Author's Note: Thanks to mary and the nameless guest for the review, Thank you very much MsDrox and NiallsLady18 for following this story and putting it on your list of favourites.
THE CASTLE IN THE SWAMP
Chapter 12
For a few days Yuliya was more quiet than usual. She and Michael spent most of the time sitting together in the parlour. Instead of talking Michael read out loud from a favourite book. He didn't know whether she heard him or not, she seemed so deep in thought. Early on the evening of the third day he read the last sentence of the story and closed the book. For a moment they were both silent. Yuliya was the first to speak.
"That was beautiful," she said. "You have a wonderfully warm, deep voice. It was so soothing to listen to."
"I'm glad I could do something to please you after all you have done for me, but was it just my voice or did you like the book as well? It's one of my favourites, you see."
"Yes, I did like it. I would like to read one of mine to you, but you probably won't have it. It is fairly recent."
"I do get a regular supply of new books. Somebody keeps my library up to date. Come, we'll have a look."
They went into the library where he showed her the section with more recent works. She soon found what she was looking for.
"You want to read that to me?" he said in horror. "That's just a bit of a love story. I didn't think you were into romantic nonsense."
"This is not romantic nonsense," she answered. "This is a very witty social criticism disguised as a romantic novel. You will lap it up, Sir."
"I bet I won't."
"I bet you will, and if you do you'll take off those pitiful rags you're wearing and put on some decent clothes. There must be some somewhere."
"Agreed. If I like the story and you can find me some decent clothes, I'll put them on. But what if I don't like it? What then?"
She wondered what she could give him. After all she had nothing. The whole place was his. What could she give him that was hers to give? She looked at him; saw the man and not the creature.
"I think I know what I can give you," she said. "But I fear you won't be honest about the book if I tell you what it is, so I'm keeping it a secret."
"And you won't change your mind about this gift if I win?"
"I'll write it down, seal it in an envelope, and I'll use it as a bookmark."
He agreed it was a good suggestion, and the new book was started the following evening. When it was finished he had to admit that she had won the bet.
"Losing was not that bad anyway," he said. "I enjoyed a book that I wouldn't have touched otherwise, and I'll be very happy to wear some proper clothes again."
They went to the master bedroom that had been his. While rummaging through the clothes for something that was not stained or moth-eaten he asked her what he would have gotten if she had lost.
"Just a kiss," she answered absentmindedly.
"A kiss? It was a good idea that you didn't tell me. I would have denied liking the book, even if my nose had grown ten feet long as a result."
"I know. Why do you think I didn't tell you?" she said, holding back the laughter.
They found a shirt and trousers for him to wear, and though he wondered if a creature in clothes didn't look laughable, she said he looked great. The man she saw did look good.
Now that all the work was done and invisible hands had taken over the upkeep, the whole of Altena Castle was their play area. First and foremost the library. They spent a lot of time there, just reading, sometimes one reading to the other. They shared their favourite novels, favourite poems, favourite paragraphs. Sometimes they just sat together quietly reading, each in a chair, deep in a book. An air of companionship would pervade the place, making it warm and cosy. Even though they didn't talk or look at each other, each felt the presence of the other. They knew they were not alone.
One day Yuliya noticed that the door to the ball room was open. When she went inside she saw the room was still sparklingly clean, just like the day she'd finished the job. She was still admiring the room in all its splendour when Michael came in.
"This place needs some music," he said. "There should be a proper ball and I would invite you to be my partner for every dance."
She smiled at him. "We could imagine the music," she said.
He disagreed. "For a real ball, you need real music. Otherwise it isn't a proper ball."
"For a real ball you need more than two people," she countered.
"Not necessarily if it's a private function."
"Well we have no music anyway," she sighed.
They left the room and closed the door.
Two days later when they went to get dressed for dinner, they found eveningwear lying ready on their beds. While Yuliya believed Michael was responsible, he thought she had arranged the clothes. They left their rooms at the same time dressed as if for a ball. Yuliya no longer saw the creature but looked at Michael's soul. In her eyes out of the room came a handsome man, dressed in ivory coloured trousers and shirt, a gold embroidered vest, purple jacket with gold trimming and black boots.
