43: The Caverns

Hello, mum. We finally got into Castle Wittgenstein. I said we would. After we had finished off the men-at-arms in the forest, Willow bandaged Guido’s arm and Willow’s head. And Hilda was keen to move us on to the caverns under the castle as soon as possible.

We walked for a bit and as we approached the castle a fresh breeze picked up, and although the air was lightening for the dawn, the sky above the castle seemed to stay dark. And as we approached the caverns I reloaded my pistols and I realised that I only had enough powder for five more shots and Blume said she only had enough for six, but Dreamy still had about thirty arrows.

We came to a jumble of rocks and undergrowth in the forest and saw Sigrid was waiting there with some of her outlaws. Sigrid explained that there was a change of plan, and that the outlaws would be coming with us through the tunnels to the castle, instead of making their diversionary attack. But first, she said, we needed to check out the tunnels to see whether the secret way into the castle was suitable for her outlaws.

I could see that Guido was a bit frustrated at this, and to be honest, mum, so was I. We had to do even more work for the outlaws. They had had two years to check out these tunnels, but hadn’t bothered. I was beginning to think that they weren’t really up to much, and that we might be better off just ignoring their help. And when we discussed what to do next, Sigrid had the cheek to criticise our war council.

She also told us that the guards had taken Das Moot and sailed it through the castle’s watergate. That made me want to change our plans again. Knowing the smelly, putrefying guards had been all over my boat, I wanted to simply rescue Das Moot and leave. I knew we had to deal with the nefarious moon rock first, but it would make it much harder to escape if we had to find and free Das Moot as well.

So we set off, just the five of us and Hilda. As we entered the tunnel Blume pointed out that the mud around it was covered in sucker-like marks. And then we had a bit of a discussion about whether bog octopuses would leave the water to crawl up into the forest and live in a cave. And then we had a bit of a discussion about what the correct plural of bog octopus was.

As we entered the darkness Guido lit his torch and so Dreamy scouted on ahead just out of the torchlight. Willow did say that she was frightened (It was a bit frightening – Willow), but Guido told her not to worry and that Myrmidia would look after her provided she put her faith in her. This made me wonder if all we had to do to be looked after was to have faith in something. Because, I have found, mum, as mentioned in a few previous letters, every time I have asked Mr Isaac for help, it seems like I have been helped. So perhaps I should put my faith in him, even if Guido doesn’t like it.

I told Guido that I wasn’t sure about the whole plan and my doubts about Sigrid’s competence and the effectiveness of her outlaws, and, probably because he had made the plans with her, he seemed to take it personally. And he said that I was just being a coward and that it was all my fault that we had lost Das Moot in the first place. That was a bit rude, but Willow said that she thought I was brave (I do think you’re brave – Willow), but then Blume pointed out that Willow thinks everyone’s brave. Anyway, my sailing Das Moot back to Wittgendorf so it could be captured was a simple misunderstanding.

The tunnel headed slightly downwards as we followed it and we could hear high pitched squealing noises and also some grunting and bellowing sounds which were a bit frightening. I think we probably started chatting to take our minds of the noises but Guido got mad again and told us we had to be more stealthy.

I don’t know how far we followed the tunnel, but it must have been getting on for half a mile or so. And then we came to a fork in the way. And those noises were still all around us. Willow tried to get her bearings (I’m good at bearing – Willow), and she decided that we were so close to the castle, now that either route could lead us there.

Dreamy checked out the left route and soon discovered a skeleton on the ground. Its bones had been cracked and the marrow sucked out of them. Willow blessed the bones, which was all we could do for the poor soul. Then Dreamy found a crossroads and we waited by the skeleton while he went to explore the straight ahead way, and he soon came back to tell us it was a dead end, and so he headed left again. Then we heard a loud, blood-curdling scream, reverberating through the caverns, which was very frightening indeed, but we could not tell which direction it was coming from.

We waited there for a while until Dreamy came back to tell us he had found a cavern full of mushrooms. This lightened the mood a bit and Willow picked some and I said we would fry them up for dinner when we got back to the boat but then I remembered Das Moot had been captured.

