Once upon a time, my life sucked. You think I'm kidding? You try being locked in a tower for 7 years. Oh, sorry, maybe I should introduce myself. My name is Cadmus. Prince Cadmus technically, but I don't really feel like a prince. I don't really look like a prince either, in my opinion. I have longish wavy black hair and blue-green eyes. I don't have a crown, a throne, or even a castle because I had been captured by a sorcerer named Thorn when I was 8 and brought to this tower. My lovely prison was 30 feet high and surrounded by the Foreboding Forest, which is said to be cursed, so there was no escaping.
Thorn, my charismatic jailer, comes by to visit me from time to time. I'll admit, without human contact, even if it's Thorn, I'd probably go stir crazy. Apparently, today was one of his visitation days because I awoke to his face inches from mine. "Hey!" I yelped, sitting bolt upright in bed, "What are you doing?!"
Thorn sat back and just smiled at me like I was an amusing puppy. He was a tall man with short black hair, blue eyes, a hooked nose and a black cloak. As usual he carried a staff made of obsidian, topped with a beautiful sphere of malachite, which was about the size of a toddler's fist.
Thorn stood and looked down at me. With his black hair and cloak, he looked disturbingly like a vulture. "Why, I've come to visit you of course Cadmus" He said innocently, his voice deep, "aren't we friends?" I disentangled myself from my blankets and got out of bed. "You have never been my friend" I snarl "never have, never will." Thorn looked bored, twirling his staff around in his fingers. I walked to the window and looked out. The view was amazing, as always. I could see a smudge in the distance that Thorn had told me was my parent's castle.
"What's the matter?" Thorn asked, his voice dripping with mock sympathy "Sad that you'll never get to see your parents ever again? They probably forgot what you even look like a long time ago. They probably had another child, to replace you."
That's it. I thought. I picked up a chunk of stone that had fallen loose and chucked it at Thorn. He tried to turn but it caught him in the shoulder, giving him a decent cut which immediately started to bleed. He hissed in pain. "How could you?! Guess I see how much I'm appreciated around here!" Thorn growled, and then he disappeared in a flash of green smoke. I sighed "So much for visitation day." I decided to spend the day reading books to pass the time. Reading was one of my favorite ways to stay sane.
A week had passed since Thorn's visit. I was starting to think that I would starve to death, when I heard someone shouting. I rushed to the window and looked down to see a girl standing below, looking up at me. She had waist-length red hair and wore armor. I couldn't see her face from this height. I yelled "Who the heck are you!?"
"I'm the person who's going to rescue your butt from that tower!" She yelled back.
"How can you do that that?" I shouted "It's a least 40 feet tall!"
"Oh please!" She scoffed "I've scaled towers over 50 feet!" And, to my amazement, she started climbing. She made it look so easy, putting her feet and hands on foot/hand holds that were no wider then 2 inches! In less then a minute, she was halfway up. Another minute and she was standing directly in front of me.
She grinned "How ya doing?" The girl was around my age, 15 with bright green eyes and wore an armored breastplate with chain mail sleeves. She also wore metal gloves, boots, and brown pants. I just stared at her in shock. Wow, she's pretty I thought.
"Hey, you alright?" she asked "cause you look like you're having a heart attack."
"I-I'm fine" I stammered, my face turning red, 'I've just never seen a girl in armor before."
"Well now you have" she took off her right glove and stuck out her hand, "I'm Emma."
"Cadmus" I said, and we shook. "Why are you here exactly?" I asked.
"I was sent to rescue you from that barbarian of course, now come on!" she was tying one end of a coil of rope she was carrying to a leg of the bed. "Uh, won't the bed just be pulled over to the window?" I asked, dazed.
"Yes, but the window is too small for the bed to fall out." she reasoned.
Emma handed me the rest of the rope and said "Get going, we don't have much time."
"I can't do this! I protested. She rolled her eyes, "Yes you can Cadmus! Just plant your legs against the side of the tower, and slowly let yourself down."
"Wait, who sent you to find me? I asked. I needed at least one answer before I left. She looked me straight in the eye and said "Your parents, stupid."
I went down the rope in a trance. Emma followed me. "How can my parents even remember me, let alone find me?" I asked Emma. As we landed and walked toward her horse she told me that my parents had been looking for me desperately for 7 years and finally a couple of weeks ago, a farmer reported that he had seen a man matching Thorn's description entering this part of the Foreboding Forest several times. My mom and dad put two and two together and sent their best soldier out to get me. "How far away are we from the castle?' I asked. I desperately wanted to see my parents again. "5 days journey if we go fast" She said, hoisting herself onto the horse. I got on after her. "Hold on!" she said and we took off! The wind in my face felt amazing. I was free! I laughed aloud, but my voice got carried away in the wind. For 5 days we rode, stopping at several towns to eat and rest. I got to know Emma as the daughter of the captain of the Royal Guard, the second oldest of seven children (4 brothers and 2 sisters), and a very determined fighter. She told me it was her dream to be captain of the Royal Guard, just like her dad. Emma not only became my savior, she became a very close friend.
