Cinderella vs. Happily Ever After

Chapter 15

Valerie wasn’t sure exactly what’d she’d been expecting when she’d first heard of Enax’s tower, but she certain that it wasn’t what she was seeing. Rising out of the same explosively coloured forest they’d been traveling through for the past four days, it looked like whoever had designed it had done so while drunk.

            The main stem, she could only picture it being grown, not built, was a tall slender tower. Starting from the third floor, going by the windows, wings began sprouting out like branches. Some were long thin chimney like addition while others were stout boxes clinging to the tower. Others looked like L’s, only touching the tower at the bottom, each one of this type capped with a different colour of conical roof.

            “It looks ridiculous,” Bayon said, before Cavyle shushed him. Senera looked around, eyes shining with excitement while Rabar looked to be cataloguing it all away for further study later.

            Directly in front of them was a wide, though short, door painted an eye-smarting shade of blue. “Umm…Miette?” Valerie said, darting around to make sure a six-armed orangutan or a talking couch wasn’t hiding somewhere nearby. The feeling the tower gave her made her give credence to all the insane ideas she’d ever had.

            “Yes?” The other women replied, turning, a soft smile playing across her lips. Val wondered how she was so relaxed.

            “Why didn’t we go in the front door? The one that was a well, you know, normal colour.”

            “Oh that is the door for uninvited guests. It is better to go through this door. When Enax does not want to be disturbed the front door is…interesting.”

            She gulped. “Alright then, blue door it is.”

            “This is going to be heroic!” Cavlye said, his grin a match for the ones the other three were now wearing. Danger only seemed to excite them as several near brushes with patrols in the past four days had taught Valerie. She only wished they had whined less. But if she was being fair, she knew they held up better than she’d expected. Their families were still in the palace and the fact they weren’t crying and not moving was enough of a miracle. She sighed.

            Miette flashed her a reassuringly smile as she led the way forward. “You should relax. Enax is a dear. He would not harm any of us.” She tapped the knocker once, bronze in the shape of a beaver’s tail, then opened the door and walked in.

            “He does not lock his doors?” Bayon said, glowering. “What of bandits?”

            “He’s a wizard, kid. Who would be stupid enough to rob him?” Isaac answered, following behind Miette. The boy hurried to catch up.

            The room they found themselves in was clearly the kitchen. A bread oven stood beside a roasting spit to their right. A bit further in sat a sink, complete with hand pump. To their left stood a large wooden table surrounded by identically coloured wooden chairs, all carved in a different style. The floors, ceiling and walls were all made of the same light grey stone of the outer tower.

            “Oh, it is the kitchen. That is a relief,” Miette said, looking around with a fond smile. “I know how to get to Enax’s room from the kitchen.”

            “Why does it sound like you weren’t sure we were going to end up in the kitchen?” Valerie asked, though she already had a suspicion regarding the answer.

            “Enax changes where the doors lead periodically. He says it makes visits more interesting. Now, please stay close to me and do as I say. Some of the rooms are…surprising,” she told them before walking out the door

            Cayvle’s grin only widened, so it looked like it should be splitting his face in half. Senera looked around like she expected the room to change right then. Val shivered slightly and followed Miette out the only doorway and down the stairs in front of them. The stairs spiralled downwards, lit by globes of light that changed colour as they passed. The kids oohed and awed and had to be stopped from running past them multiple times.

            “So he lives in the basement?” Valerie asked, looking at the endless seeming stairs.

            “No. His rooms are the topmost ones,” Miette replied.

            “Then...” she caught herself in time. “A wizard’s tower. I shouldn’t be surprised the staircase is magic too.”

            The other woman smiled. “You are much better at this than Lyel. Enax has told me he wandered the tower for a week, cursing him almost constantly. He still does not find this place amusing. “

            Val chuckled. “I can only imagine. I think it helps we have you here to guide us. So how much longer is it? I don’t know how long I can keep the savages in line.”

            “I am not a savage,” Bayon cried.

            “Last night I had to stop you from just dropping the rabbit bones anywhere. We had a garbage area designated. You are a little savage.”

            Miette chuckled, which only seemed to frustrate Bayon further if the way he stomped down behind them was any indication. “We should be there shortly. I do hope he is here and not visiting his grandchildren. I am not good at using his mirror.”

            That caught the kids’ attention. “He has a magic mirror?” Rabar asked.

            “Yes, he has two. They can only communicate between the two of them though.”

            “That’s wizardly!” Cavyle said.

            Valerie chuckled. “I should hope so, after all, he is a wizard.”

            “He prefers to be called a magician,” Miette said, shaking her head. Then she looked ahead and smiled. “We are here.”

            They stopped in front of another door of the same blinding blue shade as the one they’d entered through. Miette gave them a reassuring smile, which did nothing to stop the sweat prickling the back of Valerie’s neck, and knocked three times on the door.

            “Enter,” a light male voice called, only slightly roughened with age.

            Miette pushed the door open.