Chapter 13: All According to Plan


The Palace wall wasn't terribly high, but it was high enough to intimidate a human with no magic. If it weren't for the boy wizard, Gwenda wouldn't have known how to sneak back in. Although, when she really thought about it, her best bet would have been to stay at Howl's castle with the talking fire demon and keep herself out of this craziness.

She internally scolded herself for such a thought. This was the last request Lettie asked of her, so she couldn't let her apprehension of Madame Suliman hold her back.

Markl cast the spell that bounced them into the air, practically flying over the great wall. Gwenda already wasn't a fan of magic, so she especially scorned the spell Markl chose when she realized it had no landing function for magicless humans. Markl, of course, fell smoothly, having done this spell multiple times, but Gwenda had no such luck. She landed on her back, the neatly trimmed grass and stiff dirt not easing her drop at all.

She breathed through her teeth and tensed her muscles. "Oh, that's going to hurt later, I just know it."

"It probably hurts right now." Markl said.

Gwenda narrowed her eyes at him and blew the stray strands of hair from her face. "Well yes, it hurts right now. I'm just saying the pain will get worse later."

Markl held his hand to help her stand. "Next time, curl your arms and legs in and do a flip. Don't let gravity take you, or you'll hurt yourself the same every time."

Gwenda creased her eyebrows upward, and eventually took his hand. She slowly stood up, taking heed of her slightly injured back. "If I play my cards right, I won't have to use that spell ever again. But, thanks kid."

Markl blinked. "What do you mean by that?"

Gwenda ignored him - it was too complicated to share her disdain toward magic with someone his age. Also, he would probably try convincing her that magicians weren't all that bad and she should stick around with them. As much as she was starting to get along with Sophie and her friends, a life filled with magic was the last thing she wanted.

Gwenda observed the gardens, watching for any guards who may have seen them sneak in. So far, they were a pair of stealthy geniuses. The stone path wrapped around the entire garden and ended at the entrance to Suliman's greenhouse. If they followed the path before the glass wall, she remembered that there was an entrance to the Throne Room not too far away. Markl would be able to provide them with an invisibility spell – she hoped – and they would be able to find Howl, explain Sophie's predicament, and ultimately stop the wedding.

Gwenda smirked. She liked planning things in advance. It helped her keep track of what worked and what didn't, as well as plans which were definite successes and plans which were doomed to fail. Gwenda knew Suliman was unpredictable - as was Howl, when she thought about it. Any creature of magic was erratic and capricious, which was another reason she wasn't fond of them. She detested the things she could never understand.

"This way." Gwenda motioned for Markl to follow her and they ran along the stone path, keeping an eye out for anyone who may report them. They saw a few guards roaming the area, but Markl eventually enacted the invisibility spell – the one Gwenda assumed he would – to hide them from sight. The path led them exactly where she wanted to go, yet to her surprise, magic's unpredictability prevailed.

"Why, hello there."

Gwenda turned around swiftly, only to come face to face with the most powerful sorceress in Ingary. Here she was, directly in front of her. Had there ever been a time when Madame Suliman herself spoke to Gwenda? She looked around for Markl, but he had already vanished. She was alone – and very, very scared.

Gwenda cleared her throat and bowed politely. "Madame Suliman. What an honor it is to see you in person."

Madame Suliman smiled. "Hmm, so it is, I see. Tell me, Gwendolyn Maguire, where are the flowers Miss Dafina said you went to retrieve for our guest of honor?"

Gwenda froze. She had used that as an excuse to leave the Palace, saying Sophie wanted specific roses in her bouquet. She completely forgot - and she had even gone to a flower shop of all places.

"Oh, right." Gwenda said, her voice higher than normal. "They... didn't have the color Miss Hatter requested, Madame."

Suliman pursed her lips. "Oh, what a shame. You know, we are one short for the bride's bouquet." She waved her hand in the air, causing Gwenda to shy back with jitters. A dusty cloud circled the young, pitiful human, and Madame Suliman's smile was the last thing she saw before her magic transformed her into a pure, white rose.

Madame Suliman bent forward and held the rose between her fingers, a brief laugh escaping her lips. "This will do."

As the sorceress disappeared in a flash, the invisible boy returned to sight once more, panting fast. In an instant, Markl watched Suliman transform his new friend into a flower, leaving him to fend for himself. He was alone in the Kingsbury Palace with only a few spells and a wand.

He prayed he would find Howl, Kenta, or Sophie fast before he was caught, too.


. ❀ 。• * ₊ ° 。❀ ° 。


Suliman walked forward – the rose in hand – toward her sanctuary, feeling proud and accomplished. As if a lowly servant could fool her; she knew what Sophie was planning before she even agreed to Gwenda's help.

