CHAPTER EIGHT: THE SORCERESS’S TOWER
Mist swirls, a tall dark figure is revealed, wrapped in a black cloak, old twisted trees surround him. He approaches a tree that is larger than the others, it towers above the other trees, its trunk riddled with knots, he walks around it twice and then approaches a heart-shaped knot in the trunk. He traces its outline with his finger and pushes it, it recedes into the tree. The blackness in the hole moves and skitters. Another figure is revealed in the mist, it is shorter and slimmer than the first figure and she has peacock feathers in her hat. She cradles something in her hands, something which is also black and skitters, and places it inside the hole in the tree. She then steps back and the hole in the tree closes behind it. She bends down and picks up a leaf from the ground at the foot of the tree, the leaf is golden and of a large and unusual heart shape. The two figures stand next to each other, one enveloped in a long black cloak, the other with peacock feathers in her hat and holding a heart-shaped leaf in one hand, the other hand is held by the broad figure in the black cloak. They fade into the mist as it swirls about them.
Violet awakes and feels herself being rocked gently, she opens her eyes lazily, a warm feeling surrounding her. The wooden panelled cabin she is in is still bathed with light, which will soon be fading. She stretches in the comfy bed she is lying in and then realises who’s it is and jumps up guiltily. She just sat down for a moment, she was sure. She hoped the Captain hadn’t come in at any point and found her asleep, but nothing in the cabin looked disturbed and she could hear him shout orders from the wheel. She was dressed in one of the Captain’s shirts she’d found while her clothes dried out. She hurried across to them, they were nearly dry, they’d do anyway and she quickly changed back into them, keeping an eye on the door. The Captain must be a gentleman after all just as Aliya said. She hoped anyway. She walked out of the cabin and on to the deck, the wind was still filling the sails above her and they were flying through the waves. The pirates were all going briskly about their work, some singing or whistling suitable piraty tunes. She climbed up to the helm where Captain Brandon was at the wheel.
“Have a good sleep?” he asked with a twinkle in his eye.
Violet blushed, perhaps he had seen her then, and in his shirt, in his bed, she was mortified. “Yes thank you,” she said brightly with a giggle which mortified her even more. “It must be all this sea air and exercise.”
Captain Brandon laughed.
“How long until we reach our destination?” she asked.
“With this wind we be there daybreak tomorrow.”
“I’m sorry you know.”
“You be sorry to be leaving me, my lady?”
“No, I mean yes,” she blustered. “I mean I’m sorry about getting caught by the sea people, it wouldn’t have happened if you weren’t taking me to the island. I’m sorry.”
Captain Brandon, put back his head and roared with laughter. “We wouldn’t have missed it for the world. This is what pirating is about, sailing the seas and taking our chances with what they can throw at us. We be itching for adventure. Taking tourists for sailing trips, although it do keep us in rum, be a trifle dull and unadventurous. It be the best fun we had this year. Isn’t that right lads?” he shouted the last sentence and the other pirates all cheered. “Anyway,” he said quietly so just she heard, giving her a keen look. “You got us out of our troubles. I don’t know how you be knowing what you knew and I don’t know if I want to, but there be certainly more to you than meets the eye.”
As night fell, Violet glanced up at the night sky, it was perfectly clear, not a wisp of cloud could be seen in the dark sky. Being so far out to sea, nothing else could be seen apart from their ship, no other light as far as Violet looked in every direction. The ship which had felt huge when they had first got out to sea and she’d seen its true size when they were insight of land, now felt tiny with the heavens stretching above them. Violet had never seen a sky which had looked so huge and which made her feel so small and insignificant. The stars filled the night sky, she had never seen so many, the consolations she was familiar with, she found she could not find as easily find as she normally could, because their were so many other stars surrounding them. The moon was full and it shone brightly and hung huge in the sky, she could clearly see the landscape on its surface, the mountains and craters in grey smudges. The light that it omitted shone on the sea, reflecting the waves like the sun, but in black and white. Violet gazed at the beauty around her speechlessly, she had always loved the night sky, the suggestion, as she looked up at the stars, of something magical and ethereal could exist. Now she knew that magic did exist, she knew the veil had been lifted from her eyes, and as she looked up at the night sky bigger and filled with more stars than she’d ever seen before she felt that veil between reality and magic had been truly lifted. Gazing at the full sky she thought of Ayden and wondered if he could see these same stars from where he was imprisoned. She wondered if he had a small window and was able to gaze at the stars as she was doing. Thinking that he might be able to do that made her feel closer to him and she felt a warm glow in her heart. She knew she was drawing closer to him all the time and in this unreal moment with the heavens above her she forgot she had no idea what she was going to do once she got to the island and how she was going to rescue him. Looking up at the stars, hoping that he might be looking up at the same stars at her she felt hopeful that everything would go well and that she would be back in his arms again.
