by Holly Hook
I had let him up. Alric had predicted this and now it had happened. I had betrayed Mother and now he would grab me and take me away.
This man wasn't as tall as the one in black from the dark spot. He looked younger, too—about as young as me, with light brown hair and only smooth skin on his face, but his chest was broad and he wore a tunic of dark green with golden buttons. The man also had on black, shiny boots I had never seen before.
He smiled at me, making his freckles move closer to his eyes. One eye was green. The other was brown as if he couldn't decide which color he liked. They sparkled as he stood there in the sun.
"I asked, what are you doing up here?" he asked. His voice was friendly. He made no motion to reach for me. "Don't you ever get to come down from this tower?"
Yes. It was him, all right. "I..." I couldn't stop staring at him. This man wasn't intimidating like the one from the dark spot. This one was...I couldn't find a word for him. Entrancing? My mouth fell open. I searched around for some way to protect myself. Any second he would seize me.
"Haven't you ever seen a guy before?" he asked. "Or have you been stuck up here all your life? That's not fair. I've been watching this tower for weeks. I've never seen you descend from it."
"Please climb back down," I said, pointing to the window. I couldn't catch my breath. This man was taking it from me with that smile of his. What was happening? "I wasn't supposed to let you up here. I know what you want to do. You want to kidnap me and take me away."
"Truly?" he asked. The man laughed. He took a step towards the window. "I'll leave if you insist, but not until I know if you've spent your entire life up here. I can't imagine what it's like, staring at the same thing every single day."
"Go," I said. "My mother—she'll be back any minute." My head pounded worse, and I eyed the light outside. It was still too bright for her to come back from the village. Mother never returned until the sun was getting low to the horizon. But this man didn't know that.
My stomach roared again.
He looked out the window and back at me. "You must be hungry," he said, reaching behind him to take a pack off. I hadn't noticed it before. "I have bread and jerky, if you'd like some. You know what? I think your mother has you scared to leave this tower. That's horrible. There's a whole world out there that you need to see."
The man dropped the pack on the floor and I could smell the grain inside. My hunger had heightened my senses. I had never smelled grain before. My stomach cramped, and I forgot all about the invasion for a second. "I...I would like some. As long as you will not take me away."
The young man shrugged. "I can't take you out of here. I need your hair to climb back down the tower or the key to open that trapdoor. The only way for me to drag you out of here is to hold your hand and jump off, and that would be disastrous for both of us." He sat down as if trying to say he wasn't a threat. I felt better. It would give me more time to react if he tried something. "My name's Henry. I'm the son of King Franz the Second."
"You're what?" I asked. I could breathe again.
Alric had mentioned that the man coming to get me was a king's son.
"I suppose I'm a prince," he said. He had many freckles. Mother only had a few, but Henry looked as if a rain of reddish mud had spread across his cheeks. "You know—the son of a king. I was wandering through these woods not too long ago when I saw you sitting in your window, looking out at the trees. I wanted to approach and talk to you, but your mother was there, picking berries." Henry flushed. He was just as nervous as I was.
"She does that a lot." I was calming down. This man was nothing like the one Mother had spoken to in the dark spot. The surrounding air wasn't sharp and cold. He didn't even seem like the bandits she warned me about. Bandits didn’t feed you. They stole your belongings if you were lucky and cut your throat at worst.
Unless Henry was trying to trick me.
But this was what the man in black had predicted and what Mother feared.
Henry opened the pack and pulled out an old blanket. He spread it out on the floor and produced a loaf of bread wrapped in brown paper. It was just like the loaves Mother brought home from the market. He must have gotten it from the same place.
"You went to the market?" I asked.
"Yes," Henry said. "I'm not a good hunter. Just like you, I need to eat. I'm not some monster." He patted the blanket next to him. “Tear off a piece,” Henry said. “Sit down. Wow. What did your mother tell you about men?”
“That most of them want to take advantage of you,” I said. I still wouldn’t sit. That would make me vulnerable. A part of me wanted Mother back to chase this guy away even if I made her upset. I’d never dealt with anything like this before or felt so awkward.
“Really?” Henry asked. “She must know the wrong men. You have been in this tower all your life.”
"Mother's been out in the world. I haven't." I thought of Alric out there, imploring her to keep me in the tower.
Henry cracked the bread.
My mouth watered.
I sat down next to the blanket, keeping a distance between me and Henry. And yet, I couldn't stop looking at him.
“See?” Henry asked. “You won't die from sitting next to me." He tore off a piece of bread and handed it over. “You look like you will pass out. I’ll get out the jerky.”
I eyed the bread. It smelled the same as the bread from the mysterious market, with spice.
I seized it and ate.
It was the best bread I’d ever had.
The cramping in my stomach calmed, and I was glad for the relief.
Henry grinned at me. “Hungry?” he asked.
I nodded and bit again, unable to stop. I hadn’t realized how much I missed the loaves.
And how much I missed company during the day.
“Thank you,” I said, meaning it. “Thank you. I was going insane up here with nothing but vegetables to eat.”
“I have some of those, too,” Henry said, drawing a cluster of carrots out of his pack. He grinned. “Here. Have some!”
