FictionPress.com - let the words flow
| FictionPress.com - let the words flow |
|
| Home Just In Communities Forums Beta Readers Dictionary Search | Login Register Extras |
Avalon Palace
Artemis
Chapter 2
Ral was so short before telling the cab driver to turn around.
They had been driving for what felt like eternity, it's too dark in the car to make out the hands of his wristwatch. Driving from the village deeper into the no-man's-land around it, until they reached an area where there were five minute drives between the farms and the street had so many potholes that he's being shaken thoroughly through on the back seat.
That it's pouring with rain, the moon was almost invisible behind thick clouds and the fog made this cheerless area look even more inhospitable, which made it close to impossible for Ral to orientate didn't did anything to raise his spirits.
In Ral's opinion it's already a small miracle that the car hadn't made closer acquaintanceship than Ral could have ever wanted with the ditch on the slick road.
He's beginning to doubt if his gift was really worth all that trouble.
But he also didn't felt like spending another couple of hours in the cab for the drive back to the village and then paying a small fortune for a useless ride.
“We're almost there“, the cab driver announced out of the blue.
This immediately raised Ral's spirit. “Really? Will you tell me something about it? Please?“
“Wait and see it for yourself“, the driver said as he'd done already a dozen times before during the three hours long trip.
Ral leant back in his seat, resigning to what seemed to be his fate.
Okay, if no one wanted to tell him anything about his new property, then he might just as well give up wasting his breath and let himself be surprised. He didn't gave a damn either way.
His thoughts were already for a long time no longer focusing on he mysterious building and the giant estate that belonged to it. At least he'd had during the long, boring ride found the time to study the title-deed carefully and learn what exactly he'd been given for a present.
He only wanted to lay down in a warm bed and sleep his exhaustion away.
But it looked like fate had different plans in store for him.
The cab made a sharp turn into a lane covered with growing rampant weeds, which Ral hadn't even noticed.
But already after a few yards the cab stopped abruptly with screeching brakes.
“Do you have a key? You better have, because I certainly won't pick the lock and end up in jail for your stupidity!“, the cab driver snapped.
“Uh...“ Ral searched his memory feverishly. Then he remembered the key the old lady had given him. He's certain that it bore the same coat of arms as the gate did. “Yes, I do“, he finally said and gave the cab driver his key.
The driver reluctantly left the car, grumbling about having to be the one to walk into the rain as he opened the massive, ancient gate made of wrought iron, that rose majestically into the night.
He'd completely forgotten about the damned gate and through the fog he'd only been able to see it when he'd been right in front of it. He's lucky that his cab had good brakes or he'd have smashed it up in this godforsaken wilderness.
“You have quick reflexes“, Ral praised the soaked cab driver as he plopped back into the driver's seat.
He's neither insulted nor surprised that the cab driver didn't showed any reaction apart from giving his key back.
For starters, the road was very treacherous for it twisted all the time into different directions as they slowly drove up the hill. When he considered how darn dangerous this road was that looked like nobody had ever driven on it since whatever was at the top of the hill had been built, he's grateful for a conscientious, concentrated driver.
For another he wouldn't even have cared if the man had been shouting one expletive after the other at him, for Ral's curiosity had returned with full force and his mind didn't had any time to think about something that didn't concerned his mysterious, new property.
Rain, fog and a seemingly impenetrable darkness gave the sight on Avalon Palace only free when the car was brought to a stop in front of it.
Avalon Palace...
Even after many centuries of neglect you could still see that it'd been once a pompous palace, which must have been more beautiful than every other building of it's time.
Now with the knowledge of the building's strange mixture between castle and fortress, Ral realized that the ruins they'd passed on their way up the hill must have been part of an once powerful fortification.
Once it surely kept all enemies safely on the other side of the walls, but now it's only a silent witness from long-gone, glorious times.
And yet, the palace was still breathtaking.
The adjoining buildings and the main tower were in such bad shape that you couldn't enter them safely.
But the main building, the palace itself, majestically stood on the top of the hill, as it had been already been doing for many centuries.
There were many obvious signs of neglect, like broken windows, some didn't even had a frame anymore, other wings looked like they might collapse any moment or had already collapsed.
It didn't made the building any less impressive, even if it looked like it'd been abandoned directly after it's completion.
Ral grimaced.
“Well... I had imagined it to be less... airy“, Ral finally said as he regained his speech.
