This is a little something I wrote to bump the number of words in CAPTIVE to over forty. I wrote it in 3rd person first and changed it to 1st, so if there are some mistakes, just ignore them, unless it really gets to you, then tell me and I'll fix. That's a really large sentence. Anyway, this is the last installment of Captive and please read my Kiyra series.
I am Elijah. I was fifteen when I was commanded by Warlord Maggur to imprison Prince Captus in the stone tower. The Warlord had told me, "Make sure that he doesn't escape, or I'll have your head and that of your family's." I was happy to cooperate after that.
The warlord's family was not shown to the people like those of other monarchs in other countries. Most people were lucky to see the queen once or twice in their life and they had only heard about the prince and heir of the throne. I didn't feel any compassion towards the prince. He probably had tried to kill his father.
So I went to the tower and began work on it. I warded it so that the prince would not be able to leave. I also put spells on the tower staff so that they wouldn't be able to leave or help the prince to escape. There were only three maids and a cook, so the spell would be easy to uphold. For me.
I was a sorcerer, who had immense power. If my stupid grandfather hadn't betrayed Warlord Maggur, the king would have allowed me to get training for it. All the training I have gotten was from books. Although my spells and charms were primitive, I had great force behind them. The prince would not escape. And, did I mention, I was 100 humble?
A week after I arrived at the tower, Prince Captus was brought. Watching the procession from a window at the top of the tower, I was awed. I hadn't seen so many soldiers in his life! There must be five hundred here! In the middle of the army, a fortified wagon rolled along. Sharpening my sight with my Gift, I could make out a window on the wagon with bars on it.
Abandoning my window, I ran down the curving steps two at a time. Only after I almost fell to his death did I slow. I met the wagon at the door. I hoped that I didn't look like a young, foolish child to the prince.
There wasn't any need for my concerns, because the small boy who shakily jumped out of the wagon was no more than a child himself. He looked to be about nine or so, with brown curls and sky blue eyes. The prince looked up at the tower, and I wondered how it looked to him. Ominous probably, even frightening.
The prince walked through the tower door and I followed him. I completed the warding spells so that the prince couldn't escape. Once again, I tried to imagine how the tower looked the boy-prince.
The circular base of the tower was about thirty feet from one end straight across to the other end. A narrow spiral staircase ran between the outer wall and the inner rooms. A small kitchen stood on the ground floor, with a servant's quarters directly on top of that. Over the two was my room and next a dining room. The prince had two rooms, one for sleeping and the other for playing. Each of the six rooms had a ceiling ten feet tall and there was a small landing on the staircase outside of every room's door.
There weren't any windows, either on the inner rooms or the outer wall. I had magicked globes to provide light much like a lamp. Even still, the whole tower was gloomy and cold.
The commander of the army outside of the tower spoke to me briefly. He told him the King Maggur had faith in me and only required a hundred guards around the tower. I snorted. I knew about King Maggur's wars and raids. Both the commander and I knew that the Warlord just couldn't spare any soldiers.
The prince shivered and I remembered my duty. Bowing, I motioned for the prince to start climbing the staircase. I wasn't going to have a killer walking behind him.
"Aren't there any windows?" The prince asked after we walked about two stories up. His voice was young, like a child's, although he spoke perfect Scanren.
"No." I answered simply.
We both passed my room, which was locked. We came to the dining room, which had no door. The prince stuck his head in and removed it when he saw what it was. I tapped his foot impatiently and the boy started to trot up the steps. I followed at the same pace, knowing that I'd look stupid if I couldn't keep up myself.
When we came to Captus's first room, I stopped the boy. "This is your room for playing. It has games, books, and toys." I unlocked the door and gently nudged the boy through. Captus looked around wonderingly.
The room had one wall with books on it. During the last week, I had briefly looked over the books to see what they contained. They were Scanren history books, fairy stories, books about the gods, and myths. The writing on each of them was gold, and the binding was in the finest doe-skin. Near the books was a soft armchair that looked too big for the small boy.
In the other corner was a huge rocking horse. Its withers came to my shoulders. The rocking horse's form mimicked that of a real horse almost perfectly. It had real horse-hair mane and tail and real fur. It was dressed in leather tack like that of a war horse. Captus walked over to it and touched it, awed.
The other wall was filled with shelves and shelves of toys. Captus walked over to them. I assumed that he would head to the wooden swords and bows, but the prince surprised him. He reverently picked up a small ship and moved it through the air. His lips pursed for a moment, and then he awkwardly made the sounds of waves.