As the Captain promised, just as the night sky was starting to lighten they approached a large island alone in the sea. It was shrouded in a thin mist, but Violet could just make out it’s irregular shape and its thickly wooded surface. As the sun was starting to glimmer in the sky, the ship weighed anchor just off the coast, and Violet could see, in the centre of the island, on an outcrop of rock a tall dark tower, it was irregular in shape in a gravity defying way. That must be the Sorceress’s tower thought Violet with a sinking feeling, which then beat faster as she realised that Ayden was also there, she was now so close to him. She said a jolly farewell to the pirates and embarked in a small boat which Captain Brandon rowed himself to the shore, the pirates waving her off.
After they were out of ear shot of the ship the Captain said to her, “I be right sorry I not be able to accompany you on your journey, but it be forbidden for us to set foot on that there cursed island. But it do grieve me.”
“I understand, but you have done so much for me already by bringing me here and I thank you most sincerely for it.”
“it always be a privilege to help such a beautiful lady as yourself. And it grieve me that you be going into those woods alone. There be many things in those there woods, I do hear many unpleasant rumours.”
“I’m sure I’m manage, somehow.” Violet sounded more confident than she felt. In reality she had absolutely no idea about what she was doing.
They had reached the shore and the Captain had secured the small boat to a tree root.
“Take this.” He held out a small compass to her. “The Tower be directly north west from here. Walking through woods can be as disorientating as sailing in the fog.”
She took the compass from him. “Thank you Captain Brandon, you have been a true gentleman.”
“Shh, don’t you be telling anyone that,” he looked around suspiciously. “I got my reputation to keep you know.”
Violet smiled at him and kissed his stubbly cheek, then got out of the boat.
“That fellow you be doing to rescue be lucky indeed. I hope he do deserve you.” He untied the boat and pushed away from the shore. “If not you know where to find me,” he said with a glint in his eye and a smile.
Violet blushed red and turned away quickly, pirates, she thought, there was certainly no getting them down.
She watched The Captain row back to the pirate ship and climb aboard, they were soon under sail, and travelling away from the island. She was now alone. She turned away from the sea and looked inland, at the island. She was sto
od in front of a thick forest of trees, they ran all along the shore as far as she could see. She could see no footpaths or any evidence of any. The sun was now rising and the sunlight was starting to warm her up, but it looked dark under the trees. Thinking about what the Captain had said she was not keen to begin her journey under these thick, twisted trees. She imagined she could see faces in their twisted trunks, and none of them looked welcoming or inviting. She felt she did not belong under their branches. Then she took a deep breath, remembered with a sudden loud beat of her heart that every step she took would bring her closer to Ayden. With a new determination Violet took out the compass, checked her direction and took a step into the wood. Under the trees it was dim, the sunlight did not warm her anymore, it was also very quiet, no birds sang, no small furry creatures scurried. She felt she was being watched by something, she did not know what. She progressed in the direction the compass indicated, she was glad she had it, she had to step around so many trees and over roots and undergrowth, it was very difficult to walk in anything resembling a straight line.
She continued further into the forest, until she could no longer see the coast behind her as the trees surrounded her, closing the gap through which she had entered it. The trees were all around her, surrounding her, their branches hanging down and plucking at her clothes. She had to really concentrate on where she was going and where she was stepping, tree roots stuck up out of the ground and threatened to trip her if her steps were incautious. The forest floor presented a multitude of paths and options of paths to take, sometimes she thought she’d found or glimpsed a path through the trees but it always petered out or when she arrived at what she though had been a path, she found it was not so. Without the compass, she knew she’d be hopelessly lost. The number of times she found herself nearly turned around without even realising it. She had no point of reference within the forest at all, other than the compass, even the direction of the sun she couldn’t rely on as the sunlight only filtered through the tree branches which interlaced over her head. But still she had an uncomfortable feeling within the forest, it was still silent, the only sounds were her own footsteps and breathing, but still she couldn’t shake the feeling that she wasn’t alone. She kept alert, looking this way and that, this was a forest after all, weren’t elves and fairies supposed to live in forests. But she had the feeling that Ayden wouldn’t like this forest at all, it felt oppressive and…old, like an old person who has given up on life and is bitter and resentful and forgotten. She decided she was just being hopeful to think their might be magical creatures in this wood, but she had the feeling that nothing as full of life as the elves and sprites would want to be here.
