Maplepunzel, Part 14

This time, Victor was awake when she came into the room. He sat by the window, eyes still bound with the thick black scarf. The curtains were flung open, letting the warm glow of the late afternoon sun spill over his handsome face. Even the hair he had on the back of his head seemed to glow. 

“Hello?” He looked up at the sound of her footsteps. “Who’s there? Pardon me, but I don’t recall hearing your steps before. Maple?” He climbed off the bench under the window, his hands outstretched as he searched for the source of the footsteps. “Maple, I know you don’t like me to touch you, but I heard someone come in…”

She couldn’t help herself. Victor nearly ended up on the floor when she dropped the tray on the table and ran straight into his arms, giving him the biggest hug she could manage. “I…oh my…” Victor’s face turned a bit red. “I wasn’t expecting such an eager reception. Maple?”

There had to be a way for him to recognize her! She gently sat him down on the window bench, then sat next to him. “Maple?” She took his hand, placing it against her cheek, still smooth other than the jagged red scar that crossed it. “I…you don’t seem like my fiancee. But then again, I’ve suspected from the beginning that something seemed…terribly wrong…with Maple. She hasn’t been herself.” 

Maple tugged at the knot on his blindfold. Pavla sure knew her knots! This was tight! It took a few minutes, but she managed to get it off…and her own eyes widened. The area around Victor’s beautiful whiskey eyes were covered in deep cuts and slashes from the thorns. Unlike her own, they’d been carefully cleaned, but they still remained. The whiskey eyes that once gazed wistfully into her own were also crossed with scars…and they stared straight ahead, not moving, not seeing. 

Oh Victor! She hated to see him this way. How could Pavla be so cruel? “Miss?” He frowned as Maple started to sob, leaning into his chest. “Are you all right? My chest…it’s warm, wet…are you sobbing?” He managed to get his arms around her, holding her, stroking her back. “I apologize that my current appearance is so preposessing. My fiancee claims this is why I wear the blindfold. She fears the state of my eyes may frighten our wedding guests.”

She gritted her teeth. He didn’t look that bad to her! Ok, he was a little torn up now. So was she. They weren’t all that different. She grabbed his hand and let him touch her own scarred cheeks. 

“So you also possess scars. Did you fall into thorns, too?” Maple shook her head and pulled out the ring, the garnet engagement ring that Victor gave her back at the tower, out of her pocket. She pushed it into Victor’s palm, letting his fingers curl over it. “You…this is a ring…could it be…” Maple nodded eagerly as his fingers ran over it, inspecting every flower and letter etched onto it, rubbing the glittering dark garnet. “Is this the ring I gave my fiancee? In all the time I’ve been here, she never once mentioned it.”

Her fingers groped for his again, placing them against her cheek. “You…” He stroked it, around her nose and down her neck. “You…Maple…is this you? The real you?” She let his fingers go to her beaming lips…but her smile fell when they reached her short red hair. It had grown out a bit since Pavla chopped it off, but it still didn’t reach her chin, let alone the floor. 

“Maple…your hair…” Victor’s voice deepened in fury. “Pavla, your guardian. I remember now. You told me the longer it was, the more powerful it would be. She must have chopped off your tresses to eliminate that source of power.” 

Maple nodded angrily, moving his fingers down to stroke her throat. “You…your throat…” His voice was the angriest she’d ever heard it. “She stole your voice too, didn’t she? That’s why you’re not speaking to me.” His true fiancee nodded again, harder, faster. “She…she’s the woman who’s here, isn’t she? Pavla took your voice, so she could fool me, my parents, and everyone in Wennaria.” 

They didn’t have much time to waste. Someone had to help her figure out what to do about Abernathy, Brumpton, and the coffee. She grabbed the coffee cup and shoved it into his hand, but covered it before he could drink it. He sniffed it. “It’s the coffee everyone in the castle has been gulping down, including me. Pavla has insisted it would aid in calming my nerves. I suspect she has ulterior motives for desiring my ingesting this brew.” 