“Hey!” I said, batting them away. I laughed.
“I was only joking,” Henry said, returning them to his pack. “Having a sense of humor is necessary with the way Fable is today.”
He handed me some jerky and I finished it. Already the dizziness was fading and the pain between my temples was easing. Henry seemed to have chased it all away. "Thank you for bringing me lunch." I was getting more comfortable around this man. So far, he hadn't tried to force me out of the tower.
“It was no problem. I had been hoping to share some with you for some time.”
My face heated. Why was I blushing? Did men always do this to you? Tingles ran down my back and I wanted to reach out and touch him, to see if he felt the same as Mother or I. But I wasn’t sure what would happen.
"Have you ever asked to leave this tower?" Henry asked.
"Yes. Twice. Mother didn't think it was a good idea."
“I’m sorry.”
“Why?” I asked. “It’s safe up here.”
Henry raised a hand and gestured to the window. “Are you sure? I saw a bad dark spot close to here, and I came this way in the first place because I was investigating it. Isn’t your mother scared it will grow until it reaches the two of you?”
I shuddered just thinking about it. “Dark spots grow?”
“So you’ve seen one.”
“I’ve been out of the tower twice. The first time, I got bit by a rat.”
“And the second?”
I couldn’t tell this young man about that. It involved him. He was a king’s son. He had to be the man from the story that Mother feared. “It was dark. I couldn’t see much.”
"Night isn't the best time to be out," Henry agreed. "Why don't you try to escape when your mother's gone? You know, she doesn't look like you." He gave me a look like there was more meaning behind his words.
I didn't understand.
I swallowed. Some discomfort returned, and I scooted a
way from Henry a little. "You've been spying on us."
Henry's face turned red, and it made him look younger than me for a second. "I'm sorry. I was only passing through this area because I was investigating that dark spot. That's when I saw you sitting up in the tower and I wondered how you got up there without a door or a stairway anywhere. I thought someone was keeping you prisoner, and I wondered if I should help."
"But there's a door on the back."
Henry shook his head. "There isn't one at all. I've checked all around your tower, but there's no safe way to get in or out."
"There was a door. I went through it when I was eight," I said, motioning to the locked trapdoor. "Some stairs down that way lead to it."
Henry stood up, brushing the bread crumbs off himself. I did the same and swept them under the rug with my bare foot. I couldn't have Mother finding them.
"Maybe you saw an enchanted door," Henry told me. "Does your mother use magic?"
"No," I said. Wait. Did she? Alric had mentioned something about her being full of dark magic, just like him. "Maybe. She never talked about it."
"Rae, you're a prisoner in here. You're like a bird stuck inside a cage."
I stood up. "That's not true. It's safe up here. I could leave if I wanted."
Henry took a step closer. “Not all prisons have bars.”
His words hung heavy in the air. He was so close I could see the lines in his eyes. His brown eye had green flecks in it. I felt so drawn into them.
"Not all of Fable is bad. You'll find amazing things in parts. You need to have the bravery to explore it." He smiled again. "Would that interest you?"
“What I saw wasn’t good,” I said. “I should stay here.” My heart ached as I spoke those words. Doubt surged up like a storm. “Mother always told me that—“
“Even young children get to leave their houses out in the rest of the world.”
“Children get to leave their houses?” Henry flew in the face of everything Mother had told me.
“All the time. And you should be able to leave yours.”
Henry backed away. His expression softened, and he gestured towards the window. I couldn’t help but follow his gaze. The ground stretched out far below. The world expanded into infinity.
“Haven’t you ever wanted to go out there?”
I took a step back. Henry was trying to take me away. Not with force, but with words.
If I went with him, I would leave my mother to turn dark. I had to stay here for her.
But if I stayed that other man—Alric—would own this part of Fable. I wasn't sure what that meant for me and Mother.
“I can’t go,” I said. “It's too complicated. And the last time I wanted to go out there, Mother took me to the dark spot. That’s where the rat bit me.” I lifted my yellow skirt to show Henry the scar. Heat rushed to my face again.
He grimaced. I let my skirt drop and heat rushed to my face again.
“That must have hurt. Your mother should not have taken you there. It’s the only dark spot in this part of the woods. I was investigating it because. well, never mind. There’s a whole other story behind that.” Henry turned away, but not before pain constricted his features.
“Where are you from?” I asked.
Henry took time rearranging the flowers Mother had picked in the clay pot. They were wilting. “A small kingdom. Just one of many kingdoms.”
“That’s not much information. Are you sure you're not a bandit?”
Henry turned towards me. “It’s too dark to talk about right now.” The tone of his voice told me I shouldn’t push it. Whatever had happened, it was bad.
The light was growing long on the walls. “You should go,” I said. “Mother will be back soon. You want to climb down and hide before she sees you. I imagine she can spot the tower from a long way off, and if she sees a man climbing down it, she’ll lose her sense.”
Henry shrugged. “You’re not coming?”
I hesitated. I thought of the flowers and the birds and the trees I had seen when I was eight. The amazing detail of the world below. Bu then Mother's worried face rose in my mind and I shook my head.
