The Witch's Tower by Tamara Grantham (top novels .txt) 📕

at the single vine growing from it.

As I stood trapped inside the cell, I racked my brain, trying to think of a way out. The image of the corpse in the dungeon surfaced in my memory, and I wasn’t sure our fate would be any different from his.

But I couldn’t think that way. There had to be a way out. I just needed to concentrate and come up with something. This was my mother’s magic after all, if anyone could beat it, then surely, I could, except I knew my mother’s powers had far surpassed mine. I possessed no natural magic. If I practiced and trained the rest of my life, I would never become as skilled as she had been. Magic was a part of her soul, a piece of herself. What chance did I have of defeating it?

Raj paced the cell behind me, his face pensive, as if he were deep in thought. Drekken sat on the floor, his back to the wall. His fingers moved deftly over his lute’s strings. He didn’t play, keeping his fingers just above the strings, yet his faraway expression told me he must’ve heard the music, even if no one else could.

An idea struck me, so I walked to him and knelt at his side.

“Drekken,” I said, “what if you were to use some other hair besides unicorn hair?”

He shook his head. “No. For the magic to work, it has to be unicorn hair.”

“But what if I could create something so similar, you couldn’t tell the difference?”

His eyes narrowed. “You could do that?”

“I think so. I can’t promise I’ll be successful, but I think it’s worth trying.”

He straightened. “Very well. Try it. We’ve got nothing to lose.”

I picked up my pack. Searching through its contents, I found a vial of yarrow oil, some twine, and a satchel of dried lemon balm leaves. I used my knife to cut the twine and laid it on the floor, straightening it out until it formed a line.

Grasping the vial, I pulled out the stopper. The faint, floral scent tickled my nose.

“What’s she doing?” Drekken asked Raj.

“What she’s best at,” Raj answered.

I looked up at Raj. He stood over me, a faint smile tugging at his lips, and I couldn’t help but smile back. As our gazes connected, my heart skipped a beat.

Blast it all.

Raj was nothing but a distraction—an attractive, swoon-worthy distraction.

Looking away, I concentrated on the enchantment. The glass vial warmed in my hands as I held it. I placed my finger atop its opening, tipped it over until a drop of liquid moistened my finger, then I ran the oil along the twine, whispering a spell.

“Into the light, change your form…”

Chanting over and over, I watched as the twine began to glow. It was almost imperceptible, and took longer than it should have, yet as I continued with the spell, the twine glowed brighter.

I placed the vial aside and grabbed the satchel of lemon balm leaves. Pulling open the drawstrings, I reached inside and grasped a single leaf. I held the brittle leaf carefully to keep it from breaking. Gently, I brushed it over the twine.

“Out of the earth you come, from twine to a unicorn’s hair, make us see what is not there…”

Magic pulsed from the leaf and into the twine. It was a simple spell. I’d seen my mother use it so many times, I’d memorized it and didn’t need her journal. Still, the magic came strongly as I continued to chant, running the leaf from one end of the twine to the other.

White light blinded me as the twine transformed completely. I sat back, clutching the leaf as the intense heat of the magic radiated from the twine. As the light dissipated, I crawled toward the twine, no longer made of wool, but appearing to sparkle with the silvery glow of unicorn’s hair.

Drekken stood over me. “Is it really unicorn hair?”

I gingerly picked up the strand. “Not exactly. But it’s close. Let’s hope the vines can’t tell the difference.”

He took the hair from me, running it through his fingers, looking suspiciously at the silver strand.

“Only one way to know for sure,” he said, then turned to his lute. He ran the strand through the missing space, tightening and wrapping the long end until it held firm.

“Go ahead,” Raj said. “Give it a try.”

He looked up at us, hesitating as he held his fingers over the strings. “I don’t think I should.”

“What? Why not?” I asked.

“My music is bold, to put it lightly. I doubt you’ve heard anything like it. Plus, it has a strange effect on people. I’m not sure you’re ready for it.”

