Merida awoke. She knew how she had died. Did that make any difference? Of course it did. Besides, she had seen the necklace that Mor'Du had torn off of her... It was in the castle...

Merida looked down. She was still in that blasted cage. Well, she would have to do something about that, wouldn't she. 

Gothel sat in a chair next to Rapunzel, whose hair was a light brown now. That hair was still in two braids, and one of them was in the shadows.

Gothel started singing that creepy song about flowers, and Rapunzel's hair started to glow. Merida looked over at where her two friends were. Both were asleep.

Merida looked up, and saw that several Nightmares were hanging by the chains that held the cage up. No... They were  the chains. That would prove problematic. 

Gothel ended the song, and Rapunzel's hair was now a slightly darker brown. Merida eyed the stone. Jack's staff was there, along with her and Hiccup's weapons. Rapunzel's satchel was nowhere to be found. 

Merida knew that she had to get her friends out of this mess, for, she had kind of put them in it in the first place. She had no plan, no means of escape, but the one thing that she did have was hope. And she knew that it would get her far enough.

She had  to get down there. It was the only way to do... well, anything.

Merida feigned sleep as she watched things unfold through almost-closed eyelids.

* * * 

Six hours. That's how long it took for Rapunzel's hair to recharge, anyway. It was back at it's mousy brown, but when Gothel started singing, it stayed the darker shade of brown.

They're using up all of her power, Merida thought. To do what?

Gothel waved her hand, and a Nightmare unlocked Merida's cage and none-to-softly carried her down to the stone floor. She was forced to kneel at the edge of the shadows again.

"Do you know who I am," they rasped.

Merida didn't want to say it, but she knew. "Pitch Black," she whispered.

The shadows cackled, as if amused by her accusation. "Indeed I am," Pitch said. "Look at what I have become. A mere three years has sapped my strength more than a thousand ever would. All because of that little sprite in  the cage above. Do you see him? Yes, the one they call Jack Frost."  He spat the name out as if it was poison. "But no matter. I have moved on from him, you see. Indeed, I have moved on from all of you, which is why I am going to let you go."

"What about Rapunzel?" Merida asked.

"Rapunzel? Oh, she stays here, but when her usefulness is done for, then she, like the three of you (and your animals too), will also be let go."

"When will that be?"

"When I have sufficient life force to destroy the ones that call themselves Guardians. But, as you are not a Guardian, then my quarrel is not with your or your friends."

"Then why keep Rapunzel, if your quarrel is not with her?"

"I already -- Oh. I see. You see, Monegunda needs to settle a score with dear Rapunzel."

"That's seriously Gothel's first name? Monegunda?"

"This conversation is... different," Pitch said. "From our last one. You left weeping and sobbing. What's so different..."

Merida realized with a shock that she wasn't scared of the bogeyman any longer. Not in the way that he was used to, at least. I'm... without fear of him, she thought with wonder. In this aspect, I'm fearless.

"Maybe I've had a change of heart," Merida said truthfully. 

"Yes... that must be it..."

Merida moved her foot back until she had caught hold of her bow. She smiled inwardly.

"...you were quite loud up there, crying your eyes out, unless..." He haltered. "Sola," he breathed. "That meddling little witch... She claimed you, didn't sh--"

Pitch Black never finished his thought. Merida grasped her bow, and swung it in the shadows, and she heard a dull thud, and she smiled. A good, sturdy bow made from European Yew could do wonders for a thick skull.

Merida lept to her feet and grabbed the other things, and called on the South Wind.

Wind? she said in her mind.

Yes, Princess?

Merida was so stunned that she almost dropped Jack's staff.

Um... Can you take me up to the cages up there?

As you wish, Princess.

A warm, south wind lifted her in the air, being very careful about her skirt. She grabbed onto Jack's cage, the crosshatched bars perfect for gripping. Stay, Merida commanded. I might need you.

Maneuvering the things in her hands, she poked Jack with his stick.

"Frosty," she said. "Take it, while Pitch is distracted."

Jack looked at her, and cocked a grin. "Who knew that princesses were so good at getting stuff?"

Merida smacked him with his staff until he grabbed onto it. She jumped to Hiccup's cage.

"Hiccup," she said, but stopped. Nightmares were snorting and stomping the ground beneath her, and she got a sudden sense of vertigo. 

Gothel walked right beneath Merida, as green fog came from her cape. "My revenge will be sweet!" she yelled up. 

"Fat chance!" Merida yelled down, and started fiddling with Hiccup's tube-thing. She found a switch, clicked it, and a rough, metal outline of a sword popped out. "Huh. I wonder..."

She clicked another switch, and the thing burst into flames. "Ah!" Merida said, almost dropping everything. She then got an idea. A really stupid idea.

She touched the flame-sword to the bars, and they started melting. She smiled, and slowly moved the sword down.

"Need some help, Princess?" Jack asked, floating a few feet away from her. He touched his staff to the bars just as Hiccup finally decided to help.

"Tell him to stand back. This might hurt if he gets too close," said Jack, heavily concentrated. He closed his eyes, and the cage froze. 

