Wizard Howl

Chapter I - The Dragon is Dead

Rose awoke to the sound of horse hooves clacking on stone pavement. She sat up on sidewalk that she'd fallen asleep on the night before. Everything hurt. She stretched and her muscles cracked and groaned in protest. She yawned and stood, brushing the dust of her jeans and picked up her backpack. It held nothing more than a few stolen coins and a stolen loaf of bread, but it was useful. She pulled out the bread and broke of a piece. She had refrained from eating yesterday and she was starving. 

The the streets were filling with people. Today, instead of all walking to their regular destination, they seemed to be funneling towards the town square. Strange. Rose slipped passed wealthy men and women and managed to snatch a few more coins from lazy pouches. Perhaps she'd be able to buy her dinner, for once. She walked passed a boy selling newspapers. His sling became lighter as she walked by. She unrolled the stolen newspaper and a headline jumped out to her: The Dragon is Dead. She skimmed the article. Apparently the body of a dragon had been found in a ravine a few miles away early that morning. It seemed to have been killed in a fight, but with what, no one could fathom. Dragons were nearly impossible to kill; there were few events in history where people ever managed to kill them and in only a handful of those did the human survive. Rose shrugged to herself. She hated magic. So what if a stupid dragon died? It wasn't like it would affect her, at least as long as people kept their heads.

She broke off another piece of bread and began to chew as she read the weather forecast, but she couldn't shake a feeling of foreboding that overcame her. She entered the town square and found why.

"Due to the sudden death of a dragon, the lord of the city is requiring all villagers to be off the streets and in their homes by sundown," a speaker cried from a pedestal in the center of the square. The entire village seemed to be gathered to listen. "Anyone who disobeys these orders will be arrested and sentenced to up to six years of slavery."

Rose froze. She was a peasant. She slept on the streets and had no other place to go. This was disaster. She'd be arrested and forced to work fields from sunrise to sunset for years unless she...but she couldn't. This town was her home. It had been since her stupid run-in with a stupid wizard.

She hated magic, especially since that wizard had cursed her to poverty just because he felt like it. There was only one way for the curse to be broken, and Rose was not interested in true love. She wanted to stay single as long as she could. She'd claw her way out of poverty, or at least survive long enough to get help. Speaking of help...

"Excuse me, ma'am," Rose said politely to a wealthy lady next to her who had blonde hair, flushed cheeks, and a hoop skirt. "You wouldn't have room for me to sleep, perhaps in a barn or attic, would you?"

The lady looked startled. "Oh, um," she stammered. "I see my husband. I'd better go!"

Then she was gone, hurrying through the crowd.

So much for the goodness in other people.

"If you're really concerned about being arrested," a voice next to Rose said, startling her, "you should go to Howl's Moving Castle. It passes by every now and then, and you may find refuge with the wizard. He's a good wizard, I hear, not like those idiots who call prey to selfishness and greed."

The speaker was a boy, a little older then Rose. His hair was pale blond and he had strange eyes that were dark blue, almost purple.

"Thanks," Rose replied, "but I can't do wizards and magic."

"You've had a run-in, haven't you," the boy sighed. "I promise you, Howl's different. Strange, but different. You'll find refuge with him."

"Let's make that plan B," Rose chuckled. "I'm Rose. What's your name?"

"Just call me Ivory," Ivory replied, then he turned and vanished into the crowd.

I'm not going to find help here, Rose realized. I have two options: six years of slavery, or facing a wizard. 

Of the two, Rose might have preferred slavery, it it wasn't in this city which was known for its ruthlessness with its servants. 

Looks like I'm off to find a wizard.