Howl's Moving Castle Fan Fiction ❯ The Broken Wall ❯ Chapter 2: Understanding ( Chapter 2 )

The Broken Wall: Part V of the Wallmaker Saga

Chapter 2: Understanding

In spite of the horrific damage induced by the funnel cloud, the finger of sky never truly touched down.

 

It quickly retreated into the thick black clouds that twisted over the city's capital. However, the persistent windstorm outside still tore roofs from buildings and shattered windows with flying debris. But the true havoc was wreaked in the city by the air elementals that remained in the aftermath of the whirlwind. They were a lingering form of devastation unto themselves. The royal air fleet was grounded and people remained trapped in their homes. Anyone that went outside risked their lives to the wrath of the wind spirits' teeth and claws.

 

“Why haven't they come inside?” Martha whispered fiercely.

 

The herbalist stood in the hallways just outside the room where Markl had once lain asleep, her arms wrapped around her apprentice. Theresa was clinging to the green-eyed woman, her freckled face buried in the cotton shirt the healer always wore. The Wallmaker had pulled them all to safety in the chaos that that rushed in around them as the twister tore away the side of the building. The door was rattling madly in the constantly howling wind outside. The hedge witch's hair was stirring wildly about her face in the drafts that pushed around the barrier. Overhead, through the magically reinforced skylights, Howl could see the milling ethereal bodies of hundreds of mist daemons. The dark haired woman did not have the othersight to see the creatures, but she had no trouble hearing their distant moans and screeching.

 

“I don't know,” the thin man replied shortly as he stood, helping his eldest son to his feet.

 

Markl was awake, compliant, but unresponsive. Currently the boy was staring madly at the skylight overhead. His father did not like the blank expression on the young wizard's white face. But they were all severely rattled by the outcome of recent events. The young wizard was barefoot and wearing only a long nightshirt. They would have to find him some clothes. Howl quickly stripped off his great sleeved coat and wrapped it around the young man's shoulders.

 

“Why are they here!?” Martha demanded in a furious voice. It was strange for the silent woman to speak so much.

 

“I don't know,” the thin man lied smoothly.

 

He did indeed know why the angry spirits had invaded the capital of Ingary. However, he was just as shocked by the swiftness of their unannounced attack. He had not expected it to come to this with no warning, nor did he realize he had so little time. Something must have provoked the ancients, inciting them into action. But that was far from his most pressing concern. Currently, the raven-haired sorcerer was attempting to get his russet-haired apprentice to look at him.

 

“Markl! Markl, can you hear me!?” The Wallmaker shook the boy gently by the shoulders.

 

“Stop!” The sallow woman commanded and dumbly the Wallmaker complied, “Give him to me…”

 

Detangled herself from Theresa, Martha peered sharply into the young wizard's eyes, snapping in his face and moving a single finger back and forth in front of his eyes. The curly haired young woman furtively wedged herself behind the Wallmaker's apprentice, careful not to incur her mistress' ire. But Markl neither blinked nor flinched, nor did he notice the girl's closeness. The herbalist finished by checking the boy's temperature and made an ominous noise.

 

“He's in shock,” she diagnosed coldly. “We need to get him warm.”

 

“Will he be alright?” It was the keeper of the balance's turn to ask questions fretfully.

 

“With time, yes,” Martha replied shortly. The healer forced the green-eyed girl to look at her, “Theresa, do you remember where the supply cabinet is on this level?”

 

“Y-yes,” the curly haired girl stammered, although she was constantly flicking her eyes about nervously.

 

“Blankets, clothes, smelling-salts,” the hedge witch ordered briskly. The Royal Wizard's wife stepped back. In a single fluid motion, she plucked up the girl's garden hoe only to force it into Theresa's hand before pointing sharply down the hall. When the girl hesitated, seeming loath to leave Markl behind, Martha gave her apprentice a jump-start by gently pushing her in the correct direction.

 

“I have to get back to Market Chipping,” Howl murmured in a lost voice as he turned away.

 

“You will stay, Wizard Howl!” Martha thundered mercilessly, rounding on him with blazing jade eyes. The Wallmaker jumped and actually shrank back against the side of the hallway in abject surprise. Barimus wife had the ability to be quite terrifying when she wished to be.

