Page 13 of Zel
He had said his goodbyes to his parents before they left home, keeping the conversation during the journey light so as to not conjure more tears and add any redness or puffiness to Zel’s face. He was to be the perfect bride, even if the day he was to wed the sorcerer was a month away. He wanted so badly to hug his parents one last time, but he knew he would begin sobbing again if he did. Instead, when they turned from him to head back down the path on their shared horse, he raised a hand in farewell, they did the same, and Zel steeled himself to approach the wall.
Woe to any bandits who attempted to accost his parents on their ride home, but Zel still worried the clear path to the tower had only been for him. He had to trust that his horse and the few belongings he’d brought with him would indeed be safe while he left them behind.
There had been a note with yesterday’s shipment ofrapunzeltelling him to leave whatever he brought with him and the horse he arrived on outside the wall when he approached the tower. It was a guild horse, as was the one his parents rode back on, but the upkeep of any was difficult during a famine. Zel didn’t like leaving his things unguarded, let alone a vulnerable animal when times were tough, but he dared not go against the sorcerer’s instructions.
The circumference of the tower was narrow, and the wall not much wider around it. Zel’s parents had recounted how thegarden within was not large either but so lush, it didn’t need to be. Even once Zel was only a few strides from the wall, which had no opening, he could almost see around the perimeter where it curved left and right.
To the left, did he see a foot sticking out of the brush?
“Only emp—” A hand clamped down on Zel’s shoulder, and he seized its wrist, flipping the offender end-over-end to land hard on his back in front of Zel.
“Rudy!” Zel released his friend, allowing him to scramble to his feet. Rudy was bundled up as well, but the hood had fallen from his head. “What are you doing here?”
“Being reminded to finish our code in full before surprising you, apparently. How could I not come? When you didn’t meet me to say goodbye, I had to follow so I could see you one last time. You wore my pendant.” The emerald had jostled loose from Zel’s surcoat, which Rudy could see after adjusting his spectacles.
“Of course I did.” Zel clutched it. “But Rudy—”
Rudy swept forward, lips already puckering, as he took hold of Zel’s cheek.
“Are youmad?” Zel lurched away. “He could be watching us right now!”
Rudy glanced over his shoulder at the tower. Silent as it remained, when he looked back at Zel, he straightened his shoulders and nodded. “Forgive me. Then I am merely a friend wishing his friend farewell. Do you remember five years ago, I think, when Carl tried to kiss you like that?”
A smile tugged at Zel’s lips. He remembered.
While wariness of Zel had always been rampant among their peers, the more his beauty had grown as he reached maturity, the more the boys tried to press their luck. Zel always rebuffed them beyond honing his skills of seduction, only willing to riskactual intimate activity with Rudy, but Carl had not taken no for an answer.
“You yanked him back from me by the hair and readied to punch him.” Zel chuckled.
“And you, with the speed and grace of an alleycat, seized me by the arm to stop me. As soon as Carl breathed relief, you punched him so hard yourself, his eyes watered for an hour.” Rudy chuckled too, and the familiar ease of his company almost helped Zel relax. But he couldn’t relax. Not for the next month.
“Because I do not need rescuing,” Zel said, echoing the words he had said back then. He didn’t, not like when Rudy had given him the flower version of this pendant.
“I know. But I will always be here in the unlikely event that someday you're wrong. I will be thinking of you, Rapunzel.Zel. I love you,” Rudy finished in a whisper but looked Zel square in the eyes as he said the oft spoken words. “We will see each other again.”
As Rudy darted back into the trees to follow the path Zel’s parents had taken, everything in Zel ached. He could only assume Rudy had his own horse hidden somewhere. It had been foolish of him to come, and Zel couldn’t have said he shared Rudy’s affections, but it had still been nice to see his friend once more. The romantic fool.
Now for the task at hand. Zel’s eyes returned to the foot to the left of the wall. He neared it, but before he could be certain if it attached to a body or was simply a lost boot, the stones in the wall parted, creating an entrance for Zel where none had been before. Wary as he was, he stepped through the opening.
The wall immediately closed up behind him, and the chill in the air dissipated. Fragrant smells assaulted Zel. Grass and herbs and flowers. It was the height of spring here, like another world from the autumn cold he had left. As the sun finishedsetting into darkness, Zel remained in light with the rising of the moon.
He followed the same path he had been told about by his mother and eventually came upon a patch of familiar lettuce. He touched their leaves, verdant green with gold stems. He was overdue for his daily salad, but if the sorcerer wished for him to eat more today, he would provide, Zel assumed.
First stone over, third stone up, and—when Zel pressed it, a door into the tower opened just like the wall had. The sorcerer probably could have opened it magically, but Zel knew his way up, almost as if he had been here before. He had been technically, but as a still barely formed babe in the womb. He also noted how, up close, the tower’s outer surface looked iridescent, like rocks or cave walls when wet.
Ascending the steps, each story up felt more and more like heading to the gallows. He was everything he should be. Everything the sorcerer should want. But he could not predict everything that would be asked of him. He could not predict anything. The only weapon he carried was his dagger, hidden in a sheath on his thigh beneath his skirts. He hoped to not need it until the month was up.
When he reached the top of the tower, the door was already open.
Everything beyond was dark, so before Zel stepped forward, he called out, “Master Sorcerer? May I enter and present myself to you?”
“You may,” a voice boomed back, deep and resonant enough that Zel felt it in his bones.
He dared to enter the tower’s room, and as soon as both feet crossed the threshold, candles and large sconces on the walls lit up to brighten the space like the dawn. Zel gasped, for the sorcerer stood before him a mere stretch of his arm away, tall, dark, and terrifying, just as his parents had said.
And so... so beautiful.
“Quite beautiful,” the sorcerer said.
