Chapter 14: Out Of Prison; Aldous Plans The Future

  I had spent a whole week in the dungeon. I was fed two meals a day, given water three times. I’m sure Aldous was just trying to figure out what to do with me, he wasn’t going to leave me here for the rest of my days, was he? At least Trockalon’s ramblings were muffled, most of the time you couldn’t hear him, until realized no one could hear him, then he would talk louder. I let myself fall down onto my back, crushing my bound hands, it didn’t matter, I wanted straight on view of the ceiling. I stared intently, inspecting every stone above me. There are exactly twenty-three and a half, the half one bothers me.

I heard footsteps, as did everyone else, as Trockalon stopped rambling. I recognized those footsteps, Aldous was coming, maybe he wasn’t leaving me to rot. I pulled myself up into a sitting position, I crossed my legs then looked up. Aldous appeared, with Narcissus to his left and Ignatius to his right, each one had a wicked grin on his face. “Aw crap.” I uttered, they didn’t want to kill me, but they definitely wanted to torture me.

The door opened, they came in, I saw that Ignatius had something in his hand. Aldous then spoke, “So, we’ve done some digging, Amice Castle.”

“Huh? Castle?” I was genuinely confused.

“Yes, people have been calling you Amice Castle, since you worked here in the castle. Anyway,” Aldous continued, “I found out that you owned property in Forfeit Forest-“

He was about to say more but I cut him off. “Who snitched?” I asked gruffly.

“Uh, no one in particular, more we asked around got vague answers and pieced what we could together. We knew mom and Harriette knew but it is impossible to get any information out of them.” Aldous threw out his hands for dramatic effect, nearly hitting the dukes in the process. “Anyways, given how close you are with Harriette, even being brought into the Ofenjen clan, as if adopted, you’re now, legally, her adopted cousin. Which technically makes you a lady, since I’m trying to build relationships with the clans, I’m going to move you to house arrest.”

“Wow, you must be Olympic level in mental gymnastics.” I stated as I raised an eyebrow. “And what exactly does that mean?”

Ignatius approached me, I shuffled back, but then gave up trying to get away. He took off some of the chains and put a collar on me that had a massive gemstone in the center. He stepped back and Aldous explained. “This will slowly start to kill you if you step outside of the castle gates, so you are safe in the courtyards. Once you step outside though, let’s say in an attempt to escape, you will lose two hundred HP every second. That gives you fifteen seconds to get your butt back inside. You will also have two guards at your side at all times, so you should be dragged back inside before you are even close to dying.” He clapped his hands together, closed his eyes and titled his head. “And guess what, Harriette has a matching one.”

Ignatius then came back over and took off my chains. Aldous motioned for me to follow him. We made our way out of the dungeon, we went to the library. “Your new job will be to work as a librarian, when you are not busy you are to do research on anything that may be usefully to me.” Aldous explained.

“And how do I determine that?” I asked.

“Use your best judgment.” He crossed his arms.

We then traveled upstairs to one of the unoccupied bedrooms. “You will staying here from now on.” Aldous opened the door. “We checked for hidden compartments, there are none, so you can’t hide things from us.” I walked in. It was fairly small for a noblewoman’s room, but then again, I am no noblewoman. “The door also only locks from the outside,” Aldous continued, “You have a curfew, from ten at night till seven in the morning you will be locked in here. Under no circumstances will you be let out. You will be in the library from eight in the morning till five at night. You will be permitted to leave the library only for a meal at twelve, but return to the library immediately after.” He explained sternly. “Any other activities during that must be approved by me first.”

I raised my hand like I was in school. “What if I have to use the toilet?”

Aldous sighed. “You can go to the nearest toilet, but once your done, the guards will take you back to wherever you are supposed to be.” He motioned to the bed. “You have some new clothes that my mother has prepared for you, which is weird, but hey, she has done weirder. I expect you to change immediately.”

“Alright.” I nodded. “Thanks again for not killing me.”

“Don’t make me regret it, and this stays between the four of us, I only kept you alive because of Harriette. I don’t like seeing her sad, and if you would have died, she would have never forgiven me. I kept you alive because of her. So, thank her.” Aldous growled.