 

“But… Sophie and the children?” The silver sorceress' husband was stunned.

 

“Sophie is capable of far more than you give her credit for. Now, deal with the daemons before they tear us all to shreds!”

 

“How?” He retorted lamely.

 

“Fix the shield!” The herbalist snapped at him impatiently, “You are the Wallmaker, aren't you!?”

 

It was strange; because in addition to finding his son, that was the reason Howl had come to the Capital today. He would have to find as many Councilors as possible and their apprentices too. And the wizard's guards would be needed as well. There would be no time for a test: it would either work or it would not. Early that morning, before he had fallen asleep in his bath, the lanky wizard had an idea.

 

It involved light bulbs.

 

xXx

 

Markl could hear their voices still, and it made him want to scream.

 

There were hundreds if not thousands of them, all whispering incomprehensibly in the tiny space between his ears. He felt like his head was about to burst. Suddenly, hands were on him and something fouler than the stink of Dark wafted under his nose. His eyes were open all of a sudden and he could see again. Where once he could not fight, now somehow his faculties had returned to him. So he began to struggle.

 

“Careful, he's coming out of it,” A familiar stoic voice spoke.

 

“Markl!? Markl, can you hear me?”

 

The russet-haired boy opened his eyes and once more the light flooded them to blindness. Blinking rapidly, a heart shaped face covered in freckles resolved out of the brightness. As he recognized the herbalist's apprentice, he realized she was possibly the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

 

“Theresa!” He gasped and tried to stand.

 

“Shhh, we're here. Be still,” the red-head replied soothingly, her hands on his shoulders. The brown-eyed young wizard realized he was wrapped in a blanket, reclined against a wall in a hallway somewhere. All around him were other voices speaking in terse hushed tones and for a moment the Wallmaker's apprentice thought the daemons had come back.

 

“Make them stay away!” He half shrieked as strange faces swam before him, pressing close and towering all around. Markl yanked the girl into his arms in a moment of mad panic as he stumbled to his feet. The girl squeaked in surprise as he half crushed the air out of her lungs. The young man might be thin, but he was quite strong.

 

“Oi! All of you get back!” Theresa commanded between coughs as she tried to regain her breath. Immediately, the strangers wearing green retreated.

 

“Thank you… Thank you…” the Wallmaker's apprentice stammered, still clutching the girl to him. He relaxed against the hallway wall as the red-head returned his embrace.

 

“It's alright, Markl. Everything's okay now.” Another calm voice spoke to his right.

 

It was the herbalist. He blinked rapidly, trying to clear his senses, which still swam before his eyes form time to time. It was not the first time he had gone into the beyond, but the aftermath was just as disorienting. Mortal sight was disorienting; between the worlds, where he had been taken, everything merged into a remarkable singularity. It was difficult to have to separately reintegrate everything after experiencing things with such simultaneous clarity. But the dam holding back the words within him had already been breeched, and they issued forth unbidden.

 

“Everything is not alright, Aunt Martha. They're everywhere! I can hear them, they're everywhere,” Markl murmured madly, casting his attention to the glass ceiling above him.

 

But suddenly he turned back to regard her with fierce look. Martha was taken aback by the mad gleam in her nephew's eyes as he continued in a rush.

 

“I'm so glad I was wrong! I misread the prophecy. I thought you were the childless green mother. I thought it meant you were going to die, but I was wrong. None of it made any sense until they took me back to see what happened. But it makes sense now… I understand.”

 

A particularly loud wailing filtered down from above and the sound of claws on glass sent a titter of panic through the other healers. The auburn haired sorcerer threw his eyes towards the glass ceiling with a strained expression of terror on his face.

 

“SHUT UP! Make them shut up!” He shouted madly at the skylights.

 

“I think you should let Theresa go now, Markl,” Martha spoke carefully as she reached towards him with her open hands upturned. But the golden-eyed boy shied back, sideling along the wall away from her. The herbalist may have been afraid for her apprentice, but the freckle-faced girl was not.

