Henheart's Universe
Main Discussion => The Pub => Topic started by: Cirdan on March 08, 2006, 12:18:30 AM
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Infront of you stands the great castle Henheart, its old stone walls moss covered and the dim light from the candles almost burnt out. As you walk up to the door you see a sign above the door reading "Home for the permanantly baffled." There was a list of people who were residence, the names read. Perminant residence...2. Their names... Cirdan and Washu. You were now there newest member.
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A portal opened and out stepped a man with long blonde hair tied back wearing a long leather jacket with large white wings coming out the back of it.
Ah it is so good to be back.
He looks around.
I wonder where Washu has got to?
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Down below the main level of Castle Henheart a small moth is seen fluttering in the semi-darkness of a torch lit corridor. Down one set of stairs it flutters, then another, and another. Now deep in the dungeons a faint sound of mirth is heard, but as the moth gets closer, the sound of laugher turns creepy, and then maniacal. Just as the moth enters a large chamber it is swallowed by a bat.
In the middle of the chamber, what appears to be a short girl with a great shock of flaming reddish pink hair and dressed in a lab coat surveys what appears to be a finished work of her effort and continues to laugh insanely
"AH-Hahahahahahahaaaa! Wah-hahahahahahaaa!! Ah-hahahahahaaa! At last!! At last it is completed!!" Ah-hahahahahahahahaaaa!!"
In front of this strange girl is what looks like an operating table and upon it appears to be a corpse covered with a white sheet. As she continues to laugh, the corpse beneath the sheet begins to shift around.
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There is a strange blue light from the otherside of the door and as it fades Cirdan walks in and looks bilwildered by what he sees.
"Washu have you finished with my toaster yet?"
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Stumbling around the corner, a young woman dressed all in black, other than her pink shoes and her sheep backpack, randomly happened to turn up on the doorstep of the Castle Henheart.
"Ugh, finally, I'm off that damned road! What sort of nutcase colours bricks in yellow, anyway? Le sigh..."
She walked closer, inspecting the sign above the door.
"What is this place, anyway? Hmm... Permanently baffled? And 2 residents... In a giant castle... Sounds great!"
Grabbing the nearest french animated talking candlestick, she opened the door and walked into the empty entrance hall.
"....Hello?"
Silence. She shouted louder.
"Erm, hello?"
More silence.
"I have booze, ya know!"
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There is the sound of footsteps in the distance getting louder, faster and closer. Suddenly a door burts open and a rather tired looking Cirdan it propped up against the door frame.
"Someone say something about drink?"
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A man with long blond hair, and more noticeably, wings, burst into the corridor in front of the girl.
"Why hello there... How you doin'? And drink? Why yes indeed I did..."
Taking her bag off her back, she pulls out 2 crates of beer, 3 bottles of rose wine, a bag of alcopops, and a number of strangely coloured liquids, some of which were glowing.
"Take your pick!"
She ponders quietly for a moment.
"Haven't I met you somewhere before?"
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Grabs bottle of strange glowing red stuff.
"Me? Possibly, I am over 5000 years old. Washu! Drinks are up!"
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Down in the dungeons Washu continues to laugh maniacally as the corpse on the table begins to move and shift and sit up.
"Ah-hahahahaha!! Wah-hahahahahaaa!! It's ALIVE!! Rise!! Ah-hahahahahahaaa!! Rise my glorious creation!! Rise up and join mee!"
The sheet falls of the "creation" revealing the face of Abe Vigoda. Abe looks around without saying anything. On the back of his head is an odd piece of black plastic and a slot that looks suspiciously like a toaster.
"Ah-hahahahaa!! Now! Now the world shall be mine!!"
Shouts Washu, but Abe ignores her and gets up. Enticed by the yells of booze and alcoholic goodies in the entrance hall, Abe start loping slowly towards the door.
"Wah-ahahahhaaa .... huh? Hey?? Where ya goin? Get back here!"
Washu hollers after Vigoda-stein, but he just keeps on going ...
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((ZOMG Alex-chan is more baffled now than she was before she read this post @_@))
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Up one staircase and then another Abe Vigoda lumbers in search of Alcohol. Washu does her best to try and stop him, but still the scent of booze drowns out the screams of his angry mistress ...
"Accck!! Stop dammit!! Get back to the dungeon and stop pretending that you have the brains of a toaster!!"
*Dramatic pause*
"Oh wait ... you do have the brains of a toaster!"
Washu realizes with a scowl. Yet again she grabs Vigoda-stein by the belt and tries to pull him back. And yet again the obvious charactaristic of "Little Washu" has no effect against the monstrous, hulking Vigoda. And yet again Washu falls on her little tooshie and starts crying.
"Waaaahh! Come on Abe! Please come back! Waaaaahhh!!"
Just then Washu notices that someone is watching her. She appears to be a Japanese schoolteacher that has become baffled and lost in the maze of corridors leading to the dungeons of Castle Henheart. Washu Immediately gets up and goes over to her. On the teacher's blazer is a name tag sticker with the handwritten words "Alex-sensei" written on it. After reading the name tag, Washu introduces herself with a big smile and with no trace to show that less than two minutes ago she was crying hysterically.
"Hi Alex-sensei! How do you do? I am Washu!" ^__^
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Tossing her indigo hair, an 'old' woman with the looks and personality of a young lady quiety entered the castle and smiled. She looked own and nticed a nametag and a pen in her hand. Ignoring how unsual his was, she read the little starting note quietly to herself, "Hello. My name is..."
She scrawled "Your face" on the white space and giggled.
She exhibited a kind of grace as she moved around the corridors. Of course, this was purely down to her new shoes, but no one needed to know that. She gave her cyan eyes a moment to adjust and carried on walking around aimlessly.
"Helloooooooo! Is anyone here?"
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"um...i am...uberl...cofused....um...where am i?" Alex asked.
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From the shadow behind her a man with his long jacket dragging behind him called to her. [simone]
"Miss Legenda, so nice of you to visit."
She turns to see Cirdan standing there leaning against the wall, his wings consealed by his massively long jacket.
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The girl starts getting edgy and impatient, bouncing around like a total lunatic.
"Hmm, this hall's boring... Lets get cosy and have drinking game fun!"
The girl runs into the front room of the castle, dragging drinks and various people along with her, divebombing onto the nearest sofa.
"Muuuuuch better! Come on, grab a seat next to me! Be nice and warm then, honeybunches!"
Looking around, she spots a large, black hole in the middle of the floor.
"Hmm, what's that? Maybe I should go and check it out..."
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A large roar can be heard from inside the black hole and a sign appears beside it reading.
"DO NOT ENTER!"
In big un-friendly letters.
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"Eeek! Now who's a grumpy gus today?"
The girl bounces back over to the scary man and "Your Face", digging into a bottle of liquid with the words "TOXIC - DO NOT CONSUME." written on.
"Now, who wants to play truth or dare?!?! Yaaaay!"
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Just then Abe Vigoda sticks his head up out of the hole. He looks around a bit and grunts a couple of times before reaching out and grabbing the looney alcohol girl around the waist with his huge, menacle like hand. Vigoda-stein picks her up and starts shaking her until the alcohol bottles start to fall out.
"Ooooo ... boooozeeee ..."
Grunts Abe and then he drops loony girl on the sofa. One by one he eats the bottles with a horrible screeching-crunching noise as the glass bottles are ground up in his teeth.
Meanwhile ...
Down in the maze of corridors leading to the dungeons, Washu entertains her new friend.
"Oh, I'm sorry about the tunnels being so confusing Alex-sensei."
Washu aplogized and then explained
"I designed them that way to keep spies from getting into my labora ... erm house down here and stealing all of my secrets. The intent never was to confuse an honest and intelligent person such as yourself Alex-sensei."
