"How did I get here? This is ridiculous," I muttered to myself.
The trees all around me were rustling in the wind. Birds were chirping around me and everything seemed completely normal. I had a small bag draped over my shoulder. In the bag was enough food for two days. I had no idea what I would do after that ran out. I was hoping that it did not come to that.
I had left early in the morning. No one had awoken for the day yet. The world had seemed so calm and peaceful. It was so contrasting to the inner turmoil that I felt that it had made me feel more panicked. I had spent almost all night thinking. That was my problem. I could never shut my brain off. I was always thinking.
That thinking had led me here. I had to admit that. But what was I doing here? The whole situation was laughable. I would return home and my whole family would laugh at how irrational I was behaving.
I stepped over a log and slipped just a little. I caught a branch on a nearby tree to steady myself. I paused for just a moment and looked around. I had been here before. I could feel it. Yet, I had no recollection of this place. No memories. Just a feeling.
I was being silly. Why had I decided to leave home on a whim like this. I knew that I needed to do something, but a plan would have been so much better. I should have actually thought things out. Impulses were just going to lead me to trouble. I sighed and started to walk forwards again.
There was a path in front of me. It looked rather worn down, as if someone took this path often, but it was deep in the cursed forest. No one would have dared to travel this direction from the town. Perhaps it was a deer trail. No. Look. Boot prints. On the side in a dried up mud puddle. People used this path. That was clear. But who?
I kept walking, hoping that something would become clear to me, when I suddenly found myself at the edge of a magnificent field. The trees had opened up so suddenly, I knew that the field had to be maintained by people. Trees and fields did not grow so sharply against each other.
The field was filled with beautiful flowers. Blue, purple, yellow and pink. They blew softly in the wind. On the far side of the field was a fence. It was too far away to see what the fence looked like, but I could tell that it was finely made. It was not shabby like so many in the kingdom were. I could see the fence curve around to the right behind some trees. The field followed the same curve. The sense that I had been here before was stronger than ever.
I needed to see what was beyond those trees. So I took off through the middle of the field. I picked a few flowers as I walked and held them to my face to take in their sweet aroma. They were some of the sweetest smelling flowers. They reminded me of my mother. She always smelled of wild flowers. It must have been because of all the gardening she did. I smiled to myself as I walked across the field.
As I came to the curve a rush of excitement overcame me. I suddenly felt like all my questions were going to be answered. Running away from home would all be worth it once I saw what was beyond those trees.
I stretched my neck as far as I could as I rounded the corner. Suddenly I saw one of the most beautiful buildings I had ever seen. It was built of a thick red wood. The sides were all carved and decorated with roses. The roof stood high above the ground and was covered with thin sheets of a darker wood. I looked a little closer and saw that the building was a stable. I could see rows of horses through the open windows.
I could not contain myself anymore, I ran to the left side where I was sure a door would be. I ran my hand along the delicate designs carved into the beams. I was fascinated by the details. Who would spend so much time on a stable for horses? I looked into stables and at first I could not see very much. It was too dark. I took a tentative step inside and let my eyes adjust to the darker room.
I gasped when I finally was able to take in the entire scene. There were eleven beautiful stalls. Five on either side of me. And then, at the end of the stables was a very large, very elaborate stall. Each stall had a name plate above it. Hanging to the side of the stalls were a saddle and bridle for each horse. The horses each had a barrel of oats in front of them. Each had a set of brushes and cleaning equipment. Whoever owned these horses loved them very much. And, he must be rather wealthy, I thought.
I wandered down the stalls until she was at the last stall. She looked at the nameplate above the stall. "Sliverlight?" I asked softly and looked into the stall. There was the most beautiful horse I had ever seen. He was tall. Very tall. At least a good three feet taller than me. He had the shiniest silver coat I had ever seen. It was easy to see where he got his name from. His mane was pulled back into a few thick braids. I could not tell if that was for beauty or to keep it out of his face while in the stall.
I clicked my tongue to see if I could get him to come to me. He looked up at me with intelligent eyes. They were a piercing blue and I could tell that this horse was extremely loyal, and that it would not be a good thing to get on his bad side. I grabbed an apple from a barrel just a few feet away and held out my hand to offer it to Silverlight.
"What are you doing here?" a man's voice called from the entrance.
