James and the Changing Red

by J W Cotter

  Chapter 7even:

  Candy-Floss and Dungeons

  They continued walking up the lane, away from the village and away from the house. James’ heart had just about begun to beat again as they passed one of his neighbour’s house. Her arm was intertwined with his and she smelled like, well like love.

  “Looks like your colour is coming back!” James wasn’t quite sure how she could possibly tell how his colour appeared as the night was black dark and there were no lights on this road with its little patches of grass sprouting from the middle.

  “Just about, I think my heart is still a little fragile though” he whispered, the words frosting the air around them. It was cold, colder than earlier and after storming out of the house in a rage of pretend anger he had forgotten his coat, his hood. His Dad put up little argument when James left the house snarling that he wanted some air and hoping that the young woman followed him and more importantly that she wasn’t seen.

  “Your face was priceless when you walked into the kitchen, I mean I’ve never seen someone’s jaw actually drop” she laughed, her perfectly white teeth shining through the darkness.

  “Well you might have thought it funny, I thought they could see you and was wondering what you told them in order for you to call me ‘darling’”. She just laughed again and squeezed his arm a little tighter and glanced behind. When she had finally caught up with him by the gates of the house she told him that Ida wanted to speak with him, that it was important. He never knew the old woman’s name, the one that had poisoned him the first time they met. Apparently the poison was for his own good, she didn’t want him to know their location, not right then.

  “Come on” she whispered pulling James through an opening in the ditch and soon they were within the large woods that sprawled for miles along the countryside. Whatever light the moon and stars were supplying waned as the tops of the trees melted together to ensure darkness reigned. Suddenly it was him who was squeezing her arm.

  “Are you afraid?” She pressed herself up against him, there was immense heat radiating from her and her eyes seemed to flicker like little flames.

  “Its night, we’re in a forest and I’ve been hunted by monstrous beasts twice already, I don’t want a hat-trick”. A laugh was all he got, a loud one that seemed to carry on the wind and rustle the leaves. “I’m glad you find my peril funny!” She kissed him on the cheek, a lingering kiss, one that seemed to weaken his knees and eradicate the butterflies.

  “Come on, I’ll protect you” she laughed again as she pressed further into the forest, never once letting go of his hand.

  What seemed like miles of walking James wasn’t quite sure what exactly he was doing following this “cupid” into the dark woods to meet a woman who personally poisoned him and left him in a field to find his own way home. He was sure it was better than the alternative of having to spend a dreadful evening with his father and her but still he was nervous and so he abruptly stopped.

  “What’s wrong?” the cupid asked. She was mere inches from him and James could feel her breathing, it was warm and calm like her.

  “Where are we going?”

  “I told you, to see Ida”

  “Why should I?”

  “James” The cupid placed a hand on his cheek, it was soft and warm against the cold that had left its mark. “We’re going to see Ida because she wants to thank you for saving Belle. Please, it’s very important to her”

  For a moment he did nothing, said nothing and looked into nothing. Then she placed her other hand on his other cheek to drive away the cold and force his eyes to meet hers.

  “What’s your name?” he asked, seeing that it was only fair that if he be dragged through the countryside by a woman in the dark of night he should know her name. Leaning in close, tipping on her toes, she whispered in his ear. “Maylue….but my friends call me Lue”

  The two of them took up where they left off and with Lue guiding the forest seemed to thicken around them. A little wind rattled the leaves on the trees once again and caused a little flurry of bushes to shiver on the ground as James walked by. Darkness had filled James’ eyes and only the severe rushing of water brought back a memory to him from his childhood, he had an idea of where he was. Still holding Lue’s hand he suddenly stopped and glancing to his left he could see a small light in the distance.

  “Harlin’s Castle?” he asked, peering through the trees for a better look. The castle was old, very old. From what James could remember the castle had been built seven hundred years ago, destroyed and rebuilt five hundred years ago and then destroyed once more only never to be fully rebuilt. A bridge that had once served as a gateway to the castle and its overgrown grounds had washed away when he was still in primary school and there was no way across anymore. The local council deemed it the best as the castle was seen as a stomping ground for bored teenagers to dabble in things they had no business to be dabbling in.

