by V M Jones
Father Fahey and Aine ran out the door into the small hallway. Dr. Ryan and Dr. McNamara quickly followed. They ran to the small room at the bottom of the stairs. They quickly headed north through the hallway and back into the great hall.
“Quickly! This way!” shouted Dr. Ryan as he ran towards the north door of the room.
“Really? You had to pick up the skull,” said Dr. McNamara chastising the priest as he ran.
“Sorry. I don’t know what came over me. I was mesmerized by the orange glow,” said Father Fahey apologetically.
Suddenly there was a flash of blue light. Dr. McNamara was hit in the side of the head from an unlit torch that seemed to jump from the wall. He fell to the ground holding his hand to the site of the impact. Another torch jumped from the wall in a flash of blue light and barely missed Aine as she dropped to the ground. Dr. Ryan immediately yelled for the group to lie down together and protect themselves. The group could hear the clanging from the metal torches hitting the ground. Suddenly the air became very still. There was no noise except for the rapid breathing of the group.
Dr. Ryan sat up and immediately checked on the extent of Dr. McNamara’s injury. Father Fahey quietly sat in silence and then turned his attention to Dr. McNamara as well. The torch had just grazed the side of his head, which was bleeding slightly. Fortunately, the cut was not deep. Father Fahey grabbed a bandage from his backpack and held it on the wound to stop the bleeding. He checked Dr. McNamara’s eyes for signs of a concussion. He seemed alright and was able to respond to questions without difficulty.
The group now discussed their predicament.
“We are only halfway through castle,” said Dr. Ryan with concern on his face. “We still have a long way to go to the northeast tower.”
“How do you feel Dr. McNamara?” asked Father Fahey.
“A little sore, but that’s not what I’m worried about now.”
“What are we going to do?” asked Aine with fear in her voice.
“We have to keep going. The pulse devices seem to be working as it drove the creature back into the wall. We have four devices so we should have plenty of protection,” observed Dr. McNamara as he checked to see if he was still bleeding.
Brody interrupted the conversation on the radio, “What is going on down there?”
“It’s the creature,” said Aine quietly.
“What can I do to help?”
“There’s not much you can do except be ready to help us get out of the tower when we get there,” replied Dr. McNamara.
“It seems that the creature isn’t our only problem. Faelan is somehow attacking by hurling things at us,” observed Aine rubbing her arm where she had been hit.
The group sat in a circle facing each other talking in quiet tones as if concerned that someone or something was listening to them.
“We have got to get moving. The longer we wait the more danger we are in,” said Dr. McNamara voicing his concern.
“Let’s get moving then,” agreed Dr. Ryan as he stood up.
He led the way with Aine behind him. Dr. McNamara followed next with Father Fahey in the rear. All four of them had the pulse devices ready for the next attack. Before they could get to the door on the other side of the room, a red bolt of light appeared from Dr. Ryan’s left and seemed to wrap around his legs.
He was dragged across the floor and thrown up against the wall. The red bolt of light thrashed Dr. Ryan against the ceiling and both the west and north walls of the room. Aine reached down and pressed the button on her pulse device. Immediately a green wave of light and low rumbling sound rippled across the room. The bright green shockwave hit Dr. Ryan and whatever unseen force was holding him captive. He instantly dropped to the ground. The others raced up to him to see if he was alive or injured. Dr. Ryan was unconscious but breathing. Father Fahey looked over his body for broken bones or cuts but found none.
“Sean! Sean! Can you hear me?” asked Dr. McNamara as he tried to wake him.
After about a minute, Dr. Ryan opened his eyes. “I’m fine,” he told the group with a grimace.
He had some pain in his shoulders and legs. Father Fahey and Dr. McNamara checked his back and shoulders. There was some bruising but nothing seemed broken.
As they checked his pant legs, they noticed that there were burn marks on his pants where something had been wrapped around his legs and dragged him across the floor.
Dr. Ryan sat up. “I’m ok,” he reassured the group.