Then Washu takes Alex-sensei by the hand and starts to lead her down the corridor.
"Come, let me show you the comforts of my domain down here. You might even be able to help me with this project that's been giving me some difficulty lately."
Washu suggests with a warm smile.
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She took a moment to recognise Cirdan and then smiled. She walk towards him, flailing her arms like a manic bird attempting to take flight, " 'allo! How've you been over the years? Seems like an eternity since I saw you last!"
In all entirety, she had no idea who she was waving at, seeing as how she had perfect vision and was wearing glasses for someone practically blind. Yeah, that definately didn't help. She just kind of hoped that her actions would mask the fact that she had no idea who she was talking to.
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He laughed.
"A couple of years? Try 800 of 'em!"
laughing he hugged her and teleported them both to the comfort of the one of the several hundred sofas to be greated by a manic girl yelling. "Now, who wants to play truth or dare?!?! Yaaaay!" [Liz]
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A girl wandered up the road licking a very large white lollipop with red swirls in one hand and a moogle plushie in the other. She was lost, as always.
She noticed the castle before hr and n her maazemnet dropped her lollipop.
"wooooooow...." she said not moving but gawping. After remaining in her frozen position for several more minutes she shook herself and giggled.
"Lets go see whats in there-su!"
She said to her plushie and began running towards the castle.
After stopping to gaze at the green clouds for a few baffling seconds she stopped at the doorway and gazed up.
"gulp"
She held her plushie tighter and knocked on the door, awaiting reception.
"er.. hewwo-su?" she said in a childish voice her eyes wide.
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A trap dpr opens below the girl who had apporched the castle. She hurtles down the slide in pitch blackness untill she hits the floor. The room is dark and damp with only a few slow burning embers to light it. As she looks around she see something move in the darkness, something big, something not human... She's about to scream when!...... The lights go on and Cirdan is standing in a doorway and next to him is a 400ft long dragon curled up sleeping.
"Sorry I thought you were from Readers Digest."
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the girl stared and blinked a few times before nodding, her mom was always complaing about readers digest, preachers and salespeople. Then again her mother did moan about a lot of things.
She gripped her moogle plushie tighter and stared at the dragon.
"He's gorgeous!"
She half whispered in shock and disbelief.
"Who are you?" She randomly asked the man staring at him with her big blue eyes.
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A portal open beneith her and she falls through into the front room on the sofa next to the mad alcy girl as Cirdan appears standing infront of her again.
"I am Cirdan Carnesir, pleased to meet you."
Theres a loud roar as Goliath is seen trying to force his way through the portal only to get stuck.
"Washu he's stuck again!"
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Legenda half-smiled at the blurry people around her and took a drink. One would think that it would occour to her to remove the glasses at some point, but no such thoughts had crossed her mind. Instead, she reached out for the sofa and sat down carefully. She took a sip of her drink and scowled, "What is this? It's awful!"
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"Hmm... I'm not actually sure what that drink is, ya know, all I remember is there being fibreglass involved... Well, you win some, you lose some, right?"
The girl hears loud roaring from the background.
"Holy hell! What do you people eat around here?!?"
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Washu had just arrived in her dungeon laboratory with Alex-sensei when a load roaring noise was heard from above and soon the room started to shake and bits of dust fell from the ceiling.
"Erm, don't mind that Alex-sensei, they're always partying and causing a ruckus upstairs. They're always disturbing my work down here, so I oughta turn them into water sprites next time that I go up there. Would you like some tea?"
She asked Alex-sensei, but before she could answer a distant voice was heard calling to Washu about something being stuck.
"Oh great, they must really be drunk this time. I think that they let the dragon out."
Washu heaved a big sigh. v_v
"I need to go take care of this before anything worse happens. You can come along if you like Alex-sensei, but I'll tell you that you'd be safer if you stayed here."
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*steps out of limo* looks look quite a bunch of wierdos in there..... not my crowd *limo drives off* damn working boy!! i won't hire that chauffeur again!! well i might as well go and join them *reluctant*
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A young woman with long-ish burgundy hair slipped out of the forest beside her.
"Bloody Vampires!" Her black, off-the-shoulders top had a rather conspicuous blood stain on the front, but with a snap of her fingers, it was gone. "Three effing attacks in one night...and of course I get called out to fight in all of them..." She continued muttering like this until she walked right into the side of the castle and fell down. "Damn, I need a vacation." She walked around to the front door, read the sign, shrugged, and entered through the open door.
"hey, is anyone home?" the girl shouted. She heard a roaring somewhere off in the distance, and tugged on her green-and-blue belt nervously.
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Washu peeked out from behind a potted plant to see the new visitor asking if anyone was at home. Since Washu was at home she decided to jump out and answer.
"Hiya new person!"
She greeted the latest propective addition to the Henheart family with a gleeful smile
"Sure, there's someone here, well I think that I count as someone and I'm here, so I guess that someone is here! Yaayy!"
Washu explained with a smile then continued
"All of the other someones that take up residence here have names and I have one too! Isn't that cooliess? My name is Washu, but please call me Washu-chan, okay? I'm the resident scientific genius here and I'm always glad to meet a new specim ... erm ... I mean friend ... that's it! hehe ... so whom might you be?"
She asked the new visitor.
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"I'm Anselle the 3rd, but please call me Diamond." Diamond smiled kindly.
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"Oooh, it's nice to meet Diamond-san!"
Washu greeted her new acquaintence with a warm smile and bowed politely. From down the corridor and some distance away some strange muffled sounds were heard followed by what sounded like a roar, or maybe a growl, but it was kind of hard to tell from so far away and through the thick castle walls.
"Eh-heh, don't mind that, eh-heh ..."
she dismissed the sounds with a chuckle and then continued.
"Erm, in case you didn't know already, this place is Castle Henheart, a stoic old institution steeped in British history. There's nothing to worry about as long as you stay with me. Come along Diamond-san, I'll show you a place where you'll be able to sit down and rest for a while ..."
Washu paused as she looked Diamond up and down again.
"You look like you could use some rest ..."
Then she turned and started to walk slowly down the corridor towards the interior of the castle. Some more strange sounds were heard again, metallic sounds this time, like swordplay ... or possibly an automobile accident ...
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Lucia slowly walked in her bangles jangling as she walked her steps flowing along the floor as she span down the corridor giggling to herself her breasts bouncing up and down. Apparently she hadn't discovered the marvels of a bra.
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The party long over, silence permeates every nook and cranny of Castle Henheart. Every nook and cranny except one. There, a solitary figure wearing a white apron and a kerchief tied on her head - Maki-chan - quietly sweeps the floor clear of plastic beer cups and cigarette butts. In dim candlelight she works, making no sound other than the soft, rhythmic "whoosh" noise of the bristles of her broom on the stone floor.
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*sits in the corner drinking 100% alcohol and smoking the strongest cigar*
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Eventually Maki-chan's sweeping reached the darkest corner of the room and as she swept a piece of crumpled, yellow newspaper, her broom stopped against a heavy object.
"Hmm?" she wondered out loud and went to pick up her candle. Placing it near the object Maki-chan saw that the object was a mouldy leather boot with a hole in the sole. However, what was more startling was that the boot was still attached to a foot."
"Ewww ..." she winced in disgust.
"I knew that I'd waited too long to clean this place up, but ..." Maki-chan paused "... why does this corpse smell like tobacco instead of rotting flesh?" she asked the corpse curiously.
Barely discernable from death, the young man's hand clenched a bottle of clear liquid sitting on the floor while a thin trail of smoke gently wafted from the large stogie dangling precariously from his lips. On his chin, several weeks of beard growth obscured his features so that Maki-chan didn't quite recognize him at first. However, the large sword strapped to his back gave away his identity ... as well as prevented him from completely slumping over onto the floor.