Such amateurs in the presence of a true master.

Suliman opened the doors to her sanctuary, her second home. The greenhouse was where her plotting came to life, where dreams became reality. Everything that led her to this very moment was because of the great things she accomplished in this room.

Suliman observed the rose. She had seen this girl quite a few times, mostly attending to Justin whenever he called for a servant. She was always the first girl to tend to his every need, and yet he never paid her mind. They could have been a nice couple, but Suliman knew where Justin's heart belonged – and it was not with a girl of her stature.

Suliman knew Justin loved Sophie. She didn't even need to cast a spell on him to fall in love with her, which made forming an alliance with him that much easier. He willingly obeyed her every command out of the shred of hope he had for finally being with Sophie, the courageous woman who broke his curse with an innocent kiss.

When he returned to the Palace from his time as a scarecrow, he only talked of her. Sophie, the girl who saved his life. Sophie, the girl who stole his heart. Sophie, the girl who loved another. Justin originally accepted that, but Suliman's persuasion was too convincing to resist such a tempting promise.

She urged for vengeance against Sophie and Howl, and this was her ticket in.

Once she had Justin on her side, the plan practically carried itself out. All Suliman needed to do was let time progress and slowly force Sophie to admit to herself that Justin wouldn't stop until they were finally wed. And now, that day had finally come.

Suliman wished her original plan had worked, one she had spent years pruning and sprucing in much the same way as a farmer in the gardens tended to their crops. Unfortunately, Howl ruined any chance of that long before Justin was even transformed into a scarecrow.

As a result, Howl now would have to suffer the loss of someone he loved.

As she was about to sit in her chair, a group of guards requested her presence. She allowed them permission to disturb her solitude, especially when she noticed a poor wizard snagged in their grip. Suliman smirked; this day was going just as planned.

"We found him wandering in the prison ring, Madame Suliman." One guard said. "You said if any of your escapees were found to bring them directly to you first."

Suliman nodded. "Yes, indeed. Thank you for following orders." She walked up to the wizard, who frantically tried breaking his chains. Those chains were a magic diffuser, much like the static charm she placed over Sophie's precious Laputian necklace. She kept walking until they were inches apart, and the wizard looked her dead in the eyes.

She smirked. "You were smart for getting out the first time, my dear Kenta, but very, very stupid for coming back."

"I came back for Sophie." Kenta said, creasing his eyebrows in disgust. "Whatever plan it is you have which requires that girl, you won't get away with it."

"Oh, but haven't I?" Suliman said. "She's mine now. You and Howl can forget all about your little rescue plan, because that girl is never leaving this Palace ever again. I get my revenge on Howl, Prince Justin gets the girl of his dreams, and all–"

"Wait, what was that?"

Suliman raised her eyebrows. "Oh, did Sophie not mention her royal engagement to the Prince of Ingary when that pesky little fire demon crossed into my palace?"

Kenta tightened his muscles. "How did you… What have you done to her?"

"No spells, my dear. This was her own free will." Suliman tapped her chin. "I may have pulled a few threats onto Howl's wellbeing, but the overall decision was hers."

"You will not succeed." Kenta spat through his clenched teeth. He tried reaching for her, but the guards held him back. Suliman was unmoved by his pathetic attempt.

She leaned closer to him until their noses brushed each other. Kenta shivered, and Suliman grinned. "With Sophie, I already have."

Suliman waved the guards off. "Return him to his cage. I'm sure he'll feel right at home. Now if you'll all excuse me, I have a wedding to attend."


. ❀ 。• * ₊ ° 。❀ ° 。


Howl hid in a room from the guards who had been chasing him for quite some time. He breathed heavily as he peered through the crack in the door, watching as they chased a phantom through the halls. He silently closed the door and pushed his back into the wall, slowly releasing pressure in his legs until he sat on the ground. He rested his arm on his knee and turned his head to the side, waiting for his heart to abate.

He had searched everywhere; every floor, every room, every nook and cranny of this wretched place. If she were in the Palace, he would have found her somewhere.

It didn't make sense; Calcifer said he saw her, found her locked in one of the guest bedrooms last night. Did they find out and move her? She could be long gone by now, wherever Suliman ordered her to be located. She could be lost in the Wastes or trapped underground or even banished to another land.

That frightened him. If Sophie was no longer in Ingary, if she was aimlessly lost somewhere between the worlds, he couldn't blame anyone but himself. If Howl didn't have the power to save Sophie, he would solely bear the guilt on his shoulders for the rest of his life. Anything the future offered would in no way live up to her. He would never love anyone the way he loved Sophie.

