Page 19

CHAPTER 19

I jerked awake when Pollox rose suddenly, head raised and alert. “Wake up,” he told me. “There’s someone at the tower. Quick, into the wardrobe. I’ll give you some extra time; try to get some information about how your people are doing when you escape this time.” He nudged me with his snout. “I’ll make sure they don’t take you too far.”

Still bleary-eyed, I stumbled out of our treasure room and wrenched open the wardrobe door. One stomach-dropping moment later, I hopped out in my tower room and ran to the balcony, where I heard a familiar voice shouting my name in the weak morning light.

“Griffin!” He had come alone this time, with a great deal of rope looped around his shoulder. He tried to call up to me, but the whistling wind carried his voice away so his words were lost. I threw my hands out to signal my confusion, and he mimed for me to move back. I did so and just like the previous time, he shot an arrow with a thin, strong twine attached.

It took him four tries before I was able to step on the arrow quickly enough to prevent the weight of the twine pulling it back off the balcony.

“Pull!”

I began to tug on the twine, and partway down, a small note was attached. I wrapped the twine securely around my hand and took a moment to unfurl and read the note.

Ingenious. Much safer than clinging like some leech to the back of a knight I hoped was strong enough to support us both. I pulled up the rope. It was difficult at first, but as I let the rope fall back to the ground, the counterweight made it progressively easier. Down below, Griffin waited with outstretched arms for the rope’s return. He caught hold of it and began pulling so that I didn’t have to do anything but wait for the harness and make sure to catch it so it didn’t slither back down like the rest of the rope.

But no, Griffin had thought of everything. He had bound a thick, cross-shaped stick to the end that acted like a grappling hook to stop the rope when the harness reached the top. I inspected the harness. Even there, Griffin had labeled each loop with things like Insert right leg here and wrap this around your waist and fasten above your left leg.

Who needed rippling muscles when wit and ingenuity were so much more seductive? A mind as sharp as his could cut through barriers no blade ever could. This was a man who truly was a match for a dragon.

After strapping myself into the harness, I looked over the edge and felt dizzy from fear. My desire to trust Griffin quailed as the long drop stared back at me and the rope attached to the harness suddenly felt very loose indeed.

I looked at Griffin, who had secured the rope’s other end to the horse’s saddle horn.

“You can do it!” he called encouragingly.

“I’m scared!” I shouted back, waving the rope to show the line’s slack. What if when I dropped from the balcony, the rope broke or the knot attaching it to the horse came loose? At least with Pollox, I knew he could remain airborne.

Griffin backed the horse up so I felt the rope go taut. I ignored how sweaty my palms had become and swung my legs over the balcony’s railing. It was a very long way down. After quadruple-checking that the rope was still securely fastened around the railings so I wouldn’t plummet to my death, I gripped the sides and gently lowered myself until I was supported by only my hands. The rope still did not feel secure enough.

Down below, Griffin called, “Rapunzel, trust me!”

Could I trust Griffin? Would he keep me safe?

I let go.

My squeak of fear was cut short as the rope caught and held fast a few feet below the balcony’s railing. Relief coursed through me. I felt just as secure as when Pollox flew me around. Griffin coaxed his horse to slowly step closer to the tower so that I was gently lowered. I managed to push off the tower’s wall with my feet, avoiding hitting my back or head against the stone.

“You’re doing great!” Griffin called up to me. “Almost there!”

Soon, I felt his hands slide up my sides, one arm wrapping around my waist while the other tucked under my knees while his horse stood at attention, ears pricked forward and waiting for the next command.

I draped my arm around his shoulders, slightly crowded by the quiver of arrows strapped to his back. At least this time, I didn’t look as though I’d crawled through all of Rookwyn’s underbrush like I had after Drake’s “rescue.”

“You did it,” Griffin breathed into my ear, holding me close to his chest. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m…great. You thought of everything.”

“That’s my chess motto—three steps ahead.” His eyes flicked down once to my mouth then with a start, he set me down and began helping me unfasten the harness straps. “We need to hurry. I don’t know how long we have before the dragon comes back.”

My brain seemed to have jammed. “Right. We should get back.”

He rolled the rope and harness and shoved it into a saddlebag before lifting me up to sit on the saddle and swinging up behind me. His horse set off, cantering along the path back to Donover.

“I sent away for an amulet that’s supposed to make someone temporarily weightless,” Griffin called loudly as we wound our way through the forest. “I intended to use that to help you, but I also didn’t want to wait.”

“The harness was a smart idea,” I called back. “I’m glad you thought of it.”

The path shrank so it was barely visible beneath the vegetation, and Griffin slowed his horse to a trot. “Did you use the dragonsbane?”

I felt where I always kept his gift in my pocket and withdrew it to show him before replacing it. “No. I didn’t think it would do any good to weaken the dragon if I had no means to kill him.”

“Smart plan. It isn’t something that should be squandered, and if we have it with us, we might be able to kill the dragon today if he comes after you.”

My stomach lurched unpleasantly. Should I have told Pollox about it?

“Your father sent out a proclamation expanding his original offer,” Griffin went on, his lips close to my ear. “Anyone who rescues you, regardless of station, would get your hand in marriage.” I felt acutely aware of my back pressing against his chest as we sat on the horse together. Pollox had been right to question my motives—I did want to be held.