A staircase ran up the other wall. Although there was still the spiral staircase outside of the room, Captus wouldn't be able to use it without me unlocking the doors. With the staircase inside of the two rooms, Captus could go to each of his two rooms without my keys.
The prince looked to me and set down his toy. "Forgive me. I'm sure you want to just leave me and go to your room."
I blinked. "That's alright. I don't mind, really." I was surprised by how mature the prince acted for his age. "Your room is up here." Leading the way, I climbed up the staircase. "I guess these toys are pretty bad for what you're used to," I said, by way of conversation. "But it's all that your father sent."
"I never had toys before." Captus argued. I gave him a disbelieving look, and Captus relented. "Well, maybe when I was a baby. I can't remember."
By then I and the prince had made it up the straight, wooden staircase. The boy's room was simple, yet elegant. The bed was almost too high for the prince to scramble up. On the bed were many feather pillows and heavy bear fur blankets. There was a canopy over it with heavy, velvet curtains. There was also an immense wardrobe. The prince went over to it and struggled with the handles that were too tall for a boy to reach. I went over to him and pulled it open.
The wardrobe contained white, silk robes for sleeping that had gold and silver stitching in embroidered designs and matching silk slippers. Next to where the robes hung were midnight blue and silver stitched tunics and scarlet and gold stitched tunics. Next to the tunics and robes was a cape of spun gold on the outside and velvet on the inside. There was another cape of wolf fur and the rare and expensive reindeer skin on the inside. There were two shelves that covered half of the bottom of the wardrobe with loincloths and silk gold and silver hose on them. On the other half of the wardrobe's bottom was boots. One pair was polished black and would probably come up to the boy's knees. Another pair would come halfway up his legs and were tan. The last pair was brown shoes and didn't ever cover his ankles.
After inspecting his wardrobe, Captus turned to me. "I don't need help to undress. You could leave now, if you want." I nodded and bid him good night. I left out of the prince's bedroom's door and checked that it was locked. Briskly trotting down the outer staircase, I locked the toy room's door.
After all, I couldn't let Prince Captus escape, could he?
The next day, I woke up early and charged up the stairs. Unlocking the prince's door, I found that the light-globe was still out, as it was during the night. The prince was huddled in a mound of blankets with his head covered. I rushed over to the light-globe and touched it; the light in the room increased. The prince emerged from the blankets. If his face was pale and tearstains lay on his smudged face, Captus said nothing of it.
"I'm sorry if I made you wait for your breakfast." Captus hopped out of bed and tried to tug the blankets over the bed.
"That's alright, the maids will do it." I told him. "As soon as you get dressed we can go downstairs and eat."
Captus bit his lip and pasted a false smile on his lip. "Fine." The young prince walked over to the wardrobe and tugged the handles open easily. I had left them slightly open so that he wouldn't have any trouble. Captus picked out a blue and silver tunic and silver hose. I turned around to give the prince his privacy as he changed.
For a couple minutes there were the sounds of a struggle. "I'm done." Captus said unconvincingly. I sighed and turned around. Stifling a laugh, I fixed the set of his hose and tugged on his tunic until it hung smooth.
"I'm sorry!" Captus misunderstood my intentions. "It's just, the maids at the palace always helped me and I've never really done it on my own."
Although I was surprised, I covered it up. "I think you did a good job then, for your first time." The prince rewarded me with a beaming smile.
Warlord Maggur had provided well for his son, although he had also imprisoned him. Breakfast that morning was rich; eggs, ham, bacon, and sweet rolls. When Captus saw the feast, he bit his lip. I thought that he was used to better food until the prince spoke.
"The soldiers don't get to eat like this, do they?" I shook my head and Captus continued. "This is too much for me. Could I take them my portion?"
"Why would you want to do that?" I asked incredulously. "They brought you to this stone prison."
"They were only following orders." The prince protested. "They have to. On the way here, I saw that they were good men and they only get hardtack for breakfast."
Surprised, I agreed and also donated my portion, only keeping my sweet rolls. They would more than feed me and the prince. Captus couldn't leave the tower, but he helped carry the food baskets to the door. I passed the steaming food to the soldiers, keeping one small basket behind when I remembered the maids and the cook.
Over the next few months, I was surprised by the young boy's charity, kindness, and compassion. When the prince saw that the beds in the servants' quarters had only thin blankets and mine only had two, Captus donated most of his heavy quilts. He gave most of the rich food that was sent to him to the soldiers and four servants.