"Cirdan? Is that you? How long have you been here?" Maki-chan asked in astonishment, but the only reply was the dusty silence of the castle itself. She wasn't even sure if Cirdan was actually conscious and could hear her words.
"Erm ... hmm ..." She mused a bit perplexed. He was certainly too heavy for Maki-chan to pick up and carry, but she didn't want to leave him here either. Undoubtedly he needed a good meal and a bath, but at least the meal was something that she could bring to him easily.
"Umm, I'll go get you something for dinner. It will take a few minutes ..." Maki-chan almost said "don't go anywhere" but realized soon enough that that request wasn't necessary.
"I'll be right back" she promised and walked away carrying a sack of trash in one hand and her trusty candleholder in the other.
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About a hour later Maki-chan was again descending the stairway down into the lower levels of Castle Henheart. The main living and residential levels of the castle had long ago been wired for modern lighting systems, however below the storage cellars, in the "dungeon" levels, no such conveniences existed. So just like if she had lived a thousand years ago Maki-chan navigated by candlelight, her candleholder in her right hand and on her left arm she carried a serving tray. On the tray was a freshly cooked meal of steak and potatoes, cut salad, and assorted condiments as well as a tankard of local Scottish ale. It was all a bit heavy but since Maki-chan was accustomed to working alone in Castle Henheart she was hardly a weakling, even though her general appearance might indicate otherwise. She had carefully wrapped the dinner for Mr. Carnesir before leaving the kitchens so that it would not lose heat or catch any dust along the way to the room where Maki-chan had found him only a short time ago.
"How irresponsible of my mistress!" Maki-chan thought to herself as she walked. "It's been more than two years since she'd left on hiatus and to think that she left that poor fellow Mr. Carnesir down there all alone, all this time to starve!" Her annoyance was teetering on the point of rage, but Maki-chan was a servant in an aristocratic household and therefore voicing her own opinions wasn't a part of her job. As always Maki-chan never spoke a word of her thoughts even though no one was around her to hear them. She resigned herself "Hopefully Mr. Carnesir will give Mistress Washu a good talking to after he has recovered from the dreadful state he's in now."
She calmed herself and only a minute later Maki-chan arrived at the room where Cirdan was currently residing. She went in and set the serving tray down and by unfolding its legs, the tray made a short table on the floor. Maki-chan carefully set her candleholder in the middle of the tray to ward off any intrepid rats that might attempt to raid and plunder the feast not intended for them. Then she went over to Cirdan to try and wake him from his death-like stupor.
"Mr. Carnesir? Mr.Carnesir?" Maki-chan called softly at first, but louder the second time. When he didn't respond, she knelt down beside him and called closer to his face "Mr. Carnesir? Can you hear me?" Momentarily, Maki-chan was entranced by his strong, rugged features buried in unkemptness but her face turned quickly to disappoinment when he didn't respond. Getting more desperate, Maki-chan put her hand on his shoulder and began to gently nudge him, hoping that he would wake up. "Mr. Carnesir!, Mr. Carnesir! Please wake up!" she pleaded.
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Her last nudge proved however to be too much for the precarious perch of Cirdan on his sword. The scabbard of Requiem slipped on the stone floor and out from under him, allowing Cirdan to slump leisurely over to one side. His cigar stub rolled away on the floor as his shoulder met the stone and the bottle he was clenching also spilled over onto the floor. The air filled with the strong scent of ethanol where before only the smell of tobacco smoke and mustiness were present.
Frozen in shock, Maki-chan watched as the little scene unfolded, her hands held where she had last nudged him. Her whole being filled with dread as a heavy stone of grief bore down on her chest. Maki-chan didn't need to be a doctor or medical expert to realize that it was too late.
"Oh ... no ...!" were the only words that Maki was able to mutter. As she slumped down onto her knees and sat on the floor, Maki began to sob quietly.
Over the last two years, Maki-chan had found a number of corpses in various places throughout Castle Henheart, More often than not, she never knew the identity of those who had died or why. Maki-chan's Mistress, Lady Washu Hakubi had a habit of throwing wild parties with her guests at Castle Henheart and very often these extravegant entertainments resulted in unfortunate outcomes. Maki-chan was forbidden by her mistress from participating or even showing herself at her mistress' parties so Maki-chan didn't really know for sure what went on. All she ever concerned herself with was cleaning up the mess afterwards, and this at times meant the proper disposal of corpses.
This was however, the first time that Maki-chan had ever seen one of them pass away in her presence. Quickly, she pulled a handkerchief from her apron pocket and dried her tears, but it couldn't wipe away the tremendous feeling of guilt that was now filling her up.
"This is all my fault, I should have come here and cleaned the dungeons sooner. If I had, then I would have found you here before it was too late ..." she quietly lamented at the now inanimate Cirdan on the floor. "Now I will be forever haunted by your ghost Mr. Carnesir."
When Lady Washu had departed more than two years ago, she had laid off all of the other domestic staff and charged Maki-chan with upkeep of the entire property. Since there were never any visitors it wasn't very difficult for Maki-chan to do her work, however with more than four hundred rooms, Castle Henheart was a large place for her to keep after. Since her mistress could return from hiatus at any time, Maki-chan was always sure that the upper residential and living areas were her first priority. Other places like storage rooms and the dungeons Maki-chan would clean as she found time for them, and such was the case for the dungeon room she had found Cirdan in. The only room that Maki-chan never cleaned or even entered was Lady Washu's laboratory. Maki-chan knew where it was, but she was deathly afraid to even lay a hand on the door handle lest some horror from within escape and kill her.
So because she hadn't given the dungeons a higher priority on her cleaning list, Maki-chan now blamed herself for allowing Cirdan to go unnoticed for so long. For a long time she just sat there and watched the body, sort of hoping that some miracle would wake him up, but Maki was too much of a realist to have such hopes for very long. Soon she got up and knew that there was still work for her to do, that Cirdan still deserved the honor of a decent burial.
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Meanwhile, Moshman peeks out from a corner at Maki-Chan, he grabs a broom and offers a lending hand on maintaining the vacant old decrepit castle.
"Mind if I stick around for a bit? Looks like there's a lot of work to be done around here hey?"
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"Eeeek!" Maki-chan let out a short, but very high pitched shriek.
Her attempt to revive Cirdan Carnesir had failed a short time earlier and since then Maki-chan had returned to the kitchen with the meal she had prepared for him. She had hurriedly stashed it in a refrigerator and then went to the room where the linens were stored. Picking up an armful of them and also two rather long (~4m) wooden slats, Maki-chan made her way back down to the dungeons to retrieve the body of the deceased. All along the way, her mind was filled with thoughts of incompetence and her heart was heavy with remorse.
"How could I have been so negligent? I've been here all this time and not once had I made a full inspection of the entire castle and grounds. All I was concerned with was keeping the living quarters in order should Mistress Washu return unannounced. This is all my fault! Poor Mr. Carnesir was left abandoned and alone down there for who knows how long - maybe for all of these last two years? I should have found him long ago, It's my fault that he starved to death down there ... I'm so stupid ..." Her head hung low and just the smallest drops of tears formed in her eyes as Maki-chan forlornly carried her supplies into the depths of Castle Henheart. It was in this state of misery that Moshman caught Maki-chan by surprise.
So startled from her self imposed trance was Maki-chan that she recoiled backwards and abruptly bumped into the stone wall behind her. Her right elbow also bumped the wall rather firmly causing Maki-chan to drop her load of linens and the wooden slats made a loud clattering noise on the floor. For a moment she just stared at Moshman, but soon the pain in her elbow brought Maki back to her senses and she began to rub it with her left hand.
