Franengeld

Previously in Frankengeld. Damion and his companions have made the journey to the ancient castle of the Frankengeld family, and have approached the nearby Watchtower, Their intent is to use this as a base to spy, with Monifa's magic, upon Kurt and the wolfwere Harem. The way into the Watchtower is a narrow bridge across a deep chasm, and there are terrible-looking statues of wolves that are positioned at the near end of the bridge. Damion, in his nervousness, thinks he saw one of the stone figures move!

Now read on...

1st July in the year 1784, late in the afternoon.

Lord Philip drew his blade and gently tapped one of the wolves. It was stone, but he clearly had the same dreadful thought as myself. That it would spring on us. He gave a nervous laugh. "Your family are a bit wolf-obsessed," he chuckled.

There was no hiding place for the last few metres. The bridge was fully exposed to numerous arrow slits in the watchtower. There was a broad doorway into the tower, the door of which was set slightly open. We crouched behind the plinths studying the building and, after a while, Alicia rose.

"We must enter eventually," she said. "I will trial the bridge. Be ready to defend me if all turns ill."

She crouched low and ran across the bridge, as swift as the wind, and peeped through the door at whatever lay inside. No arrows rained down on her, and no traps upon the bridge attacked her. I decided to follow.

I ran across and pressed myself up against the stone archway around the door. As I ran I heard Helena swear and follow me. She joined me with her back to the stones and the crossbow upright in front of her face, ready to aim and fire.

"There is a single chamber here," said Alicia, looking in the door. "With a grand staircase going up into the tower. I can see no dangers. I am going in."

Freida, Poppy and Monifa crossed the bridge, with Lord Philip close behind. He turned and looked in every direction as he crossed, determined to shield them from harm. We all entered the ground floor and spread out to examine our temporary home.

It didn't take long. There were several chambers connected by the grand staircase, a roofed lookout point at the top of the tower, and a pantry and store around a well in the basement. All empty and neglected. The furniture had gone a long time ago and the wall hangings were in tatters. They hung in shreds and it was difficult to reconstruct the pictures they once displayed, though from what bits we could see they were scenes of battle.

It looked as if an elite unit of soldiers might have once occupied this tower, tasked with the job of keeping watch down the valley. From the lookout point I estimated you could see, on a clear day, thirty kilometers or so. Plenty of time to warn the occupants of the castle of an approaching army. Also, it would be hard to attack the castle if this tower was occupied, for they could harass a passing army with arrows, or even sally forth to attack the flanks or cut supply lines.

We set up on the first floor and prepared a meal. Then we settled down to help Monifa spy on the castle. She was to enter a trance and send her Ka journeying the short distance to the larger building. There she would be able to wander the corridors unseen. We hoped she would return with useful information.

We needed to sleep at least a few hours, and we needed to keep a watch and protect Monifa who would be vulnerable during her trance. And further, we had no idea how quickly we might need to move, so we agreed that Freida, Poppy and Lord Philip would sleep first, while Alicia, Helena and I watched over our little sorceress. All the sleepers settled down and I paced around the room until Helena told me to be still. I then leaned up against the wall and tried to remain calm as the afternoon light faded.

The moment the sun went down behind the mountain the atmosphere in the chamber changed. It was like entering an ice house. Chill cold ate into my bones and then I could see them. Warriors with pale faces, faint wraiths of once hearty, healthy, men. They were absent one moment, and there the next, like the reverse of a curl of smoke when you snub out a candle. I heard Helena give a sharp intake of breath and a low sob of fear.

"They cannot harm you," said Alicia. "Unless you let the fear overtake you. We have several ghosts back at my master's castle, they are trapped souls unable to move on."

The ghosts examined us. These were not spectres that repeated the same actions over and over again mindlessly. They were as aware of their surroundings as we. Tonight they must be as surprised as us to find interlopers in their residence. Two men, and five women, where for decades there had presumably been no-one. One ghost, with regalia on his uniform that suggested he was their commander, came to stand face to face with me.

