The Room in the Tower

Jackfish Crow wasted not a day, nor an hour, nor a minute, but straightaway set off to find the secret places where all the castle doors led. He waited and watched these places in the deep, dark woods, and his patience was rewarded one morning when he saw the woman known to others as the Sphinx, but recognized by the Jackfish as his sister. She came out from the woods where no one had been, and she walked with a lioness at her side. He followed them, moving as silently as the owl, as swiftly as the jackrabbit, and with all the cunning of the fox, so that neither woman nor lioness saw him. As he watched, his sister the Sphinx spoke in a language he had never heard, and with each word her body became more like a lion’s, ’til finally two lionesses walked in the woods.

The two lionesses roamed the woods together for hours, and all the while the Jackfish kept them in sight, never making himself known. At last his sister stopped to drink, and the other lioness was alone for a moment. The Jackfish slipped up beside the lioness and spoke softly, so his sister would not hear. “Forgive me, lioness, for coming upon you suddenly, but the woman who walks with you as a lion is my sister. I know she was taken by the Sorceress when we were yet infants, but I do not know what end you serve. I can only hope I have not betrayed myself in seeking your council.”

The lioness, as much as a lioness is able, looked amazed to see Jackfish Crow, and for a moment she could say nothing. But then she spoke in the language of the lions and she said, “Oh, my son, I have not seen you in so long. I wish I could do more to bring you to your sister, but my duty now is to serve the Sorceress. You see what she has made of me. I promise I will never harm you, but that is all I am able to do.”

The Jackfish could already hear his sister’s approach, so he could ask no more questions. He put his arms around his mother, the lioness, and then he was gone back into the forest. When the Sphinx returned to her mother’s side, it was as if no one was there at all. She asked, “Mother, why are you so sad? I thought you loved our days together.” Her mother smiled and said, “I do, my daughter. I was visited by a sad memory while you were away. Let us return you to the castle for the day; it grows late already.”

The Sphinx and the lioness returned the way they had come, and the Jackfish watched them go from the shadows. He did not sleep that night, but lay awake contemplating what his mother had told him. The next morning, he found a clearing in the woods where he could see the castle on the mountainside. He sat on a fallen tree in the clearing without moving, doing nothing but watching the castle walls with a hawk’s eyes. Some time later, he was rewarded as he saw two great eagles take flight from one of the castle windows. He immediately recognized one of the eagles as his sister, by the way she moved, and by the sound of her cries. He did not know who the other eagle might be, so he rushed through the woods after them, moving as swiftly as the dove in flight and as tirelessly as the wolf hunting its prey.

The two birds flew together for many hours, but at last the Jackfish’s patience was rewarded, as the eagle which was not his sister seemed to tire, and it flew down towards the forest. The Jackfish stood in the shadows of the tree where the eagle landed, and marveled at its size. He had never seen any eagle so large as this, for it was bigger than most men. Nevertheless, he found his courage and spoke softly in the language of eagles, so that even his sister’s eagle ears would not hear. “Forgive me, eagle, for hiding from you here, but the woman who flies with you as an eagle is my sister. I know she was taken by the Sorceress when we were very young, but I do not know how she comes to fly with you. I can only hope I have not betrayed myself in seeking your council.”

The eagle stared at the Jackfish for what seemed like a very long time, but spoke at last. “Ah, my son, so you have found your sister at last. If I could carry you to her, I would, but I bound to serve the Sorceress. I will never harm you, but be warned that her bargains are hard. You see what debt I have paid her.”

The Jackfish could see his sister circling closer, thus he could ask no more questions. He bowed to his father, the eagle, and then was gone back into the forest. When the Sphinx landed at her father’s side, it was as if no one was there at all. She asked, “Father, why are you so somber? I was sure you treasured our flights together.” Her father nodded his head and said, “I do, my daughter. I was visited by an old memory while you were away. Let us return you to the castle for the day; it grows late already.”

The Sphinx and the eagle flew back to the castle, and Jackfish Crow watched them soar almost too high for him to see. He sat, with his arms on his knees, watching them fly through one of the castle windows, and he watched as the sun fell behind the mountains. He did not sleep, and so he saw the lady night as she unfurled her black cloak across the sky and opened her eye to look down upon the rocks and the trees. When the world was silver all around, the Jackfish stood and walked to the end of the forest at the base of the mountain. He found a cave at the foot of mountain, as he knew he would, for it was one of the secrets of the doors told to him by the hawk.

He entered into the cave and followed the secret path, just as the hawk had told him. The moonlight was soon swallowed up, but his feet already knew how to follow the path, and he saw the way even in darkness as well as any hawk. He did not know how long he walked in the darkness, for when the sun and the moon and all other forms of light have gone, there is nothing to measure time but distance, but when he felt the cool metal of a doorknob under his hand he did not hesitate to open it.

