A Turn of Tides
Page 19
My limbs were groaning and I felt I needed at least a few hours’ sleep before venturing out again.
But I didn’t think it wise to wait.
Bella might change her mind by the time morning came, for all I knew.
Besides, I was curious as to where she might take me.
I nodded and stood up.
“It’s best that we go at night when fewer people are about because, like I said, Master wouldn’t approve of me taking you for walks about the castle.” She unlocked the door and led me outside.
Instead of leading me toward the end of the corridor, she stopped outside a door to our left.
It led into a dark, circular room with a winding staircase in one corner, leading to the upper and lower floors.
We began descending it and stopped five levels below in another small dark room.
She left the staircase and opened the door.
It led into an enormous hall.
The ceiling was perhaps a hundred feet high, and rich drapes hung from the walls down to the marble floors.
There was a long table with about fifty high-backed chairs around it directly in the center of the hall, and at either end of the table were chairs of particular luxury.
One looked like it was plated with silver, the other gold.
The rest of the hall was empty, save for the decorations on the walls.
It reminded me of some kind of fairytale court, of the castles of old.
“The royal court,” Bella muttered.
Royal was certainly the word I would have used to describe it.
I could have remained admiring that room for another hour, but Bella tugged on me and we continued.
The corridor we exited into was wider this time, less like a corridor than a wide passageway.
More red drapery lined the walls.
Bella stopped outside another large oak door.
She pushed it open to reveal a kitchen.
“This backs onto the royal hall.
It’s where all the royals’ meals are prepared.” She led me further into the room.
I stared at all the sharp cutlery, butcher’s knives, and various other instruments that looked specifically designed for hacking into meat, and massive boiling pots, even larger than the one I’d seen in the kitchen on one of the floors above.
“So, ogres… they eat humans.” Bella bit her lower lip, then nodded.
“And I’m to be fattened because I will also be eaten?” I continued.
I could have sworn that tears glistened in Bella’s eyes.
She looked down at the floor and nodded.
“That’s why you’ve been ordered to feed me so well.
And this place is the realm of the ogres.” I recalled the books I’d seen in the kitchen upstairs.
They seemed to have human butchery down to a science, the way humans had animals, I supposed.
We were no different than animals here.
Bella caught my hand again and led me out of the kitchen.
My mind was buzzing as we continued walking.
“Bella,” I croaked.
“You need to help me escape.” I stopped walking, tugging on her to stop too.
She looked at me with sad eyes.
“I can’t do that, Miss Rose.” “Why not? You just helped me cover up three murders.
Why can’t you just let me go?” “It’s not possible.
We would both be caught before we ever reached the gate.” I took in every detail I could as we walked for the next ten minutes, every passageway, every door, trying to get any clue as to how to escape.
A good ten minutes had passed before she stopped outside another door.
“After this room, we head back, okay?” I nodded, my mouth drying out.
She removed her chain of keys and opened up the door.
I stepped inside.
There was a double bed in the corner of the room with such a thin mattress it might as well have not been there.
There were two grubby pillows and a patchwork blanket.
The floors were made of stone, and there were no windows.
The only light came from a couple of lanterns fixed to the walls.
I looked at Bella, raising an eyebrow.
“This is your room?” She nodded.
“Mine and my husband’s.” “You married again?” She shook her head violently, staring at me as though I was insane.
Then she led me over to the edge of the bed and pointed upward.
I felt like screaming and vomiting at the same time.
I gasped, clasping a hand over my mouth.
Strung to the high ceiling of her four-poster bed with thick rope was the corpse of a male ogre.
“My husband,” Bella muttered.
“What the—” I couldn’t keep myself from swearing.
The body was pale, its eerie eyes bulging wide open and staring downward.
It was naked but for a loin cloth wrapped around the waist.
It was the most vile sight I’d ever seen in my life, but I was surprised that there was no odor coming from it.
I could only assume it had undergone some drastic preservative treatment to keep it from rotting.
“It’s what all of us widows do here.” She shrugged, looking up at the corpse of the atrocity that was her husband as though the scene was the most normal in the world.
“Our husbands stay with us after death.” I breathed out sharply, looking down at the floor.
I felt like I needed to scrub my eyeballs with sandpaper.
I wasn’t sure that the sight I’d just laid eyes on would ever leave me.
