Understanding that Anne must have been exhausted from travelling for such a long time, Francis showed her to her room straight away. It was quite simply the most wonderful room she could ever imagine with red velvet curtains, luxurious decorations and a huge four poster bed. After finishing the refreshments that Francis had prepared for her, Anne climbed into bed and fell asleep almost immediately. Deep in sleep Anne started to dream. She was being held roughly by the upper arm and suddenly pushed away over a steep drop into darkness, falling helplessly, falling deeper to her certain death. She woke with a start in a cold sweat breathing heavily with panic. Still exhausted from the events of the previous day she managed to sleep again for a few hours before waking and feeling much better.
After eating breakfast and bathing, Anne decided to go to the nearest town to shop for the first time in her life. The town was much smaller than the one where she grew up, but it had both clothes shops and markets. In the market square she began a conversation with an old lady who mentioned that she had not seen Anne before. Upon hearing that Anne was now the one living in the castle the old lady’s eyes widened before asking, “Then you must have heard about the old legend of the castle?”
“No”, replied Anne, “I haven’t, please tell me”.
“They say that there is a hidden treasure in the castle, it has been there for centuries since the crusades, but no-one has ever found it”, said the old lady.
Anne thought about the treasure as she made her way back, when she got there she asked Francis to tell her if he knew anything about it.
“Yes, I have heard about this supposed treasure, but never really believed it existed and you would do well to believe the same”, he said uneasily.
“Why is that?” asked Anne suspiciously.
“Because that treasure has never been anything other than a curse on whoever has desired to find it”, he said sharply, “you have all you need and you definitely do not need to find some hidden treasure that is probably not even there!” With that he turned and walked briskly away.
Later that day there came a knock at the door and Francis opened. There stood a tall, handsome looking gentleman who had decided to welcome Anne as he had heard she had just arrived. His name was Thomas Brook and he explained that it was he who lived closest to the castle; Anne took an instant liking to him and welcomed him inside. They sat and drank tea, it appeared very easy to talk to Thomas and she decided to ask him about the treasure as well.
“Yes, of course I have heard about that”, he said. “I wonder if it really is here somewhere.”
“My butler told me to forget about it and that it would only cause me problems” said Anne.
“That seems strange, be careful, you never know who to trust; maybe he wants it himself”, said Thomas, which made Anne feel very uneasy as to Francis’ comments earlier.
As the hour became late, Thomas excused himself and left for home. Anne had enjoyed his company as she could feel that it could become quite lonely sometimes and she looked forward to the next time they would meet. The fact that she found him very attractive did not make the thought any less appealing.
During dinner and the rest of that evening Anne watched Francis’ behaviour very carefully as she was not sure now if he was as trustworthy as she first thought. She decided to retire early for the night but found it very difficult to sleep as there were strange noises coming from outside her bedroom door. Sounds of footsteps pacing backwards and forwards in the hallway made her nervous and on edge but she was too scared to go and see what was causing them. It was after all only her second night in a strange place and her imagination must be getting carried away, she thought.
Eventually her body and mind could not stay awake any longer after what seemed like hours of just laying there staring. Again she started to dream, the same dream she had had the previous night. She could not see who it was that had grabbed her arm so hard and pushed her over the edge into the darkness, but the fall was as long and horrific as it was the night before. Again she woke suddenly in a panic, feeling almost more tired than she had done before she went to bed. She felt she needed to rest and slept again, losing track of time she was awoken in the early afternoon by a knock at the door. She thought immediately about Thomas, and hoped it was him.
Francis knocked at the bedroom door, Anne called for him to enter and he came in looking bothered and upset.
“Thomas Brook is here to see you madam”, he said. Noticing that he looked troubled, Anne at first wondered why, and then became worried herself as she was not willing to meet Thomas now when she had just woken up.
“Please tell him that I cannot see him at the moment, but ask if he would like to be my guest at dinner tonight”, said Anne.
Sighing deeply, Francis raised his eyebrows and replied, “As you wish madam.”
The hours passed by quickly as Anne explored the different parts of her new home, although leaving herself plenty of time to get ready and prepare for dinner with Thomas. She was very excited as she had never before been in the company of a man in this situation.
Thomas arrived looking more attractive than she had ever seen anyone in her whole life and they sat down for their meal. He was as charming as she had remembered him from the previous day, and as she hoped that he would be that evening. They talked about all possible topics during dinner, he could both make her laugh and be serious when necessary, Anne felt that this was a man it would be very easy to fall for very quickly.
“Have you seen the view from the top of the castle Anne?” Thomas asked, and gave her a smile.
“No, actually I haven’t even seen all of the inside yet”, she replied.
“Shall we go and take a look? It’s a lovely evening”, said Thomas and Anne agreed; it would be very romantic, she thought and smiled to herself. They went up the winding staircase to the top of the castle to be greeted by a clear sky and bright stars, the view from there was as wonderful as Thomas had said and they could see for miles.
As Anne started to think about what had happened to her the last few days, how much better her life had become and what a perfect evening it had been; another thought entered her mind.
“How did you know about this view?” asked Anne, “Have you been here before?”
Suddenly a cold wind blew and Thomas’ eyes changed; the warm soft look had vanished and had been replaced by a hard stare.
“Of course I have you naïve little girl,” he said with an evil laugh, “did you not ever wonder how your uncle died?” He forcefully grabbed hold of her upper arm and started to force her towards the edge of the castle roof. Knowing that she had experienced this situation before, Anne gasped with fear and realised that it was Thomas who had thrown her to her death in her dreams.
Sobbing profusely Anne cried, “Why Thomas? Why are you doing this?”
“The treasure is what I want; did you really believe I was interested in you? The sword and crown of King Richard will make me rich beyond comprehension, with you out of the way there is no-one to stop me taking it.”
With Anne now perilously close to the edge and a fatal fall, the wind started to howl, rain started to pour down and the skies were filled with loud claps of thunder and lightning. She closed her eyes and waited for the moment when ground was no longer beneath her feet and she would be falling helplessly in the night air; this time she would not wake up.
Charging as fast as he could, with the treasure of King Richard in his hands, Francis plunged the sword into the back and through the heart of Anne’s attacker. Thomas released his grip and stared disbelieving at the sharp metal emerging from his chest before falling forwards off the castle wall and into the abyss. His loud screams followed by a thud as he hit the ground, and then, silence.
Anne threw herself into the arms of Francis, weeping with tears of relief and unable to talk for the fear she still felt. Francis held her close and said, “That treasure has been in this family for hundreds of years, and while we are here that is where it will stay”.
