Written Out of the Tower

Rose sat shackled to the wall of the home her ‘mother’ kept her locked in. Sure, she had more freedom than she had had ten years ago, but she was still held captive. She thought back, over the last ten years, to the men who had come into her life and had tried to save her, to free her, and yet they had all failed….

Rose remembered that day…. She was sitting at the only window in her tower like she did every day. Her sixteenth birthday was just around the corner. And like most days, she was lamenting the fact that she was still stuck in the tower. Her ‘mother’ always told her that the world was too dangerous and the tower was for her own safety…. But Rose had memories of life outside the tower, so distant that she was almost convinced they were a dream, yet so vivid that they couldn't be. She remembered running through fields of flowers, wearing fine clothes, enjoying her father's warm hugs, and hearing her mother's soft laugh that was so different than that of the women she lived with now. As a young girl, Rose had trusted her ‘mother,’ but now as she got older she no longer believed that the woman she called ‘mother’ really was her mother. In her heart, she believed she had a family that was still looking for her. But why hadn't they found her?

Just as she turned to leave the window, she saw him - a knight, coming from the kingdom! Had he come to save her? When she waved he did not seem to notice her, nor when she yelled. Then she sang because her ‘mother’ always made her sing a goodbye whenever she left for a trip into town. Wasn't she lucky that her ‘mother’ was out today!

The knight seemed to hear her song because he stopped and looked around. "Hello?"

"Hi! I'm so grateful you have come!" Rose looked down at him.

"Won't you come out from hiding?" He seemed to not see her tower. She wasn’t sure how he could miss it though….

“Can you not see my tower? It's rather tall…." Rose leaned out the window.

"Fair lady, I see no tower. But I have an idea." He walked towards the base of her tower and reached out his hand. As he did so, the view from the window vibrated like something had shattered. "Just what I thought, hidden by magic!” He started to climb up her tower.

That day had changed her life. Not only had the knight been the first person she had seen other than her ‘mother,’ but she had also learned that the tower had vines. Whenever she tried to step down, these vines grew sharp spikes, preventing her from leaving the tower. The knight, determined to be the hero, had tried for two years to free her from the tower. In that time, she had fallen in love with him, and he had learned that she must be the daughter of the King's seamstress and Head Chef. She was supposed to become a lady in waiting for the princess. He had also learned that everyone was sure she was dead, but no one would talk about what had happened. He had not been able to get anyone to believe him that there was a tower in the forest.

However, all good things must come to an end….

One day as the knight was leaving the tower, Rose's ‘mother’ saw him climbing down. Rose saw her ‘mother’s’ hand glow red as the knight climbed down the tower. Her ‘mother’ moved her hands and the spikes came from the vines. He screamed in pain and fell from the tower, landing with a sickening thud. Rose’s scream caused all the birds to flee the forest.

Rose’s ‘mother’ called up to her, "I told you, daughter, the world is dangerous. You should have listened; that was a test and you, my dear, have failed!”

Rose watched helplessly as her ‘mother’ took away the body of the only person she'd ever loved. Then she curled up in her bed and cried until her ‘mother’ came into her tower.

"I told you, Rose, not to let anyone in your tower. Now," her mother moved her hands and they glowed again, "tell me, how long has he been coming to see you…?"

Rose was scared. She'd never seen her mother mad. She hummed a tune without knowing why she remembered it. And slowly the world went dark.

She woke up with a headache and burning eyes.

"Shh, Darling…. A mean man broke in and tried to steal you from me. I got here just in time."

But Rose knew what her ‘mother’ said wasn't true.

She shook her head now at the memory…. It had taken her weeks to recover from the grief, and adjusting to her lonely life in the tower had been torture. She avoided thinking of what few memories of the knight she had left. Nothing her brought her joy anymore, not even singing.

Her next visitor had come just after her nineteenth birthday. He was a clergyman. She had tried to get him to stay away but he hadn’t listened to her. He kept coming, so she stopped fighting for him to leave. When he did visit, he told her about the Kingdom and about the royal family. He even told her about the servants who worked in the palace. It was amazing to hear about everything. The memory pained Rose….

After much time together, he finally asked the question she'd been dreading. "Won't you leave with me, Rose? Your mother shouldn't keep you here forever.”

“No, I can't. The tower won't let me. It's enchanted. I'm… I'm happy here." She tried to make it sound convincing.

He started to argue, even trying to force her to leave. But her mother burst into the tower. "My daughter said no!" Using some kind of spell, she made him vanish.

"Thank you, Mother." Rose hung her head. "He…he wouldn't leave."

Her mother stroked her hair. "I know, my dear. Don't worry, he won't be back." Her mother's smile was almost cruel.

Rose avoided thinking about the clergyman. The guilt of what happened to him ate away at her.

She had just turned twenty when a mage came, looking for the answers to find out what had happened to the clergymen…

He saw what she knew looked like a pile of rocks and laughed. As he moved his hands, the tower almost shook and he floated up to her at the top. She simply stared at him. "So, he said, “those two weren't lying about a girl in a tower. I told the king he should let me come investigate….” He paused and looked at her. "Rosie?"

She looked at him for a moment, willing her mind to remember, but she couldn't.

"Rosie, you're alive! I can't believe it!" He hugged her, and for a moment she felt safe. Then he looked into her eyes. "Oh, Rosie, you have no idea who I am, do you?"

The mage and Rose had been best friends growing up. He had used his magic to lessen the power of her ‘mother,’ whom she now knew was Lady Addison. A former kingdom mage had used magic to wipe her memory. And while he wasn’t strong enough to undo all of it, he did give her more clarity. He was able to fill in the gaps that she was missing from the others. The knight had been right about her parents; apparently, when she was six she had started to show magic abilities, and the King had insisted she join Lady Addison in training. She apparently took to it too well and Lady Addison grew jealous. During training there was an accident, Rose had died, and Lady Addison had been banished.

