Have you ever done something that you just know is going to bite you in the rear end later on? Even though your decisions at the moment are logical and well thought out, in the back of your mind, you hear a little voice telling you, "Good job, moron." I wish I could say that has never happened to me, but the sad fact is that, in my early days amongst humanity, I made several decisions that, though I still don't regret them, led me to difficult times. One such example occurred centuries past during the time that The Librarian calls The Age of Fables.
It so transpired that, one day, while I was walking through a fairly uninhabited section of the Avalonian forest, I came across a most unusual site. There was a path of sorts, a path that seemed very old and not recently used. Seeing as how there were no human settlements near there, I was intrigued to see such an obvious sign of someone's passage. In fact, based on how deeply into the forest floor the path was, there must have been a great deal of human traffic at one time. Being somewhat intrigued at what I saw, I decided to follow the rutted path and see to where it led.
Walking for a bit, I realized that the path was more of a road, its cobblestone base long since shattered and destroyed by the elements. Though I was still newly come onto the Isle of Avalon, I knew that there was no recorded road or town in the area in which I was exploring. That was the very reason why I was in that particular area, to see unspoiled forests and fields. The presence of this road, then, was a most curious puzzle. I walked along the road for several miles as it passed through hills and dales, shrubs and trees, until finally, the path opened onto a small glade that had a twisted white tower set smack dab in the middle of it.
Looking around carefully, I could see that the tower was not in the best of shape. It was somewhat crooked, had a very shaky foundation, and was fairly weather beaten. To make matters even worse, there was an odd grayish ivy covering the stones. Had I to make a guess, I would estimate that the tower had stood in this location for over one hundred years. I made my way to the arched path which led up to the front stoop and tried to open the door. There was a very heavy door handle that refused to budge in the slightest when I tugged on it. The door was either locked, stuck, or locked and stuck. Well, that was to be expected from a structure as old as this one was, I supposed, and so decided to look around the base for a bit.
As I began to make my way back down the arched walkway, I suddenly heard a voice call, "Yoo hoo!" from a window above me. I stepped as far back as I could without falling off and looked to see who was calling.
"Hello!" called the voice again. "I'm up here!"
Straining my neck backwards, I could just barely make out a slender arm waving out of one of the windows set high up on the tower.
"Over here, my dear man, over here!" the voice called again.
I made my way directly underneath the window and saw a lady looking down at me. The window was rather high up, and I suspected a normal person would have had difficulty seeing up that far. My eyes, however, could pick out every detail of the person in the tower. Though the lady may have been, at some point in her life, beautiful to behold, she was now aged and wrinkled, her hair scraggly and gray, the same color as the gray ivy covering the tower walls.
Peering myopically at me, the lady asked, "Is that you Dexter, finally returned to rescue me?"
"It is not, dear lady, I am sorry to say," I replied. "I am Magister Mandragora," for that was my title in those days, "and I simply stumbled across your little abode. How do you fare this fine day?"
"Horribly, Magister!" she sobbed. "I am the Princess Alexandra, and I have been trapped in this tower for decades now, waiting for my true love, the Prince Dexter to rescue me. The door to my tower is magically sealed, so he left to find something long enough reach my window. That was fifty years ago!"
I could hear the poor old soul crying above me and simply couldn't bear her pain; I knew that I would have to do something. I walked back over to the door and examined it with my Sight. As the princess had stated, there was an enchantment upon the door that sealed it tightly. I must admit that the complexity and strength of the spell baffled me for a few minutes. I had never seen a spell so strong or so cunningly wrought, and to this day have yet to encounter a more powerful sealing ward. As my faithful readers can attest, however, I am no slouch myself with a charm or spell, and managed to disrupt the enchantment long enough to open the door. Notice I was not able to dispel it, it was that powerful. I wondered as I climbed the spiral stairs to the top floor why a princess would be sealed behind such a spell. She was either very valuable or very dangerous. But after fifty years, who would still wish her held in such a state? Knowing so very little about the Isle, I had no knowledge of any of its magicians and so, no answers to my questions.
When I reached the landing where Princess Alexandra was located, I stopped for a moment in shock. Her room was a horrendous mess. Imagine if you will, the room of a female who has been trapped for almost fifty years with no access to running water, a broom, a bath, or female hygiene products.
Yeah, naaaaaaaaasty!
I quickly called forth a minor air elemental to sweep through the room in the hopes of dispelling some of the unpleasant odors I was catching whiffs of and walked over to where the princess was still seated by the window. Seeing her up close, I felt truly sorry for her. Her hair was a tangled gray mess that had grown so long, it was piled on her head and even spilled out the window. I realized at that point that the mysterious gray ivy on the wall outside was not a plant at all, but rather her hair grown so very long. Her dress was tattered and filthy, her face lined with age, and her eyes grown dim with the loss of all her hopes and dreams.
