fiction
5 min
A Tower's Tale
Tiffany Pham
When the wizard Pratchett opened his door, he was greeted by the sight of a young princess curiously poking around his desk and a dragon happily clawing feathers out of a cushion.
Pratchett sighed and rubbed his temples. "Humphrey!" he yelled at the dragon. "What did you bring from the woods this time?!"
Humphrey only humph-ed before he resumed cushion wrecking.
Pratchett was not amused. Three days he had spent camping by the lake, harvesting rare mushrooms and bottling pure water for his spells. He was tired, in need of a bath, and a mug of hot cider. He was certainly not in a mood for mischievous dragons and unwanted guests.
"You! Princess!" He snapped at the startled girl. "What's your name? What kingdom do you come from?" He stalked over to the mirror in his study, grabbing his ink pot and a brush so he could draw a spell onto the glass.
"Oh! U-um, how did you know I was one?" she asked.
Pratchett rolled his eyes. "Anyone can see that tiara you wear. Now, name and kingdom."
The princess nervously stepped closer, peering at the odd symbols the wizard had written on the mirror. "Princess Amelie Rose Victorina." She recited quickly. She started to dip into a curtsy but paused midway as she watched Pratchett work. "Sir Wizard? What are you doing?'
"It's a portal," Pratchett grumbled. "With this, I can instantly send you back to your castle."
"Y-you're sending me back?" the princess asked with eyes wide. She stepped back and her hands clenched her dress.
"Of course! A wizard's tower is no place for a child, very much less a princess. You can be back to your parents and I will have a nice evening of quiet solitude."
"I—! I don't want to go!" The princess's chin quivered but she stood as if her feet were anchored to the ground.
"I don't care, you need to leave—"
At this, the dragon stopped making a mess. He shot a small flame at the wizard, singing his robes. Humphrey curled protectively around the princess, rumbling in displeasure before butting his head against her hand. The girl hesitantly stroked his scales. Humphrey purred.
The wizard stared in disbelief, then threw up his hands in surrender.
"Thunder and lightning!" he said. "I am too tired to deal with this! You, princess, don't touch anything! I will write to your royal parents and they may retrieve you from here. As for you, Humphrey," Pratchett narrowed his eyes, "no treats tonight." And with that, the wizard stomped out of his study.
Days later, the princess still remained. Despite repeated prodding, Princess Amelie refused to say where she came from, leaving the wizard to write to every castle within a week's journey to ask if they had lost their princess recently. Humphrey was only the size of a small horse, Pratchett reasoned, so there was only a few places he could carry her off from.
In the meantime, Pratchett continued his research, distilling potions into bottles, muttering to himself as he scribbled incantations in his journal, and generally tried ignoring the young girl who had now moved into an empty room across from his. But it was getting harder to ignore her as she followed him around.
"Sir Wizard? What's that?"
"...An incantation to prevent rashes when you're harvesting nettle."
"Sir Wizard? What's that?"
"...Pine sap for summoning spells."
"To summon what?"
Pratchett sighed and then handed her the wooden ladle used to stir the cauldron. "Princess, if you're going keep asking these questions, you might as well help me. It'll stick better in your head anyhow." He nodded approvingly as she carefully mixed. "Good. Now, we'll add a pinch of this..."
One day, as they were polishing glassware together, Amelie asked, "Pratchett, why is this tower so tall?"
Pratchett hesitated before answering. "There are many rooms below us, and when I fill them up, I raise the tower another level for more storage."
"What's inside all those rooms?"
"Bah, nothing important," he said. But he scratched the back of his neck. "Just some old inventions, like wagon wheels that won't get stuck in mud or coal enchanted to burn twice as long."
Amelie's eyes glittered. "Can I see them? Please? Pleaseee?"
He sighed. "I suppose we can open up a room or two. Might as well see if they still work."
It was nice, Pratchett thought, to see somebody else appreciating his work as he watched Amelie run from one invention to another in awe. Humphrey didn't really care—he just did his own dragon-y things.
A week later, the first knights came. Pratchett and Amelie watched a squad of them wave their lances and holler for the return of their beloved princess from "the evil wizard and his despicable dragon".
"Those banner colors..." Pratchett looked at Amelie with raised eyebrows. "That belongs to the Kingdom of Cornelia." He turned back to the window and squinted down at the knights who shouted for the wizard to come and fight them honorably. "Amelie, do you not want to go home with them?"
Amelie avoided his questioning gaze. "No, not really. I'd much rather stay here with you and Humphrey."
Pratchett was secretly pleased. "Well, we can't have them staying here and disturbing our work. Shall we see them off?"
The two spent the rest of the day giggling as they handed Humphrey buckets of their latest experiment to dump onto Amelie's would-be-rescuers: sticky paste that was perfect for repairs, but very inconvenient for armored knights.
That night, when Pratchett finished with Amelie's bedtime story and rose to go to his own bed, she stopped him.
"About earlier...I do miss home but..."
Amelie then quietly explained that everyone in the castle were all quite busy. Running a kingdom was very important, they said, and so whenever Amelie tried to help, the king and queen shook their heads and had the servants escort her to her royal lessons.
"But those lessons are so boring!" Amelie protested. "And no one takes my ideas seriously—they all say I'm too young to understand! I'd much rather stay here; at least I'm learning useful things."
Pratchett was silent for a bit. "I can understand not wanting to stay in a place like that. But...if you stay in the tower forever, how will you change your parents' minds if you're not there to show them what you can do? Look at me," he sighed, "I've been here for years. I've created all sorts of things but I've never gotten to show them off or used them to help people. Now, my inventions are all dusty and forgotten down below, until you came along."
He went to the door. "I don't believe you're too young to change things for the better—you've already changed things here."
"Really?"
Pratchett smiled. "Goodnight Amelie."
For a few days, she was quiet. Then she approached Pratchett.
"I've been thinking about what you said. I think...I'll go home now and show my parents what I can do."
"Are you sure?"
"Mhm. It's like you taught me: sometimes magic doesn't work the first time. But sometimes it'll work the second or third time. We just have to keep trying different ways until it does."
When she finished packing up, she hugged the wizard tightly. Humphrey rumbled sadly but quieted with a few chin-scratches. Amelie took a deep breath and faced the mirror where the homeward spell was ready.
"Goodbye Humphrey. Goodbye Pratchett. I'll miss you!"
The wizard nodded solemnly. "And we as well. Farewell, Princess Amelie of Cornelia. Perhaps one day, I'll leave this tower and visit you. And if not," he added with a smile, "Humphrey could always bring you back."
And with a wave of Pratchett's hand, the princess disappeared.
A month later, a letter came to the tower. By the way Humphrey wanted to hoard it, Pratchett knew it was from Amelie. When he finally rescued it from dragon claws (and magically repaired the torn page), he peered at it. And smiled.
"Humphrey! Pack your bags! We're visiting her this summer!"
Humphrey humph-ed gleefully.
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