C11 Chapter 11

Heike lay in pitch darkness.

He was drifting in and out of consciousness, but he had heard the hollow sound of a door shutting and then a rattling sound as though it were being locked from the outside.

All was quiet now.

His shoulder and neck hurt and he could barely move his head.

He had to lie still until the pain had subsided a bit.

He could feel soil under his fingers and a sickly, dank, stale stench tickled his nose.

He managed to get to his feet but instantly hit his head against the ceiling, causing various bits of loose material to shower down on top of him. He moaned over this new pain.

Where was he, anyway?

The cemetery ... Peter. That was the last thing he remembered.

He had to find the door.

Wiser since the last impact, he bent his head before taking a step forward. He stretched out his hands and immediately bumped into a wall. He let his hands run over the uneven surface and soon reached a corner. He continued like that to the next wall, which was just as uneven. Here and there the stone was replaced by rotting woodwork.

A new corner, just a few steps from the other. A new wall.

Cold sweat began to break out on his forehead. If he bumped into another corner ... he did.

His hands were shaking uncontrollably. The exit had to be somewhere along the next wall.

It was. Yes. Heike fumbled to find the lock.

There was none!

His hands fluttered across the door, up and down, and he wedged his fingers in above the threshold. He started to heave for air, wheezing. Sweat was trickling down his face.

He couldn’t get the door open.

He threw himself against it so hard that his shoulder started to hurt and the pain exploded in his head all over again.

The door wouldn’t budge.

Now he knew where he was. He had noticed the little chapel but hadn’t given it much thought.

Now it was his entire world.

“Peter!” he yelled with dread.

But it was utterly quiet outside.

Heike’s great weakness was his claustrophobia, which derived from the first four bitter years of his life in which he had been held captive in a small wooden cage. That was why this situation was such a nightmare to him.

He gasped for breath and stared into the darkness as he felt the panic rising within him.

Then he screamed.

Beside himself with fear he threw himself against the door and the walls, scraped his fingers against the coarse plaster until they started to bleed, tried to lift the rafters, burst the door open, dig down in the soil, all the while screaming frantically from sheer horror.

His head ached so much it felt as if it might explode, and he had only one thought in his mind: Out! I must get out! He gasped helplessly, tore at the beams so the dust flew about him and ran round and round like a squirrel in a cage, coughing and gasping as his heart pounded at a frantic speed.

Suddenly he heard a deep, calming voice.

“Heike!”

It took a little while for him to realize that someone was talking to him.

“Heike,” the voice repeated. It was right next to him. “Calm down. Help is on its way.”

Heike’s lungs still hurt but he tried to compose himself as much as he could and sat down in a corner with his back against the wall. He was a child again, a defenceless child fighting a powerless battle against solitude, fear and evil. Once again he was convinced that he would never get out, that he would never be free.

It was a bitter return.

“Calm down, Heike,” the friendly voice said again.

“Tengel the Good?” Heike whispered.

“We hadn’t planned to interfere any more, but this isn’t fair to you when you have such painful memories! Furthermore, you don’t have time to waste here and you should, first and foremost, be calm and composed.”

“I have to get out of here right away, I can’t ...”

“Help is on its way.”

“Can’t you ...?”

“No. Only a living person can open the door. You must save your strength! You’ll need it tonight. So ... calm down. You’re not alone.”

Heike collapsed in the corner again. He leaned the back of his head against the wall, trembling as if he had a fever as he unsuccessfully tried to calm himself down. He sobbed and clenched his teeth so hard he could barely get a word out.

“Stay with me,” he whispered. “Or he’ll come again with his stick ... to po ... po ... poke me!”

A big, strong and soothing hand was placed on Heike’s shoulder. Heike let his head fall down onto it as a deep sob escaped his throat.

Peter looked into the most wonderful eyes he had ever seen. He was standing in the great hall at Cetatea de Strega, holding Nicola’s hands against his chest. She was so wonderfully close to him.

