What if.... a Tangled story [ENG]

Chapter 11 - The Spire

Soon we found the sinkhole marked on the map. My mother smiled and looked at me - "all you have to do is jump in, as for the rest, you know what happens" -.

I smiled back, but with a slight purse of my lips. I pushed my horse into the sinkhole and jumped in after him. My mother and her horse jumped in after us.

When we reached another part of the forest, my mother began to consult the map again, and I followed her silently and thoughtfully. My mother did not seem to notice my strange behavior, and continued to lead us out of the forest.

When we finally found the exit, night had already fallen on that desolate land. The horses neighed with joy as soon as we emerged from the forest, and rushed towards a pond to wet their throats.

My mother walked towards a small group of trees and began to build a fire. I followed her, my fingertips touching some black rocks. As soon as the fire was ready, my mother looked at me with a smile - "come here Rapunzel. Mother needs some magic tonight." - I swallowed slightly, remembering the fact that the mysterious child had accused my mother of usurping my magic. However, I positioned myself in front of her, and let her comb my hair while I said the healing incantation. - After that, we ate a frugal dinner of bread and cheese, the last of our supplies from Vardaros. The horses ate some wild carrots and soon fell asleep, exhausted from the day's terrifying adventure. - I sat in front of the fire, watching the wood creak as my mother tied my hair into yet another braid. I started to speak - "that forest was really gloomy... I saw and heard things that I will probably never forget..."-. I was so thoughtful that night, that it didn't even occur to me to depict the Forest of No Return in my diary.

My mother gently stroked my head - "tonight will certainly not be less gloomy... but I will keep an eye on those rocks and also on you so that no more nocturnal accidents happen"-.

She stood up and touched my nose with the tip of her finger. She sat on the other side of the fire and I lay down. I still didn't feel like sleeping and so I turned to my mother - "I'm curious to know how you managed to understand that map... could you teach me?"-.

After a short moment of hesitation, my mother approached me, and began to explain to me about that particular map.

We spent a quiet night without any "accidents".

Another 4 days of travel passed, quite peacefully. Sometimes I happened to think back to the words of the mysterious girl, but the more time I spent with my mother, the more my trust in her returned and strengthened.

However, the thought of those terrible words never completely left my mind, and I happened to think about them more intensely on nights when the rocks called me back and showed me the usual mysterious visions.

One night, however, while I was viewing the strange images of the rocks, something particular happened: the images of the flower, the man and the woman, the sun painted on a purple background and the tiara faded more and more, while those of the dark kingdom surrounded by black rocks, and of the frightening horned creature, strengthened.

During the day I tried to understand the reason for that interesting selection, and for this reason I did not often speak to my mother. On the morning of the fourth day of peaceful walking, however, my natural curiosity as a new explorer reminded me that I had to ask my mother the name of the place where we were at the moment or our next stop.

-"Mother.... where are we going now?"- I looked at her as we continued at a slow pace on our horses.

My mother answered me but did not turn towards me -"our next stop Rapunzel, is the Spire where I hope to find some supplies.."- she looked at the basket on her arm, sighing -"this lady is a little tired of eating only berries and nuts... I hope to find some cheese and cold cuts"-.