Her fingers pushed the cup to his nose, almost scalding his nose with the hot brown brew! “Careful, Maple! You came perilously close to burning off my remaining nose!” He sniffed at the coffee, frowning. “You’re right. I may be incapable of seeing at the present time, but my nostrils are functioning at full capacity. I smell herbal notes mixed in with the coffee. Possibly some kind of sedative.” He managed to narrow his empty eyes in fury. “She’s not only drugging me, but everyone in this castle for some nefarious purpose.” 

That was when she heard footsteps and her own voice ordering the busboys to be careful with her boxes from town. “That’s her.” Victor placed the cup back on the tray and groped for Maple’s arms. Maple blushed and grinned a little at the part of her chest where his hands ended up. “Um,” Victor turned beet red as he felt around her chest and pulled his hands away like he’d been stung, “I swear I didn’t mean to accost you like that. We’ll save that for another time, when I can see to make love to you.” Maple shrugged and grinned. She kind of liked it. 

Pavla swished in the door just as Maple rolled under the bed. Victor sat down on the bed so quickly, he almost missed it and had to grab hold of it to keep from ending up on the floor. “Hey, sweetheart, you ok?” Pavla cooed. “Don’t wanna hurt your cute lil’ rear.” 

“Oh, I’m just fine.” Maple peered out. She could only see the bottoms of feet and shoes, but Victor’s beautiful, deep voice came in loud and clear. “Maple, what happened to the engagement ring I gave you? The one from my parents?”

“Ring?” She was able to crane her head enough to look upwards and see Pavla give him a slightly confused look. “What ring?”

“The engagement ring. I gave it to you right before I…” His voice stopped, hesitant, then continued. “Well, I gave it to you two months ago. It was a very special and expensive family heirloom. You don’t remember?”

“Well,” Pavla chuckled, “sure I do, hon! I mean, how could I forget somethin’ like that? I just don’t have it on me right now.” Pavla darted to the wide-open window, wrinkling her perfect nose. “Who opened this? There’s too much sunlight in here! You might catch a cold, hon!”

“Leave it alone.” Victor stumbled as he reached for her hand. “I have not felt the sun on my face or the wind in…what hair I have…in weeks. I merely desired fresh air and sunlight. You have me isolated in this room. I haven’t even spoken to my parents.”

“It’s for your own good.” Pavla closed the windows again. “Don’t want ya catchin’ cold before our weddin’. We’re gonna get married tomorrow mornin’, ya know! It’s gonna be the biggest cera-money of the year! It wouldn’t be right if the groom got sick an’ couldn’t make it.”

“Maple,” Victor groped for her arm, holding her to the window, “I want it open. It’s better when I can feel the sunlight. It makes me feel more alive, and I enjoy hearing the bird song.” He waved a hand behind his back at Maple. She raised an eyebrow at the signals as he pointed in the direction of the door. 

“I don’t like the bird song,” Pavla whined as she threw her hand over her ears. “All that trillin’ hurts my ears. Give me a good crow song any day. They know how to make music, not all that silliness!” Eugenia just kept trilling as loudly as she could, trying to distract Pavla. “Ugh! Honey, when we get married, that’s the first thing we gotta get rid of. It’s too noisy around here. Where I come from, the only noise ya hear are the chains rattlin’ and the Army marchin’ first thing in the mornin’.”

Victor gave her a small smile. “If it offends you so much, you can leave. I’m sure you have many things to attend to with our wedding.” His peach lips turned down. “You’ve barely let me handle any of them. I may be blind, Maple, but I haven’t lost my ability to command. I want to have some say in this wedding, too.”

She stroked the back of his neck. “Don’t be silly! I know best, sweetheart. You run the kingdom. I’ll do the thinkin’ for us.”

He pushed her hand away, glaring as best he could with his damaged whiskey orbs. “Not only am I capable of running a kingdom, with or without my eyes, I’m also capable of planning a wedding. I want to see my parents. I haven’t spoken to them once since we arrived. Why have you been keeping them from me?”

