The Tower 30

I watched as his face went from measured calculation to painful unease. I wondered if this was some sort of enchantment that wouldn’t allow the cursed party to speak the cause of their misery. Or maybe he was only sane enough during certain times and I had to break the chains. I began reviewing the fairy tale curses and enchantments in my mind and I had finally decided on C.S. Lewis’ The Silver Chair theory when a smile broke out across his face.

“What?” I asked annoyed. I had put forth a serious question and I expected a serious answer.

He shook his head. “None of those theories are correct.”

“What do you mean?”

“The fairy tales you just reviewed don’t even come close.”

“You know what I’m thinking?” I gasped.

He nodded. “Most of the time. Your face is very transparent, but sometimes your thoughts scream out to me.”

“Can all of your people read minds?” I was wary now. My thoughts were my own and I didn’t like someone picking them out of my brain whenever they wanted to.

“As far as I know I’m the only one.”

I sighed and then returned to the matter at hand. “So why am I here? If it’s not to break some fantastic curse then why?”

“I need your help.” He thought for a moment as if trying to decide what to say next. “In a way you will be breaking a curse, but not in the sense of what you were thinking. Do you remember the book I had you bring to me that first day, the one in my tower?”

“Yes.”

“Did you see anything on the pages before you left?”

“No, they were blank,” I replied confused. “Why?”

“That book contains all of the charms and spells and magic that my mother ever knew. To understand I suppose I should finish my tale.”

I nodded.

“So Sareanne returned to Perdeen with a tale that brought fear to the people of the city. Her act of calling upon the gods of the earth to save her soldiers did indeed save the people, but it also separated her and Mehean from everyone else. At first she thought they had ended up on the wrong side of the chasm, but the sounds of the monsters seemed so far away.

“The mist that rose from her newly created chasm obscured the far side where she thought her soldiers to be. She didn’t dare go exploring for fear a monster would catch her, so finally at nightfall Mehean climbed up into a tree and pulled her up. They hoped the coming of a new day would give clarity to their situation.

“That night they listened to the far off howls of the monsters as they repeatedly threw themselves over the edge into the chasm, but none approached their tree. When morning came the mist remained, but it stayed in the chasm. Mehean convinced Sareanne to leave the tree and explore hoping to find a way back to the soldiers.

“Mehean was an expert at tracking his path through the forest and as they walked he realized they were traveling in somewhat of a circle. It took them almost a whole day to follow the edge of the chasm and they realized they were stuck on an island of sorts in the middle of the great chasm.

“In all that day they never encountered one monster and Mehean truly believed they were safe. Their next task was to find a way to cross the chasm to safety and return to Perdeen unfortunately they weren’t sure which side was safe. The mist obscured the far sides all the way around their island."