Chapter 14

Dinner with Tatyana

Ireena froze. An anxious look came over her face as she stared back up the hallway. It was so silent that you could hear a pin drop.

"He's one of them now.", Chavese said quietly.

Kevin's face blanched and he looked back at Chavese. "What do you mean 'one of them'?", he asked.

All eyes turned to Chavese except for Ryan's. Ryan was staring into the maps of the castle.

"Pointy teeth.", Richard said, resolving to keep his neck far away from Ismark in the future.

Chavese turned her eyes away. "No.", she said. "A Wight." She pulled gently on Richard's arm and led him away from the catacombs, whispering, "Come, we have to hurry."

Ireena was slowly shaking her head. If Ismark had been turned into a Wight, he was better off dead.

"Good thing I'm a gamer or I'd never know whether you meant 'Wight' or 'White'", Richard pointed out to no one's benefit.

"Something else that won't die if I shoot it in the fucking head?", Rebecca asked sarcastically. No one answered.

As the adrenaline rush faded away, the gravity of what just happened hit Kevin. He looked to Ireena. "I'm sorry.", was all that he could think of to say.

Ireena looked as if she wanted to say, "We can't leave him.", but she was fighting the urge to rescue her fallen brother. She knew that it was too late.

Chavese pulled on Richard's arm a little harder. Richard let himself get pulled along.

"That thing can circle around and cut us off if we go that way.", Ryan said, pointing to the map.

The trap was marked on the map and led down into the dungeon. From there a hallway led to the torture room, then to another room from which three doors led up three stairways. Up one of those stairways was the hallway where they were standing.

All eyes turned to Chavese once more, looking at the vampiress suspiciously. "It's a magical room.", the young maiden explained. "He can't come in if we're inside."

Kevin realized that they were going to have to trust the vampire and leave Ismark behind. He whispered to Ireena, "There's nothing we can do for him now. We have to finish what came here for. It's what he would have wanted."

The words fell numbly from Kevin's lips. The advice was so easy to give, but the words sounded hollow. Ireena nodded silently. She was in shock.

"Do we trust her?", Rebecca asked.

"I do.", Richard piped up.

"She showed us the trap.", Travis pointed out.

Anthony looked confused, but resigned, and fell into line to follow Chavese.

Ryan looked over at Ireena, then at Kevin. The look in his eyes said, "Is she going to be okay if we don't go back?"

Kevin nodded and put an arm around Ireena's shoulders, guiding her along with the others.

Travis rolled to his feet. "No rest for the wicked.", he grumbled and then grunted.

"Magic room.", Rebecca mused as she loaded a few more rounds into her rifle.

Ireena looked morose at they walked down the hallway. The only family that she had ever known was gone now. She fought back her tears but they fell anyway.

"Why, Ismark? Why?", she asked in a whisper. To her it seemed as if he had sacrificed himself in vain.

With Chavese leading the way, they turned the corner and clambered down a steep set of stairs to an iron bound wooden door. Chavese pushed hard on the door to open it. It seemed to want to close behind her immediately, so Richard held it open for the others. Richard was surprised by how much the door fought back, and the force trying to close it kept getting stronger.

"Hurry, folks.", Richard gasped. "The door is fighting me."

Ireena and Kevin arrived just in time. The door slipped out of Richard's hands and slammed shut.

The square room that they found themselves in rose to a flat ceiling. Gargoyle carvings smiled, revealing their teeth, from high upon the walls. Three faces were lit by a brazier, which was placed in the center of the floor. High overhead, an hourglass with writing on its base hung suspended above the brazier. Most of its sand was in the upper portion, somehow having refusing to run down into the bottom until the door had been shut. In the center of the room, next to the brazier was a golden chest. A single door stood in the far wall, while three doors lined the near wall, one to either side of the one which they'd entered through. In the alcoves in the center of the two side walls stood two bronze statues of giant skeletons. Each statue had four arms, one with a shield, one with a spear, and the other two with their palms turned toward the ceiling. Their eyes seemed to watch those who gazed upon them.

Anthony watched the sands falling in the hourglass. It didn't look like it was going to take long for them to run out. Only a few more minutes maybe. Chavese went over to the chest and knelt in front of it, trying to remember how to open it.