“My aunt isn’t here,” she whispered to him. “I don’t know where she is but you can never be sure with her. She dreams up the strangest things.”

“Well, can’t we just leave right away then?” he whispered back to her. “I have to hurry. I locked my friend up and he can’t stay there forever.”

He laughed a little awkwardly at what he had done to Heike.

“No, we can’t. Not yet,” she answered, her eyes big and frightened. “The man who is our gatekeeper and coachman hasn’t gone to bed yet; we’ll have to wait until it is nearly light because he is her slave and would stop us immediately. And anyway, Aunt Feodora must be somewhere in the castle. It is precisely at this time of day that she is most dangerous. She is plotting something and intends to do something frightening. I know her! Peter, I’m so afraid! Stay with me, stay with me tonight, then we can slip out just before daybreak.”

The loving expression on her face erased the last trace of concern that Peter might have felt for what he had done to Heike.

Peter thought that there was a cold draught in the castle during the evening. The bone-chilling wind from the mountains swept through the rooms, sighing and moaning along the old stone walls. It also brought with it a mouldy, unpleasant odour that must be coming from somewhere under the floor. There was probably a cellar down there that Princess Feodora hadn’t shown him when she was giving her tour of the castle.

“Thank you, Nicola, for coming to fetch me,” he said. “I’m sorry that I wasn’t at the inn then, but I rushed over here as soon as I could. Had I been at the inn, we would have been far away by now.”

“No, not with the coachman,” she reminded him. “He was the one who was driving the carriage. So you locked Heike in somewhere?” she laughed. “That wasn’t very nice of you. But come, let me show you your bedroom. You can wait there while I try to find my aunt and see what she is up to. She is really making me nervous!”

They went through the gallery, their arms wrapped around one another, and Nicola asked, “Did you go to the cemetery despite my warnings?”

“Heike was the one who insisted on it.”

Peter had to admit that it wasn’t easy having to balance a candlestick in one hand while holding a girl as close to you as possible.

“Did the two of you find anything interesting?”

“Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I don’t know what Heike had been hoping to find.”

“And you didn’t get chased by the spirits of the dead?”

“No. But the forest was scary. Heike had to resort to chanting incantations in order to cut through the roots.”

Nicola stopped in her tracks. The moonlight fell across the gallery and made her pale face shine completely white. “Incantations? Do you mean to say he is a wizard of some sort?”

“Yes, there is a lot that would seem to indicate that.”

She started walking again. “Yes, he looks as if he could be one, too. Then it’s a good thing that you locked him up. We don’t want pagans like that around here! Just think of all the evil it brings. But in this room here you will be safe from my aunt. Do you think you can wait here until I get back?”

“Yes, that’s fine,” Peter said hesitantly, somewhat ill at ease. It was the large tapestry with the hunting theme that made him feel uncomfortable, especially in the glow of the flickering candlelight, which made it seem almost alive.

He went over to the bed and touched one of the dark, carved bedposts. “What a magnificent bed!”

“Yes, I think it was originally intended to be a bridal bed,” Nicola said nonchalantly. “But it was never used for that.”

Anciol’s bed!

“But, isn’t it rather risky to lie down in it then?” Peter blurted out.

She laughed. “Risky? You mean it might inspire us to ... you know, I think you’ve misjudged me entirely. Going to bed with a man is a very sacred thing for me.”

“That wasn’t at all what I meant. I’m not sure what I meant!” But Peter looked doubtfully at the bed. Princess Anciol’s very own bridal bed that she never got the chance to use for the first time!

There were many other places he could think of where he would rather have slept!

Nicola sensed his concern. “My dearest friend, many generations of people have slept here since! If you just wait for me here, I’ll go and look for Aunt Feodora. I won’t have a moment’s peace until I know what she’s up to.”

Peter took her pretty face between his hands. “You’re really afraid of her,” he said wonderingly.

