Howl's Twisted Castle

10: Have a little faith

Markel seemed just as confused as I was about Howls reaction, but it didn't stop him from his duties. I was given the grand tour of the castle swiftly with Markel ensuring he filled me in on all the little details along the way. At first, when he had told me this place was a castle, I didn't believe him, but now I wasn't quite as confident.

For starters, the area Markel showed me was not the castle in its entirety. In fact, what he was able to show me was only a mere fraction of the castle its self. There used to be dozens upon dozens of rooms, enough to house a village, but now the castle boasted only four useable bedrooms. He claimed the staircases climbed to dizzying heights, so much so that they enchanted doors to get them to the top floor. It was hard to picture it in my mind, but Markel assured me that the castle was indeed an impressive structure in its prime.

When I inquired as to why the castle had shrunken in size, Markel gave me a vague half answer about how Howl lacked the ability he needed to maintain the size of the castle. Unfortunately, when I pressed further on the matter, my questions were met with silence. 

He showed me to the second floor of the castle where I would be staying. Mainly, it was a massive hallway lined with the doors to the four bedrooms. Markel's was to the right side just off the landing of the stairwell while Howls room was further down. He made it clear that I should avoid entering Howls room, that is unless I wanted to make him angry. I made a mental note about it and carried on. 

My quarters, as Markel pointed out, was across the hall from Howls on the left-hand side. It was a small sort of room, with no pictures on the wall or any decorations. It did, however, feature a small bed and a solid looking armoire. At the very least I had a tidy place to store my clothing and a place to sleep. Off in the corner of my room, to my dismay, was another floor length mirror. I gathered that Howl was fond of them, given the ten other mirrors I had already seen on my tour. 

He was a little vain, that man.

"Well that's pretty much it," Markel spun around after showing me everything he could, concluding the tour. "There's another bathroom at the end of the hallway that you can use and please, whatever you need, just ask okay?"

"Thank you, Markel," my voice cracked. "This means a lot to me after everything that's happened."

He crossed his arms and leaned against the door frame. "Shame you can't talk about it though, it would make things a lot easier for us if you could."

I sighed softly. Markel had no idea.

"Can you give me hints at all? Or is that impossible?" he looked hopeful.

I tried to formulate the words, but my mind went fuzzy. It was as if there was some disconnect between my mind and my voice. No matter what I tried, I just couldn't say anything at all about the curse.

"I want to, but I can't." I frowned.

He rubbed my shoulder to lighten the mood.

"Well, no matter. It won't be long until the master is back from his trip anyways," he said brightly.

I wanted to ask him how long that would be, but when it came to Howl's whereabouts, Markel's voice was under lock and key. It bothered me that anything regarding Howl was either a secret or prohibited. Privacy, it seemed, was Howls number one priority.

Why do I even care? Once he breaks my curse, it won't matter what his business is, I reminded myself. It was a shame Markel couldn't fix me himself, I mean he did say he was a wizard's apprentice. Did that not qualify him to help me? Or was he just not experienced enough with curses?

"Have you ever been c--," my voice caught, and I couldn't get the last word out.

"Cursed? No, or at least nothing nasty like what you've got going on. I have had some prank curses cast on me, though. Some wizards can be childish." he chuckled.