 

“It's alright, Lady Martha,” Theresa replied calmly with a backwards glance at her teacher.

 

“Who, Markl? Who took to back?” The red-head asked as she returned her full attention to the thin boy in her arms.

 

“The star daemons; it was like when Sophie first went into the otherworld to break Howl's curse. But this time they showed me Mrs. Danna's past,” he replied absently, stumbling along with his friend until they backed into a corner. It was then that the russet-haired young wizard caught sight of the pink and grey checkered coat cast aside in the hallway. He nearly jumped out of his skin upon seeing it.

 

“Howl is here!? Where is he? We need to get back to the castle right away!”

 

xXx

 

Much to her surprise, Earin was relieved to be not dead. However, it finally convinced her without the shadow of a doubt that she was right.

 

A moment later the earthquake rocked the airship. The ground-shattering tremor caused one of the support legs to give as a huge column of rock exploded from the ground, impaling one of the metal wings and half overturning the craft. The enormous ship tilted dangerously to the side and Danna would have gone sliding off the edge had she not been chained in place. Kings and soldier's spilled everywhere as great clods of dirt and glass pelted the deck. Finally, as the daemons rushed all around them the former healer finally understood why the banishing spell had dissolved. The ancients must have stopped it when they sapped up all the surrounding magic in the wastes to induce the earthquake. It reduced all of the local magi powerless and their incredulous cries echoed loudly off the airships.

 

Luckily for her, it had also negated the gate to the scorched plains.

 

Suddenly all manner of spirits erupted into being all around them. Earth daemons, made of churning mud and loam, burst from the ground to hurl granite boulders at the shields the wizards threw into the air. Wailing air elementals chased the pilots of sky kayaks as plant daemons caused living roots to burst from the wooden floor, harrying the sorcerers that circled her. Sirens and the screams of men and daemons alike filled the slanted deck; however, none approached her. Ferdinand, with a rallying call, pulled two pistols from his boot and handed its twin to Prince Justin.

 

“Have at them!” The emperor cried in excitement.

 

“I've never held a gun before!” Justin cried in dismay.

 

“Give it here!” Walden muttered as he threw aside his crown and bulky robes to shoot with expert accuracy at the mud spirits that were clambering closer to them.

 

However, in spite of the fact that both kings were keen shots, their marks never seemed unfazed by the bullets that hit them. However, the spirits did not stop until they came up against something like an invisible wall. It was like there was a circle surrounding the former daemon queen that the beings were loath to cross. They clambered along the borderline, shrieking in frustration. It was into this haven that the Kings and their bodyguards scrambled at an angle. Dieter suddenly stiffened as he stopped to reload the pistol handed to him by a solider, and the freckled man swayed. The twin would have fallen had Walden not caught his elbow.

 

“Are you alright?” The boy-king asked earnestly.

 

“Thank you, King Walden,” Dieter murmured respectfully before straightening, “Your majesties, I have received new from the capital! Peoter informs me a tornado just hit Kingsbury and a tidal surge has flooded Porthaven.”

 

“What about Marda!?” Justin demanded.

 

“And Tyrn,” Walden followed suite.

 

“I am sorry, your Majesties… I know not,” Dieter replied with a pained expression.

 

“We need to get inside where we're less exposed. This is a tactically hopeless situation,” Ferdinand growled, pulling fiercely at his moustache as he slung his smoking gun over his shoulder.

 

“Captain, why do they stop?” One of the wizard's guards grimaced, staring at the milling daemons in aversion.

 

“Because of me,” Earin spoke up suddenly, her icy voice calculated, giving all present a fright. The cold eyed woman was sprawled against the decks like a limp doll, pinned in place by her shackles. “These are young daemons, not the elder kin. They're terrified of me and will flee if I approach, even the ones in the air. I can help you, Ferdinand.”

 

“Don't trust her, Majesties!” Dieter spat venomously, “She'll just try to escape. We should leave her here for the spirits.”

 

“You and I don't seem to be going anywhere right now, little wizard,” Danna's words were as contemptuous as they were cool. “I couldn't run even if I tried. Besides, don't you remember what your Lord Barimus said, Captain? This is a life and death matter for both you and the Wallmaker's children.”

