Calistra Silvercrest
Time was all wrong in this place. I knew it was, because the days felt longer and the nights felt shorter, but I didn’t have any issue getting a full rest in, so I hadn’t paid much attention to it until one of the tomes brought up time dilation. Apparently he had enchanted the tower to minimize his nights, maximize his days and to keep himself fully rested, fed and able to properly study in his home. “What a nerd.” I shrugged. I still hadn’t stopped hating the man behind the knowledge, but I also still had no name for him. He was simply an enigma from a time left far in the past.
Someone had come to the tower. They had walked right towards the base in a straight line, as if going to walk right through it. They got about 2 feet from the base, turned and walked around it in a perfect half circle, I ran to the other side of the tower and watched as they turned to face exactly the same direction as before they made their change in direction, and marched off again. I tried to throw an empty plate at them as they left, but when the plate knocked them in the head, it simply turned into an acorn. “What the actual fuck?!” I screamed. It’s almost like the tower didn’t want me to find any way out! But… Maybe it didn’t?
I know it was enchanted by the man with all his knowledge. It seemed almost as if it wanted me to learn all his secrets before I could find my way out. AND NONE of the enchantments I had so far read about lent ANY knowledge to the barriers around the tower, or the way it kept me here. I even learned a spell to fly, and when I tried to use it to fly from the window, a magical barrier appeared that was NOT there for any other spell. It felt as if I simply flew into a glass pane. A shrill and piercing scream escaped my lips as I fell backwards onto the bed. My one chance at a savior seeing me was gone. And I knew it would go something like that, but my hopes were finally crushed beneath the weight of the realization. If I was going to be trapped in here, I needed a companion. Maybe one of these books has a way to drag my maid to the tower with me? She was always nice to me. I wouldn’t want to steal away Deena, for she would be much more dearly missed than it appeared I had been. Maybe I just needed to sleep some things off.
The time had flown by again. Morning was here and breakfast was waiting for me on the table at the center of the room. The tower was a single room, but it had a few levels. Split into 5 parts, the round room was made of four separate sections against the north, south, east and west windows, and then a square section in the middle with the table that prepared my food, as well as a spigot with seemingly endless liquids within. And while most of the time, it did appear to be just water, when I felt a little testy, depressed, or just in need of a stiffer drink, it would often provide. Some days when I missed a bit more flavor, I would get grape juice and other intriguing drinks that were non-alcoholic. The nice thing about the spigot was that while the cup would return itself to the table whenever not in use, or dangerously close to spilling, it never disappeared with the meals that were taken away. I could drink whenever I needed.
To the north of the tower, with the window that overlooked the castle, was the bedchamber. If you could call it a bedchamber. It was more just a raised platform that was so high above the rest of the room you needed a ladder to get down. Or as I had recently learned, I could fly down when I felt lazy. The ladders however adorned either side of the area, leading down to the east and west sections. These were simply a step lower than the dining area in the center, but they were also slightly larger than the bedchamber, as the ceiling was the most uniform part of the room. The west wing had books lining the walls all the way around the window, and to the ceiling, with a ladder that would easily move to wherever it was needed, thought it was not actually connected to the wall by a physical railing system. It simply moved by magic and held in the air as if it was firmly connected to the stone. It didn’t even shift under my weight once I began to climb it.
The coolest part of the ladder was how much it changed when it moved from the edge of the west platform and over to the south platform. The south section of the tower was significantly lower than the rest. Not quite as large a difference as going from west or east to the north section,, which was more like a seven foot change, but certainly it was about a five foot difference in height. And the whole extra five feet was filled with more books against the wall. Tomes on tomes from floor to ceiling, probably about 20 feet up. As the ladder shifted to this area, the bottom simply dropped to the floor, as if it was telescopic. Then when you moved it back to the west, the bottom would drop off of the ladder, and simply vanish into the floor itself. The walls of the south section that butted up against the west and east were simply more bookshelves. There were two sections on either of these walls where the books split to function once again as ladders back up to the east and west.
And when you took the ladder to the east wing, it was the most different section of the room. The walls were barren of books, simply stone visible all the way around the window. There was three dummies on the ground. One was made of metal, one of straw and burlap, and the last was a flat wooden board. I had already vaporized the wooden and straw dummies multiple times with flame spells that I had found around, as this seemed like the spot to practice them. The dummies would show the damage for all of two or three minutes before a simple pop sound would send them back to full repair, good as new. The section of the tower was entirely separated from the rest with a magical barrier. I could fire off spells in any direction, and if they began to enter another section, it would simply bounce them back off the invisible wall, and send them flying in a random direction, or sometimes dissipate them entirely, depending on the spell. Water and other liquids or solids would often bounce off, where fire and other gasses seemed to dissipate. It was becoming easier to guess what would happen as I practiced more and more.
It’d been somewhere around 6 months of learning magic, and I’d only gotten through probably two bookshelf’s worth of the literature. And yet, that was when I found it. It was a spell with a name. I had honestly almost forgotten how to speak at this point, since most spells were based on emotion and feelings. It explained the way to use this spell, but not the outcome. I was interested. What would a spell named Dale even do, right? “D-Dale” I spoke the name, unsure and unconvinced for a moment, my hands making the correct movements to channel the power within. It took a moment before I noticed it, since the conjuration had apparently taken place behind me. When I turned around, though, I was no longer alone.