I jumped and dropped the apple. Silverlight snorted and bent down to quickly chomp down on the apple and eat it whole. I spun on the spot and stared at the man standing in the entryway.
He was not very tall. Only a few inches taller than me. He was rather skinny. It was like he was just skin and bones, although he looked healthy enough. It was not like he was too skinny, just much skinnier than I was used to. He had grey hair that was beginning to thin on the top of his head. He was wearing clothes unlike anything I had ever seen before. It was a suit, much like my father's. But the strange thing was that it was a bright purple in color. And there were ruffles along the collar. It was almost as fancy as Katrina's dresses. It look peculiar on a man.
"I... I..." I tried to say something, but found that I had lost my voice to shock.
'What are you doing here?" the man demanded again. He seemed very uncomfortable. It was almost like I had startled him more than he had startled me. He did not raise his voice, but by his tone, it was clear that he was used to being answered quickly.
I swallowed to see if that would help and then finally managed to squeak, "I just happened upon this beautiful stable. I had to come and see the inside." It was a poor excuse. I knew that, but I had to tell him something, and I was not going to tell him about how I had ran away from home. That would surely cause him to throw me out or punish me.
"Excuse me?" the man asked shocked. He clearly had not expected me to say something along those lines. This was strange, my excuse might have seemed a little flat, but that did not mean that it was not a common enough answer. People often used getting lost to explain why they were somewhere they should not have been.
"I stumbled upon this beautiful stables. I am terribly sorry for any inconvenience this might have caused you." I explained it again and apologized this time.
He was still giving me a blank look. Like I had said that I had fallen from the sky. "That is impossible."
"Impossible?" I asked confused.
"People cannot just come here. No one can. What am I supposed to do?" he trailed off talking to himself. He was strange. That much I could tell. I was not sure that he was completely sane either. Why would it be so impossible to just find a stable in the woods?
"Whether it is possible or not, I did just happen to find myself here. I was wandering through the woods. Could you tell me where I am? I did not think such a place existed in our kingdom. Have I actually travelled to another kingdom without knowing it?" I was hoping that if I asked a few questions he might actually give me some information.
I was wrong. He just gave me a confused look, then suddenly his face cleared to show no emotion and he said, "My master will want to see you. Follow me." Then he turned on his heels and was walking briskly along a path that went to the right out the door.
"Wait!" I cried. "Wait!" But when it became clear that he would not stop for me, I ran after him. He would not talk to me the rest of the walk. No matter what I asked him. It was infuriating me.
"I am going home. This is ridiculous. I should not be following you," I declared and then turned to head back down the path towards where I had come from.
"No!" the man cried out suddenly. It had been so long since he had said anything to me that it startled me. "You must see my master. He will explain it, if he wishes you to understand."
I turned and looked at him, raising my eyebrows. Could this man get any stranger? "Who is your master?"
The man grimaced a little, as if that was the one question he did not want to answer. He then gave me a look that made me shudder a little. It was too intense for what he said. "He is the man who owns this castle."
I looked around and strangely, for the first time, I noticed a large castle towering over the hill we were walking up. I was beautiful and magnificent, yet at the same time it was sad and dismal. It was falling apart everywhere. The trees had overgrown all along the right side of the castle. There was even an apple tree that had started to grow into one of the second story windows. I could tell that the castle had once been quite grand but now it was just sad to look at. It was crumbling in all sorts of places.
I gasped a little in shock and the man leading me to the castle gave me a sad little smile, but then he turned and just kept walking towards the main entrance. He had almost reached the door when I realized that he was so far ahead of me. I ran to him as fast as I could.
Breathing heavily I stopped just behind him. I had a million questions to ask him, but I needed to catch my breath first. "What... is... this place?" I asked trying to speak even though I was winded from the run up the hill.
Again, the man just turned to look at me. I was getting used to this look. It clearly said that he was not going to tell me and I needed to stop asking. It was strange though. I could almost see a hint of hope behind his eyes, but I was not sure what in the world he could be thinking. He was such a strange man. I still was not sure why I was following him to this ruined castle.
He pushed open the door but blocked my view of the inside. "Please stay calm. No matter what you see." His voice was less demanding as before. Now it just sounded pleading. It was as if he wanted me to be different. Different from what? I had no idea, but I was sure that I would not be what he expected. I never was.