 

“Magic isn't the only way to get rid of someone…” Ferdinand spoke frostily as he cocked his pistol and pointed the barrel at the collapsed woman's head.

 

“I don't believe you, Freddy,” the regal faced woman regarded him with a cunning smile, “You need me.”

 

After a terse moment, the ruler of Ingary let out a furious snarl and turned away as he uncocked his gun.

 

“Get her up off the floor, but keep her in chains and irons,” The ruddy-bearded man barked out the orders. They all ducked as a screaming twist of mist went sailing low overhead, but veered away at the last second. A pair of soldiers unlocked the shackles that held her to the ground as they yanked Danna to her feet, leaning away from her as though they were disgusted to touch her. The robin uniformed guards handed her chains to King Ferdinand.

 

“Is this wise?” Prince Justin sniffed delicately.

 

“What other choices do we have?” Walden replied solemnly.

 

Ferdinand motioned Danna forward his with revolver, “Ladies first!”

 

True to her word, the daemons parted before the former healer, falling back in droves. The thin tattered woman made slow progress back across the slanted deck of the ship, and she stumbled numerous times. By the time they reached the entrance to the lower levels, Earin could no longer walk. She collapsed in exhaustion on the top step.

 

“Get up,” the barrel-chested Ingarian barked.

 

“You can shoot me now if you like, Freddy,” Danna sighed with infinite sureness he would not, “But I can't walk another step.”

 

After a tense moment when they realized she wasn't joking, King Ferdinand scooped her up and carried Suliman's sister down the rest of the stairs.

 

“Such a gentleman…” She mumbled.

 

“Speak again and I will shoot you!” The ruddy faced man bite off his words like they were choking him.

 

The moment they entered the King's office, he threw the broken grey eyed woman into a nearby chair.

 

“Chain her up!” Ferdinand commanded without a second look. Two of the red garbed guards fastened her chains to the thick wood of the chair. The bristle-mustached King strode forward to his desk, and beckoned to both Justin and Walden.

 

“Dieter, what's the situation in Market Chipping?” The golden prince asked as the boy-king unrolled the maps.

 

Their voices faded into nothing as the cold woman's eyes fell on a small box that rested on top of the emperor's desk. Inside was the silver knife they had taken from her that morning. In that very same moment, Danna almost gasped as the invisible line beneath where her heart should have been suddenly snapped back to life. Somehow, whatever spell the Wallmaker had placed on her daemon had faded. As the former daemon queen gently probed the connection between her and the other, she paused. It was strange; somehow Door had retreated so far inside of herself she was barely present. The chimera was normally viciously possessive of her consciousness, so it was unlike her to leave herself so vulnerable. Here, in her weakest moment and darkest hour, was a perfect opportunity for her to assume control of the other, both her body and her magic.

 

Ironically, she reflected on the fact that fate had again proved her right.

 

And so she took hold of the invisible line with her mind and pulled with all her might. Through the daemon's eyes she saw the red circle and was forced to think quickly to negate the magic before her only hope of escape was banished where she would be forced to follow. As she tapped into the daemon's power strength flooded her. The moment it did, all the bells in the room began clanging ominously. Not that it mattered; the magi in the room had been drained of magic.

 

They were powerless before her.

 

As she stood the grey-eyed woman ripped the heavy wood chair apart. Even the iron shackles that held her wrists and ankles wrenched to pieces under her might. The room descended into a chaos of shouting as the soldiers fired their rifles at her. But Danna simply assumed Door's liquid form and the bullets passed harmlessly through her as she strode forward. The one called Dieter tore a small mirror from his pocket and a handful of glass ampoules from the other. But he faltered, realizing he could not use the mirror without harming the Wallmaker's children. His moment of hesitation gave the cold woman enough time to snatch him up in her claws and viciously hurl him at the far wall. The wood splintered as he hit. Unfortunately for her, the wizard dropped the glass vials before she cast him aside, and they shattered at her feet.