"You ... you scared me." Maki said unevenly, still not fully recovered from the shock.
"I had no idea that anyone else was here in the castle." she finished and began to gather up the linens that she had spilled on the floor. Once Maki-chan had calmed down she began to consider Moshman's offer of help. As physically capable as she was, Maki knew that dragging the body of Mr. Carnesir up many stairways out of the dungeons would be physically exhausting for her, however at the same time Maki-chan felt that that was a punishment she deserved.
"I appreciate the offer and thank you kind Sir, but I'm afraid that I cannot accept it. Mistress Washu would punish me severely if I allowed one of her guests to help me with the cleaning or any of my other duties here in Castle Henheart. I'm sorry" Maki-chan declined and her face once again filled with remorse as she turned her eyes away from Moshman. Lastly she picked up the wooden slats and turned to leave. "Please excuse me Sir, there is an urgent task I must attend to." Maki-chan excused herself quietly and began to proceed on to her destination, walking away slowly.
For two years Maki-chan had been alone in the castle, with no one but the walls to talk to. And now finally a kind man had shown up, but because of the difficult circumstances, Maki-chan was forced to turn away from him. Real tears now welled in her eyes as she walked away from him, but Maki-chan swallowed hard and grit her teeth. If she revealed her feelings now, things would only become worse and she wouldn't know what to do then.
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Moshman, feeling confused and guilt for Maki-Chan, stared at the dusty floor despairingly. He finally walked up to her and abruptly put his hand on her shoulder, "I know what it's like being alone and drowned in guilt," he said reassuringly, "but going on like this will only make things worse. As for Washu, I'm not afraid of her at all. All she can do is stare a hole in me. She left you alone, it's her who needs to be punished not you. Tell her that you tried to reject my offer, but that I simply ignored it. After all it is a pretty big place, and really chilly in here. It must be hard to do all this on one's own, especially with the grief you're experiencing."
Moshman let go and walked towards a wall and slid down on the cold floor.
"I know you don't really mean that, but if you wish for me to leave, I will."
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Maki-chan hadn't walked two steps since she'd turned from Moshman when she felt a firm, but gentle hand rest on her shoulder. Her heart fluttered slightly and Maki-chan stopped in her tracks, realizing that her little attempt at a ruse had failed. In a way she was relieved, but at the same time Maki knew that she now had to face her fears.
Swallowing hard, she turned to Moshman who was now sitting on the floor. "I'm sorry" she sniffed slightly "I didn't mean to mislead you sir, I just didn't want to burden you with my problems." Maki admitted. "Being a servant, I'm not accustomed to asking for or receiving help from others. I've always thought that I should handle my difficulties on my own. I honestly did not mean any insult. I'm sorry." she apologized again and sighed. However this time it wasn't a sigh of despair. Instead Maki was attempting to gather her courage. Slowly, she set the wooden slats down on the floor again and walked over to where Moshman was seated against the wall. Maki-chan also turned and then sat down on the floor next to him.
For a moment Maki-chan couldn't think of what to say and just stared at her white apron covering her knees and the skirt of her uniform. Soon, the words that Moshman had said only moments earlier rang true to her. "You are right, this castle is a very big place. Even though no one lives here except myself, it is a lot of work to keep it clean. There is just so much dust ..." Maki-chan trailed off. Not sure what to say next Maki-chan paused for a moment and thought to herself "somehow I have to tell him about the body otherwise he'll know I'm hiding something, if he doesn't know already" and unconsciously bit her lower lip like a little girl.
"It takes .. uh, well .. a really long time to clean all of the rooms, there's four hundred an twelve rooms in Castle Henheart. Well at least that's how many I know about ..." and Maki-chan began to feeling like she was avoiding the issue again. But she continued "the rooms that aren't used as often don't need to be cleaned that much so I have devised a schedule of sorts that helps me make the best use of my time, but ..." Maki hesitated as she now grew closer to admitting her own failing. "... but that meant neglecting some parts of the Castle for long periods of time, including places like this, the dungeons."
"This afternoon ..." Maki-chan's voice started to waver unsteadily "... I went into one of the lower dungeon rooms." She swallowed hard to keep her courage up. "I found ..." and even without saying it, her face began to twist in anguish "... a man ... he was ... dying ..." Maki barely managed to squeak out. No longer was she able to show her face, so Maki-chan hugged her knees closely and buried her face in her lap. The pain she felt in her chest was now so strong that she couldn't speak. For several minutes Maki sat trembling and desperately trying to quell her terror and her own loathing of herself. But realizing that she was almost there, Maki-chan pressed on "there wasn't anything that I could do" her muffled voice sounded very small. "it's all ... my fault ..." after which she let out a couple of high pitched sobs. And then at last, her dam of tears burst and Maki-chan cried uncontrolled.
-
Eventually Maki-chan quieted down and with a sniff she looked up. Maki was of course humilated by this outburst of unprofessional behavior, but a quick glance around the dimly lit corridor brought some sense of relief for her. Save for herself, no one else was there to witness her embarrassing blunder. "It really did feel good to let that out" Maki admitted to herself "but I'm glad that no one else had to see that" she sighed and levered herself back up into a standing position.
The materials she had been carrying still lay scattered on the floor so Maki quickly gathered them up and began to walk down the corridor again towards her original destination. Maki remembered what Moshman had said about Mistress Washu being the one really responsible for what had happened and since it did make sense, Maki felt a little less guilty about her failure. As always, as long as she had work to do, Maki's own life, her loneliness and guilt just faded into the background as she kept herself busy with whatever needed attending to at the moment.
Then she once again entered the dungeon chamber where the corpse of Cirdan Carnesir still lay. Maki set her candleholder down in the middle of the room where it would light the area as efficiently as its tiny flame could. She set down her bundle of linens and the two long wooden slats off to one side, away from the body. From her apron pocket, Maki drew out a surgeon's mask and tied it on her face to cover her nose and mouth. Next, from the same pocket Maki pulled out a pair of black industrial latex rubber gloves and stretched them one at a time over her hands and uniform sleeves. To her chagrin, Maki was familiar with handling corpses and knew that she had to take these precautions to avoid endangering her own health. She spread the first of the linen sheets out on the floor and then rolled the corpse onto it. Rigor mortis was beginning to set in, so Maki stripped Cirdan's corpse of his clothing as quickly as possible. Even in death he was a handsome, almost godlike creature, but Maki fought down the regrets that were trying to rise in her at the sight of him. She quickly wrapped the body in the sheet it was lying on and then opening up another sheet, she repeated the process once again. Cirdan's clothing, she tied up in a linen bag and set that aside for later. Maki would incinerate the bag and its contents at the earliest possible convenience. Taking the last two sheets, Maki laid them out on the floor and set the long wooden slats on top of the sheets. The slats were positioned so that the two layers of sheets were divided into three equal rectangular areas with the slats protruding about one meter beyond the sheets both ways. When the positioning was correct, Maki folded the sheets over the slats and formed herself a makeshift litter. She fastened the sheets with a number of safety pins which wasn't a trivial task while wearing rubber gloves, but this was among many unusual tasks Maki had become proficient at in her years working in Castle Henheart. All that was left to do was roll the body onto the litter and bind it securely. Once she had completed this, Maki removed the rubber gloves and mask. Maki had one more piece of linen that was really an odd scrap that she had fashioned into a wide strap a few meters long. This Maki tied to the slats at one end of the litter so she could lift it. Now that the preparations were complete Maki turned with a sigh "Now for the hard part" she muttered to herself in the silence of the dungeon. Standing between the slats, Maki faced away from the body bound to the litter. She crouched down and picked up the linen strap and ducked her head under it so that the strap passed behind her neck, then over the front of her shoulders, and lastly under her armpits. Careful not to pinch her hair under the strap, Maki stood up and lifted the litter up on one end. The other end remained on the floor as Maki picked up her candleholder, leaned forward, and took a step, dragging the litter behind her.
