Free A.L. Jambor by The Tower in the Mist

plan.”
    “So that’s it? We just let them go?”
    “I promise you I’ll go there as soon as it opens.”
    “But she could be anywhere by then.”
    “He’ll come back. He won’t give up his crown.”
    “But he’ll leave her there. He’ll find someone…”
    We looked at each other and we both said:
    “His father.”
    January 1, 924
    We had a very sad Christmas. We don’t speak much. Geezer tries to talk, but I still can’t talk to him.
    I miss Ceil so much. I feel like a part of my body was ripped out of me. There is a war on Earth. I know the flu is coming. Will Mace remember that? I know he read Geezer’s book, but it was a long time ago.
    The waiting is awful. I keep looking at the book and reading the timelines of Pryll and Sunge. Earth will have a bad time. Oh, Ceil.
    March 20
    I’m going to wait by the portal. It should open today.
    March 21
    My name is Geezer. I live in a tower in Esher, England, on the planet Tresteria. This journal belongs to Margaret Hall. She began it several years ago when she came to Tresteria from the planet Pryll.
    Margaret has a daughter named Ceil. She is a beautiful dark-haired girl with large brown eyes. Ceil is the daughter of King Mace. I had put a veil over the tower to keep King Mace from finding Ceil. We both feared that if he found Ceil, he would take her. We were right. Three months ago, he stole Ceil and took her to Earth.
    Margaret and I went to Earth to look for Ceil. We found her living with King Mace at his father’s estate. He had Ceil. He knew what day it was and he was waiting for us when we emerged from the portal. He told us to leave. He told us Ceil didn’t want to go back to Tresteria.
    Margaret wouldn’t listen. She ran toward the manor. Mace and I followed her. She saw the manor and stopped.
    “Where is she?” she asked. “Please let me see her.”
    Mace took her hand and led her into the house. I stayed outside.
    They were gone for a long time. The moon had passed over me and was on its way down when Mace emerged from the manor.
    “You can go,” he said.
    “I’m not leaving without them,” I said.
    He looked at me for a long time. It began to rain.
    “You can’t win, Geezer. She loves my child. She will give in and live with me.”
    “But you don’t love her.”
    “I love her well enough. And I do love my daughter.”
    I could see the rain streaming down his forehead.
    “What about your crown?”
    Dawn and the rain made it hard to see his face clearly.
    “My father has made me sole heir of his estate,” he said. “He has brought me onto the board of his bank.”
    “So, you’ll still be a king.”
    He laughed. “Of a different kind, yes.”
    “And you would abandon England.”
    “Tresteria,” he said. He wiped the rain from his eyes. “When I think of it now, it feels like a fantasy in which I was playing war games.”
    “WAR GAMES!” I cried. “They were not games to the families of the men you beheaded. Not to Neela.”
    He didn’t speak for a minute.
    “She’s a princess. She’ll find another man who wants to be king.”
    “Is that all this was to you?” His arrogance shocked me. How could he have changed so much in the space of three months?
    “Geezer, this is my home . Until I came back, I didn’t realize how much I missed being here.”
    I kept shaking my head.
    “I can’t believe your conceit. I believed in you. The people believed in you. I loved you like my own son. You spoiled, proud fool.”
    “But I’m a rich, spoiled, proud fool.”
    I saw Margaret framed in the doorway. She stepped out and walked toward us.
    “She’s asleep,” she said. “She’s good, Geezer.”
    “He says you’re staying here.”
    She put her hand on my arm.
    “I’m staying with her for now,” she said.
    “Why? Why stay with him? Why are you doing this?”
    “Because she is well cared for,” Margaret said.
    “And I didn’t take care of her?”
    “I was able to snatch her right from under your nose,” Mace