Autumn Leap
Lilith Autumn Mathas read the grasshopper’s message for the millionth time. The magical insect was enchanted and sent to her location, and with it a mysterious note scrawled onto a rolled piece of parchment, tied to the grasshopper’s back.
It read:
Will he branch out at the splash of autumn’s fall?
No rescuer comes hence to offer his protection
Must ye jump, away from heights of the stone wall?
Your freedom draws nigh at the loss of your reflection
—by hand of the Enchanter
“Who is this enchanter? If he knows nobody’s coming to rescue me, why did he sent this note?”
Lilith asked these very questions aloud every day for weeks, since the hopper appeared. She was the daughter of Duke Christen of the House of Mathas. When she was kidnapped by the sorcerer nearly four years prior, she was sure her Duke father would rescue her right away. He had an army. And as the Duke of a fiefdom pledged to the king of Elsanstrance, the House of Mathas had the king’s ear. Lilith didn’t know why she was taken, but ever since she was left in the Stone Tower, she hadn’t seen another person.
Mute forest sprites made her food and kept the place clean and cozy. Also, there was a small bookshelf with seven volumes, titled Legends of Old. She’d read all seven four times through, and she spent the rest of her time pacing around her room, and up and down the tower stairs. At the bottom of the stairs was a small, cool dining room where the sprites fed Lilith. There was also a magically sealed door to the outside. Her large bedroom was in a middle floor of the tower. The top of the stairs led to a circular stone balcony, covering the tower’s roof.
Most days, she stayed up there, taking in the cool breeze, staring at every facet of the nature surrounding her, and longing to escape. She would peer over the edge and look for any way to break free without dying. She hoped the Enchanter’s message was a sign of hope, but it only brought greater disappointment as the days inched by.
Looking over the edge, she could never believe how tall the tower was. From the outside, it looked like it had to be at least twenty-two meters high, yet there were only three stories inside. The bottom dining room looked like the ground floor—complete with a magically sealed door. If she leaned over the tower’s edge far enough, she could just make out what appeared to be the top of the door frame. Of course, even if she opened that door, the tower would be flooded. Even though the Stone Tower was in the middle of a forest, the entire ground was covered in water of unknown depth. The water stayed still, and even from the tower’s top, Lilith could see her reflection peeking over. Her reflection, and the tree’s reflection.
On the tower’s south side, the largest tree she’d ever seen loomed even taller than the tower. It’s green leaves never turned with the seasons, but the branches’ shade provided such a canopy that the sun only shown in dots, and a bird flying too high would never have seen the tower at all. Lilith loved staring at the tree, but she also resented it. She knew it had to be magical, and its magic must’ve been what’s kept her separated from her family. Trapped.
She envied the princesses she read in Legends of Old. They all had rescuers. One of them was trapped in a tower, but she had long hair to save her. Lilith feared how long it’d take to grow hair like that…
Lilith stared once more at the Enchanter’s riddle. Was he providing her a way out? He certainly wasn’t rescuing her. This day, she didn’t feel like doing anything. She stayed in bed most of the day and cried, hopeless and helpless. After re-reading that last line, she looked at her reflection in the broken mirror in her room. Though the mirror was cracked, she could clearly see that she’d grown through her captivity. So much time wasted…
A thought gripped her. You don’t want to see this reflection. Look at your other reflection.
Lilith forced herself up the stairs to the tower’s top as the sun shone, beginning its descent out of sight. She peered over the edge again, but immediately something looked different. Off. The reflection of the leaves looked orange. At first Lilith thought it was the color of the evening sun, but no: These leaves had lost their color.
And after awhile of staring perplexedly, she a realization startled her: Her reflection was gone. Staring intently, the tower was surrounded by leaves, but they didn’t have the same shimmer that the water usually emitted. She turned and looked at the tree, and saw its branches bare. Jagged, brown arms swayed in the breeze, leaves gone.
No, not gone. Below… Must ye jump, away from heights of the stone wall? Your freedom draws nigh at the loss of your reflection.
“My reflection is gone. Maybe I need to leap.”
Her nerves tried talking her out of it, but she stood to her feet and took a deep breath. Lilith walked to the center of the tower, then ran to the edge and jumped.
Falling through the air, Lilith screamed with delight, not fear. “Freedom!”
A cushion of leaves enveloped her, but cold water rushed between and shocked her skin. But the leaves, as if the pulled on her, suspended her in place, and she didn’t collide with the ground like she should have. Water around her churned, and with gravity tried pulled her under, but the dead leaves like a net gripped her upwards.
She peered though the chaos and saw two arms reaching for her. No, not arms. Long branches from the magical tree. The smaller branches like fingers picked her up from the water and cradled her against the giant tree trunk.
Lilith immediately slept through the night, and when she woke up she thought it had been a dream. But opening her eyes, for the first time she could see it from the outside—the tower that had held her.
Lilith cried with joy, comfortable in the branches. After awhile, she wiped her eyes and saw a grasshopper sitting in front of her. It had a note on its back. It told her how to get home.
And it too was signed by the Enchanter.
