THE CASTLE IN THE SWAMP

Chapter 1

A long time ago in a land far away stood a magnificent castle. Altena Castle was surrounded by a glorious park. Beyond the park, and belonging to the estate, were four farms, simply named East Farm, South Farm, West Farm and North Farm, each with fertile fields and rich pastures. Well-tended woods surrounded the domain on three sides. Castle Avenue went completely around the park and from it roads led to the four farms. To the north Castle Avenue continued past the park towards Altena Village that straddled the river. Hills covered in vineyards marked the border of the property on that side. The Altena wines were known and praised far beyond the estate and even beyond the borders of the country.

The Lord and owner of all this was a kind and generous man, just like his father and grandfather had been. His main concern had always been prosperity and a good life for the people who lived on his farms and in his village. His happiness came from seeing his people happy.

The only damper on his happiness was the lack of a child, son or daughter, to whom he could leave everything he had worked for. His wife, seeing the years fly by, hid her unhappiness as best she could but her childlessness hurt more and more. Then, when they had nearly given up all hope, she became pregnant and finally the longed for child was born, a boy they named Michael. Everybody the parents could send an invitation to was invited to his christening. His mother even asked the fairy Zinaïda to be his godmother, something that was rarely done. That the fairy accepted was even rarer. The farmers and villagers, the lord's tenants, were invited to the party as well. It was a grand feast and people talked about it for years afterward.

Michael's parents were so pleased with him and he was such a lovely child that they spoiled him. They gave him everything he asked for and more besides. The servants too couldn't refuse him anything and as he was very intelligent, he soon learned to exploit their liking of him. By the time his parents noticed that something had gone wrong Michael was in his late teens.

As was custom in the family Michael had spent three years at a reputed school abroad, the same his father, grandfather and great-grandfather had gone to. His parents had given a big party for his return which Michael had enjoyed very much. In the days that followed he had to tell his parents everything about his time abroad, and he was happy to share his experience with them. He also accompanied his father on his tour of the farms and the village. Michael didn't greet the people as cordially as his father. In fact he was cool and distant, but everyone thought that was because he felt a bit strange after a long absence.

Two weeks after his return his mother heard him shouting at a young servant girl.

"I am the son and heir of the Lord of Altena Castle. You'll do as I tell you, immediately. Do you hear? Fetch me that drink or I'll have you dismissed instantly."

"Michael, what's the matter?" the Lady asked.

"I find we have the most impertinent servants, Mother. Instead of doing as they are told, they dare talk back. I want a drink, and this servant dared to refuse me. I want her sent away, now."

Michael's mother put her arm around the young girl who was crying so hard she couldn't speak.

"Don't cry, Lilly. Nobody's going to send you away. Go wash your face and continue with your work."

When the girl was out of hearing she turned to her son.

"A drink, Michael? Since when can't you get that yourself? Judging by the pile of linen she dropped, Lilly was busy. And I doubt very much she refused to get you that drink. Most likely she said she would get it as soon as she'd taken the linen to the washroom. Am I right?"

"Yes, but that's just it. She should have gotten my drink first and then continued with whatever she was doing."

"Don't be silly, Michael. That's not the way we do things here."

"It's the way my friends' parents do it."

"Then I pity the people that work for them. Now, let's have that drink together. I'll bring us some lemonade in the garden room."

"That will be nice, Mother."

Michael's mother thought this talk would solve the problem, but she was sadly mistaken. It was the first and certainly the least of such incidents, but definitely not the last. Soon Michael's parents had to acknowledge the truth. Their sweet-tempered, kind boy had grown up to become a selfish, uncaring, heartless young man.

They did their best to rectify what in their eyes had gone wrong with their son's education. They tried to show him that the way things were done at Altena Castle, with respect for everyone, created contentment and happiness. Sometimes they thought they had gotten through to him. For a few days he would be more like the boy they had known, but all too soon to their sorrow he would return to being the egotistical, callous, pitiless person who only outwardly resembled their son.