  “Well, it’s not really called Harlin’s castle. The Veiled Castle was its original name” Lue said as she left go of James’ hand and once again intertwined her arm with his. James looked at the castle in the distance and then to Lue.

  “The Veiled Castle?”

  “I’ll let Ida explain to you” Lue said as she patted his chest and smiled. For some reason the two of them remained standing there staring at the dancing minute light in the distance as the current rushed along the banks. A snapping twig from behind shook them from their little trance and both of them turned with James feeling the need to push Lue behind him, to protect her. There was no need. Out of nowhere a long red bow appeared in her hand complete with a little black quiver on her back. An arrow was swiftly loaded, completely silver with a red pointed tip and red feathers at the base. Within seconds of them turning she had loaded and loosened the arrow and as James strained to watch the silver glimmer as it shot through the dark it burst into three separate arrows, each as dangerous as the original. They landed on two trees and an arm.

  “Bloody hell there was no need for that!” a voice moaned from the night. James stayed perfectly still while Lue dashed after her arrows and towards the injured voice. Calling after her was no good as she wasn’t a dog and the feeling to protect her was gone and in its place, fear. Moments of silence that seemed to stretch for hours passed and eventually he could hear the sounds of footsteps coming. A tall, handsome man with cropped dark hair and striking red leather pants was leaning on Lue’s shoulder. Around his arm was a make-shift bandage where a small smudge of blood could be seen.

  “I was only coming to see what was taking you so long; there was no need to bloody shoot me”

  “Yes there was when you were hiding in the bushes like some garden variety weirdo” The two of them came to a stop by James, their nagging reminiscent of an old married couple.

  “James, I’d like to introduce August, the creeping cupid” Lue laughed as she freed herself from his thick shoulder and returned to James’ side.

  “Gust, I go by Gust” he said shaking James’ hand. Two feet taller and about three foot wider than James, he was suddenly reminded of the beast of a man who had attacked him in the bank vault and his body suddenly trembled. Shaking he fell to the cold earth and cried in pain as his body seemingly tried to rip itself into two.

  “What did you do?” Lue screamed as she knelt by James’ trembling head and rubbed his forehead.

  “Nothing, I just shook his hand. Didn’t shoot him with an arrow that’s for sure” Gust replied with a hint of sarcasm to hide his sudden panic. The panic didn’t fade when James passed out on the ground, his body not moving and his breathing utterly shallow.

  He woke with a start, still on the ground although this one was harder. Getting up was harder to do and so first he sat rubbing his eyes as they remained blurred and unable to focus. A few moments passed before his sight was as it was and so he stood, wobbling slightly, not unlike a newly born calf. The forest wasn’t around hi
m anymore; he was somewhere else, somewhere warmer. Taking a few steps he moved toward a gate, its padlocked chain hanging from a handle, broken. Dreaming? Not sure what else to do he moved closer to the gate and slipped inside. Around him was an unsettling place, the creepiest of places. To his left stood a once colourful building that had two entrances and a long balcony, not unlike the funhouses that he’d visited when the funfair arrived in Hamlet. This one though had clearly seen better days, the doors were broken, some signs with foreign words hung broken like the chain on the gate and there were at least two holes in the balcony floor. Beside it was a van, with a picture of candy-floss on it, James remembered the candy-floss his mother gave him at the fair, sticky and sugary. A warm wind caught hold of a couple of giant tea-cups and they slowly creaked, almost crying out for some oil. The sound they made startled him and caused a shiver.

