Touch of Gold: (Rumpelstiltskin) (Tangled Tales Series Book 4) (15 page)

Chapter 20

As if in a daze, Kin headed back toward the solar, unable to think of anything but the gold he’d left behind. He didn’t understand what pulled him there, as he could easily just spin more wool into gold for himself, but somehow it didn’t seem right to leave it all to the greedy baron.

He strode through the courtyard, seeing the block being set up for decapitation. Looking up to the battlements, he realized the heads had already been removed from the spikes and were waiting for two more. He was thankful he’d sent Olivia and her father off to safety.

He sneaked back into the castle, taking the stairs two at a time until he made it to the ladies solar. Bursting into the room, he came to a sudden halt when he saw the baron sitting on a golden chair with his sword on his lap. His men waited with drawn weapons all around him.

“Once I found out you’d left, I knew you’d be back, and so I waited.” The baron said with a menacing smile.

“What makes you think I’d come back here?” asked Kin, his hand quivering above the sword at his side that he’d taken from the guard.

“The gold,” said the baron with a chuckle. “You like it as much as I do, so just admit it.”

“So what?” he asked. “Every man likes gold.”

“But you can’t get enough of it or even stop thinking of it for that matter.” The baron slowly got up off the chair. “You even gave up the girl for the gold, didn’t you?”

“Nay. I sent her to safety.”

“You sent her straight into the hands of my ally, Sheik Yusuf al-Hallaj. As soon as I send word, he’ll bring her right to me. Then you will witness the beheading of both Olivia and her father.”

“Nay! I won’t let you touch the girl.” Kin pulled his sword from his waistbelt and held it up in front of him. The guards started to move, but the baron’s hand shot up in the air and stopped them.

“This is the last time I’m going to ask you, de Bar. Will you work with me and we’ll split everything down the middle, or will I have to take you by force and keep all the gold for myself?”

Kin looked around, realizing he was outnumbered twelve to one. He was good with a sword, but there was no way he could take down all these men before they took him down in return. Still, he had no choice now. He needed to get out of here and get back to the ship to save Olivia. He regretted having left her to come back for the gold.

“I’m done making deals with the devil, Pettigrew.” Kin felt the anger in him rising to the surface. If anything happened to Olivia, he would never forgive himself.

“So that’s how it’s going to be then,” said the baron, nodding to his men. “Take him alive,” he ordered his guards. “And be sure not to harm his hands because I need his touch of gold.”

* * *

Olivia led the way back to the baron’s castle, riding her horse faster than she ever had in her life. Quaid had joined them on the docks and now he and her father followed. With them was the sheik and a good two dozen of the sheik’s men both on horseback as well as on foot. After telling the sheik a lie, Olivia decided she couldn’t just let the man walk out of her life never knowing she was his daughter. And so, she’d told him the entire truth, including everything that had happened with Kin and his curse.

“I hope we’re not too late to help Lord Kin,” said Quaid.

“Olivia,” said the sheik riding to her side. She slowed a little to wait for him. “Thank you for telling me the truth,” he said with a smile. “I somehow have always known you were my daughter.”

The sheik had told her that neither she nor the miller would be punished, and he was happy to know she was his daughter. The sheik had many wives, but Irene had been his favorite mistress, and he’d kept returning to England to find the little girl he’d seen after he discovered that Irene had died.

“I’m sorry I lied, but the miller is the only father I’ve ever known,” she told him. “So in a way it wasn’t a lie. He really is my father.”

“What about this Lord de Bar you want to save?” he asked as they rode. “And is Baron Pettigrew really as greedy and as nasty as you say?”

“I’ve told you everything, and you can decide for yourself,” she said, feeling a knot forming in her stomach.

“Please don’t be angry with me for coupling with your mother,” said the sheik. “You must realize I didn’t know she was married.”

“I know. It was my father’s lies that put everyone is such a situation.”

“In my country it is common for a sheik to have many wives and many children. It might be wrong in your eyes, but to my people it is acceptable.”

