The Tsuki Saga
The Castle
After about an hour of quick paced walking and conversation, they reached the tall oaken front door of the castle. The lady knocked on the door; unusual, thought the tall one, but said nothing. They may have expected a haunched up man, of less than five feet when the servant arrived, and they could not have been more wrong. He was at least seven feet tall and extremely thin. He had red hair and eyes and skin that was almost white. "Mistwess!" he gasped in a surprised voice, "I thought..." "I know," she interrupted, "Please show these gentlemen to the main hall and get them some wine, I shall be joining them shortly." He bowed deeply, first to his mistress and then to the gentlemen. She turned to the tall one and said, "If you would follow Stanley here, he will give you something to drink while I go check on some things. I shall join you in a little while." She disappeared with remarkable speed into the darkness. The travellers followed Stanley into the dining hall. On the way there he spoke, half to them, half to himself. "We have many wooms although few guests, we have large halls, although few large pa-ties, since the maste' died that is. Mistwess always keeps plenty of good food and good wine in the place though. You will find this a nice place to stay." He went on then about the rooms being comfortable. However the five were more interested in looking at the many decorations in the corridor they were in. there were many pictures, of many things, wolves, hounds, horses and men, a few birds and such like, and the odd landscape. As with so many paintings, the eyes seemed to follow you everywhere. Also every six or seven feet was a door, some small, some large, some barely noticeable. Then they entered the dining hall, and such a hall it was. It was a long room, perhaps two hundred yards, and yet only about fifteen feet wide. It must have run the full length of one side of the castle. There were four tables which ran along the room, each the same dimensions. They each had one chair at the head and foot of the table and fifteen or so down each side. These chairs and tables were hugely ornate, with tiny wolves carved on some, and women, horses, and dragons among the other decorations. On the fourth table there were six bronze goblets. Stanley again bowed to the party and told them he was to fetch them wine. He then disappeared out of a door they hadn't noticed before then. Just as Stanley left, a huge wolf-like creature entered the room from another door, at the end of the room. It seemed to watch them for a while, as they watched it, but then it left as silently as it had entered, the door closing behind it. Shortly afterwards Stanley appeared with several choice bottles of red wine. He placed these on the table and then made to leave to room again.
The doors at the end of the hall swung open again and the princess strode in. she was now wearing a long green evening dress, which set off her green eyes fabulously. Her red hair (which looked red to them all, this time) shone in the torchlight of the hall. She whispered something to Stanley and then sent him away. "He'll be back with some cold chicken and ham, eggs, bread and muffins, will that be sufficient?" she asked. The group nodded and then took seats at the table. The tall dark one pulled out the head chair for the princess before seating himself to her right. She surveyed the wine and selected a particularly deep red one, poured herself a small amount into her goblet and then settled back into her chair. She looked expectantly at the dark haired one. He realised she was waiting to hear their story and so he began.
"My name is Shalnek, and I am a human. I used to work for a trading organisation on Mainland but a young cretin removed me from my post! I chose to turn to adventuring as a career, as nothing else proved suitable at the time. I met this fellow," he gestured towards the knight, who was gazing intently at her, "In a tavern called the Lance and Ribbon. I got into a spot of bother and he helped me out. It was Sven, which is his name, who introduced me to Smotty over there," he pointed at the wizard-like one who was examining the goblet he had in his hand. "Smotty's real name is Tisotm, but Smotty suits him so much better! He left the magic school early and so never completed his training. Our elven friends there are Lienad, the tall one, and Shirrol, the small one. Lienad is actually an elf, but has a faulty growth gene, which makes him so tall. Shirrol was also outcast, being a half-elf, so they went together into the forests, where they met us and agreed to join our adventure. A witch on the mainland advised us that we were needed over here in the islands, and so here we are."
At this point, Stanley arrived with the food. The princess nodded at him and told him she would ring when he was needed. They all helped themselves to the food he had brought, while the princess just continued to drink her wine. "Why do you not eat, princess?" asked the knight. "Because, my friend," she replied, "I have already eaten." When they had eaten their fill, and chatted about nothings to the princess, she offered them another unusual proposal. She asked them to stay in the castle for a short time, about a week at least, since she got so little company in these times. She told them she would allow them to think it over until the morning and then they could let her know. She then swept out of the room and closed the large main doors. Stanley appeared instantly and asked if they were ready to retire. They all agreed they were and followed him through another small door that they hadn't noticed before. This hall seemed to be good at hiding doors; this was the second one that they had missed, at least! The continued up a winding staircase. The carpets here were rusty reds and the walls were panelled with oak. Every few steps there was a painting, portraits mainly, of what appeared to be past residents of the castle. Many of these residents bore a striking resemblance to the princess. They finally reached their destination, a circular landing. There were five doors off the landing, each one leading to a bedroom. Stanley supplied them each with a candle and instructed them not to leave their rooms. He then handed each of them a small gold bell, telling them anything they wanted could be arranged, provided they rang the bell for him.
The rooms were magnificent. They had sloping ceilings and rounded walls, but were cosy nonetheless. There was a large four-poster bed with huge red velvet drapes and the large windows also had red velvet drapes. The floor was oak, with a dead animal rug on the floor, each room having a different animal. There was also a large oak chest at the foot of each bed; it was ornately carved, similar to the carvings on the table in the main hall. They each undressed and with their weapons close at hand they finally slept. They slept well, all told, although Lienad had a thumping headache when he awoke, which he put down to too much wine the night before.
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