 

Danna screamed as the agrimony spattered her legs and green smoke started up from the places where the liquid burned her flesh. She lashed out at random in her pain, cutting several men and women in two with obsidian talons. The blood felt hot on her hands, and only served to frenzy her further. There were disadvantages to daemon magic, it did not lend to clear thinking.

 

Abruptly, the door behind her suddenly flew open as a strange man wearing a red Wizard's Guard uniform entered.

 

“Seran!” One of the lame wizards cried.

 

He was young and old at the same time, his youthful face creased with premature age lines and his blond hair peppered with grey. The new arrival took in the room with a single glance and fearlessly, he stalked forward with outstretched hands. Startled, Danna flung a handful of black fire in his direction. To her absolute consternation, the man absorbed it like it was nothing. But then he was on her and had snatched a hold of one of her wrists. The former healer screeched as she felt the life drain from her; as she watched the skin of her hand desiccated in the same manner wet paper falls to dust in the dessert. It was like a piece of the Dull Wall had lodged in the man, and the horrible curse on the mortal attempted to devour her whole. With inhuman strength, she finally managed to wrench herself free. Danna blurred backwards among the magi and smashed the box on Ferdinand's desk, fishing the silver knife out of the splinters. It burned in her hand and again she swallowed a screech as she clenched it in her grasp.

 

A rasping click brought Earin back to her senses.

 

She threw her eyes to the side only to stare straight over the barrel of the gun held in King Walden's hands. Ferdinand had grabbed hold of Justin, hauling the golden man out of harms way as the tattered woman rushed forward towards them. The Mardan prince had reached for the young ruler of Tyrn, but the boy-king was beyond his grasp. Confronted by the daemon queen, the young ruler's hand was shaking and his face was haggard. However, his green eyes were steady and full of steel. This time she didn't have time to speak as the young man swallowed and fired. The bullet hit her square in the chest, right where her heart should have been. Harmlessly, it passed through the hollowness there. Danna staggered backwards and was stunned to realize she wasn't injured, nor could she be as long as she had her daemon. With a long slow smile, Earin Danna summoned a portal and sank out of sight.

 

Moments later another earthquake shuddered through the wastes into Market Chipping.

 

xXx

 

Honey screeched and shrank back into the large pantry.

 

“It's back!” Mr. Hausa cried.

 

The short bald man peered curiously around the doorway. But his blonde wife dragged her fat husband backwards as her as the mud golem once again began battering the kitchen doorway. The widowed Hatter had gone to her daughter's restaurant for brunch as she always did on summer Sundays. But today the world seemed to come unhinged. As if the earthquake hadn't been bad enough, monsters made of filth and dust had torn from Market Chippings streets only to go wandering about like living mud puddles. The spirits went about terrifying the village's occupants.

 

In spite of that, Cecari's café was a battleground.

 

Living columns of water had erupted from the sink drains, which were now currently plugged with cheese. Invisible winds had flown down the chimney to scatter soot about the tidy kitchen before the flue had been closed. The sightless beings went screaming about the rafters and Lettie had declared war on the spirits after they overturned a wedding cake she had spent ages decorating. Somehow the blue eyed woman had managed to save it from the tremor that previously rattled the building down to its very foundations. But her victory was short lived as a flock of misty vapor lifted it from the counter and hurled it across the room. With flames in her eyes that matched the burning brands she had seized from the hearth, the Hatter's middle daughter had chased the mist spirits out a large window under threat of fire.

 

The caterer now wore a copper pot like a helmet and had slung a great wooden spoon through her apron waistband like a sword. Her daughters were similarly armed with colanders and great spit forks. They were just as audacious as their step-grandfather, clambering at the mouth of the pantry to watch their parents. Lettie and her husband had climbed up onto the huge sturdy shelves that crowned the entire kitchen. Currently, they held a kettle of boiling water between them with mitted hands. With a splintering shudder, the mud daemon finally forced its way through the wooden door with a gurgling moan. In the distance there were shouts and the sounds of smashing plate ware as the staff in different parts of the building battled with their own daemons.

 

“NOW!” The caterer crowed triumphantly and the baker and his wife doused the golem with the scalding water.

 

With a truncated yelp akin to the squeal of a pig, the earth spirit disintegrated into a pile of muck.