“You mean you sleep beneath this corpse every night?” She nodded, looking surprised at my reaction.
But I didn’t think it wise to wait.
Bella might change her mind by the time morning came, for all I knew.
Besides, I was curious as to where she might take me.
I nodded and stood up.
“It’s best that we go at night when fewer people are about because, like I said, Master wouldn’t approve of me taking you for walks about the castle.” She unlocked the door and led me outside.
Instead of leading me toward the end of the corridor, she stopped outside a door to our left.
It led into a dark, circular room with a winding staircase in one corner, leading to the upper and lower floors.
We began descending it and stopped five levels below in another small dark room.
She left the staircase and opened the door.
It led into an enormous hall.
The ceiling was perhaps a hundred feet high, and rich drapes hung from the walls down to the marble floors.
There was a long table with about fifty high-backed chairs around it directly in the center of the hall, and at either end of the table were chairs of particular luxury.
One looked like it was plated with silver, the other gold.
The rest of the hall was empty, save for the decorations on the walls.
It reminded me of some kind of fairytale court, of the castles of old.
“The royal court,” Bella muttered.
Royal was certainly the word I would have used to describe it.
I could have remained admiring that room for another hour, but Bella tugged on me and we continued.
The corridor we exited into was wider this time, less like a corridor than a wide passageway.
More red drapery lined the walls.
Bella stopped outside another large oak door.
She pushed it open to reveal a kitchen.
“This backs onto the royal hall.
It’s where all the royals’ meals are prepared.” She led me further into the room.
I stared at all the sharp cutlery, butcher’s knives, and various other instruments that looked specifically designed for hacking into meat, and massive boiling pots, even larger than the one I’d seen in the kitchen on one of the floors above.
“So, ogres… they eat humans.” Bella bit her lower lip, then nodded.
“And I’m to be fattened because I will also be eaten?” I continued.
I could have sworn that tears glistened in Bella’s eyes.
She looked down at the floor and nodded.
“That’s why you’ve been ordered to feed me so well.
And this place is the realm of the ogres.” I recalled the books I’d seen in the kitchen upstairs.
They seemed to have human butchery down to a science, the way humans had animals, I supposed.
We were no different than animals here.
Bella caught my hand again and led me out of the kitchen.
My mind was buzzing as we continued walking.
“Bella,” I croaked.
“You need to help me escape.” I stopped walking, tugging on her to stop too.
She looked at me with sad eyes.
“I can’t do that, Miss Rose.” “Why not? You just helped me cover up three murders.
Why can’t you just let me go?” “It’s not possible.
We would both be caught before we ever reached the gate.” I took in every detail I could as we walked for the next ten minutes, every passageway, every door, trying to get any clue as to how to escape.
A good ten minutes had passed before she stopped outside another door.
“After this room, we head back, okay?” I nodded, my mouth drying out.
She removed her chain of keys and opened up the door.
I stepped inside.
There was a double bed in the corner of the room with such a thin mattress it might as well have not been there.
There were two grubby pillows and a patchwork blanket.
The floors were made of stone, and there were no windows.
The only light came from a couple of lanterns fixed to the walls.
I looked at Bella, raising an eyebrow.
“This is your room?” She nodded.
“Mine and my husband’s.” “You married again?” She shook her head violently, staring at me as though I was insane.
Then she led me over to the edge of the bed and pointed upward.
I felt like screaming and vomiting at the same time.
I gasped, clasping a hand over my mouth.
Strung to the high ceiling of her four-poster bed with thick rope was the corpse of a male ogre.
“My husband,” Bella muttered.
“What the—” I couldn’t keep myself from swearing.
The body was pale, its eerie eyes bulging wide open and staring downward.
It was naked but for a loin cloth wrapped around the waist.
It was the most vile sight I’d ever seen in my life, but I was surprised that there was no odor coming from it.
I could only assume it had undergone some drastic preservative treatment to keep it from rotting.
“It’s what all of us widows do here.” She shrugged, looking up at the corpse of the atrocity that was her husband as though the scene was the most normal in the world.
“Our husbands stay with us after death.” I breathed out sharply, looking down at the floor.
I felt like I needed to scrub my eyeballs with sandpaper.
I wasn’t sure that the sight I’d just laid eyes on would ever leave me.
“You mean you sleep beneath this corpse every night?” She nodded, looking surprised at my reaction.