“HI THERE!” a very loud voice squealed out of a very small body. It was a cat. A cat I was very much sure should not be able to talk, but then again, I had just created it with a simple word and some hand waving… and a desperate longing for company. “Wait, you again?” the cat chirped, making my face twist into confusion. From no contact with anything or anyone to a talking cat seeming to recognize me, I couldn’t help my reactions. Though if I hadn’t been learning magic for as long as I had, and a cat said anything at all to me, even a month ago, I probably would have screamed and hid as far as I could from the creature. “Are… Are you okay? I haven’t interacted with many humans, but typically you guys say something after calling me here.” He gave what could only be explained as a worried glance at me, starting to move towards me, standing up with one of his front paws lifted, as if he couldn’t decide whether to paw at my leg, or to keep walking forwards.
“I… Sorry… You’re a cat.” I managed to get out, struggling to find the words to describe myself in the moment.
“There you go! Just like the rest of them! But a little less screaming! That’s always nice!” The pitch black feline moved to rub against my legs, as if it were the most normal thing in the world to chat away with me. “You must be different from the last guy. He kicked me and hid up near the bed from me.” he shrugged and hopped deftly from the dining area to the table, then up to the sleeping area. “Not that it had stopped me from coming closer. In fact, I do believe I ended up giving him a big slash across his face for that.” the cat motioned with his claws as if slashing his own face from eye to chin. “You have a much different aura.” I smiled at the cat, confused and saddened by his tale, but genuinely heartened to be in the company of another again.
“Where… Where is here?” A million questions a minute ran through my mind, but this one felt the most pressing.
“This is my tower!” The cat gave a toothy and scarily human grin.
“Your tower? Like… You made the tower, or you… Protect the tower? Or do you just own the tower? Can someone really own a tower like this though? It’s a deathtrap! I’ve been held here against my will for months now!” my sanity seemed to finally be returning, but the anger bubbling over was now being directed to a cat that seemed almost… Like a hallucination? Was that all it was? Maybe I was just back to talking to myself, but at least I would break my voice back out. It’s been much too long. It hardly even sounded familiar after all that time! I didn’t even notice the worried look on the cat’s face before he let a sad mewl out.
“You’re trapped? I’m sorry. Nobody deserves to be trapped here or anywhere else. The door is right here if you’d like to go.” He pawed at the wall between the dining table and the bedchamber. It quickly clicked under his weight and a secret passageway opened just as easily as if a human had turned the handle to a normal door. “I… I’m terribly sorry. I wish I had been here to let you out sooner!” the cat’s eyes began to wet, but I was already out the door.
I was running full speed and preparing to shuffle down stairs from here to the ground. It seemed that was silly of me to expect, really. I should have known this tower was too vastly powerful for something as trivial as a staircase. The second I passed through the doorway, I was outside. I was in the grass. I was free. And when I looked back, I could see the tower standing in it’s full glory, dwarfing trees of the forest and looking on par with the castle, merely a few hundred acres away. But as I laid in the grass and cried, just grateful to have escaped my torment, I felt a very faint weight settle across my back. I breathed, as my crying hitched and my body bucked on the ground. I turned to find the cat sitting next to me with his tail resting on me as if putting a hand over my shoulder.
“I was trapped too.” The face of the cat looked more human than ever with the frown upon it’s lips now. “I understand that feeling. For me, I couldn’t tell how long it had been because I was simply tossed from the window of the tower, and vanished into the magic of the enchantments. It may have been a few months, or it may have been a few hundred years. I am glad to say, things look much the same, so it’s unlikely that it was more than a few years…” his last sentence seemed almost optimistic in tone, but it trailed off with such bitter hopelessness at the end. “He was really quite mean, that last visitor. I even invited him in.” The cat gave what could best be described as a non-committal shrug.
“He kicked you out the window?” I whispered, finding my tears mostly stopped flowing, despite my face being far from dry.
“Oh no. He kicked me when I spoke. Then when I slashed at his face, he knocked me against the wall with a swing of his arm. I hit the stone so hard I almost passed out, and then grabbed me by the throat and tossed me from the tower. I know my.. speech has a way of spooking some people, but I swear all I said was ‘Welcome weary traveler!’ and…” the cat looked lost in thought for a moment. His eyes dull as he remembered a time that may have been a few months before I found myself in the tower, or may have been hundreds of years.
“You keep saying it’s your tower…” I prodded.
The cat snapped back to the present with a resounding “Oh yeah! It’s my tower! I own it. I protect it. In a different life, I even created it. Not like a cat can have all that much magical potential… Magic is more of a human thing. You kinda need the…” He tried his best to stand on his back legs and move his paws around in a karate-like movement. “Hands.” He fell back to all four paws and again, somehow managed a shrug.
“You’re very expressive for a cat.” I smiled softly, tears still streaking my cheeks, I must have looked a mess, but he gave me a very firm smile back and sat back watching me closely.