“So that means…”

“If we make it back safely and you’ll have me, we could get married. Hopefully a married woman is less appealing to a dragon.”

“Oh.” Of course I’d fantasized about Griffin from time to time, but the prospect of actually marrying a man I barely knew had me balking.

“I even wrote up a letter we can send. Here, take the reins.” Griffin shifted the reins to me and leaned over to dig in a saddle pocket. “It states that you’re safe and that I rescued you. Prince Ijor had plans to come this afternoon, and I didn’t want him to send a carrier pigeon ahead to claim that he was the one who saved you. I don’t think my word will hold up against a prince and I know your father would prefer him, but…quite selfishly, I want to marry you.”

I wished I could see his face as he said those words. “I would prefer you over Prince Ijor as well,” I admitted quietly, keeping my gaze fixed forward.

Griffin’s arms reached back around me to reclaim the reins and he handed me a paper. I stared at it. He had drafted a very eloquent letter saying that he had succeeded in rescuing me and had pre-signed his name at the bottom, next to an empty space that was meant for my signature.

Was I ready for such a commitment? He clearly was. I held the paper in front of me, pretending to read it, but my gaze drifted. There was the dry riverbed where I’d been thrown off the horse more than a month ago, and there that log where I’d swallowed a fly on accident. This rescue was much more successful, so why did I feel so empty?

Griffin pulled the horse to a standstill just as Donover’s castle became barely visible through the tree line.

“You’ve been very quiet,” he ventured, his hand gently grazing my side from behind. “I wasn’t trying to pressure you before, I hope you know that.”

“I know,” I said, pivoting so I could face him better. “It’s just sudden, and even though I know the goal is to rescue me, I don’t like feeling like I’m owed to whatever man?—”

Griffin paled and began stammering. “O-o-of course not! No, no, I didn’t mean to…to give you that impression at all! I’m so sorry. I just…” Color returned to his cheeks as he blushed. “I overheard someone talking about how it would be easy to…hold on, I need to phrase that better. Some men think it’s impossible to rescue you.” He raised his eyebrows meaningfully, but I was lost.

“I don’t understand.”

He sighed heavily. “I don’t want to frighten you, but a few knights were talking and said that if you died during a rescue attempt, it would be easy to persuade your father to give the kingdom to the prince they serve, who in turn had promised them financial favors, and I don’t want that to happen to you.”

Chills exploded all over my body. Of course they would be getting frustrated with the lack of success and want to solve the issue. My captivity had dragged out for months. And as I was the only heir to the throne, without me there, Father would be likely to sign a treaty to join our small kingdom with a larger, wealthier one. I was no longer a means to more power; I was an obstacle, and I was expendable.

“You don’t have to marry me if you don’t want to,” Griffin hurried on. “The signature is just to show that it was me who rescued you and not someone else. I can’t bear the thought of someone trying to…you know.”

“Of course I’ll sign. Do you have a quill or something?” Here was the main difference between Griffin and Pollox. Pollox sometimes got jealous and possessive and didn’t want me to leave his hoard. Griffin, however, appreciated my independence as a person and left the decision up to me. I signed and stared, unsettled, at my name on the paper. It wasn’t finalized; I still had the option not to marry Griffin if I decided I didn’t want to.

“I want you to be safe,” Griffin told me, carefully rolling the parchment back up and tucking it back into his sack. “Ready to go on?”

“Yes.”

The horse walked forward into the vast meadow between the forest and the drawbridge, and my mind was so filled with thoughts about what a future with Griffin would look like that I didn’t register the sounds coming from above until an alarm gong rang out at Donover castle.

“The dragon! It’s coming!” one of the guards shouted.

I whirled around and stared up. Pollox was circling the castle, long neck stretched out as he searched for me.

“The dragonsbane! Give it to me!” Griffin ordered. His gentleness had evaporated, replaced by a crisp, decisive tone that was perfect for battle.

I hesitated. What was he planning to do with it? Pollox was my best friend. Even if he was a little overprotective of me sometimes, I certainly didn’t ever want to see him harmed.

Griffin didn’t wait. He ripped it from my pocket and wrenched an arrow from his quiver. In the brief moment before he plunged the arrow’s tip into the pouch of dragonsbane, I noticed that the arrowhead was strangely shaped, almost like it was partially hollowed out, perfect to pour a lethal powder into. With a motion like one would use when stirring a drink, Griffin nocked the arrow and pointed it upward. Panic for Pollox set in. How dangerous was it to a dragon? If he was weakened here, there was an entire army within Donover’s walls. Pollox would be killed.

“Stop!” I pulled on Griffin’s arm as he released the arrow, causing it to fly astray. Instead of hitting Pollox, it simply got his attention, and he dove down to land just as Griffin swilled another arrow into the pouch of dragonsbane.

“Stay back, Rapunzel!” Griffin shouted, shrugging me off and taking aim again.

I wrenched the dragonsbane away from him and threw it into the forest. “Don’t hurt him!”

Pollox’s tail shot out to wrap around my waist. “She is mine, ” he growled at Griffin, and took off. As we soared upward, I heard a mighty twang and a moment later, Pollox let out a scream of agony.