Yuliya looked radiant in a dark ocean green dress, trimmed with cream-coloured lace. Michael took her hand and kissed it.
"This is a special surprise," he said.
"For me too," she answered.
"You didn't put the clothes in the bedroom?"
"No, of course not. You didn't arrange this?"
"No, how could I?"
As they walked down the stairs, the double doors to the ballroom opened. From it music drifted up towards them.
"Shall we?" Michael asked.
She nodded and they entered the ballroom. Michael took her in his arms and together they danced to the music without speaking a word, both wishing they were not in an enchanted castle under a swamp.
After a while invisible hands opened the doors to the dining room. There a feast was set out for them. Michael escorted her to the table. After they'd had their meal they went back to the ballroom and danced until they were tired. Then they sat together in the parlour as usual, chatting.
Yuliya talked about her youth, the death of her mother and the day Anna became her stepmother.
"You weren't afraid of getting a stepmother. They're always vicious to stepchildren. In the stories anyway."
"They're just that, stories. Anna was exactly what our family needed. She's been a mother to my sisters, a friend to me and my father's true love. Their happiness only lacks a son."
"That was your first wish, as I recall."
She nodded.
"And the two other wishes were for your sisters. I remember the first one cried the whole time she was here."
"And you got so fed up with the noise, that you sent her home," she laughed.
"True," he admitted. "I hoped the second would be better, but she was cold as ice. She seemed totally without feeling."
"Both my sisters have a lesson to learn. Annushka needs to know that romance and frivolity are fine but live has its more serious side as well. Irina needs to realise how cold a life without feelings of love and friendship could be. But what's the point in teaching these lessons if they could never profit from them. That's why I added my wishes to theirs."
"I wish you had been there when I needed to be taught a lesson," Michael said quietly.
"You mean when you were still Michael, Lord of Altena Castle, Altena Village, and the land surrounding it?"
He looked at her in disbelief. "How did you know?" he asked.
"I've read everything I could about the castle that used to be here, the good and kind old Lord, the harsh unjust young Lord and the castle's disappearance at the very moment a great, big swamp appeared. The name of the last lord happened to be Michael as well. When I added it all up I came to an incredible conclusion but not one that is stranger than me being here at the bottom of your swamp with you."
"I deserved the punishment I got. I was given fair warning after all." Michael sighed.
"I believe you did then, but not now," Yuliya said.
"Thank you," was all he managed to say.
Michael was deep in thought. He regretted what he had done because of the pain it had caused innocents, and he had deserved to be punished. Strange then that this punishment had brought Yuliya to him, a girl he would never have met otherwise. At first sight she was perhaps not a beauty like her sisters but now that he knew her he realised she was more than just beautiful. Her smile lit up her face and made her eyes shine like the brightest stars. She was clever, had a quick mind, and was kind as well. Her beauty came from within and would outlast any outward beauty her sisters or any other girl could have. Michael knew he was falling in love with this girl and wondered if she would want to stay with him, even when the way to the surface and her family was closed off forever.
The next morning, Yuliya wasn't in her room when Michael went to fetch her in the morning. He wondered if she'd gone to the dining room already, looked for her there, then checked the library and the parlour but couldn't find her in either place. He stood at the foot of the stairs wondering where she could have gone to when he heard a noise from the direction of the kitchen. Michael hadn't been there since he had stopped eating fungus and drinking filth. He went in and was surprised at how bright and clean the place was.
Yuliya was there, cooking something.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"Making pancakes," she answered. "Every day there is so much good food at the breakfast table, more than the two of us can eat but never, as long as I've been here, have there been pancakes. I fancied pancakes today and because I found all the ingredients here in the kitchen, I decided to make some."
"You can cook?"
"Of course I can cook and more than just pancakes. Father is a wealthy merchant but that wasn't always the case. He wanted my sisters and me to be prepared for anything in life. That's why he made sure we were raised like ladies so we wouldn't embarrass a wealthy husband, and at the same time we were taught how to run a household without servants in case fortune turned on us."
"Can you teach me?" Michael asked. "To make pancakes I mean," he clarified.
"Of course. If you want me to."
"I think I'd like to be able to make something in my life, even if it is only pancakes."