“I can’t.”
The air cooled as if the dark wizard Alric had entered the room. But the sensation only lasted a moment, and the heat returned to the room.
Henry frowned. Sadness filled his eyes. “I won’t make you leave. I promise. But can I come back the next time your mother leaves? I’ll bring you lunch again. We can talk. Maybe I can convince you to go out to the first step next time I’m here. Soon we can work up to getting you to the ground.” He finished with a smile. “I’ll tell you about the good things out there.”
My heart leapt and tingles spread all over my body. I wanted Henry here. I didn’t want him to go. He was the first person other than my mother I’d ever gotten to visit.
“Yes,” I said. “I’d like you to come back.”
Henry leaned over the windowsill. “You must let down your braid,” he said. “The footing here is not good. Someone could fall going down this tower.”
“I know. I’ve climbed down it once.”
“Then you can do it again.” Henry put his foot over the edge. "Maybe sometime soon."
“No. Not again," I said. "I can't. Nothing good has ever happened when I've tried."
I went to the window and leaned down, carrying my hair in both arms.
I let down my braid, and Henry gave me a promising smile as he began his descent and dropped out of sight.
Chapter Five
I couldn’t stop thinking about Henry.
I thought about him all day. I thought about him as I made sure all the bread crumbs vanished off the floor by tossing them out to the birds.
I couldn’t get him out of my mind even when Mother climbed through the window with a basket filled with food about an hour later.
Henry had left just in time. Mother smiled at me and set the basket down on the table. “How was your day?”
"Fine. The tower didn’t collapse."
Mother laughed. I was glad to see her happy. “You saw no bandits?”
“I’ve seen no bandits.” I was telling her the truth. Something about lying felt terrible.
She put her hand on her chin. “Good point.” Mother opened the basket and pulled out a loaf of bread. “I’m ready for dinner. You must be famished, dear. Then I need to braid your hair again.”
I gathered my hair, sat at the table, and ate with Mother.
I wished Henry were here with us, but Mother would never allow it, even if he wasn’t a bandit. Only staying quiet about him would keep me out of trouble. If I let it slip, Mother would never leave to go to the market again. I wanted him to come back even if I never climbed down the tower. Henry couldn't force me to go and he never would.
I took a long time to fall asleep that night.
In my dreams later that night, Henry guided me down the side of the tower, and this time I didn’t slip. Climbing became easier the closer I got to the ground. My boots touched the grass and Henry smiled, waving me ahead into the woods.
I followed and the two of us ran down the trail, enjoying the sun that spilled down through the trees. An amazing sense of freedom exploded, and I laughed. The entire world was right in front of me and I only had to make it through that dark spot to see the rest of it.
Henry extended his hand, and I took it. He squeezed my palm and warmth spread through me. This young man was doing something strange, and I didn’t know what it was, but I didn’t want it to stop.
The dark spot waited up ahead like a pool of darkness in the forest.
“Stop,” Henry said.
We did, hand in hand.
The spot was even darker than before as if it had increased in power during the last two weeks. The murky pond was even larger than before and green scum had grown over some of it. I watched as the rat darted into the hole in the tree, which looked more like an open mouth than a burrow.
“We shouldn’t go through
there,” I said.
Henry gave my hand a reassuring squeeze. “We need to. Beyond that dark spot is the rest of the world. Once we’re through, we’ll leave it behind forever.”
I took a breath. A need rose inside of me. I had to get through. If we ran, we would make it past that rat.
Henry and I took off sprinting at the same time.
I’d never run this fast before and it was hard to keep my footing. Earth swayed as if trying to slow us down. The world turned dark, and the dread filled the inside of my stomach as we crossed the border. The rat hole grew larger as we approached and passed. A pair of red eyes glared as we did, disapproving.
“Keep going,” Henry said. “We’re almost there.”
The dark water rippled and then rose.
I stopped and screamed. The water turned into a mound and went black. The large, liquid shadow morphed into the form of a man and then cleared.
Alric stood there, complete with his hooded robe and wide, perfect smile.
And he held a knife.
Henry let go of my hand and drew his own knife from his pocket. He raised it, ready to swing at Alric, but the man in black was much faster. He seized Henry’s shoulder and plunged the knife deep into his stomach.
“Henry!” I shouted.
Another hand grabbed my shoulder and spun me around as Henry fell, clutching his guts.
"Rae, why did you leave me?”
It was Mother.
Mother’s eyes were black. Her skin, too pale. Her hair, streaked with red like blood. She had gone dark.
“Why did you leave me?” she repeated, raising a hand with razor-sharp fingernails.
And sliced them across my face.
I woke in sweat and the inside of the tower greeted me. The early morning sun spilled through the window as if trying to soothe me. The peaked ceiling with its swirls brought me back to reality. I lifted my head off the pillow and let myself flop back onto the straw mattress.
Next to me, Mother slept in her own bed, facing the opposite direction. She breathed in a deep sleep.
I let out a breath.
A nightmare. Henry wasn’t dead.
And neither was I.
I had to find out why he was spending time around that dark spot and convince him to stop. Nothing good came out of that place.