Twisted Towers

Chapter 3

   I arrive at what I assume are to be my chambers now, where I meet with Melindra, a servant, soon after we arrive at the castle. She picks out a velvet dress for me to try on, a dark blue one with a huge skirt and long sleeves. I put the dress on, perfectly fitted to me, and Melindra does my hair. 

   I look in the mirror, and what I see astonishes me. My hair is curled, half in a braid down my back, the rest flows down my back. The dress perfectly compliments my dark blue eyes. 

   Melindra leads me to the throne room, the King of Jenhien and Aryc waiting for me on thrones, and an older man beside a younger man, both with hair as black as my own. 

   "Young Erys," the King starts, "this man to my left, do you know who he is?"

   "No, I'm afraid I don't know."

   The man sighs and mutters, "She doesn't know..."

   The King continues, "This is King Gideon of Askon. Do you know who he is now?"

   "Only what you have told me."

   "He is your father."

   There is a long moment of silence from all of us, until I say, "My what?"

   "Your father."

   I look at King Gideon, who walks over to me and wraps me in a too-tight hug. I don't return it. 

   The King says something else when King Gideon pulls away. "This other young man with us is your brother, Marcus."

   Marcus smiles at me slightly, and I force a smile back. 

   "Hello, my sister." He says to me. 

   "Hello."

*~~~*   *~~~*   *~~~*

   Hours after meeting Gideon and Marcus, I lay in my new bed, in my new nightgown, and think about the day's events. I think about the fact that I have a family here, or, at least, people willing to pretend to be it. Gideon had told me to call him Father, and Marcus had told me to call him Marc. 

   I try to fall asleep, but with everything happening, I couldn't. 

   I think of Mother, left behind in the towers. I wonder if she is being kept up tonight, from me being taken from her, right in front of her. 

   I can't sleep, so I wander around my room, exploring. Searching for secret doors like I had when I was a little girl, always curious. What surprised me was, when I arrived near a tapestry near the balcony, I felt something there. Not physically, but something was making me want to look at it, or, rather, under it. I moved the tapestry aside, but nothing was there. Something was telling me to touch the wall. I did. My hand went right through it, as if it wasn't even there. I jumped back immediately, knocking into a low table as I did. Luckily, it barely made a noise. 

   I went back to the tapestry, pushing instead on the tapestry, pushing it to the wall. It stopped right where the wall ended. I pushed the tapestry aside and pushed on both it and the wall at the same time. My hand slid through the wall, while the tapestry stayed put. 

   I pushed my remaining curiosity down, as I heard someone coming down the hall, toward my room. If anyone saw me interacting with magic of any kind, I would be killed on the spot. I left the tapestry and went back to my bed and pretended to sleep. 

   I hear the footsteps pass my door, and I immediately go back to the "ghost wall," taking a candle with me this time. I move the tapestry aside, holding the candle while I push my hand through the wall. The candle, unexpectedly, goes through the wall as easily as my hand. "Wow...!" I whisper. 

   "I know." 

   I jump when I hear the voice behind me. Turning towards the voice, I see the same person I followed into the woods when I was first coming to Jenhien, fire-red hair and emerald-green eyes gleaming. "It's amazing, isn't it?"

   "What?"

   "Magic," he says, like it is the answer to everything, and the only answer to anything. 

   As he says that, I tense. Magic is forbidden in the Three Kingdoms. 

   "Are you against it?"

   "I was raised knowing it's forbidden. So yes, in fact, I am." 

   He looks down slightly, as if disappointed. 

   "Is that bad? I don't think not getting hanged is a bad thing." I say this casually, as if this was just talking about tea preferences. 

   "Yes, but--" At that second, we hear more footsteps at my door. This time, they seem to pause at my door. The door handle turns slightly, then stops, as if the person turning it regretted the action. I then hear a soft knock on the door. 

   I hesitate, not knowing what would happen if I was found with a magic supporter in my room. He gestures to open the door, moreso suggesting it rather than telling. I walk to the door, open it, and find someone else I don't know. 

   He pushes his way into my room, grabs me by my shoulder and my hair, and drags me to the tapestry. I don't scream. I can't. The door stranger drags me closer to the ghost wall. He rips the tapestry from the wall and shoves me through the ghost wall. The last things I see before the wall closes around my face and plunges me into darkness are the faces of the door stranger and the forest stranger. The door stranger's face is blank, expressionless. In contrast, the forest stranger's face has a mix of satisfaction and apology written clearly on it. 

*~~~* *~~~* *~~~*

   I land on my back, and the first thing I realize is the fact that I am no longer in my room. In fact, I'm not even inside. I lay in the grass, looking up at the stars. I immediately find Ghanys, the constellation pointing towards home. It looks different from where I lay, like Ghanys is pointing down slightly instead of across the sky as usual. I sit up, confused. I look to where he is pointing, and I see a forest, but it looks strange. As I look closer, I realize it's because there are bridges connecting the trees, and what looks like tree houses nestled into the branches. I stand up, and I realize that there is no way for me to have entered. I only see trees around me.

   As I am thinking about that strange fact, out of the tree nearest me comes the door stranger, and following him, the forest stranger. The door stranger starts walking to the "tree village," while the forest stranger stays behind with me. I go to the tree they had walked out of, and try to put my hand through it. It goes right through, just as it had with the ghost wall. 

   "Mesmerizing, right?" the forest stranger asks. 

   "No." I immediately pull my hand from the tree and wipe my mesmerized expression from my face, although I couldn't deny it. I was a little mesmerized. 

   "Uh huh. Come on, Erahn didn't drag you through the wall just because. We have places to be." He starts walking in the direction the door stranger went. 

   "Erahn?"

   "The man who dragged you through the wall."

   Oh, so the door stranger's name is Erahn. I think to myself. Good to know...