by Daniel Caet
“We need to enter the castle without anyone noticing it,” Helel answered from the door where he had been during the entire conversation.
“That is not possible. Himmler has protected the castle with all humanly possible measures. All entrances are guarded day and night, there are several security controls from any of those entrances to the center of the castle and in the towers there are soldiers armed with submachine guns not only facing outwards, but also inwards. Even if an intruder managed to get through the doors, it would be riddled in the inner courtyard.”
“But there must be a way, it is impossible to protect any place from any possible assault, Himmler must have missed something.”
“Perhaps there is a way but I could not assure it,” the man replied after thinking for a few seconds.
“Anything you can tell us will help, Heinrich.”
The man got up and tied his robe as he headed towards one of the bookstores that were on the side of the office and picked up a large volume that seemed to have seen better times and placed it on the table.
“Wewelsburg has undergone many reforms by the different owners it has had,” he said, “and that has sometimes caused some parts of the building to be hidden because it was cheaper than correcting them. What not many people know is that during the inquisition some witch trials were held in the castle, more specifically in one of the basement rooms. At that time women accused of witchcraft in the area were taken to the castle exclusively for their trial and, in order to increase their fear, they were introduced into the courtroom by a dark, wet and long tunnel that was theatrically called the mouth of hell.”
“So not original!” Helel snapped, earning a look of ice from Liliath for interrupting.
“The tunnel was rising from the bottom of the hill on the side of the Alme River that borders it,” the man continued, not paying attention to Helel, pointing to a map of the castle in the book. “The Prussians decided to cover the tunnel entrance with stone and, over time, its existence fell into oblivion and even disappeared from the current plans. Bartels knew of the tunnel's existence, but he could never find the entrance and concluded that if he couldn't find it, nobody else would. It is possible that the entrance no longer exists or that it is not even accessible, but if there is any option to enter the castle without being detected that is the only one I can think of. Anyway, the problem will not be to enter, Martha, or at least not the only one. I don't know what you intend to do in there, but once inside you will have to face the Schutzstaffel, the SS in full and something else.”
“What do you mean?”
“Actually, I don't know, Martha. I only know that while I was working there I saw very strange things happening. Himmler is obsessed with esotericism and mysticism, all the modifications he has made to the castle are based on Germanic and Nordic myths and legends, the structure of the SS itself is based on those myths. There is a whole wing of the castle where the access was forbidden, only men closest to Himmler could access. I saw many times how his men entered wooden boxes of different sizes there. The rumor was that Himmler had given orders to search around the world for different objects with supposed mystical powers that would make him win the war for Hitler, and take them to Wewelsburg. I don't know if they were all fantasies of a madman or have some reality, all I know is that one of the days that one of those boxes was received, two men went through the door to that wing and suddenly I began to hear terrible screams from the inside and a kind of intense light seeped beneath that door. The next thing that happened was that Himmler left the room and ordered two other men to remove the bodies of those soldiers. The bodies that left that room had not died of natural causes, were consumed, as if they were mummies of thousands of years. Himmler was tremendously angry, shouting at his men to redouble their efforts and do whatever it took to find it. Only God knows what he could mean, but I don't think it was anything good and I can't believe that what happened to those men was normal.
“I am deeply grateful for your help, Heinrich, I promise you that this is something I will never forget and that I will try to be as careful as possible. Now it is better that we go away,” she added, smiling affectionately, “it is time for us to stop invading your life. I promise I won't bother you anymore. Never.”
The man said nothing because there really was nothing more to say. Helel left the room without even thanking him and Liliath prepared to follow him. The moment she was about to cross the threshold of the door of that office the man called her almost in a whisper.
“Martha.”
“Yes?” Liliath replied, turning with a serious face as if waiting for what was going to happen. “Did we ever have any chance?”
“No,” she replied sincerely and bluntly, “but it was never your fault but mine. There have been others who have tried before, Heinrich, but the shadow of the ghost against which you had to compete is too dark.”
The man said nothing when he saw his assumption corroborated, but Becca realised that those phrases did not go unnoticed either for Helel who looked sideways at Liliath, although he did not say a single word.
Becca didn't have time to say anything. The scene was immediately covered in the same smoke as the previous time and when it dissipated the environment had completely changed. It was night again, but they were in a forest. The dim light that the moon brought allowed her to see the trees around her and she could feel intense cold on her skin.
“We are in the Niederhagen forest, the forest that surrounds Wewelsburg Castle and, if I remember correctly, you have to look towards that oak in the background,” Helel said, pointing to an immense tree located about thirty meters from them. Suddenly the empty space next to the oak appeared occupied by two figures dressed in black.
“I don't understand why you insisted that we appear like this, we don't know who can be in these forests, they could see us.”