  “I’m dreaming, I was just in Hamlet”. Smoke caught his nose and turned his glance away from the crying tea-cups and to the rollercoaster, the extremely dangerous, hazardous looking rollercoaster. From the distance James could just about make out someone standing under the rollercoaster, a small fire dwindling by their back. “What are they looking at?” Moving closer James could see that it was a girl, she was staring into the fire the flames dancing in her eyes then out of the shadows of the rollercoaster another person emerged, small and stout hobbling with cane and hump. “Looks like Ida!” As he continued to watch them the old woman pulled something from her sleeve and tossed it into the flames. They leapt ten feet high into the night (the flames not the women) and then turned an entrancing green and then they were gone. All of a sudden it was as if the old woman could sense James’ presence, her eyes peered through the dark directly to him and her cane pointed in his direction.

  “Help us!” the girl cried from the rim of the fire. James came out of the shadows and smiled at them as he slowly made his way around some chains on the ground and broken bumper-cars. Closer he could make out the two; both of them had dark complexions, although their skin was separated by decades. The younger woman was closer, both to the fire and to James’ age. Her beauty stopped James still, her curled hair tumbling down beyond her shoulders as it gently swayed in the soft wind froze his heart for a moment. Near enough to talk, not shout, James was about to introduce himself when a tall lean man not unlike the young woman in appearance pounced from behind a gaming stall a long knife firmly in his hand.

  “No, no don’t!” the girl begged but it was too late, the man had thrust the knife into James’ chest. Just as James tried to free himself from the attack he fell backwards and woke once more, this time in familiar surroundings. Ida’s little study, familiar surroundings, not exactly welcomed ones.

  “He’s awake, he’s awake!” was the sound that rang through his ears as James slowly came around. “He’s bleeding, he’s bleeding” the same voice cried as she spied the blood pooling around the centre of his shirt. All of a sudden the small room where James had once been poisoned swelled with people, some of them he had seen the first night he arrived in the castle, others (one or two) he had never seen before.

  “Good heavens I was right” an old man announced as he stood in the door frame leaning on a long slender stick.

  “Well there’s always a first time for everything” Ida replied making her way to James who was still lying on her appropriate fainting couch. She seemed worried watching as the blood still began to slowly trickle out from his shirt and down onto the couch. Licking a piece of cloth she started to wipe the delicate canary yellow fabric. “Damn that’s going to leave a stain” she sighed as the blood began to dry. Waving her hand the room started to quickly empty, the cupids, muses and hippies all vanished from sight as did all but one of the brown robed things. All that remained were Ida, Mikel, the old man standing by the door frame and a brown robe.

  “So old man what was is that you were right about?” the brown robe asked and as soon as he was about to answer Ida snapped like only an old woman could and the room fell silent. She glanced at both Mikel and the brown robe and curtly said “you’re dismissed” and the two of them left, although Mikel seemed a bit miffed he joined hands with the brown robe and fizzled away in a gust of sand. That just left James with the old woman and the even older man. A twinge of pain rippled his chest and James could feel the skin pulling itself together stretching over the gash and mending itself. Sitting up he opened the shirt to see the faintest of scars left in its place.

  “Oh to have a warrior’s gifts” Ida said as she got up from the couch and went to the large desk that was placed in front of the bay window. The old man still stood quiet by the door and James tried to get a better look at him, it was hard as he was almost entirely engulfed by the shadows. She returned from the desk with a T-shirt, one with a large cartoon character on the front, and small bottle containing a clear liquid. A sudden horrible realisation came over James as he watched her approach, if she was going to try and make him drink whatever was in that bottle he would have no problem punching her, old or not. Luckily for both of them she just tossed the T-shirt at him and apologised for not having anything more in his style. The liquid in the bottle turned out to be “White Spirits” and she dabbed the stains on the couch with it in a bid to curb the permanent setting of the marks. Feeling suddenly in the way James stood up while Ida continued dabbing the blood with the white spirits, every few dabs she would empty another dose of liquid onto the cloth so much so that the air in the small room was replaced with fumes. James quickly changed into the shirt that she had thrown at him and he was getting ever more curios about the man that was still somewhat hidden by the shadows. His outline was clear, a tall man but old, he was slightly stooped and his hair was white; not very easy to hide in the shadows. The long stick in his hand seemed almost as old as him and James couldn’t help but notice that it was attached to him, there was a string around the top that was wound around the old man’s wrist. “Now that’s better, I’ll give it a chance to dry!” Ida said getting up from her cleaning and swaying slightly before the old man caught her by the arm and steadied her to her feet. James was taken aback. Not by the swift movement of the man but the fact that he was blind. His eyes were open but they, like his hair, were pure white.