“Yes, she’s never been away this long before. She is thinking up something devilish, I just know it! Then she locks herself in her secret chamber and that’s never a good sign!”

A secret chamber? Peter immediately thought of the carved door that he and Heike had been led past quickly during the tour. He suddenly grew afraid of the dark and didn’t care for the beautiful room at all. It felt cold and empty and it was as though there were draughts everywhere. And if he listened carefully he could hear a peculiar noise that he felt he had heard somewhere else only recently. A secretive sound that creaked, cracked and rattled.

Now he remembered where he had heard it before. It had come from the twisted roots in the cemetery, which had writhed when Heike chopped through them. It had nothing to do with the castle.

He remained rooted to the spot without really knowing what he should do. Should he go to bed or stay up? He turned his back entirely on the hunting scene – it was much too macabre for him. What lack of taste people had in the old days! Peter loved animals and didn’t like to see them suffer. He cursed the entire tapestry for agitating him so, now when he was waiting for Nicola, his bride.

No, maybe that wasn’t the right word to use in this room! But he longed for her intensely and knew that he would have a hard time controlling himself if she was going to wait there with him all night until daybreak. And, of course, that was what she was going to do!

He half feared her return and the effect it would have on him, while at the same time he trembled with excitement at the thought of seeing her again.

Then she came.

Peter stared at her gorgeous appearance. She was carrying a candlestick in one hand and was wearing a nightgown. She was so incredibly beautiful that his eyes filled with tears. The nightgown was adorned with lace and was low cut; about her fluttered a gossamer veil.

My bride, he thought, elated. My own bride! I want her and no one else!

At first he could hardly recognize her at all because she had let down her hair. The shiny, black silken tresses streamed down around her slender body. She smiled at him shyly, revealing her lovely, somewhat protruding teeth, which gave her face an almost childish look.

“Are you still up?” she whispered, blushing, and he understood that his everyday clothing made her feel bashful. “It’s going to be a long night, we can’t stay up in this cold. Come, let’s lie down, my friend, there’s nothing wrong in doing that.”

She said it as roguishly as a child who is up to mischief in the adult world but who is not fully aware of the consequences of her actions. “The bed is so wide that we can easily share it without there being any harm in it. I know that you respect me enough not to touch me.”

“Of course!” Peter stammered as he awkwardly took off his clothes, for he had never shared a bed with a girl before. He had shared a haystack once on a summer night, but that was a completely different story. “Did you find your aunt?” he asked as he crawled into the freezing cold bed. He had to bite his lip to keep from shrieking at the coldness of it. She was already lying, chastely, on her side of the bed.

“No, I didn’t, and that worries me. But let’s not think about it now. Oh, I have great expectations for this night! That it will finally succeed this time!”

“What do you mean by that?”

“What we talked about before. I have never managed to escape, she always thwarts me with her despicable schemes. But this time I have you!”

Peter was suddenly gripped by a feeling of unease and the wildest pangs of conscience. If Feodora always managed to succeed in preventing Nicola’s escape ... then she might also come this time and stop them as they tried to leave! And he wasn’t in any way equipped to handle a witch.

Heike was, perhaps. But Peter had locked him up!

Oh, no! What had he done?

On the other hand, he couldn’t very well have brought Heike with him, especially now that he was with Nicola. So maybe he had done the right thing after all, Peter concluded.

He laughed a little to himself. What would he have done with Heike in this hour of staggering joy and romance? Left him to keep the princess entertained? Wouldn’t that have been a little hard on his friend who only wanted the best for him?

“Where are your thoughts, my love?” Nicola cooed. In her touching helplessness she more than ever resembled a winged bird. Her hand gently stroked his hair and he forgot all about Heike.

He raised himself on his elbow and looked at her tenderly. Her long hair was like a glossy cloak framing her sweet face.

Peter gently touched it and let his hand cup her head. How silky her hair was, black and glistening in the candlelight. He thought there was something very sensual about women’s hair. Especially when it was as long and well groomed as Nicola’s.