When we finally arrived at the castle, I expected grandeur and a warm welcome. What I got was complete chaos. Parts of the castle were in ruin, trees and flags were on fire, explosions shook the ground, people were screaming, and soldiers were fighting desperately against….Thorn? I had known Thorn was a sorcerer ever since my first day in the tower, when he made some food appear but I had never seen him like this. He was hovering 6 feet off the ground, one hand grasping his obsidian staff, and his eyes were glowing green! As we watched, he summoned a green fire ball with his staff and hurled it towards the soldiers. They scattered, screaming as the fireball heated their armor to unbearable degrees. "Wha-what's happening?!" I yelled as another explosion shook a nearby wall to pieces. "I don't know! Emma yelled, terrified, "I was here just this morning, and everything was fine!"
Either hearing our shouts or sensing us, Thorn turned toward us. When he looked at me with those glowing green eyes, I made a very undignified whimpering sound. Emma pulled me behind a section of stone wall said "See his staff?" It was kind of hard to miss, with the glowing green flames swirling around it and all. I said "Yeah, he always has that. What about it?"
"It was stolen from the castle's secret archives 6 years ago, on the very same day you were taken." Emma said. Thorn started to float slowly towards us. "It brainwashes and controls whoever uses it! It must have told Thorn to steal you when you were 8 and to hide you in a tower and now it's forcing him to attack the castle!"
I didn't know what to say. But Emma didn't wait for my response,"You distract him and I'll grab the staff from behind!" she said and started to move when I grabbed her arm. "Wait! I don't want to lose you Emma!" I hadn't realized it until now but I really, really liked Emma. She was one of the few people that understood me. She bit her lip and tried for a smile, "Really Cadmus? We're about to go into battle and you confess you like me now? Really great timing." Then she gave me a kiss on the cheek and said "Ready? Go!"
I grabbed a tree branch "Hey Thorn!" I yelled "Come and get me you, uh, weakling!" He hissed and I hoped Emma would hurry up. Then Thorn pointed the business end of the staff toward me, and I had a sudden vision of being blasted into a million particles of Cadmus dust. Uh-oh I thought, but then out of nowhere Emma grabbed the staff! Thorn roared with rage and flung the staff around and around, tying to shake her but she held on. Suddenly, the staff flew out of Thorn's hand, into the air and flung Emma onto the ground where she lay still. "Emma!" I screamed but she didn't move. Thorn started to laugh. He laughed a horrible, echoing laugh, right up until I tackled him. Shock and rage gave me the strength to rip the staff out of his hands. But as soon as I touched it, a horrible raspy voice whispered in my mind "Kill everyone. Kill them all! They abandoned you for 6 years! They must die!"
"No!" I shouted, raised the staff over my head and smashed the malachite sphere. A cloud of green smoke billowed out. It took shape, forming a horrible monstrous face. The Voice screamed "You will regret this boy! I will make you regret that you ever left that tower!" Then it dissipated. Thorn's body went rigid and then he blinked. The green light was gone. His eyes were their regular blue. When I pulled him to his feet he groaned.
"What happened?"
"A magical evil staff took control of you and you tried to kill everyone, but everything's fine now." I said. Then I remembered Emma and I ran to her side. She was alright, just a little dazed with a good sized knot on her head. When she saw Thorn she smiled. Then a new voice said "C-Cadmus?" I turned and saw a pretty woman in her late 30's and a man in his early 40's staring at me in amazement. They both looked a little bedraggled. I didn't have the slightest idea who they were but then I noted that they both wore crowns and regal clothes. Then I noticed that the woman had blue-green eyes like mine and I had the man's black hair. "Mom? Dad?" I said in disbelief. They nodded, tears in their eyes and I ran to them and hugged them. "I can't believe it's you!" my mother said, stroking my hair, "We thought we'd lost you forever!"
"Hello Queen Lillian" Emma said bowing "Hello King Marcus." To Emma's surprise, they both hugged her too, thanking her again and again for bringing me home.
Thorn apologized profusely, saying he didn't mean to do any of this. My parents agreed to forgive him on the condition that he uses his magic to help them restore the castle. He heartily agreed. And we all lived happily ever after.
The End