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The Princess and the Tower (AnjelRocker and Penner)

penner

Super-Earth
Joined
Sep 28, 2015
Cris would never feel comfortable in the gilded halls of the High King. The cold grey stones, decorated with the finest tapestries, were far from the rolling hills, soft green landscapes and forests of his youth. How had he gotten here? It took years to earn his position as Knight of the Kingdom and yet it felt too soon. He missed home, more than that, he was tired of the pomp and circumstance of Castle Airhart.

The castle guards straightened as he approached the wide wooden doors that led into the King's Chamber. Their spears banged into the floor, before crossing to bar the way.

"Name!"

"Sir Cristopher of Edern," Cris murmured with a slight bow of his head.

"You may enter."

They were expecting him, of course. The King had called Cris here. Still, he felt out of place as he stepped through the door and into the chamber, almost as if he were dreaming. This place was unreal, glittering with some unholy light, adorned with more riches than Cris had ever seen in his life. It felt... almost obscene, when compared to the starkness and need outside these walls.

"My liege," Cris dropped to one knee when he spotted the King lounging in a wide, plush chair near the center of the room.

In one hand, the King held a white rag, this he sobbed into at odd intervals. In the other hand he held a large greasy turkey leg which he nibbled on between sobs.

"You've heard the news?" The King blubbered.

"About the princess?"

"Yes. Yes! That foul hag has stolen my daughter!"

"I hear a legion of men have been in search of her for days, my liege," Cris did not dare to lift his head. The King was known to explode into fits of rage for such infractions, and less.

"Failed! They've all failed!"

Cris did not know how to respond. Instead, he remained quiet as the king loudly blew his nose into the rag. Bits of snot missed the rag and dripped down the kings arm.

"You must find her! You must bring her home!"

"Me, your liege? I am but a lowly knight."

"You are the one they call the Giant Slayer, are you not?"

"That was purely an accident--"

"Accident! Pah! Your false modesty does not become you! If you cannot retrieve her, none can! You must go! Into the Dark Woods, and you must bring my daughter home!"

How could he say no? Cris bowed his head before slowly rising, "I will find your daughter... if it is the last thing I do."

*********************

Time had long ago ceased to mean anything to him. What is time but the measure of years? He had no years to measure, not anymore. He had only the cold, the dark, the stones.

He slept, a great deal, or at least it felt a great deal like sleeping. Some days he tried to remember, to cling to the thing that made him human but those days were fewer and fewer now. Too long he had been in the dark, the silence. Too long he had been in the stone.

Had he once had a body? It hardly seemed so. Had he once had a name? He could barely remember it.

Winnie? Winter? Yes, Winter, but his brother called him Winnie. He could no longer remember his brother's name, or even his face.

The day she arrived, time began to pulse anew. Her arrival gave him years to measure, not his own... but hers.

The girl.

The princess.

At first, he did not reveal himself to her. He watched her through the stones, listened to her voice, tried to remember words.

At first, he was not certain what she was. What is this bleating thing? He wondered. Ah. Human. No, a girl. She was a girl. A girl with a head that shined like gold, and a voice like the sweetest bird song. Birds... he remembered birds. Birds came to the tower often, they would chirp at him from the softly rounded windows. This girl was not a bird.

At first, he was too ashamed and afraid to show himself.

It was on the fifth day of her appearance that he burst free, but not because he meant to. It happened quite by accident.

He sneezed.

There was no reason for it, no need for it, he had no nose to be tickled, no lungs to expel, and yet it happened and he was left awkwardly staring out from his wall at the girl who was not a bird.
 
It was terribly boring in this tower for the last five days as she had been placed here… well, she truly did not know why she had been kidnapped but she had some idea as to the reasons. It was probably because of her father’s new policies that had come upon the land. It was not as if he was a harsh leader but it seems that he had upset someone that he ought not to. And well, she had been approached by what seemed to be a kindly old woman with a basket of delicious looking muffins and danishes and well… having always been one to fall for delicious pastry.