 

“HA! Take that you muddy brute! That will teach you to invade a woman's kitchen!” The cake queen shrilled as she dropped her side of the cauldron and jumped down from on high to stomp madly in the mud puddle.

 

“Yay! Mommy and daddy beat the monster!” Tilly and Milly shouted from their cupboard in unison as their youngest sister sucked its thumb nonchalantly.

 

“Lettie! Be careful,” the baker cried. He dropped the kettle which gave a resounding clang as the large man tumbled down to yank his wife out of the muck.

 

“Put me down, Alex!” Lettie screeched furiously as she kicked in his grasp, “It took me a week to ice that cake! I want to grind at least one of them under my boot!”

 

The caterer hushed abruptly as the mud puddle surged upwards and split in two, reaching for them with shapeless seeking tendrils. Without a second thought, the baker and his wife retreated to the stove and began hurling anything and everything on the prep-tables at the pair of daemons. Spoons and sauciers went flying alongside a pan full of fresh baked blueberry muffins. Apparently the daemons had a taste for short breads because the halted in their attack to pluck up the breakfast products. With unfettered greed, the golems shoved the muffins into gaping holes that perforated their heads. The once bellicose sludge settled in place, making contented grunts as they snacked.

 

“They like muffins!” Alex cried incredulously.

 

“Quick! Get the cookies!” Lettie commanded as she pointed at her daughters with a spoon. The two earth elementals were suddenly joined by three more. The spirits trudged slowly into the room issuing curious moans only to settle next to their brethren and join in the feast. Soon the caterer and her brood were madly ferrying baked products in a desperate attempted to appease their assailants.

 

“What gluttony!” Honey huffed hotly from the pantry as she regarded the creatures over her husband's shiny pate.

 

“There goes afternoon tea,” Mr. Hausa sighed glumly.

 

The éclairs were particularly effective, and the mud daemons began gurgling excitedly as they the devoured on pastries. Unfortunately, the supply of that product was quickly exhausted and there were not enough to go around. As such, two of creatures began squabbling with one another over the last pastry as the others turned their attention back to the baker and his wife. The golems shuddered upwards and reached towards them with entreating limbs, making hungry moans as they oozed forward.

 

“We're out of éclairs!” Lettie cried in a shrill voice, proffering a pan of cheese Danishes. The elementals inspected these for a moment and then promptly pushed them aside, their grunts and gurgled becoming more demanding. The five creatures loomed upwards and came for them.

 

“Run!” Alex barked as he swept his blonde wife behind him, barring the spirits' way by dragging a huge wooden table into the aisle.

 

“Out the back!” Lettie shouted at her mother as she dashed to the pantry and pointed wildly at the second archway in the huge kitchen. Scooped up her youngest with one arm, she pushed Milly and Tilly at their grandparents, “Take the girls!”

 

“Mommy!” The little girls screamed piercingly, shrinking back against her skirts as the archway that had been their escape route began rattling. Mud oozed beneath the door as geysers of multicolored water erupted out of the sinks back in the kitchen, showering them with runny cheese.

 

In that moment, one of the ceiling length windows that lined the far wall burst open, flooding the room with wind as an enormous bird tucked in its wings and passed inside. Feathers the color of steel whisked about the room in the gale as Sophie cast off her bird form and landed unceremoniously on one of the prep-tables. The daemon's turned their attention to the silver sorceress as she straightening briskly, tossing her braid over her shoulder as bright white fire ignited in her eyes.

 

“OUT!” Sophie commanded.

 

Her voice echoed physically in the great stone kitchen. As though they were pushed by thousands of invisible hands, the mud daemons were dragged from the room by an enormous pulse of magic. The shambles of the main door flew closed, becoming whole once more. The silver sorceress had donned her feathers and flown from the castle guided to her children by the ring on her finger when she had watched in horror as the first wave of daemons washed through the city. Without thinking, she had detoured sharply to seek out her family in the once quiet village that was now drowned in pandemonium.

 

“Are you alright?” The Hatter's eldest daughter asked, her face pinched with concern as she jumped down from the table. Stunned into silence, her adult family could only stare at her. Her nieces, however, were too excited not to speak.

