[Terquem]

Chapter 1 Part 3

Lisa was aware of a living thing near her. It was not the Tower she sensed, but something more familiar.

She felt it in her body before it slid over her hand resting on the banister. It was a small snake, and she knew it meant her no harm. She turned her head and knowing the importance of startling it as little as possible, she kept her hand still. Small snakes, until they are known, should always be handled with care, Duncan had taught her.

It was a brown and green garden snake, a small variety, harmless, not venomous in the slightest, making its way over her hand without interest in her.

She could tell it was not well. "Oh, you poor thing," Lisa whispered. She lifted the snake on the back of her hand and let it regain itself as she rolled her hand over and with her other hand gently traced a line down its body.

"You have not eaten," she said.

"This is Suressa," the Tower said. "She came in through the door with a pair of grindylow a few weeks ago and has not been able to find her way out again."

“You understand the animals of the moorlands?” Lisa asked.

“Yes, but don’t ask me how. I have always been able to understand them, but I don’t think they understand me. If they do, they do not listen to my warnings. I often think they come in, when they can, just to frustrate me.”

“It’s not you,” Lisa said. “The ability to understand the language of animals is not a two-way road. There are very few animals that perceive us in the way we perceive them. They are aware of us but talking to them is as effective as talking to a plant. They hear us, but our words have no meaning to them. My teacher used to claim that he could talk to dogs, and they understood him, but I think that was wishful thinking on his part. He loved dogs, after all.”

“He sounds like someone I would like very much. I also love dogs. Once there was a dog that lived under the front stairs for a few years. I would talk to her, but she did not talk back, naturally. She would bark when strangers approached and that was often enough to keep people away.”

Lisa continued to gently stroke the snake on her hand. She was unaware that a stranger had entered the tower.

“My awareness of things does not extend far beyond my walls,” the Tower said, “and having the dog around would prevent things like the man standing in the doorway who is now looking up in your direction.”

“Hello,” the man said. “Who is there? I can hear your voices. I’m sorry to disturb you, but it was beginning to look like rain, and I am lost. I thought this was an abandoned place. I saw no lights and the door was open and then I heard voices. If I am trespassing, I’ll go. I am not a dangerous person.”

She thought it was odd that the man would say something about himself like that. Lisa had no reason to be afraid of the man, but something wasn’t right. She wondered how he was able to get so close to her without her sensing him. One of the first lessons Duncan had drilled into her was how to be aware of the almost imperceptible aura that living things had all around her. Even something as small as a spider, or even a moth, had strength and that strength can be sensed if you are trained to feel it. She felt nothing from this strange man.

The great wooden door on the first floor of the Tower stood wide open.

Outside, the dark clouds had turned the day to shadows and grays almost as dark as the inside of the Tower itself. The smell of rain came in.

Somewhere far off to the east, lightning flashed through the clouds. It was too far off for the sound of the thunder to reach the Tower. The light illuminated the figure in the doorway for a moment.

He was pale. Not unusually pale but fairer than the people of the moor. His hair was thick and short, and light colored like wheat in a field in the sunshine. He had the face of a boy, but he was built strong with broad shoulders.

“Are you alright?” Lisa asked.

“What do you mean?” he answered, and then he said, “May I come in? Is there a fireplace? I could build a fire. I know how.”

“Close the door and come in,” the Tower said, “or you may let in things that are more dangerous than you.”

“Yes, sir,” the man in doorway said and closed the door behind him. “Is there a reason you prefer the dark?”

“I do not see with eyes,” the Tower said. “I am the Tower. I cannot stop you from being here.”

“The tower?” the man said puzzled.

Lisa had left her pack near the door when she entered the Tower. “There is a pack by the door on the ground to your left. You can find a torch there. My name is Lisa, and you have met the Tower. Who are you?”

“My name is Alan, Alan Robert’s Son. You live in this magic tower?”

“No, but it belongs to someone I know. I was just checking on it. It is a coincidence that we are both here on the same day. You said you were lost,” Lisa said, “are you a stranger to the moorlands?”

She was making her way slowly down the stairs. She reached the bottom just as the man was standing up from the ground where he had just lit a torch from her pack.

They were just a few feet apart now, and for the first time Alan saw Lisa in the light.