Summary: A continuation from the previous chapter. The beastly Wizard is curling his serpentine intentions around Sophie. After agreeing to set her free in exchange for her sisters, Howl leaves Sophie to deliberate over her fate. Will she give in to him so easily? And will she be able to escape from his conniving clutches?
AN: I want to sincerely thank the very talented Saotoshi, my wonderful beta for this fic. What would I do without you Sao? :)
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6: Ensnared
"You know Sophie, I think your hair is as soft as Master Howl's," Markl commented, running his brush through the satiny mass of Sophie's hair. "Master Howl never lets me brush his hair like you do!" he smiled then pouted with amusement. "I got to touch it once only when he was waiting for a softening ointment to dry on his hands," the apprentice recounted. "And I found a split end he wanted cut off quickly!" Markl chuckled at his Masters endless vanity. "Your hair is much prettier!" he complimented enthusiastically. "Please don't tell him I told you that, okay? He might get mad at me," Markl whispered behind cupped hands into Sophie's ear, a delicious secret glint lighting his eyes.
Every mention of the Wizard's name twisted the knife he'd left in her, digging deeper. She had to leave this place; but how? She had to warn Martha and Lettie; but how? Sophie hunched - a withered shadow of herself- on the stool by the hearth, attempting to untangle the web that bound her in the castle. Her mind churned frenetically, looking for a chink in the Wizard's cunning armor.
Calcifer wavered noiselessly, eyes speculative slits, pinpointing Sophie's every breath, every move she made, his flames rising with each heave of her chest.
Sophie's tears were spent, the bloodshot whites of her eyes manifesting her suffering. Markl, her earthly angel, prattled on happily since his Master ascended the stairs for his bath. She couldn't speak, hoping to sink the emotional carnage on the surface of her face. She wanted to shield the boy from his Master's true nature, for it would break his little heart. So, she merely nodded to Markl's suggestions. She wouldn't give up that easily on freedom. She would have it out with Howl. She belonged to nobody nor was she anyone's belonging!
"I know you and Master Howl will be happy again, Sophie," Markl chimed confidently, nuzzling his nose in the length of her hair. "I'll even comb your hair every morning if you like," he offered, parting the ginger curtain, revealing her cloaked face. The gaunt, red-rimmed eyes staring blindly at the boy bleached his face white- popping his effervescence. The grim set of Sophie's face made his lips shiver with recrimination.
A sob escaped Sophie's carefully guarded façade at that name. The words 'every morning'…she couldn't take another second! She keeled her face into her lap and weeping fits convulsed her body violently.
"Sophie, did I hurt you combing your hair? I-I'm sorry. I tried my best to be gentle. I-It's clean, too; the brush is! I got it from my room to make you pretty for Master Howl." He expounded at light speed to make amends for the hurt welled in her eyes, believing it was his fault. "I'll stop if you want me to! Don't be sad anymore, please!" He hid the offending brush behind his back, tears of empathy standing on his doe eyes. "Master Howl wouldn't want to see you sad, either! Right, Calcifer?"
"Master Howl can't see past his pointy nose long enough to see anyone else's shadow, kiddo." Calcifer watched the boy with intrigue; something about this girl was throwing the castle into chaos. If only I can get the boy to quit saying that ratfink's name! Give Sophie a spat of peace at least! Calcifer quipped privately.
Shame on yourself, Sophie Hatter! It's not Markl's doing! Sophie reprimanded herself for losing control. Sophie Hatter, at no time, behaved so appallingly at the hat shop! Recovering hurriedly, she swept the hair back from her face with both hands. She sucked in a lung full of air and planted glorious mirth on her face- a makeshift joy brightening her expression. "I'm crying because I'm happy, Markl: to have you brushing my hair; taking care of me. No one's ever looked after me," Sophie confessed, lamenting the factual reflection of her lonely existence. No one had even thought of thinking about thinking of doting on her.
"But now you have Master Howl!" the boy whooped exultantly, recovering from his blue in a flash.
Again, the name struck the light off Sophie's face.