As she turned her head, she was sure she caught something moving just on the very edge of her vision, she turned back round again, but could see nothing. If something had been there, there were so many trees it could have hidden behind. She continued on her way, as quickly as the roots and shrubs would allow, trying to dismiss it from her mind as an overactive imagination. She had to get to Ayden. She still kept her eyes open and alert. There again on the other side of her, she could have sworn she saw a flash of something blue, but when she looked there was nothing. She picked up her pace, looking all around her, but nothing. Just to the side of her she heard a noise like the scrape of nails on wood, she looked quickly in the direction the noise came from, but again nothing. She could feel her heartbeat quicken, and it had nothing to do with her increased pace. She felt adrenaline spikes in her head as she saw a flash of white to one side disappear behind a tree and as she turned her head to see it, she clearly saw a clawed hand at shoulder height briefly rest on the tree trunk as it disappeared behind it. With a gasp of breathe she started running through the trees, branches and shrubs whipping at her legs, she had no idea what she had just glimpsed but she wasn’t waiting to find out. She couldn’t hear if she was being pursued, the noise of herself crashing through the undergrowth and her own panicked gasping breath masked any possible sounds of pursuit. She risked a quick glance behind her, she could see nothing behind her but her foot promptly caught on a tree root, sending her sprawling heavily to the ground. The breathe knocked out of her she glanced up to see a foot step in front of her, it had sharp claws on it and it was white and fluffy. She glanced up at the rest of the creature attached to the clawed foot, gasped in shock and tried to scuttle away from it on her hands and knees, but a tree truck behind her stopped her and she struck her back against it. She pressed herself as far as she could against the tree trunk wiling it to swallow her up and she gazed at the creature in front of her. It stood about four feet tall and was covered in fluffy white hair, sharp claws on it feet and hands, its large ears almost dwarfed its head, out of which large red eyes were staring at her. It opened its wide mouth to reveal a row of needle sharp teeth.
Jack was rather inexpertly wielding a large orc cross bow, a target had been set up on the far side of the Sorceress’s throne room and he was attempting to hit it. So far he had been unsuccessful at getting an arrow anywhere near the target, although he had narrowly missed two of the orcs guarding the room, much to the Sorceress’s amusement. The crossbow had a rather delicate trigger, and as it was difficult to engage Jack’s attention long enough for him to concentrate on the target, he kept getting distracted at a crucial moment, and the arrow could end up anywhere. The contingent of orcs in the throne room were all feeling very nervous, their usual sleepy guarding duty was far more exciting today than it usually was and they weren’t happy about it. They were all very tense and alert, eyes fixed on the end of the cross bow as it waved through the air as Jack found something else to engage his interest before returning to trying to hit the target. Any of the Orcs who had shields held them to attention infront of them and cowered behind. An orc stood either side of the Sorceress both with shields at the ready, in case an arrow came too close to her. But she was the only other one in the room, beside Jack who had no regard for her own personal safety and chuckled at his antics. Amused that this boy, with the attention span of a goldfish and the distractibility of a squirrel, was making a whole contingent of orcs cower.
She sat in her high ceilinged round throne room, lined with black marble, streaked with grey, she sat leisurely on her black throne which looked like it had been made out of tortured and twisted glass, in a long black velvet gown, wearing a black mask sprinkled with stars. She had a black glass bowl at her side containing Turkish delight and she would occasionally throw one to Jack to catch in his mouth. It had been a long time since she had found amusement in such an innocent distraction as this new pet offered. She watched him in fascination as he approached one of her orcs, captivated by his collection of earrings on his pointed green ears, tapping them to make them tinkle. The Sorceress laughed at her battled hardened orc as he cowered before the boy, playing with his earrings, the loaded crossbow forgotten in his hand, waving about in front of his crooked nose. All of her orcs were mean and battle hardened, afraid of nothing and priding themselves on it, excepting any challenge of bravado. But they were all unsure of this boy, he reacted so unfamiliarly to their threats and seemed just fascinated by their worst grimaces. Plus as the Sorceress’s pet he now had immunity from harm from them. They had all agreed amongst themselves that he was a devilish imp of the worst kind and it was wise to keep out of his way as much as possible and not encourage his anger, in case he cast some devilish spell on them. Thus bravado between them satisfied they treaded carefully around him. After all at the moment he was the Sorceress’s pet and if any harm came to him her wrath was fearsome indeed. Best to wait until her interest waned.
The Sorceress glanced outside at the moon rising in the night sky. “Enough of this amusement. I have work to be done, a spell must be cast when the moon reaches its height. Take him back to his cell.”
Jack dropped the crossbow, the resulting fired arrow nearly taking the nose off one of the orcs coming towards him to take him away. Jack fell at the Sorceress’s feet.