“I don’t think I like that,” she said. “I would never want more than one husband.”

“You want Lord de Bar for your husband then. No?”

“Yes, I do. But he has a curse on him that needs to be removed first.”

“A curse? What kind of curse?”

Olivia didn’t want to tell her newfound father too much information. She saw what the greed did to both the baron and Kin, and thought it was better to be vague right now.

“He’s cursed with greed, but he’s not really like that. It’s the fault of an old witch,” was all she told him.

“What can you do about it?” he asked.

“Right now, I don’t know. But I do know that we need to help Kin because he is in trouble.”

Another small army on horseback was seen coming over the hill, and as they came closer, Olivia realized it was Kin’s brother, Arnon, and his men. A big, black wolf led the way. The wolf ran up to them and started growling, and Sheik Yusuf raised his sword, meaning to kill it.

“Nay, please don’t,” she said, reaching from her horse to still his arm. She knew it was Kin’s brother, Wolf, and that he was only protecting her.

“Wolf, it’s all right, the sheik is a friend,” she said to the animal, but it kept growling and snapping its jaws.

“It’s a wolf. I need to kill it,” said the sheik and he might have done so if not for Olivia’s next words.

“Please don’t – Father.”

The man stopped and looked at her and nodded.

“The wolf is a friend of mine,” she told him.

“Then I won’t kill it.” The sheik put his sword away. “Any friend of my daughter’s is a friend of mine.”

Arnon rode up with his men right behind him. “Lady Olivia, are you all right?” he asked, eyeing the sheik.

“Yes,” she told him. “These men are here to help us save Kin.”

“Where is my brother?” asked Arnon.

“He’s back at the castle, and I’m afraid he’s in serious trouble with the baron.”

“Wolf, go ahead and help him,” Arnon said to the wolf. “We’ll be right behind you.”

The wolf howled once and headed off at a run for the castle.

“You have some odd friends, Olivia,” said the sheik.

“No, they are not odd,” she said with a smile. “Just unique.”

They made their way to Castle Tark and rode over the drawbridge and into the courtyard to find all the sentries ready to fight them.

“We’ll take care of them,” said the sheik. “Daughter, go find your beloved one.”

“I’ll go with her to protect her,” said Arnon.

“Me too,” added Quaid, coming to her aid.

“Wolf, sniff out Kin,” Arnon told his brother. Wolf led the way, and they followed the animal up to the ladies solar.

Arnon burst through the door with his sword drawn, and Wolf followed. Quaid stayed by Olivia and watched her back.

“Kin?” Olivia rushed into the room and stopped as soon as she saw all the dead bodies. A dozen of the baron’s soldiers lie prone on the ground, and each one of them had been turned to gold. Kin sat on a chair with his head in his hands, and right in front of him stood the baron – also turned to gold. The baron’s hand was out, and in it was a golden sword.

“Brother, are you all right?” asked Arnon, turning a full circle with his sword raised high in the air, looking for more attackers.

“I killed them all,” said Kin, staring into nothingness with glazed eyes.

“How did you do it? Did you have to touch each one of them?” asked his squire, kicking at some of the men on the floor.

“Yes, what happened, Son?” Lucio de Bar appeared in a puff of smoke and walked toward them across the room. The wolf howled, and curled up into a ball, and shapeshifted back into the form of Kin’s brother. Lucio took off his cape and threw it to Wolf since he was naked in his shapeshifting form.

Kin rocked back and forth on the chair, hugging his arms around him. He still wore the golden gauntlets. “I fought them with my blade, but that got old. Once our swords clashed, each one of them turned to gold,” he said in a rhyming, deep voice.

“Kin, you’re still wearing your gauntlets, so how could that happen?” asked Olivia.

“My greed for gold has consumed me in this twisted game, and yes, Rumpelstiltskin is my name.”

“We know your name, you fool,” spat Arnon. “Kin, what the hell’s the matter with you?”