  “Oh thank you Robert, I think the fumes went straight to my head” she said taking the arm that steadied her and intertwining hers. James looked at them both with great curiosity. For once he wasn’t afraid to be in the castle. Standing in front of him were two frightfully old people both of whom had canes. She used hers to aid her walking and he used his to guide his way through his dark world. After a few moments of an awkward silence finally Ida started to move away from Robert and with her cane tapping she made her way towards the fireplace. Using her cane she pushed back the large plush green mat that lay in front of the fire to reveal a trap-door. Crooking the cane she caught hold on the iron handle and slowly pulled; a little creak and then a loud bang revealed a lot of dust and a set of stairs. Robert had followed the sound of Ida’s “tapping” and the creaking and was now standing mere inches from the open hole in the ground. James followed slowly and looking down all he could see were concrete steps swimming in darkness.

  “There’s no way I’m going down there” he said backing away from the trap door and retreating to the slightly blood-stained couch.

  “Don’t be so dramatic. We’re all going down there” Ida said as she lifted an old oil lamp from behind her desk and struck a match. The smell was almost as bad as the fumes from the white spirits and James wasn’t exactly sure how the whole room didn’t catch fire when she lit the match. Taking hold of Robert’s hand the old woman slowly made her down the cold stairs and as she went she lit small candles placed in carved crevasses in the wall, soon the whole passageway was lighting.

  “My boy, give an old man a hand?” Robert asked outstretching his arm blindingly trying to find James. Reluctantly James heeded the man’s request and helped him gently onto the first large step, and
then the second and soon only his top half remained in the room. “Not coming boy?” he asked when he couldn’t hear James footsteps behind.

  “Last time I was here I was attacked, almost squashed in a tiny room and then poisoned, so no I’m not going down into another hole!” he replied taking a few steps back from the trap door.

  “Ah well that’s a great loss” he said feeling the ground with the cane and the walls with his hand moving down ever so carefully. The candles in the wall proved no good to the old man but he could feel their warmth on his face and he was cautious not to allow his hand to fall into a crevasse and burn.

  “I’m sure yee will get over it” James replied as he stood peering over the edge watching as the old man’s head went lower and lower. The old man let out a loud bellowing laugh followed by a chesty cough that seemed to echo through the entire room.

  “It’s a loss for you boy, not for us! We know everything we need to know and more. It’s you that needs to come down here, for I know stories that will curl your toes and warm you heart” he said as his feet landed on yet another step. James wasn’t exactly coming around to the idea and was still defiantly standing in the room glancing down, wary not to get too close for he feared someone could just pop up behind him and push him down.

  “Why can’t you tell me the stories up here?”

  “Well if herself wanted me to tell you the stories up there, she wouldn’t have gone down there now would she? You never know boy, there are ears everywhere and tongues waiting to wag”. James was unsure. The thirst for information was boiling within him but the fear of being locked up in some dungeon the moment he followed the two old fogies down the stairs stopped him. In the room he wasn’t afraid of them, but now they have the element of surprise and what did James have? Nothing but a longing to understand and a fear of what knowing might bring.

  “Tell me what you were right about first?” James shouted hoping that Robert’s ears hadn’t gone the way of his eyes.

  “Astral-projection boy, you can do it” was the reply that floated out of the hole. James tried to think, he had never heard of that before, although to be fair he hadn’t heard of a lot of things. Swallowing a deep breath that consisted more of white spirit fumes and remnants of smoke from the match James descended the steps feeling the wall like the old man did before him.