It seems old habits die hard, he seems to be at war with himself. One day he is kind and regretful, others he is threating and vindictive. That man is going through an identity crisis. Is he the loving man he wants to be, or is he the evil king he has been. Bro needs therapy. I changed into the simple black dress that was laid out for me. It had a turtleneck that I tucked into my collar. The hem of the dress fell at my ankles. I liked the way I looked in the mirror. Hesitatedly I reached for the doorknob, I wasn't sure if it was going to turn, but it did.

I stepped out and two guards were on either side of the door. "Come on there are some people who would like to see you." One of the guards motioned with his head. He took the lead, the other guard took up the rear.

I was taken out to the garden where Harriette stood. She turned around when she heard the door open. "Amice!" She called out as she opened her arms wide.

"Harriette!" I pushed past the guard and ran into her arms. We hugged each other tightly.

"Auntie Ami!" I heard the twins come running around from a rose bush. I knelt down and let them tackle me. "We missed you!" Theu said in unison.

"Ah, you look so pretty!" Esmee complimented me.

"You think?" I asked her.

"I'm glad your alright." Harriette touched my head. The twins led us through the garden, showing us all the different flowers. When they were out of earshot Harriette whispered to me. "What happened?"

"I can't tell you." I whispered back. "If I tell you, all this ends, we might all die." I told her.

"Oh, that bad huh?" She looked on as she narrowed her eyes.

I nodded. "I hate keeping secrets from you, but it's for our safety." I then raised my voice. “So what’s been up with you?”

She sighed. “Uh, not much. I love spending time with the kids, but I’ve been quite bored lately. I don’t like being a lady. I wish I could go out and adventure, like we used to, but now we have these stupid collars.” She huffed.

“Maybe they won’t be forever, maybe they are a just for now.” I bumped into her playfully.

“Huh, I guess your right.” Harriette looked up to the sky. “We need to focus on what we can do, not what we can’t. We are still alive, maybe someday we will be free again.”

Not much happened for the next few weeks, we settled into a routine. Life was peaceful. Harriette eventually forgave Aldous for nearly killing me, after much persuading on his and mine part, honestly, I think she was just holding a judge for so long because she thought it was funny. Everything was fine, until one night, I heard banging on my door. Three loud knocks before the door burst open. I sat up still half asleep, I rubbed my eyes as they adjusted. “Aldous? What do you want?” My brain finally woke up, I fell out of my bed when I decided to become startled. “My liege, what brings you here!?” I bowed.

“Put some clothes on, I need your help.” He then left, slamming the door behind him. I did as he asked, I then I left my room. The guards took me out to the back gate of the castle where Aldous and Narcissus were waiting on horseback. Suddenly, one of the guards picked me up, holding me high enough that Aldous could fidle with my collar. "Don't bother trying to edit the conditions yourself, it only responds to me." He finished and the guard put me down. "We have six hours." He tossed me my ghost knife. "You are to take us to the Ofenjen graveyard."

"Why? What business do you have there?" I questioned.

"I want to speak with Harriette's parents." Aldous stated.

"Hm?" I gazed over to Narcissus. "Are you sure you want to take him instead of Ignatius?" I scratched my chin.

"He can see in the dark. Also, I wouldn't trust him to be in change of the castle alone. Maybe if Harriette was awake, but we can't let her know that we are leaving. " Aldous explained.

"I see, reasonable." I agreed.

"Aww." I heard Narcissus utter to himself.

“I do know a back way there, no one will know we went there aside from the ghosts, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.” A servant brought a house for me the moment I finished speaking.

“Let’s go then.” Aldous nodded.

I took Aldous and Narcissus down the road towards the Ofenjen city. Before we got to close I turned off the road, they followed close behind. About half an hour had passed, five and half left. If my calculations were correct, then we were circling the village from about three kilometres away. After a few minutes, I turned towards the village, slowing down, it was hard to see at night, but I found the small trail, this is where the bumpy part comes in. We started traveling in the deep woods, our horses leaping over fallen logs and taking turns, I’m surprised Narcissus wasn’t crying by the time we made it to the graveyard.

The graveyard was large, only about a third had been filled after all these centuries. We got off our horses. The moment Aldous’ feet touched the ground, ghostly energy began to stir, a thick fog blanket covered the ground. Now, all I need to do is find the right grave by memory. “I take it the materials for the ritual is in the saddle bags?” I asked Aldous, making sure we didn’t come all the way out here for nothing.