"Who are you?" he asked, with a voice as thin and transparent as his appearance. A hiss of sound, almost a whisper, though his lips moved as if he was shouting.

Without thought I announced myself, as I would to any living officer or commander, "Damion von Frankengeld, at your service."

My name was repeated on the lips of the ghosts, Frankengeld, Frankengeld, Frankengeld. And the ordinary soldiers all dropped to one knee and gave me their obeisance. These must have been part of my family's private army in earlier times. Many noble families maintained such a force until civilised countries decided it was foolish to allow dukes, earls and lords the means to wage war on each other.

Only the commander stayed standing, he looked at me closely, as if doubting my lineage, and said, "Honour your family's promise."

"What promise?" I asked.

"In the year fifteen hundred and thirty-eight your ancestor commanded us to hold this tower," he whispered. "To keep the enemy occupied while the family slipped away to safety."

"I see," I replied. This was a bit of family history that I didn't know. A battle that I had never been told about. But there must have been a point when the castle and watchtower were abandoned by my kin and we moved to use Durishaus as our main dwelling. These soldiers, left behind as a rearguard, would certainly account for Monifa's description of 'watchful' things.

"Your ancestor promised to return and relieve us. And he said he would bring whores to entertain us, to reward us, the finest in the land."

The ghosts all gathered around me, lust on their faces. Young men, dead for over two hundred years, waiting for their gratification all this time.

"Nobody came to relieve us, we starved to death in this tower when the enemy laid siege and waited us out," continued the officer. "We did our duty unto death. Honour your family's promise."

"Will I do?"

It was Helena that had spoken. I glanced over to find that, despite the chill, she had pulled down her top to reveal her generous breasts, and had hitched up her skirt to reveal her quim. She looked the typical street whore, complete with lustful expression. I marveled at her ability to adapt to most situations, especially if they involved pleasuring. And I was impressed by the way she had conquered her fear.

The ghosts all sighed, a collective moan of anticipation, and watched as Helena lay herself down on her bedroll and blankets, and spread her legs. Then she was covered by the commander. This seemed to give the others permission to act and, before I could say anything, ghosts descended upon the sleeping forms of Freida and Poppy. Phantom clothes evaporated to reveal fit phantom bodies, with rampant phantom phalluses. In death these men did not look starved, their bodies were well muscled, but I suppose if I could choose my appearance, while I spent eternity waiting for release, it would be at my peak of fitness.

Several tried to approach Monifa but Alicia put up her hand in a gesture of rejection and gave them a very fierce look. They turned away and waited in line for their opportunity with women who were not so full of arcane power.

"Oh oh Damion," cried Helena, quietly but with great passion. "He pleasures my soul."

The commander was making all the moves associated with pleasuring and his phantom phallus was plunging in and out of Helena at the appropriate location. I expected her to feel nothing other than perhaps a ghostly chill, but it seemed his member was somehow touching, and pleasing, her spirit.

"Ooooh... my commander... my soldier... my lover," she moaned. It had been a long time since she'd had a soldier in her. For a moment I was jealous thinking that a fit military man might easily excel in pleasuring, be more competent and capable than I, and that Helena might turn away from me and seek solace at the Barracks when we returned from our quest. Then the lapse in my self confidence passed and I pushed the unworthy thoughts away. After all she had declared her love, she would not abandon me.

Freida and Poppy were also covered but they had not woken up. I thought this was probably for the best. The shock of being treated like a whore by ghosts might have been bad for their hearts. I had heard of people being frightened to death and we could not afford to lose even one of our little army. The girls writhed a little in their sleep and I could see their eyes moving rapidly under their closed eyelids, which alienists say is a sign of dreams. I looked around the room and noted that one soldier was laying with Lord Philip who was similarly moving under his blanket.

The commander was thrusting faster and faster and Helena shuddered and cried out her climax, then he was grunting, a whispered and faint indication he was ejaculating. As his body tensed, and his head and spine bent backwards with the pleasure, he slowly evaporated, the wisps of his ectoplasm rising up and disappearing through the ceiling in a cloud of golden light. Then he was gone.