All of a sudden one of the dead warriors got up and startled everyone. Olivia jumped backward.

“Kill him,” shouted Wolf, wrapping his father’s cape around his naked body.

“I’ll get him,” said Quaid, stepping forward.

“Nay!” Lucio blocked him with his arm. “All right, Hecuba, the game is up. Now release the curse on my son.”

The golden warrior turned into the old witch, and Olivia saw the hand mirror attached to her side. The hag laughed uncontrollably, and Lucio’s face reddened. He held his hands in front of him, and a beam of light came from them, knocking into Hecuba and sending her sprawling across the floor.

“Now, is that any way to treat your ex-lover?” the witch asked.

“Tell us how to break the curse,” Arnon shouted, just as angry as his father.

“Never! I’m having too much fun,” she told them.

“We don’t need her to tell us how to break it,” said Lucio. “I think I know.”

“No, you don’t,” said Hecuba.

“It has to do with those mail gauntlets, doesn’t it?” asked Olivia.

“The gauntlets that no longer protect him from turning things to gold?” asked Quaid.

“That’s right,” said Lucio. “They were the catalyst when she first disintegrated the book of alchemy, so they also have to be the way to end the curse.”

“Damn you,” spat the witch. “Why did you get involved, Lucio?”

“Because these are my boys, Hecuba. And by the way, I want Rapunzel released and returned to me at once.”

“You have no idea what to do with the gauntlets to end the curse, so I’m not worried,” she told them.

“Take off your gauntlets, Kin,” said Lucio.

Kin stood up and removed them from his hands without saying a word.

“Place them on the ground,” continued his father.

“There they are,” said Kin, caressing them fondly as he placed them on the ground.

“Now step away. All of you.” Lucio held out his arms and backed everyone away from the gauntlets, then held his hands forward and beamed what looked like a mixture of fire and light at them.

“Nay,” shouted Hecuba. “You’re ruining everything!”

“This is the end of your curse, old woman” growled Lucio, disintegrating the gauntlets in front of the witch’s eyes.

“The end of one, perhaps, but also the beginning of another.” Hecuba disappeared in a green fog.

Everyone stood looking at the burnt spot on the ground where the chain mail gauntlets used to be.

“Did it work?” asked Quaid, breaking the silence.

“Only one way to find out,” said Lucio. “Kin, touch something and see if it turns to gold.”

Olivia saw Kin swoop his hand over the table and then continue to walk over to his squire.

“Quaid, come here,” said Kin.

“My lord?” Quaid backed away from him.

“I need to see if I still have the golden touch.”

“Kin, don’t!” said Olivia, worried for the boy.

“Olivia, he is my squire,” Kin told her. “He is supposed to put his life on the line for me at all times. Isn’t that right, Quaid?”

“I – I . . . yes, my lord.” Quaid held out his arm, closed his eyes, and turned his head. “Go ahead, Lord Kin. I am ready to do my duty.”

“Kin, don’t play games,” warned Arnon.

“This is one game I hope has ended, but we’re about to find out for sure.” Kin grabbed his squire’s arm with both hands and then pulled him to his chest in a hug, slapping him on the back. He laughed as he did it.

“He’s not turning to gold,” said Wolf.

“The curse indeed is broken,” added Lucio.

“It is?” Quaid opened his eyes slowly and looked at himself. Then a smile spread across his face, and he hugged Kin in return. “It is broken. Welcome back, my lord.”

Everyone laughed, and when Kin pulled away from Quaid, Olivia took his arm and whispered into his ear. “That wasn’t a good thing to do. You might have turned him to gold.”

“Olivia, darling,” he said leaning over to kiss her. “Like I told you more than once before – you need to trust me.” He flipped a coin in the air and caught it, and it was a silver coin, not gold. She realized now that was what he’d scooped off the table and tested his curse on before trying it on his squire. He reached out and caressed her cheek with his palm, and she laid her head against it loving the feel of his actual skin against hers.