"Tell me where the maiden who defies the king's orders is now."

     The goblin stands where he blocks the guard's view of me. He refuses to move.

      "I have no idea there are no maidens here."

         Marinette wonders why he lies. She feels herself shake with fear. Fear of being found out and fear of what shall become of her roommate if she is not.

     The guard speaks harshly to the goblin and goes on his way.

      The door slams behind him.

        Marinette comes out of her  hiding place.

       "Why did you help me?"

      "I did no such thing, miss."

      "Why did you hide me and then lie about my whereabouts?" I shouted.

    "Shh, miss."

  I hear him say.

  "Why?"

"I would miss you if they took you away. With you here I at least have someone to talk too, and besides I hear if a woman double-crosses the king he sends her to the highest tower in the land."

  "A tower, is that all?"

 "It is nothing to joke about Miss. The tower is the highest one and it has no doors, only one sole window. It would be hard to escape without a broken limb or  neck."

    "I see. It sounds rather a bore."

   Her roommate scowls. She can see he is not amused.

      She can tell he was worried for her

  She has no idea why, but in some strange way, she feesl that she owes him.

   She smiles.

  She kisses his cheek.

  He blushes.  Great, he hopes she does not know he has started to develop feelings for her. It is the last thing he needs to be teased about it.

  Marinette does no such thing. She only smiles.

  She hears someone come and goes back to her hiding spot. The goblin tries to shield her as before, but this time something is wrong.

   The guard shoves the goblin to the side, then kicks him.

   He laughs as the creature whimpers.

 The guard grabs the girl by the arm.

   She defends herself by slapping him.

    "Leave me alone."

    The giant grabs her up. She protests by kicking him.

      He carries her to the tower. He pushes in a side panel and it opens up. He sets her inside then presses it again and it closes in behind her.

  Marinette finds herself on some strange stair case. She climbs it to see where it leads.

   She finds herself in the tower. Oh, no. It is the very place he worried me about and it is worse than he described.

     She wonders what she will do now that she stuck up to her.  She has no water, no food, no way to get to those things, and the only space up her beyond the small bedroom is a tiny area with a hole in the ground, a small pitcher full of water, and an equally smaller basin. It too has fresh inside it.

      She sobs. It is the very time she has had a good cry in weeks.

      She had a friend in the goblin at least. Here there is no one for miles.

    Ugh, what is she to do now?  How will she survive way up here in this dreadful, dark, damp, tower with only the window to give light?

   She sighs. She always seems to have a way to get herself into trouble.

   She sees a smaller spinning wheel in the room. She grabs up an old garment and spins it around. She sees blue lace come out.  Hmm, it seems this style of a spinning wheel only makes blue lace while the one back at the dungeon or where was only made of shiny, silver thread.

    She has some thread with her. A small batch of it.  She found a few other old things. She uses thread, a small needle, and some lace to make it look brand new.

   She admires the little range of view from the window. She does wish for some company now more than ever. She rather misses the goblin's presence. 

 The story continues in Chapter 6  The Secret Room

Until then,

bye-bye, little owlets!

Summer out!