“Yeah, of… course.” He hesitated while answering.

“Hi!” The twins had stowed away in the saddle bags.

I walked over. “What are you two doing up?” I questioned with my hands on my hips.

“Everything is still here, can you two carry the materials, while I carry these little rascals.” Aldous asked as he scooped up the twins. “Would you two like to meet your grandparents?”

I carried half of the materials while Narcissus carried the rest. I carefully checked the graves at the end of each row. Then I found one I recognized, without a word I headed down that row, I passed Harriette’s uncle’s grave, right next to it was the grave of her parents. “This is them, Connie and Emmett.” I then helped Narcissus set up the ritual.

“Don’t run off.” Aldous instructed the twins as he set them down. The three adults preformed the ritual. Before us, rising from the ground, came the ghosts of Harriette’s parents. They stared at us with hateful orange, pupilless eyes. “Do they recognize you?” Aldous whispered to me.

“We never met, so unless they were watching over Harriette from beyond the grave, probably not.” I whispered back. Connie then floated over to me. She slapped me across the face. “They definitely do.”

“You are a traitor!” Both of Harriette’s parents hissed. “A tempter! You swore loyalty to Bugalas and have forsaken it! Now you lead our daughter down the path of darkness!”

I shot finger guns at Aldous and Narcissus. “Have fun, I’ll be over here.” I walked backwards back to Harriette’s uncle’s grave.

Aldous guided the twins forward. “These are your grandkids. Esmee and Biff.”

“Kill him!” Their grandparents howled.

The twins did the head tilt thing Aldous does. “Why?” They asked in unison.

“He is our sworn enemy! It is our duty to die fighting him, your mother has forgotten her purpose!” They answered still in rage.

“Why?” The twins asked in the same manner.

“You don’t want to know, it’s stupid!” I called out to them. “Come visit your great uncle, those two don’t want to have a meaning conversation.” The twins came over to me immediately.

Aldous then took this opportunity to speak with Harriette’s parents. He got on his knees. “Listen, please forget who I am for a moment, or who I was, in my previous lives. I am trying to do better, I know I am not prefect, but.” He took a deep breath, and whispered, “I love your daughter. I want to marry her, and I want your blessing, please.” He begged.

“Begone king of all demons! Begone king of all demons!” They chanted.

“Please, set any condition, just give me a chance!” He pleaded.

I didn’t give Harriette’s parents a moment to reply. I threw my knife, it went flying through their ghostly forms, sending them back to the afterlife. My knife nearly hit Narcissus when it hit the ground, causing him to yelp. “If I knew that is what you were here for, I wouldn’t have bothered summoning those two.” I motioned to the ghost I had summoned, we had enough materials left over so I could summon Harriette’s uncle. “This is the man who raised her, Gabriel, former captain of the royal guard.”

“Come here, boy.” He motioned for Aldous will come closer. “There is something you want to ask me.”

Aldous came forward and got on his knees before him. “I love you niece, I want to marry her, and I want your blessing, please. Anything you ask I will do, as long as you give me your blessing.”

“It is true, you do love her. I know that. Do you promise to respect and cherish her for the rest of this life?” Gabriel asked.

“Absolutely.” Aldous answered without hesitation.

“All I ask of you, is two things, give her the wedding of her dreams, and to set our clansmen free that you had made slaves.” Gabriel set his conditions. “Do those two things and you shall have my blessing.”

“Your clansmen shall be home by the end of the month.” Aldous promised. “You have my word.”

“Then take care of my niece and the twins. I know they love you as much as you love them. Oh, before I go, don’t ever break her heart, or so help me I will go to Hell when you die and make sure that it is ten times as worse as it was when you were there before!” Gabriel yelled, ghostly energy swirling around him.

“Yes sir.” Aldous nodded.

“Take care now, take care of my family.” Gabriel then disappeared into the night.

I turned to the twins, “You didn’t hear any of this. I will pay you a pearl a day each everyday until the engagement is announced. You are not to say a word to your mother.” I growled as I bribed them.

“Okay Auntie Ami!” The twins squealed. I each handed them a pearl.