  James reached the end of the staircase quickly; he was after all closer to the early stage of a century unlike the other two. Nonetheless once there he was alone, both the blind old man and the hobbling woman were gone. There was only one way, straight down a long narrow corridor no wider than a kitchen drawer and so he started, slowly at first then gradually picking up speed when he could hear the chatter of the two. Getting closer, he could see a stream of light spilling out into the narrow corridor but then he heard something jerk in the shadowed space behind him and so he reluctantly turned. Stone that had come to life. That’s what stood before him, seven feet of man carved in grey stone; the spear clutched in its hand was real steel though. Another jerking sound filled his ears from behind and without looking he knew it was going to be a compatriot to this none-too-friendly guard. James smiled. Why did I think this time was going to be different? Not knowing what to do and seeing as no one was coming to see what was keeping him James tried to move past the guard blocking the retreat to the stairs. A cold arm knocked him back to the ground up against the feet of the second guard. Looking upwards James could just see legs of thick stone then its head tilted downwards, a bronze mask covering its face. Moving rather swiftly the bronze masked guard lifted the spear and attempted to plunge deep in James’ chest. Seeing as there was no ability to roll out of the way of the down coming weapon James had no other option but to catch it the steel mere inches from his throat. Using the strength that apparently came with being a warrior James was able to snap the head off the spear and thrust the shaft upwards into the still tilted head; it came off and landed by James’ head the bronze mask falling off to reveal a blank face. The rest of the headless guard remained standing in the exact same spot, limp and so fearing the repercussions from the other stone guard James quickly got up and tried to make his way to Ida and Robert. Unfortunately knocking the head off the guards didn’t render them useless as James could testify to when the arms of the headless guard wrapped themselves around him and started squeezing. Feeling as if he were locked in the grips of a jaws-of-life James was almost certain he could hear his ribs snapping one by one as the stone pulled him tighter. He screamed, loudly.

  “Dimittere Eum” cried Ida as she appeared in the stream of light down the end of the narrow corridor. The arms suddenly opened and James slumped to the floor, winded and broken. Ida’s cane began to tap as she slowly made her way up towards him and the two stone guards. “Recidimus” she said, unable to get past the headless guard. The two guards then slowly morphed back into the stone wall, the second one taking his head and bronze mask along with him. Looking up James could see the bronze mask on the wall and glancing up and down the narrow corridor could see hundreds more on either side. Seeing as they were over seven feet up off the ground he hadn’t noticed them earlier. “Silly boy! Why didn’t you call out sooner?” James didn’t have an answer for her so just shrugged; he wasn’t sure why he didn’t call out sooner. Perhaps he felt as though he could handle himself, although his feeling was wrong. Ida leaned up against the wall and tried to catch her breath, she was panting like a small terrier after chasing a bird.

  “Come on boy…..there’s a world waiting……for….you…..down there” she said in between trying to catch breaths. Then James did something he really didn’t expect to do, he offered his arm to the old woman and the two walked slowly down the passageway and through the opening, the door shut closed behind them with a bang.

  Inside the room was large, larger than any other room in the castle that James had seen. There wasn’t a window in sight, which was to be expected as they were underground, the cold could still be felt even though there were numerous fires burning both in hearths and large brass plates that hung from the ceiling and rested upon pillars. Robert was standing against a wall between two large hearths and that’s where Ida made her way to, James followed.

  “This is my favourite place in the entire castle, the things here are for no one else’s eyes but mine and Robert’s and now yours” Ida said as she picked up a small book and rubbed her hand along its spine.

  “What about Mikel? Does he not come down here?” James asked as a large red curtain took his eye.

  “Good heavens no, no one is allowed down here for there are things here that may never leave this room, both in memory and possession” she said as she took hold of a long gold tassel and gave it a tug. The curtain fell to the floor, narrowly avoiding contact with both fires. All three of them stood there looking at the wall, two actually seeing it.

