Sleep

Rapunzle

The couple supplied me after I became conscious, and I am on my own again, till I hear a twig snap in the woods. Turning fast with cat-like swiftness, I see the figure, that I remember from my dream.

"Phillip," I say quietly.

"Ah, Rapunzle, I see you have arrived,"  he says with a smile. 

"Yeah, uh where exactly are we?"  I survey the surrounding, finding nothing but dark woods.  He takes my hands and lifts my chin to the sky, and my heart beat pounds like a drummer with ADHD.  Stretching his hands outward, he gestures to the sky, making an invisible box, just over a few stars.  He connects the dots, forming a shuffled pattern. 

"That, is king's constellation.  That's Felicois.  The corner star is for his love.  Legend has it that a girl of gold, Ella, gave him a gift, a shell of foam born from the callused waves during chaos.  The two fell in love, and were married, building up a kingdom from the ashes.  But a murder plot was set in place by his own top guard, who had loved Ella.  The guard had almost stabbed the king, when Ella came from behind and killed the guard.  But with the burden of murder, she flung herself into the sea, turning to foam,"  Phillip said.  "Ella's star is just as she was, always willing to help.  It points the direction we wish to go."

"We?" I regarded his arm holding me in. 

"It is but to dangerous to go alone, two must go,"  he said, so sure.

******************************

I woke up around a campfire, in an actual blanket, with Phillip sleeping close to the fire ashes.  What happened next took me too long to process, in to little time.  Ugly green vines, that had wart-like bumps dotted across, swept over Phillip, encasing him.  Jumping to my feet, crashing hard on the ground, I hopelessly rip at the vines.  Solid as rocks, thick as telephone poles, tugging becomes useless.  Grabbing the biggest stick I can find, with all force I slam the large branch into the thick vines. To my surprise, the vines weakly unravel, going limp.  Phillip is nowhere to be seen. 

Desperation pulls at me, and I start scraping at the vines.  I feel hotter, and place my hand meekly on one of the vines, turning it to embers.  Flicking my hand, the embers blow away, as if they did it on command.  I go to a browning leaf on the ground. 

"Fly away, dear," I say politely, opposite my miserable mood.  I just wish to be alone. 

The wind picks up, diving to the leaf and scooping it up.  I start to sob in misery, covering my face with my hands, leaving a hole for me to breathe.  Moments later, I realize my hair is wet, and I look up.  All around me, it's pouring rain.  At first, it's quite beautiful, but then it get overwhelming.  The air around me seems to cut short, and I choke on rain.  Huddling in a ball doesn't help, the rain soaks through my clothes, and it mentally bites me like acid. 

"Stop! Stop, please," I break out into sobs again.  The rain slows to a light soothing sprinkle, that lightly dabs away pain.  Opening my puffy eyes, I discover I'm pretty dry, only wet from the mist just now settling on my clothes.  The camp fire holds a big puddle.  Looking into it, I watch as the mist washes away the puffy redness in my eyes. 

I decide I'm ready to start my new journey, to find Phillip. Before I do, I search the camp for supplies.  I find a large bag and many other useful things.  A small canteen, some pastries, and meat strip snacks, a thin blanket, a little medicine, and a few filled vials, along with a map.  Crinkled and detailed, it showed right where I needed to go, a palace.  Not just a palace, the palace where I was born.  I got there, greeted my father, finding out of my mothers death. 

I remember my journey well.  Now my goal is to find Phillip, but I'll need help.  Underneath my bed, I pull out a rusty green copper covered book. 

Mason's
Where to wonders
A spell & location book

Flipping through the old pages takes time but finally I find page 713. A rusty old map of the very same woods he vanished in. Carefully, I place my hand on the book, and am sucked into a dark land scape.