First experiences and impressions of the northern quarter of Russia were not to good, the pale faces of the trio said everything about the place, it was cold, washed out and very board.
They looked at each other, talking in their minds, vibes doing all of the communicating between the three. They entered the cold damp castle one by one, Janice who was always on the look-out for any danger, then Walt to back her up incase of any such attack; then finally Tom. Tom is brain’s of the team, he logs everything in his mind and can remember ever corridor, passage, locked door, un-locked door or stair case in any building. If they have to get out in a hurry, Tom can always lead the way. The huge ten foot high, rotted, old mahogany door swung open creaking like nails being scratched on a blackboard, the adventure had just began.
The floor in the entrance hall was damp and musty, it smelt as and old attic, filled with woodworm and mice. It was lined with wood, walls, ceiling and the floor. The floorboards were in very bad condition, they had not been painted or sealed to stop them rotting. Some of the floorboards were as strong as a crisp packet, they crumbled with the dust that settled on them. Many of them were not even there anymore. Years of neglect had made them vanish into a small pile of sawdust.
Janice stood proudly in the center of the entrance hall, it seemed that there was nothing mysterious about the place at all, it was just an old derelict castle, only worthy of being used as fire wood, or so they all thought.
Janice did a dance around the hall; her long straggly ginger hair flustering around, being dragged through the air by her short, agile martial arts body.
Walt went back to their small cart to get their back packs, these contained all of the survival tools each of the trio carried with them at any point of an adventure. In their backpacks Janice, Tom and Walt all each carry a small axe for breaking out of places or getting into places such as caves. They each carry their own small sword approximately 1 foot long. They all have a small first aid kit, which consists of mainly pieces of rag and fresh water. One thing that they never leave behind is their own small lanterns. These burn oil and last for long periods of time. They use these to aid their vision in dark places such as cellars and rooms with no windows.
“Janice, I can’t find you lantern, it’s not anywhere. You must have left it back at that old shack we were at a few days ago.” Walt explained as he had his head buried in all of the junk in the back of the cart, “You’ll have to use mine.”
“Are you sure it’s not there?” Janice quizzed,
“I’m positive” Walt replied, “Just use mine!”
Walt stumbled back into the entrance hall, his footsteps shacking the castle like a herd of wild buffalo. “Walt you’ll have to be very careful on this expedition, you are very clumsy and this castle is not very strong,” Tom pointed out, “OK, I understand.” Janice then lead the way up the stairs and then something caught her eye, “Stop!” she said with great intensity, “Go back down.” What she had saw was the glowing embers on the huge sky scraper like fire place in the main living room in the west section of the castle. The light has pocked through a whole in the damp wall which was being held up by only the small nails use to secure the wood paneling. “Whoa, I think this place is definitely haunted, that fire is still glowing!!” Tom explained, “I want to go now please,” he whispered again in Janice’s ear. She turned around and stared him down, thinking how pathetic he looked, she kept her feelings to herself and her eyes, big brown eyes, turned very small with anger, Tom took the hint. “Are we going now?” Walt blurted
“Yes, and remember, watch where you stand,” replied Janice. The adventure had began once again, and they weren’t turning back for anything, almost anything.
They wondered through hundreds of crypt like corridors, they were as dark as the midnight sky. On the journey they found lots of exiting and spooky things lurking in the castle, “This is the Castle of the Creepers,” Tom trembled, Janice just kept on walking. During the adventure the trio found things like picture frames with no pictures, pictures of portraits, eyes seeming to follow their every move. There was always about ten cobwebs wherever they looked, Tom shut his eyes but he could still see them in his mind. In some places they had to go right back around a tower or floor just to get to the other side of a collapsed wall, moving the mushy rotted mess could have had horrible effects. They saw oil lamps on some walls, still glowing after years of not being filled up, and very strangely they saw one bedroom, which was in perfect condition, the floor, walls and ceiling were still in-tact, the carpet had no dust, no cobwebs could be seen. The bed was also made and there was a half packed suitcase lying on the floor, as if someone was in a hurry to get out. In the east tower they found a stair way going down into the cellar, it had an almost infinite numbers of steps, most smashed or rotted, they did not wish to go down.
With all the evidence gathered, Janice tells the to guys to go back, they could continue the search with greater detail the next day. Janice then said proudly, “That search was great, we’ve got bags of evidence and not a single injur…”
Ahhh!!! Tom let out a great shriek behind Walt and Janice, he had fallen through a hole in the floor, they had started to come back a different way. Tom didn’t know where he was; he was knocked out as he fell, smashing his head off a solid brass soldier statue. Two minutes passed and eventually Tom became conscious again, “No, no, my leg , my leg,” he was in great pain. “Walt go to get the first aid, his leg is in a very awful condition,” Janice requested,
“All right, I think I know the way.” Walt replied,
“No, no, don’t leave me, don’t leave me, I’ve fallen down,” Tom said.
Over twenty minutes passed and there was still no sign of the big ape like Walt. Janice feared that he might have got lost.
Crrraasshh!!! A tremendous earthquake like rumble came from the other side of the castle. Within seconds clouds of dust came from both directions of the corridor, which looked like a back street alley. Vision was impossible and Janice held Tom’s hand tight until the two could see each other once again.
The rumble had been Walt, what was left of him was now in a pile thirty feet high of wood and plaster. He had fallen through four floors to the ground floor bellow his fall had came to a staggering halt when he reached the concrete base of the west tower foundation. He would not be coming back and Janice would not get the first aid kit in time to save Tom’s leg. “I have to go, you need the first aid, you’ll lose your leg if I don’t, then you could loose your life!!” Janice explained with extreme sorrow for Tom,
“Don’t leave me, please, don’t leave me!!” Tom pleaded,
“I have to it’s for your own good.”
Janice let go of Tom’s hand and moved out of the way so he couldn’t grab her. She has to rescue Tom, herself, there is no one else to help her. She decides to try to cut away the floor and pull Tom out, his leg is very swollen and he has lost a lot of blood. Her axe is blunt though and Tom’s fell down the whole when he fell down it too. It seems that Tom is stranded like a survivor of a plain crash, waiting to die on an island. She needs a knew axe or something strong enough to help her get Tom out of the floor without causing his leg any more damage.
Janice tells Tom straight, “If you want your life you have to let me go, if you do die I want you to go knowing that I did all I could to help you, and I just sit back and watch you.”
“OK, don’t be long, promise you’ll come back,”
“I promise.”
Ten minutes pass, it seems like hours for Tom, lying wishing his life away, praying that he’d wake up and end the nightmare, but it was all so very, very real.
Janice is about to give up, tired and hungry she decides to head back to Tom. Then she bums into something, it was solid metal, six feet tall, a statue, of a soldier, with a huge silver sword. Janice sees she can use the sword, as a leaver to prize Tom out of the floor. She pulled and pulled, eventually she got it free. Making she sure didn’t fall, Janice raced back to Tom.
“I’ve got it,” she said,
“Got what?” Tom replied
“A sword, I can prize you out!”
“OK give it a go, I’m going to die anyway!”
Janice was shocked at his attitude, she hope it wasn’t for real, a kind of spur of the moment thing. She also hoped she didn’t let him down, could she save him.
She edges the sword down a tiny gap between the floor and Tom’s leg which was now smaller and drained of blood. She gently pushed down on the sword, the floor collapsed, Bang!!! Tom fell to the room below, he did not move. Was he dead? Was he alive? Could Janice save him? It didn’t look good for Tom…