"Chavese, what does that do?", Anthony said, pointing at the hourglass.

"We have to hurry before the sands run out.", Chavese explained. "We need one of the gems to open the door. The opal one I think."

"Whaddya want to bet when the sands run out, the skeletons come to life.", Richard guessed.

"You're smart.", Chavese whispered to Richard.

Richard was right. He blushed, then hoped that no one saw him doing so. Then Richard was about to explain that no, it was just that he'd seen something like that in a campaign he'd played in, but then he remembered that chicks weren't impressed by imaginary exploits and so he kept his mouth shut.

"Which door?", Anthony asked Chavese.

Behind the door on the far side of the room Anthony heard a set of heavy footsteps.

"Not that one, right?", Anthony added pointing to the far door.

Chavese pointed up at the right hand door of the three that were together.

"No, wait.", Chavese said as she remembered the secret of the chest. She ran around the chest and started to open up the back.

Anthony wondered what all the fuss was about opening doors. After all, he had the magic key. He walked over to look at the door that Chavese had pointed to and pulled out his key, but there was no keyhole in the door. Then he saw that there were no keyholes in any of the doors. The sands were running out, they were almost half gone, and the footsteps sounded like they were right next to the door on the far side of the room. Kevin watched the sands of the hourglass and was reminded of an old Jim Croce song. The heavy footsteps sent a chill down his spine.

"What's stopping it from following us when we leave?", Ryan asked.

"Maybe it will guess wrong.", Travis wondered.

But Ryan wasn't satisfied with leaving things up to chance. He looked down at the dusty floor. "Let's make it look like we left out that door.", he said pointing at the leftmost door of the three.

"Got it.", Chavese said as she slid open the back of the chest. Inside there were two potions. Chavese took out the potions. "Rick, can you get the opal gem?", she asked.

"Where is it?", Richard replied.

Chavese pointed at the east statue. Richard still didn't know what to do about a woman being nice to him. It was something that had never happened, at least never happened without some sort of trick being involved. Richard went to the statue anyway and inspected it for gems. He found one in each of two of the statue's hands. One was an opal, the other a ruby. Just then he heard pounding on the far door. Something wanted in and the sands were running out. Richard saw the opal in the statue's left hand. The statue's eyes glared down at him. Hoping that Chavese hadn't tricked him he scooped up the opal. Nothing happened.
 
Ryan shuffled over to the left hand door, dragging his feet as he went. Travis and Rebecca followed his lead and soon they had made a trail through the dust.

"Uhh, let's hurry it up a little, guys.", Kevin said, taking his arm from around Ireena and gripping the shotgun with both hands.

"Okay, now put the stone into the brazier.", Chavese told Richard as she closed up the back of the chest.

Richard did so. The fire in the brazier flared up and Anthony felt the tension on the door release. He strained, but managed to open it. A spiral staircase leading upwards lay beyond.

"Careful now.", Ryan said. "Try not to leave any tracks."

Chavese scampered up the stairs ahead of the others who treaded lightly as the pounding on the far door grew louder. By the time they were all on the other side of the door the sands had run out and Anthony could barely hold the door open. Anthony let the door go and the door slammed shut. Not long after, Anthony heard another door open in the brazier room. He didn't stick around.

The group hurried up the staircase eight times around with Chavese leading the way. Then they came to a landing where she stopped and pushed on another catch stone. Far down below they could hear another door open and slam shut. Then they heard heavy footsteps going up a stairway, but breathed a sigh of relief as they realized that they had fooled the guardian. Kevin closed his eyes and offered up a brief prayer, thanking God for a small mercy.

A thin passage opened up in the wall and Chavese led the group through it into a large room. Darkness, cold as a winter sweat, wrapped around them. Large oak tables, scarred and beaten, lay scattered like toys about the room, their wood crushed and splintered. Dark stains covered the floor and wall. Kevin kept a sharp eye out for things that went bump in the night.

Travis put his hands on his knees and signaled for a stop. "Guys.", he groaned. "I really need a break."

Kevin nodded. "Who has the water?", he asked.