I would have thought that Captus would have been bored with his one room of toys and books, but the prince was perfectly content. Many a times you could find Captus on his rocking warhorse, Liberty, brandishing a sword or bow. I once asked who he was fighting and wished he hadn't.
"I'm fighting my father." The prince said simply. "I'm ending his reign and taking over Scanra."
I crossed the room in three big strides and yanked Captus down from the warhorse. Kneeling down and looking the younger boy in the face, he held his shoulders and gave them a shake.
"Don't ever say that, understand? That's treason and you'll get executed for that!"
"I understand why I mustn't say that, but I'll be thinking it." Captus told me seriously.
The prince read the fairy stories and acted them out. Once he mentioned that Kato, his younger sister would have liked one about a female warrior who tricked a legion of soldiers. I was surprised to hear that he had a sister.
Captus also talked to me. Once after I scoffed at a prince's life, saying that they had it easy, Captus showed me the truth. The prince told me what he had to do just in one day, and it made my head spin. Then, Captus teased me into learning the twelve kinds of Scanren bows perfectly. I never said that a prince's life was easy again.
Captus also proved to be an adept swordsman. He taught me in our spare time. We had plenty of it.
I was finding that guarding the prince wasn't hard. Never once did he try to escape. I asked Captus about it about a month after they had arrived.
"If I did manage to escape all of your wards, you, the servants, and the soldiers would be killed. That wouldn't be fair." Once again, I was moved by the prince's selfless attitude.
Since I didn't have to use his Gift often, I had plenty to spare. I found myself wanting to please the captive child. While Captus slept, I went into the toy room. I had found the room too dark and cold for my liking. Summoning my Gift, I magicked the ceiling to give off sunlight. Now the room would be bright and warm. I also made a lush carpet of soft grass that would never die. Captus's look of joy made me feel all happy inside. It was fun to excite this boy who did so many nice things for others.
I also learned that Captus was afraid of the dark. I magicked the boy's bedroom ceiling to look like a starry night sky. I also got the prince some cotton breeches and a plain white shirt after Captus mentioned that he would like to own a pair.
I spun dreams for Captus with his Gift. Captus would lie down and close his eyes and I would send him a very realistic dream. The dream would start about a specific topic, like sailing on a schooner. Captus could make choices and do whatever he wanted. I didn't know what was happening inside of them and when I couldn't hold onto the dream anymore, the bubbly Captus would tell me all about it. They were so realistic, he told me, that he could feel the sea spray.
I didn't know that I loved Captus like a brother until I lost him. The commander of the hundred soldiers camped outside knocked on the open door of the playroom. Captus and I stopped fighting Warlord Maggur's (I had started to fight them too, although neither of us said as much). Holding a crushed letter in his fist, the commander brokenly informed us that King Maggur was ordering Captus's return to the palace so that he could be executed.
Instead of behaving like a child and wailing, Captus walked over to the commander and reassured him. "It's not your fault. Stop sparking!" That last comment was directed to me, who was unwittingly shooting off red sparks of my Gift. I stopped them as the commander informed us that we would be leaving in the morning.
As soon as the commander left, I started to pace. I ignored Captus until I had a sufficient plan. When I told him my plan, he vehemently disagreed. I tied him up.
With my Gift, I changed myself into Captus's form. It was odd, seeing everything at his point of view. Luckily, I still had my Gift so that I could change Captus into a dog. I changed him into a beautiful husky, one of the nobles' dogs, so that maybe someone would find him and take care of him. He protested until I changed him into the puppy. Even then, he whined and cried.
I had to put some magic on Captus so that he could leave his form. I thought and thought until I decided that Captus would only change back when his father was dead and someone had taken the throne who would let him live.
That only left one thing. I had to give Captus my Gift so that I wouldn't chicken out and save myself at the last moment. It was hard and almost dawn by the time I finished. When I was done, I couldn't sleep. I was scared.
So I wrote this. I'm putting it into this metal box and hiding it in Liberty, the warhorse. I showed Captus where I put it so that if he survived, he could find it. I don't want to waste this parchment and ink for nothing. Maybe someday someone will read it. After I hide this, I'm going to get dressed and ready for my execution. I hope that I won't cry. I hope that I won't beg. Besides, I wouldn't want to make Captus look bad, would I?
- Elijah Tryskas