Golden Braids and Dragon Blades: Steampunk Rapunzel

Chapter 6: Petticoats and Pendragons

I brewed a fresh pot of tea and sat in a chair opposite the stranger. Estrid kept one eye on the man while she dozed. Luna had taken up a more cautious position inside an unused teapot on the shelf opposite. I sipped my tea as I rolled the piece of metal that had been in the man’s device around in my hand. It was exactly like Mother’s. How had he come by it? For that matter, what even was it? And why did it glow blue every time I touched it?

Lifting my teacup, I took a sip. I gazed toward the cave entrance. It was that hazy gray color it gets right before the sun rises. Wink wasn’t back yet. My stomach tied into a knot. Had I endangered her as well by sending her to get help?

I set down my cup and lined up the various weapons I had lying on the table beside me: a fire iron, a butcher knife, a cast iron pan, and my pointiest hairpin.

I examined the sliver of metal. It didn’t really have any definitive shape. I looked it over, searching for any markings, but there were none.

Frowning, I set it back down. Miss Austen’s book sat on the table. It called to me, tantalizing me with its unanswered secrets. Would Mister Darcy return? Would Elizabeth realize she was in love with him? Would they both stop being so stubborn?

I looked away from the book. It would have to wait. I picked up the mysterious shard once more.

“It’s a piece of metal.”

I turned to see the man staring at me. He hadn’t moved at all. In fact, he looked far too comfortable lying there under my quilt, his head on my pillow. He had a soft, friendly expression on his face. Despite his kind appearance, his badge told a far different tale.

“I know it’s a piece of metal,” I said.

He cast a glance up at Estrid, who was watching him carefully. She, in turn, cast a glance at me: fireball him or no, her eyes asked.

I shook my head.

The stranger watched our exchange. “Okay if I sit up?” he asked.

“Sit up, yes. Get up, no.”

“Understood,” he said then cast a smile at Estrid who glared menacingly at him. He flexed his eyebrows in surprise then shook his head. “I don’t suppose I could have some water? I have an odd taste in my mouth.” He sucked in his lips and gave his head a shake. “Probably the dragon breath.”

“It wasn’t her breath. It was butterfly dragon fire,” I said. “Water or tea?”

“A spot of tea would be lovely.”

“When I get up, don’t try anything stupid or Estrid will roast you for dinner. Understood?"

“Understood. Message loud and clear, Estrid,” he said, saluting my little dragon who flattened her ears at the sound of a stranger using her name. She puffed a little cloud of fire at him. The stranger rubbed the back of his head. “I see. Not on a first name basis yet. Got it.”

I went to the fireplace and lifted the teapot. Pulling down a cup and saucer, I poured the man some tea.

“How about you? You have a name?” the stranger asked me.

“Not one that you need to know,” I replied tartly. I envisioned Elizabeth Bennet grinning approvingly at me. “And you, Mister Dragon Hunter? A name?”

“Dragon hunter is a bit of a misnomer. Ewan…Ewan Goodwin.”

“Tea or honey, Mister Goodwin?”

“Neither.”

Willing my hands to stay still, I carried the cup of tea to him. As I approached, I saw him look me over. Good lord, I hadn’t even thought to put any clothes on. There I was in a corset and petticoat serving tea to a man who had probably come to kill me. Looking respectfully away from my mostly underdressed form, his gaze went to my hair and then to my eyes. He stared at my eyes, his gaze lingering far too long.

The teacup in my hand started to rattle.

“Here you are, Mister Goodwin,” I said politely, handing him the cup.

“Thank you.” He took the cup, his dark brown eyes still fixed on mine.

I went to the other side of the room and lifted a shawl hanging on a peg in the cave wall. I draped it over my shoulders, covering my bare arms and chest. My stomach twisted with both fear and embarrassment. If Mother were here, she could merely tap my gown and shift it into something proper. Me, well, a shawl and my hair would have to do.

I pushed my long braid over my shoulder and down my chest then went and sat opposite the stranger once more.

“So, Mister Goodwin,” I began, picking up my teacup. “Have you come to kill me?”

“Well—” He lifted his finger while he took a sip. “Good tea. Thank you again. Well, you aren’t quite what I was expecting to find. And I wasn’t expecting them at all,” he said, looking from Estrid to Luna. “Where is the third one? The one with the bad breath?”

I frowned at him. “That was butterfly dragon fire. I told you that already. Never mind where she is. And now?”

“Now what?”

“And now, are you going to kill me?”

“And now, you are a pretty young lady all by yourself, not a dragon-blooded thug. Also, I have no idea what to do about the actual dragons since, you know, they aren’t supposed to exist. Besides, I’m rather certain Estrid will roast me alive if I even look at you sideways, so…”

I lifted the brooch he’d been wearing. “What’s this?”

“That,” he said, glancing down at his chest then back, “is my badge. Did you take it off me?”

“But what is it?”

He sipped again. “I am a member of the Red Cape Society, a special branch of Her Majesty’s secret service. I’m a Pellinore, and that’s my badge.”

“A Pellinore.”

“Exactly.”

“Like King Pellinore? The Knight of the Questing Beast? Otherwise known as a dragon hunter?” I asked, tapping his badge.

“Well, sort of.”

“Do you hunt dragons?”

“I hunt dragon bloods.”

“Dragon bloods?”

“You know, the blood of the dragon—I mean, of course, they don’t actually shift into dragons, but they carry the blood of Pendragon, which gives them extra-human strength, fiery red eyes, occasionally a little firepower from the fingers—always getting themselves in trouble with the law. Generally thugs and bruisers, not a dainty thing like you. I was tracking one through Cornwall, followed him to a carriage station not far from here, a big lug who is always up to no good. No idea what he was doing this far away from London, but I suspected he was planning something awful, so I was following him. But my machine,” he said, motioning to the broken device lying on the table, “went mad and led me to you instead. Of course, I’ve never seen a female dragon blood before. You aren’t supposed to exist. Unless… Well, that’s impossible. So, yeah. That’s my story. I came here to arrest a dragon blood and instead, I found you and this cute—but very deadly—little brood instead. And that catches us up to now. And your name again?”

“Never said.”

“Right. So, I see that shard glows blue when you touch it.”

“The metal,” I said, picking it up again.

“Yes. The metal.”

“This metal powered your device? It led you to me?”

“Indeed it did.”

“Are there more machines like this?”

“Um, no. That one was special. Irreplaceable, in fact. So there’s that.”

“And this…metal. Are there other pieces of metal like this?”

“Also no.”

“Then why do you have it?”

“That’s complicated.”

“Okay,” I said then rolled the metal around in my hand once more. “What is it?”

“Metal. I think we have already established that.”

“Right. But it’s not just any metal, is it?”

“Also complicated.”

I frowned then looked up at him. “My name is Rapunzel…Rapunzel Pendragon.”

“The metal is a shard from the sword Excalibur, enchanted by Merlin, and bound to the blood of Pendragon. In other words, to you.”