Author's Note: Thanks to xAkarix for the review. And thanks to AndieFed and Tears In Silence for following and favouriting.
THE CASTLE IN THE SWAMP
Chapter 7
Two days later the merchant had completely recovered and wanted to go home. Michael took him to the front door. Even though Michael had straightened the furniture, the entrance hall still looked a bit shabby and filthy to Martin.
"It's best if you close your eyes while I take you to the surface," Michael said. "It's not to hide anything. It's just not a pleasant journey."
Martin decided to trust his host and closed his eyes. He had a distinct feeling in his stomach that he was rushing upward rather speedily. Barely two heartbeats later the mad ascent came to a sudden stop.
"We're here. You can open your eyes," he heard the creature say.
He did. There in the distance was his house. He wanted to run towards it but the creature stopped him.
"Come, this way. You don't want to step in the quicksand again."
Martin followed Michael who led him in a roundabout way near the road.
"I can't take you further. Three steps in a straight line will take you to the road. I'll be here tomorrow morning waiting for your youngest daughter, Annushka."
Martin took three steps onto the road and started running towards his house. He looked around just once but the creature was gone. Michael was already sitting in the tree from which he could see the house. He saw Martin arriving at the door and starting to knock and pull the bell. The four women sitting in the parlour jumped up, startled by the noise. The oldest of the girls was the first to react and ran towards the door, quickly followed by the mother. For a moment Michael lost sight of things when Martin walked in but when the family returned to the parlour, he saw everything. Martin took his two younger daughters in his arms. They made him sit down in the comfortable chair. Annushka got his slippers and then sat on his lap; Irina got his pipe and sat on the ground at his feet. His wife, who had gone out, came back with a hot drink and Yuliya went to close the curtains.
Michael cried out "Don't!" then thought, Idiot, she can't hear you.
To his surprise the girl hesitated, looking straight at him it seemed, though that was impossible, it was too dark already. Somebody in the room must have spoken because she turned towards the speaker. Then, with a last look at where Michael was sitting in the tree, she closed the curtains and Michael returned to his castle under the swamp.
ooOOoo
When Martin's horse came home alone, Anna, Annushka and Irina panicked. The first thing Yuliya did was look across the swamp until she found something that was unusual, different. For a long time she looked at one point, then she closed her eyes. With her mind she carefully scanned the place she'd been looking at. The mud of the swamp hindered her, slowed her down, but finally she found what she had been looking for.
"He's all right," she said. 'Father is all right."
"How would you know?" said Irina. "Anything could have happened to him. Perhaps he's lying in the road with a broken neck."
This made Annushka cry even harder than before.
"Poor Father, we have to look for him."
"Don't be absurd, Annushka. The men can go and look for him."
"Irina, wait a moment," said Anna. Then she turned to Yuliya. "How do you know your father is all right?"
"I feel him," Yuliya answered. "I taught myself to find Father when he travelled. First I could feel where he was and later whether he'd been successful or not. Now I know he's alive and comfortable. Somebody is taking care of him. It would be silly to send people out to find him."
"You're probably right. It is too dangerous in this weather. They might get lost in the swamp … Are you really sure your father is fine?"
"Yes, Anna, I'm really sure," Yuliya replied.
The next day the fog had cleared and Anna sent the servants out to see if they found any trace of her husband. They found Martin's horse that had made its way to the stables, and was standing in its box. Martin, however, could not be found.
She asked Yuliya again, "Are you sure your father is all right?"
Yuliya stopped her work, closed her eyes and searched the area where she'd felt her father the day before.
"Yes," she answered after a while. "He's getting over yesterday's ordeal. I don't think he'll be away for very long."
Two days later they sat together in the parlour. Anna and the two younger girls were working on some embroidery while Yuliya was reading. She hadn't turned a page in half an hour though, her thoughts more concentrated on what was happening in the swamp.
Anna looked up. "Yuliya, could you read to us? It doesn't matter what. I can't keep my mind from worrying."
Yuliya looked up at her stepmother and sisters. She felt their worry. She had not been able to convince them that their husband and father was in no danger and would soon be back. Yuliya started reading while Anna and the girls picked up their work again. All was silent except for the gentle voice reading from the book. Suddenly the silence was shattered by loud banging on the door and ringing of the bell. The women started at the noise. Yuliya jumped up, dropped her book and ran towards the front door, quickly followed by Anna. The door was soon opened and Yuliya dragged her father inside and embraced him.
"You're home, you're home, I knew you would be all right," she cried.
Anna had arrived and fell in her husband's arms while Yuliya closed the door. Together they went into the parlour where the younger girls were waiting. Martin embraced his two younger daughters who made him sit down in the comfortable chair. Annushka got her father's slippers.
"We've missed you so, Father," she said, while nestling in his lap.
Irina handed him his pipe, sat at his feet and asked him where he had been. Then Anna came back in and handed her husband a warming drink.
"Here," she said, "You must be cold, being out in this weather."
Now that her father was home, Yuliya went to draw the curtains. Just as she was about to close them she felt something, like a stabbing pain in her head, although it wasn't quite a pain; more as if someone had shouted loudly in her ear, head-splittingly loud. She looked out of the window and had the same sensation as on the day Annushka had been scared by the noisy splash in the swamp. Something was out there but not something with bad intentions. Then she heard her father.
