Author's Note: Thank you to AliceMina and Guest(Nice) for the reviews. Thanks to new follower SusyQ and big thanks to LunaPadma for adding the story to her favourites.
THE CASTLE IN THE SWAMP
Chapter 6
Time flies when you have a good book to read and Michael had thousands upon thousands of them. With so many books even hundred years are no more than a sigh. Zinaïda came and was pleased with what she saw.
"Do you realise you're not slimy anymore?" she asked.
"Really? I haven't noticed."
"Didn't you see it in the mirror then? You even have a better colour. Not so blotchy."
"I haven't looked at a mirror in ages. I've been stuck with my nose in a book most times. Besides, I don't really relish seeing this face in a mirror."
A little smile flitted across Michael's face.
"You can't really be vain, looking like this."
"You'll never know how happy it makes me to hear you say that," said Zinaïda.
Together Zinaïda and Michael went to the surface. Michael noticed immediately that the South farm had gone and that in its place now stood a large house. Some splashes of colour told him it was probably surrounded by a garden.
"It's an improvement," he said. "The farm had started to look a bit sad. It's not a farm anymore, is it? Who lives there now?"
"I don't know," said Zinaïda. "Something for you to find out."
"I'll introduce myself as their neighbour if they ever come into the swamp. Talk of which: is it me or does it look and smell differently, not so awful?"
"Oh, it's definitely you. The swamp has changed just like you have changed. I told you, you are connected to it."
"Do you think a girl could like this improved swamp?"
"The right girl might."
"Hmm, I don't know if I could trust the mental state of a girl who likes a swamp."
"You'll have to find out for yourself."
"If I get a chance to meet a girl. This is the last opportunity, isn't it? After this year it's the swamp for eternity, whether I find a girl or not. That is the curse, isn't it?"
"It is, and because of that I can give you something that may help you to find a girl. You can tell the girl that she can make a wish if she spends some time with you, and I'll make sure it comes true. You can even give the girl more than one wish if she agrees to stay longer. Perhaps this way some girl may get to know you and agree to remain."
"What do you suggest, Zinaïda? That I place and advert in the local paper that says 'Stay with The Beast and Have a Wish Come True'?" he scoffed. "I don't think so. I'm not bribing any girl to spend time with me, but if one does, I'll let her have a wish afterward. If that is acceptable."
"Whichever way you want to do it. It is up to you. Good luck, Michael. I sincerely hope you will find the right girl this time. I believe you deserve it now."
Zinaïda was gone. Michael took a last look at the new house and went back into the swamp towards the north side, where the village was. After all, that's where he had met the girls the previous time.
ooOOoo
On the day that Michael came to the surface Anna and the girls had walked across to their nearest neighbours at North Farm. During the normal chitchat they happened to mention that they had walked part of the way through the swamp, as it was a shorter route. The farmer and his wife were surprised.
"The swamp is not a safe place," they said. "A thing, a creature lives there and it wants girls. The last time it was seen by several girls and not one man ever saw it."
"Why would it want a girl? What can a creature do with a girl? Surely those girls just told stories because they'd stayed out too late," said a disbelieving Irina.
"Nobody knows. Greatgran knew at least one of the girls that had seen the creature. She was a friend of Greatgran's mother."
They looked at the old lady in the rocking chair near the open hearth.
"They came through the swamp, Greatgran!" the farmer's wife shouted. "You know, where the creature is!"
"Yes, yes," Greatgran croaked, nodding her head. "Aunty Sarah saw it … The creature came up to her and she ran and screamed ... Yes, that's what she said, she screamed and ran ... Filthy, it was filthy … That's what she said … Dripping with slime, she said ... yes, yes … don't go in the swamp, she said … had nightmares all her life."
"Terrifying for Aunt Sarah, I'm sure," said Anna "How long ago was this? Surely that creature must be dead by now."
Anna had seen Annushka shaking with fear and wanted to make it clear to her that there was nothing to be afraid of. It was all a story from a very old woman. The answer she got was not the kind to reassure poor Annushka.
"It must have been about a hundred years ago," said the farmer's wife. "It is said though, and written down in the history of the village, that the same thing happened about hundred years before that. It was the daughter of the South Farm who saw the creature, so the story goes. It's all written down in a book, in the village hall."
Anna decided that they couldn't stay too long. The quicker they left, the less time for Annushka to think about what she'd just been told.