But the cab driver cared little for Ral's concerns. He glared irritatedly at him. “Either you pay and leave now or you come back with me. Doesn't makes a difference for me, you anyway have to pay the round-trip. But decide quickly, I don't have all day.“ With a smirk he added, “and the taximeter is still running, by the way.“
“This is going to be anyway so expensive for me, a bit more or less money doesn't makes a difference anymore“, Ral snapped back. He rubbed with his hands over his tired face and pondered what he should do now.
Ral didn't blamed the old lady, she looked honest enough when she'd claimed that she didn't had an idea how the building looked.
He rather blamed the cab driver.
If he'd have told Ral that Avalon Palace was the last place on the world you would want to spend a night in, unless a troop construction workers tagged along, then he'd have stayed in the village. And the driver would have missed out on a lucrative ride.
“How far is it to the next decent hotel?“, Ral asked wearily. “One that isn't about to collapse any moment now.“
“Well... there is the Paradise, of course. But that's a holiday camp, you can't just go there in the middle of the night and ask for a room. Then there is half a hour of driving from here, farther away from my village, a hotel. It's a luxury-hotel, though, they only have suites, for every guest they have five employees. I doubt you can afford it.“
Technically, Ral would have been able to pay the luxury-hotel. But he hadn't brought enough money with him. “And the next one which I can afford?“
“There are another two in our region. One is located on a small island on a lake, you can only ferry onto it at day, the other is another hour of driving away. It's your choice...“
“I'm here really at the end of the world, am I not?“, Ral asked resignedly.
“That's putting it mildly.“
The decision he made was purely made on a whim and he regretted it already a second later. He knew somehow that this would turn out to be a grave mistake, at the latest when a stone dropped on his head and killed the last remaining brain cells.
Still it's better than spending another or even three more hours in a cab. Ral hadn't been sleeping decently for days, it'd been a historically stupid idea to start a hard travel the day after the semester ended.
The palace certainly couldn't be all that bad.
“I'll stay", he said. “It's just for a night, after all, it can't be all that bad. And maybe the castle will look friendlier in the light of the day.“
The cab driver turned around to Ral and looked worriedly at him.
“Ah... kid, you do know the legends about this castle, don't you?“
Ral gave the man a puzzled look out of questioning, brown eyes. “Legends?“
“You're not from around here, are you?“
“No, I'm not. But what has that got to do with the castle?“
“There are many legends about this castle. None of those are pleasant. But I don't want to scare you, so I won't tell them to you. These are just folk tales, there are no sorcerers in this castle and it also isn't cursed.“
The young man looked neither convinced nor reassured.
He paid the outrageous price the cab driver demanded without complaint and got his carryall himself out of the trunk. He didn't wanted the cab driver to get wet another time, after he already had to open the gate.
“Well, kid... good luck!“, the cab driver called through the car door, which he'd opened a split, after him, just as Ral was walking in the direction of the main entrance.
“Thank you! Get safely home!“, Ral called back and ran to the door.
Luckily the builder of the palace had made sure the entrance was protected from a roof, which was surprisingly enough still in comparatively good shape. Ral hoped to find there shelter from the rain and cold while he fought with the lock, which surely hadn't been opened for many years, or found another way into the castle.
“...you'll need it“, the cab driver added in a whisper.
Again Ral grimaced unhappily.
Now he's inside the building and it didn't looked much better than it'd from the outside.
Ral was surprised that nobody had ever bothered to demolish the ruins.
But maybe that had something to do with a historical value of the building that he's now an only partly proud co-owner of for a few hours.
Of course he liked the notion that he's now lord of a castle. He'd have enjoyed it even more if he wouldn't have to fear that his castle would collapse over his head.
But those worries were not what made the hairs on Ral's neck stand up.
His commonly reliable instinct had resisted against being only close to the castle and made it unmistakable clear that he's going to regret it if he would stay.
But what choice did he have?
He couldn't leave anymore unless he planned to get himself killed in the rain and cold.
The cab had left, he had heard it driving away.
And the last time he'd seen a phone booth was half an hour before they turned into the private path. He doubted that he would only make it back onto the country road.
No, he'd just have to get a grip on his instincts. After the foolish cab driver had told him about sorcerers and curses and he'd ended up in a ghost castle looking like out of a horror movie, it's completely natural that his imagination was playing him tricks.
