Shadows

So they've reached the castle again! Enter finches, ghosts and Tam's ridiculously huge appetite!

  “But… how…?” Ellyra stammered in wonder as the fabled castle drew closer with every step.
                “Some navigator you are.” Tam told her jokingly, causing the girl to bow her head to hide her blush.
                “Oh leave her alone, Tamarisk.” Cypress rejoined in annoyance. “Either we missed a turn back there or she started in the wrong place. Ellyra’s just been through a major trauma and those villains probably set her off course to begin with. At least we’re somewhere vaguely familiar now.”
“I was joking.” Tam protested, noting the grateful glance Ellyra threw Cypress. “But now the only problem is that we have no idea how to get this young lady home and even if we knew where she lived in relation to here we’d have a time finding our way back.”
                “Maybe there’s someone who lives at the castle we haven’t met who knows the way.” Cypress suggested. “After all, we didn’t explore the place very thoroughly this morning except to find breakfast. It’s entirely possible that we haven’t even met the master of this castle yet.”
                “You only arrived this morning?” Ellyra inquired, wide eyed. “How did you get there without having to first go through the town?”
                “Ah… you see…” Cypress began, but Tam, the smoother liar, cut in before Cypress could fabricate anything.
                “We weren’t actually conscious for the journey.” Tam interrupted, weaving some truth into his story. “It was sort of one of those ‘I’d tell you, but then I’d have to kill you’ type of things. Our advisors could clear our arrival with your king on the condition that we wouldn’t know exactly where the castle was so we couldn’t betray the secret of its location. Bringing you here is probably some huge breach of security, but in all fairness you found this place yourself and we just followed you.”
                “But why wouldn’t King Clemantis want his people to know the whereabouts of this castle?” Ellyra wondered.
                “Beats me.” Tam said, shrugging. “Maybe your story was true after all and there’s a beast prince in there somewhere waiting to be discovered. At any rate, we haven’t found him yet.” Tam led the way now, leaving Ellyra and Cypress to follow in his tracks.
                They walked a few moments in silence and were only a few hundred feet away from the castle gate before Ellyra posed the inevitable question.
                “If you had to get permission to come here from King Clemantis, what exactly are you doing here? What interest could other kingdoms have in ours?”
                The two men squirmed in uncomfortable silence at these words.
                “The impending war between Calassi and _____ is of importance to our kingdom.” Tam said slowly after a long pause.
                “But, if you don’t mind my asking, what do the actions of our kingdom have to do with yours?” Ellyra asked carefully, casting a glance at the bleak castle ahead.
                “More than you’d first think.” Cypress responded, a little sharply. “Wars are tricky things. If Calassi did, for whatever reason, declare war on ____, or vice versa, either side is likely to demand sympathy from our kingdom and ask for its support. That would lead to a sticky situation involving underhandedness and backstabbing like you wouldn’t believe. Trust me; politics are never pretty in that regard. Tam and I are being sent as diplomats of sorts to gain a feel for the situation. If war does break out between the two kingdoms, and the chance of that is increasing more with every day, we need to have a firm handle on our position.”
                “But to that end, wouldn’t it be more productive to actually talk to the people of Calassi instead of being confined in one deserted castle?” Ellyra inquired shrewdly.
                “We’re not sure,” Cypress admitted as he opened the wrought iron gate. “Our superiors were ridiculously cryptic. The main part of our assignment was to follow a lead that was unearthed in our kingdom that may lead us to a specific person who could have a hand in stopping the war before it starts. If we manage that we were supposed to bring this person to this castle and then basically monitor what happens. That’s all the instruction we got, aside from being dumped at this castle. Honestly that’s about all we know, other than a name, so we’re as much in the dark about this as you are at this point.”