She told him what he needed and how to go about making pancakes. Soon they were laughing aloud because of his clumsiness. He tried to toss them but at best they ended up as a folded heap in the pan. Most landed on the floor and two even stuck to the ceiling because he had tossed them too high. Eventually he did manage to make some. Still laughing they carried a stack of pancakes – some rather oddly shaped – into the dining room. They enjoyed their somewhat delayed breakfast.
"I never realised how much fun could be had in a kitchen. We should do that again. Could you teach me to make other things as well?"
"Yes, of course," she answered.
Cooking became a regular pastime for them. The library had a section on cookery and they would look at recipes and try the ones that sounded nice. Somehow whatever they decided to make, they would find all necessary ingredients in the kitchen.
They were well into another month when Michael reminded her that she hadn't been home.
"I know," she said, "but I told Father and Anna and my sisters too that I wouldn't be back until you stopped needing me."
"Thank you. I know you told me when you arrived, but I thought you would go back to your family. I presumed they had insisted you return from time to time." He took her hand, hoping she wouldn't withdraw it or shudder in disgust, and kissed her fingers, repeating to her, "Thank you for staying."
ooOOoo
Hour by hour the days slipped away, day by day the weeks went and week by week the months passed. Yuliya and Michael enjoyed each other's company more than they had anticipated. They could be serious together, talking about something they'd read in a book. Discussing things like honour, justice, right and wrong and even love but this made Yuliya blush and he stopped. On other days they ran around the palace like children, playing hide and seek. Or, walking down the picture gallery, she asked him about his ancestors and the kind of people they had been.
Everything seemed to go well for Michael. Here was a girl who could be more than a mere companion. She was his equal. Even if he still had been the Lord of Altena Castle and owner of everything that surrounded it, even then she would have made a worthy partner. And this girl was willing to stay with him. She was not horrified at spending her time with a beast. She even touched him as if he was a human being and not a creature. Michael dared to dream of a life with Yuliya.
But Michael wasn't the old selfish young man anymore. He was not just preoccupied with himself and therefore he noticed that something was wrong with Yuliya. Even though she didn't say anything, never complained or even hinted at it, he knew that she wasn't entirely happy at the bottom of the swamp. When he took her out into the open air for a picnic, he saw how pale Yuliya had become. When the roses returned to her cheeks the difference was too startling. It shocked him deeply.
He also saw that the days that remained of his year were less than the ones that had gone. With each day that passed his dream of having Yuliya as permanent companion dwindled. Once he had thought of asking her to stay with him, but he realised he could never do that. It would kill her to have to live at the bottom of the swamp, not being able to return to the surface, even for a picnic. His heart ached at the thought of losing her but he knew he would give her up. He had to, he had no choice.
From the moment he'd noticed that Yuliya needed the fresh outside air, he made sure to go to the surface whenever the weather made it possible. They walked around in the swamp, Yuliya seeing where the safe paths were. He wondered at it again and asked her about it.
"How is it that you know every path in my swamp? You walk through it as if it's a park instead of a swamp. How do you do it?"
"I just see the path," she said. "Anna and Father say I see deeper, things other people don't see. I never thought about it. Even as a child I saw if I could trust someone or not. When we came here I quickly realised it was not just people I could read."
He wondered what she saw when she looked at him, but daren't ask, afraid of the answer. And Yuliya didn't dare tell him what he looked like to her. Her feelings for Michael prevented her from revealing what she saw. Yuliya knew she loved Michael. She was sure she didn't want a man like Michael, she wanted him and no other. He was everything she wanted in a man. She even forgot that he still looked like a creature, a beast, a monster.
Michael knew that not even the prettiest girl in the world could make him forget about Yuliya. He'd never seen a woman like her and this strange girl, not the prettiest of the sisters, was the one he loved. He knew it was love he felt because nothing in his life had hurt as much as the thought of losing her. And he knew he would lose her. He would send her home, rather than see her wither in his underground prison.
He hid his thoughts from her while the last two months flew by. He made sure that these were the best months of Yuliya's stay. They laughed together, talked together, read the same books together. She continued to teach him how to cook. They even made a cake together. Then Michael wanted to instruct her in something he was good at: fencing and shooting.
After a whole day's practicing she admitted, "You are a lot better in the kitchen than I will ever be with sword or pistol."
