Topic: Welcome to Castle Henheart. The home for the perminantly baffled!

[Anselle Burgundy]

"I'm Anselle the 3rd, but please call me Diamond." Diamond smiled kindly.

[Maki-chan]

"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 ...

[Miss Lucia]

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.

[Maki-chan]

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.

[Cirdan]

*sits in the corner drinking 100% alcohol and smoking the strongest cigar*

[Maki-chan]

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.

[Maki-chan]

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.

[Maki-chan]

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.

[Moshman^]

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?"

[Maki-chan]

"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.

[Moshman^]

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."

[Maki-chan]

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.

[Maki-chan]

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]

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.

[Maki-chan]

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.