Among all of the bodies she had dragged out of the castle over last two years, this was one of the heaviest Maki quickly realized. For some reason she couldn't quite explain Maki felt like this drudgery was something that she needed right now. Leaning forward again, Maki placed her foot on the first tread of the stairway up out of the dungeons.
-
Maki-chan estimated that the body weighed at least a hundred kilograms, more than double her own weight, so leverage alone wasn't going to get Cirdan's corpse up the stairs and out of the dungeons. Her own strength was required for this work, to lift the body and the litter up one step at a time. Even though Maki was in good shape physically, she wasn't a professional athlete or anything like that so by the time she had reached the level below the castle's main floor, the muscles in her legs and shoulders ached with fire. On the floor Maki slowly knelt down and caught her breath. It felt wonderful to have the weight of the litter removed from her shoulders.
Often in the evening, Maki would watch TV and every once in a while they would have one of those "World's Strongest Men" competition type shows on. She could remember hearing the phrase "feel the burn" used by a weightlifter during a heavy workout and that was exactly how Maki felt right now. However, compared to those guys on TV Maki was a tiny weakling and despite all of her efforts and determination, Maki would reach her physical limits and pass out long before one of her beefcake idols would. She let out a sigh after several minutes of resting and then stood up again.
Step by step, Maki dragged her heavy load up the final staircase to the main floor. There, she knelt down and rested again before proceeding onwards. From here on things went much easier because it was just a matter of pulling the litter and Cirdan's corpse through a maze of corridors, but all at the same level - no more stairs were required. Just before she reached the back entrance, the hallway actually sloped down a little right to the door. Maki thought about putting on her overcoat before going outside, "It's going to be a little chilly, but I really don't want to soil my coat with the work I have to do" and dismissed the idea.
Lifting the aged iron hasp, Maki opened the heavy oaken door and stepped outside into the rather crisp air of the early spring. The sky was gray and overcast but not heavy enough to call for rain so Maki proceeded to haul the litter across the castle's inner courtyard. On the opposite side was an ancient shed built of the same stonework as that section of the castle. It was there that Maki stopped. "Erm, let's see if I remember which one it is" she muttered quietly to herself as she rummaged through her collection of keys. After a moment she still hadn't found it, so she set down the litter and began to fret "Oh dear, did I forget to bring it?" But before it became necessary to chastise herself, Maki found the old brass skeleton key and inserted it into the lock. With much relief it turned and Maki went into the shed, dragging the litter and corpse behind her.
The shed was only dimly lit by a couple of small windows, but it was enough for Maki to see what she was doing. On one side of the shed there were several rows of heavy shelving with what appeared to be packing crates stacked upon them. Each one of the crates had some numbers written on them and Maki began to read each one, looking for something which she soon found. "Hmm, this one should be large enough" she acknowledged to herself. Then she went to a stand near the door where Maki had left a pair of old, musty workman's gloves. Putting these on, she went to the crate she had just selected, pulled it from the shelf, and gently set it on the dirt floor of the shed. Obviously empty, the pinewood coffin would not remain so for long.
-
In the same stand where Maki had kept the work gloves were also several drawers that contained various odds and ends tools. Searching through one of them, she found a pair of slightly rusted snips that apparantly hadn't been used in some time, but were still sharp nonetheless. Using these, Maki snipped the plastic bands that had held the coffin's lid in place for storage. After the finding of a second corpse in the castle shortly after Lady Washu had departed, Maki had ordered an assortment of these coffins made up and stored here for possible future use. And sadly, a half dozen of them had been used since then and now Mr. Carnesir made the seventh of these and soon to be the eighth deceased buried by Maki in her tenure as the castle's sole caretaker.
Quietly she worked, first removing the lid from the coffin and then inspecting the box for defects or unwanted refuse. Once satisfied that it was usable, Maki lifted up one end the litter bearing the corpse of Mr. Carnesir and dragged it over the top of the open coffin. With careful placement, she set the litter down with the corpse positioned exactly as it would rest in the coffin. Maki then unbound the corpse and removed her numerous safety pins from the linens of the litter. Silently, the corpse settled comfortably into its new home. Then one at a time she withdrew the long wooden slats from the linens of the litter and set them upon a couple of pegs protruding from the shed's stone wall, opposite the shelving that held the spare coffins.
Tucking in the excess linens, Maki carefully placed the lid upon the no longer empty coffin. Going back once again to the tool stand, Maki returned the snips to their drawer and took out a rather ordinary claw hammer. From another drawer she took a box half full of ten penny nails and set them on the lid of the coffin near the center. Maki removed the work gloves and carefully began to drive the nails, one by one, into the coffin lid to secure it. She wasn't much of a carpenter, but Maki was careful enough to position the nails correctly and not hurt herself with the hammer. It didn't take long before she was finished with her somber crating task. After putting away the rest of the tools, Maki went to the door and looked outside.
The air still had a chilly bite to it and now that she was no longer working Maki began to feel uncomfortably cold. A soft breeze around her ankles sent a shivering chill up her legs and back and Maki hugged herself and waited, trying not to shiver. Just about the moment she would've gone back to the castle to get her coat, Maki heard the telltale growl of a diesel engine in the distance. One side of the courtyard that Maki looked out upon bordered on one of the castle's fortified outer walls, and near the center of this side of the courtyard was in fact one of the fortified outer gates. It had not been manned in modern times of course, but when Maki heard the sound of the engine she strolled quickly across the courtyard to open the gate for the groundskeeper that was coming with his truck. The gate itself was a guillotine type structure that was designed so that chains and pulleys moved the gate and counterweights so that a normal human person could operate it. Fortunately modern technology had been employed to motorize all of this so all that Maki needed to do was turn a key in an electric switch to open this medieval wonder of brute strength defense.
Maki stood aside as the groundskeeper drove his truck through. Except for Maki herself, this fellow was the only other person that worked at the castle these days, and even then only part time. The lack of any visitors or other occupants made for minimal grounds maintenance requirements. The truck stopped right next to the shed where Maki had been working almost as if it knew exactly what to do, and from past experiences, its driver did. When he shut the motor down, the air became peacefully silent again. The man opened the door and dismounted from the truck. He watched Maki as she approached him from the gate, his face wore an expression of grim annoyance. He was an older fellow, maybe around sixty, but built like an ox with skin darkly bronzed from decades of work outdoors. Like Maki, he wore no jacket, but the cold didn't seem to bother him in the least, in fact there were many other things on his mind.
-
Maki hadn't quite reached the groundskeeper when he started in on her "Aye! Miss Lonliness, good mornin' to ya!" he greeted Maki in a loud voice thick with a Scottish accent.
She just stopped where she was, a few paces away, and sighed. "Please don't call me that Angus." she replied somewhat mournfully.
Seeing that she wasn't in a very cheerful state, Angus went straight to business. "I got your message last night and came out here first thing this morning Miss Maki. It's really true, I mean you found another one dead in the castle?"
"Yes, Angus." Maki answered, again with some regret in her voice. "This time it was a little different though, he was still alive when I found him. But just barely though and he passed away shortly afterwards." Maki cast her face down and finished "There wasn't anything I could do." Covering her face with her hands Maki began to sniff the tears welling in her eyes.
Angus saw that Maki was quite distressed over what had happened and began to regret his little teasing just a few moments earlier. Also his annoyance of being called out here to Castle Henheart on such short notice faded away as he remembered that Maki just needed him to do some work for her. She wasn't trying to intentionally cause him trouble. "I'm sorry Miss Maki. I'm sorry that you had to go through that." he tried to console her. Having lost family members himself over the years, Angus knew that experiencing the death of another person wasn't an easy thing. He put his hand on her shoulder and despite its large size and calloused fingers, the touch was surprisingly gentle.