Ismark had one canteen, but it was now far below them. Ireena held out her canteen listlessly and Kevin took a small drink and passed it to Travis. Travis started to chug the water, but stopped before he had drained the canteen.

"It's just a little farther.", Chavese said. "Then you can rest."

"What's a little farther?", Ryan asked.

"The kitchen.", Chavese replied. "You can hide there and rest for a little while."

"Too bad there's no such thing as Gatorade here.", Richard said.

"But on the plus side, no McDonalds.", Anthony replied.

"Yeah.", Travis nodded. "But I could really go for a Big Mac or two right now."

"And onion rings.", Richard added.

"Don't talk about food.", Rebecca moaned. "You're making me hungry."

"That bacon and bread is long gone.", Travis commiserated.

"I'd even eat a banana right now.", Richard admitted. "And I'm allergic to them."

"Can you make it a little farther, Travis?", Kevin asked.

"There's lots of food in the kitchen.", Chavese said, smiling at Richard. "And bananas, maybe."

Travis' ears perked up. "Yeah.", he said with a start. His stomach grumbled as if on cue.

Chavese led the group over to the set of double doors and opened one of them. The hall on the other side stood in deadly silence. The low ceiling sagged from heavy beams. A fog clung to the floor in thick patches, obscuring everything below hip level. A giant shadow was cast across the ceiling as a dark figure shuffled purposefully down the corridor towards the group.

"Chavese!", the figure bellowed. "How wonderful of you to come and visit me today. And you've brought friends."

"Cyrus!", Chavese said happily.

As they drew close to the figure, Travis could see a heavy, bearded man dressed in white with a tall white chef's hat.

"Come, come, and I shall prepare a great feast for you all.", Cyrus said warmly. "You're in luck, I was just making dinner."

"I'm hallucinating now, right?", Travis asked Kevin. "Cause it looks like a man dressed like a chef is offering me food."

"I wouldn't be surprised.", Kevin replied, but he could see the same thing.

Anthony was speechless at the sight of the chef. Ryan couldn't believe it either, but then he began to think about the food upstairs in the dinning hall and the fact that there were living human occupants in the castle and figured that there had to be someone in the castle who prepared meals. Chavese took Richard's hand and led him towards the kitchen. Richard followed, wondering what else was on the menu and if it would be him.

"Do we trust her?", Rebecca asked. "Jeez. I'm beginning to sound like a broken record."

"She's had several chances to kill us, Rebecca. Besides, what other choice is there?", Kevin replied.

"Keep your finger near that platinum symbol. Just in case.", Ryan whispered.

Rebecca put her hand on her wand and followed cautiously. Kevin followed along, hoping his thoughts about Chavese were correct.

"If it's a hallucination, and I believe it, if I eat I'll still feel full, right?", Travis asked. Then he realized how silly that sounded and wasn't surprised by the lack of an answer.

As they entered the kitchen the smells were overwhelming, and unexpectedly good. Steam rose from a number of pots on a large stove, fresh vegetables lay about a cutting board next to a butcher's knife, and the odor of fresh baked bread exuded from an oven and filled the room. Cyrus beckoned his young guests towards a table just big enough to seat everyone about it and immediately placed a large bowl of fruit in the center. Then he went back to the cutting board.

As Cyrus bent between them, Anthony and Kevin noticed that he had a set of bite marks on either side of his neck. Kevin glanced at Anthony, raising an eyebrow, who returned the look. Richard saw bananas in the bowl. He pulled two and passed them to Travis.

"You're going to need potassium.", Richard said.

Travis quickly peeled the bananas and began wolfing them down. In the brighter light of the kitchen Richard could now see that there were burns on Chavese's skin where there hadn't been any before.

"What happened to you?", Richard asked, pointing to the burns.

"The light.", Chavese replied, looking down at her burns. They looked like bad sunburns.

"Regular light?", Richard asked.

"From the wand. In the catacombs.", Chavese added.

Rebecca glanced down and smiled just a little. She relaxed, feeling safer, and grabbed an apple out of the bowl. Kevin plucked a strawberry from the bowl and smiled a little.

"You used to love these.", Kevin whispered to Ireena.