The foursome was kneeling in a circle facing each other. Aine was breathing heavy. She wanted more than anything to get to the surface. She started shaking from the surge of adrenalin.
Father Fahey sat contemplating what he had just experienced. In all of his years of working in the ministry he never had experienced anything like this before. He had felt real fear yet he stood defiant against the evil. He needed to help the lad return home in spite of the danger.
“Brody,” said Dr. McNamara into the radio, “Thanks to you we are all safe. Your pulse device works.”
“I’m just glad you’re all fine,” replied Brody relieved to hear his voice.
Dr. Ryan looked at each one of the team and could see the fear and concern in their eyes.
“All right team, let’s move,” said Dr. Ryan taking charge.
He was shaken but was able to gather his thoughts. He had to get the group through the rest of the castle and back to safety. They were close to completing the mapping of the castle. No more mapping would be done today. They only had the northwest tower left to explore.
“The more we wait here the more danger we’ll face on the way back,” reiterated Dr. McNamara as he stood.
The group agreed. Father Fahey got to his feet and helped Aine up. Dr. McNamara grabbed Dr. Ryan’s hand and helped him up.
“Keep sharp,” cautioned Dr. Ryan.
He led the group through the doorway between the great hall and the well room. The floating orbs greeted them as they entered. They were a welcome sight as they seemed to bring an air of peacefulness even though they always brought a drop in temperature. The fact that the orbs were with them meant they were safe for the moment. The group stayed close together as they crossed the room and were careful not to slip on the thin layer of water or trip over the well. They quickly passed the open doorway into the kitchen.
Dr. McNamara paused as they entered the kitchen and looked around with his headlamp. Everything seemed quiet. They made their way into the kitchen and carefully stepped around the debris that littered the floor. Their headlamps filled the room with enough light for them to maneuver across it. Father Fahey reached the far end of the kitchen first and stood by as he let the rest of the group pass through the door into the soldier’s hall.
Aine squeezed past the door and into the next room. Dr. Ryan passed through the doorway next followed by Dr. McNamara and Father Fahey. Some of the orbs followed them into the room and joined the few orbs that were already in the room.
Aine was almost to the middle of the room when the group noticed that all of the orbs suddenly seemed to disappear out of the room. Everyone froze where they stood. Instantly they could feel the hair on the back of their necks stand up. A faint glow of the familiar dreaded orange light began to fill the doorway from the kitchen that they had just passed through.
Suddenly the metal door rings on all the doors began clanging. The group instinctively dropped to the floor. Aine quickly grabbed for the shockwave device but couldn’t find it on her side pocket. Her eyes searched around the floor then saw she had dropped it a meter away in her panic to crouch down.
A red and orange shockwave emanated from the door leading from the kitchen. They braced themselves for the force of the shockwave. The red wave rippled through the room and knocked over tables and chairs.
Aine saw a chance to get up and retrieve her pulse device. As she reached for the device she saw a flash of blue light send one of the spears lying on the floor racing towards her. The spear flew through the air and p
ierced Aine in the left shoulder. She fell to the ground in pain.
Gloom and despair filled her being. She felt helpless and could feel her life being sucked out of her. A small, blue light began to glow next to her. It began to grow bigger and bigger until it almost engulfed her.
Suddenly a green light wave rippled through the room from Father Fahey’s pulse device. A second green ripple emanated from Dr. McNamara’s device. The blue light next to Aine vanished along with the orange glow from the kitchen doorway.
“We stopped them just in time,” said Dr. McNamara breathing heavily.
“Aye, a moment longer and they would have taken her,” replied Dr. Ryan leaning over on his knees.
Dr. McNamara and the others ran to Aine to assess her injuries. The spear had pierced the shoulder and fractured her clavicle. Dr. McNamara broke off the spear near the entrance to the wound. They carefully wrapped the shoulder, leaving the end of the spear in her shoulder. Father Fahey made a sling to hold Aine’s arm in place and keep the clavicle motionless to minimize damage.