Maki sniffed and dried her eyes before looking up at him again. The annoyed expression was gone from his face, replaced with concern. She wasn't really sure what to say next however. Explaining everything that had happened would require a lot of time even though Maki longed to do so. There would be a time for that but now there was work to be done so Maki summoned her courage and fought down the dreadful gloom that was trying to swallow her. "Thank you, Angus." was all Maki could come up with and then turned her eyes to the doorway of the shed. It was only a few paces away, so Maki went first and led the way.
The coffin was quite obvious in the center of the room on the floor and being a Christian man Angus signed himself when he first spied it. He was careful not to say anything that might upset Maki and just got to work. Angus lifted one end of the coffin as easily as Maki might pick up her purse and he dragged it out of the room to where his truck was waiting silently in the courtyard. The truck itself was a flatbed, stake body type with gate at the back. Having done this before, Maki quickly scurried ahead of Angus and opened up the tailgate for him. Angus set one end of the coffin upon the bed of the truck, then turned to pick up the other end. He lifted it easily and slid the coffin into the empty bed of his truck. Then he quickly closed and latched the tailgate again. At the same time, Maki locked up the door to the shed.
"There, I'll take care of this for now Miss Maki. It won't take long to get the grave dug and set the deceased in there, then I'll wait for you to come." Angus told her somberly.
Maki nodded and then she replied "Oh, please put him next to Miss Haggis in the cemetery. They were lovers at one time I believe."
Angus raised an eyebrow, but just acknowledged "Aye Ma'am" then he turned and went back to the truck. He climbed in and started it running again. Maki went back to the castle gate after him to see him out and once the truck had passed through, she closed the fortified gate again. Shivering with cold, Maki ran back to the main part of the castle to warm herself up again.
-
The warmth of the hot tea felt wonderful as Maki gently sipped her cup and warmed her hands on the ceramic of the mug itself. Winter still hadn't quite released its grip on the countryside where Castle Henheart was located, but it wouldn't be much longer before Maki-chan would be able to enjoy being outdoors again. After coming back inside shivering Maki had warmed herself in front of the kitchen stove as she brewed her tea, and now Maki enjoyed every last sip. When she was finished, Maki took a long walk through the castle and back down to the dungeon room where she had found Cirdan. She retrieved the bundle of his clothing and took another long walk through a labyrinth of dungeon passages that would have baffled even a video gamer until she arrived at the furnace room. There, Maki took the bundle of clothes and incinerated them. There was nothing more meticulous about Maki than how she did her housekeeping so leaving such remains behind was thoroughly unacceptable. "Uggh, I'm really glad that's over with" she commented to the incinerator as she closed its door. At the same time Maki was reminded of how disgustingly filthy she felt personally. She had spent the whole morning handling the deceased remains of Cirdan Carnesir and now she desperately wanted to get herself cleaned up.
In the servant's quarters there was a good sized locker room where they could change and store their uniforms but Maki normally didn't use it because she now occupied the major domo's quarters which had private facilities. However, today Maki didn't feel like bringing her filthy uniform into her own living quarters and used the locker room instead. Once she had removed her uniform and deposited it in the laundry, Maki went to her own quarters to shower. Since no one else was present in the castle she had no trouble taking the short walk in just a slip and her undies although the floor was a bit cold on her bare feet.
Maki's quarters were actually a quite beautiful set of rooms. The main living room was made with well cared for nineteenth century oak paneling and furnished with a sofa, some chairs, a coffee table, floor lamps, and some bookshelves of similar vintage. There was also a modern flatscreen TV which seemed distinctly out of place. Maki's bedroom was also similar in design, however the bathroom was a bit more modern since it had been renovated a number of times over the years. After showering, Maki dressed herself differently than usual. Instead of her uniform, Maki put on some of her "civilian" clothes - a simple, knee length black dress that fitted attractively, but not tightly, stockings, and a modest, but beautifully polished pair of black heels. Maki also took the time to sit down and make herself up which she normally didn't do either, but Maki didn't normally attend funerals. Once Maki had picked out her jewelry and tied her long, emerald green hair back with a barrette, she was ready to go. In the living room there was a small closet next to the door and from there Maki retrieved a lightweight, charcoal gray, wool overcoat and a black, wide brimmed hat. She put these on and then went over to the bookcase. From the top shelf Maki took a flat zippered pouch which she looked at for a moment and sighed. "I really thought that I would never have to do this again." After tucking the pouch in her arm, Maki opened the door and left.
-
Castle Henheart was set upon the top of a very large, round hill which gave it a commanding and picturesque view of the entire valley region. The base of the hill was pretty much the same as the rest of the valley lowlands and here the castle grounds and Henheart Estate extended about kilometer, give or take, in every direction from the castle hill. In medieval times these grounds had been protected farmlands that had supplied the needs of the Estate and all of the surrounding region that the Henhearts had been lords over. But in modern times the agricultural activities had ceased and the lands given over to woodland growth and it was here that Maki-chan now strolled casually.
She had always liked taking walks in these woods because Maki found the surroundings both peaceful and comforting. Now, in the early spring the calls of several different species of songbirds could be heard in the trees, some close by and some off in the distance. Frequently, she saw squirrels gathering nuts from the ground and they would eye Maki warily but flee only if Maki approached them too closely as she followed the path through the woods. The path itself was very nicely graded and the fine gravel scrunched softly under Maki's shoes with each step. Eventually the path led Maki to a wrought iron gate supported by two masonry piers on either side of the path. She lifted the hasp, pushed the gate open, and walked into a large clearing. In the middle of the clearing was an ancient and ponderously heavy structure built of granite - the Henheart family crypt, and the clearing was of course the castle cemetery. There were hundreds of grave markers, of all, shapes, sizes, and age. Some were so old and worn that they were no longer legible, leaving the history of those buried underneath lost to the endless march of time. Maki had only been inside the main crypt once when Mistress Washu had taken her there and she'd found it to be such a dark and creepy place with all of its tunnels and passages under the ground that Maki was terrified to ever go down there alone.
One quarter of the cemetary was still an unused open field, and it was here that Maki was bound. As new graves had been added adjacent to the older ones, they slowly, over time, continued to consume what was left of this empty space. Angus was already there waiting for her. His small Kubota backhoe was silent alongside a sizeable mound of freshly dug brown soil and upon one of its treads he sat, drinking what looked like a bottle of ale. Seeing her approach, Angus stood up. All dressed in black, Angus found the lonely housekeeper to be strikingly beautful as she walked across the green lawn towards him, but it was her somber expression that set the tone for what would happen next.
"Hello Angus" she greeted him as they met "is everything all ready?"
"Aye Ma'am" he answered "just got him set down there a few minutes ago."
"Okay" she sighed in acknowledgement "let's get started."
Maki walked over to the foot of the grave where she could see the coffin sitting at the bottom, six feet down. Silently she prayed for a moment "Dear Lord, please bring his lonely soul home to yourself in Heaven." and then Maki unzipped the small pouch she had carried from the castle. Inside was a thin, hardcover book with the title Funeral Rites of the Church of England printed on it. Maki had no idea what religion Cirdan Carnesir practiced, if any at all, but the Church of England was what she belonged to, and the best she could do. Getting a minister or anyone from the village to come out to Castle Henheart was practically impossible these days because of the rumours, so recently Maki had had no choice but to do the funerals herself.