“No don
’t send me back to the dungeon, please, I’m begging you, I’ll be good, please don’t send me back to that cell. It’s so boring, there’s nothing to do there, and I’ll be so bored, please. You’ve got little bats on your shoes, they’re really cool, hello little batties.”
The Sorceress laughed indulgently at her pet and patted him on the head. She stood up pulling him up by the hair and then stroking his cheek. I have a special spell to cast tonight, one that will change your little cell mate for the better, or at least for the better fulfilment of my plan.” She pushes him towards one of her guards. “Now back in your cage. And bring me the prince.”
Jack is taken back to his cell, which is quite a frustrating and halting process for the guards, as Jack continually gets distracted by different things on the way back to the dungeon and keeps suddenly stopping, regardless of the orcs behind him bumping in to him. They eventually just lift him bodily up by the arms and carry him towards his cell. Jack amuses himself and irritates the guards by swinging his legs pretending to still be walking and then swinging them. The guards gladly deposit their annoying bundle back into his cell, glower at him when he tells them how much fun it was and could he had a swing again. They then take the chained prince out of his cell and lead him away. Jack watches him go a look of concern on his face, but only fleetingly as a large cockroach crawls across the floor in front of his cell bars and he watches to see where it’s going.
Violet, her back pressed into the tree trunk behind her, stares at the fluffy white be-clawed creature in front of her as its sharp toothed mouth opens into a wide smile. Violet whispers “Fluffy Star?”
The creature nods its head, “meep.”
Violet leans a little further forward and stares at the creature a little closer, she reaches out a hand and gently stokes its fur, the creature gives a purr of pleasure. Violet’s memory travels back a long way to her early childhood. She takes her hand away. “But you aren’t real.”
The creature gives a sad meep. “Don’t I feel real?”
“Oh I think I must be going mad,” she mutters. “You are not real, you are a creature I created as a child, you’re not real and you never were.”
“But to you, I was real.”
“Yes,” Violet says in disbelief. “Imaginary friends always do seem real when you’re a child, but I know now that you never actually were real. You don’t exist.”
“But in this place I can exist,” says the creature patiently as if explaining to a child. “You had such a strong belief in me, I was real to you, but when you stopped believing in me, I came here where I could still be real.”
“What is this place?” askes Violet looking around her.
“This is the forest of imaginary friends,” says the Creature gleefully “This is where all the imaginary friends come that have really and truly been believed in when their friends stop believing in them any more. This is where we can still be real.”
“Wow.” She reaches out to stroke his soft fur again. “I had totally forgotten about you until I saw you standing in front of me. You happened such a long time ago.”
“I’m so happy to see again.” Fluffy Star squeaks flinging his little arms around her neck and almost knocking her over as his long fluffy tail comes up and tickles her nose. She laughs at him and as he draws away, she notices she is not the only one laughing. Surrounding her are more creatures as they gradually creep out from the surrounding trees. The figures before her form an interesting array of creatures, some tall, some short, some round, some fluffy like Fluffy Star, some scaly, some like cartoons, some like animals, some like real children, and all in such different colours. But all are smiling and laughing and pleased to see her.
Suddenly the forest doesn’t seem so strange and scary and she wonders why she was afraid of such delightful creatures. Suddenly a noise, a little distance away, of claws being sharpened on wood and a quiet snarl are heard. The creatures all go silent and listen intently for where the noise is coming from and then disappear into the forest, darting up trees and down burrows. Violet looks around confused. Mr Fluffy Star grabs her hand and pulls her to her feet. “Come with me quickly” he whispers pulling her along through the trees. Violet runs as fast as she can after him bent over nearly double as she holds his hand. Mr Fluffy Star, pulls her behind a huge twisted tree and into a hollow under the roots, the undergrowth around the tree hiding them from sight. Mr Fluffy Star huddles up to her and she can feel him breathing shallowly. His eyes look keenly through the gaps in the shrubs. The sound of claws scraping wood can be heard closer now, Violet can hear footsteps, claws scratching the tree roots it climbs over, then a snarl from the other side of them, and more scratching at wood with sharp claws. The noises grow closer and Violet can hear a scratch on the very tree they are hiding below. Mr Fluffy Star huddles closer towards Violet, and they both hardly dare breathe. Looking through the undergrowth Violet can see a red clawed hand reach around the tree followed by a red skinny figure with scales and a black hairy head with eyes protruding from it on stalks. It pauses at the side of the tree, looking around and snarls. She sees another creature come up to it, this one green and slimy with four arms, all ending in claws. They snarl at each other, take one more look around and disappear, away through the woods. Violet and Mr Fluffy Star start to breathe more easily, but still neither move from their hiding place.
At last Mr Fluffy Star turns to Violet. “Not all creatures imagined by children are friends,” he says sadly.