“Do you like my hair?” she asked uneasily.

“It’s magnificent,” he murmured. “Gorgeous! The most beautiful I’ve ever seen!”

“Thank you, my friend, that’s wonderful to hear! Someone who wished me harm once told me that my hair wasn’t anything special.”

Peter immediately grasped to whom Nicola was referring. The jealous Princess Feodora! Her own hair was even longer and darker. How could anyone be so mean to a little, insecure child?

He felt his desire grow as he caressed her raven-black hair but he held back purposefully. He didn’t want to scare the little bird he now had under his protection. She had entrusted him with her body and soul in the belief that he was big and strong and could protect her. He would most certainly have to prove himself worthy of such a trust.

But it wasn’t easy!

In truth, he was seeking just as much protection from her as she was from him. The castle and that room frightened him beyond all reason, and it was even worse now that he didn’t have Heike with him. He now realized the enormous strength and sense of calm his young friend exuded. In Heike’s company you could feel safe, even in such medieval surroundings. There was something frightening about the castle that Peter couldn’t put his finger on. It was as though the terror itself was lurking just outside the bed curtains. What that terror might look like was not something he could picture because he didn’t have the imagination for it. But fear crept along his spine and he unconsciously drew closer to Nicola.

He now understood how hellish it must have been for her to live with a witch who, if one were to believe Heike, was one of the undead. It was beyond Peter, but just the fact that Feodora was a witch had to be reason enough for the poor little thing to want to flee. That wasn’t hard to understand.

He wondered where the princess was now. And her terrifying bodyguard, the coachman? And all the servants, where were they?

The two young people lay whispering for about a half an hour and it wasn’t entirely Peter’s fault that they gradually both ended up in the middle of the bed. It was hard to get warm in that cold room so it was only natural that they should try to steal a little warmth from one another.

It was also only natural that after another half hour they were lying in each other’s arms and that the inexperienced Peter enjoyed the most wonderful experience of his life. He was ashamed that he knew so little about erotic love and how it worked. A servant girl in a haystack had perhaps not been the best teacher?

But he did his best to be as careful as he could with Nicola, the young girl whom he was dishonouring in this way, and it seemed she appreciated his thoughtfulness even though she cried helpless tears of shame for giving into her feelings of love. But he would marry her, of course! That was expected!

Little Nicola was so exhausted that she fell asleep in his arms. “Wake me in good time,” was the last thing she said. “We must flee before dawn, in the last hour of the night. They will all be sleeping then!”

Peter nodded. A little while later he too was asleep.

At the inn, Mira was sitting with Zeno and his wife, waiting anxiously for Heike and Peter to return. The couple had promised to look after Mira and that’s exactly what they were doing. Zeno was a man of his word.

“We’ll never see them again,” said his wife.

“Keep quiet, Mother! You saw what happened, didn’t you? The carriage came here but had to go back without them because we kept quiet about where they were. The ladies never discovered that they had gone to the cemetery.”

“Yes, but the young man said that they would go on to the castle afterwards. He’s mad!”

“Now hold your damn tongue, woman!” Zeno advised. “Mark my words! The young man will save us! He has special powers, haven’t you’ve noticed? Has anyone else ever returned from the castle alive? Never, I tell you, never! Think of all the young men the village has lost, attracted to a force no one can understand. She is so erotic, the princess ...”

“Shh!” scolded his wife. “How can you sit and talk that way? You know how dangerous it is! Don’t you remember the woman who tried to warn a stranger by mistake? Do you remember what she looked like the next day, terribly mauled as if by wild animals! Behind a locked door, in her very own room!”

Mira didn’t understand much of what they were saying, but she could see that they were agitated, and she heard the word cetatea – castle – several times.

“She’s never touched me,” Zeno mumbled.

