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Esther SP. Buhrman / Text 6 of 25 / Libera Me - A Fable*
"Libera Me - A Fable*" by Esther SP. Buhrman
SciFi/Fantasy text 6 out of 25 by Esther SP. Buhrman. ←Previous - Next→
| This is a fable about a person afraid of life and the young man that believed in him. |
   |
Once upon a time, in the shadows of a tangled forest, there stood a tower.
It was shrouded in secrecy, wrapped in cold stone. No living thing
graced its deep recesses or warmed its grey heart, until one dark night,
when I came to live there.
I had been alone for as long as I could remember or wanted to. Behind
the door I struggled to keep barred in my mind, slept memories that pained
me. Their dreams crept as ghosts, holding my soul in torment.
At memory’s shore they pushed me and my head bowed to its clear waters
which rippled and blurred with the tears I shed for the people who
were once with me. Now they were only echoes and faded images, their
smiles creased and worn with the countless times I unfolded and folded
their frail packages. To remember, hurt.
I grew used to my tower. Tendrils of its stone snaked around my heart
and its lecherous grasp bled the last vestiges of warmth residing there.
From the black depths of my hooded window I watched the beautiful and ethereal
pass by and I longed to shout down to them, but I was not like them, and
the shout died to a whisper borne on ragged wings. A plaintive cry
echoed by mouths of dead stone that awoke me from my nightmares.
And so, no one ever saw me, no one knew I existed, until one day, when
he came.
*
The young man would come and see me every day. Dusk would glimmer on the canopy of entwined branches and jade leaves, until the moon sailed in amongst the stars, and its blind white eye was inspired as he told me stories of conquests, adventure, dragons, kingdoms, princesses and crowns. I could smell a thousand summers in his golden hair, ruffled by the wind as he galloped on his silvery white horse to these magical lands. My heart ached in its unfathomable coldness. How had he come to live my dreams? I had dreams of adventure. I would conquer dragons and win princesses. The world would be mine to explore.
"Come on an adventure with me. I have so much to show you," the young man pleaded.
"I can’t…" I whispered and drew away, back to my tower. From the hooded window, I watched him walk away. He was a sight to see, the moonlight etching his lean and muscular form in silver. No doubt he had swum many rivers and lakes, even the sea. I am afraid of the water, I am afraid I will drown.
Many moons passed, and I waited. But, he never came back. In night’s shadow, I was alone again, left in the silver rain that was always falling. I looked up at the moon, crying in its returned blindness and my heart turned to stone.
*
I shivered now, in the sun, and it was there in the shadows that he found me again.
"What do you want?" I bit out, brooding in my darkness. He shone
so brightly, that I almost couldn’t see. Disregarding my hostility,
he smiled happily.
"I have returned victorious. Such an
adventure to tell you!"
"Did you conquer another dragon?" I smiled
bitterly.
"Well, no, not exactly, but it is a tale
you would like to hear."
And this, is the tale he told.
*
The princess never returned.
*
"Oh thank you! I will never forget what you have done for me," the bird chirped and it flew away, a silhouette against the sun.
While resting by a stream, I found a fish out of water. It spluttered and choked as I hungrily picked it up.
"Please don’t eat me! I will repay you some way in the future if you throw me back in the water!" the fish gurgled.
My stomach growled angrily in protest, but I threw the fish back into the stream where it plunged the depths with a "Thank you! You won’t regret this!" and a flick of its tail.
Winter soon blew its icy breath and spread its cloak of snow across the land. Stark and naked trees stood frozen, their branches imploring the sullen skies. At their feet, my horse died, white as the snow she took her last breath in. I was cold and hungry, but most of all, tired. I fell asleep and was awoken by something warm and wet on my face.
It was a huge, silver grey wolf licking my cheeks. I jumped up and backed away in fear, and was even more surprised when it spoke in a soft voice.
"Please, do not be afraid. I will not harm you. I only ask if I may eat your horse. I have not eaten in a long time, and the winter grows colder and the land more barren."
I hesitated, then saw death looming near in the gentle wolf’s eyes and sighing, I said, "Eat as much as you want."
The wolf ate and ate until my horse was nothing but bones shining in the pale winter light.
"Thank you my friend, because you have returned strength and life to this weak body, I will help you. What is it that you seek?" the wolf asked.
"A mountain, so far away you cannot fathom it, so high you cannot climb it…" and I told the wolf of my quest for what the king had lost.
"I have heard of this mountain, and know where it lies. Climb onto my back and I will take you there."
