A Murky Past

The castle and Princess Talia

Darkness spread across my surroundings, no ray of light was visible, I found myself standing on hard ground in an unfamiliar and unearthly area. A figure in black robes was pacing towards me; the same tenebrous creature I had encountered in the water, whom I recognized through its razor-sharp vampirish teeth which were sparkling and the only source of luminescence which in turn enlightened my way through the umbra.

I began sprinting away in terror apparently nowhere, in absolute darkness. I tripped and fell on the ground as the murkily repulsive creature approached me, standing an inch away, a bony hand protruded out of his robes and was directed towards me, while exposing its ghostly head with the hole held wide open. “No, no, please don’t hurt me, no!” I clamoured and my eyes jerked open.

I was lying on a king size bed, with three distraught faces of Judy, Alex and Matt surrounded and staring at me anxiously. I was in Matt’s house. “Ellie, are you alright?” asked Judy, sitting beside me, placing her hand on my cheek. “What happened?” I whispered weakly. “We heard you scream when you jumped into the lake, and discovered you floating unconsciously.” blabbered Matt and Alex simultaneously. “You have been howling your head off while lying here too. What’s the matter Ellie, what happened in the lake?” inquired Judy, with deep concern in her voice. I had no strength left inside me to reciprocate, moreover, I myself was at loss to answer anyone. What on earth was happening to me?

“Ellie…….Ellie….” a slow and hissy voice filled my ears. “Come to me…..come to me….” My eyelids opened in a flash. With the quietness of a mouse, I got up from the bed……as if sleep walking. And ambled out of the mansion, without a single sense of emotion left inside me.

I walked across the dense forest, the unusually ruthless wind piercing my throat and my legs felt numb, as though they hadn’t moved in ages. The moonlight guided me towards a path I was magnetically attracted to. With absolutely no idea in the world where I was heading, I was merely a puppet in motion, whose strings were controlled by an unknown force.

Shivers ran down my body, heart was palpitating as though a bulky rock had been attached to it, which was oscillating and banging it. I felt like a cactus, as prickly goose pimples wrapped me up. Time seemed to have just halted, and I felt I had travelled a million miles across the forest, when suddenly a luminous ray of light punctured through the moonlight filled darkness, which appeared to be arriving from the end of the forest area.

My body started yearning for that light and was drawn towards it as how an insect of light is gravitated towards a luminescent young flame. I advanced forward, and pushing aside the leafy branch of a tree, I viewed on the ground at the edge of the forest, the enormous silhouette of an intimidating castle and heard a blood-curdling cackle which echoed all over.

The gates of the castle opened automatically, as if they had been expecting me since a very long time. A prolonged hallway came into view upon entering which, I was eventually led to a gigantic hall. A purely magnificent and towering ceiling with carvings probably dating back to the fifteenth century came into view, along with an ornate glass chandelier hanging from it. Two extremely lengthy red coloured sofas were placed opposing each other, beside which stood a massive curved flight of stairs leading to the top. The entire hallway was lit luminously with torches bearing fire which were placed perfectly in caskets on the walls. It reminded me exclusively of vampire movies, the castle evoked a much similar aura but, here, the light was scintillating.

“Welcome young lady.” exclaimed a girlishly sweet and silky but intimidating voice. The flight of steps was descended, and a slim tall figure came into perfect view, it was a young maiden hardly in her twenties, beaming with eternal youth, donning a glamorous floor-length maroon robes with a sparkling crystal crown on her silky jet black hair which was let loose. Her face was the face of the moon, perfectly embellished with enchanting sky blue eyes and on her delicate neck hung a necklace of diamond which considerably enhanced her radiance, thus, providing an absolute treat and relentless joy for the eyes of the viewer. Even I was spellbound by her incomparable beauty and splendour.

“What brings you to this solitary house of mine my dear?” she inquired keenly in her buttery voice.

“Nothing, I just lost my way into the woods and discovered this castle.” I lied instantly, unwilling to express the possibility of me being dragged by an unknown force towards the place and for her to question my sanity. At that instant, a surge of thunder sounded from outside the castle.

“Oh dear! It appears to be raining heavily. Young lady, I would insist you spend the night here and be my guest.” she requested beaming while holding my hand which unnerved me. I could muster no sensible reason or for that matter a will to reject her hospitable offer her and so, I courteously gave in to her insistence.

“May I know who you are, and what is this place?” I asked curiously, trying to sound as polite as possible, as she walked me across the hallway.

“I am Malena, the queen of this castle, my family is one of the royal families of Windsor and I am the last of their descendants. Now you might be wondering how come I reside here solitary. I do not actually, I stay in London, and every year I visit this ancestral home of mine to pay homage to my ancestors as per the family’s traditions.” she explained in a slightly sheepish tone which filled my mind with doubt. She escorted me to one of the many rooms at the far end of the hallway.