                Ellyra opened her mouth to respond to this illogical conundrum, but the close up view of the palace stole the breath she would have used to do it.
Tam noted this and smirked. “Come on!” he urged, pulling her over to the main entrance. “It appears that this is your home until we can figure out how to get you back, so you’re entitled to some exploration.”
                Entering the foyer, all three newcomers marveled at the castle’s sheer size. Ellyra’s grey eyes swept broadly over the antechamber, admiring the craftsmanship of the stonework and the intricacy of the small lamps scattered here and there along the walls and cast their pale glow through the room.  
                “So I’m hungry.” Tam declared, clapping his hand on Cypress’ shoulder. “What do you say we go find something to eat, old buddy?”
                “You’re always hungry, Tam.” Cypress reminded him, shrugging his shoulders in an attempt to get Tam’s hand away, but to no avail. “I wouldn’t be averse to getting food as long as our lady…” he glanced at Ellyra with a half smile, “would like to join us.”
                “Oh, I ate not long ago.” Ellyra responded, recalling the meager lunch she’d wolfed down when Rosaline had allowed her a small break in her chores. “If you don’t mind, I’d really like to explore this place, if I could.” She added hopefully, her eyes meandering around the room a second time.
                “Fine by me, as long as we can find you.” Tam said. He shrugged a little, though whether this action was made in response to Ellyra’s proposal or to tweak his friend it was difficult to say. “Here, the main staircase is just down the hall if I remember correctly.” He pointed down a wide hallway where the shadowy form of the fixture loomed in the flickering glow of the lamps. “How about you meet us there in a few hours? Say… two? Hopefully by that point Cypress and I will have figured out how to house you until we can devise an easy way to get you back to your home without all of us getting hopelessly lost in the forest. Then we can all eat dinner and—”
                “Dinner! In two hours? After we’re just leaving to eat now?” Cypress asked wonderingly. “How could you possibly become hungry that fast?”
                “I think I’ll manage it.” Tam answered slyly. “Besides, I’m a growing boy. I need my nutrition.”
                “Tam, you’re a month older than I am.” Cypress pointed out.
                “Oh, details, details.” Tam scoffed, waving his hand. “But at any rate, we’ll meet you at the grand staircase and we’ll regroup from there.”
                “Sounds like a plan to me!” Ellyra beamed. “Thank you so much for everything you’ve done!” She turned away and walked lightly over the soft crimson carpet toward the staircase, half listening to her rescuers’ conversation.
                “And by the way, Tam, do you mind explaining how you magically produced a sword while we were in the forest?”
                “Erm. I sort of… found it. And brought it along in case a tragic event would occur.”
                “Did you now? Are you sure you didn’t just pick it up because it was shiny and well-made?”
                “Well… that too…”
                Ellyra spent the next hour and a half flitting through the ill-lit hallways of the castle, wondering at everything. She saw no lights flickering in the in the corridors at the top of the stairs, but the ground floor alone held enough space that she could’ve easily spent all afternoon exploring it. Shadows crept delicately along the austere grey walls, occasionally yielding to the meager light to allow the corner of a stray tapestry or shield to come into view. A few of the doors into which she dared to peep were completely dark and without a light source of her own she didn’t dare enter them. She noticed, however, that despite the frayed edges of the tapestries and slight muskiness in the atmosphere, all the parts of the castle that she visited were kept relatively clean. A few times she was sure she heard a stirring of air behind her, but when she looked over her shoulders she could decipher only the shadows playing over the walls.
