The Obsidian Princess

Chapter 3

“Nia, I have an idea,” whispered Eloa to her bestie conspiratorially.

“What is it?” she asked back without looking at Eloa. Nia was someone who had this habit of keeping every single thing so clean that if there was a streak of ink on her bed-sheet she would remove that and change her sheets and then go to sleep.

Everyone had their own idiosyncrasies and this one was nothing very different which is the reason Eloa never said anything at all.

“Why don’t we live in the castle? I am sure it is in a better state than this,” said Eloa with a scowl looking at the rat scurrying behind the table and the cobwebs hanging from the roof and the wall like tapestry along with not to say the layer of dust and grime on the furniture and the floor.

Nia looked at her as if she had lost her mind and then said angrily,” That is your idea Eloa? To sleep in the castle? Why could you not think of something like going back to a nearby B & B?”

“Because there is no B & B for miles Nia, you would have seen that if you had not snored the entire way to the castle. I am pretty sure if we are sleeping here then we are all getting some kind of infection and fever from these rodents which have considered this to be there home for centuries it seems,” replied Eloa as she looked around once more.

Then she said,” Listen Nia, if you are not willing to go inside the castle on the basis of some weird stories then you can stay back. But I am not. So please have my back and tell people that I am sick, you can do that, right?”

“You were never the one who played hooky ever in school or even in college and now suddenly you are all this daredevil….I cannot say that I am not impressed but it is a bit scary as well Eloa. Maybe you should not,” said Nia as she caught hold of her best friend’s hand in apprehension.

“Yeah, you are right. But very recently I have realized that I should give in to my impulses more than earlier. Starting tonight, I am living in the castle until the accommodations are cleaned,” said Eloa, as she took up her bag and strode out of the room with Nia gawking at her back.

“But you know I cannot live in this dirty room as well….” Said Nia from the back as Eloa stopped and turned back and said,” Then probably you should reconsider your decision and think about coming back with me to the castle.”

But Nia was not that brave enough to go through with it. She was more scared of ghosts than she was of dirt. Eloa had never thought that she would be the one who would be doing something of this sort but then again there was a first time for everything in life.

It was a long walk from the small house they were supposed to stay and the castle looming above on the horizon like a scary creature, waiting to pounce just when you are in deep slumber. Eloa knew that the smaller gate opening from the side of the crypt always remained unlocked and she entered that way. As Eloa passed the courtyard to reach the interior of the castle she had this odd feeling that someone was looking at her. With the flashlight in her hand she moved around the hallway but could find no one but that strange cold feeling at the nape of her neck, she could not shake off. Maybe this was an entirely bad idea, she should not have come inside this place without anyone at her side. The moment she turned back with the notion of getting away as soon as possible the heavy wooden door creaked and swung backwards and thudded shut with such a loud sound that she shrieked out loud.

Now Eloa was absolutely sure that this was a horrid idea.

After walking inside the castle for quite a long time Eloa came upon a room whose doors were unlocked thankfully. She pushed in the heavy oak door and went inside. She touched the walls of the room which gave her the impression of touching the rough callused skin of a gnarly old man, pitted and forlorn. It left her skin cold and the dampness drew in her bones. The bed was an ornate four poster with the silk sheets still hanging properly and perfectly with a thin layer of dust covering it like an invisible film. Eloa did not think about anything anymore, neither was she bothered about the consequences. She dropped her back pack unceremoniously on the floor which was still covered with tattered carpets and dusted the sheets and plopped down on them. It smelled like moths and old skin and there was this another distinct smell, the coppery kind, which she could not place at all. Exhaustion and hunger had caught up on with her frail body and Eloa fell asleep within moments.

Her reverie was broken by strange sounds coming from some place nearby. The room was chilling with the temperature drop and Eloa had a sense that she would die of hypothermia if she did not get warm immediately. She wrapped the blanket around her body and got down from bed to investigate the noises. They were coming from the other side of the door inside the room. It seemed that it was the door which connected two rooms from inside.

But Eloa unlocked the handle of the door and opened it to find a scene she would not have imagined in her wildest dreams. There were two women on the bed, one of them was older with a red choker around the pale column of her throat and the other was younger girl who was hardly fourteen. They were both moving together in sync atop each other without a stitch covering their skin in throes of passion and fear and lust choked Eloa’s voice in her throat. Within moments the older woman slid her hand beneath the covers without her partner being aware and she brought a knife whose glint reflected in Eloa’s eyes. The secret onlooker could very well understand what was going to happen next and she could not help but letting out a gasp. And the woman wearing the red choker looked back at her, the light was barely there, like a difficulty in getting a grasp on what was there but the next instance there was a knife hurtling towards her with pin-pointed precision. Eloa slammed the door shut and fell back upon her buttocks. The blanket had already fallen off from her shoulders and she scrambled to get her hands on the flashlight before opening the door and running for her life.

If this castle was made of blood and bones rather than stones which could peak, probably she would have been begging for deafness by now. She was reliving her nightmare from last night running through hallways, just this time it was through darkness and infinite void. She had become the witness to something unwittingly and now she had to pay the price. Finally she came to the hall which was the museum of the castle and she knew that the main doors lay just beyond the room. But before she could step down the stairs a book came flying at her from nowhere and hit her head. Eloa shrieked out at the impact and tottered back.

There was pale figure standing at the end of the room in a red gown and red choker with her dark hair piled at the top of her head. That was the last thing she saw before Eloa lost her consciousness.

She brought back to the land of living with splash of cold water on her face. Eloa sat up with a yelp and found five or six faces looking at her as if she was insane. Nia’s face was the closest amongst them and she slapped her across the cheek right away.

“What were you thinking Eloa? We thought that you were dead!!!” shouted her best friend as she helped her up her feet.

“She is here Nia,” whispered Eloa, but her voice came out in a croak making it unintelligible.

“Who is here? What are you talking about? Did you by any chance drink last night?” asked Leila, who looked at her suspiciously.

“I don’t drink Leila. And you know who I am talking about. She knocked me unconscious with this book or something. It must be here somewhere,” said Eloa as she started looking around on the ground and all others looked at each other rolling their eyes.

“Eloa, you did not sleep last night. Clearly, you need food and rest. Come on, whatever you are searching for can wait,” said Nia, as she started pulling Eloa’s hand who had still not peeled her eyes off the floor.