-
Opening up the book, Maki signed herself, Angus followed, and Maki began to read aloud:
"'I am the resurrection and the life,' says the Lord. 'Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.'"
she began and then continued the service. Maki wasn't a minister of any kind, but she had enough faith to know that God wouldn't hold it against her if she wished to honour the dead. Every Sunday she always attended church service as she had done since childhood. Her parents had come to England from Japan, but Maki herself was born here and lived her entire life in the British Isles, so despite her name and physical appearance Maki was just as British as everyone else, and this included her religious affiliation as well.
After the burial of the second body Maki had found in the castle, all sorts of wild gossip and rumours surrounding Castle Henheart erupted in the village and surrounding region. Of course Mistress Washu wasn't exactly your everyday run of the mill aristocrat. Her penchant for throwing wild parties with disastrous consequences became well known, and thus the local populace had begun to shun her and the Henheart Estate out of pure fear. Then one day two years ago Lady Washu suddenly dismissed the castle staff and vanished. Shortly thereafter the bodies started to show up and then fear of the castle evolved into full fledged terror. All sorts of wild theories erupted about how Lady Washu fled to evade the consequences of whatever unholy deeds she had done in the castle. The villagers now saw Castle Henheart as a brooding omen of death overlooking their town, waiting to descend upon them. Most of them no longer went anywhere near the castle and very few, like Angus, would even enter the grounds. And so this was the sort of social environment that Maki encountered anytime she needed to go to the village. It didn't matter how nice or friendly she tried to be, all she could see in their eyes was fear when she had to purchase groceries, post mail, or any other errands. Even though Maki had never harmed anyone, everyone was deathly afraid of her and this was why she was so lonely and why no one except a few hardy souls like Angus would even dare meet or speak with her.
A short time later Maki finished the service:
"May God give you his comfort and his peace, his light and his joy, in this world and the next; and the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be among you and remain with you always." Slowly she closed the service book and looked down and the coffin one more time. Inside, she struggled mightily against the tears that were fighting to get out, but this was the reason Maki had made herself up beforehand - an ante for the challenge to keep her composure.
"You did beautifully as always" Angus commented. "Maybe if you ever get yourself out of this castle, you ought to consider becoming a minister for real Miss Maki." he suggested.
"Thank you Angus" Maki replied and with a tiny glimmer of hope added "believe it or not, I've actually thought about doing just that." She really appreciated his tact at distracting her mind from the burial, but it didn't last long. "I'm sorry, but I shouldn't keep you from your work Angus. Please excuse me now" Maki requested politely. But before she turned to go, she left an invitation "Please come back up to the castle when you're all finished. I'll have some tea and snacks ready for you."
"Aye Ma'am, that I'll do!" he replied enthusiastically, knowing how delicious Maki's tea service would be. And with a smile Angus waved her off and then Maki turned and began her walk back. About the time she reach the gate, Maki heard the Kubota grind and chug to life to begin its work again.
-
Leisurely, Maki walked through the woods, back along the path she had come down just a short time ago. Even though it was cloudy with a chill in the air, Maki was genuinely pleased to be outside.
"Angus is right." she thought to herself. "I really do spend too much time all cooped up in the castle all by myself. But I never thought that Mistress Washu would have been gone for so long like this. What if she never comes back? With Castle Henheart's reputation as of late, who knows if I could ever find a replacement for myself? I don't want to spend the rest of my life here all alone"
And at the end of that thought, Maki stopped walking and let out a huge sigh. Again she felt the moisture start to well behind her eyelids as she looked down at the path in front of her. Not only was the burial of Cirdan Carnesir still fresh in her mind, but the circumstances of her own life began to make her feel increasingly wretched. Soon she looked up again and in the distance Maki could see the spires of the castle above the treetops.
Originally Maki had come here to Castle Henheart for work experience, more specifically housecleaning experience. When she was in high school, Maki spent the vast majority of her labors studying and working in her parent's bookstore in London, where she lived at the time. Her mother took care of the housecleaning so Maki's father had highly valued her as an employee in their store. Maki also felt a certain sense of responsibility towards her family and so her work was a contribution towards the family finances. When Maki graduated from high school and reached adulthood, her own future became very important to her at the time, because now she herself would be the primary builder of that future. Thoughts of marriage and family had made her painfully aware that Maki was a poorly skilled home maker despite her business acumen. She knew that at some point she wanted to get married and as a wife, Maki would be expected to take care of the household chores as her mother did. Feminism had come a long way in England, but that didn't prevent Maki from being a realist and so she took a job at Castle Henheart to develop her skills a housekeeper and cook. Maki had only expected to stay there one or two years before resuming her studies in a university, but that was seven years ago. Because Mistress Washu paid her very well, Maki stayed on and saved her paychecks for her university costs. Mistress Washu was so impressed with Maki's work that even when all of the other staff was laid off, Washu chose to keep Maki as the property caretaker in Washu's absence. Initially Maki was overwhelmed by the great faith her Mistress had placed in her, but now the pendulum had swung the other way.
What was initially a challenging responsibility had now become a soul crushing burden for poor Maki. She was never one to abandon her responsibilties, so here she was, almost three years later, still doing her work and waiting for her mistress to return. At the same time the years of her life had gone by. With her savings Maki could probably pay the tuition for a doctorate from Oxford by now, but unable to leave the castle, her university dreams, along with all of her others, were fading away.
Still looking up at the castle she murmered quietly "When are you coming back Mistress? Are you alright, have you forgotten about me?" Then she looked back down at the path and resumed walking again.
-
Anselle the Third, more commonly known as Diamond, stood on the doorstep of Castle Henheart. She had come here years ago for a party, fallen asleep, and woken up miles upon miles away with a horrible headache. Now she was back, looking for answers.
Her black wool coat and tight, dark-wash jeans accentuated her newly developed curves. Way back then, she'd been a skinny teenager, now she was a fully-built woman, and not afraid to show it. Her grey eyes brightened as she saw a figure approaching in the fading evening light.
"Hello there!" She called out happily. "Do you happen to have a warm fire and a hot cup of tea for a lonely traveler?"
-
By now Maki-chan had worked herself up into such a state that she no longer desired to go back to her work right away. Self pity and genuine grief over the death of Cirdan Carnesir had drained the life out of her and Maki turned aside from the path she was on that led back to the castle. There were many circuitous paths that wound through the woods and fields of the Henheart Estate and Maki began to aimlessly wander these almost as if she wished to become as physically lost as she was emotionally and spiritually. Long she contemplated her past life and the road Maki had taken to get where she was now.
"What did I do wrong?" Maki asked herself in her thoughts. "I didn't plan for things to happen like this, how did my life turn out this way? Where did I go wrong?" she lamented miserably. And as such her thoughts continued, searching for answers that didn't come.
Even though the day was overcast and cloudy, Maki eventually noticed that the sky had begun to darken. Alarmed by this, she checked her wristwatch and noticed that it was about 5:30 in the evening.
"Oh no!" she realized apprehensively "I've spent the whole afternoon out here, I must get back before dark!"
Maki quickly looked around to see where she was and get her bearings and figure out the best way to get back to the castle. There weren't any real dangers on the estate that Maki was aware of, but the estate was large and the pathways were not lighted. Since she came outside in the morning, Maki did not have a lantern or flashlight with her and she would easily become lost after darkness fell. In a way this was a good thing because this sense of urgency had jolted Maki out of the pool of misery she had spent the whole afternoon drowning in.
Quickly Maki walked the best route she could find back to the castle, but even so it took quite some time for her to get back. By then there was little light left in the sky and the deepening chill of the night began to close around her. Soon Maki reached the brow of the hill upon which the castle stood and as she pulled her keys from her coat pocket Maki jumped and let out a loud gasp. The cheery greeting of a woman's voice so startled her that Maki dropped her keys and service book on the ground.