                When the dreary aura that permeated the air inside the fortress became too much for the young maid to stand any longer, she slipped outside into the fresh evening air to investigate the castle grounds. The fading light provided enough illumination for her to discover several berry bushes and pick their last few pieces of shriveled fruit before they gave way to winter’s breath. A few more minutes of inspection led her footsteps into a quaint little courtyard tucked away at the corner of the grounds in the center of which stood a small, high roofed building made primarily out of glass. Peeping into the nearest wall, she was able to make out the flutter of reddish purple wings through the frosty glass, though the door was locked fast against her questing hand. The soft croon of purple finches met her ears even from the outside and she enjoyed their music for several minutes before the darkness spurred her back indoors.
                Once back inside the shadowy palace, Ellyra set about to find the staircase, pausing along the way to admire some of more interesting decorations scattered about the hall. The Dove was humming to herself and examining the light’s glint off of an interesting decorative suit of armor as she walked past when she tripped over a fold in the heretofore smooth carpeting and flew face first into the ground. Her song cut off with a little yelp, but just as her limbs bent to help her stand, a somber voice above her spoke.
                “May I help you mademoiselle? You seem to have fallen.”
                Ellyra looked up and blinked a few times to make sure the spectacle before her eyes was real. A silvery, semi-transparent face looked sorrowfully down at her, one that appeared to lack much, if any, physical substance. At first the startled girl thought that the stranger’s appearance must have been an illusion caused by the scanty light, but this idea vanished when she noticed the silver tray the stranger was carrying. The domed platter almost matched the alien’s hue, but the golden goblet that also occupied the tray provided a stark contrast between a solid object and an intangible phenomenon.
                “But you’re a ghost!” the young woman exclaimed, half in fright, half in curiosity.
                “Truly I am, mademoiselle,” the ghost replied mournfully, shifting his – closer inspection on Ellyra’s part had revealed that he was male – tray from one translucent hand to the other, offering the free one to Ellyra.
                “But… but I thought ghosts were just a myth! A legend! I didn’t think they actually existed.” Ellyra continued. She gingerly took the ghost’s hand, expecting her own to pass through the spirit’s and awed when it did not. Though the texture of his hand lacked the solidity of a normal human being’s, there was still just enough there to give her the extra boost she needed to get back onto her feet.
“Earthbound spirits do indeed exist, mademoiselle.” The ghost explained tiredly.  “They are placed on earth either to finish that which they started in life or because they ones were summoned back into half-life by powerful magic. Many walk among humans, but those who do lack the substance to be seen or sensed by human faculties except in areas of great enchantment.”
                “I take it we’re in one of those areas?”
                “Indeed, mademoiselle. We are. I and all the other spirits who inhabit this place are therefore bound to serve the master of this castle until the enchantment is dissolved.”
                “That’s terrible.” Ellyra murmured quietly. “Is there no other way you can go back to… death?”
                “None other, mademoiselle.” The ghost responded stiffly.
Noting that her new acquaintance was averse to this vain of conversation, Ellyra changed the subject.   “How are you holding that tray?” She asked curiously. “In all the stories I’ve read, ghosts were insubstantial, but you lifted me up. How?”
                “Your stories are inaccurate.” The ghost proclaimed. “The stronger the enchantment, the more substance is allowed to the spirit, and this castle holds one of the strongest enchantments in history.”