“You can call me Dale.” he purred.
“I’m Calistra” I returned with all the class I was capable of.
“Calistra? What an odd name..” He paused and let out a soft uncomfortable chuckle as I glared at him. “I’ve just… Sorry, never mind me. You said you’ve lost time to my tower and my magic. Where do you live? Can I maybe walk you home, to make sure everything is okay there?” his eyes were full of genuine regret, mixed with a hopeful kindness, and his claws had been extending and retracting into the dirt for the last several minutes, though I doubt he even noticed he was doing it. It almost seemed like an anxious tick.
“I.. I think I might like that.” I shrugged. I then pointed to the castle and said “I live there though. Will you be able to make it home on your own after walking all the way there with me?”
He smiled at my concern and nodded. “I doubt I’ll have any problems at all. Even with my current form I still have a few tricks up my… Claws? fur? I was going for something cat based, that matched the original expression, but cats certainly don’t have sleeves do we…” the smile had vanished with his concentration on the silly turn of phrase. My smile returned in full force as I waited patiently for him to figure himself out. He turned to face me with concern once again plastered on his features. “You have been gone for so long. I’m surprised you’re not in more of a hurry!”
“Honestly, I’ve been alone for so long that I felt genuinely happy just to be out of the tower, and to have someone to talk about it all with. I would love to talk with my father about it all too though. I hope he’s not asleep yet.” I looked at the sun’s position in the sky, sinking slowly over the mountains in the distance.
“Let’s go find him!” the cat, Dale, said in jubilant glee. Then a look descended over his face that told of a surprising revelation. “Hold up, just made the connection. You pointed right at the castle… Is your father by chance the King?” His wide eyes bulging as I nodded.
“That’s not a problem is it?” I asked, a bit worried for a moment he would leave me to my trip alone.
“No. No, just a surprise. How did you end up in my tower again?” I could see gears turning in his head and a rather worrying expression on his face as he thought through the things I’ve said.
“I don’t know. I woke up alone in there. I tried to find any way out, but I couldn’t. Short of jumping to my death that is…” a knot in my throat seemed to catch me from speaking for a moment. “The thought had crossed my mind a few times.” I admitted.
“I’m glad you didn’t. You’re very kind for royalty, and quite insightful to have found the spell to bring me back to life.” He smiled. “Losing you, I’m sure, has devastated the kingdom as a whole.” his smile this time was less than assuring.
The rest of the trip was mostly silent with interruptions for simple questions back and forth between us, but not much else happened. Then the cat went entirely silent as we began making our way through town. I figured he didn’t want to make a scene, but a strange cat following a hooded princess was still more than enough to draw attention. What came as a surprise was the looks of confusion and the lack of enthusiasm! I thought for sure the kingdom would be gathering around me as I made my way home.. They didn’t even look as though they recognized me. I was on the edge of tearing up when I got to the front gate of the city. I stared at the guard, waiting for them to step aside and let me pass, but they held firmly in place.
“What do you want?” one of the guards asked.
I looked at them incredulously. “Do you.. Do you know who I am?!” I spoke as firmly as I could, but it didn’t stop the break in my voice, or the falter as my emotions overtook me. The tears came before he could even reply.
“I know you’re some whiny boy in a robe, and that you’re not welcome here. We were given no notice of any guests, let alone a peasant child with no paperwork.” The guard’s spear lifted an inch and smacked the packed dirt with a warning of his strength. “Now, Get LOST!” his scowl deepened when I only replied with shock.
“Boy…” I sniffled, unable to wrap my head around what I had just heard, but the point that stuck out to me the most was that word. “I’m no boy. I’m the princess.” I muttered in a near whisper. The guards didn’t hear me, but their eyes burned into my very soul easily enough. Then I realized I hadn’t paid much attention to my body since finding myself in the tower. There was no mirrors. There was no bathroom even. I realized I never had to relieve myself while inside. I turned from the guards still glaring at me, and walked to a nearby window where I caught my reflection for the first time since this whole ordeal started, and it was not me staring back.
The guards were right. I was a boy. At least, I looked like a boy. I had short brown hair, green eyes, pale white skin, and a hint of stubble rising from my face. I shuddered in horror, though I did not scream. I was trying to avoid making a scene in public. Dale twisted and rubbed against my legs in a way that was calming enough to anchor me to the present when all I wanted to do was scream and vanish into nothingness. A moment of gathered courage had me turn from the window and shuffle down the road around the gate to the city. Soon I was sitting down on the muddy street a good hundred yards down the wall from the gate where the guards had been posted.
I had to figure out what was happening. I moved the robes and looked at my body. It was the same body I had before the tower… But… I ran a hand down my chest, and it seemed to slide right through my breasts. It was as if the whole world froze in that moment. The mirage faded and I found myself looking at my flat body. My hand worriedly made it’s way lower, and then it bumped into something I did NOT recognize. “This… This is not happening. This cannot be happening. Dale, please tell me this is a terrible dream. Please tell me I’m not in the body of a boy…”
Dale purred and rubbed against my thigh, and looked at me with a comforting smile, but he told me nothing of the sort.
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