Sophie's Charming Hat Shop [Howl's Moving Castle]

2. In Which Calcifer is Not Himself

The night grew decidedly less pleasant and Howl blamed most of it on Calcifer. Navigating in the dark on the slick gravel and mud was already a challenge and the fire demon wasn't helping. He kept crying that Howl was dipping the shovel and he was going to fall off. He jerked around and flared in rage, making the shadows dance beneath Howl. He almost slipped twice which would've really spelled disaster for the both of them.

"I am not going to drop you," Howl vowed, trying to keep his voice as level as the shovel. "Now stop moving." He really needed him to behave. His hand was growing numb on the shovel with the freezing rain. Would it be despicable of him to make Calcifer mad for a little more heat?

"I can't help it!" The fire demon wailed. "You know I don't like being transported. And it's raining-" Calcifer cut off suddenly. "There's someone there."

"Something," Howl corrected, sensing the presence moments later. "It's not flesh and blood."

He turned toward the power, feeling for it like a pulse. To the fire demon's dismay, he hefted him higher to shine his light on a wooden staff protruding from a scraggly bush.

"I don't like this, Howl! This thing isn't right!"

The drumming was faster now, an insistent humming. Great power. Terrible power. He should leave it alone. He had enough problems of his own. Hold to his cowardly nature.

But if there was anything that ever overruled that urge, it was his curiosity.

Tucking Calcifer close to his side, he hoisted the damp staff. The thing was a scarecrow with tattered clothes even more soaked than Howl's and a turnip face growing moldy with the weather. Calcifer screamed which was not very friendly or brave of him. This thing was human. Howl felt them tearing at the layers of magic, trying to free themselves for a moment to request aid no doubt.

Howl prodded back, sifting through the layers. The key for curses was to break through each barrier and get to the person inside, that was how Madame Suliman taught him. Howl told Markl that going through loopholes and tricking the magic worked just as well. Passing through the classic tongue binding and territorial limits and paralysis, he found the last barrier and fought not to roll his eyes. True love. There was no trick to getting around that. It was the Witch of the Waste's favorite. He inspected the scarecrow's top-hatted turnip head. Of course this was her doing.

"You have quite a powerful curse on you," Howl told it, raising his voice over the rain. The scarecrow swayed above him. "Even if I was at my full power, I'm not sure I could help you."

"You're on your own," Calcifer added unhelpfully. The scarecrow's wide grin didn't waver.

"Don't lose hope, my friend," Howl said, turning away. "You never know who you'll find wandering the Wastes." He waved goodbye and the scarecrow swung around, gloves streaming from its stick arms. It hopped away, its stick pole crunching against the gravel.

"That thing gave me the creeps," Calcifer grumbled.

"It's just cursed." He tried to sound reassuring. The fire demon being frightened of something gave him pause. "It's nothing we aren't used to," he said with a laugh, attempting a joke.

Calcifer did not laugh. He stayed steady on the shovel, but he really wasn't looking too well. The light from his flame was dimmer. Maybe he was imagining what the Witch would do to them if she got her hands on him.

Just when Howl thought that the fire demon had resigned himself to silence, he said, "If we broke our contract the Witch wouldn't want us anymore."

Howl nearly lost his footing again.

Breaking their contract? Howl owed a significant portion of his magic to Calcifer. He'd be weaker without him. And it would also mean parting ways. He was really very fond of the fire demon's company.

But it also meant no more Witch. No more danger of being turned into a scarecrow or worse.

"It's no use. We can't break it on our own," Howl said finally. The necessity of a third party to perform the curse-breaking had been written in the contract. It had been Calcifer's idea in case one of them got too power hungry. Someone could be enlisted to stop them.

Howl never imagined it would come to that. Though he supposed he'd never thought it would come to this either.

But they would get out of this, he promised himself. There would be no need for any curse-breaking.

The rain did not let up and Calcifer only got worse. Howl kept his hand above his flames to shield him, but he worried his efforts only concreted the droplets by offering a path between his fingers for them to slide down. The fire demon's chatter had ceased, leaving Howl the sound of the rain which made him drowsy. He would've very much liked to stop and sleep, but he needed to get to Market Chipping before the Witch and hide. There was no time to rest, even if it would give Howl's and Calcifer's magic a much needed boost. And it would give him so much peace just to rest his legs and eyes for a moment...

A crunching drew his attention and he felt the scarecrow's presence a moment later. Calcifer flared up a little, flames tinged white with terror. "Is it coming to attack us?" he asked.

The scarecrow hopped into view, a cross-shaped silhouette through the fog. Something clattered at its wrist, a metal and glass prism. It came closer and Howl's tired mind realized it was a lantern. It was crafted of twisting wrought iron with four glass paned walls and a pointed roof that merged with the handle.

The scarecrow offered its arm, the lantern dangling from it. "Thank you," Howl said, threading the metal loop from its wooden wrist.

Opening the glass door, he leveled the shovel at the lantern's entrance and tipped Calcifer in. The fire demon crawled inside without complaint, even though it was a tight fit. He circled once, like a dog positioning itself in its bed, and fell still, his flames burning low. Howl shut the door, keeping him dry, containing his warmth.

"I won't forget this," he said, looking to the scarecrow. "I'm afraid you can't come with me, but I will figure out a way to help you, I promise."

The scarecrow stayed balanced on the slope as Howl continued on, taking the light with him.