                “But why?” Ellyra asked inquisitively.
                “The castle is cursed because of its master.” The ghost replied simply. “But I must away, for the master requests his dinner and it won’t do to serve it to him cold!” with this the ghost floated above Ellyra’s head and toward the opposite wall.
                “But wait!” Ellyra cried, running to catch up. “Who is the master? Where is he? Why haven’t I seen him yet?” But she her cries were met with no response; the ghost had already vanished, tray and all, through the opposite wall.  

                By the time Ellyra returned to the grand staircase where her two new friends awaited her, her head spun with mysteries. Something about the mention of the master of the castle filled her with a strange mixture of fear and curiosity; she wondered whether the legend of the lost prince could possibly be true.
                “Welcome back.” Cypress acknowledged her, smiling. “May I presume, by the brightness of your eyes and the flush in your cheeks, that you’ve had a good turn ‘round the castle?”  
                “I met a ghost!” Ellyra chirped, too excited to bother answering the question.
                “A ghost?” Tam asked doubtfully. “Where’d you see that?”
                “Back there in the hall!” Ellyra responded impatiently, waving her hand in the general direction from which she had come. “I was looking at a suit of armor and tripped and it – he – helped me up again and talked to me and—”
                “Some ghost,” Tam muttered skeptically to Cypress, “That has substance enough to help up stray girls in the hall.”
                “It was a really powerful ghost!” Ellyra insisted, her voice climbing in pitch as she spoke. “He told me that ghosts that live… well, not live, but ghosts that inhabit areas with a high concentration of magic have more substance than we think! He was even carrying a tray of food for the master of the castle! He said that that’s why the castle has such a heavy enchantment on it, something to do with the master.”
Cypress’s eyes brightened a little at the last statement but Tam interrupted. “I believe we should get some food into this poor sweet lady before she starts seeing fairies dancing about.”
                “You don’t believe me!” Ellyra cried in distress. “Please, I’m not crazy, I swear! I really did see a ghost and he talked to me!”
                “I believe you.” Cypress said quietly. “What did he say about the master of the house?”
                “Not much. Just that he was the source of the enchantment or something to that effect. I tried to get the ghost to tell me who the master was, but he floated through a wall before I could.”
                “Oh honestly!” Tam sighed, throwing his hands dramatically over his head. “I’ll leave you two to talk of the supernatural. I, for one, am going to the kitchen to find some real food.”
                Ellyra watched the curly haired youth stalk away in the direction of the kitchen. “It almost makes sense though, doesn’t it? I mean, there must be someone here the makes the food and keeps the place clean. The ghosts do it and since they’re somewhat substantial, they can hold brooms and things and I guess they can still become insubstantial enough to go through walls and things. I don’t understand it, but I believe my eyes and ears.”
                Cypress nodded thoughtfully. “It’s an interesting idea, at any rate. But if what you say is true, then I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before Tam and I have a similar encounter. But I believe Tam was right on one count: we need to get some food into you. You’re thin enough as it is.”
                The slender maid blushed heavily as Cypress led the way to the kitchen. “Thank you for believing me.” She whispered
                Despite the alacrity with which the two latecomers followed Tam, they found that he had already devoured a quarter of a plate full of steaming roast turkey by the time they arrived. “Dig in!” Tam encouraged upon seeing his friends. “There’s a banquet here!”

