Carack

Carack Ch14 p2

Saying nothing Euny left the two of them sitting on the wall and entered the castle to look around alone, while Gerent and Brunstan sat in mutual silent misery. Gerent hung his head leaned forward so that all that he could see was the stones beneath his feet. He wished he could just have the tiredness and pain disappear, but knew it would not. He longed more than ever to be able to speak to Hugh, he could always make things seem better for Gerent, even if it did mean a lecture. He closed his eyes and asked himself why, why he had been brought here and not Hugh, why they weren’t together and why this desolate empty castle affected him so much his eyes hurt from not being able to cry.

‘We must eat,’ Brunnstan said eventually, ‘I shall go to the kitchens and see what I can find. If it is empty, I shall use what we have in our saddlebags and prepare something. Why not see if you can find Meendhu Lordling? He must need company, he did not leave Sancret on good terms and now he can never recall the words between them.’ Gerent nodded and wearily went to look for the bear; he plodded through most of the castle, seeing the destruction, damage and graffiti the attackers had done to the castle.

Stepping into the long gallery he noticed that the mural had remained untouched, he glanced at the watch worn by the man in the foreground and saw its hands were on seven thirty, the man was toasting him with a glass half full of ginger beer. The castle in the painting was bright and cheerful with banners that looked as if they were teasing the wind, there were people lining the walls, waving. Gerent turned sadly away, the image reminded him of what was gone and he could not take the reminder so he wearily continued his search. Gerent trailed up the long spiral staircase to the observation room and, to his regret, this was also empty. The wind was cutting in through the open sides, fluttering a few torn book pages and making the place seem very desolate. When he glanced in the well, he saw there was not a drop of water in it; the hollow shaft fell away into untold depths of empty darkness.

Gerent had looked in almost every room before he found the bear sitting in the mess of broken sticks that had once been a bed in Sancret’s room. Meendhu looked up at him as he entered.

‘What now eh? What now?’ asked the bear mournfully.

‘Come and eat, come down and eat, Brunstan is getting us something.’ The bear rose and went to the window.

‘I could not eat, I cannot.’

‘Then just come down and be with us, we need to discuss what to do next, where to go or – or,’ Gerent could say no more and the bear put a paw on his shoulder, together they went automatically to the living room. Brunnstan had fixed up a temporary table, as best he could, from the remains of the old table and a couple of broken chairs, on which he had laid out some cheese and biscuits. Looking around the wrecked room Gerent glimpsed pieces of broken glass from the ginger beer decanter among the debris scattered over the floor and knew that, along with Meendhu, he would not be able to eat anything that the Brownie had carefully put together. Brunnstan went into the hall and called out:

‘Euny!’ the sound seemed to echo round the castle without any answer, but soon they heard footsteps on the stairs and Euny came into the room.

‘They made quite a mess, didn’t they?’ Euny said picking up some cheese and nibbling, ‘Thanks Brunnstan, this is very welcome.’

‘You are welcome sire, Come Meendhu, Lordling eat, you must eat.’ Brunnstan looked at them both pleadingly. Gerent shook his head; he knew that even just one crumb would choke him, his throat felt so constricted with grief.

‘The cheese is excellent, we need to keep up our strength, at least try,’ urged Euny tackling the biscuits.

‘How can ya eat, it’s your brother that,s gone an you can eat?’ Meendhu said from the fender of the fireplace where he had sat himself, ‘don’t cha feel anything, Sancret probably never told me he had a brother because ya are so hard hearted!’ the bear shouted.

‘Meendhu! You’re upset, don’t do this!’ Gerent went over to him and put a hand on his shoulder, the bear shrugged his shoulders to make the hand slide off, but Gerent kept a firm grip.

‘Don’t worry Gerent, it’s alright I understand, you forget Meendhu I have been trained as a knight and soldier, it has been drilled into me to eat when I can for when or where the next meal may come could be a long way off. I care about my brother, about his loss, but there is something not right about it. I just don’t get something yet. Until I do I cannot afford to dwell on my sorrows for I cannot let anything catch me unaware.’

‘Like what?’ asked Gerent, curious about what Euny thought the castle could disclose other than the fact that Sancret and the entire household had been destroyed.

‘I don’t know, I just feel this castle has not revealed what really happened to everyone, where are the bodies? Where are the signs of fighting, sure there are signs of destruction everywhere but they look like they were made out of frustration than during attack. My guess is that when the invaders got in here there was no one here to fight and so-’

‘They trashed the place!’ Gerent finished for Euny, whose slowly inclined head showed that that was the knight’s opinion, ‘so where did everyone go?’

‘That is indeed the question and if they did go anywhere did they survive attack there? If they did, why have they not returned, and if not, well their bodies deserve some honours, but we will have to trace this place where they went. There will be little or no clues to be found outside as the ground is so spoiled any tracks will have been obliterated, I hope to find some clue in the castle itself.’

‘You think that Sancret could have left a clue, or something, somewhere.’ Gerent started thinking about the castle, trying to identify anything that could provide a clue as to Sancret’s fate.

‘Quite so,’ replied Euny, ‘I guess it must have been an impressive castle before Madron’s men got here, funny that locked room though.’ Gerent slowly looked up, a glimmer of hope had just sparked inside his weary mind, ‘What locked room?’ he asked.

‘The one by that huge mural of the castle.’ Euny replied, Gerent jumped up, ‘Brunnstan the key! You must know where the key is!’

‘But the mage said-’

‘Never mind what the mage said,’ Gerent said excitedly, ‘Trust me, trust me this once, get the key!’ Brunnstan looked at Meendhu who shrugged and he bolted from the room.

‘There’s something not right about that mural, that man’s watch-’ Gerent thought aloud.

‘That man’s what?’ asked Euny.

‘It says seven thirty, it says seven thirty, I’m sure it wasn’t that before, I’m sure. We must see the sawol room Meendhu, I mean why hasn’t the castle disappeared inot the mist as it’s supposed to when the Warlock dies? Meendhu I don’t think he’s dead!’ Gerent had grown more excited as he spoke. Meendhu seemed to catch some of his enthusiasm, he stood and paced as they waited for Brunnstan to return.

After what seemed forever the Brownie was back and tentatively held the key out to Gerent, who smiled, thanked him and ran upstairs to the long gallery. He raced to the door of the sawol room with the others right behind him; turning the key in the lock, he closed his eyes as he swung open the door. He heard Meendhu gasp and he knew, he just knew what he would see, he opened his eyes and there it was above him, the swirling grey and white cloud with the planets in it.