“Trying to approach from afar would have been a major mistake, Liliath. Himmler has located its own concentration camp in the area near the castle, so access is guarded. Where do you think the labour for the reforms of the castle comes from?”
“Fucking bastard!”
“Be careful with manners, Liliath, anyone would say you have no education,” Helel scoffed.
“What I don't have is patience, so move on and let's get this over as soon as possible. I do not see the moment to return to my life and lose sight of you.”
“You hurt my feelings, dear wife.”
“I'm going to hurt something else in you if you don't shut up.”
Suddenly, a noise from distant voices interrupted the calm of the forest and the two stopped speaking and crouched down by the trunk of a nearby elm tree. A few minutes later, a pair of soldiers dressed in the usual Reich clothes passed by, but they were not detected.
“I told you the forest would be patrolled.”
“It doesn't matter, they wouldn't have seen us even if they wanted to. Also, I have read their minds. There will be no more patrols in the remainder of the night. We are safe.”
The two continued on their way to the edge of the forest almost where the hillside of the castle began. Becca could barely make out the ground they walked on, but those versions of her mother and father seemed to know where they were going, so they just followed them.
“It doesn't make sense, according to Heinrich's plan we should have already found the entrance to the tunnel. If it was covered with stones it should be quite evident.”
“Not necessarily,” Helel replied. “If it was covered in the Prussian era it is likely that the weed has completely covered it and in that case we could be walking over the same tunnel entrance and not realise it. We need help.”
“And what do you suggest? Do we call the soldiers to see if they know anything?” Liliath replied frustrated by the obviousness of Helel's comment.
“No. I have other friends to ask.
Helel closed his eyes and whispered something in a language that Becca didn't understand. A few seconds later, Liliath suddenly
pulled away when she looked at the leg of Helel through which a snake of a considerable size was climbing without him flinching. The viper ascended his body until its head was at the height of Helel's shoulder that now had opened its eyes and caressed the reptile as if it were a pet. He didn't say a word. His eyes looked directly into the viper's eyes and a few seconds later Helel bent down to put the creature down that disappeared immediately into the undergrowth.
“We're looking in the wrong place. The map of your dear Heinrich is inaccurate, the tunnel entrance is about two hundred meters west of here, it should be easy to recognise, two lime trees have grown on both sides of the entrance.”
“All of that, of course, you couldn't have done without calling your scaly friend. It's amazing how much you like a show!" replied Liliath.
“What can I do?, that's me!” Helel replied and his modern equivalent just shrugged in front of Liliath and smiled at him as if ratifying the comment.
They found the lime trees exactly where the animal had said and, among them, a large amount of weeds that covered a rock deposit with all the appearance of being artificial. Helel insisted that Liliath let him clear the road and with a simple movement of his hands the stones responded to his order and began to move accumulating on the sides of the entrance. To the surprise of Liliath and Becca, the Prussians had not filled the entire tunnel with stones as it would have been expected, but instead limited themselves to plugging the entrance, so, once the stones had been removed, the entrance was shown before them to a dark and cold tunnel but wide enough to allow two people to pass side by side.
“Well, now the complicated part begins. We will not be able to use torches, we do not know if the tunnel is still undiscovered on the other side and may even be patrolled. Here, use this!” Liliath said to Helel, handing him a stone the size of his hand she had taken from the ground.
“What do you intend me to do with this? Stoning the soldiers?”
“Obviously not!” the woman answered and her hand touched the stone she had given to Helel, which made it begin to shine with an intense light. “It will shut down on its own if it detects the presence of a stranger. It is much more discreet than a torch.”
“Wow, you impress me, dear wife.”
“Stop calling me that!" Liliath snapped and without waiting, she went into the tunnel.
The tunnel turned out to be completely clear. Due to the passage of time there were some sections in which the material of the walls had partially collapsed, but otherwise there was no obstacle. Liliath and Helel didn't say a word all the way trying not to attract the attention of a potential patrol. The tunnel did not have a single fork or diversion, it was an endless straight line that seemed to never end until, suddenly, a wooden door, clearly old and with rusty hinges prevented them from going beyond. Helel knew that this was the most delicate part of her intrusion into the castle. They didn't really know exactly where that door was and they might find it opened in the center of the soldiers' barracks or in Himmler's office. As if reading his thoughts, Liliath approached the door and drawing something with her finger whispered words that Becca could not hear. A symbol of an intense red colour appeared represented in the wood and a few seconds later its light went out without leaving any trace on the door.