"That's good. You're too good in everything else."
She laughed. "I'm far from good in everything else. Music for instance. I can play the piano and sing, but no better than most girls. And drawing, that other staple of a girl's education, well, I haven't got one drawing that's even half decent."
"Ah! The goddess falls of her pedestal and is human after all, and I, a mere mortal, can approach her," Michael declared.
"A pedestal? No Sir, you mistook my soap box for the lofty column on which the goddess stands." Yuliya joked.
"I would like to draw you as a goddess. Would you let me? I used to be very good at it. Of course it's been a while. Perhaps I won't be able to hold a pencil."
"I'll sit for you, and afterwards I'll criticize your handiwork. I'm very good at criticizing. Too good according to my sisters."
He found everything he needed, which neither thought was a real surprise. As promised he drew her as a goddess, Flora surrounded by flowers. When the drawing was finished she studied it carefully.
"You really have talent," she said. "But I'm sure you've embellished your subject."
"No I haven't," he countered and looked at her until she turned away, embarrassed.
ooOOoo
And so the last day of the year arrived. Michael had looked for a companion and now had found one, and today he would let her go. He would rather have her believe he was a cold-hearted creature than let her die in his castle in the swamp. He took her up to the surface to have a picnic in the open air.
The last one, he thought with a pang.
After their picnic they had a walk through the swamp. Where they could Yuliya linked her arm in his. At such moments Michael knew he would need all his determination to send her away.
They criss-crossed the swamp in every direction and eventually came back to their starting point.
"It's time for you to go home, Yuliya," Michael said.
"Yes, I think it is. I want to see my family again one last time. See how my sisters are doing. And Father and Anna," she replied.
"I don't want you to come back, Yuliya."
"You know I don't mean to stay away. I'll be here tomorrow morning, like usual."
"I won't be here to let you come back into the castle," he said, making his voice sound harsh and uncaring.
"You're not serious, surely." There was uncertainty in her voice.
"I'm very serious. Go home and don't come back. I don't want you anymore."
It hurt him to say it, but he couldn't let her stay when the swamp would close above him forever. He wanted to imagine her, happy, walking in the sun, rather than seeing her wither away and die in the dank and dark depths of the swamp that was his home.
"Actually," he added through gritted teeth, "I want to use my remaining time to find a companion. You're just not good enough."
Yuliya, who still saw Michael as a man even after his careless rejection of her, suddenly realised what he was doing.
"The year is up. You have no time to find anyone else. You'll be locked up down there again for hundred years. Let me stay with you. It is too lonesome otherwise."
"NO! Go home and leave me alone!" he shouted. Then he turned his back on her and ran further into the swamp.
Yuliya stood frozen to the spot. She couldn't believe he had just run away. The stone. The thought shook her out of her stupor. As quickly as she could she went to the stone that was the entrance to the castle. She found the spot but not the stone. It seemed Michael had gone down already. She waited and waited for hours. When evening approached and the waning light made the swamp look even more desolate, Yuliya finally accepted that he would not return. Slowly she started for home, looking back a couple of times in the vain hope that he would reappear. She didn't believe that he cared so little for her. Her gift had still shown her the man. If he had really been as callous as he had wanted to appear, she would have seen the creature or some other animal. He had wanted to spare her a life without sun and fresh air and had chosen loneliness for himself, of that she was convinced.
Yuliya was so distraught that she didn't think of using her gift to locate Michael. She didn't know he was hiding, following her figure as it disappeared out of sight. He had wanted her to believe in his indifference, hoping it would help her forget him.
He ran to the dead tree from which he would be able to see her get home; perhaps even catch a glimpse of her through the open curtains, the last one. He waited until the lights came on, saw the family sitting in the parlour, saw that she was loved by all of them. Then somebody closed the curtains and Michael went down to his castle. He knew he'd done the right thing but it hurt worse than the day he saw the face of a monster when he looked in the mirror.
He entered the place that was to be his lonely home for eternity. He wanted to destroy it, tear it to pieces. He was ready to turn over a side table breaking and scattering everything on it, when he remembered how hard Yuliya had worked to make the place a home again. It was her legacy to him and he couldn't destroy it.
ooOOoo