“You mean they were imagined up by children the same as I imagined you?”
“Yes,” he shudders slightly. “They are all the creatures that children imagine are hiding under the bed and in the wardrobe. Not all creatures that are imagined like their creators or are happy when they are forgotten.”
“My first impression that this forest wasn’t a good one was an accurate one then. Can they hurt you and the other imaginary friends?”
“They can hurt us, but not kill us, there is only one who can do that. But they don’t like others here, especially ones who have imagination to create. If they find you they will kill you.”
Violet took a deep breath. “Can you help me Mr Fluffy Star? I need to get to the Sorceress’s tower.”
Mr Fluffy Star drew back in fright. “Oh not there, not there Violet, that is a far worse place than this forest and those creatures are nothing compared to Her. Please don’t go there. Stay here with me in the forest we can tell each other stories and have adventures together, like we used to.”
“I’m sorry Mr Fluffy Star, I need to go to the Sorceress’s Tower and rescue someone from it.”
Mr Fluffy Star looked sadly down at the ground and said quietly, “It’s a boy isn’t it?”
“Yes”, Violet couldn’t help herself smiling. “It is indeed a boy.”
“You’re not a little girl anymore are you, you’ve grown up?”
“Yes, I’m afraid so.” She gives him a hug and he looks up at her with a brave smile.
“You are my creator,” he stands up tall and straightens his shoulders, “and you created me to go on adventures with you when no one else was there. It would be an honour to go on one last adventure with you.”
Violet checks her compass and they set off cautiously through the wood, hand in hand, listening out for the scratching of sharp claws on bark. The going was much easier with Mr Fluffy Star, he had the knack of picking the easiest paths through the trees and around the shrubs, so that they made better and easier progress than when Violet was on her own. The forest felt nowhere near as foreboding while she had her friend by her side, she would keep looking at him in wonder, remembering all the adventures they had had together when she was a child, all the woods they had explored together.
They kept as quiet as possible to try and not draw the attention of the other creatures within the wood. They entered a part of the wood, which seemed to Violet to be a lot lighter and brighter, as if the sun had come out from behind a cloud, but the tree canopy was just as thick
above them. But the feeling in this part of the wood was different, somehow cosier and not as intimidating. The clawed creatures seemed more distant in this part of the wood. Violet looks around her. “This part of the wood seems different somehow,” she quietly comments to Mr Fluffy Star.”
He smiled. “That is because the heart tree lives in this part of the wood.”
“The heart tree?” said Violet curiously.
“Yes,” said Mr Fluffy Star with reverence. “The heart tree.” He stoops down and picks up a large leaf off the ground and passes it to Violet. The leaf was in the shape of a heart. Violet recognises it instantly as being exactly the same leaf from her dream. She could no longer ignore her dreams, she knew what to do.
“Where is the heart tree?” she said to Mr Fluffy Star looking around for the huge tree from her dream and starting forwards. Mr Fluffy Star points. Then she saw it ahead of her, the same huge trunk twisted with knots and the huge branches spreading far above her, she ran forwards, Mr Fluffy Star running after her. She reaches out to touch the trunk, but Mr Fluffy Star pulls her back. “NO, no, you cannot touch the tree,” he calls urgently. “It is disrespectful.”
“Not if you know what you’re doing,” said Violet shaking off his arm as she walks around the tree the image of the heart shaped knot in her mind. She finds the right knot, out of all the knots on the tree, she was certain this was the one, it was exactly the same as the one in her dream and the image of it was so clear. She reaches out to the knot with a shaking hand and her heart thumping in her chest. She traces the heart shaped knot and presses the centre. The knot slowly recedes into the tree, leaving a black, heart shaped hole. She can see nothing inside and wonders if she dare place her hand inside to feel for something. But she doesn’t really know what it is she was expecting to find in there. Her dreams had never been wrong before, she has to trust to them and the lady in the peacock hat. She rolls up her sleeve and cautiously places her hand inside the black hole of the tree, she feels the rough wooden sides of the hole, but nothing is there. She withdraws her hand, feeling confused. She knows she is supposed to find something here, the lady in the peacock feather hat had placed something here and she wouldn’t be shown it in her dreams if it wasn’t important. She had saved her life before, there must be something else she has to do. A thought strikes her, the peacock feather hat. She reaches into her bag and takes out the single peacock feather she had brought with her for luck. She thinks she hears a faint scuttling noise and glances at Mr Fluffy Star, she gets the impression by the look of concern on his fluffy face that he has heard it too. She brings the peacock feather to the hole in the tree and places it inside. Suddenly where there had been nothing the blackness moves with a scuttling sound. Something small, black, round and spiky appears at the edge of the hole and looks at Violet with two tiny bright eyes. She reaches her hand out towards it but it disappears into the hole again in a puff of black smoke, leaving a sooty splodge where it had been. Violet wants to giggle at such an unusual creature. “What is it?” she asks Mr Fluffy Star who has craned forwards in wonder.