Ireena nodded absently. "I don't remember.", she said sadly.

Kevin took her hand and placed the fruit in her palm, slowly closing her fingers around it.

"I wish that I could remember my real family.", Ireena said quietly. "I..."

Ireena's eyes saddened and begun to well up with tears.

"Don't worry. When we get you back...", Rebecca began but stopped, realizing that Ireena didn't have any family left back home either.

Kevin's heart broke as he watched Ireena's suffering. All his training as a deacon seemed worthless now. He wondered what could he tell her. His training taught him to say that Ismark was in a better place now and that his pain was gone. But that simply wasn't true. His training taught him to say that you should always keep lost loved ones in your heart and mind. But with the awful memory so fresh, it was better not to think about it. So instead Kevin said nothing and just sat next to Ireena, holding her hand.

Chavese looked up into Richard's eyes admiringly. "You were so brave.", she said warmly.

"Brave.", Rebecca scoffed. "Stupid is more like it."

But inside Richard felt good. He'd stayed behind when Rebecca ran. Now he was the courageous one. Instead of firing back at Rebecca he just smiled. Travis started on the second banana.

"How did you find the slow roasted lamb?", Cyrus called out as he expertly chopped up some tomatoes. "And were the éclairs too sweet?"

Ryan looked around at the others, then remembered the feast that they had passed on when they'd first entered the castle. "We, umm, we had other things on our mind at the time.", he said apologetically.

Cyrus drooped his head for a moment and sighed. Then in a lighter mood he called out to Chavese. "I prepare such wonderful meals but they never eat. I suppose they think the food is poisoned.", he said with his back turned, but they could feel that he was grinning. "I'll admit that I've had a few experimental recipes go poorly, but I've never been accused of poisoning anyone."

Anthony smiled along with the chef.  Travis put the second peel down next to the first and started working on an orange. Ryan couldn't resist his hunger and started eating, hoping that it wouldn't be his last meal. Cyrus laid down a bowl of seasoned tomatoes, a basket of fresh bread, and a few cups filled with oil, parmesan cheese, and black olives.

"Bruschetta.", Cyrus said warmly. "An appetizer. The stew is almost ready."

Ryan could barely believe what he was seeing. It had to be a set-up. But then he figured that if Strahd could set them up this good, then they were doomed anyway. He indulged himself, determined to get in at least one good last meal. Travis' mouth was empty for a moment as he peeled the orange, so he took the opportunity to talk.

"That shield.", Travis said, a little bewildered. "It seemed like it was moving on its own, like it knew what it was doing. That's good because I sure didn't."

"A Shield of Asswhupping plus two or something.", Richard replied. "That's what my old GM would have called it."

"Well, whatever force guided it, without it we'd...", Kevin said, not finishing the thought.

"Yeah.", Travis nodded and shoved a slice of orange into his mouth. "I never could have held that thing off without it."

Chavese held a grape up in front of Richard's mouth as if to feed him. Richard wondered for a moment whether her gloves were clean, then accepted the grape anyway. Chavese giggled and got another grape for him. Kevin watched Chavese and Richard and thought to himself, 'That will not end well'.

Richard looked at Chavese and wondered if her vampire problem could be fixed. He hoped that maybe, after this was all over, that he and Chavese could be together. Then he looked across the table at Ireena and Kevin. He knew that Kevin would have to choose between Ireena and being a priest. Richard thought to himself, 'That will not end well'.

Ryan prepared some Bruschetta for himself, putting oil, cheese, and tomatoes on the fresh bread. Rebecca watched him and did the same. Anthony did likewise, but held off on the oil. The fresh bread smelled and tasted wonderful. Travis wolfed down some bread along with his orange. Then Cyrus served up a bowl of wonderful smelling stew to everyone but Chavese and returned with spoons.

"Uncanny.", Cyrus said, slowing down just long enough to give Ireena a good long look. "Tatyana reborn, or so they say."

Ireena looked up at Cyrus blankly.

"Her name is Irene McKendrick.", Rebecca said between bites. "She's from Kansas.", Rebecca added after a few chews.