Another took his place over Helena and, as one by one they achieved what they had waited centuries for, the soldiers each moved on to wherever we go after death. It was, despite the strangeness of this ghostly pleasuring, gratifying to see the looks of happiness on their faces before they passed on. Lord Philip's lover was the last to go. Presumably in his lifetime he had been a man who had vast endurance and control.

"Poppy suggested," said Alicia, once the last of the ghosts passed on, "That we might be able to achieve an accommodation with the watchful things in the tower. But I don't think she imagined her body would be part of the deal."

"How is Monifa?" I asked.

"She remains in her trance," Alicia replied. "I told the spirits, with my will, that she was too young, and not a whore, and they respected that."

"Honour among ghosts," I quipped.

"Yes," said Alicia. "They kept their military discipline to the very end. A good thing too for unchecked they could have been a phantom menace to us all."

We sat quietly, waiting for Monifa to awaken. It was several hours later that she opened her eyes, sat up, and declared she had much to tell us. We woke the others. There was no point in having to tell the same tale twice.

"I had the strangest dream," were Poppy's first words on waking. "I suppose it was all the talk of military things. Several, very well endowed, soldiers... er... entertained me... it was most pleasurable."

Freida and Lord Philip said nothing but I thought I caught a shadow of embarrassment, a flicker of chagrin on their faces, that suggested to me that they had also dreamed of something. But perhaps it was a dream they did not want to share.

We gathered around Monifa to hear her report.

"I sent my Ka to the castle," she explained. "And through its eyes I saw many things. The castle looks neglected outwardly but once inside you can see it has been repaired and maintained. A series of chambers around the great hall are comfortably appointed, and the great hall itself seems to be the principal dwelling place of the Harem."

"There are twenty five wolfwere there, if my count is correct, and they lay about lazily on the skins of various animals. Some were in wolf form but most were women, naked and in what seemed to me to be a strangely aroused state."

She was young and probably did not properly understand the sexual power that my Father held over the Harem. But these descriptions were very useful.

"The wolves," asked Lord Philip. "Tell us more. Where were they positioned?"

"The wolves were guarding the others," replied Monifa. "There was one by each doorway into the hall."

"Guarding?" asked Alicia.

I was also unclear, were the ones in wolf form keeping the others under control, or were they acting to protect them?

"They were facing outwards toward the entrances to the chamber and looked as if they were guarding against threats from outside," said Monifa. "Perhaps so that the others could relax. I noticed that quite a few of the women were touching each other's bodies and making sighing noises."

We looked at each other. We knew exactly what that was all about. Time to move Monifa onto a different subject.

"And my Father?" I asked.

"On the outer wall of the castle, facing east over a deep chasm, is a tower with a large platform at its top. I could feel his power and, climbing the stairs, I found him on the platform."

Her voice cracked and Poppy hurried to give her water. She drank gratefully, then continued.

"An ancient circle of power is carved into the flagstones on the platform and Kurt was making preparations. Candles and bones were positioned at significant points and he was painting runes to shape the spell he clearly intended to cast."

This sounded very serious. What was he trying to achieve?

"I could not read the runes," Monifa said. "But I could feel their intent. He was to perform an un-naming spell. The power of the charm would radiate in all directions, and every person it touched would forget your Father ever existed, Damion. His life slate would be wiped clean and all who looked for him for his crimes would forget their quest. He would be free to start again with a new name. The charm, I believe, also has the power to erase his name in documents or inscriptions. It was a spell familiar to me, one the priests of my homeland would use to prevent a criminal from passing through the underworld to gain bliss, or to remove the name of a Pharoah that had fallen from the true path of Amun."

A cunning plan, I thought, in one stroke to be able to avoid retribution.

"How far?" I asked. "How far will the charm reach? Will it just affect us?"

Monifa gave a distance in the units of her ancient home, which sounded a lot. Freida did a calculation on her fingers and in her mind.

"Perhaps five thousand kilometers," she declared.