"Oh, for cryin' out loud!" Markl, you useless short legged gitt[! Calcifer blustered at the boy's blind spot to Sophie's acid-recoil to the Wizard's name. Then, the demon himself assumed a squeaky, super chipper voice. He beamed a big fangy grin, wanting to douse himself out in humiliation. "I-I-I-I-I know, why don't you go find a rib-bon to tie up Sophie's hair, Markl? Go on boy! Go on!" Calcifer enthused, as if talking to an excited dog enticed by a bone. His fiery hands smacked on his logs to rev the boy up even more. "Right, Sophie?" He nudged, batting his translucent fiery lids at Sophie, who didn't miss a beat of his merciful ploy. "That's a gooood boy!"
"Mmmm!" Sophie nodded- big dips of her chin, pursing her lips into a painful smile of agreement to Markl.
"Okay! I'm sure we have one somewhere in the castle." Markl scratched the back of his head, digging the caves of his mind for where he might have seen one. He dashed up the stairs.
The disguised delight on Sophie's face slipped into the shadows looming over her. She was quite exhausted yet mustered a genuine, thankful smile for the fire demon.
Calcifer crawled on all flames onto the edge of the hearth as far as he could without falling off. He sighed, peach roseate snowflakes of fire cascaded onto the floor. He quietly broached, "Sophie, why do you care what happens to Markl? We're strangers to you. Go, we'll be fine."
Sophie's chestnut eyes shimmered, mindful. "Why do you care what happens to me, Calcifer?" Her tone was delicate, searching.
Calcifer gulped, swallowing a lump of coal. "Touché." He sank down a little, popped and crackled peacefully, pondering to himself for a little while. Then he continued in a voice that wasn't quite his. "You're different, Sophie… To me, you're not a stranger. You're simply someone I'm yet to know," the sentiments flowed from the forsaken thumping lump hidden under his grate.
Sophie blushed, touched by the unabashed sincerity. "Thank you, Calcifer." She un-balled her pasty hands in her lap, stretching the cramp from her fingers. She was at ease with the fire demon, safe and warmed beside him. "Charity knows not of kin or foe. Markl's a child, Calcifer. He shouldn't have to brave the cruelties of…. I can't knowingly leave him exposed to...I couldn't bear if he became anything like…. " Sophie chewed on her lips and knitted her brows together at the monstrous imagining.
Calcifer's flames paled, tangerine tongues licking his logs contentedly, as the lump under his grate palpitated, hard. A glowing pink effete rainbow bloomed in the dark dungeon like kitchen in its wake. Sophie and the fire demon acknowledged each other in likeminded, amiable understanding.
Pat. Pat. Pat.
Howl hopped daintily down the steps, his feet dancing on air. This time, a scarlet suit offset with a white shirt accentuated his sleek lines. His blonde hair swayed, cupped just right inwards under his jaw line. He beamed brilliantly at his old demon friend.
"My, having a jolly tête-à-tête, are we? From the colouring of your flames, one might mistake that you've fallen, Calcifer!" Howl intoned aghast, as if the idea was foul, ugly and stinky as rotting fish baked in the midday sun for far too long.
"We're in this together, you blonde-bombshell! Or has that slipped that bleach blonde mind of yours?" Calcifer implied, hitching a spiked brow to the Lothario Wizard. The Wizard in turn nailed his gaze on Sophie, who reverted to a fossilized rock at the Wizard's fustian entry.
Howl tugged on the cuff of his blinding white shirt, straightening his back at the same time. "That's simply impossible, my friend! Oh, but how refreshed and scintillated I feel after my long respite. Let's head for Market Chipping, shall we? I rather fancy a visit with Lovely Lettie. The lass has a dashing figure and complements me to a tea," the Wizard rattled on gaily, drowning Calcifer with a deluge of logs. "And you shall have your wish, Sophie," Howl's promissory tone doubled as a full-bodied threat. His hooded lids revealed nothing of the coiling deliberation behind his eyes. "Have you packed your things, my messy mouse?" He enthused; the revelation set her spine to ice.
Sophie's stony expression masked the delirium thundering in her head: salvation for Lettie, Martha, Markl and herself, but how? The grating sound of her teeth helped distract her from the Wizard's sinuously musical voice.
"All the refinement of a sewer dweller as well, I see," Howl drawled contemptuously. "Hissing, snarling un-cleaned teeth, rabid panting. You're more a cat or canine, than a rat! Your father would roll over in his grave at the pitiful sight of you—" he cast his spurred hooks, baiting Sophie with his vindictive observations.
It worked. Sophie snapped at his bait.