Then Dreamy thought he saw a figure moving behind us, but when he told Guido about it, and Guido turned to look, there was nothing there. And I think Guido thought Dreamy might be imagining it, and that his nerves were getting the better of him, again. But, I have to say mum, all this sneaking about in caverns, with the darkness, and the twisting tunnels, and the strange noises was making us all a bit nervous.

There were two tunnels leading from the mushroom cavern and Dreamy followed one and it went over a stream but then suddenly ended. The other went over the same stream but continued, so he led us that way.

I noticed that the stream was flowing to our right, and it must have been heading into the Reik, and therefore, towards Das Moot. And before I had even thought it through, I found myself handing my new hat and my pistols to Blume and taking off my mail shirt. And then I jumped in.

The stream wasn’t very deep and I could almost touch the bottom. It disappeared under the rock in an enclosed course, but for most of the way there was a foot or so of breathing space above the water. And occasionally, I had to swim under the water for a few yards before finding somewhere to surface and breathe again. And I was careful not to go too far before checking there was somewhere to surface.

The stream emerged into a large-ish cavern which I was able to just swim through and under another natural bridge. And then I had to swim under a long stretch of covered stuff, but luckily I always managed to find a space to breathe in, and the swimming was quite easy because I was going with the current.

And then I realised that I had just left everyone behind and I was on my own, and they would probably be worried for me. And it was very dark. And then I thought that perhaps this was the first time since we had left the Mootland that I had been properly alone. But I felt like there was no going back, and I needed to find Das Moot.

I surfaced in another cavern area and saw a monstrous looking worm-like creature hanging from the ceiling right above me. This was a leech. I had seen lots of smaller ones, of course, but I had never seen one anything like this big. It was positively monstrous. I didn’t want to risk it swimming after me and sucking all my blood, so I thrust my sword at it. I got in a good hit and it just sort of exploded and covered me in the blood of its last meal. That was pretty gross, mum, but at least I could just duck into the stream and wash all the gore off.

And then after a bit more swimming I emerged into a very large cavern. And I could see ahead of me the stream widened out and there was a huge iron portcullis going across it separating the stream from the Reik itself. And to my left there was a stone quay, and moored at the quay, yes, you guessed it mum, was Das Moot.

On the quayside was a stone building, which might have been a guard room, and next to that I could see an opening that led to a spiral staircase going upwards. So I had managed to find the way up into the castle as well as Das Moot. But I could see no way this cavern could join up with the rest of the caverns we had been exploring. And then I noticed that the waters of the stream were littered with pages of books that had come from Das Moot. I don’t think all the books had been chucked overboard, and Das Moot still sat very low in the water. So, I guessed that the guards had just thrown a few of the books overboard because they were bored.

I thought about liberating Das Moot on my own, especially as Guido had called me a coward, but I didn’t know how to get the portcullis open, so that didn’t seem a very likely option, so I had little choice but to swim back to everyone else. I’m not sure whether I was tired from all the swimming, or deflated after finding Das Moot, or the current of the stream was stronger than I had realised, but I was really struggling to swim upstream. Whatever I did I just couldn’t make any progress, and I feared I would be stuck here, away from my friends, for good.

So, I called out to Isaac Graksk, who is my imaginary friend, although sometimes I think he is really real, to help me swim. And like he had helped me before, he helped me again, and I found myself swimming up the stream, strongly, against the current. I was swimming faster that I thought I could, and I think I was a bit delirious, perhaps I was a bit out of breath, but as I swam I imagined I was a fish, and then I thought I really was a fish. And then I thought I was the fish-man we had seen floating in the Reik not far from Castle Wittgenstein. Maybe this was how that fish-man had happened. And maybe I was now a fish.

And then I emerged into the cavern and Dreamy and Willow helped me out of the stream, and I was back on dry land. I told them I had found a way up to the castle, but they doubted that it was a good route for the outlaw army, and I suppose they had a point (but at least you found it – Willow).

Meanwhile, Dreamy had been exploring and he had found another big cavern with several ways leading from it, and he said that one of the ways turned into properly hewn stone and he wanted to explore that.

And then Willow said she saw a ghostly face peering at us from around a corner. But when she told Blume and Hilda, they looked and there was nothing there (But I did really see a face. I think a ghost was following us – Willow).