“Wait, so if she tried to erase my memories, why did I still have faint memories?” Rose looked at the mage.

“Your own magic would protect you. But you weren’t strong enough to stop her.” The mage gave her a sad smile. “And the reason you can’t use magic now is that she’s broken your childlike spirit. Childlike wonder makes magic easier. And you had it in spades." He shook his head.

"That makes sense… but you clearly are magical; can you get me out of here?” She felt more hope than she had in years.

He looked down. "No, after your death, the king limited what mages could do. Lady Addison shouldn’t be able to do what she does….”

"Oh… So you can't free me either." She sat on the ground, feeling defeated.

"No, but here…” he handed Rose a small book. “It’s a book that will show you anything you want if you simply ask. Use it to learn more about your magic.” She slipped the book into her pocket. “Lady Addison is back, I can feel it. I must leave."

He floated out of the tower and landed right in front of Lady Addison. "Lady Addison, you think you can get away with this? If Lady Rose hadn't been so under your control I would have taken her with me. I will be telling the king. And you will truly be gone." He stood ready to take a hit for Rose.

"Oh you foolish boy, you won't remember me or Lady Rose when I'm done with you." Rose watched Lady Addison shoot at her oldest friend. She knew she couldn't cry.

After that day Rose had convinced Lady Addison that she wanted to help her make money by learning about magic too. After some lessons, Lady Addison moved her from the tower to a house in the town a few days' journeys away from the kingdom. Lady Addison read fortunes and healed people…for a price; she even sold spells.

Rose’s voice was where her power came from. She could use her voice to fill her listeners with joy or peace or whatever she chose. After proving that she wouldn’t run, Rose was given the freedom to walk around in the garden, and she felt herself growing stronger.

When she was twenty-one, while she worked in the small house with Lady Addison, a painter became a regular at her shows. He would paint while she sang. Under Lady Addison’s watchful eye she became his friend. They talked about nothing too deep, but she loved watching him work. He even made a painting for her of lights dancing in the sky. She started to fall for him - he was so kind and sweet.

Then one day he made a mistake. "You know, Miss Rose, I would very much like to take you home to meet my mother. She is ill. She lives in the kingdom a few towns over. I could have you back in a week, and maybe then I could seek your hand from your mother?” His smile was so gentle; he had no clue what he’d just done.

Rose never did learn what Lady Addison did to him. He just stopped coming around, and her heart ached for him. She was so lonely and once again was losing hope. She had more freedom but she was still trapped, and she didn't trust her magic enough to leave on her own. She felt desperate for help.

The last man who tried to free her was a bard. He had started coming by, and after her shows, he would tell her about the world he’d travelled. He started to lift her spirits, and maybe that’s why Lady Addison let him play music with her. After all, Lady Addison needed the money Rose brought in, so she needed to have some joy….

Soon the two of them plotted for her to escape and how they would travel the world together. Rose was hopeful this would work. They'd been careful, they’d saved up money, and it was time to flee. They made it out of the house, then out of the town. Rose couldn't believe it! She'd never made it this far before….

Then Lady Addison descended from the sky in a fiery rage. Hands flaming red, she burned the bard to the ground in seconds.

Then Lady Addison took Rose home."I gave you more freedom, I let you chat with the townsfolk, I even trained you in magic! AND THIS IS HOW YOU REPAY ME!?" Lady Addison's voice echoed into the night. "Since you want me to be your nightmare…" With hands glowing red, a chain was wrapped around her ankle. "There! You can't leave this house. If your voice wasn't so loved by the people, I would keep you only in this room."

That is why Rose sat there, shackled to the wall. She had never felt so low. She couldn't even practise her magic. She sang, but it took more out of her, leaving her weak. Even if she found her strength again…. She looked at the chains; her magic was likely too weak anyway. She was twenty-six now. She almost wished Lady Addison would kill her. But she knew the chances were low.

Tonight, however, she noticed a loose panel in her roof. Looking up through the gap, she couldn’t see stars but rather bright white light. She reached out and climbed onto the roof…. And Rose found herself in a space she didn’t recognize.

She was standing in a fancy room with brightly coloured furniture, and the white light she had seen came from some kind of box made of small tiles with letters on them…. What was this? She was afraid to touch it. She ran out of time because someone walked into the room.

"Oh!” She looked at Rose and then at the lightbox. “You must be Rose. I'm Ally, the author of your story."

"Author? Meaning, you write my story? Why am I still stuck at twenty-six?!” Rose was furious.

“Because I am stuck." Alley sat down in her chair. "When I started your story, I was sixteen and in love; now I am alone and debating love. I used your story to deal with the boys in my life."

"But I have literal magical powers. Surely I can get away! Do you need a man to do things for yourself?" Rose snapped at the girl responsible for her life that had always been trapped in rooms.

Ally sighed. "I was just coming to that realization. Here, I'll fix your story. While also fixing my own." The girls shared an understanding smile, and Rose closed her eyes.

When she opened them, she was back in her room. She had an escape plan. She sang a song that made her feel brave and strong. She then looked at the chain on her leg. As she sang, holding the chain in her hands, it shattered.

She quietly walked through the house and found Lady Addison sleeping. She sang a song that put her into a deeper sleep. Then, using the same song, she erased Lady Addison's memory of Rose and of all magic. She'd be in ruins tomorrow morning. Rose slipped out of town, book in hand, ready to face whatever came next for her in her newly-found freedom. Maybe she would find her family, or maybe she'd find a new life all her own.

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