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Marius. The name rolled off her tongue. And with it brought a vision of the lord of moonlight.
“He… he locked the door. I can’t leave.”
Something knocked against my foot. I looked down to the key that rested beside it.
“Promise me you will return before nightfall?”
The key was in my hand in seconds, turning in the sister lock on my side of the room. I held my breath as I threw my door open to expose the speaker.
But the corridor was empty.
* * *
The castle was a maze.Each turn, each flight of stairs, I found myself lost. No corner was the same. Walls peeled with paper — exposing broken boards beneath. Carpets were worn. Stained sheets covered up hulking shapes that I could only imagine to be unwanted furniture.
And I found no one. No matter how frantically I searched.
As I lost myself in my exploration, I conjured an image of the person I’d spoken to. A young girl, it must have been. She would have to be here somewhere. Her and the rest of the people that made the noise I woke to.
Yet there was no sign of any life among the sunlit rooms. I clung onto the key as if it was the physical reminder I needed to prove I was not going mad. Leaving an imprint of it in my palm as my fist tensed with each undiscovered moment.
It was not long before I caught the scent of the promised feast. Yet another reminder that I was, in fact, not going mad. I picked up my pace, sniffing the air as I followed the scent to its origin. Perhaps the others waited within?
The room in which my nose guided me towards had its door half open. Whereas the other doors I passed were all closed, this one was a clear invitation for me to enter.
Pushing the door, the creak made me cringe as the door’s weight struggled against the old hinges. I found myself swearing beneath my breath. My profanities soon dwindled into a breathless sigh as I beheld the vision before me.
Laid out across a long, set table were plates full of food. Delights of all varieties. Steam still curled from sliced meats surrounded by a bed of vegetables. What looked to be buns glazed with sticky honey, and other sweets, broke up the savoury options laid out across it. For such a large table, there were only two seats. One at the side closest to me, the other at the far end.
I found myself hesitating with my hand above the empty, waiting plate before me. Mother’s scorning voice filled my head, urging me to wait for the others to pick food first, followed by the sting of a slap on the back of my hand.
But I was alone, and she was far beyond the curse boundaries of the castle. With a smirk I snatched the plate and wasted no time in piling heaps of food onto it, and impatient fistfuls into my mouth. I did not care for the mess I made, nor the questions of how this food came to be, as I lost myself to the lust of hunger.
My mouth exploded in flavour, which was soon washed down by a glass of red liquid that I swept up without much of a thought.
The entire gulp burned as it laced down my throat. Wine. I had drunk it before during rituals and sabbats with the coven. But this taste was… different. As though I drank wealth rather than the scraps of wine Mother could obtain from the town’s small market.
I drained the glass until I stared at its crystal bottom. Then I found another and finished that too.
My mind spun but on I ate until my belly ached, pleading me to rest.
Candles burned in holders all along the length of the table. But their purpose was wasted as daylight lit the room from the four, elaborate windows across the far wall. The glass was stained with blue, red and yellow. Its reflection created a rainbow of colour across the room.
Unlike everywhere else I had been thus far, this room was well kept. Sideboards and shelving were kept clean from dust and the table still shone as though it had not long been polished.
I could not imagine the creature doing this. Which only added to my belief that others did in fact dwell within the castle.
Did they too hide from the creature? Coming out during the day when they knew they would be safe from the night dweller?
So many questions — answers of which I would get when I next came into contact with someone.
I stayed in the room, warmed by the food in my belly, until the light began to dim beyond the windows. It may have been time itself that was impossible to grasp, or the aid of the wine that let it slip away from me. But what the wine did not dull was the warning the girl had given me. As the colour changed from bright blues to dark navy I knew it was time to return.
Before I left to find my way back to my room, I grabbed a handful of cheese and bread. It may be a long night.
I should have left sooner as I did not take getting lost on my way back to the chamber into consideration. The longer I took, the more the cold fear returned at the base of my skull, which only intensified by the slicing feeling of eyes following me through the darkening castle.
The sensation of that gaze prickled the hairs down the back of my neck and made me walk faster. But the wine made my legs clumsy and my feet awkward.