Aine indicated that she could walk but Dr. McNamara was concerned that due to shock she wouldn’t be able to walk without assistance. They checked Aine’s backpack to be sure all of the equipment was still intact and working. They reassessed their strategy to return to the surface. The group had taken a beating on their return through castle and it was evident that someone or something knew they were there and would continue to impede their return. No doubt Faelan the witch was behind all of this.
“I think from what we’ve experienced we should trigger a green pulse every minute or so to clear the room of any potential danger until we can get to the top of the tower,” said Dr. McNamara quietly. “We’ll have to take turns so the devices can charge up sufficiently to generate a pulse.”
The others agreed. Dr. Ryan grabbed the DRD pack and carried it for Aine. They made their way to the other end of the room.
Dr. McNamara spoke into his radio. “Brody, Aine has been hurt. We’ll be up in a few minutes.”
Dr. Ryan led the group as Dr. McNamara assisted Aine. Father Fahey trailed the group with his finger near the trigger of the pulse device. Dr. Ryan and the group passed into the storage room. Father Fahey waited as each one passed through the doorway, then pushed the button on his pulse device. A green shock wave rippled through the air throughout the storage room and soldier’s hall.
“We’re almost there,” said Dr. Ryan encouraging them. Dr. McNamara and Aine took the lead as they made their way up the stairs of the northeast tower. Father Fahey followed behind them with Dr. Ryan in the rear. Freedom was just a few steps away. It seemed to take forever to get up the stairs to the top of the tower.
Finally, Aine could see a small beam of sunlight from the top room. Soon she could see the sunlight pouring in from the top door leading to the tower deck. As Dr. Ryan and Father Fahey inched up the stairs to freedom, they could hear an eerie screeching noise coming from the bottom of the tower. Dr. Ryan triggered one last green shockwave while the others staggered through the hole on top of the tower.
Aine reached the top first. She winced in pain as a familiar hand reached down and gently helped her out of the stairway and onto the tower deck. She was so happy to see Brody’s smiling face as he assisted her to the far end of the tower deck. Dr. McNamara pushed through his pack and climbed out. He ran over to check on Aine. Father Fahey climbed out next followed by Dr. Ryan. He and Father Fahey grabbed the handle of the door and slammed it shut.
Dr. Ryan stood and looked at the trap door and checked to see that the protective symbol was still intact above it.
12 the northwest tower
Their first concern was to get Aine the medical help she needed.
“Aine, how are you feeling?” asked Dr. McNamara while checking her shoulder.
“I’m weak and in pain,” she replied in short breaths, “But I’ll pull through.”
Brody was sitting next to Aine and brushed her hair away from her face.
“Aine, what happened?” he asked with a worried look.
“A little gift from the old witch,” replied Aine. “Would you believe a flying spear?” she added trying to smile.
“You better be alright,” said Brody as Dr. McNamara and Father Fahey helped her over to the tower ladder.
Dr. McNamara stepped onto the ladder and helped Aine make her way down. At the bottom of the ladder, Dr. Ryan, Dr. McNamara, and Father Fahey met for a little discussion.
“Let’s not give the Murphys all the details of what happened to us down there,” suggested Dr. Ryan quietly.
“I agree. They already have enough to worry about with everything else that has happened. We don’t need to add to it,” said Dr. McNamara.
Father Fahey nodded in agreement. They took Aine to the back door of the Murphy home and knocked. Ansley came to the door with a look of horror on her face.
“What happened?” she asked.
“Aine had an accident,” responded Dr. McNamara.
“It’s an old castle. It’s dangerous down there,” said Dr. Ryan trying to keep the explanation simple.
They took Aine to the guest room while Ansley quickly put a blanket over the bed. Aine lay down on the bed while Father Fahey looked over the wound. Ansley brought in some water with Patrick right behind her. Declan and Siobhan stood in the doorway.
“Children, please go to the playroom,” ordered Patrick seeing the fear in their faces.
Both children obeyed.
“We need to get Aine a proper doctor,” said Father Fahey looking at the wound.
The group discussed what they needed to do. The problem was trying to keep others away from the site who wouldn’t understand what was happening and hinder their attempt to save Tevan. It would be difficult to explain why an ancient spear was being removed from Aine’s shoulder.