She supposed that her maid had been right, sweets would be her undoing one day. And so, here she was wandering the tower and looking for something to do. She had cleaned, something that had taken her some time to do since… well, she was a Princess. That was the sort of thing that maids and servants did for her. However, it seemed that the tower was not going to up and clean itself. She had also looked for some sort of stairway for her to leave. There were no hidden floor boards or loose rocks…
“How does a tower not have a staircase?” She had asked as she went to the balcony. It was not as if she could jump from the tower… she would break her legs on impact and could die… it’s not as if it would be impossible if she had a rope. However, there was no rope… and it was not as if her hair was long like in a silly faerie tale that she had heard before.

No, she simply needed magic. And there was a lot of magic in the tower since it seemed that she had everything that she needed. There was a bed, a vanity with a mirror, water to wash that seemed to never disappear as much as she used it… and when she wanted something on the cupboard for food… it was there. Well, she had to cook it. That had taken sometime… and she had burnt a few things.

Adele was simply not cut out for a domestic life it seemed. Of course, she had dreamed as a little girl what it would be like to be a farm girl and would play games like that… but it was truly hard to do that sort of thing.

However, she was too stubborn to give up.

And so, Adele was trying to cook something out of a recipe book as she was looking at the ingredients with a strange look. Her hair was tied up because she had almost set it on fire before…

And that was when it happened. The sudden sneeze that made her jump a foot as she whipped around and stared at where the noise had come from. Had the old woman returned for her?

What she had seen next had her staring in utter horrible at the face that had suddenly appeared on the wall. “What in the…” She exclaimed as she took a step back and reached for something. It was a broomstick as she put it in front of herself. As if a broom was going to protect her from the ghost of this tower. “Don’t come near me!” Adele shouted as she didn’t know what else to do?

“I was brought here… ghost! I can’t leave!” She shouted as she glared at it… pretending to be brave but inside, she wanted to hide and run away. “You have to leave!”
 
Of course she was afraid, it would make little sense if she wasn't. He was, after all, a face in a wall. He had no idea what he looked like, he had never seen himself through the eyes of another, but he knew she could see him. Was he just a face? Had the witch not granted him the shadow of a body? It seemed not.

"I cannot harm you," he said, and he could not hide the ire in his tone, "why do you fear me?"

In truth her reaction hurt him. He didn't want it to, and he would never admit it, maybe not even to himself, but his long forgotten heart hated to see the fear and panic in her face as she swung her stick at him.

Was that a broom? What did she hope to do with a broom? Knock the wall down? The only thing she would accomplish with that nonsense was to break her broom, perhaps even her hand.

"I will leave if you insist but... you are the first I have spoken to in a very long time, indeed, I'm not even sure if you can hear me. I think I speak, but do I? Do I only think I'm making noise?" He knew he was babbling so he forced himself to stop. He waited, watching her closely, hoping she could hear and, absurdly, hoping she would be willing to speak to him.

He wasn't sure he knew how to speak anymore, if she did decide to tolerate her presence, would he even know what to do with her company?
 
The Princess was staring at the wall face as he sounded upset because she was the one who feared him! “Why do I fear you?” Well, there were a number of reasons that she was fearful of the face on the wall. “Because… you are a face on a wall in this prison of a tower that I am in!” She said with a frown as she was still holding up the broom, ready to fight if she had to. “I can hear you quite well…” How did a wall even sneeze? What was he even? “You are a man’s face in a wall… actually, I don’t know what you are… are you a ghost?” She asked with a tilt of her head as she could not take her eyes away from whatever he was.

In her eyes, he was a bit creepy… knowing that there was a spirit or whatever in the tower with her. Had her watched her when she had bathed? She shuddered to think of it… and she would have been better off not knowing that he was. Actually, she wished that he would leave. Then, she could be alone.

Did Princess Adele truly want to be alone?

She waited for him to answer her questions as she was at the ready. Why was there something else in this tower? Was he connected to the witch? What if he had been sent there to be her guard of some sort? These were things that she was thinking of at that moment.

Adele was also upset that she was still here and could not get down from the tower… well, she could but she would break her back and she had thought of a rope before but… it had not been long enough for her to climb down the tower… it’s not like her hair was long enough either.
 
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