Such bad luck as he'd been having today, Ral didn't doubted that the battery of his flashlight would be flat just when he'd have to pass a particularly dangerous part.
So it only seemed logical to Ral that he picked a torch up, which was strangely enough situated right next to the entrance. He planned to put it into his carryall and only light it if he really needed to. He didn't had a clue how long a torch would last and it'd serve well as a campfire-replacement. Besides, he didn't had a clue where in his carryall his lighter was.
But in the moment that Ral took the torch out of the iron rack it's sitting in, it lightened.
Ral gasped in shock and barely managed to stifle the instinct to drop the torch. Because then it would have dropped directly onto his travelling bag.
Only thanks to much luck Rals hand didn't also served as a torch, for he'd gripped the torch almost at the top, so the Middle Ages-newbie got off with a hot hand and a big shock.
“Woah, that's too crazy!”, he commented. It wasn't quite as scary in here when he could hear his own voice. #Maybe the old man wasn't a fool, after all, when he talked about magicians living here...#, Ral admitted grudgingly.
His curiosity getting the better of him, the blond put the torch back into it's place.
It immediately went out.
Puzzled, but impressed, Ral stated, “this castle is making me go crazy!”
He put the flashlight into a pocket, took the travelling bag into one hand and the torch, which immediately lightened again, into the other. “When I think about it, it comes in handy... Now I can only hope that there's also a spell on it that the torch doesn't burns out, that would make my stay much easier ... and that I don't pick that sorcerer off by using his stuff...”
Ral took one last time the flashlight out and let it illuminate cobwebs, dust and dropped stones, the only “decoration” in the “foyer” of the fortress, then he walked with forced firm steps into the next room.
This didn't looked safe enough to stay in and besides, Ral hoped that deeper in the building, where there hadn't been any vandalism, he would find a nicer place to sleep in. Maybe he would even find a few antiques the occupants of the fortress left behind he could take back as souvenirs.
The steps that echoed in the empty rooms of the castle spoke of a newfound energy.
Rals hopes that the fortress would look better deeper in the heart of the giant building were rewarded.
With each room that he passed and with each staircase he used, Avalon looked less neglected.
If he wouldn't have known better, he'd have almost believed that someone was taking care of this part of the building...
#But no, that's impossible. If someone would live here, they would at least have made sure that one could enter and leave without having to fear that the ceiling drops down over them. Besides, then a car would be standing before the castle. Maybe many years ago someone has lived here and that this part only looks like it's better taken care of because the vandals don't dare to enter the castle this deeply because of the silly legends.#
Ral was so deeply immersed in his inner argument that he didn't paid any attention to the corridors he walked through and the rooms he passed.
An unexpected noise finally pulled Ral out of his thoughts.
The distinct crackling noise of a burning fireplace.
It's the last sound Ral would have expected to hear, and that's also what made it so alarming for him.
As he looked up from the monotonous staring at the floor without noticing what he's looking at, he gasped for breath.
Without noticing it, he'd reached the great hall.
It's existence wasn't surprisingly, Ral had learned about the structure of a castle.
What was surprising and quite overwhelming was the fact that this room looked neither abandoned nor run-down like the others had.
#No, not at all run-down and abandoned...#, Ral thought as his awe-filled eyes wandered through the hall. Since hundreds of candles and torches lightened the giant hall, he could see as easily as in broad daylight.
The ceiling and the walls were richly decorated with mural painting that resembled baroque or rokoko style, but the pictures from magicians, kings and warriors preserved the medieval atmosphere.
The floor was covered in small mosaic stones, which also depicted the faces of important-looking people, while windows made from coloured glass would have let multicoloured sunlight shine into the room at day.
There were not much furniture in the room. At the windowless wall stood a very long marble table with countless chairs lined up against it and three sideboards. One looked as if it would be used for buffets, another as if it's for beverages and on the third golden dishes were lined up together with silverware an crystal glasses,
In front of the largest window stood a small, round dining table with only two chairs.
Two things in the room caught the eye.
One hang at the back wall, a giant coat of arms. The same coat of arms that also decorated Ral's key and the gate. A fire-breathing dragon standing on an island, but the flames had the shape of roses, over that scene a crown was situated.
The other eye-catcher was no inanimate object, even though they kneeled down motionlessly before the statue...
To be continued...
I’m evil, am I not?