Chapter 14

We materialized on the road near the Mc Dermott cottage on the outskirts of Rathkeale.

"What is here?" Sunshine asked looking around at the scattering of cottages along the road.

"Not what, but who. I know some people here," I told her, as I approached the Mc Dermott's door and knocked.

"Yes, what is it?" Mrs. Mc Dermott asked from inside before opening the door and looking up at me. "Oh!" she said in a startled voice, before looking closer.

"You're the Apprentice that stopped here a week or so ago," she said, as she took in my Master Wizard's robe. "And you were promoted to Master in just that short a time?" she asked, puzzled.

"No ma'am. I've been a Master Wizard for several years now. But I'm young, and it is often easier to travel as an Apprentice. There are fewer questions and people don't pay as much attention to an Apprentice," I told her.

"What can I do for you, Master?" she asked.

"I've brought you a few things," I told her, and turned to wave Sunshine and the horses up near the door.

"Oh, you have a lady with you, an Apprentice," Mrs. Mc Dermott said on seeing Sunshine.

"Yes, she will be my Wife shortly," I told her and removed the large basket from the pack horse and carried it into the house.

"Will you be needing to stay here? My Husband has returned and there isn't much room now, especially for two more," she said, as I began removing things from the basket. There were a cured ham, a leg of mutton preserved with a spell, a number of vegetables, and a large block of cheese covered in wax.

"Oh my goodness!" Mrs. Mc Dermott exclaimed in shock on seeing everything. "But ... but... !!" she blustered not knowing what to say.

"Eat it in good health," I told her. The children had come out of the back room and were staring at me and all of the food in silence by now.

"Hi Kids!" I said before turning back to a totally flabbergasted Mrs. Mc Dermott.

"We have to go now. We need to see a man about my Wife's Sister," I told her before Sunshine and I each gave her a hug. I took Sunshine's hand then, and we left the house.

"That was very generous of you!" Sunshine said, as I helped her up onto her horse. Mrs. Mc Dermott was standing in the doorway staring at us with tears in her eyes.

"They are nice people and allowed me to stay here on the way to Castle Glenquin," I told her as we waved to Mrs. Mc Dermott before starting back into Rathkeale to take the road to Askeaton.

Askeaton, some hour and a-half later, appeared to be a large market town. We stopped to water the horses near the market. The River Deel runs through the town and empties into a small inlet just north of town. The road had followed beside the river for the last two and a-half miles plus. We asked at the market about the road to Barrigone and were given directions.

It required a bit over an hour to reach Barrigone. Along the way, I changed from my Master Wizard's robe into that of a Senior Apprentice, as it would make accessing the castle easier, I thought.

We could see the top part of the castle shortly before we reached Barrigone. In the flat grass lands that we had been traveling through, the rise that the castle was located on made it stand out. We came to the road leading to the castle before reaching Barrigone and turned north on to it. The area around Barrigone, like that which we had been traveling through, was mostly dry grassland with some limestone outcroppings.

Approaching Castle Dyster, the first shock that we got was the discovery that the land that the castle sat on was surrounded on three sides by a now dry water channel which appeared to be an extension of the small inlet and another channel that separated Aughinish Island from the mainland.

Chart-maker Leif had certainly never mentioned this dry water channel or moat when we had spoken with him. Perhaps he wasn't aware of it, or it had been left off of the map as being unimportant. It certainly surprised us.

The next surprise was that there were only a very few cottages near the castle and its bawn. The bawn appeared to be very small also. As we approached more closely, we could see that the castle was rectangular. In size it appeared to be about forty feet in length in a north to south direction, and about twenty-six feet wide from east to west. The bawn didn't cover more than twice the area of the castle, The walls of the bawn were only about ten feet in height, and there was no parapet or walkway on top of them. The gate to the bawn was located on the south side at the end of the approach road. It consisted of two stout wooden doors, but there was no yett visible in front of them, and the gate was open as we approached.

On entering the bawn, we could see that the tower was four stories tall above the ground floor and the top of the building was crenelated. The few windows visible on the upper floors of this side of the tower were small.

The entry door, located on the east side of the tower, was narrow - less than three feet in width and short. The top of the peaked arch entryway being less than six feet high. There was a yett directly in front of the wooden door. We rang the bell attached to outside wall of the tower to gain admittance. Shortly the door opened, and a short man with dark hair appeared.

"What do you want?" he demanded, and followed that with, "We don't take in Apprentices," after getting a good look at us.

"We have a message for Master Lochlan Mac Con from Master Fiacha," I told him trying the same tactic that we had used previously to gain entry to the Fantstown Castle.

"And why would Master Fiacha send you with this message?" the man demanded.

"Master Fiacha is indisposed at present and couldn't come himself," I explained.

"Too damn lazy probably," the man said under his breath, but I heard him anyway.

"I'll have to get the keys. You can put your horses in the stable if there is room," he told us, as he turned back to the inside, leaving the door partly open.

After unsaddling and stabling our horses, we brushed them down before watering and feeding them. We returned to the main entrance to find the yett and door open, but no one there. On entering the ground floor, we saw that it consisted of the entry hallway, and a room on the north side that had a locked door. The spiral stair was built into the massive south-west wall of the tower. There was some space on the west and south side of the stair well for storage.