“No, but that’s because you’re so ugly that no one but me wants you. And she needs you because the inn attracts men, young as well as old. She can take whomever she wants here. But enough about that! That sort of talk only brings misfortune.”

They both turned to Mira because she had suddenly let out a gasp.

At first she had been frightfully scared when she felt a hand on her shoulder, the soft, light hand of a woman. But almost immediately she felt the calming effect that the hand had on her state of mind.

“What’s wrong?” asked the innkeeper’s wife.

But Mira was of course unable to answer. She just made a sweeping gesture with her hands to ask them to be quiet and wait a moment.

The mandrake had been restless for some time now, and she hadn’t known what to do. It was an unpleasant object that Heike had left her in charge of, but if it was able to protect her she felt she had to accept the bad along with the good. Still, it had frightened her when it had started to curl up as though it were in fear and pain, as though it wanted to tell her something. And Mira neither could nor would say anything about it to Zeno or his wife, who was constantly complaining.

But now ...! She could feel that she was now receiving help, although she didn’t know who was giving it to her. It couldn’t be the princess, because this was a benevolent force, that much she understood. Could it be Nicola? No, she was just an ordinary girl and had no reason to help Mira.

Heike was a strange fish! Mira didn’t doubt for a second that he was a sorcerer and she had accepted the power of the mandrake even though she did not like the thought of it. So she hadn’t been so surprised when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

“Wait,” she said in her own language. “Something’s coming now ...”

The couple looked at her quizzically. They didn’t understand what she was saying.

Mira was overcome with certitude. Suddenly she jumped up. “Mr Zeno, come! Heike is in danger!”

The innkeeper caught the name “Heike” but his wife grew angry and wanted to know why the girl was behaving that way!

But Mira was now a trembling bundle of nerves.

“Heike!” she shouted to them as though they were deaf. “Come, quickly! He ... he ... wait, now I understand! Yes! He’s trapped inside something and he needs my help. I have received word that I am to help him at once!”

They didn’t understand a word. Mira grabbed hold of Zeno’s hand and tried to drag him with her.

“What are you doing?” the innkeeper’s wife screamed. “Are you taking my husband away?”

But Zeno grasped that the girl was wildly concerned. His wife rushed after them but stopped at the door. The light from inside illuminated her silhouette. “Not to the castle! You’re not to take him up to the castle!” she screamed. “He’s practically the last man left in town.”

Fortunately, Mira was pulling him in the opposite direction and Zeno said, “It seems we are going to the cemetery. I’d better go along and see what she wants.”

“To the cemetery?” she snorted. “As though that were any better!”

They had woken the entire village. On this night there were lights in all the windows in Târgul Stregesti.

Mira and Zeno ran the short distance to the cemetery. She didn’t bother to explain anything to him because they didn’t understand one another anyway, but they weren’t alone, she could feel that. A small, slender girl held on to her and showed her the way.

They were soon at the cemetery and Mira was led to the small chapel.

“He’s here!” she shouted.

Zeno had had the sense to bring a lantern, and lifted it so that it shone on the door of the chapel.

He didn’t have to ask whether that was where Heike was, for Heike had heard them coming and began pounding on the door. There was something terror-stricken in the way he pounded that Mira and Zeno couldn’t fail to notice. Of course, no one would exactly enjoy being locked up in a chapel, but this was more than that ...

And it was coming from Heike who was normally so calm?

In a matter of just a few seconds Zeno had opened the door.

Heike stood in the doorway, leaning against the door frame as he tried to get his breath. Horrified, they looked at his face on which traces of anguish and tears could clearly be seen under the thick layer of dust and dirt covering the young man’s entire body.

“What happened?” Zeno asked in a trembling voice. “Did one of the deceased rise from the dead?”

“No, no,” Heike gasped. “It revived memories of my childhood... I was held captive ... in a cage ... for four years ...”

“Goodness gracious,” Zeno whispered.

“What did you say to him?” Mira wanted to know.

Heike explained it once more, this time in German.