"Yuliya, close the curtains and come here. I must tell you something, and you all need to hear it."
Yuliya turned towards the room. "I'm coming, Father," she said.
One last time she looked out to where she knew the swamp creature would be, then she closed the curtains. She sat down next to her sister Irina on a cushion on the ground, waiting for what her father had to say. She saw the insecurity radiating from him so didn't expect him to say anything pleasant. She was still shocked by what he did have to say.
Martin told his wife and daughters how he had become lost in the swamp and that the monster of the swamp had saved him and cared for him.
"I fear I lost my horse although the creature said it hadn't wandered back into the swamp."
"It didn't," they all cried out together.
"It arrived at the stable the day after you were expected back," said Anna. "That's when we thought something bad had happened to you, but Yuliya kept saying it hadn't."
Martin looked at his oldest daughter. He wasn't surprised at what his wife had told him. His Yuliya had always been strange. Good thing they don't burn witches anymore, he thought.
"I was well taken care off," Martin said, "but my host did require payment for his care and for saving my life. I promised him what he asked for."
He fell silent, not knowing how to tell them and they all wondered what the creature could want in return for saving Martin. Yuliya studied her father and suddenly knew.
"Did he specify which one of us he wants, Father?" she asked her voice shaking from the shock of her discovery.
"Oh please, do you always have to be so melodramatic, Yuliya? What could a swamp monster want with one of us?" Irina asked.
Before Yuliya could answer this, her father continued.
"He's lonely and would like a companion. He's asked me to send all three of you for a month, one after the other, to see if perhaps one of you would be his companion. He won't force you into anything though, he promised and I believe him."
"You didn't say 'yes' to this, did you Martin?" asked Anna.
"He saved my life. Surely just one month of the life of my daughters is not that much of a payment for that?"
"No Father, it isn't. Where do I have to go and when?" said Yuliya.
"Well," Martin scratched his head. "He actually doesn't want you first, but Annushka. I don't know why."
I do, thought Yuliya. Annushka is the prettiest and Irina is nearly as pretty. I'm just their strange, plain sister. The creature wants a permanent companion, a pretty one as well.
"That's fine," she said. "I thought it would be like usual, age before beauty."
"Me? It wants me?" Annushka realised what she would have to do and panicked. "No! I can't go. I can't."
Anna tried to quieten Annushka. "Let's go to bed. Tomorrow in the light it will all look different."
ooOOoo
Of course it didn't look different for poor Annushka when she was walking to the meeting point with her father. She was whimpering all the way. When she saw the creature her sky-blue eyes opened wide in horror and she started to cry.
"Here's my youngest daughter, Annushka. You promise you won't hurt her," Martin said.
"I promise," Michael answered, and it sounded as solemn as an oath.
Reluctantly Martin left his crying daughter with Michael. How he wished he hadn't agreed to the creature's terms.
Despite her tears Michael still thought Annushka looked beautiful. He wanted to caress her honey blond curls, but he was afraid of upsetting the girl even more. Gently he guided her to the flagstone that would take them down into his home. He didn't even have to tell her to close her eyes.
As soon as they had arrived in the castle Michael took Annushka to the room he had prepared for her. Unfortunately Annushka just crawled in a corner and kept crying and crying nonstop.
Michael left her until the morning. Worried when there was no reaction to his knocking he opened the door. Annushka was asleep curled up on top of the bed, her face still wet with tears.
The door creaked and Annushka woke up. As soon as she saw Michael, she scooted off the bed, back to the corner, and started to whimper and cry in fear again.
The first week hadn't even ended when Michael thought enough was enough, for him and the girl.
"You don't have to stay any longer, Miss. I'm taking you back home. Please, don't cry anymore," he said.
The gentleness of the creature's voice stopped Annushka's crying. She followed Michael and he took her back to the surface.
There he asked her, "You are sure you don't want to complete the month?"
The fear that was suddenly apparent in her eyes told him all he wanted to know.
"Don't worry, Miss; you don't have to. Thank you for coming anyway. As a farewell present you can make a wish, any wish, and it will come true. So what do you want more than anything in the world?"
Annushka's fear was all forgotten.
"I can have a wish? Really?" she asked.
When Michael nodded she didn't hesitate a moment.
"I want somebody who really, really loves me. All romantic and true. That's what I want more than anything."
"You will get a boyfriend who will truly love you, with all his heart," Michael said. "Are you sure you don't want anything else?"
Annushka beamed. "No, that is all I want," she said.
Michael showed her how to leave the swamp after telling her he expected her middle sister the next day. He gave her a note as well, rightly thinking she was so high in the clouds she wouldn't remember his question.
Annushka ran home, thinking only that she was free and she had made a wish. Everyone was of course surprised to see her so soon. They asked her what had happened.
"He let me go," she said, "and I wished for somebody to really truly fall in love with me."
"Did he say anything?" Martin asked. "Did he say anything about Irina? Does she still have to go?"
"I don't know," answered Annushka. "I can't remember if he said anything."