They decided to go back the way they had come, it was a shorter road and clearly also a safe road. They were halfway down the path through the swamp when they suddenly heard a big splash. Yuliya just managed to grab hold of her youngest sister before she could run away in fear. She looked in the direction from where the noise had come. What she felt didn't frighten but rather reassured her.
"No need to be afraid, Annushka. There is nothing out there that wants to harm us. Come, we'll walk arm in arm and we'll soon be out of the swamp and home."
Yuliya felt Annushka was shaking with fear. Followed by Anna and Irina they walked due west. Yuliya wanted to be out of the swamp quickly even if it meant taking a longer route home, so she cut across to the main road that skirted the swamp. Annushka calmed down as soon as they had left the swamp. They continued on the road where it turned south and reached the private lane to their home without hearing another sound.
Of course it was Michael who had made the noise. He had been out all day, never seeing a living soul and then there were four women walking quite deep in the swamp, striding confidently as if they were in the village main street instead of on a path through a swamp. He was so surprised that he lost his footing and stepped into a puddle with the loudest splash imaginable. He noticed the one in front looking across the swamp, looking in his direction, as if she saw him. When they walked away Michael tried to follow, to see where they were going to. Luckily two of them started to talk. Following the sound of chatting voices he knew they had turned south.
While trying to follow them, Michael nearly bumped into the only tree in the swamp. Before the curse it had been an enormously wide and tall oak tree that had grown in the park close to the surrounding wall. Now it looked sickly and didn't have the lush canopy of old, but it was still sturdy and tall. Michael climbed up the tree as high as he could. From this vantage point he spotted the girls in the grounds of the new manor. He realized he had seen, if not actually met, the new neighbours.
The next day the merchant was going into Ellinford. Anna, Irina and Annushka would accompany him because the girls needed some new clothing. Yuliya asked to be excused and was allowed to stay home. When she said she wanted to do some reading her two sisters groaned.
"Good gracious, you're always with your nose in books. Soon you'll look like a frump if you don't get any new clothes," said Irina.
"You might miss out on meeting the man of your life, if you don't go out," Annushka sighed.
"One: I don't need any new clothes and two: I go out enough for that man to meet me. Today I just feel like doing something else. Enjoy your day out."
Yuliya finally managed to convince her family that she wanted to stay at home and, yes, she would be all right and she would be careful. Then a last wave and they were gone.
As soon as the coach was out of sight Yuliya went to the stables and ordered her horse to be saddled. Meanwhile she changed into her riding dress. Her horse was waiting when she came down. She wasted no time and soon was on her way to the village. The story of the creature had intrigued her and what she had felt while looking out over the swamp had only increased her eagerness to know more.
Although she soon located the village hall – not difficult in such a small village – it took a lot more time before she was allowed to see the book with the history of the creature. Then they had to find it. Nobody had wanted to look in it for nearly hundred years and not one of the clerks was sure where it had been put. Eventually it was located at the back of a cupboard and Yuliya could start reading.
At first she thought it was the wrong book. The title said 'The Disappearance of Altena Castle'. To her surprise she read that a castle once stood where now there was only swampland. According to the book one night the castle and the park around it had disappeared and in its stead had been a terrible putrid swamp with foul fumes polluting the air around it. It hardly sounded like the same place.
The first sighting of the creature was about hundred years after the castle had vanished. Hunters had gone out to find and kill it but without success. Only one girl has seen it. She said she'd run away and fallen into a mud pool, but couldn't remember how she got out. Neither did she know where she had found the flowers she was carrying. Nobody believed her when she said the creature must have saved her and given her the flowers. Most people believed she had a secret boyfriend.
Hundred years later – about hundred years ago, thought Yuliya – the swamp-beast had appeared again. The stories confirmed what the farmer's wife had said; quite a few girls claimed to have seen the creature as if it had actively sought to meet them. The stories they told about their meeting surprised Yuliya. Most of them mentioned a huge creature with sharp fangs and claws. In some stories the girl said she'd been dragged to a lair deep in the swamp where there had been bones and sculls of earlier victims. Apparently these girls had all miraculously escaped. Other claimed they had managed to outrun the creature that towered above them. They had heard the sound of its feet pounding the ground as it followed them growling and snarling but it never came close enough.