Then disaster struck. When Michael was twenty-two an epidemic raged through the land. Many of the vulnerable, the young, the old, the weak, died of it and one of the victims was Michael's mother. His father mourned his wife, couldn't live with his loss and slowly dwindled away until barely half a year after his wife, he too died.

ooOOoo

Michael was now the lord and master of the Altena estate. He immediately started to change the way the place was run. His servants were the first to feel that there was a new master at the manor. They were all given the choice between accepting lower wages and less free days or leave without reference letter. As it was virtually impossible to find another job without such a letter they could only accept the new conditions.

Next Michael focussed his attention on the farms. His tenant farmers were told that the rent would be instantly increased, and a larger part of the produce should go to the manor house. The farmers protested that they would barely be able to live of what was left for their own use, but Michael answered that they could always leave if they didn't like the conditions.

The people in the village too suffered from increased rents. Most of them worked in the vineyards and wine cellars. When Michael commanded that nine out of every ten barrels of wine produced be taken to the cellars of Altena Castle for his own use, so little was left to sell that their livelihood was under threat.

Because of these demands there was also a lack of food on the market except what Michael chose to sell at inflated prices. People feared for the future and turned to the one person they thought could help them, Michael's godmother, the fairy Zinaïda. She listened carefully to what the people of Altena told her about their changed circumstances, and went to see her godson, the new Lord of Altena.

"Michael, beware you don't ruin what your father left you," she said. "This has always been a prosperous place, but I fear this will be lost. Your tenants have difficulties meeting your demands."

Michael shrugged. "I always felt my father was too lenient towards those peasants. This land is mine. Why should I not take full advantage of that?"

"You're still young. I trust that one day you will see that your father's way was the right one. Prosperity begets prosperity; misery only leads to more misery."

"Dear Godmother, I prosper and I definitely don't feel miserable," Michael quipped.

Shaking her head Zinaïda left, still sure that he would see the error of his ways when he himself would start to feel the results of his bad management.

Unfortunately Zinaïda was called away by the Council of Fairies to a country far away where she and her colleagues were involved in keeping peace between several kings. Years of animosity and distrust wasn't fixed in a few days, not even in a few months, and during that time she knew little about the situation at Altena Castle and the estate. When she returned after more than a year of absence, and heard how grave the situation had become she decided to confront Michael with his bad management.

"Michael, I'm worried about the state of your land. You're ruining it," she said. "Your people are hungry. Their health is suffering. You can't continue this way."

"I suppose they came to you to complain, the farmers and villagers. If they don't like it they can go – as soon as they have paid their arrears."

"You want them to leave their homes? And even if they wanted to go, how can they? Your rents are too high. You take away all their produce. You leave them nothing. Your people are close to starvation, Michael. You have to change or they will die."

Michael did not like the fairy's criticism even if, deep down, he realised that she was probably right. He knew he was not loved like his father had been. He was feared and even hated. But even acknowledging this to himself made him even more determined to do as he pleased. It was his right as Lord of Altena Castle after all.

"You dare to interfere with how I run my property? It is mine. I do with it what I want. If the farmers don't like it, they can settle their debts and go. If the villagers want to leave, I won't stop them as soon as they pay what they owe me. But none of them do. So what if those people are hungry, what if they die, what do I care?"

Zinaïda's anger had grown and grown as she heard this but she kept her voice calm when she answered him.

"For the sake of your mother and father I will give you one last chance. I give you one month, starting from the first day of next month, to change your ways. If your behaviour is still the same at the end of next month I will have to punish you. Believe me, you will not like it."

Then Zinaïda left before she lost her temper completely.

Michael laughed, "The old biddy is going to punish me? I'm quaking with fear. Ha, what could she do to me, nothing that's what."

Instead of changing his ways, he became even harder, because somebody had tried to interfere with what he did. He ignored the little voice in the back of his head that told him Zinaïda was right.

ooOOoo

A month is soon over and in the last hour of the last day Zinaïda came to the castle. When the servant announced her arrival Michael was furious.

"Tell her I'm not in for her. Close the door and lock it. I don't want to see the old crone anymore."

The servant did as he was told but no sooner had he locked the door or an ear shattering noise ripped through the castle. It was as if a dozen bolts of lightning had struck at the same time.

Zinaïda suddenly appeared in the room where Michael was sitting. He recognised her but she didn't look like his old godmother at all. She looked younger, taller, more imposing. Her eyes flashed in anger.