Anna saw the note in the girl's hand.
"What have you got there, Annushka?" she asked.
Irina snatched the note out of her sister's hand and read it.
"The cry-baby is let off," she said. "I'm to go tomorrow. Well, I won't behave like an idiot."
ooOOoo
The next morning Martin took his middle daughter to the arranged meeting point.
"Irina, I know you don't like this, but remember that this man saved me. We owe him a debt of gratitude."
"It's not a man but a swamp beast and I'll treat it as such," Irina said. "All the rest is just sentimental nonsense."
"Don't antagonise him, Irina. You can be harsh sometimes. We can't all be as perfect as you," her father remarked sarcastically.
When they arrived at the meeting point Michael was waiting.
"This is my second daughter, Irina," Martin said. "She's come to fulfil the second part of my promise." He hesitated for a moment, and then added, "Thank you for sending Annushka home early."
Michael didn't answer. He was studying Irina. He noticed that the girl was as pretty as her youngest sister, a bit taller perhaps and slimmer. She didn't have the rich honey hair and the summer sky eyes of Annushka either. This girl with paler hair and eyes was the winter to her sister's summer. Even better: Irina wasn't crying. Michael imagined conversations they would have, human contact, companionship. Full of expectation he took Irina to the spot from where they could enter his castle. He asked Irina to stand on the stone. When he went to stand next to her she didn't like it.
"Do you have to stand this close?" she asked.
"I'm afraid so. I advise you to close your eyes for the descent, Miss. It's not a pretty sight."
"I'm going down into a swamp. What could it be but unpleasant?"
At Michael's command they sunk down into the swamp. As soon as they had arrived he showed Irina to her room.
"Not much of a castle anymore, is it?" was her first comment. "Now get out of my room, I want to sleep."
Michael left, thinking her attitude was caused by the shock of seeing him and the knowledge she wouldn't see her family for a whole month. He understood she wanted a bit of privacy. When it was time for lunch he knocked at her door.
"Miss, the table is set for lunch. I'll escort you to the dining room."
Irina came out of the room, followed Michael to the dining room, filled a plate with food, grabbed a drink and took it back to her room. She wasn't going to sit at a table with a beast. The same thing happened for the evening meal. Irina walked in, grabbed some food and a drink and breezed out again to her room.
The next day Michael saw Irina exactly three times. In the morning Irina brought the plates, cutlery and glasses she had used the previous day and dumped them on the table before grabbing her breakfast. For lunch she stayed just long enough to make herself a kind of picnic which she took back upstairs.
In the evening, while she was filling a plate, Michael said, "Wouldn't you like to spend some time away from your room, Miss? I don't eat dinner, so there's no chance my habits could disgust you."
"I prefer to eat in my room," was Irina's short answer.
"What about spending some time with me afterward? We could have a talk. I'll be in the parlour."
The look she gave him was cold enough to give him frostbite.
"There is nothing I want to talk about with an animal. I'm here for a month to pay my father's debt. I'm not interested in making friends with a beast. I would appreciate if you didn't talk to me in future. If you do, I will not respond."
Day after day passed in the same way. When Michael knocked at the door Irina came out and followed him without a word to the dining room, then carried her food back to her room. After three days Michael gave up on her. He asked the invisible powers that took care of the food to put a tray on the dining table to make it easier for Irina to carry her food upstairs. When she noticed the tray she used it but never thanked Michael for his thoughtfulness. She didn't even realise it had been his doing. To her he was nothing but a beast, an animal, a monster that held her prisoner.
To Michael the month seemed endless. Occasionally he thought of letting Irina go just like he had done with Annushka, but each time he changed his mind again.
Perhaps she will get used to seeing me, he thought. Perhaps it's no more than that. Perhaps she'll agree to stay longer once she knows I won't hurt her.
But eventually the last day of the month had arrived.
Michael knocked at her door and said, "Miss, it is time for you to go home. The month is over."
In a flash the door was opened.
"Good, let's go then. I've had more than enough of sitting cooped up in a room at the bottom of a filthy swamp. Which way is out?"
Michael preceded Irina to the front door, stepped into the cubicle and invited her in, something she did with obvious reluctance. He didn't warn her to close her eyes, but took Irina straight to the surface.
Before showing her the way home he said, "I'm sorry you didn't enjoy your stay in Altena Castle. Thank you for coming anyway. As a farewell present you can make a wish, any wish, and it will come true. So what do you want more than anything in the world?"
Irina had been expecting this, so she had her answer ready.
"I want a husband who is rich, very rich; richer by far than Father. A husband so rich that he can fulfil my every wish, however much it costs; that's what I want."
"You will get a husband who has enough money even for you. Twice that much even," Michael promised. "Are you sure you don't want anything else?"
"No, that is all I want," Irina answered.
Michael pointed her in the right direction after telling her he expected her oldest sister the next day. He didn't hold out much hope that she could be the longed for companion.
Irina ran home, cheering all the way, "I've done it, I'm free."
When she arrived home she cried out, "The creature has promised me a decent husband, one with lots of money." Then she added for Yuliya, "It's expecting you tomorrow."
ooOOoo