  “James I give you home” Ida announced gleefully as she and Robert stepped back as the young boy stepped closer. He didn’t speak; his eyes roamed the vast image on the wall. It was painted on, well most of it other parts seemed to be actually made and placed on the wall or perhaps were part of the plaster. Most of the wall was green, there was blue for what James presumed to be an ocean and up near the ceiling were numerous grey mounds coming out of the wall, mountains and looking closer he could make out some writing, “Midget Mountains”. It seemed an inappropriate name for them as they ranged all along the wall and even travelled halfway down the east. As his eyes followed the mountains he made out another bit of blue, it was thin and stretched along the entire wall moving almost in a straight line from the East Mountains to the ocean, which he now could see was called “The Swallowing Sea”.

  “What is this?” he asked as he moved his hand along little green bumps, a forest by the east midgets.

  “I told you James, home. Not exactly yours but your mother’s and your mother’s family” Ida said as she placed her hand on James back. James took his hand off the green bumps and stepped back
once more forcing the old woman’s hand away. “See where your hand was just now, that’s the ‘Third Forest’ home to thousands of people and ruled by a family that has been decimated to the brink of extinction.” Ida said as she herself placed her hand on the little mound of green that represented the forest. “The D’aragons, a name born from the ashes of a broken family, once ruled the forest, their seat being in Kingsbirth, a city now reduced to nothing but empty streets and burned buildings.” Robert nodded silently as he traced his hand along the map. James continued to stare at the map while Ida whispered briefly the story of the origins of the D’aragons. She spoke of two brothers thousands of years ago who fought over the love of a young woman and one ended up accidently slaying their mother, he was subsequently banished but he took hundreds of citizens, resources and charisma and built himself a new kingdom. “He came from there, Pastorious” she said pointing to a large walled city on the edge of a cliff. It too had a forest within its walls but it was smaller and backed out almost to the cliff’s edge. James moved closer to the wall, placing his hand on a large white mound of plaster that seemed to represent a castle of some sort. “The Palace of Vicomte, home to King Vance Vadsaria and his family” Ida said as she once again placed her hand on James’ shoulder. “Your mother’s family, and yours” she said. Suddenly filled with a mixture of confusion and anger James shrugged her hand off and slowly backed away from the wall. “James, what’s wrong?”

  “You’re lying, it’s all a lie” he replied moving closer to the door.

  “I promise you it’s not, this is your heritage. You’re mother’s lineage can be traced back thousands of years, all of them spent ruling a world very similar to ours in some ways yet vastly different in others.” Robert announced loudly yet still staring at the wall. “See that forest there, in Pastorious” he continued. “I ran through that forest along with your mother almost twenty years ago in search of a dangerous man” he paused for a moment, while James was tittering on the edge of the doorway. “At the edge of that forest there are two pillars, orange in the sun, blue in the moon and grey most times reaching almost thirty feet into the sky. Legend had it that they served as the gateway to another world, but nobody had ever witnessed nor knew anybody who ever passed through it” he rested his face against the cold blue waters on the wall. “Nobody ever dared attempt to go through it as to do so would send you falling to your death in the Bay of Fires, but one night, one strange night when the world known as Nuvarin experienced a rebirth”. Ida seemed enthralled by the story, her eyes had tears and one hand was clasped over her mouth. “MAGIC”, “Magic had returned to the world it all but abandoned centuries before and with it came danger”.

  “The man? Who was the man you and my mother were chasing?” James asked, still standing on the threshold, one leg in the hallway.

  “Dako, Dako Aryal. A young man who became the first warrior in over two hundred years, and his ‘gift from nature’, a son from your mother’s sister Valery who died in childbirth” Ida had now sat down and had pulled a lace handkerchief from her sleeve and was dabbing at her eyes as streams of tears were now flowing.

  “James come away from the door and listen” she said beckoning the boy closer.

  “I can hear perfectly fine from where I am” he retorted, not really sure what he was going to do but he liked the option of being close to an exit. “So how come the man was dangerous, because he was a warrior because according to you so am I” he said turning his attention to Robert.