She sprang up, clamping her teeth at the splendid she-man. "You leave my father out of this! You've no right to speak of him! You blacken my father's name by—"
"Sophie! Calcifer! I found a ribbon…," Markl's glee mutated into an 'Oooo' shape mouth. He brandished a tattered blue ribbon in his tubby hands. Oh no. They are fighting again? Markl told himself, seeing the stance between his Master and Sophie. Silly grown-ups!
"Markl, my faithful apprentice. Be a good lad and fetch a spell from my room for me will you?" Howl strode soundlessly to Markl and muttered something in his ear. Markl bobbed his head, and scrambled back up the stairs, ribbon in tow. "Do not return, until you find it. It's something Sophie needs to hear!"
"Yes, Master Howl!"
Sophie waited until she heard the door close upstairs. "What did you tell him?" she lashed savagely.
"What business is that of yours, Ms. Moralizer? He's my apprentice, under my guard. You're abandoning him, aren't you? Maybe I should call you…Ms. Abandoner!" Howl tipped his head coquettishly, wagging his fingers at Sophie in a priggish school Mistress fashion.
His arrow tipped accusation hit its mark with deadly precision: Sophie's conscience and humanity.
"Once we arrive at Market Chipping, you may go wherever you wish. AFTER you tell my apprentice that you are leaving a contract, unpaid, and AFTER you tell him why you are abandoning him. After THAT, I shall collect Lettie as your replacement, forth with. You see, I am indeed man of my word, Sophie." The Wizard bowed with dignity and grace.
Sophie had always wondered what it would be to leave Marketing Chipping. Longing to face life head on, throw her existence to fate; to face foes and fears of life- she never divined foes and fears would hunt her down. How absurdly naïve she'd been to mistake life's dangers as an adventure.
She retreated a few steps from the glow of Calcifer, to shelter in the recess between the sink and stair way balustrade. She hugged herself in cold comfort. Be careful what you wish for, Sophie! She had what she wanted. The Wizard was true to his word, releasing her. She should be bursting with joy. Instead, a fear gripped her throat, keeping her paralyzed by the Wizard who'd injected his venom of serpentine manipulations into her life.
Howl simpered triumphantly at his prey, one boot on the stool, poised as a hunter over a fallen animal. What else did he expect from his remarkable self? "And you say I have no heart, Calcifer! Tsk tsk. How long until our destination, my friend?" he asked casually, relishing the view of Sophie grappling at her skirts at his every syllable. How lovely it was to revel in his starlight!
Calcifer grunted, disgusted at his friend's behavior, left with no recourse but to obey. "Too soon, it seems." He shot Sophie an anxious look. The shadows were swallowing her. "Sophie, I told you, we'll be fine," Calcifer hinted at their earlier, private confession.
Sophie wanted to battle the Wizard. She could fight the Wizard- if only the battlefield was level. She had inadvertently raced head on into his labyrinth of trickery. But how could she combat a foe of mercurial deception?
"You're abominably rude even when mute, Ms. Abandoner! I'll do all the explaining to lovely Lettie then, once she is mine." He admonished with pomposity, a wicked leer marking his features. "Mar-kl. Would you come down here, please? Sophie has something to tell you!" Howl cooed teasingly in the direction of the stairs.
"No!" Sophie stared acid at the Wizard. "You wouldn't dare! Lettie will never go with you! Especially after she sees that snake skin of yours!"
"You came, didn't you?" Howl chortled at the ridiculousness of Sophie's rebuke, flicking non-existent tears from the corner of his eye. "I cross my heart not to be as gentle on Lettie. I'll leisurely savour every inch of her alabaster—," he implied lecherously.
"NO!" Sophie blanched, so white she was luminous in the wavering darkness. "Not Lettie, please! Don't!" The horror crashed over her. Sophie recalled waking up in the Wizard's bed, naked save a man's shirt…The Wizard's shirt?
"Martha, then?" Howl offered humbly, in his own sickening generous wont.
Sophie shook her head, eyes ablaze with hysteria. "Don't you dare lay a finger on my sisters!"