“Oh,” she said, sympathetically. “And now you’ve been trapped in here! How terrible for you!”

“Thank goodness you came,” Heike said. “But now we have to ... Where is Peter? Is he at the inn?”

“We thought he was with you,” Zeno answered.

“No, unfortunately,” Heike said gruffly as Mira tried to wipe his face with her handkerchief.

“Was he the one who ...?” Zeno asked.

“Yes, but he wasn’t himself,” Heike said in defence of his friend. “He was frantic to get to the castle.”

“That’s how they all become,” Zeno muttered. “So he’s a lost cause now.”

“There’s more than one who’ll determine that,” Heike said obstinately. “The Ice People don’t give up so easily. But first I have to know where to find Princess Anciol’s grave. Where is it? We have searched all over the old section of the cemetery.”

Heike’s face was considerably cleaner now and appeared in all its ghastliness in the glow of Zeno’s swaying lantern. But now the others were no longer afraid of him. They had learned to listen to his gentle, deep voice and recognized the sad friendliness of his gaze.

The truth was that Zeno, at least, saw a kind of saviour in him: a very special kind of saviour for the village of Târgul Stregesti.

“No, Princess Anciol does not rest here,” the innkeeper answered slowly. “She committed suicide.”

Heike slapped his forehead. “Of course! What an idiot I was for not thinking of that! She threw herself from the cliff, didn’t she?”

“Yes.”

“So, where was the corpse buried? This is really important, because she is the one who is the witch, isn’t she?”

“You’re right, it is Anciol, the deserted bride. You may as well be told the full story now. Because I think you can help us. And I’m willing to risk the witch coming to tear to me to pieces.”

“What is it that you seal all your windows and keyholes against?”

“We don’t know. Only the dead know.”

Hearing that didn’t help to put Heike at his ease. “Well, where is Anciol’s grave?”

Zeno lowered his voice, “They say that she was buried in the cellar of the castle.”

Heike sighed deeply and gazed into the darkness. “Yes, that’s the only logical explanation. The cellar of the castle ...”

He was once again reminded of the terrible vision he had had that morning. Now he knew that the mandrake had shown him the truth. Everything else was just a delusion, conjured up by the witch’s magic.

“I have to go up there now,” Heike said resolutely. “Stay close to Mira, here, she has a talisman that protects her against evil forces. Should you or your wife encounter any trouble, ask Mira to hold up the talisman. Then you’ll be safe again.” As proof that Zeno trusted his words, the innkeeper immediately took hold of Mira’s hand while nodding intently at the strange young man.

When Mira realized what Heike’s intentions were she began to cry. “No, not you, too! Then nobody will be left!”

“Don’t you want to see Peter again?” Heike smiled gently.

“He’s already a lost cause. Don’t follow in his footsteps.”

“I have more options than he had because I have my helpers.”

“Yes,” Mira said eagerly. “A woman came to fetch me just now. But I never saw her ...”

“Yes, was it her?” Heike smiled. “Her name is Sol – she was a witch who lived in the fifteenth century. But she was a good witch. Mainly.”

Though Sol was unpredictable in many ways, she was good to have around in this particular situation!

“I also have two other helpers,” Heike explained first to Mira and then to Zeno in his language. “One of them is the finest person who ever lived – a sorcerer in the service of good. And then another one about whom I don’t know so much, but who knows the ways of evil because he was once in its service. But he managed to save himself and he is now one of my spiritual ancestors.”

“It sounds as though you have some powerful allies,” Zeno said, expressionless.

“Yes,” replied Heike with a smile, adding ironically: “And not to forget my own abilities. I’m beginning to get a sense of what they are. The princess is in for a hellish surprise tonight!”

Then he wished them all the best and disappeared into the darkness before they had a chance to pray for him. They just shouted, “May all the benevolent forces be with you, Heike!”

They didn’t see the wry smile he gave in response. He was already on his way to the castle.