“We can pass, there is no one on the other side, it is safe,” said the woman and her hand turned the door knocker that opened with a metallic sound that echoed in the tunnel as if they had thrown a wall. That door opened into a very small room with whitewashed walls and was completely empty, except for a small platform in the center of the stone floor where rusty rings could be seen. If they had any doubt about what that room was, they only had to look towards the upper part where a platform that was accessed from the upper floor dominated the entire room. On that platform the inquisition judges would have observed how women accused of witchcraft were tortured in an attempt to obtain a confession that, whether obtained or not, would end the lives of those unfortunate ones who had been accused by their neighbours or even their own relatives of a sin they had never committed. Becca noticed how her mother stood with her eyes closed without doing or saying anything and for a second she wanted to intervene, asking what was happening, but, just when her lips were going to open, her father approached Liliath and grabbed her tenderly by the shoulder.
“We have to go, Liliath, this is not safe.”
“So much pain!” the woman whispered without responding to his gesture or his words. “So much injustice!”
“Liliath, we don't have time now, please.” As if she had been taken out of a trance, the woman reacted and looked at him with a very serious face. “We can't stay here anymore, we must move.”
They left the room through a side door that led to a short corridor which opened to the courtyard of the fortress. They did not know in which specific part of the castle they were or where they should go, but Helel found a way to solve that little problem.
“Don't move from here,” he said, “I'll be right back.” And without Liliath being able to protest, he disappeared from her side to reappear a few moments later, but this time accompanied by a man dressed in the SS uniform. Helel held the man without letting him move while he covered his mouth, which made no one listen his protests or his attempts to free himself. Suddenly, Helel's hand settled on his forehead and the man stopped all fighting. A moment later, Helel grabbed the man's head and spun it, breaking his neck with a perfectly audible crunch.
“For all the demons! What was the reason for that, Helel?” Liliath protested clearly surprised while the body of the man fell to the ground like a sack of rubble.
“You wouldn't intend to leave him alive. I have read his mind, now I know where we are and where we should go. It has fulfilled its mission, it no longer serves me.”
“Your contempt for the value of a human life is disgusting.”
“It seems disgusting now, a few hundred years ago you would have done the same.”
“Perhaps I have managed to understand how wrong I was and changed.”
“Maybe I don't need to,” he replied with a hint of contempt as he kicked the man's body away. “Right now we don't have time for this, will you accompany me to do what we have come to do or not? Whatever they hide is in the North Tower. I can transport ourselves to the entrance door to the tower, but it would do me good if the guards of the turrets and the walls were looking the other way. Do you think we could benefit from that bad habit of yours to make things burn out?” he said wryly.
“Something like that?” Liliath replied clearly annoyed at the same time that the sound of a huge explosion echoed throughout the castle.
“Yes, something like that. I would have preferred something that would not scream at the four winds that we are trying to invade the castle, but I suppose it will have to serve.”
Without waiting for any response, Helel hugged Liliath and the two disappeared. A moment later, the scene changed again and Becca found herself in the gloom of the hollow of a stone staircase that ascended and descended in circles in front of a double wooden door that opened to give way to Helel and Liliath.
“You could have transported us inside, don't you think?”
“Not having been here before, it's a risk, we could end up in the middle of a room full of German soldiers or, worse, embedded in a wall. Aghhhh!” Helel shouted suddenly bringing his hands to his head and crouching down in pain.
“What happens? Helel, are you alright?”
“Yes, I'm fine,” he replied with almost no strength to speak. “Suddenly I felt something that I had not felt for years and that, however, is impossible.”
“What?”
"The presence of an angel,” he replied with a lost look. “It's been years since that part of my nature vanished, I can't even feel them. The energy wave has been so unexpected that my body is no longer accustomed to feeling it and it has been as if they split me in half. It does not make any sense!”
“Well, it's not the only thing that doesn't make sense. If
it is true that this tower houses whatever it is that they are hiding, you will explain to me why there is not a single guard, the tower seems empty.”
“Maybe they don't need the guards.”
“That is exactly my concern. If the guards are not needed, it is because they know that nobody can steal whatever they have. And, in that case, what the hell do they keep here?”
“Well, we can only find out one way, so I suggest we start with that door in front of us,” he said, pointing to a brief corridor behind the stairs that led to a metal door.
Originally it was a barred gate, but the gaps between the bars had been conscientiously sealed with sheets of the same material to avoid any curious glance. Helel and Liliath approached there and found that it was closed. Helel placed his hands on the lock and then a metallic sound of the lock rumbled as it opened in the silence of the stairs.
“Quickly, let's go inside in case someone has heard us!”
Liliath followed Helel into the big room and what they saw, left her speechless. The room was not especially large but was completely covered with marble, each and every wall and even the floor. Twelve columns surrounded the room, and in the center a sun-like symbol drawn with green marble occupied the position of honor so that it was visible from each corner of the room.
“This is …”
“A temple,” he finished the phrase, “or at least an attempt to recreate one on a small scale. It is a ritual hall. And one that is in use I have to say, I can feel the residual energy of the ceremonies that have been performed here.”