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Haldane Castle

A beautiful day had dawned over a castle that looked as if it belonged on a level with Purgatory. But it was a day of diamonds in stark contrast to the terrible journey from Edinburgh.

It had taken four long days to reach Haldane Castle, and they’d arrived very late in the night because Alphonse was eager to return home.

In fact, the entire journey had been hellish in the sense that Alphonse drove his men and horses very hard.

He’d not stopped during the day at all and what stop they did make at night had been very brief.

No one had had more than a few hours of sleep and the animals were showing serious signs of exhaustion.

But on the night they arrived at Haldane, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, including Josephine.

Finally, they had reached their destination.

Josephine had never been so exhausted in her entire life.

Perhaps the only positive aspect of the difficult journey from Edinburgh was the fact that Alphonse had never touched her.

He’d kept her close to him, and he’d given her more than his share of lascivious glances, but he hadn’t made a move against her.

Josephine was so relieved about his restraint that it brought tears to her eyes once they reached Haldane.

Even then, Alphonse had only taken the time to introduce his steward to her, a man named Chauncey, before he departed to parts unknown within the enormous, dark castle.

Josephine had been happy to see Alphonse leave but, in the back of her mind, she somehow knew he would come to her at some point.

Perhaps he’d made a vow not to touch her until their wedding night, but vows were sometimes broken, especially by men of lesser character.

Or men who regarded women as chickens.

Therefore, she would have to be on her guard.

Chauncey was a tall, slender man with a hawk-nose and thin gray hair.

He didn’t seem to have much of a personality other than to order men about to collect Josephine’s possessions, what there were of them, and motion for her to follow him.

She did, gazing up at the tall keep silhouetted against the night sky as they headed towards it.

As the enormous entry loomed up in front of her, with servants lighting the way with torches, Josephine felt rather like she was entering the belly of the beast, from which there would be no escape.

It was a surreal and sinister experience.

Haldane Castle was a large structure, sitting near the borders of England and Scotland, and built to withstand attacks and sieges.

There was an enormous outer wall with great turrets on the corners but, once inside those walls, there was a vast courtyard with a moat and a massive keep sunk right into the middle of it.

The keep itself wasn’t a normal keep. It was very big, spread out over a great deal of land, with rounded towers at the entry.

The entire structure was at least three stories tall and when Josephine entered the building, she was immediately in a great hall that was quite large.

But it was empty at this time of night, with servants cleaning out the hearth or sweeping the room.

Large iron chandeliers hung from the ceiling, with fat from their tallow tapers dripping down onto the hard-packed earth below.

Chauncey took her into an adjoining room, which was dark at this hour.

Josephine hadn’t seen much of the chamber other than through the light cast by the torches, and she guessed it was a solar of some kind.

Chauncey then took her through the room and to a door on the opposite side, which opened up into a small corridor.

While part of the corridor led off in to the darkness, there was only one other doorway that Josephine could see, with a heavy oak and iron door guarding it. Chauncey had opened that door to take her into a chamber beyond that could only be described as cavernous.

In fact, Josephine couldn’t even see the ceiling, it was so tall.

The corners of the room were bathed in darkness until servants bustled in with banks of tallow tapers, setting them into the corners of the room and lighting it up with a golden glow.

Only then did Josephine get a good look at the room and, although it was plainly furnished, it was absolutely huge.

Since it was on the ground floor of the keep, the windows were high up in the walls, towards the ceiling.

They were small lancet windows that only let in air and a small amount of light.

They weren’t meant for a view or for pleasure.

This was a room built to withstand a siege but, to Josephine, it looked more like a prison.

She prayed it wouldn’t become her tomb.

Chauncey had mumbled something about sending her food and a companion, and Josephine really didn’t care what he’d meant by the companion part.

All she wanted to do was go to bed. And after peeling off the clothes she’d been traveling in for two days, she did just that.

But when she awoke in the morning, there had been a heavy-set woman bustling around in the room, silently unpacking the two trunks Josephine had brought with her, putting it all into a giant wardrobe with a broken door.

Josephine had been leery of the woman at first. She didn’t like strangers rifling through her things, which happened to be all of the dresses that the earl had sent her as wedding presents.

Madelaine had found two serviceable trunks the night of her departure from Edinburgh and had packed everything up neatly.

As Josephine had climbed out of bed, preparing to confront the servant who was unpacking for her, a nearby table caught her eye.

There was food upon it, and drink, and a big wooden bowl of what looked like steaming water.

When Josephine sniffed it, she could smell the faint scent of rosemary.

She could even see the little pieces of rosemary floating around in the water.

Realizing this was meant for her to wash in, she quickly went about locating the oils and soaps that she knew Madelaine had packed.

When the heavy-set servant saw that the new mistress was awake, she jumped in to assist. Josephine quickly discovered that the woman was a mute, and had no way of speaking, but she communicated well enough with her hands and expressions.

And she seemed very eager to help, so Josephine allowed the woman to bathe her as she literally inhaled all of the food on the table.

She was absolutely starving. But the more she ate, and the better she began to feel, the more her thoughts wandered to her surroundings; specifically, to Haldane in general.

There was great curiosity because this was where Andrew had been born. It was his home. She could hardly believe so dark and terrible a place would have been his home, but she knew it hadn’t always been like this. Being in the hands of Alphonse had made it a terrible place.

But it was more than simply the appearance of the place, which was dark and menacing.

It was the sheer mood that settled over the grounds and structure like a cloying fog.

From what servants she had seen, everyone looked like beaten dogs.

Even the air was heavy and full of fear. Living with a monster would do that.

Josephine didn’t want to look like they did, scared of their own shadows, and she began to seriously wonder if Andrew wasn’t right behind her, having followed her from Edinburgh.

God, she hoped so. She fervently prayed that he was; somehow, she knew that he was.

She knew he wouldn’t leave her here in this horrible place for his brother to feast upon.

God, please let him be close behind me!

Thoughts of Andrew were heavy on her mind as she finished her meal.

The mute servant, whose name she didn’t even know, helped her into a surcote that was made from the finest wool, very light, and dyed yellow from saffron.

Beneath it, she wore a shift of equally fine lamb’s wool, with long sleeves.

The servant didn’t seem to be very good with hair, so Josephine brushed her hair out with a horsehair brush, braided it at the nape of her neck, and wound the braid up into a bun and pinned it.

She felt clean, and rested, and ready to see the grounds of Haldane Castle.

Her curiosity about the place was growing, but she was most curious about one thing in particular.

Andrew’s mother.

Thoughts of the woman had been in the back of her mind since her arrival.

In fact, she thought she might have even dreamed about the woman who had been kept in the dungeons for years and years.

Now, it was all she could think about. Alphonse had declared his mother to be alive, and a great part of Josephine wanted to locate the woman and see for herself.

But an equally compelling part was fearful of Alphonse’s reaction should he discover she’d given in to her curiosity.

Josephine was certain Alphonse wouldn’t willingly let him see the woman.

It was just a feeling she had. But Josephine was determined, and she wasn’t sure what else she was going to do with her time here at Haldane, sitting around and waiting for Andrew to make an appearance.

Why not discover for herself if Andrew’s mother was still alive?

Or was she simply to stay to her room, hiding away and dreading every footstep, thinking it was Alphonse finally coming for her?

But that wasn’t the way she could live. Josephine refused to live in fear.

She had to believe that Andrew was coming for her, and that he would very shortly be here, and that he would be deeply grateful to know that his mother was alive.

He would undoubtedly be very grateful to see the woman freed from her dungeon home.

… freed?