 

“Auntie's a bird! A great big bird!” Tilly cried in amazement and then began flapping her arms.

 

“So's our cousin Deirdre!” Milly informed her in a bossy voice much like her mother's.

 

At that exact moment another earthquake ripped through the village.

 

Amidst the screams of the children, the stone walls protested with grating groans as they bent and swayed dangerously. In spite of the fact that this quake was shorter and less potent, the huge wooden chandelier tore free of the ceiling. Already weakened by the first tremor, it came crashing down above the witch with an escort of rubble and mortar. With a great explosion of shimmering magnesium star fire, a projectile of light collided with the falling structure, hurling it against the far wall where it crumbled into ash and fire with a resounding boom. Snatching up a bucket of water, Sophie scrambled forward. She threw the contents of the bucket to douse the flames only to watch in dismay as the fire collected itself and surged upwards into the star-daemon's familiar form. In a motion that blurred before her eyes, Nox threw up a hand and the water froze mid air. The droplets of ice clattered around him like a handful of diamonds.

 

“Sophie!” Lettie exclaimed as she recovered from her shock to rush forward out of her husband's grip. The blond woman seized her stunned sister by the shoulders and shook her, “What the hell is going on!?”

 

“Momma swore!” Tilly cried in astonishment as she clamped her hands over her sister's ears. Both little girls squeaked and retreated behind their father as the tall star moved forward to the silver sorceress' side. Lettie silenced immediately turning as pink as her dress as she gaped dumbly up at the velvet cloaked man.

 

“Who the bloody hell is this!?” The blue-eyed woman huffed hotly, planting her hands on her hips as she found her voice once again. But the man daemon had eyes only for the Wallmaker's wife and the caterer did not like the way the stranger was looking at her married sister. Lettie's voice drew the silver-haired witch out of her stupor and the sorceress immediate sprang into action.

 

“You're going to the castle, all of you. The village is under attack by daemons and it is not safe here,” Sophie explained rather uselessly.

 

“But why?” Mr. Hausa piped, his diminutive form lost among his grandchildren and son-in-law. The silver sorceress had no easy answer for that, so she did not reply as she quickly strode to the front door of the kitchen.

 

“Don't go out there, Sophie! The monsters!” Honey cried warningly as she rushed past her family to seize hold of the brown-eyed witch.

 

“Don't worry, mother. We're not going outside,” The silver haired woman smiled calmly, disentangling her step-mother's hands from around her neck.

 

“I need some chalk,” the sorceress announced as though it were the simplest request in the world.

 

She looked a bit crestfallen as once again her family stared at her blankly.

 

“Here, Auntie!” Milly smiled brightly as she scampered forward. Fishing in her pocket she pulled out a piece of blue chalk and handed it to the witch.

 

“Why thank you, Milly.” The sorceress beamed at her niece.

 

Her errand finished the little girl stared curiously up at the star, who smiled down at her warmly. Lettie, suspicion plain on her features, pulled her mother and daughter backwards away from the stranger.

 

“You still haven't told us what's going on, Sophie!” Lettie continued querulously.

 

The children! The snow-haired man insisted anxiously. His golden toned voice echoed through Sophie's mind, completely ignoring the nasty look her sister shot him.

 

Sophie nodded at him absently as she waved off her sister, feeling as though she would fly to bits at any moment. It was an impossible feeling, being forced to choose between what she knew she must do and her mad compulsion to protect her family. This is what Howl must feel everyday, the Wallmaker's wife reflected sardonically as she felt her anger for the lanky wizard melt slightly.

 

But that didn't excuse him from keeping secrets.

 

She pushed those thoughts aside as she drew a circle on the door. Sophie stared at it uncertainly realizing she had no idea what to do next. Seized by an odd impulse, she drew a rough sketch of the castle inside the shape and cast an unsure look over her shoulder at the star daemon. Nox smiled at her wryly and nodded in approval. The silver sorceress knocked on the surface three times and the image flickered to life, shining with cerulean fire.

 

To her absolute surprise, Barimus answered the door.