  “Yes you’re a warrior, and so was he, but Dako’s intentions were never honourable, and he manipulated your aunt into a terrible situation. He caused ripples between her and her family and when a murder that was arranged on the King’s behalf failed, both Dako and a heavily pregnant Valery vanished into the millions of citizens of Pastorious. We found them two days later and that’s when we learned Dako had become a warrior, his strength knocked five of my best men through a wall and then he took the screaming newborn and ran into the night, leaving a naïve Princess Valery dead on a filthy straw bed. Your mother and I followed him all the way to the first forest where I swear to this day he jumped through the pillars and in a dazzling purple light he vanished. Victoria, not thinking about her own safety flung herself through the pillars and me being her sworn guard followed.” He turned to face James, his white eyes staring directly at him. “I found myself in a dark new world, your mother was lying on the ground unconscious, Dako and the baby were gone and I’ve never seen anything since that night” he finished turning away from them and facing the map.

  James remained on the threshold, still, looking at the large map beautifully placed on the wall with no idea how to comprehend what he had just heard. His head was spinning with thoughts of another world and sudden little flashbacks came screaming back to him, things his mother said in passing that he took no notice of. She always did call James her little “Prince”, and that one day if she could she would take him to a “place far more beautiful” than here. James had just thought she was talking about Australia or something. A whole other world existed and with it half of James’ heritage but he wasn’t sure he wanted to hear any more about it, especially tonight. Not uttering a single word to either Robert or Ida James stepped backward out the door and started walking to the stairs, then jogging and finally running, before he knew it he was panting in the middle of Ida’s little room. Scratching his blonde hair that was wet with sweat he looked around the room, there wasn’t exactly an exit that he could see. There was no door, only bookcases, a window and a large painting he hadn’t spotted earlier. Fearing the stone creatures to emerge from the walls below and hunt him down, or worse still Ida hobbling up the steps with a stern face and a whip-like cane James started to rip books from their shelves. He had hoped that one of them might have been a dummy, a latch to open a secret passageway. With hundreds of books thrown all across the room James panicked and doubled over to catch his breath before standing tall and looking again at the painting. It was so obvious he smiled stupidly to himself as he casually walked over to it. The painting reached from the ground to the ceiling and was about the same width of a door and with great ease James hoisted it from the wall and tossed it aside. Obvious it might have been which was probably why there was no hidden doorway behind the painting. That was it; there was no other option for James so as he made his way to the window he prayed that it wasn’t too far to the ground below, and that the ground below was grass.

  Beyond the window was the dark sky and as James opened it he realised that the window was only a window to a corridor, a narrow tunnel that ran along outside the room. Barely two feet wide he managed to slide himself into the tunnel and slowly began to run along the corridor, passing the numerous little slits of windows that actually were windows to the outside. Finally he came to a door, a large wooden door with heavy black hinges and numerous cobwebs. Figures. Of course the door would have to have been locked, it if it hadn’t James might have been fearful that something was working to his advantage. The only advantage that he apparently did have was this warrior strength and so backing back, he shook himself from head to toe and charged. Being big and old James was sure the door would take a few tries before it would falter; he hadn’t figured that it might have succumbed to rotting and James fell right through it landing by the top of a staircase.

  “Good heavens boy if you wanted to leave all you needed to do was ask, no use in breaking apart the castle. That door was over five hundred years old” she tutted picking at a few broken pieces of timber with her cane.

  “How did you catch up with me?” James asked getting up from the ground and dusting himself off.

  “My boy you have seen first hand the amount of secret passageways here, I can be everywhere and nowhere in a matter of moments, my legs work quickly when the need arises” she said walking to the top of the stairs and smiling. “Look James, the front door, perhaps you would like to give it a try?” They both descended slowly to the foyer and remarkably ther
e were still alone, no one had come to investigate the loud bang, not even Mikel. At the front door Ida grabbed James by the hand and looked at him.

  “The astral-projection. James I need you to tell me where did you go? Who did you see?” she asked, her grip on his hand intensifying. Slightly scared James told her exactly what he saw; who he saw and she made him promise to keep everything to himself until SHE asked him. As the door closed behind, the night air filled his head with a momentary sense of clarity and as he headed in no particular direction the evening’s revelations started rushing back.