"You dared lock me out? You dared ignore my warning? I was willing to forgive you because of the kindness of your parents. If you had changed your ways I would not have punished you. Now you'll feel my wrath to the full. You'll rue the day that you ignored my warning, you vile creature."

Without pausing to think she continued, "This is my curse on you. From now on your looks will mirror what you really are. No longer will you be the dashing, good-looking Michael, Lord of Altena Castle. Instead you'll be as foul and ugly as the character you've shown me. Your beautiful park will turn into a swamp; your castle, your home will be swallowed up by it and sink down deep into the mire; and you will be a slimy being, doomed to live deep under the surface where you can think about what you have done."

At first Michael looked unconcerned. He scoffed at the woman, "As if you could do any such thing. "

He looked at a mirror hanging on the wall nearby.

"Oh, look, I'm still dashing, good-looking Michael."

He'd barely finished speaking when he felt the castle moving. The curtains fell to the floor. Outside the full moon shone on a desolate landscape with a few stunted shrubs. Gone was the parkland. Through the windows Michael could see the earth moving upward. The castle was sinking down into the ground. A last ray of moonlight hit Michael in the face then the windows went dark. In the eerie light that now replaced the daylight they reflected the room, Michael and Zinaïda.

"Look at what you really are," said Zinaïda

Michael saw his reflection changing. Slime started to cover his clothes that decayed as if years of wear and tear happened all at once. His skin became blotchy green; his hair turned grey, sparse and limp. His whole body took on a greasy sheen.

"It's a trick," he said. "It's not real."

"Look at your hands. Look at your body."

He did as he said and saw green webbed claws, a body wrapped in filthy rags and feet that were not quite feet and not quite fins. Wherever he turned, in every window he saw the reflection of a creature, from every mirror a slimy beast of the swamp was staring back at him. Finally the full horror of his situation hit him.

"No … no … please … please … don't do this to me. I beg you. I'll change my life, I swear I will. Please, don't make me live like this, please."

He was on his knees in front of Zinaïda, pleading, begging.

"I warned you," she said. "I told you there would be consequences if you didn't alter your ways. Even the smallest change would have been enough to stay my hand. Instead you continued worse than before and insulted me, locking the doors in my face. There is no going back anymore."

Michael was lying at her feet, whimpering, "Please, don't, please, please. I can't live like this. Please, have pity on me."

"You want my pity? When did you ever show pity? Your own actions have brought you to this. You don't deserve pity, you don't deserve saving. You will spend eternity alone in your castle buried under the swamp."

"No … No … Don't leave me here alone. I can't live like this. I can't be alone. I've never … Please, I promise … I swear I'll change … Please, please." He was sobbing now.

Zinaïda remembered the delightful young boy, his parents' joy. She recalled the pride his parents and even she, his godmother, had felt. His quick mind, his thirst for knowledge, his kindness and sweet temper, everything pointed towards a bright future. What had gone wrong, when had he become the hard, selfish, uncaring master? She had cursed him, and with that curse had doomed him to eternal loneliness. Had she been too rash? Had her actions been guided by anger? She had wanted to teach him a lesson, but what was the point of learning a lesson if he couldn't profit by it? She couldn't change her spell, but perhaps he didn't have to be lonely.

"I'm sorry, Michael, but your tears are too late. I can't reverse the spell. But because of your parents, because of the boy you once were, and because you are my godson I will give you the chance to find a companion. Hundred years you have to live like this in the depths of the swamp, hundred years in which to learn why you were punished. After that period you will have a year in which you'll be able to go to the surface, though you won't be able to leave the swamp. You can try to find a woman who is willing to share your fate and live with you in your castle in the swamp. If after a year no woman has accepted your offer, the castle closes again. Hundred years later you'll have another year where you can go to the surface, another chance to find someone. The third and last time comes again hundred years later. If you fail that time as well, the swamp will close for ever over your solitude. That is the only comfort I can offer you. Learn the lesson I want to teach you, then go and find the woman who'll see the man beneath the creature. Farewell, Michael."

Another clap of thunder that shook the building and all was still. Zinaïda had gone.

ooOOoo