"Hello!" I called when no one appeared to direct us where to go.

"Come up to the first floor," we heard called down the stairwell, and proceeded up the stairs, where we were met at the first floor landing by the same man that we had spoken with previously. He was now brandishing a sword.

"Now, what is this message that you have for Master Lochlan?" he demanded.

"We were instructed to only deliver the Message to Master Lochlan himself," I told him.

"You'll tell me or else. I'm the Castellan here, and no one sees the Master unless I know what it is about," he told us in a threatening voice.

"Master Fiacha specifically forbade us from giving the message to anyone but Master Lochlan," I reiterated.

"Why you impudent young puppy, I'll... !!" he began, raising the sword. The freeze spell stopped him before he could go any farther. I had been holding it since we had entered the tower.

"I guess that we'll have to find Master Lochlan ourselves," I told Sunshine. We checked the other floors of the castle but found no one at home. No guards, no servants, and most importantly, no Master Lochlan. We also found no sign of Roses's body.

"What about the locked room on the ground floor?" Sunshine asked.

"We can check that, too" I told her, as we descended to the ground floor. The lock on the door opened as we approached there, and I slid the bolt securing the door open before pushing the door into the room. It was dark inside, and I produced a flame to see what was in there. It turned out to be a storage room with some expensive looking furniture and some chests in it. The chests contained curtains and drapes plus some clothes, but there was no sign of a body, or a box that could contain one. Sunshine slumped against me on seeing this.

"We will have to await Master Lochlan and question him about the whereabouts of your Sister," I told her before closing and re-locking the door.

The Castellan was still frozen in place when we returned to the first floor. I removed the sword from his hand with a small spell before canceling the freeze spell. He was quite surprised to find it missing and in my hands when he became aware again.

"What? How?" he started before I raised the sword and pointed it at his stomach.

"I'll ask the questions, and you be a good fellow and answer them," I told him.

"Where has your Master gone?" Sunshine demanded in a harsh voice.

"Why should I answer you?" he demanded in return.

"Because she is a Mage," I told him pointing to Sunshine, "and can introduce you to excruciating pain, if you don't." Panic showed on his face, as he swallowed on hearing this.

"He ... he went to Askeaton to buy supplies," he answered. "He took the other three servants with him," he added.

"And when will he return?" I asked.

"By nightfall. He will be here for the evening meal," I was told.

"If he has the other servants with him, who will prepare the evening meal for when they return?" I asked.

"I will, and I will need to start soon if it is to be ready when they return," he told us.

"Where is the cooking done?" Sunshine asked.

"In the Hall. It's the only chamber with a fireplace," he told us.

"Where is the food kept?" I asked.

"On the floor above. The pantry is there," he told us.

"Let's gather the ingredients then so you can start preparing the meal," I told him. The pantry on the second floor wasn't that large or very full. This gave me some idea of what was being purchased in Askeaton. We carried some meat and vegetables up to the fourth floor.

The Hall, as one could hardly call it the Great Hall, was about sixteen feet wide by thirty feet deep less the notch where the spiral stairs ended in one corner. The walls had been plastered at one time, but now they showed definite signs of age, and patches of plaster were missing in various places. There was a medium size window that looked out to the north, and through it, one could see how the land sloped down to the water in the Shannon Estuary. There was a large V shaped island visible from the window. It was covered in sparse grass and separated from the mainland by a narrow inlet on two sides and with the Shannon on the third side. Farther to the west, I could see Foynes Island, as a large rocky hill rising out of the Shannon.

The large fireplace was on the west wall of the hall about midway down its length. There was fire wood positioned near it and a work table was also set up near it. The other furnishings of the hall sat in a pile in one corner waiting to be assembled for meal time. The iron kettle sitting near the fireplace was filthy and needed cleaning.

"Surely you aren't going to use that kettle, are you?" Sunshine inquired.

"Yes, why not?" the Castellan asked, puzzled.

"Only because it will poison you!" Sunshine answered, as green slime appeared and grew on the kettle. The Castellan jumped in shock on seeing this.

"I believe that a cleaning spell is in order," I told both of them. "Where is the exit to the battlements?"

"There is a ladder to the battlements," the Castellan told us, pointing to the east wall. I could see the ladder lying on the floor against the wall with the other furnishing of the hall. There was a trap door in the ceiling beside the unimpressive roof framing. The trap door was closed at present. I used a spell to open it, and then started the cleaning spell for the kettle. All of the gunk and baked on drippings that clung to the kettle went out through the trap door, and a minute or so later the kettle was as clean as when new. The trap door closed when I was finished. On turning around, I could see the Castellan staring at me in absolute shock.

"How ... how ... did you do that?" he finally managed to ask when he had recovered somewhat.

"It was only a simple cleaning spell," I told him.

"But Master Lochlan never does anything like that!" he protested.

"That's his problem," I told him, before adding,"Let's get started on that meal."

"I'll need water also. There is a well outside that we... !!" he stopped there on seeing the kettle fill half way with water. There was another shocked expression on his face.

"I know!" I said in resignation. "Master Lochlan never did that either." He didn't answer, but turned to the work table to begin preparing the stew that was to be the evening meal. He reached out for the large knife on the table, but thought better about grabbing it before his hand touched it.