The Wizard slapped his thigh, his peal of laughter echoed in the castle. "Oh, Sophie! That one is far too easy. I daresay, I've laid more than a finger you on, my mouse." Howl's sinister scrutiny stalked over the curves of Sophie's shaking body. "Furthermore, you'll give me grey hairs before my time. All your to-ing and fro-ing; a wrecked sailboat with no direction! You insult me with vulgarities. Throw my generosity back in my face for a debt rendered. Demand to leave. Then, demand to stay!" Howl counted the 'sins' off on his fingers. "My unkempt harridan, has it slipped your mind this is my castle? If you wish to change my mind, you'll need to appease me. Show me the due respect I am owed!"
Sophie's eyes strayed imploringly to Calcifer, who shook his head in haplessness. "I want to stay! There! I've said it!" Defeat broke into her valiant heart.
"By jolly, are you saying you've erred, Sophie?" Howl articulated on her behalf, for the glory of his vanity.
"Yes!" Sophie cut off, angry at the trap she'd dived into.
"What does one do when we've wronged someone, Sophie?" The Wizards tone dropped abruptly to chilling depths.
"Howl, that's enough!" Calcifer interjected, deciphering the Wizard's train of thought.
"Pish-posh!" Howl snorted at his friend, before returning his intent on Sophie.
Sophie glowered with hatred at him, a final spurt of defiance in the face of downfall.
"You've trifled with my patience enough, my rat!" Howl spat, rather upset he was unable to draw Sophie out with ease and deplume. How dare she make him look second-rate! "I'll leave first for Cesari Bakery, Calcifer. Make sure you throw out the discarded refuse when the castle reaches Market Chipping."
"I'll stay! Leave Lettie and Martha alone! You've got what you want!" Sophie shrieked, clawing the kitchen counter. "I'll stay!"
"Good golly, Ms. Molly! You want to stay under my roof, under my protection and speak to me with the half-baked eloquence of a harlot? I think not, my dear. Please be so gracious as to depart from my castle. Now." Howl bowed mockingly, one hand across his abdomen, the other pointing to the door.
Sophie bolted her feet to the floor. She shook her head in steadfast refusal. "I'll stay with you because I have to. I promise," she forced the barbed words out. "Please don't take my sisters."
"Because you have to? You promise me? The Heavens fall!" The Wizard flailed his arms towards the rafters, and plopped onto the couch under the cubbyhole of the stairs. He reclined, crossed his legs and prettied his hair, looking into Calcifer. "I've no need for unwilling persons in my castle. You do me injustice. Everyone here stays because they wish to." Howl's voice dripped of pathos.
Again, Sophie shook her head tenaciously. Her feet were bolted so firmly to the ground she almost broke through wood.
The Wizard tilted his head, gloating merrily. "How does one assuage one's Master?" he asked in monosyllabic bites to what he perceived as a slower minded listener. "What position should one assume to apologise? To beg for forgiveness, my two legged rodent?" His lilt peaked sharply in warning. "Express due humility for the inconvenience you've caused me, Sophie Hatter! I will not be as generous with your miscarriage a second time."
Sophie clamped her eyes, clutching the mossy tiled counter surface. "I want to stay with you…Howl. I don't want to leave you. And I won't…"
"Until such time I see fit to be rid of you…" he added for her to repeat after him.
Sophie bit down, incapable of the words. I'll NEVER sink to that level. I'm not a piece of garbage to be discarded! Her pride surged upwards and fought for her dignity.
"Markl!" Howl bellowed up to his apprentice who was at his wits end, looking for the scroll. "Sophie is leav—!"
"All right! Please, leave Markl be. I'll say it! I'll say it!" Sophie implored to him, her heart bleeding.
"I'll not put up with anymore flagrant disregard for my position, Sophie." The Wizards pale eyes flashed. His lips thinned to a cruel line.
Sophie turned to him, and sunk to her knees. She hung her head and watched her nails digging like talons into the timber flooring.
Sophie Hatter received exactly what she wished for: the Wizard had granted her wish, given her freedom.
In doing so, he had ensnared her.
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To Be Continued.
Sooooo…is Howl turning out to be as 'nice' as you imagined? Or do you think there is any possibility there is a grain of humanity in him? All feedback welcome and thanks to everyone who put this story on their favs, alerts; and especially to the readers who took the time to review, to make me feel the fic is worth continuing. It's always good to know where I going right or wrong.
AN: When I got to writing this chapter I kept going and the draft came to almost six thousand words!! I divided the chapter in two because I've no intention of posting ridiculously long chapters. It's grueling to write then edit, and for me personally, tiring to plow through as a reader.