Yuliya thought of the feeling she had had when looking over the swamp after they had heard the splash. Somebody had been out there, a sentient being and not a thing. More importantly, she hadn't felt any threat from this being. That made Yuliya very suspicious of those stories. The few tales that seemed less sensational all spoke of a creature that had given flowers to the girls. All these stories were different but agreed on the looks of the swamp thing. It was the size of a tallish man, it was slimy and it stank.
Yuliya now knew as much about the creature as anybody could. She was sure it was this creature that she had felt out in the swamp. The following day she planned to go out and look for whatever, or more likely whoever was out there. Unfortunately Anna had told her husband what she had heard at the North Farm and about the strange sound in the swamp. That evening the merchant forbade his daughters to go anywhere near the swamp. He made them solemnly swear to keep away from it, knowing they would keep that promise. Reluctantly Yuliya complied with her father's request.
ooOOoo
Seeing the girls walk across his swamp had surprised Michael, but it had also given him hope. Unfortunately he hadn't spotted them near his swamp anymore after that one time. Neither had he glimpsed any other girl. He didn't panic as yet. After all he still had more than eleven months to go.
One thing Michael could do was look at the girls from the top of the old tree. He also found that as a beast he had superior hearing, which meant he could hear everything they said when they were outside in their garden. His favourite moment however was when they went inside and switched on the light. He could then see them through the window sitting together, a loving family. Only when the curtains were closed did he return to his home under the swamp.
Two weeks after Michael had discovered the advantage of having a tall tree in his swamp, he saw the four women running and waving as a man on horseback left the grounds of their home.
He heard the oldest one call out, "Goodbye Martin, come back safe my love."
The other three waved and cried out, "Goodbye Father."
Two of them, the prettiest, shouted, "Don't forget our presents."
Michael now knew that one of the four was married to the man on horseback and the others were obviously his daughters. If they would only come near his swamp, or if perhaps he could have gone to their garden, he might have talked to them, but they didn't come and he could not get to them.
ooOOoo
What Michael had seen was Martin's leave-taking. He had to go to Ashton-Upon-Usk to finalise some business. Having obtained his daughters' word to keep away from the swamp, he could go with an easy mind.
The day Martin was expected back home was a foggy day. His wife and daughters had been waiting for him all day, walking to the end of the drive and back, but there had been neither sight nor sound of anybody coming near. Because of the cloudy sky, dusk had arrived earlier than expected and the light fog had become quite dense. The whole house seemed enveloped in grey cotton. Irina and Annushka still expected their father to come home like he had promised and stood at the window trying to look out but only seeing the reflection of their faces and the bright room behind them. There Anna and Yuliya sat near the fire, the one sewing while the other was reading.
"Irina, Annushka, come here and sit with us. Father is not going to come anymore tonight, not in this weather."
"But he said he would be home today, Yuliya. He'll be here soon, won't he," said Annushka.
"Leave the curtain open, just in case," advised Anna. "Should he come then he'll see the brightness of our light but I think Yuliya is right. Your father will have stopped somewhere for the night. Yuliya can read from her book; that will help pass the time."
Reluctantly Irina and Annushka left the window. They sat together, Yuliya reading to them while the others were working on their embroidery. It was a beautiful sight seeing them sitting together near the fire. Michael, perched high up his tree, had been looking at them all day long while they went back and forth from the house to the end of the drive. He thought that the youngest girl was so beautiful, the middle girl very regal, and the oldest too serious. The mother seemed very young to have such grownup daughters but she did look motherly to Michael. When they withdrew to the parlour he was still observing them, even though the increasing fog had reduced them to shadows. He would have continued looking at them as long as they remained in the cosy room with the bright light, but suddenly an anguished cry rang across the swamp.
Michael didn't hesitate a second. Somebody was in trouble, somebody who had tried to cross the swamp perhaps, or had inadvertently left the road. He ran toward the source of the sound. The cry for help was now mingled with the frightened whinny of a horse. Closing in on the eastern end of the swamp he saw a horse moving backwards on the narrow path between two treacherous marshy patches. It was trying to stay on its feet but kept sliding away on the mud. The reins were held by a man who was up to his neck in the quicksand. Just before Michael reached him he let go of the reins and went under. Michael jumped into the liquid mud and hauled the traveller up by the hair, dragging him to safety. As soon as he was on solid ground the man drew a deep breath, mumbled a thank you and lost consciousness. Michael wiped the mud off the man's face and then turned to the horse that stood trembling on the narrow path. The animal was exhausted and he took advantage of this to guide it to the edge of the swamp and safety. Michael could go no further and hoped the horse would find the road home.