                Ellyra, delighted at seeing the feast before her, only barely managed to maintain ladylike composure as she consumed several plates of excellent food. Roast turkey, potatoes seasoned with rosemary, thyme and a variety of native Calassian spices, mounds of wondrous vegetables, and rich, sweet sauces fashioned from several berries that grew in the palace gardens composed an excellent and filling repast, the likes of which Ellyra couldn’t remember enjoying for many years beforehand.
                “So much for the birdlike appetite fabled to classify dainty young ladies.” Tam quipped, noticing the vigor with which Ellyra ate.
                “I never knew a boy at the manor to eat two meals only two hours apart.” Ellyra retorted, spearing another forkful of turkey.
                “Touché! Well put, Ellyra.” Cypress commended her with a small laugh.
                “I concede.” Tam confessed through a mouthful of seasoned potatoes.
                “Where are your manners, young Tamarisk?” Cypress upbraided his friend, imitating the etiquette instructors whose patience Tam had tried countless times as a child. “Don’t speak with your mouth full! We don’t need to see your half masticated food!”
                “Oh hush ‘young master Cypress.’ We’re not at court anymore and just because you insist on acting like a prissy little palace cat all the time doesn’t mean that I have to. I, for one, and glad to be free of that life for a while. Let loose… be free for a time until we have to go back.” Tam reclined luxuriously in his chair, momentarily ignoring his food, and for a few seconds he resembled the palace cat of which he had spoken.
                “Just make sure that you don’t become so free that you forget everything you learned.” Cypress warned. “But why are we wasting our breath with this talk? We should tell Ellyra what we found!”
“Mm?” Ellyra wiped her mouth carefully with a napkin and gazed inquisitively at the two men across from her. “What did you find?”
                “When this greedy piglet was finished stuffing his face we found a torch and explored one of the upper floors. There’s a bedroom up there that you might like to sleep in tonight, if you’ll take it. It’s the best room we could find.” Tam said, tapping Cypress lightly with the back of his hand.
                “Oh, you didn’t have to—” Ellyra began, but Cypress held up a hand to silence her.
                “We wanted to, sweet lady. It’s only proper. We insist.”
                “If you say so.” Ellyra accepted quietly, and then opted to change the subject. “Did you two get any chance to explore the grounds? I found a conservatory for birds, purple finches mostly I think, but I wasn’t able to get in. They’re messenger birds aren’t they? Maybe if we could get in we could get one of them to take a message to Redbriar Manor to tell them where I am they’ll be able to find us.”
                “Perhaps.” Cypress said thoughtfully. “But I don’t like the idea of breaking in and stealing property that doesn’t belong to us.” He looked meaningfully at Tam, who coughed and suddenly became very interested in the tapestry next to which they sat. “We’ll have to see.” He concluded. “But I recommend that we think about this in the morning. It’s been a long and exciting day for all of us, so I believe and early bedtime is in order.”
                “You sound like my father, Cy.” Tam said grudgingly, yawning nonetheless.
                “Good. That means I’m wiser than you and I have twice the sense.” Cypress countered, smirking.            “But honestly, we should get to bed. Shall we show you to your room, Ellyra?”
                “That would be lovely. Thank you.” Ellyra responded, nodding.
                Ellyra stayed close to her two male protectors, closely following the sporadic light cast by Cypress’ torch as the trio ascended the wide, sweeping staircase.  Shadows leered threateningly from every corner into which her probing eyes rested and she shuddered, fidgeting. When the party eventually came to a halt outside one of the doors Ellyra could barely contain a sigh of relief.
                When Tam had found and activated the oil lamp near the door the circle of light only filled a part of the huge room, but it was a large enough section to gage the size and feel of it. The enormous canopied bed that sat in splendor in the center of the room lacked traditional curtains, but instead it was shrouded in a thin white veil that nearly swept the wooden floor. An elegant, carefully carved nightstand stood next to this centerpiece, though it was not currently serving any function as it was bare. The corner of a dark wardrobe was visible, tucked in the nearest corner.
                “Oh Cypress… Tam… this is beautiful.” Ellyra breathed, cautiously stepping into the room, treading softly on the floor as if it would vanish beneath her feet.
                “I’m glad you like it.” Cypress said, pleased. “I only wish we could bestow it on you for real instead of for a few short nights, if that, but at least it will be a comfortable place to sleep. I’m sorry we couldn’t find any nightgowns for you, but Tam did manage to uncover some candles.”
                Tam nodded and placed a plain white candle in its holder onto the bedside table, placing a book of matches next to it. “It’s impressively dark in here without a candle or a torch, so take this if you need it. If nothing else, it’ll be light in the morning.” He extended his torch a little further into the room and nodded to the large, half curtained window that composed a quarter of the back wall. “We’ll be a few rooms down in case you need anything more. We don’t know the castle any better than you do, but if anything’s the matter we’ll at least try to help in whatever way we can.”
                A small smile flitted across Ellyra’s pallid face. “I don’t know how to thank you. You’ve been so kind to me.”
                “It’s nothing, fair lady. We live to serve the humble.” Cypress declared nobly. “But now we shall leave you to your rest and take to ours. Good night.”
                “Pleasant dreams.” Ellyra murmured, watching warily as her two new friends left the room, dousing the lamp and closing the door behind them to leave her in deeper darkness.
                As the Dove snuggled under the warm, downy blankets she turned over the day’s events in her tired mind. The few pangs of guilt that troubled her heart sprang mostly from her parents’ lack of knowledge of her location, but she was sure that with a coop full of purple finches, messenger birds so reliable that birds of that breed were said to haunt the palace courtyards waiting to deliver royal letters, she was sure that there would be some way to deliver a message in an expedient manner. Though she hadn’t known Cypress for very long, she found it surprisingly easy to trust his judgment. Thoughts of the mysterious and as yet faceless master of the castle filled her head as she succumbed to sleep and she wondered if he would be angry the prospect of finding three strangers using his house.

