Another chapter of the tale of mystery.
FAMILY SECRETS
A HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE FANFIC
Chapter 32
Somehow I managed to convince Howl to leave the room for a moment. Now I could pretend that I was scared of him. That Howl wanted to hurt him and that I was his only hope. It was all a lie, but I hoped that it would work. The man seemed to know of Howl's bad reputation. Now I wanted to take advantage of it. I was going to use the wrath of Howl Pendragon to get my way. Hopefully, I was right and the fool was afraid of him. If he wasn't then this whole plan fell apart. That couldn't happen. This man was the only lead that I had right now.
As I re-entered the room the man leered at me. "Want me all to yourself, huh?"
I smiled. "I just thought that it would be nice to talk without my husband trying to kill you."
He snorted. "Yeah right, lady."
"My name is not lady. It's Sophie." I sat down on the floor in front of him. Which was a bit annoying to do in a skirt, but I managed. "What's yours?" He mumbled something that I couldn't understand. "I'm sorry. I can't hear you."
"I said it's Seus."
I wasn't sure if 'Seus' was really his name or not. For my purposes it didn't really matter. It gave me something to call him besides wizard. It also helped us develop a connection. I needed that connection if I was going to exploit him. I needed to become his friend. He had to believe me that I wanted to save him. That way he would agree to my proposal. He needed to trust me while fearing my husband. That should work to get what I needed.
"Nice to meet you 'Seus'." He said nothing so I continued. "'Seus', I have a problem: My husband wants to kill you. He's really jealous you see. He does not like other men touching his woman. It's one of his less desirable traits. I've tried changing him, but it hasn't worked."
He interrupted. "Are you trying to threaten me?"
"No, no, no! I'm trying to warn you! Pushing Howl Pendragon too far is not a good idea! You know his reputation. He's not exactly a nice man. He does not treat his enemies well. You aren't his enemy, are you?"
The best part of that speech is that it wasn't too far from the truth. Howl did jealously guard me. He also could be cruel when it came to protecting the ones he loved. It left out the part where he was an utter coward and hated harming people. Those were things that 'Seus' did not need to know. It's not my fault that my husband has a reputation. I just wanted to take advantage of it, that's all.
'Seus' was silent for a while then finally said slowly. "No, I am not."
"Great!" I cheered. "Then you'll help us!"
Honestly, the man didn't have any choice. Either it was help me with my crazy scheme or deal with an angry Howl Pendragon. Neither were great choices for him right now. At least with my scheme he had a chance of freedom. It seemed that was worthing something to him.
"Yes." He said.
"Alright. Thank you. I'll tell Howl immediately. He'll be glad that you agreed." I stood up. "Remember, if you do this successfully with no tricks then you will be free. We will not go after you. Nor will we report this crime to the authorities. You will be free to go."
I knew that Howl wouldn't like those terms. However, they were necessary to get what I wanted though. So, we had to abide by them. Otherwise this all fell apart. I just hoped that Howl wouldn't argue with me on this.
I stopped to add. "Rest. For we'll be heading out shortly." Then I left the room. Leaving a bewildered wizard behind.
Next Chapter coming up!