Howl's Twisted Castle

19: Novice Magic

My enthusiasm wore off as quickly as it had come on. Waiting for Howl to come back seemed like a losing battle after only a few short hours. I did many things to combat my boredom; I tidied my room and made my bed; I moved the boxes from the living room to the second floor, much to the protest of my aching back and creaking knees. I even made tea and biscuits but, sadly, I finished them all too quickly. After that was said and done, I was faced with the inevitable monotony that accompanies waiting.

I sank into one of the chairs in the living room with a groan. To my left, the books on the shelf looked more tantalizing now that I had nothing else to do. I selected a slightly hefty tome and set it on the table next to me. Before I could get too comfortable with my new found literature, I decided to do something I'd wanted to do all day.

I carefully constructed a tent of wood in the centre of the hearth, leaving room for enough air to keep the tinder lit until the wood caught fire. I fumbled with my hands over the mantel until I found the matches, striking one against the bottom of the box. With a hiss, the match ignited as I popped it into the middle of the tinder. The flame came to life with a flicker of bright light, and I nursed it little by little until it licked its way up the sticks. Satisfied with my handiwork, I added a few thicker pieces to the fire and settled into the rocker with the massive volume.

The book, now nestled in my lap, gave no clue as to its contents; there was no title to be found. Instead, it had on it a symbol on the front cover that appeared to be in the shape of a heart. I flipped through the first few pages and found them covered in indecipherable scribbles and sketches. 

Was it written in a foreign language? I'd never seen markings quite like this before, and not only that, there didn't appear to be a repeating pattern of letters that might indicate an alphabet. The pictures were so very curious, and from what I could make out, they depicted what I could only assume were instructions. 

Some pictures showed a tree growing from a seedling after applying a tonic; another illustrated a person drawing circles on a floor, creating a hole to jump in. Even more unusual was the immense amount of detailed pictures of gemstones with yet more indecipherable scribbles beneath them. 

Rain beat against the windows around me, drowning out my thoughts. I didn't know where the storm was occurring because the windows didn't overlook any landscape I recognized. I would have thought the windows in the castle looked out into the forest near Market Chipping, but then again, the castle wasn't actually in the forest. So where was this storm at then? I peered out of the window closest to me and saw only rolling hills of thick green grass and dense clouds on the horizon. Where ever this view was, I was glad to be indoors, warm and dry next to the fire, not out in that dreary weather. I closed the book and left it on my lap, letting the warmth of the hearth lull me to sleep. 

The gentle click of oxfords stopped next to my chair, and I felt the book removed from my lap. My heart skipped a little bit as I slowly let my eyes open to see Howl standing over me, curiously looking over the tome. Howl's jacket had a small tear in it, and his clothes looked a little rumpled.

"What kind of book have you been reading?" Howl asked.

"I wasn't reading any of it," I argued. "It's honestly just a bunch of jibberish to me."

"That's because you lack the skill to read it," he knelt by the bookshelf, replacing the tome. Howl selected a smaller battered book and handed it to me. "This book would be closer to your ability to understand."

I turned the book over in my hands warily. Opening it to a random section, I read the words inscribed on the page. "Well this is different, it's written in English," I said, handing the book back to him.