A Castle Sealed: Castle in the Wilde - Prequel Novella by Sharon Rose

Author:Sharon Rose [Rose, Sharon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Eternarose Publishing
Published: 2021-01-18T18:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6

Within the Castle

Tristan was last awake the next morn. He groaned as he sat up. Best to move and try to work some of this out. Besides…something smelled good.

He found Cotrell tending a fire and… “What are those?”

“Pigeons.”

Tristan’s stomach rumbled. “You, my friend, are without peer!”

Cotrell chuckled.

Tristan and James carried benches outside, and they consumed their feast around the fire, relishing every scrap of fresh meat. Across the bailey, the mansion fairly glowed in the rising sun, beckoning.

James tilted his head toward the mansion and asked, “Is that where you’ll start your exploring?”

Trust James to guess his longing. “I’d like to, but it must wait. We should walk the walls first.”

Cotrell nodded and tore off another bite of meat.

“Do you not believe we’re safe within the castle?” James asked.

Did he? “Probably. What think you, Cotrell? Could the enormous black beast that took our mare jump the walls?”

Cotrell chewed, frowning. “That depends. How similar was it to the tawny cat we fought last night?”

“Much bigger. You must know that. The shape of its head and snout were similar…as far as I could tell by firelight. All black, too, but that means nothing, especially since the tawny one had black markings. Why do you ask?”

Cotrell stared at the fire. “Tawny was a poor jumper—for a cat, that is—and a poor climber, too. I thought sure it would be up that tree in seconds, but…” He shook his head. “Its hind quarters didn’t seem right, somehow.”

“Injured?”

“Nay…ungainly. Like the back legs didn’t work well with the front legs. Reminds me of what you said about the black’s teeth. Tawny reeked like the black, too.” His words slowed. “’Tis oddly named. I could see calling it a fox-cat, since it has that long snout. But why vixicat?”

Unanswerable, but James suggested a possibility. “’Tis said that a vixen with kits is the most vicious of animals.”

“Mm. Unfair,” Cotrell murmured. “But to your question, my lord, if the black is just a bigger specimen, I doubt it can jump high. Its weight will work against it, too. These walls are tall.”

“Agreed—and built by those who would’ve known of the beasts. Let’s walk the full circuit to get the overall view. Then the mansion.”

They started by the gatehouse. From the circular tower, Tristan looked through a narrow window at the exterior wall. A blackened streak marred it, though he saw no actual damage.

They climbed to the top. Gazing down from the height, Cotrell said, “The wolf I killed while you were working the gates—’tis gone. Entirely.”

“Hm.” A small scavenger would take a piece and run with it, but the whole carcass… “Only a vixicat is big enough to drag away these overgrown wolves. But why?” Tristan mused. “Why would they bother?” He considered the woods descending the steep westward slope. Dense, like they had never been cleared.

They continued around. On the western side, the fourth floor of the mansion backed the curtain wall. They found no entrance at this level and continued past it. The view was stunning—a deep valley stretching to the sea—but Tristan kept walking.

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