"Alright," I agreed softly. I was not really sure what to say besides that. I wanted to reassure him. Again, I was unsure as to why, but I still felt the need to comfort him anyways.
My agreement seemed to be enough for him and he walked forward into the castle. I followed closely behind as he entered the castle. I did not really look around that much at first. Something about it frightened me. It was hard to explain, but there was a weird feeling about the castle. The man showing me around did not help. He was just as weird as I felt the castle was. Once I did look around though, I was completely shocked.
The inside was the exact opposite of the outside. As much as the outside looked decrepit and falling apart, the inside was pristine and in perfect condition. I looked around amazed. Where the windows had been broken on the outside, they were solid without a single crack in them. The stain glass windows above all shone with all their colors. Nothing looked faded. The walls were whole. The furniture was shiny and polished.
"What happened here?" I asked startled.
The man grimaced at my question. "Magic," he said simply.
I pulled back from that word. "What?" Magic was not used in our kingdom. We shunned everything to do with it. I had never heard of any magic being used anywhere near my home. Here was a castle not even a days walk away that had some sort of spell on it. How did I find this place and what was I still doing here?
"Just as I said. It's magic. Plain and simple," he turned to look at me. He gave me a little sad smile and then continued up the stairs in front of us. He gestured for me to follow, but did not offer any other explanation.
I shook my head in hopes that I might wake from whatever strange dream this was. When everything stayed the same, I quietly followed the man up the stairs. I no longer wanted to ask anything else. I no longer wanted to understand. If this all had to do with magic, all I wanted to do was run away and get as far away as I could. Yet, I still followed that man. I had no idea what made me do it, but at this point I was too involved to just leave. I had to stay and get some answers, even if they scared me.
I was led up two more flights of stairs and through countless hallways. I had lost my sense of direction and was sure that I would not be able to find my way out again without assistance. This made me uncomfortable. It gave me the sense that I was a prisoner now. I tried to shake the feeling as I looked around me. All the hallways had tapestries hanging on the walls. Each had a theme of roses.
That was strange. My mother had grown roses in her garden, but she had never seen anything quite so dedicated to the beauty of a single flower. As they walked they passed many rooms. One looked like a large throne room. It had small seats lining the walls and a large throne placed at the center of the far wall. It looked like no one had used that room in ages. Other rooms were smaller and contained small details. I saw a few libraries. A music room. A few bedrooms. Some of the doors were closed and I had no idea what could be hidden behind those doors, but I never got up the courage to ask. I was just beginning to worry about where this man was leading her when he stopped in front of a rather dull door.
The door was made of a light colored wood and there were no adornments at all. The handle was simple cast iron. It was not the type of door I thought would be on the room where the master of the castle would be. I expected something more like the throne room we had passed by just a few minutes ago.
"Wait right here. I will announce you to the master," the man said and then disappeared into the room.
I stood patiently for just a few seconds. I never was good at waiting. A window to my left caught my eye. I walked over to it and looked down. We were higher up than I thought we should have been. We had to be on the fifth floor level, but we had only climbed two staircases. I craned my neck around to see why that was. I noticed that we were towards the back of the castle and that the castle was built on a hill. The front entrance was higher than the back entrance. Directly below me was a beautiful garden.
It looked so out of place among all the overrun grounds around it. It was kept in perfect condition. The bushes were trimmed expertly. There were roses of every color. In fact, the entire garden was roses. I could not see any other flowers among the roses at all. What was it about roses here?
"Miss," the man had returned but I had not noticed. "The master will see you. I need to explain a few things to you before you enter the room."
I turned to look at the man. He was still looking very forlorn, but he seemed a little more relaxed. He must have been afraid what his master would say. "What is it?"
"This may seem strange to you, but what hasn't..." He muttered the last part. I was sure he was hoping that I had not heard him.
"Yes?"
"The master does not like to be seen. You will enter the room and notice a curtain pulled across the floor. The master will stay behind it while you speak to him. Do not attempt to get around the curtain or ask him to come out. It will only make things worse. Please just..." He paused and gave me a weird look. I was not really sure what to think about it. "Just don't get offended. He is much kinder than he'll want you to believe."
I raised my eyebrows in confusion. This castle just could not get any stranger. I nodded showing that I understood, but did not say anything else. The man swept his arm through the air, gesturing me to go ahead and enter the room. I inhaled, gathered my courage and marched into the room with my head held high.