“I don’t know,” he says in wonderment. “I had heard that beings inhabited the heart tree, but no one has ever seen them or knew what they were like.”
A black spiky tuft with two eyes peers over the edge of the hole. Violet puts her hand out flat in front of it and it retreats into its hole again. Violet patiently waits for it to reappear again, she recognises curiosity when she sees it and before long it peeks out again, looking first at her and then at her hand, then back at her. It creeps out to the edge of its hole again, again looking at her hand and looking back at her. Violet makes little cooing noises to try and encourage it on to her hand and eventually it makes a little scurrying foray on to her hand and then back to its hole again. Violet giggles, it had tickled and left a patch of black soot on her hand. The creature pops out of the hole again at the giggle and slowly scuttles on to her hand again and this time stays. She brings it closer to her and looks at it curiously. It is certainly a funny little creature as it looks up at her and then scuttles up her arm and back again to her hand. She isn’t sure why she needs it, or what it could do, but she was sure it was important. The creature scuttles up her arm and down the front of her coat until it finds her pocket and then scuttles round and round in a circle in her pocket before eventually seeming to get comfortable and closing its eyes. Within a couple of minutes a faint snoring sound can be heard.
Violet and Mr Fluffy Star look at each other curiously and continue on their way to the Sorceress’s tower. Before long the tower can be seen towering over the surrounding trees. It was a curious structure, dark in colour and much thinner at the base than it was higher up, it gave the impression of lots of little buildings all piled on top of each other in a haphazard way with, extra turrets and windows stuck on at random. It certainly defied all laws of architecture and construction as well as gravity.
The tower was set in a clearing in the wood, Violet and Mr Fluffy Star crouch in the undergrowth at the edge of the clearing and look at the tower. Positioned outside were two robot sentinels each side of the entrance, both as big as double-decker buses. Both golden, one in the shape of an eagle with golden feathers, with fronds etched into each metal feather, and long cruel claws, with glinting green glass eyes. The other a lion with a golden mane of gold wire and the same glinting green eyes. The sunlight reflects off their metal surfaces as they stand menacingly over the door way, just the twitch of the lion’s tail, an occasional shake of his wire mane, the ruffle of metal feathers showing they were alive and not just statues. The grating sounds they made as they moved sounding menacing across the clearing.
Violet could see no way in, no way to get past such fearsome sentinels. Even if she did get in where would Ayden be within that maze of a place? She had come this far to find him, had hazarded through and seen and experienced things that she had only come across in novels before, she was so close, but knew not what to do next. She was so close to him now, she knew he was somewhere within that strange building, but how to get into it and what to do once she did? She had no idea. She looked at Mr Fluffy Star who was nervously crouched next to her. She knew he would not know what to do, in their adventures she had always been the leader, he the faithful follower and companion. She knew her martial arts were good, but against such creatures. Plus this was a Sorceress’s tower, who knew what enchantments could hinder anyone trying to enter, she remembered the shattered crystal and burnt flower when they had attempted to find Ayden the first time. She felt a scuttling in her pocket and looked down to see her spiky black companion stretch out his spikes in her pocket and then scuttle out and up on to her shoulder. He had a brief look around at where they were and then giving her a look and a little jerk of his body he scuttled down her arm and away along the edge of the clearing, stopping to give the little jerk of his body again as if to say ‘follow me’. As no other option presented itself, Violet and Mr Fluffy Star followed it.
The soot sprite scuttles along ahead of them, skirting the edge of the clearing until it comes to a dip in the land below a large tree, it pauses to check they were watching were it went and then disappears below the roots of the tree. Surprised Violet and Mr Fluffy Star climb down to where the sprite had disappeared and pushing aside the undergrowth below the tree discover an opening below the roots of the tree. The sprite bounces back out of the shadows again to check they had found it and then scuttles back into the darkness again. Violet and Mr Fluffy Star look at each other and then taking a small torch out of her backpack, Violet enters the tunnel under the tree, Mr Fluffy Star following close behind her, his hand holding on to the hem of her coat. The torch didn’t give off much light, but enough to see a small earth tunnel, which Violet had to duck her head under to walk through. She was trusting that the tunnel led to the tower.