"Perhaps.", Cyrus replied. Then he switched into a storyteller's tone. "But some say that in every generation the spirit of Tatyana is reborn, destined to travel to Castle Ravenloft and relive the passion play once more. Some say that she is Strahd's curse. A vision of beauty the dark powers of Ravenloft bring forth to torment the vampire prince."

The others looked up at Cyrus, giving him their full attention.

"You see, the dark powers of Ravenloft never give a gift that doesn't have some kind of curse attached to it.", Cyrus said grimly. "To Strahd they gave him his wish, great power and eternal life. But they also cursed him to forever desire what he cannot have."

"Tatyana.", Chavese said. Cyrus nodded.

Then Cyrus abruptly broke into a skeptical voice. "Of course, if you believe what 'they' say you're liable to believe anything.", he said with a big grin. "I don't know if I believe it myself."

"But I do know that I've seen you before.", Cyrus said, pointing at Ireena. "Or others that look and act as you do. Two in fact."

Ireena was beginning to break out of her depression. She looked up at Cyrus curiously. "Others?", she asked.

"Who were they?", Kevin added.

"Perhaps there have been others before my time.", Cyrus said, going back to lower the heat on the stew. "I was but a young man when I first came here, long after Strahd had first risen from the grave."

"Her name is Irene McKendrick and she's from Kansas.", Rebecca said again.

"That may be who she was…", Cyrus began. "…but the dark powers brought her here for a reason."

"What are these 'dark powers' you're talking about?", Kevin said, resisting the urge to call them satanic.

Richard noted that the conversation was sounding more like a religious discussion and tuned it out.

"The dark powers of this land.", Cyrus said gravely. "They are not to be trifled with. Do not do evil while you are here. And do not make any deals with them."

The vague answers reminded Kevin very much of his religious studies classes for some reason.

"What happened to the others?", Ireena asked.

Cyrus turned back to his stove. "Strahd asked them to marry him. Demanded really.", he corrected himself. "Demanded after killing those who came here with her."

"Both times they, Tatyana, refused.", Cyrus continued. "And they...", he stopped and didn't finish.

"And they what?", Ireena replied. She was nervous and scared.

Cyrus didn't answer. He knew that he had said too much already.

"I want to know.", Ireena insisted, mustering up her courage.

Chavese turned her attention away from Richard long enough to answer.

"At the far end of the castle there's a balcony overlooking the entire valley a thousand feet below.", Chavese said with little emotion.

Ireena remembered the mosaic that she had seen in the tomb of the King and Queen. She felt as if she'd been there before, though she had no memory of it. And she felt as if she knew the next few words out of Chavese's mouth before she said them.

"Tatyana threw herself over the edge after Strahd killed her husband.", Chavese continued. "The others do the same thing."

"That is not going to happen.", Rebecca said with less confidence then she would have liked.

"No one else can satisfy him. Only Tatyana.", Chavese said. "He wanted me because he thought that I would make him feel young again. But I just made him feel old."

"Is there a way to make him feel dead?", Richard asked.

"The sword, silly.", Chavese said, giggling.

"Which is where?", Anthony asked her.

"The tower, right?", Ryan half-answered, half-asked.

"Woah.", Rebecca said, looking towards the door.

"What?", Kevin asked as he turned around.

One of the witches that they had fought earlier, Lucretia, was standing in the doorway. Cyrus took the pot of stew off the stove and handed it to her. The witch reached for it nervously, eyeing the others with a hint of panic.

"Lucretia, these are Chavese's friends.", Cyrus said warmly, waving his arm towards his guests.

"We've um...met.", Richard said slowly. He wondered if he should apologize.

Without a word the witch disappeared into the darkness, hauling the heavy pot behind her.

"You've met the witches?", Chavese asked playfully.

"We made things difficult for them.", Richard said guiltily. "But it was mostly self-defense."

Kevin glanced at Rebecca.

"I killed two of them.", Rebecca said, only a little proudly. "I think. Nothing seems to die around here."

"Oh no.", Chavese said suddenly. "She's going to tell Strahd where we are."

"That bitch!", Rebecca hissed.

"But, we made a sort of deal with them.", Richard said, then figured that whatever deal they had made was in the past.