Time rushed by as fast as the wind and stars that wheeled in the sky. Ever onward, the wolf ran until, in the horizon where the sun sinks its golden head, we saw the mountain. It was so high, its peak buried in the clouds.
"How will I climb it?" I despaired.
"Ah, who says we have to climb it?" the wolf replied. It sniffed around the foot of the mountain which was covered by a tangled growth of brush and shrubs. I followed the wolf to a certain spot where it had stopped. "Here," it nodded.
I hacked away at the tenacious growth with my sword and revealed a door of stone. Its cold facade froze my hands as I strained and pushed against its stubborn refusal to move. I was stronger though, and it opened with a crunching groan. It was dark inside the mountain, but in the distance, I could see a small opening of light. With the wolf close by my side, I ran towards it.
Darkness receded and there it was, the lake. Its waters lapped the shore of a small island where a humble church stood. I smiled at the wolf. Our bodies broke the serene face of the lake and we swam to the island. The church windows gazed emptily at us, its door shut tight and locked.
"Up there," the wolf said sadly. I looked up, and beyond our reach, near the mountain’s peak, I saw the metallic flash of a key.
"How will I get it?" I despaired. I was answered by a merry chirping. A bird took the key in its beak and dropped it in my hands.
"I will never forget what you did for me," the bird sang and it flew away.
I hastily fit the key in the lock and opened the church door. In the middle of its cobbled floor sat a well. I hurried excitedly towards it, and looked down into its watery bowels. Gliding on its smooth surface was a golden swan, its graceful head nestled in feathers that shone like the sun. Something dangled around its sleek neck. I reached down and gently grasped hold of its warm body. Instantly, it flapped its wings in panic, slipping out of my eager hands. The thing that was tied around its neck, broke off and sank into the well.
"Oh no…" I whispered.
"Never fear, I said I would repay you in some way," a voice gurgled and there was a flick of a silver tail. Arcing out of the well and through a shower of water drops, something glittered and was caught in the wolf’s paws.
"At last," the wolf breathed in happiness and tears fell from its eyes. I watched in awe as its silvery grey fur fell away and crumpled at a pair of dainty feet like an abandoned cloak. And there, before me, with skin of cream, hair of gold and laughing eyes as blue as the skies, was the beautiful princess.
"Thank you my friend for helping me find what my father and I had lost…I had traveled far and wide in search of this mountain, but to no avail. When I felt I could go no further, I met a witch. She told me where the mountain was, but I had to pay a terrible price. She transformed me into a wolf. ‘Only when you have found what you seek will you regain your former self’ So, I found the mountain, but could not reach the key to open the church…"
*
"You are wrong, my friend," the young man said softly. "Do you not want to know what the king and princess had lost? Do you not want to know how the tale ends?"
I turned my head away. "I am sick of your tales," I spat. They only sadden me.
"Why do you have the adventure, while I, the cold stone?" How did you come to live my dreams?
"My friend, I heard your cry," the young man said. My cry?
"Libera me, you said, free me…" Libera me…How?
"Here is what the king and princess lost," the young man said sadly, and something glittered and arced in the air like a falling star. I opened my hand and caught it. My fingers closed around it tightly.
"Only you can end the tale…" the young man smiled, and he walked away into the darkness.
Wait…How did you come to live my dreams?
My friend, I am your dreams.
Light embraced me, and I wept.
*
Something was in my hand. It was a key. I walked to the tower’s stone door, and fit the key in the lock. Twisting it, the door groaned on its cob-webbed hinges and opened. I walked down the tower steps, echoes light, into the trickling liquid warmth of a sun I had only seen through a hooded window since I had come to live in the tower. I ran, through the tangle of forest, the wind singing in my ears. I was going to live my dreams.
Ah, my friend, my heart’s desire was not the princess. It was your freedom.
*
A son.
A brother.
A prince.
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Yifat shaik
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This was almost impossibly affecting. Kind of melodramatic and romantic, but in a good way. A very good way. I was pulled in. *Grins* Thank You Dave, You're good for my ego 
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'Libera Me - A Fable*':
• Created by:
Esther SP. Buhrman• Copyright: ©Esther SP. Buhrman. All rights reserved!
• Keywords: Dreams, Fable, Fairytale
• Categories: Magic and Sorcery, Spells, etc.
• Views: 397
More by 'Esther SP. Buhrman':
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| Solitary Confinement (Poem) | The Face Within (9-11) |
| Pure Song (poem) | Grotesque Psyche* |
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