“Father, who is a good doctor in Cahir that we can trust to keep quiet about this incident?” asked Dr. Ryan.
Father O’Brian had entered the room. “I know one,” he interjected.
“Patrick, could you please take Father O’Brian with you to Cahir and fetch the doctor?” asked Dr. Ryan pointing to the priest.
“My pleasure,” said Patrick anxious to be of help.
He led Father O’Brian out of the house and into the car. The rest of the group heard the car drive away.
Ansley provided some warm water and gauze for Father Fahey to prepare a dressing for the wound. He carefully removed the old bandage which was dirty and blood soaked. The spear blade was wedged against the broken collar bone and the shoulder muscle but did not break the skin at the back of the shoulder. He cleaned it off the best he could then carefully wrapped a loose gauze bandage around it.
About a half hour later the group heard a car drive up to the house. A middle-aged man carrying a medium sized bag followed Patrick and Father O’Brian into the house. The doctor removed the wrapping and took a look at the wound with the spear head still in Aine’s shoulder.
“That’s a rather nasty wound,” he remarked without asking how the spear head got there.
He took out a syringe and carefully injected around the wound to help deaden the pain. He took his scalpel and carefully made a cut around the part of the spear blade sticking out the front of the shoulder. He asked Aine to lay on her right side with the help of Father Fahey and Dr. McNamara.
“Please hold her still as I pull out the spear head,” he told them somberly.
“I’ve tried to numb the shoulder as much as I can but I’m going to have to pull it from the broken bone. It’s going to hurt some,” he cautioned Aine as he took hold of the object.
She winced in pain as he quickly pulled the spear head out from her shoulder. He cleaned out the wound and inspected it for any severe internal damage. Satisfied that no arteries or other major damage was done, he cleaned up the wound. It took several stitches to close the jagged edges. He inspected all the stitches and dressed the wound. Next he had Aine sit up.
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p; “I’m sorry but I’m going to have to cause you a little more pain,” he told her apologetically. “I’m going to reset the collar bone.”
Aine tightly gripped Brody’s hand as the doctor reset the bone. She cried out a little from the pain. Next the doctor placed a sling on Aine’s shoulder to keep the bone from moving.
“Keep her still for a couple of days and call me if it starts to bleed. Make sure she takes the antibiotics,” the doctor told Dr. McNamara.
He then asked Father O’Brian to take him back to Cahir.
After the doctor had gone, Dr. McNamara turned to Dr. Ryan, “Looks like Father O’Brian briefed the good doctor on keeping this quiet.”
“So it seems,” Dr. Ryan replied with a grin.
Brody knelt next to the bed holding Aine’s hand and stroking her hair.
Once she was resting quietly, Dr. Ryan took the DRD and connected it to his computer. He downloaded the data to his laptop and ran the synchronization software. He wanted to be sure he had at least a partial mapping of the castle in case anything happened to the DRD. He still lacked the northwest tower for a complete 3-D picture of the entire castle but he had most of the layout. The resulting 3-D map was better than he could have expected. He now had the full perimeter dimensions of the castle. Even better was the fact that it was still in fairly good condition given its age. He still couldn’t believe that he was actually exploring an undiscovered 13th century castle.
That evening the remaining group met together to update their plan to save Tevan and stop King Dubhshlaine and Faelan from completing their evil plan, whatever it was.
Dr. McNamara put forth his observations, “Let’s consider the facts as we know them so far. First, the protective symbol has been removed from the tower loophole. Since that event, there had been several paranormal events, including the disappearance of Tevan. The strange and horrible events we experienced during our exploration of the castle are proof that there is an evil force there. In a few days there is going to be a lunar eclipse. Per the history provided in the ancient archive, it was a lunar eclipse that King Dubhshlaine was going to use to gain power before being condemned to the netherworld. Looking at all of these facts together I think it is apparent that King Dubhshlaine has taken Tevan to help them get to the living world. It’s going to occur during the lunar eclipse.”