A month

A month. It had been a month since the end of her old life and the start of her new one. And in that month she had not seen Howl at all. He had been called away, this time helping the king in getting everything back to normal, he sent them money but never thought to write them a letter, a note…nothing.

Sofi sat on the bottom step in front of the magical door; she stared at the bag of gold and silver that had been handed to her by a handsome young man. Sofi remembered the way the young man had looked at her, since she had been living in the castle young men had been treating her differently, the attention had grown, she had offers all over the place, suitors asking her to come with them to the grand ball at the palace, but naturally she declined. Sofi waited for one man only, she waited for him to look upon her like all these young men were…a look of admiration and lust.

Sofi began to sob; maybe she had made the wrong decision. How could a man like Howl love her? All she was to him was a cook and a cleaner.

"Sofi?" Markle stood at the top of the stairs, looking at her. He had grown in the last month. "What's wrong?" Sofi turned and smiled up at the young boy, she picked herself up,

"Nothing Markle, are you hungry?" She brushed past the boy and tipped the bag of coins into a small chest, which was slowly filling up. Markle was becoming quite the magician. He could conjure food and cook it, but Sofi preferred to do everything the old fashioned way.

"I'm starved!" Markle exclaimed his eyes hopeful for something tasty. Heen shuffled up to them and wheezed for attention. Markle giggled and picked the dog up. "Can I go play out in the fields with Heen for a bit Sofi?" Markle said, already turning the dial to the green setting.

"Of course Markle. I'll call you when dinners ready." Sofi said with a forced smile.

Markle saw the smile was not natural. He was young but wise for his age. The boy ran over to Sofi and hugged her, tugging at her skirt.

"Master Howl will be back soon. I promise." With that he ran out the door, Heen on his tail.

This just caused a fresh flow of tears. Sofi collapsed into a chair by the fire.

"Calcifer I don't know what to do! I love you all…but it doesn't feel right."

"What do you mean Sofi?"

"I mean…the only reason I came here was Howl, the only reason I'm here is Howl…and Howl isn't even here! I can't stay here unless he is here…" Sofi could see the little demon was offended but he said nothing to the sobbing woman. "No contact, no letters, nothing, just a bag of money every month. He doesn't love me. If he did he would've told me by now. I bet he's off with someone beautiful, someone who can give him what he wants and pleasures him. I should never have come here." Sofi ran to her room and flung herself onto her bed.

A month he had been in the well-dressed room. He was well fed, well clothed, given anything he wanted. That was everything…but his freedom. Howl had been called to the castle to help with clearing up the mess the royals had caused. But what he found was a trap. He had been pounced upon and before he new it he was locked in a room with the prince from the neighbouring kingdom. Howl remembered his words; they still seemed to burn his ears,

"Sofi doesn't love you, she will be mine. You can have anything you desire within this room. Sofi will be well looked after. A bag of money will be sent to her, obviously she will assume it's from you. There will be no contact to her from you; she will stop loving you eventually. And then I'm sure she'll make a wonderful queen."

Howl sighed and changed into his bird form. He felt more natural like that, Howl lay on his bed and began to drift to sleep.

"Howl that's a horrible habit. Stop it now."

"Sorry mum." Howl immediately stopped blowing bubbles in his milk. The war was still on, bombs falling all over the city but this house. His father had placed a protective charm on it before he had left to fight. Nothing could penetrate it. Howls father was the most powerful wizard that there was, and obviously he had been called to fight.

"Mother, when's dad coming home?" Howl asked with bright eyes. One day Howl would be just like his dad! The greatest wizard ever! He was going to start his training soon. Very soon, his father would teach him everything!

But his mother's eyes became moist, she said nothing for ages, then came over and kissed her sons head. "Soon, my love, soon."

Howl twisted his body in his bead, his feathers rustling, and began to dream again.

Howl stood in a field of flowers. His mother holding his hand, sobbing. There were only three of them there. Howl, his mother and his uncle. They stood over the grave of Howls fathers. Two years had passed since his father had died in that war. Howls mother began to sing. Howl tugged out of his mothers hands and sat next to his fathers grave. He placed his hands over the ground and willed all his power into his fingertips. Everything he had learnt in the two years gone. Howl felt more and more power in his fingertips, more than he could handle, Howl began to panic, he had only wanted to make the flowers on the grave a little more beautiful, but he was out of control. There was a light in front of his eyes he could not clear, he felt hands pull him away from the ground, Howl kicked, wanting to get closer to his father, he flung out but the grip was strong, the only way to get this barrier away from him was to release all the power in his fingertips. The air seemed to pulsate out in a wave from Howl, the power flung outwards knocking his mother and uncle over. Howl fell to the floor and ran to his father's grave, sobbing, clinging to the ground. When he looked round he saw his uncle bent over his mother's unmoving body. Howl had killed his own mother. A pool of blood around her head where she had fallen on a rock, the power he had emmited knocking her backwards, causing her to fall...

"MUM!" Howl yelled, back in his bed, in his human form. His face was wet…and then he realised what he had to do to escape. The dream was horrible, but he had dreamt it for a reason. He remembered how he had drawn his father's power from him, recalling the familiar feeling in his fingertips. his body trembled, it would be greater then last time. He was stronger, he was wiser, this time he would not panic, would not kill anyone, only escape. Howl closed his eyes tight, fists clenched, drawing as much power as possible. He opened his eyes, which were white with bright light from the power inside him. Howl readied himself and ran towards the tower wall. He knew it was a long drop but as soon as he was out of this magical bound he could fly home. Howl ran straight into the wall, he felt the magical boundaries pushing him back; this was when he released his power like an atomic bomb with him at the heart. He had summoned more power then he needed. He not only broke through the boundaries but also destroyed half the castle. A tower of smoke billowed upwards towards the sky, Howl was falling downwards until he changed to his bird form and flew faster then ever before back home. Back to Sofi.