"Jack..." Hiccup warned, but Jack didn't listen. Raising his staff above his head, the staff came swooping down and hit the cage with a resounding crack.

They all stared at Jack for a few moments, then spiderweb cracks spread out from where the staff hit the cage, then it all broke apart. Hiccup fell through the air, and where then Nightmares and Gothel's fog waited. The Nightmares dog piled on Hiccup.

Merida and Jack looked at each other, and both calling on their respective winds, flew down to where Gothel and the Nightmares waited. 

Merida and Jack started choking on the fog. 

"I am not just the bringer of dust!" Gothel called out. "I am the clouder of minds, the bringer of doubt!"

"Please tell me that you don't have a plan," Jack choked out.

"Why on earth would I have a plan?"

Jack smiled, and together, him and Merida slashed through the fog. Jack with his staff, Merida with Hiccup's flaming sword, until them and their winds had Gothel surrounded. 

"Do you know what happens," Jack said, "when a north and south wind form up, Dust Lady?"

Gothel shook her head.

"Pity, you should know."

Him and Merida combined their winds, until a black cone shape formed above Gothel's head. 

"No," she whispered, but it was too late. Merida directed the South Wind upwards, while Jack directed the North Wind downwards, creating a tornado. It swept Gothel off of her feet, and through the skylight, slowly turning to her to dust.

Jack and Merida grinned at each other, then went to go and help Hiccup.

He was fine, once Merida gave him back his flame-sword, which he called the Dragon Blade.

"I'll admit," he said once the Nightmares were just black sand on the ground, "that tornado thing that you two did, that was pretty cool."

"Aye, and it took a lot of effort, too," Merida said. She was out of breath. This 'escape' and 'rescue' was not going too well. 

"You don't think that I expected that?" Pitch's voice boomed in the chamber. "From the moment that I knew that Merida was no longer scared of me, I knew that she would try something."

"Yeah, like get us and Rapunzel out of here," Jack said, pointing his staff into the shadows. Except, they weren't where they used to be.

"Oh, Jack. So noble, so willing to give anything for the sake of your friends. But are you one of them?"

"Aye," said Merida loudly. "He's as good a friend as any."

"Well, I guess that this tactic is not going to work. I think that I'm going to call the Mara."

"You think that we're scared of a little teenage goblin?" Hiccup asked.

Pitch sighed. "She did tell you her powers. And I'll give you three guesses to who is currently sleeping right now."

Jack's blue eyes widened. "Rapunzel," he mouthed. 

The Mara strolled into view, eating chocolates, her T-shirt ruined. "You called me, Boss?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact I did. I want you to use your abilities."

"Boss, but everyone's asl--"

"Not everyone."

The Mara's eyes widened, and she dropped her chocolates to sit on Rapunzel's chest.

"It's why I eat so much," the Mara explained. "It helps me to crush their lungs to that they can't breathe. And when I get close like this..." the Mara moved to that her nose was touching Rapunzel's, "the very dreams that they are dreaming are turned to nightmares by my breath. But, because that she is already having nightmares, well, let's just say that it's not good for her."

Merida and Hiccup had to hold Jack back.

"Now, if you don't leave, then the Mara will have no choice but to kill Rapunzel."

"You can't do that! She's neutral!" Jack yelled, almost to the point of screaming. 

"But so is the Mara. She calls me boss, but if I fall asleep in her presence, she will be more than happy to turn my dreams into nightmares. She would do it to anyone."

"Yup. That way, I don't get yelled at for playing favorites by Mom Nature," the Mara said, her voice all nasally. 

"You can't do this!"Jack yelled, his throat probably really sore by now. 

"I am offering you a deal, Frost," Pitch said, his voice turing to business. "Leave, and her life will be spared. Stay, and she dies. I can find other ways of regaining my strength."

Jack sank to his knees. Merida couldn't believe what she was hearing. Either way, Pitch won.

"Hiccup," she said. "What do ye think?"

"Me?" Hiccup said. "I... I mean..." he looked down at Jack, then at Rapunzel, her movements growing more frantic, her breathing going ragged. "I'm sorry, Jack. We'll leave. But make sure that the Mara gets off before we do."

"How can I trust youth do as you say?" Pitch asked.

Hiccup held his chin high. "You have my word, Pitch, and that's all that I can offer you of worth. My word, or Rapunzel dies anyway."

Jack looked at Hiccup.

"It's the right choice, Frost," Merida said. 

"I know, Princess," Jack said, standing up. "It's just that it feels wrong."

"It's the choice between two evils," Hiccup said. "We just chose the lesser one."

Jack looked at Hiccup, his eyes pink. "Are you sure?"

The Mara got off.

"I am holding you to your word, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III," Pitch said. 

"And you will have it."

Hiccup lead the way out, and Toothless' and Björn's cages opened, and they hopped down. Merida climbed onto the black bear. Jack looked back at the sleeping Rapunzel, chained to the rock.

"I will come back for you," he whispered. "I promise."

End of Book One