"How long will that take her?", Anthony asked. "And how long for him to get here?"

"He'll send his guardian here.", Chavese said. "We need to go."

Rebecca got up and wondered if she could still chase the witch down and whether or not that would be a good idea.

"Travis, you up for some more excitement?", Kevin said standing up.

"Halftime's over.", Travis replied, patting his stomach. "Time to finish the job."

Ryan pulled out the map as Richard looked around the kitchen for a weapon to replace his machete.

"It'd be a shame for your kitchen to get messed up.", Richard said. "Is there another way out? And can you spare some cutlery?"

Cyrus pulled out one of his older butcher's knives and gave it to Richard.

"Around through here gets us right to the tower stairs.", Ryan said, pointing out a path through some nearby rooms. "From there it's just a straight shot upwards."

Kevin offered a hand to Ireena. "Well, let's get going then.", he concurred.

Ireena took Kevin's hand. She looked into his eyes, trying to find some kind of comfort and the will to go on.

"I won't let him hurt you or anyone else again.", Kevin whispered with conviction.

Ireena gave Kevin's hand a squeeze. His words gave her a thread of hope to cling to.

"But you'll fall off the stairs if you go that way.", Chavese said.

"I killed the stairway. It's dead.", Rebecca said emphatically. "Now, let's go."

Travis chuckled.

Well fed and re-energized the group headed back into the dark corridors of the castle. Chavese led them back through the guards' room to another room in the cellar that seemed to be drowning in chaos. Shattered furniture lay in heaps around the walls. Broken bones lay scattered amid crumpled and crushed plate armor. Shields and swords jutted from the walls as if driven there by some tremendous force.

"This is where Strahd killed the King's royal guards.", Chavese said grimly. "Then he made them into zombie servants."

"That figures.", Rebecca replied, looking around at all the carnage.

There was a door in the center of the north wall and a door in the center of the south wall. A dark archway led out through the east wall. Chavese led them towards the passage towards an ascending staircase. Sickly yellow lichen covered the ceiling.

Rebecca looked up at the stairs, remembering how far the climb was last time. "Doesn't this place have an elevator?", she groaned.

"Yeah, but it's trapped.", Chavese replied.

"That figures.", Rebecca said again.

A long zig-zagging climb up the staircase led them to the ground floor once again into a large round room. A mosaic floor stretched across it and a vast, empty tower rose above them into darkness. A spiral staircase rose slowly into the darkness circling the open shaft. They had been on those stairs before, but had been going in the other direction. Blood was splattered all over the floor. The red fluid stained the walls as well. Chavese gasped when she saw the blood.

"See. I killed the stairs.", Rebecca said sternly. Travis only smiled this time.

Kevin touched the gash on his head that he'd acquired from his fall last time. He hoped that Rebecca was right.

"Shall we?", Rebecca said to Chavese, but Chavese was looking at Richard, who was looking queasy.

"I think that I'm going to throw up.", Richard said as he caught a whiff of the blood.

"Just a few stairs up and you won't be able to see it.", Ryan said helpfully.

But it was the smell that was the worst part. Anthony was trying to ignore it. It smelled like a slaughterhouse. Kevin didn't seem too bothered by the blood, his thoughts elsewhere, as were Ireena's. Chavese got an idea. She pulled out one of the potions that she had taken from the chest.

"Drink this.", Chavese said, handing the potion to Richard.

"What is it?", Richard asked, taking the potion and looking at it carefully.

"A healing potion.", Chavese said happily. "Drink it and you won't be able to smell anything else until we get to the top."

Richard remembered a girl who offered him a Coke, but didn't tell him that she'd spiked it with Ex-Lax. That didn't fool him for a moment. He had easily smelled the fake-chocolate taste. But he wondered whatever happened to the plant he dumped it into. He wondered if it had shit roots.

Richard took a sniff of the potion. It smelled like cough syrup. Then Richard took a sip and found that it tasted like cough syrup too. Richard passed it back to Chavese.

"You need to drink the whole thing to heal your wound.", Chavese pleaded.

"We should just leave him down here.", Rebecca said and made her way towards the stairway.

"You know, Becky. I could kick your ass, now. Never could before.", Richard said, looking hard at the potion once again.