“What about me, hon?” Maple winced at Pavla’s whining as she ran a finger down his cheek. “Don’t I mean somethin’ to you, too? After all I’m your a-fianced, and…”

He shoved her away again, harder this time. She almost ended up in the wall. “Get my parents, Maple. Now. That’s an order from your husband-to-be.”

“You don’t give me orders! You ain’t my husband yet.” Pavla reached for the coffee cup. “Have you drunk this yet? You know it helps steady your nerves. That’s all you need. Just some good nerve steadyin’. Everyone in the castle is drinkin’ it, an’ they like it!”

He grabbed the bed canopy to keep from stumbling into her. “Everyone in the castle is passing out. Maple, I want my parents. Now. Or you will be banned from this room until the wedding.”

“What happened to your blindfold?” Pavla tried to reach for the scars around his eyes. “You can’t let people see that. They might get the wrong idea…”

This time, he was too fast for her. “I don’t need the blindfold. I need my parents.” 

“Oh, fine.” Maple could see Pavla’s feet flouncing to the door. “I see you care more about them than about your own fiancee. You’re too smart for your own good sometimes, Vic. Maybe I oughtta do somethin’ about that.” 

Maple dove out from under the bed the moment Pavla left, sneezing like crazy. “Geshundheit.” Victor groped for a handkerchief. “We’ll need to dust under there once all of this is done.” He handed it to her. She blew into it, long and loud. “I didn’t know there was that much dust under there!” 

She gave him a grateful smile and squeezed his hand. “Thank you, Maple.” His fingers found hers, squeezing them back. “I’m eternally grateful to you for exposing her ruse. There’s a reason I wanted my parents here. I’m hoping they’re still lucid. Father isn’t supposed to drink coffee anyway. It really is bad for his nerves. And Mother’s one of the most intelligent women I know. She may have figured out Pavla’s scheme already.”

Queen Gertrude and King Thomas hurried in seconds later. “Victor?” Gertie grinned at her son and enveloped him in a huge hug. “I’m so glad to see you acting more like yourself!”

Victor touched her aged cheeks with a gentle smile. “I’ve missed you, Mother.” He reached over to touch his father’s cheek and soft white hair. “You too, Father. I’ve wanted to talk to you, but I’ve been under the influence of that harridan who claims she’s my fiancee.” 

“She isn’t?” Gertie smirked. “I knew there was something phoney about her from the moment I set eyes on her. You talked all summer about how sweet and kind your fiancee was. She’s been nothing but a terror to everyone who didn’t wear a crown or have some kind of power ever since she came.” 

King Thomas’ face fell. “If that lovely lady isn’t the lady you want to marry, who is?”

Victor managed to grope and find Maple’s arm. “Mother, Father, I want you to meet the real Maple Rapunzel, my true fiancee. Maple, these are my parents, the people I’m fighting to save our kingdom for.”

“We’ve already met.” Gertie grinned. “Looks like my son picked the right girl to marry after all. I knew I liked you, my dear!” Her eyes widened in delight as Victor fumbled, finally getting the ring on Maple’s finger. “Is that…she didn’t have it, did she? Our family’s ring. The one Tom gave me for our engagement.”

“It is. I gave it to Maple.” He gave a shy peach smile to a wall. Maple gently turned his head to her. “And now, she can wear it to our wedding.” 

King Thomas’ gentle, wise face fell. “But what about the lady who says she’s Maple? You can’t marry two ladies at the same time! It isn’t decent.”

Gertie made a face. “Not to mention that coffee they keep plying everyone with. And there’s the wedding tomorrow.” 

Maple squeezed Victor’s hand again. He squeezed it back with a grin that was so intense, it nearly scared her. “Maple, I want you to get Woodsman Sherwood. We’ll need him on this. Perhaps Mackie and a few of the other servants as well. We must plan together if we’re to foil Pavla before she gets her hands and foul creatures on this kingdom.”