never works.
A rat came over to investigate me and finding me uninteresting, left. I thought, idly, that one day soon, I would find him more interesting, but not just yet. It’s always best to leave your food alive until the last possible moment. So somebody once told me.
I must have slept, because I woke up. I don’t know how long I was there, in the dungeon time slips away. Once, when I woke I found a bowl of rancid soup placed just within reach. “You live another day.” I told the rat.
I woke to the sound of footsteps in the distance. I counted five individuals. It’s odd, here I was in the dungeon of the witch who had taken everything from me and the general who had betrayed me, killed my children, and all I could think was ‘it’ll be nice to have some visitors’. I resolved to visit Tom again, if I lived through the day.
They marched up to my cell and opened the door. For a moment, I was blinded by the light of their torches. Jinjur, of course, and three troll guards stepped into my cell, the fifth member of their party waited outside.
“We’ll catch your friends, you know.” Said Jinjur. “As soon as I can get Queen Mallory to turn her attention to the matter. She’s so busy you know. What with ten kingdoms to run and that pesky war with Snow White, but someday soon, she’ll have time to look for them and then they’ll be joining you here.”
I didn’t answer. What could I say? She was probably right.
“There’s someone here to see you.” She continued and stepped aside to let the person in the passage come in. A young man I didn’t recognize entered the cell. More a boy really. Maybe it was the dark, or maybe it was the years that had passed, or maybe it was because I’d thought him dead. “Flynn!” I jumped to the limit of my chain! My son! Alive!
He jumped back and hid himself behind Jinjur. She smiled a big smile. “How touching, a mother and the son she abandoned to die, reunited at long last.”
I barely registered her words. “And Rose?” I asked. “Where is she?”
Flynn stepped forward. It was a moment of purest pleasure. My son, alive, so different but so much the same, his reddish hair, made redder by the torch-light, falling over his face, obscuring one eye, as was his habit since he was just a child. And then he killed me.
“She’s dead. Just like she was when you abandoned us! Do you know how long I lay there with her dead body over me, waiting for you to rescue me? Waiting to die? While you ran. Saved yourself and never even looked back.” He spat in my eye. My boy has better spit aim than his mom.
“I’ll do whatever you want! Just don’t hurt him!” I yelled.
“Hurt him?” Jinjur asked, surprised. “Why would we hurt him? He’s a favorite of Queen Mallory. She is grooming him to rule this kingdom as viceroy when he’s of age.”
My head slumped on my chest. “Then what do you want?”
“Oh, you’ll do what we want, Queen Rapunzel. Because all we want is for you to suffer.” She gave me another broad smile and they walked away.
I called his name over and over, but he never stopped, never even looked back.
When he came again, some time later, I called his name over and over as he calmly, almost casually, stripped the skin from my flesh, and he never stopped. I’ve been tortured before, but my Flynn, is the best I’ve ever seen. A mother’s pride knows no limits.
Time passed and he came to see me many times. How long was I there? Bloody and filthy, starving and thirsty. I don’t know. Days? Weeks? Months?
I was asleep, more like passed out, when someone whispered in my ear. “Queen Rapunzel.” And I jolted awake and jumped to my feet, chains rattling. I looked around, in the dark, and saw nothing. I was back on the ground, when I heard it again. Right in my ear. Awake now, I turned my head. It was my friend the rat! But a
A rat came over to investigate me and finding me uninteresting, left. I thought, idly, that one day soon, I would find him more interesting, but not just yet. It’s always best to leave your food alive until the last possible moment. So somebody once told me.
I must have slept, because I woke up. I don’t know how long I was there, in the dungeon time slips away. Once, when I woke I found a bowl of rancid soup placed just within reach. “You live another day.” I told the rat.
I woke to the sound of footsteps in the distance. I counted five individuals. It’s odd, here I was in the dungeon of the witch who had taken everything from me and the general who had betrayed me, killed my children, and all I could think was ‘it’ll be nice to have some visitors’. I resolved to visit Tom again, if I lived through the day.
They marched up to my cell and opened the door. For a moment, I was blinded by the light of their torches. Jinjur, of course, and three troll guards stepped into my cell, the fifth member of their party waited outside.
“We’ll catch your friends, you know.” Said Jinjur. “As soon as I can get Queen Mallory to turn her attention to the matter. She’s so busy you know. What with ten kingdoms to run and that pesky war with Snow White, but someday soon, she’ll have time to look for them and then they’ll be joining you here.”
I didn’t answer. What could I say? She was probably right.
“There’s someone here to see you.” She continued and stepped aside to let the person in the passage come in. A young man I didn’t recognize entered the cell. More a boy really. Maybe it was the dark, or maybe it was the years that had passed, or maybe it was because I’d thought him dead. “Flynn!” I jumped to the limit of my chain! My son! Alive!
He jumped back and hid himself behind Jinjur. She smiled a big smile. “How touching, a mother and the son she abandoned to die, reunited at long last.”
I barely registered her words. “And Rose?” I asked. “Where is she?”
Flynn stepped forward. It was a moment of purest pleasure. My son, alive, so different but so much the same, his reddish hair, made redder by the torch-light, falling over his face, obscuring one eye, as was his habit since he was just a child. And then he killed me.
“She’s dead. Just like she was when you abandoned us! Do you know how long I lay there with her dead body over me, waiting for you to rescue me? Waiting to die? While you ran. Saved yourself and never even looked back.” He spat in my eye. My boy has better spit aim than his mom.
“I’ll do whatever you want! Just don’t hurt him!” I yelled.
“Hurt him?” Jinjur asked, surprised. “Why would we hurt him? He’s a favorite of Queen Mallory. She is grooming him to rule this kingdom as viceroy when he’s of age.”
My head slumped on my chest. “Then what do you want?”
“Oh, you’ll do what we want, Queen Rapunzel. Because all we want is for you to suffer.” She gave me another broad smile and they walked away.
I called his name over and over, but he never stopped, never even looked back.
When he came again, some time later, I called his name over and over as he calmly, almost casually, stripped the skin from my flesh, and he never stopped. I’ve been tortured before, but my Flynn, is the best I’ve ever seen. A mother’s pride knows no limits.
Time passed and he came to see me many times. How long was I there? Bloody and filthy, starving and thirsty. I don’t know. Days? Weeks? Months?
I was asleep, more like passed out, when someone whispered in my ear. “Queen Rapunzel.” And I jolted awake and jumped to my feet, chains rattling. I looked around, in the dark, and saw nothing. I was back on the ground, when I heard it again. Right in my ear. Awake now, I turned my head. It was my friend the rat! But a
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