The traveller was still unconscious so Michael took him to his castle under the swamp. There a room was made ready for the patient. He also found water to wash the man, fresh clothes and anything else he might want to make his guest comfortable. A mug with a steaming hot liquid was standing on a bedside table. Everything was without a doubt provided by the fairy, Zinaïda.
It was not until his patient was clean and lying comfortably in the bed that Michael saw who he had saved: Martin, merchant and father of three daughters. He helped the man drink some of the hot liquid and waited until he was asleep.
Michael thought of the possibilities the rescue of this man might afford him. Was this Zinaïda's way to help him get a mate? Would a daughter of the merchant be willing to share his life? He could only wait.
The next morning Martin woke up refreshed. His memory of the previous evening were very vague but he realised something must have happened because he didn't recognise his surroundings.
Martin's pondering was interrupted by a knock at the door and a voice that said, "Can I come in, Sir?"
"Yes, do," Martin answered.
Michael entered the room but remained in the shadows near the door.
"I hope you slept well."
"Yes, I did. What actually happened yesterday?"
Michael told him.
"You strayed into the swamp. I got you out just in time. Your horse must have gone home by now," he added. "It was no longer where I left it.
"Perhaps the dumb animal has wandered back into the swamp. Pity, it was a good horse."
"I don't think so. I would have known if it had strayed into my swamp again."
"Your swamp?"
Martin wondered who would talk of the swamp as his … unless … Was he a prisoner of the creature his wife had told him about? Even though he'd made his daughters promise not to go near the swamp, he hadn't really believed something lived there. Surely that was just an old wives' tale. Swamps didn't have creatures in them. He had most likely been saved by some hunter who lived on the edge of the swamp. His surroundings were rather sumptuous for a simple hunter though. And why had his host not come further into the room. He just stayed there, in the shadows.
"You don't have to stay near the door, you know. You can come in."
"You might not want me to."
"Are you … My wife said …"
How do you ask a man if he is some sort of monster?
"If you would like to know if I am the creature that is reputed to live in the swamp, then, yes, I am. You are a guest in my home. I had to bring you here, you'd gone under."
"Do you mean I died?"
"Quite the opposite. I brought you here to save you. As soon as you're strong enough I'll take you to the surface."
"You rescued me and you saved my life? How can I ever thank you?"
"By telling your daughters to spend a month with me here."
Michael said it as quickly as he could, before he changed his mind. It was said now. The father could say yes or no.
"Is there some other way I can thank you. Sending my daughters here is asking a lot."
"I don't need anything, just some company. I promise I won't hurt them."
"Come into the light. Show yourself to me. I can't trust you until I see you."
Michael came into the room. He saw the eyes of the man in the bed open wide in horror. Had he lost his chance now?
Martin looked at the thing that had entered. It was shaped like a man with arms and legs. Its head at least was not the head of an animal. But there all resemblance to a human ended. The creature had grey-green skin, scaly as well; its feet and hands were webbed; a few tresses of grey hair either side of pointy ears framed the face. Could he ask his daughters to spend even a minute with this creature? Could he ask them to look upon a face that resembled a warty toad more than anything?
"You said you wouldn't hurt my girls but how do I know you'll keep your promise?"
"Because if I break that promise I'll be punished worse than you can imagine."
"Still, what you ask is strange. It may damage their reputation. Spending a month with a man, even if he is a monster, might give people the idea they're a bit … well … easy."
The knowledge Michael had acquired by observing the girls proved valuable now.
"Nobody needs to know. You don't have many visitors. And should someone ask, you could tell them the girl has gone to visit a friend in your old home town. It would be natural, wouldn't it?"
Michael's heart beat faster and faster. He knew this might be his last chance to find a companion. The silence while the father was pondering his answer seemed endless. Finally he spoke but only to ask another question.
"Who's the person who will punish you if you hurt my girls in any way?"
Through gritted teeth Michael said, "Zinaïda, a fairy."
All is lost now, he thought. Who still believes in fairies?
"Zinaïda, a fairy. Right ... I'll send my oldest daughter …"
'No!" Michael interrupted. "You'll send your youngest first. And don't think I won't recognize her. I know everyone in your family."
Martin sighed, "Good, I'll send Annushka to you."
The creature's smile sent a shiver through Martin.
ooOOoo
