The Obsidian Princess

Chapter 8

The fortress of Galley is a fine castle, built with a panorama of the surrounding land. From the towers once stood medieval watchers, quiver and arrow ready to fly. Steadfast walls were built for defence in an age that was defined by jealousy, greed and the love of power as much as honour, nobility and loyalty to the crown. Past the iron gates that trapped would-be intruders, lives of servitude were eked, safe from battle-axe and ballista alike. This castle stood to inspire awe in a realm run on deference to royalty, to title and social status. From cloistered rooms land parcels were given to lords for promised service.

The castle walls are the strongest thing for miles around, yet when Eloa looked carefully she notices the stones. It is built of stones of varying sizes and shapes, each one unique. From a distance it is uniform grey, from up close it is a mosaic of humble rocks, each of them nobody would think anything of  them were they found loose by the roadside. But together they are a castle, the crown of the landscape and protector of ancient peoples. At least so she hoped. She knew and had known for the better part of her life what went behind the walls of these castles.

She saw that a woman had reached the gates of the castle and knocked on the grill to draw the attention of guards in the uniform with the spike in his hand.

“Good morning Master. I am here for the position of the scullery maid,” said the woman in a soft, squeaky voice as mildly as possible.

“Ah…you are the one that Maria has been waiting for since morning,” said the guard with a gruff smile as he opened the squeaky metal gates.

“Am I late to arrive for the position? I did not know that I would have to arrive earlier, or I would have started one day before,” replied the woman as she entered the gates.

“Not to worry at all lass, Maria is a woman with the tongue sharper than my razor but she is the best cook in the country you can find. If there is anything that she hates is washing dishes. What is your name lass?” asked the guard as he escorted her to the place where she was supposed to report, that is the kitchen.

“Rosetta Maria,” said the woman, as she recalled was the supposed name of the maid who had fled.

“Aha…quite a name you have there lass… are you Catholic?” asked the guard.

The woman quietly nodded her head saying yes.

She knew that it was only a matter of time that walls would stand mute, water awaits the call of the wind to ruffle and move as molten glass of deepest green. Grey stone would rise from the land, unapologetic and bold to defy entrance and protect what has been entrusted to their care. Below the uneven patches of grass are arrowheads of old, hilts of broken swords and armour that failed to protect. She knew that time would not be soft in its blows to ravage the beauty of the grey turrets that stood erect in the sky listening to the chorus of the words.

This was all so strange…everything looked so familiar but she had never been here but the times and the dresses are not known to her as well yet she had this feeling that the man who was standing there at the gate, his life was not left for many more days. She could see the number of days left in his life on his forehead hanging like a pendulum. It was showing sixteen…..and there was a strange feeling she had that when the days remaining would come down to ten she would have to do something about it but what she would have to do she had no idea…

“Eloa….Eloa….come on…wake up…we have landed,” said Nia as she shook her awake.

Eloa had no idea how long she had been sleeping but she knew something pretty well that whatever was happening with her or the things that she was seeing, they were not normal under any circumstances. Something was wrong and she needed to find out what was that.

But with whom was she going to talk to at all? She was entirely sure that these things were specifically happening with her only and no one else would be able to understand what was going on with her.

The group which had gone for the trip to the Cachtice Castle gradually all came together and then their supervisor who was busy in sucking the face of his girlfriend at the airport and another one had already left without even bothering to check up on that if all the students had arrived.

By the time that Nia and Eloa had come out of the airport they did not bother stopping any cab. They knew that the fares at the time of Christmas would be overrated and everyone coming back home would make things even more chaotic than they already were.

“Did Mr. D keep it at the usual place?” asked Nia as they were both walking out of the airport.

“I think we don’t need to worry about that,” said Eloa as she found her father standing at the outer side beside the truck and he was waving in their direction.

“Man we are lucky that we came home on your birthday, thank heavens for that. If it were not for that I would have to hate trudging in the snow at this time of the year and if I had skidded in the ice then who would make the preparations for your birthday?” said Nia as Eloa did not even bother replying to her nonsense.

Her father opened his arms and then wrapped her up in a bear hug as soon as she reached him.

“My darling baby girl…we have missed you so so much….happy birthday to you darling,” said her father who was sniffling and then Hans said,” look at you now…all grown up…come on home girls…your mom has  been up all night making the preparations for your party.”

“Thank you so much Dad….we are literally starving and I had only one coffee and one celebratory cup-cake since the morning. Now I am so hungry that I can eat bricks at this point of time,” said Eloa and all of them joined together in their laughter.

“Alright cup-cake,” said Hans once when the laughter died down,” I am not going to ruin others surprises for you but I am going to tell you mine. You have been telling since so many days that you want a pet…someone to keep you company? So I was thinking of a ginger…or even a black cat which would be good for you but the day you left that same afternoon I found a bird stuck in our turret. One of its wings is still broken but I have taken care of the first aid and it is a bird like I have never seen earlier…probably no one has seen earlier in this town. The vet has told me that it is going to survive if kept away from cold and is taken care of. SO are you willing to take the bird? Or we can make a detour at the pet centre where I have already selected the one which you are going to love…”

“Dad if I am not being too needy can I ask you for something?” asked Eloa knowing fully well that her dad was never going to say no to her.

“Of course baby girl…it is your birthday and anything you say goes,” said Hans as Nia’s stomach gurgled loudly for both of them to turn back and hear.

“Hold on to that one Nia…your Mrs. D has baked her famous pumpkin pie and she has already set aside a large portion of it for your sake. She knows how much you love it,” said Hans as Eloa smiled at Nia who was at first embarrassed at the stomach’s noise but her expression changed the moment she heard about the pumpkin pie.

“You are really the best Mr. D and Mrs. D makes the best pumpkin pie in the entire world and I can kill for them,” said Nia as Hans looked at Eloa.

“Can I get both the cat and the raven for my birthday?” asked Eloa and Hans beamed at her. He knew that Eloa had wanted a cat since quite long but it was now that he had been finally able to make his wife come around to the idea of an animal inside their home.

But Nia noticed something which Hans did not.

How did Eloa come to know that it was a raven that had been stuck in their turret and she was going to get it for her birthday? No where had Mr. D mentioned the name of the raven ever and he said that no one in this town had seen a bird like this earlier….

Things were getting stranger, she thought as she looked at her best friend in the front passenger seat.