“We’ve heard music before,” I said.

He shook his head. “Not like this.”

I placed my hands on my hips. It had been a long day. I’d been nearly killed by vines, and before that, attacked by wolves, traversed the Spirit Woods, slept on the ground, forced to leave my home, and fought an attraction to an Outlander who was far too good looking to trust as my traveling companion. Plus, I missed my stupid cat.

I had no patience left, especially not for an elf with an apparent case of stage fright.

“I’ve created that strand so you can play your lute and free us from this place,” I said. “You will play it, and you’ll do it now, or I swear as the goddess is my witness, I will place the vilest curse imaginable on you. Now you’d better do it!”

Raj and Drekken looked at me with awestruck expressions.

“Please,” I added.

“Fine,” Drekken snapped, “but you can’t claim I didn’t warn you.”

He strummed a chord on his lute, producing the most peculiar sound. It had a metallic, electric clang, though I knew no better way to describe it.

As he played one chord after another, my arms prickled with gooseflesh. The most haunting, strange melody filled the chamber. I either had the urge to clamp my hands over my ears or cry tears of joy.

He plucked a few more chords, then launched into a song with a dizzying cadence, the metallic sound making me feel strangely giddy.

“Is this music?” I called.

“No, it’s not!” Raj answered. “But he did warn us.”

“I think I like it.”

“You do?”

“It takes a bit of getting used to, but yes.”

The wolf stood beside me, whining, and I patted his head. Drekken played a final chord, then stood still.

“That was… different,” I said.

“Unicorn hair,” he said. “That makes the difference.”

“Do you think it will work to make the vines stop attacking us?”

“There’s only one way to find out,” Drekken answered.

“Then we have to try,” Raj said.

I gathered my things and slung my pack over my shoulder. Facing the barred door, I breathed deeply, praying Drekken’s lute worked to keep the vines from killing us. Clutching my dagger, I waited as Raj and the elf gathered their bags, then we walked to the door.

Raj stood with a straight back, holding his sword, his cloak cascading down his back.

“Open the door and I’ll play,” Drekken said to me. I nodded, then faced the barred gate. Grasping an iron bar, I pushed the door open. Metal hinges squealed. The vines reacted, writhing over the ceiling, sending small pebbles smashing to the ground.

Drekken plucked the strings gingerly, playing a light tune. As the elf’s magic filled the room, its power made my skin tingle. The pulsing light of the radish stilled, and became a slow, rhythmic cadence rather than a harsh, pounding beat.

We stepped out of the cell. The vines remained on the ceiling. I paced toward the exit, though vines still blocked the path.

“Not that way,” Drekken said. “It’ll take us forever to leave through the main castle. I found a shortcut through the old irrigation duct. Follow me.”

I traded glances with Raj, but neither of us argued as we walked in the opposite direction. The vines moved overhead, but none of them attacked. I held my knife in a firm grip, my hands clammy, as I studied the long dagger-like thorns protruding from the woody bark.

A doorway sat beneath a tangle of vines. We had to duck to walk underneath. My cloak snagged on a thorn. It wriggled, but with Drekken’s music filling the chamber, it could do nothing but remain on the wall, so I pulled my cloak away.

“Wait,” Drekken whispered. The music stopped. I rounded to find him reaching for a silver flask on the ground. The vines reacted, writhing, then diving at us.

“Drekken, play,” Raj shouted.

“Not without my flask!”

He snatched it up. The vines tore off a chunk of the ceiling. Stones sailed at us, pelting our heads and shoulders. The plants raged with fury as they surrounded us. Raj hacked at them, his weapon slicing through the air.

Drekken started playing once again, giving us barely enough time to race through the exit before they trapped us. We sprinted through a dark tunnel, though in places, sunlight shone through cracks in the ceiling. The walls crumbled, and roots clung to the loose stones.

Our path sloped upward and ended at a wooden ladder that led to an opening overhead. I ascended first and climbed into the sunlight. As I stood on a