I tried to imagine a map with this castle at its centre. That distance would cover most of Europe, North Africa, the Ottoman Empire, Persia, even into Rus. Any hope I harboured that this spell would just affect me and my companions, leaving the Chief of Police to continue his investigations was dashed. He would put the case to one side, seeing only a mysterious murderer, but with no connection to any living person.

"When will it take effect?" was my next question. "Do we need to go now?"

"Fear not," said Monifa. "He has made his preparations but cannot start the ritual until the time is right." She thought hard. "He will light the candles and start the chant two hours after sunset tomorrow, and it will take seven hours to complete though once he has said the primary incantations it will stoke itself."

"Then we set off at two hours after sunset," said Lord Philip. "It will take us a little time to cross to the castle, by which time he will hopefully have started, or will be about to start the ritual. He might be distracted."

"And," added Alicia. "He will be away from his Harem, unless he invites them to watch which seems unlikely. Some of us can tackle them, and offer the cure. Take away his willing army." She nodded at the satchel containing the elixirs I had prepared.

We slept, prepared our weapons, ate well of our rations, and made ready. It was agreed that Alicia and I would deal with my Father, and the others would face the wolfwere pack.

I regret to say that Helena and I argued. It was over which group she would join. I wanted her to go with Lord Philip whom, I believed, would protect her from harm. She wanted to go with me to tackle my Father, which I judged was the more deadly of the confrontations, and I tried to persuade her not to risk herself.

In the conversation that followed we both said things we regretted. At least I know I did. In the end I walked away and would not speak to her. My pride was wounded by what she had said. I sought solitude on the observation platform and then wandered the stairs and chambers, trying not to meet up with her. It was quite easy to avoid her because she settled down to making her preparations, including cleaning and reloading the crossbow. The very same crossbow that had been part of the argument. The fact she did not seek me out to apologise made it worse. There's nothing more calculated to make a sulk grow deeper than it being ignored.

Lord Philip and Poppy excused themselves for a time and made love in a nearby chamber. Something I suspect lovers, about to risk their lives to the dangers of combat, have done for millennia and will continue to do so long into the future. As I wandered the watchtower, full of anger at Helena's refusal to accept my will, I passed their chamber. I was attracted by their quiet cries of passion and looked in upon their lovemaking. It was wrong of me to spy upon them, I knew that, but I could not look away.

Poppy's hair glowed red in the afternoon light, making me think of the blood that might soon be spilled. She lay on her back, her legs spead wide, and he entered her. This was no roll in the hay on a summer's afternoon. No light-hearted fun. This was a coupling with a passion born of desperation and the very real fear of losing each other in the next few hours. They clutched at each other, grinding their bodies together to obtain the greatest possible pleasure from their joining. His thrusting became more and more frantic and she clawed at his back and wound her legs around his waist as if to hold him to her body forever. She cried tears when she came and he responded with his own soft grunts as he came deep within her. I left them speaking quietly to each other, whispering words of love and desire, in the aftermath of their joy. and found myself a quiet chamber to sit and nurse my anger.

Then, suddenly, voices were raised. People were strapping on weapons and taking up bags of elixirs, getting ready to go. My sulk had made me lose track of time. It was too late to seek a reconciliation with Helena and, besides, every time I looked at her my hurt pride made me annoyed anew. I had decided to give in to her demand to follow me. Or, to be more accurate, I had decided that if, when the two parties split, she chose to follow me I would not prevent it. And I left her in possession of the crossbow. I had my magical knife from Lord Mutunus and that would have to be enough to subdue my Father.

As we left the Watchtower the sun had dipped behind the mountain and it was becoming very dark. But, before we departed, Monifa had waved her hands over the eyes of everyone and her spell made it so we could see clearly in the dark. There would be no stumbling our way up to the castle and the confrontation with my Father.

Alicia, of course, did not need the spell. Darkness was her natural realm and she was totally suited to it. She had dressed herself in black leather armour and looked like a shield-maiden from a tale of ancient times.

I do not know if I will live to continue this journal. If I die then I commend the contents to future readers in the hope it will be instructive. I have put it into the bag that Helena carries, to guard and protect it for me.