Howl gripped his hair as fear massacred his brain. A life without Sophie - it was too painful to imagine. Before they met, he was merely a narcissistic wizard who enjoyed making women feel happy and beautiful, then ripped that happiness away from them. But with Sophie, he wanted to show her the true beauty he saw in her and to make sure no day went by without her knowing how magnificent and special she was.

Howl looked around the room. It was a storage closet, but much larger than one would expect. There was a window at the end, as was the case for most of the rooms. He stood up and stared out, watching people enter the Palace with gowns and suits and extravagant attire. Many were a little too extravagant for Howl's tastes, but he wondered what event was taking place that so many people came.

Maybe the King was planning another war and wanted the wealthy to donate to the cause. Some cause that would be. Another war would destroy their land, and Howl wasn't prepared to sit back and watch their leader ruin the life he so carefully built for himself in Ingary.

As Howl went to continue his search for Sophie, he noticed a bright light coming from an air vent on the ground. It wasn't a typical kind of light; this source had magic - powerful magic. Howl could feel its energy calling to him, begging him to join this unity. The light was too strong to ignore, so naturally he followed it.

He made his body transparent and flew down, increasing his speed with every passing second. He was mesmerized by the glowing light until it practically blinded his sight. He pushed through the vent with his opaque body, the force breaking the bars and sending them across the room. The bars rang throughout the room with an echo, banging loudly against the metal ground.

"Hey!" Howl turned to the voice and saw five guards at the end of a long staircase, two of them holding his dear friend captive.

"Well, this wasn't planned." Howl said to himself. Two of the guards rushed to him and Howl twisted his wrist and pushed in their direction, causing them both to levitate in the air. They dropped their weapons and kicked their feet, trying to find a way down.

Howl smirked. He moved them around in the air for fun, but only for a short time. For a second, he forgot their initial objective for being in the Palace. One guard pulled a chain that lowered one of the many metal cages that hung in the room. The two men holding Kenta rushed to bring him toward the cage, but he resisted with everything he had.

"Howl! I can't fight them off! She muted my magic!" Kenta shouted. In an instant, Howl was by his side. He stared the three guards down, his face molding into a devastating creature. His eyes grew black and wide and his face distorted like it was melting off. The guards shrieked from the haunting figure that would later terrorize their dreams. Howl chanted a spell, turning the three into soot.

Howl returned to normal and bent down to look at his creation. He brushed them slightly, watching as the little flecks of soot grew eyeballs and hopped around. Howl laughed heartily as he enjoyed watching the three struggle.

Howl turned to Kenta, who was not as amused. "This is funny to you?"

"What?" Howl shrugged his shoulders. The two guards who had been floating in the air rushed toward them, but Howl turned them both into flecks of soot as well. He cast another spell to break the chains that bound Kenta, who rubbed his wrists when they were freed, granting him access to his magical source once more.

"Thank you." Kenta said. "How did you know to come down here?"

"I didn't. I saw the light and followed it." Howl and Kenta took a short glance at the giant orb in the center of the room, noticing small flecks of light flowing from a cage to the mass, and a repeated process from each individual cage.

Howl turned to Kenta. "What is this place?"

Kenta sighed. "This is where I was trapped after the war. This is where Suliman has trapped all of our magical comrades."

"No..."

"We haven't the time, though. If we don't stop the wedding, everything and everyone will be lost." Kenta pulled Howl's arm and rushed to the staircase.

"Wait." Kenta turned to Howl. His eyebrows crinkled and he wasn't sure what Kenta meant. "Wedding? Lettie's and Justin's wedding is happening tonight?"

Kenta dropped his gaze. He didn't know; Howl didn't know about Sophie and Suliman's most recent schemes. It made sense that this would be another secret hidden from his friend, yet there wasn't time to contemplate the validity of Sophie's reasons for this one. She would have to face this truth, and Kenta knew she would pay dearly.

If she wasn't already.

"Um, no." Kenta said, slowly making his way back to his friend. "Sophie's and Justin's wedding is happening today." Howl widened his eyes, his heart beating faster and faster. "Within the next few minutes."

Howl exhaled deeply, trying not to faint from such shocking news. "Sophie... Sophie is marrying Justin? R-right now?"

Kenta bit his lip and nodded. "If I were you, I would do everything to stop that wedding before you lose her for good."


And Howl finally knows! I honestly got chills when I wrote Kenta's line about Sophie's and Justin's wedding, ah! So much controversy! The drama is spicy and I'm here for it... I mean, I kinda have to be if I'm the writer XP