"No you couldn't.", Rebecca replied. "You'd see my blood and then puke your guts up."

Richard ignored her and drank the potion as fast as he could, draining the bottle. He coughed a few times as the potion went down. Quickly he felt it starting to go to work on the wound in his stomach. Then he felt better, and just like Chavese said, he couldn't smell anything but the fumes from the potion.

Rebecca led the way up the stairs. Travis followed, looking behind him. Soon the others lined up behind.

"She's always been like that.", Richard explained to Chavese. "And she doesn't know what to do with me fighting back, now."

"Did she used to be your girlfriend?", Chavese asked, fortunately not loud enough for Rebecca to hear.

Richard cracked up. "Noooo.", he said after he stopped laughing. "She's more like a sister than anything else."

Around and around they went, through the darkness that obscured everything. Rebecca had been right. The tower was dead. And after a long climb they reach the top of the tower once more, all except Chavese, who didn't enter the top room of the tower. Instead she stayed on the stairs below, out of sight. The chest stood open where they had left it. It was empty. Ryan went over to the chest and searched for a secret compartment. He found nothing.

"So, what now?", Kevin asked. He looked around for Chavese and wondered why she didn't want to come into the high tower room.

Anthony looked up all around him. Over his head were rafters supporting the conical roof. He looked around for a way to climb up, but there was no way to do so. Ryan saw Anthony looking up and looked up as well.

"Highest part of the castle.", Ryan said. "We need a ladder."

"We had a ladder.", Richard replied. "I think she killed it."

Rebecca looked out one of the windows of the tower and peered down at the other tower across the bridge.

"We left it down there.", Rebecca said. "And, I don't believe it. It's still there."

"Is it dead?", Richard asked sarcastically.

Rebecca glared at Richard. "Let's go get it.", she said.

Richard made a kissy-face at her. Rebecca ignored him and she and Travis retrieved the ladder. It was a squeeze but they manage to get it into the high tower room. Travis noticed some scrape marks on the walls of the tower as if what they were doing had been done some time before. Then the big man placed the ladder against one of the rafters.

"This one's yours, Richard." He nodded toward the ladder.

Richard bolstered his courage and slowly climbed up the ladder, trying to resist the urge to look down. As he got to the top of the ladder he saw that nestled above one of the rafters and covered in cobwebs was a beautiful, jeweled sword in its scabbard.

"I think this is it.", Richard said nervously. He glanced down at the others and saw a room full of smiling people. He looked back at the sword and hesitated, feeling more than a little afraid.

"Is it stuck in a stone or something?", Ryan asked.

"I'm almost afraid to touch it.", Richard confessed.

"That figures.", Rebecca moaned.

Emboldened once again by Rebecca's sarcasm, Richard reached for the sword and took it by the handle.

"Move her a little closer so I can drop it on her head.", Richard sneered.

Then Richard hefted the heavy sword easily from its resting place, disturbing the home of a hapless spider. The sword felt good in his hands. He moved it with care, trying not to dislodge any dust clouds as he brought it down from its hiding place.

"Sergei's sword.", Ireena said, gasping, and recognizing it.

Richard descended the ladder and was relieved to stand on the solid floor once more.

"Wow!", said Ryan as he moved over to take a closer look.

The others, even Rebecca, were awed by the sword.

"Draw it.", Ireena said, hoping that it was the real sword and not just another trick of the castle.

Richard tapped the dust off the sword onto the floor, then struck a pose appropriate to the moment.  With the hilt in one hand, the scabbard in the other, he slowly slid the scabbard away from the sword while holding the blade still. As the blade emerged from the scabbard it shined brightly, like the sun itself. Everyone had to cover their eyes. And Kevin understood why Chavese had stayed out of sight.

In the valley far below, anyone looking up at the castle saw its highest tower shining like a lighthouse, a beacon of brilliance in a world of darkness. Richard pushed the sword back into the scabbard.

"It is his sword.", Ireena gasped.

"Dude. It's a plus four vampire slayer.", Ryan said with two thumbs up.

"The future's so bright, we gotta wear shades.", Rebecca said with a smile.