The first few days in the Dragon's tower dragged by in a haze of misery. Every morning I'd do my utmost to make myself presentable and put together a satisfactory meal. And every morning, I would face the Dragon's icy stare. I never could manage to please him.
Vanastalem. Lirintalem. I came to dread the sound of those two words. The Dragon never explained himself, but I knew what he was doing - he was draining my life to feed his spells. And every day he would transform my clothes, and I would find myself limp with exhaustion and cocooned in a voluminous silk ball gown. It would be all I could do to drag myself back to my room and collapse on my bed. And then it would all start again the next morning.
As the days went by, I found that I was growing accustomed to whatever the Dragon was doing to me. It was still horrible and exhausting, but I no longer felt quite so wrung out afterwards. This turned out to be a mixed blessing though, because instead of collapsing into an exhausted sleep, I was left all alone in that elegant room with my thoughts.
One day, I was lying on my bed and listlessly darning a rip in my stockings. The sun was warm on my face, and when I glanced out the window, I was shocked to see that it was a lovely fall day. The sunlight painted the fields in gold, and the trees were ablaze with the fires of autumn. It felt like a very long time since the Dragon took me away from home. Somehow I had expected to see the world in the icy grip of winter. But I realized that not much time had passed at all.
Suddenly I was drowning in a flood of memories. I could smell wood smoke and fresh-cut hay, and hear the voices of the villagers singing out in the fields.
I remembered riding beside Kasia on a wagon piled high with hay, laughing and tossing bits of straw at each other. Helping my mother make pies, cramming berries into our mouths when her back was turned. And I remembered that September afternoon, sitting in the old apple tree behind my house, when Kasia taught me how to kiss.
We must have been about ten or eleven. The day was warm and golden, with just a hint of crispness in the air. We were stuffing ourselves with apples and talking about everything under the sun, when Kasia suddenly grew quiet.
"Matthias kissed me yesterday."
My mouth fell open and I stared at her. Some of the other girls already had stories about kissing and holding hands with boys, but it had always seemed like something out of a storybook. Now it was real.
"What - what was it like?" I asked, because that was what you were supposed to say. A hard lump settled in my stomach.
"Wet," she said matter-of-factly. "He sort of drooled into my mouth. And he tasted like pickles."
"Ugh." I wrinkled my nose. "If that's what it's like, why does everyone like it so much?"
"I don't know. Why are you asking me?"
I tugged on one of her braids. "Because you know everything."
Kasia looked at me thoughtfully. She was so close that I could feel her hair brushing my cheek. Neither of us moved.
And then she leaned forward and kissed me.
Her lips were soft and tasted like apples and I felt a little bit dizzy but in a nice way. It only lasted a second, and then we broke apart and stared at each other, wide-eyed.
"Was it…" My voice had gone all wobbly. "Was it like that with Matthias too?"
She shook her head and smiled shyly at me and I felt a warm glow of happiness in my chest.
I turned away from the window, drying my face on my sleeve. We had never talked about that day again. Without saying anything, we had both understood that we could never do it again, that there would be trouble if anyone found out. So I hadn't mentioned it, no matter how much I'd wanted to. And now it didn't matter anymore.
I sat down on the bed, and my gaze fell on one of the puffy silk ball gowns that the Dragon had made with his magic. It wasn't enough for him to lock me up in this tower - he had to trap me inside a cocoon of silk and whalebone that barely allowed me to move or breathe.
Looking at the dress, I felt a flare of anger. At the Dragon, for taking me away from the home I loved. At my family, for letting him do it, even though they had no choice. At my village, and all the villages, for letting him take our girls year after year. And...at Magic itself, that mysterious force that let him drain out my life to perform his spells. But if a stupid little peasant girl like me dared to try a spell, of course nothing would happen. I let out a bitter laugh.
"Vanalem," I muttered, and twitched a hand at the useless dress.
I knew I'd said it wrong, but...I felt something. The dress still looked the same, but my fingertips were tingling with the strange energy. My heart was pounding in my chest. Without thinking, I tried it again, with more force.
"Vanalem!"
Power surged through me like a wave, nearly knocking me off my feet. When it faded, my skin was prickling all over and I felt like my hair was standing on end. And instead of the ridiculous silk contraption was a simple homespun dress just like my mother used to make.
I stared at the dress and cautiously picked it up. It felt perfectly normal. I even bit it experimentally, and waited a few minutes to see if it would disappear like in the stories. But the dress was still there, and I was faced with the undeniable fact that I had done real magic.
I held my hand in front of my face and stared at it, unable to fathom what had happened. I had done real magic. Something the Dragon had done must have rubbed off, and now I, who had spent my entire life following instructions, could give orders and Magic would obey.
I sat down on the bed, wondering if I was losing my mind. I decided that there was only one way to find out. I got up and went over to the desk, where I had been saving an apple for a snack. I pointed at it and said, "Lirintalem!"
It had just the effect I wanted. The apple disappeared and was replaced by a warm, sweet-smelling apple pie with a golden crust. I grabbed it and sat down on my bed, my mind reeling. I had done real Magic. I wasn't just Agnieszka of Dverknik anymore - the Dragon had turned me into something else. Something inhuman. And even if I made it through my ten years, I could never go back home to my village. I wasn't that girl anymore.
But I couldn't dwell on these gloomy reflections for very long. After a few moments, I fell back onto the pillows and sank into a deep sleep.