this is the only possible way I can think of to begin getting out. I'd call that a pretty good reason.

In the brief time that Rapunzel, my mother, came to visit me, she tried to give me a good explanation as to why I was up here. Honestly, none of them were actually good explanations...but apparently I'm a danger to myself and all those around me. What does that even mean?! Could you be anymore vague? I don't remember much, but whether I believe her or not, I'm going to find a way to escape and today looks like my lucky day.

The chains keeping me in place are just tight enough to keep me from being able to isolate them from my wrists, and I hope that if I only became a little bit skinnier.... After much pain and pulling, I finally manage to slip my hand out of my restraints. I look at my wrists and hands that were covered in cuts and bruises from pulling on the chains too much, and I realize I have no way of getting out of this tower. I don't know where I am or who is guarding me, but there has to be some way out of here. Before I can plan my getaway, I have a few things to do first.

I'm going to chop off my hair. I glance in the cracked mirror leaning against the wall. I look like her. Too much like her. My mother. When I look around the tower for something sharp, my eyes catch something glimmering in the little sunlight outside of the tower. Now that I am free of my restraints, I'm able to walk towards the door, where I see the dull silver. I reach towards it and pick it up, realizing that it was a sharp dagger. How convenient. I hold it in my hands. It is perfect for what I need to do.

I turn to face the mirror with the dagger that seems to fit perfectly in my hands, almost like it was made for me. My hands shake as I slowly lift the blade and grab a lock of hair. I put the sharp blade against the long golden locks that I inherited from my horrid mother. I squeeze my eyes shut and slash. I blink and take a deep breath, then looked at the damage I'd done. I had nicked my jawline in the process of cutting my hair to shoulder length, but I hardly even felt it. For a small moment I feel a strange sense of power. Refreshed. Refreshed by the small ounce of freedom I feel from her. I'm not sure exactly what I expect next but it definitely isn't this. It starts where the blade clashed with my golden locks. The color darkens rapidly, like an unkindness of ravens was washing over it. Panic fills me, my breathing becomes quick and shallow. What is happening to me?

My fingers loosen around the dagger and it falls to the floor with a clatter of metal on stone. Within seconds, I hear a guard running up the steps to the top of my tower. My heart pounds in my ears as I prepare for attack. I can tell they dropped the keys by the rattling and the stream of profanities that I should never repeat. Their clumsiness gives me just enough time to stoop down and snatch up my dagger and position myself by the door. The door bursts open and I am ready to do whatever I need to in order to escape.

A pair of vibrant gold eyes glare at me from around the door. When his whole body is revealed, he looks as if he could be a human, but his glittering eyes tell me otherwise. I scan the "man" up and down. While taking the time to do so, I hear him murmur a jumble of words that I can not understand and before I have time to react, there was an explosion. Aiming at me. A warlock. He cloaked my tower. That's why no one found me. I do give my mother credit. She was certainly thorough when it came to making my life miserable. Can't have a handsome prince rescuing me like you had, now can we mom? I quickly dodge the sorcerer's spell. While it misses, it hits one of my mother's old paintings. Oops. I assume that there were more guards on the entrances due to the fact that he had a tray of food in his hands.

I feel the dagger fly out of my hands and at the warlock's head. Right before the dagger is about to kill him, it veers off course and embeds itself in the thick, scarlet curtains hanging on the stone walls. Stupid warlocks and their stupid powers. The warlock tries to claw at me with his sharp, filed nails and launches his body in my direction. On instinct, I smoothly dodge him and run. Of course there isn't exactly anywhere to run, so once I am clear of his grasp, I grab the nearest object to defend myself. A book. Before my captor has a chance to pull out a weapon, or use his magic again, I throw the book with all the rage built up inside me. My target is knocked to the hard stone tiles and the ground slightly shakes from the impact.

I run towards my freedom, but my moment of victory is over. The warlock knocks me with a wave of magic, leaving me on the ground in agony. I am only feet from my weapon and the door the leads to my new life. An arsenal of painful despair and hopelessness hits me in the face head on as I realize I might not be getting out of here after all these years. I was only moments delayed and the warlock has already dismissed my chance of freedom and life within seconds. But I'm not giving up yet. I stumble forward, catching a glimpse of my almost forgotten reflection through the shattered mirror. My eyes now signify the same inhuman, glowing shade of gold that the warlock's were. But that isn't the only glow in the room. As I go to retrieve the poorly aimed dagger, I notice a small gold glimmer in the tear. Maybe another weapon. Something sharp enough to tear this place apart. Perhaps my mother had hid it there in her own long days in this wretched tower, in defense of Mother Gothel. Not as thorough as you thought, were you, mom. I wound up the dagger, once again impaling the thick curtain and dragging it down to form a large square shape, in hopes of finding yet another weapon inside. Luck seems to be on my side today. When I tear away the ripped fabric, the gold glimmer only gets brighter. What's in there? I lean forward...Before I realize, I am quickly being enveloped by the hole in the curtain, and instead of hitting the hard brick walls, I keep falling like nothing is there at all. I just keep falling and falling and falling as if maybe I am already dead. Maybe this was what it feels like to die.

End of Chapter One...