The stone hall was softly lit, and he saw the stars in one high window. There were hangings on the wall with years of dust on them, portraying scenes like the stories from the distant ends of the world the birds had told him. Yet the hangings were much older than any of the birds, and the stories they told were not quite the same as he remembered. Other hangings were just as old, but told stories which were not so very old at all. Jackfish Crow saw nothing else besides the tapestries in the hallway, nor had he any idea where his sister might be found. Having no direction, he asked the door. He did not know the language of doors, but he knew their secrets. Therefore, he spoke in the language of the ravens, which is the most widely spoken language in the world, and said, “My eternal pardons for this intrusion, but I seek the lady of this castle, the lioness and the eagle, the one who is called the Sphinx. Might I ask through what door she passed most recently?”

“A fine evening to you, young man,” said the door, who was rarely addressed and thus pleased by the company. “I have not seen her pass this way, but hold yourself a moment and let me inquire of my cousins. Perhaps they know where she is.” The Jackfish said, “Of course,” and gave the door a proper bow from the hips. Some minutes went by, during which the Jackfish listened to the faint creaking and groaning of the walls settling. At last the door spoke once more, saying, “She has eaten and gone to her room in the high tower, which she likes because it is so close to the moon. She may be there until morning, or perhaps only a moment longer.”

“You have my thanks,” the Jackfish said to the door, and gave it another bow, before setting off into the castle to find the highest point. He went up one winding stairway after another, following the scent of the moon just as he learned from the owls, until his long legs carried him into a hall where the no small number of the Sorceress’ retainers seemed to be waiting.

One, who bore the head of a bull and the body of a man, saw the Jackfish as he entered and barred his path. “Who are you? None but the servants of the Sorceress are permitted here; all others are forbidden to come here!”

“Well then,” said the Jackfish, “I must not be forbidden.”

The other servants of the castle turned at the bellowing from the bull’s head to see the strange man with his pale eyes and disarming smile, some of them showing curiosity, others displaying their teeth. “How, then?” asked the bull, fixing the Jackfish with coal black eyes. “I have never seen you here before, so you cannot be one of our lady’s servants.”

“Oh, no,” said the Jackfish. “If I am here, I must not be forbidden, or else I would not be here. So I must belong here, or else I would never have come here.”

The bull looked to the other servants, but neither did he find any answers upon their features, thus he had nothing else to do but to step to the side and allow the Jackfish to continue on his way. He crossed to the end of the hall, and stopped at door to the highest tower, which was locked, but the door recognized the Jackfish from his cousin’s description. Knowing all these things, the door opened when he turned the handle. He ascended the stairs, and the door was locked once more when he closed it behind himself.

There were many other rooms in the tower. He saw a room of precious jewels, and a room of gold, and a room of silver, but he had no desire for any of these things. He did not spare a second glance for the rooms, but went up and up the winding stairwell until there was a single door remaining. The door, he saw, was unlatched. It swung into the room at the touch of his fingers, and the Jackfish followed after its invitation.

He entered a room bathed in moonlight. Windows opened all four walls of the tower to the night sky, interrupted only by the doorway. Even the roof stood open to the sky, so that moonlight pooled in the center of the room, where the Sphinx lay on a bench as if she were bathing. She said, “The doors and the walls told me of your approach. I have your face in the mirror already, yet I still do not know your name or who you are.”

Jackfish Crow walked in a circle around the Sphinx and said, “Well, my father is Crow and I am called the Jackfish. I have seen the far ends of the world and heard all the stories of men. I have come back to the forest and my home to find my sister, as I knew I must.” His circling came to an end as he stood before the Sphinx and her bench. “And do you recognize me now?”

The Sphinx laughed and stood up from her bench. She circled the Jackfish, as he had circled her, smiling her enigmatic smile. Her eyes matched his, glittering. “It is true my father is a bird, but he is not so dark as Crow. And were you hatched from an egg? Surely not.”

The Jackfish let the moonlight play in his hand, and the Sphinx saw his fingers were long and fine, like as her own. “Ah, well, you speak of those who raised you. We are bred from the same stock, but my father was Crow. I learned the stories of all the birds, and all the stories from the ends of the earth, but there is a yet another story beyond all of these. Yours is the last story I have to learn. I had seen you every day in the mirror before ever I had seen your face.”

The Sphinx said, “You are clever and charming enough. I knew you for my own blood from the start by your face and your carriage, but I confess I was not so sure of your thoughts. Now I know we are sister and brother, and it lightens my heart that I am not the only one of my kind. For tonight, let us watch the moon and the stars, and tomorrow we may speak to the Sorceress.”

Thus Jackfish Crow and the Sphinx watched the moon and the stars, and neither of them slept that night, as they did not sleep on any night. The stars moved across the sky and, seeing them, the Jackfish and the Sphinx followed the dance of the lady night. It had taken the Jackfish some few hours to find his way from the forest into the highest tower of the castle, so it was not many more hours before the lady Night closed her eye and wrapped her cloak about herself, and let rosy dawn reach across the sky.