Though old and infirm, Princess Alexandra had a sharp and intuitive mind and was able to tell me much about her situation, and as I sat and conversed with the old dear, I came to discover several things. She had existed in this place for decades with no food or drink. Apparently the tower was enchanted so that its only inhabitant had no need for either while still aging at a normal rate. She did not know who had ordered her imprisonment, but she did know that it was a wizard who lived on the other end of the Isle who had cast the enchantments that locked her within the tower. Her sweetheart, Prince Dexter, had vowed to release her from her prison but had gone away ages ago never to return.
Well, though I have never been one much for paying attention to a damsel in distress, I also knew that I could not leave this poor soul trapped here another moment. Using the magic at my disposal, I transformed her ragged dress back into the pristine and beautiful gown it had been half a century earlier. I dissolved her masses of gray hair, and gave her the lovely but sensible hair style I had seen on the matrons living at the College of Shadows where I was currently in residence. With a quick manicure and pedicure and the application of a bit of makeup I always carried in my satchel (Hey, it pays to be prepared. Don't judge me!) the Princess Alexandra looked wonderful.
We walked back down the stairs and I made short work of disabling the locking spell for the second time. Once we stepped outside of the tower and back into the open air, I knew that something was seriously wrong.
Arrayed around us were soldiers clad in the colors of some lord or another that I did not recognize. And standing in the middle of them all was a tall and majestic woman wearing dark green robes and carrying a staff that glowed with power.
Stepping forward upon seeing us emerge, the tall woman looked at the Princess with hate filled eyes.
"So, Alexandra of the House of Rapunzel," she snarled, "you managed to escape my prison with the aid of some simpleton, I see. You realize that your freedom is short lived, don't you? You will be going right back in there, or I will kill you where you stand."
At this point, I felt it necessary to defend the aged Princess from this sorcerous bully and, of course, to answer to the charge of being a simpleton. I must admit that I don't recall the exact words of my conversation with the sorceress, though I think words like bitch, cunt, cock mongler, and supercilious sanctimonious whore left my mouth. I bet you didn't know that I was trained in diplomacy, did you?
Her eyes gleaming with suppressed fury, the sorceress raised her staff and directed a blast of fire in my direction. Now, due to the curious nature of my species, fire really does not have a great deal of effect on me, and I brushed her attack aside rather easily. I kept myself between her and the Princess Alexandra and demanded she leave the tower immediately. I think the ease with which I dispelled her attack caught her off guard because she looked at me with wide eyes and asked who I was.
When I answered that I was the Magister Mandragora, she smiled coldly at me and said, "Well, look at what you have released upon the world, Magister."
I looked to where she was pointing behind me, but did not immediately see anything amiss. That is, until I looked at the Princess's eyes. Her eyes were glowing a deep red color and I could feel waves of power emanating from her body. Before I could even ask her what was going on, a set of leathery wings exploded out form her back and her body began to transform, becoming emaciated, shriveled, and twisted. With a beat of powerful wings, the last of the Rapunzel line swept into the sky, a shriek of triumph echoing around us.
"You fool, Sorceress!" she cried out, "I told you you would never keep me imprisoned for the full 50 years! And now, I have free rein in the world for all eternity, and you will never have the strength to stop me!"
Gesturing with both hands, the leathery creature that used to be Princess Alexandra summoned a wave of green-black energy that hurled towards the sorceress. The female mage managed to raise a shield around herself, but the energy runoff from the flying demon, for demon it was, began to blacken and rot the grass and earth around her. After a moment, she dropped to her knees and I could see that the sorceress would not manage to hold off the attack for long. In an attempt to help, I raised my walking stick and sent a barrage of razor sharp ice shards at the former Princess. Most of the ice shattered against the demon's leathery hide, but several pieces pierced the creature and a few tore through her wings.
Screaming imprecations against me, the Princess/demon flew away and within moments was out of sight. I hurried over to the Sorceress to see if she required help, but by the time I got there, she had gotten to her feet already. After demanding an explanation, I learned that the House of Rapunzel was, in fact, known in the area for being dabblers in evil magic. Alexandra had been transformed into a incarnation of Pestilence by her Warlock father. To protect Avalon and the world, she had been captured and locked within that magically sealed tower. Once fifty years had passed, the tower would have drained the evil magic from her body and the transformation would have been reversed. Unfortunately, I, not knowing the circumstances, had managed to interrupt that process 1 month before it was complete. And so, in doing what I thought was a good deed, had actually released a demonic creature into the world who had the power of Pestilence at its command.
Though I apologized profusely, the Sorceress was furious with me and vowed to see justice brought down upon my head. Needless to say, she knew she did not have the strength or skill to disarm me herself and so huffed and puffed away with her guards when I refused to go along with her quietly.
I walked back to the College, though, somewhat nervously. The land around me there at Avalon and throughout the world was always so green and lush and vibrantly alive. What would happen now that a creature with the power of Pestilence and a hatred for humanity in its heart was loose? I could not fathom what kind of damage such a being would cause, but I was also fearful that I would soon be finding out.
An Excerpt from The Memoirs of Mandragora: From the Maudlin to the Macabre