At first she didn't know what to do. Maki placed her hand on her chest and felt her heart beating feverishly. The woman was standing at the castle gate, a silhouette in the lamplight so Maki didn't recognize who she was. Her voice seemed friendly, but Maki still felt a great deal of apprehension at the sudden appearance of this stranger. However, Maki remembered that most likely this person was here to see Mistress Washu and should thus be treated accordingly. Maki-chan did her best to be cordial.
"Oh, you scared me ... I'm so sorry" she apologized and immediate went to pick up the items she had dropped on the ground. Then Maki approached the stranger and when she was close enough to see her face, Maki had a faint moment of recognition, like she had seen this person before but couldn't remember her name. But Maki greeted her just the same.
"Welcome to Castle Henheart Ma'am" Maki tried to sound normal but didn't quite succeed. "I'm afraid the mistress of the house is not in and if you've traveled far to see her I am truly sorry. Please let me help make up for my mistress' absence any way that I can."
-
Quickly Maki realized that she hadn't introduced herself properly
"I'm Maki Tokitou, the caretaker of Castle Henheart and ..." Maki's voice trailed off quietly as she finished "... the castle's only resident I'm afraid."
Then she took her bundle of keys and as soon as she found the right one, Maki unlocked the gate and opened it. This gate was rather like a doorway through which people would enter unlike the monstrous main gate that Angus had driven his truck through earlier. The door was large and heavy, but its iron hinges were well oiled so that it opened easily without creaking.
"Please come inside Ma'am." Maki asked politely and ushered Miss Anselle through.
Once they were both in, Maki closed the door again and locked it. As she did so Maki remembered something nearby.
"Oh, please excuse me for a moment." Maki asked and then turned to a brown, bronze panel in the stone wall near the gate that they had just entered. With yet another one of her numerous keys Maki opened the panel and reached inside. When her hand came out, it clutched a number of letters - the day's mail. Maki then closed up the letterbox and returned to where Miss Anselle was standing.
"I'm sorry about that." Maki apologized and continued "Please let me show you inside." and she motioned for Miss Anselle to follow her.
Maki of course didn't show her mistress' guest to the back door Maki normally used, but took her around the front of the castle where they entered through the grand main portal and lobby. It was dark and deserted and filled with silence, but that quickly changed when Maki found the light switch and illuminated the chandelier in the lobby. The place was spotlessly clean as Maki had always kept it, but it was devoid of any signs of use. There were corridors that led off to the right and left, and two staircases that led up to the next level above. Maki motioned for Miss Anselle to follow her down the corridor to the right. A few doors down the hallway, Maki turned to the right and entered a very elegantly decorated sitting room.
"Please have a seat ma'am and make yourself at home. I can take your coat if you wish." Maki requested and indicted a large and very comfy looking Victorian sofa.
Maki also went to the fireplace mantle and turned a valve hidden behind it. Instantly a vigorous fire burst to life on the hearth.
"I'm sorry about not having a real wood fire but Mistress had much of the castle fitted with modern amenities and this one should still give plenty of warmth."
-
Anselle looked around. "It's quite all right, a gas fire is just as good as a wood one." She smiled, thinking to herself that the castle didn't seem to have been used in a very long time. "Do you take car of this place all by yourself, Maki? It must be a lot of work..." Anselle took her coat off and sat down on the sofa. She'd have to take things slow if she was going to ask Maki to go into the history of the place, and what happened those years ago at the party, as well as what had happened since.
-
The warmth of the fire felt so good after almost an entire day outside in the chill that Maki had hoped she would be able to linger awhile even though Maki's responsibilities told her to go prepare refreshments and dinner for Miss Anselle instead. Some polite conversation would be quite welcome but Maki suddenly felt a twinge of angst when Miss Anselle inquired of Maki's affairs rather than discussing her own; which Maki would have found far more interesting. Normally Mistress Washu would have entertained any guests visiting the castle and so Maki felt quite uncomfortable taking on this responsibility herself given her inexperience in such matters.
For a few moments Maki didn't know what to say. Even though she didn't really want to talk about herself and her problems, Maki knew that not answering Miss Anselle in some way would be impolite or worse Miss Anselle might become overly concerned and want to ask a lot more questions. Growing more nervous by the second, Maki just decided to keep it simple.
"It is a large place to look after, but I try my best." Maki answered a little sadly. At the same time though an odd feeling of comfort came over her. Deep inside, Maki had a desire to just blurt out all of the dreadful feelings that had been accumulating within her, to unload all of her burdens. But, her head told her, such an imposition on Miss Anselle would be inexcusable and Maki knew it.
"Mistress Washu laid off all of the staff when she went away on hiatus three years ago. I am the only one left I'm afraid" Maki continued trying not to sound shaky.
"Unfortunately, Mistress never told me where she was going or how long she would be absent." Maki said but then became apologetic again "I'm so sorry. You must have come a long way to see her. I don't know when she will be back." Maki finished dejectedly, certain that Miss Anselle would be disappointed with the news.
-
About an hour or so later, Maki was walking down one of the corridors towards the kitchens of Castle Henheart. She and Miss Anselle had chatted for a little while of which most was simply small talk, but somehow these little distractions had gotten Maki's mind off of the rather depressing day she had just had. Since there were no other staff available, Maki had excused herself to prepare some tea and supper for the two of them. At the same time Miss Anselle had gone to one of the guest rooms to settle in for her stay. Later they would meet in the dining room for supper. As she walked along carrying her coat folded over on one arm, Maki flipped through the mail to see what had arrived that day. It was rather mundane stuff - bills, advertisements, some reminders to renew magazine subscriptions, and of course no personal correspondence. Mistress Washu seemed to have no friends outside of the castle that were concerned about her absence, and if there were they did not communicate by the mail.
One letter did grab Maki's attention however, and it was enough to make her stop in her tracks. The letter was addressed to her - to Miss Maki Tokitou rather than the lady of the house or the estate in general as all of the other mail was. In the village post office Maki owned a post box to which she had all of her personal mail sent. Never did Maki have personal correspondence sent to the castle, so this letter worried her. The return address made her worry even more: it was sent from Sir Charles Martin, Esquire - Lady Washu's attorney. In the past he had periodically sent letters to the castle so Maki had a very good idea of what this was all about. A few minutes ago Maki was feeling rather okay, but now she hung her head and groaned. For some unknown reason the Henheart Estate was being sued again, and maybe even Maki herself this time since the letter was addressed specifically to her. Now rather concerned, Maki hurried off to the kitchen.
As soon as she entered the room, Maki put her coat and the other mail down on the table in the middle of the kitchen. Immediately she saw that someone had already left a note there for her and again Maki groaned as soon as she realized who had left it. "Oh dear, I'm so sorry Angus" Maki lamented at breaking her promise to make tea and snacks for him after the burial earlier in the day. There was nothing in the note to indicate that Angus was upset over it and in fact he was very understanding and merely indicated he would look forward to their next meeting. If you were to stand Angus and Maki next to each other, on the surface there would be absolutely nothing in common with them, yet there was a very gentle understanding between the two of them. Maybe in another life they could have been more than just friends, but Maki was happy just to have one person she could count on. After the note from Angus, Maki opened the letter from Mr. Martin. Unlike his previous correspondence, this message was rather vague and mysterious:
"Dear Miss Tokitou,
There is a matter of importance that I must discuss with you. It concerns Lady Washu Hakubi, Mistress of Castle Henheart. Please make an appointment to meet with me on Thursday, the 9th of April. You may RSVP via telephone. Thank you for your kind attention.
Sincerely,
(signed) Sir Charles A. Martin Esq.
Overcome with dread, Maki dropped the letter on the table. Maki had often wondered what had become of Mistress Washu in her long absence, but now Maki feared the worst.