As we entered the big cavern we heard what sounded like someone throwing a rock against the ceiling, and suddenly we saw large wings unfurl and a load of giant bats flew down to attack us.

Willow immediately threw herself to the floor but one bat went straight for her, clawing at her body, and I think it would have done a lot of damage except it got caught up in her gut plate, making that useless but saving her (and it was a gift from a nice ogre – Willow). I think one of them raked Blume with its claws, too, hurting her. But when we had defended ourselves and Blume had fired her pistol some of the bats lay dead and the rest flew away. I’m not sure it was wise to fire a pistol down here, or whether the guards, or some other creatures, might hear it, but it did the trick.

And then Guido got some bandages out and bound Willow’s wounds, which surprised her. He said he had been studying medicine, too, and it was time to return the favour. And so Willow gave him one of her customer care feedback leaflets and gave Guido a big smiley.

Dreamy went up to the cut-stone section and found a spiral staircase going up, and he followed it up. He was gone quite a long time, but the castle was very high above the river, so it was reasonable that he was gone that long. But while he was gone Willow said she saw a disembodied head floating in the air of the cavern (I was very shaken indeed by that – Willow). But again, when we looked, there was nothing to see.

And we could see that the wall of the cavern was covered in slimy sucker marks, and when Guido checked his cloak he was annoyed to see that some of the slime had rubbed off on that. He said the place was evil and he ordered us to go up the staircase, even though Dreamy hadn’t reported back yet.

It took a long time for us to climb to the top of the stairs, and at the top was just a small room, but Dreamy pointed out a concealed trapdoor in the ceiling, and Guido grabbed me and held me up so I could open it and peak through. And I could see that it opened out into the castle bailey. It was daytime by now but it was still quite dim because of the storm that was brewing above the castle. I could see a few of the villagers lying about and wandering a bit listlessly around a ruined building.

Now Guido was happy we had found the way up into the castle he ordered Hilda to go back down the steps and inform Sigrid. We waited for quite a while for them to return, but they never did. And we had a bit of a chat about how the outlaws hadn’t really made much sense, and we were confused about what they were even trying to achieve. So in the end we thought it was just best to carry on without them.

So Guido helped us all through the trapdoor and when we were all up we helped pull him up. We could see that the villagers weren’t paying any attention to us, and they didn’t have much spirit left at all.

Willow went to talk to one of them but whatever she said he just talked gibberish back. But then one came along, holding something, and he made more sense. He said that they were from the village but they came up to the castle hoping to be saved by the lady. He said every once in a while the lady would call for one of the villagers to be taken to the place of salvation, and they would be saved, but she hadn’t taken anyone in a while. And when Willow asked what he was carrying he showed her a small, half-eaten green potato. He was obviously starving, but all Willow had to give him was a few bulbs of garlic and told him to share them with his friends.

And so, looking out across the castle, we could see the problem we had. The outer bailey that we were in was linked to the inner one by a precarious bridge, which was guarded by a tall guard tower. There were several towers around the outer bailey, and we didn’t know how well they were guarded, and even more buildings around the inner bailey, that we didn’t have a great view of.

It seemed like an impossible task to even get across the outer bailey, let alone go through the guard tower and get across the bridge. And if we managed that we would have to deal with the probably better defended inner bailey.

Guido said that the villagers that were in the ruins would help us, and he did a rousing speech telling them that if they joined us they would get salvation, but they were a much less interested and effective force than even the outlaws were.

I wanted to go back down and swim down the stream again, and go up the other staircase, but that seemed like a difficult route, too, and we didn’t know where that staircase would emerge, and we would get all our equipment wet.

Willow suggested we have the villagers cause a ruckus, and when the guards come to investigate we could take their uniforms, and then some of us (the taller ones) could pretend to be guards. I’m not sure how she thought we might get their uniforms, though (we could appeal to their better nature, or give them something to make them sleep – Willow).

So, anyway, mum, we can’t really agree on anything and we’re stuck in Castle Wittgenstein not really knowing what we’re going to do next. I’ll write to you soon to tell you if we ever get across into the inner bailey, or if we ever get Das Moot back (I really hope we do, Mrs. Chard – Willow).