“Here, make yourself comfortable, and I would ask your pardon and to allow me to retreat to my chamber, if there is anything you require, do not hesitate, and just call out my name, I’ll be there in an instant. May you have a lovely night.” she wished gently and departed.

The entire place appeared one large mystery to me, despite what Malena said. My mind ached with the events of the night. What exactly was this perplexing place I thought, glancing around weirdly, and why and how was I magnetically gravitated towards it. In addition to that, there was something very odd about that young woman Malena as my mind brought to my notice that, she had hardly even asked my name let alone enquire about me or my activities lately. Another very bizarre action of hers that came to my notice was her strangely typical medieval manner of conversing. That was simply not a piece of tradition she was following I thought humorously. I did not go inside the room, instead, I decided to take a tour of the place.

I moved towards a door located in the far left corner of the hallway which appeared decayed and guarded by cobwebs. I opened it with a creak. It led to another hallway, however, this one looked way more ancient than the main hallway, it was fully empty with no piece of furniture around. The walls appeared extremely corroded and stank profusely. The light inside was very dim compared to the main hallway but strangely, it seemed to emit a subdued glow. Across the walls, I noticed various portraits as well as paintings of men and women dressed royally and seated on thrones, all lined in a row. Presumably, these portraits and paintings were that of the various kings and queens who ruled the place over the centuries.

In the end, what particularly caught my attention was a humongous but faded blue and violet coloured tapestry dangling freely, which portrayed something what appeared to be the family’s lineage beginning from early sixth century till the late eighteen hundreds. I read through the tapestry, however, there was something very weird about it which was worth speculating……… Malena’s name wasn’t present anywhere.

Though the tapestry was faded, it was visible enough to be conspicuously read. I studied the family tree with complete focus for nearly seven times but discovered no trace of her name. Instead, the last name on the tapestry read: Talia. I started pondering as to whether Talia was Malena’s second name or something and just as I had begun to contemplate on the theory, I tripped atrociously and banged my head against the marble floor, a trickle of blood oozed through my hair and trickled across my cheek.

My head was spinning and throbbing simultaneously. In a desperate attempt to retain my senses and regain my balance, I caught hold of the tapestry and just as I did, it fell, revealing another painting, that of a girl. She was wearing a golden robe, adorned with immense jewellery, sitting royally on a throne. She appeared to be the emblem of royalty and beauty, which charmed me even when I was in no state to smile, except that her face was like……. staring into the mirror.

The great hall was decorated elegantly, torches were blazing with fire, and the large mob of masked people was swaying merrily. Scrumptious food was laden across the table in a corner.

Father was sitting on his throne beside the fireplace, with me sitting on his right on a smaller throne, and onto his left was my stepmother. The masquerade ball was thrown by my father, the great king Eric, on the occasion of my eighteenth birthday with such great pomp and lavishness that royals from the entire Windsor kingdom had been invited.

“Talia my love, why don’t you join the mob.” said father merrily, taking a sip of wine from his goblet.

“Talia my dear, when the masquerade concludes, I would request you to enter my chamber, I have a present waiting for you there.” she announced, in her typical silky voice, just as I got up to wear a mask and dance. I nodded at her and departed. The masked mob was dancing to a slow and breezy tune played by royal and highly notable musicians brought all the way from Venice, Italy, particularly for the occasion. I took a seat in a corner in solitude, pulling over a distinctly attractive and unique mask while expecting a suitable suitor to ask me for a dance. A masked gentlemen, whom I assumed to be quite youthful and fanciable considering his tall and slender posture approached me.

“May I have the distinctly rare pleasure of dancing with a ravishing personality such as yours” he proposed delightfully, offering his hand. He had me charmed to bits with those words and so took me. The gentleman had put on a very peculiar silver coloured mask shaped as a vulture’s beak which added to his intimidating figure.

We swayed gracefully on the dance floor. “Who are you young lady? He enquired keenly. Surely you are not just a part of the rest, seeming a swan among the ordinary birds.” He left me quite flustered with those magical words that I had to look aside to conceal my blush that was so uncontrollably slipping off my face. “And who are you gentleman, whose intentions I feel are not quite noble?” I slipped out, trying hard to sound normal. “Intentions are nothing but to take you away ravishing bird. And by the end of the feast I would have had your hand in marriage with the full consent of your father.” he declared uprightly, holding me an inch away from his face. “Well… You’d require sufficient guts to face my father, for the simple fact that he is the one who has thrown this ball.” I teased flirtatiously, hoping to notice apprehensiveness across his masked face. Astonishingly, however, a smile shot out across his mask as he twirled me around and professed, “This is simpler than I anticipated,” and with a quick peck on my palm, he walked away, abandoning me on the dance floor.

“Wait! At least inform me your name before leaving,” I said loudly.

“It’s Gerald, princess” he uttered audibly without turning.