As Violet steps into the entrance of the tunnel, it widens out and she can see the night sky at her feet, deep black with shining white stars. She has a sudden str
ange sensation of falling through the night sky. She regains her balance and realises she is still standing firmly on the ground. One of the white stars in front of her moves across the black sky and she looks more closely. She gives a quiet laugh which she instantly stifles as it echoes around the cave. The night sky in front of her is actually a small shallow lake within the cave, the lack of light in the cave making it look as black as night and the shining stars, as Violet peers at the one that has moved, she realises are tiny white crabs on the lake bed. She stares at them in wonder, she has never seen anything like it before. They go around the lake and proceed up the low tunnel on the other side.
Violet’s back and legs were really starting to ache, and she hoped it wouldn’t be much longer until she could straighten up again, when she starts to hear a heavy tread of feet above her and grunting voices. She stopped and caught her breath, Mr Fluffy Star holding tightly to her coat behind her. The noises were near, but they were muffled as if through a thick wall, she hoped she was safe still and kept going forwards as quietly and cautiously as her aching back would allow. She had seen no sight of the soot sprite since she entered the tunnel and she hoped he was still around somewhere. Eventually the tunnel ended at a smooth wall, Violet could see the outline of a door way cut in it but could not see or feel any way of opening it or unlocking it. She put her ear against the doorway and listened for any sounds coming from the other side, she could hear heavy footsteps getting closer, then getting further away, she wondered if this door way led into a corridor of some sort. She waited until all was quiet and then looked again to see if she could see anyway to open the door, but was unsuccessful. Nor was their any sign of the soot sprite. She glanced at Mr Fluffy Star, whose white fur glowed slightly in the dark and decided they would have to be patient and wait for the little sooty ball. They did not have long to wait before Violet heard a little scuttling noise and pointing the torch at the door, the little spiky ball appeared through a crack in the door way. He gave a happy scuttle, squeezed through the crack again leaving a black sooty mark, then the door opened a crack, allowing Violet to pull it open and go through.
She found herself in a dark narrow corridor, with many peculiar twists and turns along it, the door she had walked through was disguised in the block work of the wall behind her. As Mr Fluffy Star tried to step through the door, he found he was held back by an invisible barrier and couldn’t enter. He looked at Violet sadly, “I have to admit, it is as I suspected, I cannot enter the Sorceress’s Tower. I am sorry my princess.”
“That’s alright, I must admit I do feel happier knowing that you will be safe in the forest and not have to face any dangers that are here. Goodbye my friend.” She gave him a kiss on his fluffy cheek.
“Goodbye, princess,” he said with a tear.
The door closed and the sprite scuttled impatiently. Violet hoped he knew where he was going and where she wanted to be as she followed him cautiously, listening out for any sounds of approach. Luckily the orcs within the tower were heavy footed and were wearing clinking armour or weapons so Violet found she could hear them from a good distance away and could easily guess from which direction they were coming from. The design of the tower with its differing levels, many rooms and corridors and haphazard structure made it difficult to orientate yourself and find your way around it, but good for hiding in. The walls were also covered with all manner of objects, especially faces in the form of paintings, plaques, masks, again making it easy to hide. When she was caught in a corridor between two guards approaching from opposite directions she just flattened herself against a wall between a number of masks and not breathing, the orcs just walked straight past her without even noticing.
She followed the sprite along the twisting corridors, and up series of stairs. She had no idea how far up the tower she was, or even if she would be able to find her way out again without the sprite’s help. She hoped she would find Ayden soon, she was feeling very excited about seeing him again, and her nerves were feeling on edge about having to dodge the orcs. Plus all the faces on the walls were giving her the creeps, especially the masks, she was sure it was just the tension of the situation, but a couple of times she’d imagined she fleetingly seen purple eyes in a mask. She hurried on behind the sprite until it stopped and around a corner she could see a heavy door flanked by two orcs. The sprite jumped up and down in excitement, she was sure that Ayden was behind that door. She peered around the corner again, the orcs, even though they looked big and mean, weren’t really paying attention, the furthest one even had his eyes shut as he stood leaning on his spear. She looked around her for any sign of a weapon, but none were to be had. She looked at them again, she was sure she could take them, she had the element of surprise. If she could take out the first one before he had time to react, the other one was half-asleep so probably wouldn’t be ready to respond either. She took a deep breathe and centred herself, she could do this, and Ayden was behind that door, she’d come so far, two ugly brutes weren’t going to stop her. She readied herself and peered back around the door, she waited until the nearest guard was looking in the other direction to her and then on silent feet ran towards the guard launching into a two-footed kick at his head, she connected before the guard had any idea of what had happened, he sank to the floor. The other orc’s eyes flew open at the thud and he sleepily raised his spear. Violet sprang up on her hands and aimed a spinning kick at his head before he could bring his spear towards her. He closed his eyes again and sank to the floor with a thud. Violet feeling jubilant looked around quickly for any other orcs who might have heard the commotion, and seeing or hearing no one, quickly took the keys from the guard’s belt and unlocked the heavy door with trembling fingers.
