The Golden Braid Read Online Free PDF Page A

trees overhead, Rapunzel’s eyes began to feel heavy. When she opened them, the sun was sinking low. Soon it would be dark and they would be forced to stop for the night.
    The knight slowed his pace until he was beside her on his horse. “Are you well?”
    The expression on his face was pained. Did it bother him to have to speak to a peasant girl? Or was he sincerely concerned?
    â€œYes, I thank you.” She glanced over her shoulder. Her mother was watching them.
    He must have noticed, too, because without so much as a nod, he turned to face forward.
    She studied him out of the corner of her eye. Had he been to distant lands? Did he know how to read and write? Perhaps he had not learned. He probably did not know how to read at all. He may have studied only fighting and war skills. He may have killed men with the very sword that hung from his belt.
    But even if he did not know how to read, he might know someone, a priest perhaps, who could teach her, someone she could work for in exchange for reading lessons. She should ask him before he left them or, as was more likely, Mother chased him away.
    Darkness slowly began to close in on them, and when the last of the sun’s light was fading, Sir Gerek spoke. “We will sleep here for the night.”
    He guided his horse off the road, his prisoner following behind him. Would Mother refuse to be led by him?
    She seemed to hesitate, then followed slowly, leading the donkey and cart, as well as their ox with all their belongings, off the road behind Sir Gerek.
    Rapunzel grabbed the sides of the cart as it rocked from side to side, bumping over the ruts and into the soft, grassy, uneven ground. The smell of loamy forest dirt and leaves surrounded her, a fresher scent than the animal dung that frequently assaulted her on the road.
    When the cart halted, she scrambled down and helped Mother unhitch Moll so she could eat, as well as the donkey that had pulled the cart. They took their water flasks to a stream nearby and refilled them.
    Rapunzel stayed close by her mother’s side but kept glancing at Sir Gerek. He filled a water flask for the prisoner and allowed him to drink. He did not untie his hands, but did untie him from the back of his horse’s saddle and led him into the cover of the trees, no doubt so they could relieve themselves.
    Did she have the courage to ask the knight about teaching her to read? The memory of the lord’s son in Wagsburg who had tried to get her to go with him to his father’s barn, the look of evil intent on his face, came back to her. Her mother had told her stories about men and the unsuspecting, unprotected, gullible women they convinced to lie with them, or who they lured into the woods where no one could hear them scream.
    Perhaps she wouldn’t speak to him after all.

    Gerek kept an eye on his prisoner. The man wore that smile on his face, which was more an odd expression than an actual smile, his lips curling upward at the corners and his teeth showing. He didn’t speak, and Gerek was in no mood to talk to him either, so he ordered him to hurry so they could get back to the two women who would be sleeping nearby.
    Just thinking of them put him in a grumpy mood. He had never escorted or protected anyone less grateful. The mother had done nothing but glare at him, and the daughter usually avoided making eye contact, even when talking to him. He didn’t need their gratitude. As a knight, he would do his duty in protecting Duke Wilhelm’s people, grateful or not.
    When they returned, he tied the prisoner’s rope to a tree and quickly built a fire.
    The two women kept to themselves, and after he had fed his prisoner, the man fell asleep, snoring as he lay on his side, facing the fire.
    Gerek lay watching the dying flames lick up the last of the sticks he had gathered. He was nearly asleep when he heard a voice, a melody so unearthly and beautiful he glanced up at the sky, expecting to see heaven