Thorns of a Rose #1 (Howl's Moving Castle fanfiction)

Chapter 16: Sun and Moon

Sophie struggled to escape the guards who led her up a long, rounded stairwell. She pulled on the chains around her wrists and tried running back down the stairs, but one guard bucked the chains toward himself and the other pushed her forward from behind. She had no way to liberation; she was a prisoner once again.

The only thing worse than this was Suliman's heinous plan for Howl.

Sophie wasn't exactly sure what Suliman meant by Howl joining his friends, but knowing the sorceress, it must have been a treacherous place. She wondered if his friend, Kenta, was somehow trapped in this scheme of hers as well. Suliman wasn't one for treating her prisoners with much respect, if any, even if they were innocent.

At the final twist of the extensive stairwell, they approached a tall, wooden door. The guard holding her chains pushed with great force against the black, metal handle and thrust her into the room.

Sophie toppled onto the ground, her hands resting against the wooden ground. She looked up to the guards, one blocking the door and the other forcefully grabbing her wrists to release the chains. He wrapped them around his belt and turned to his fellow guard, nodding.

Sophie shuddered away from them. "What are you going to do with me?"

They both walked out of the room, neither paying mind to Sophie's question. They shut the door aggressively, so she rushed forward and pulled the handle. She could hear the keys fiddling inside as they locked her inside. The door wouldn't budge open anymore.

Sophie turned to her surroundings. The room was circular, and Suliman left her with a bed, an armoire, and a writing desk. She obviously prepared for Sophie to stay here for some time, waiting for her to agree to this absurd marriage. How Justin had become so much like her was an enigma. She always thought of him as her friend, her supporter, and hopefully the future King of Ingary.

Justin's brother had no thought of stepping down, and it seemed as though Justin had no thought of overthrowing his rule. She honestly didn't know who would be worse as King now, since both brothers were not impressing her in the slightest anymore. She would rather see a new line of royalty rule over Ingary - it couldn't be worse than the current line.

Between the bed and the desk, a large window overlooked the city. Sophie ran to the window, searching for her location in the Palace. As she went to unlock the window, opening it wide, her fingers were zapped by nothing. She cautiously moved to touch it again, feeling the zap once more - an invisible barrier. Nothing was leaving this room.

She was in the highest tower observing the ant-like people below. Far out into the depths of the Wastes, she could see the heights of scattered mountains disappearing behind the multitude of clouds passing by. Howl and Calcifer kept their castle walking around, and though Sophie felt a whole world away, she still saw the steam pumping out of the pipes and the lifelike castle traveling with a blissful ignorance.

Sophie tightened her fists. She replayed the events of the last few days and weeks in her mind, wondering how things got too far. If only she had cut Justin off from her life after his second – even his first – proposal, how she hoped things would have turned out another way. If only she had told Howl about Justin's attempts in the first place, they could have left Ingary and ignored his advances.

There were so many choices Sophie could have made to prevent the events that occurred, and yet she did nothing to stop them.

She thought things would work out somehow. Life or destiny would work its magic and return things to normal. But that didn't happen; that never happened in reality. Destiny had a set path, and nothing Sophie could have or should have done would have stopped any of this from happening. It was a hard reality to accept.