                Castles, swords and blurry faces filled Ellyra’s dreams that night as she slept in the unfamiliar bed. When the myriad of fast-paced images began to recede she found herself inside the finches’ glass roofed sanctuary, watching them flutter to and fro around their home. After watching the curious, brightly colored birds for several minutes, she realized that their chirps began to form into words and a nonsensical dialogue ensued between a one pair, a male and a female.
                “I’m sorry Master… I hadn’t expected them to come and no one had informed me of their presence until they had already settled in and it would be terribly poor manners to throw guests out so soon.”
                “Agreed… but I hadn’t quite expected this.”
                “My sincerest apologies, Master. Saiko only informed me after he had encountered the girl.”
                “I understand. Perhaps they are the ones that my father said would be coming to help me, in which case I’ll end up talking to them sooner or later. I’ll have to think of a good way to reveal myself without frightening the spirit out of the poor girl. She’s skin and bone. Thank you for providing such a glorious feast, Tasmine.”
                “It was no trouble, Master. Always glad to do your bidding.”

                Stirring from her restless sleep, Ellyra was sure the voices in her dream had been real. Squinting through the ethereal veil that enshrouded the borrowed bed in which she rested, she tried to discern shapes in the faint starlight. The blood drained from her face as she made out a large shadow near the window, one she was sure hadn’t been there before she had fallen asleep. Silently parting the veil she groped for her candle and shakily struck a match. When the candle was lit she held it unsteadily up to the window, hoping beyond hope that the shadow was only another part of her dream or a product of her imagination. Ellyra’s eyes widened as the meager light shed by the small torch caught the glimmer of white, jagged teeth and a narrow, yellow eye just before it closed. The Dove of Calassi stood, motionless, as something in the corner issued a long, low growl.

 

Author's Note

I'm particularly proud of the chapter for some reason. The ghosts amuse me and it's always fun watching Tam and Cypress bicker. Oh, and the blanks that occaisionally appear are there because I still have no idea what to call the fairy kingdom. Suggestions would be great! The other issue I'm having is I'm trying to decide how to measure time. This seems to be before the era of clocks, although I've eventually given in and mentioned "hours" and "months" and stuff in future chapters. Any suggestions there would be helpful, too!

Reviews

[Hannah!]

Haha. Whenever Cypress and Tam bicker, I'm inclined to think of my little sister and myself. We argue constantly. Of course, we're really not as witty as Cy and Tam, but the two fairies really do have a cool dynamic going on; I know that I've commented on that before, but every time I see it, I like it. They balance each other out marvelously well, although I think that, on their own, they would both be a little bit over the top in certain aspects of their personalities. Even now, when they're arguing, they can get annoying--but in the sort of way people who bicker all the time are prone to get annoying, so that just adds a realistic element to the story.

I think you should stick with the time you're familiar with. It doesn't seem to clash too terribly with the setting, because it's something so familiar that readers aren't likely to think twice about it, and it seems like a lot of (unnecessary) effort to create your own system of time. I would say that you should try to avoid mentioning specific units of time too often, but when you have to I really don't think it'll be a problem at all.

I'm curious about these ghosts. They seem so docile, but if I was raised from the dead to wait on some dude, I would be pissed as hell. I like them a lot, though. They were a cool way of introducing the importance of the location--not that it wasn't fairly obvious that they would have found the beast prince's castle--without being obvious, and in an interesting way.