She slowly opened the heavy door, not knowing what was on the other side, expecting more orcs. She peered into the gloom behind the door and could make out a dark room with two barred cells in it. As her eyes became more accustomed to the gloom inside she noticed some one in each cell, one appeared to be asleep, but the other figure sat on the floor of his cell was Ayden. She burst through the door and ran to his cell with a cry of joy. Ayden stood up unhindered by chains and came towards the cell door. He looked much as he did when she last saw him and he appeared unharmed, although there was something different about him that Violet couldn’t quite place. She put her hands through the cell bars and stroked his face. “Ayden,” she said tears of joy in her eyes, “I can’t believe I’ve found you at last. Are you okay?”
Then she realised what was different about him, he wasn’t smiling at her, he was just gazing at her with a confused expression on his face. He drew away from her hands and took a step backwards.
“Why on earth would you go looking for me?” he said in a contentious voice.
“Ayden,” she replied puzzled, “I’ve come to rescue you. You were snatched by monsters. I love you.”
“You love me,” he replied disbelievingly. “You don’t know the meaning of the word.”
“I do love you and you told me you loved me.”
“I love you, don’t be ridiculous, you’re just a human girl, how could I possibly love you, when there are others in the world so superior.”
“I don’t believe you. You did love me, what’s happened?”
“Happened. Nothing’s happened,” he replied with a hollow laugh. “We were nothing, a dalliance. That wasn’t real love. It meant nothing to me.”
Violet took a step backwards, tears running down her face, no longer of joy. “I don’t believe you,” she whispered staring at him blankly as he leant against the side of his cell, looking at her in contempt.
“You did it to me the last time you rescued me, told me you didn’t love me. Now you know how it feels to love someone and for them to reject your love because they’re more in love with someone else.”
Violet could think of nothing to say, just stared in confusion, she felt she was like a ship which had lost it’s mooring and was sailing away, loosing touch with everything which she t
hought she had known, thought was a certainty.
“Wow, that was better than TV,” said a voice from the other cell. Violet half turned to the other cell to see that it’s occupant, a teenager with a shock of blond hair had woken up and was watching them both avidly. “How did you get in here? Tell me, tell me. Did you have to fight lots of monsters and slay a dragon or anything? Or did you sneak through secret passages? Tell me. It must have been really exciting? I like your boots they’re really cool?”
Violet stared at Jack in blank amazement, unable to say anything. She didn’t know where to even start to catalogue her adventures and the incidents which had brought her this far. She thought back to all the spells, pirates, sea creatures, monsters and secret passages she’d had to transverse and it was all for nothing apparently. She looked back at Ayden who had lost interest in her and was looking past her at the rest of the dungeon.
Jack followed her gaze. “How did you get past the Orcs outside? Oh don’t worry about him, the Sorceress did some sort of spell on him, he’s been absolutely no fun since she did it. I thought I was bored in here before. Aren’t the orcs just grotesque, have you seen the faces they can pull, or didn’t you have time, did you just get them before they could do some proper grimaces, they’re really impressive.” Jack started to pull faces and a phrase of his rapid conversation suddenly sank in.
“He’s had a spell put on him?” she asked Jack sharply.
“Yes my dear he has.” A haughty laughing voice came from the open door way of the dungeon. All eyes turned to the doorway to see a figure clad in a black gown covered in silken leaf shapes with a black leaf shaped mask, walking through it. She paused on the threshold, and the mask smiled at Violet’s tear streaked face. “Such a touching scene my dear. You don’t really think you could get into my tower undetected did you, foolish girl.” She chuckled and looked towards Ayden who had come to the front of his cell, Violet followed the direction of her eyes and saw Ayden, a look of adoration in his eyes as he gazed at the Sorceress. She had seen that look before, but it had been aimed at her the last time she’s seen it, although his eyes burned with a fire and an intensity, almost a madness, which had not been present when he’d looked at her with such steady happy adoration.
“You are the most beautiful, the most wonderful woman in the world,” Ayden said in a quiet passionate voice reaching out an arm towards the Sorceress. “There is none to compare to you, you are my everything, I worship you.”
The Sorceress turned to Violet with a lift of her mask’s eyebrows. “You see, he is not yours anymore. He has changed his mind. He is mine now.”
“Wow, how do you get your mask to do that?” Jack interjected. “Why do you wear a mask anyway? What’s behind it? What’s your real face like, really? Do you have a real face?”
The Sorceress gives Jack an indulgent smile, then turned to Violet. “I think it is about time you woke up from this nightmare don’t you Violet?” Mist swirls.