I never believed in the rumors.

The rumors surrounding the nearby Castle and the hushed whispers of the townsfolk regarding its master.

In fact, they had all the signs of a proper mummer’s farce.

A princess, or according to others a countess, but most definitely a noble of some sort. One who’d been fair and proper but was then, tragically betrayed in some fashion by the then crown and consorted with dark powers in order to have her revenge bringing ruin to all.

Riveting stuff.

Truly.

The fact that no two tellings of the story by the sorry excuses for bards in this corner of the world could even agree on half the details was unimportant I’m sure. Which is why after the fifth such instance I refused to pitch in my share of the coin despite my party’s grumbling. If they wanted to waste theirs that was their prerogative but I’d had my fill and was content with a mug of ale in the inn’s corner.

Now granted, there was no doubt in my mind that the stories contained some kernel of truth in them as is usually the case, but magic? The then king, or perhaps queen, such centuries distant history has never been of particular interest, going to such lengths to acquire a singular castle, no matter how exquisite? And one near the realm’s borders at that?

Unlikely.

Even if perhaps the realm’s borders had been different enough back then for such to matter for some reason or other to the invading barbarians that’d played at being royals.

Or did they come after and before the current line?

As I said, never cared all that much for things best pondered by quiet monks in tiny candlelight cells.

Only doing so to the extent that would help me know whether a place or persons happened to be burdened by overstuffed pockets which I, as a good Samaritan, was morally obligated to help relieve them of said burden.

Which is why I’d even bothered to spend good hard earned coin on such fanciful tales to begin with. The town’s bards certainly appreciated it I’m sure as did the various townsfolk who, seeing that we were no threat like other raving bands of lunatics, or as they liked to call themselves around these parts ‘adventurers’, had started to grow more lax and be more free with their words.

And their coinpurses.

A relaxed mark makes for an easy mark to skim a coin or two of off after all.

Smiling good naturedly, in the practiced manner that I’d found most likely to lower a mark’s or a threat’s guard, I nodded at the old man’s words.

“I tell you lad, she was as beautiful as the stars themselves!” nodding at the right moment, my hand also relieved a single coin from the old timer’s coinpurse.

While I would never be a warrior, my body neither wide nor tall enough for such a task, to say nothing regarding the lack of freakish brawn or distressingly for such an endeavor I suppose actually having something between my ears.

My wiry build and, to my good luck, still youthful and general agreement fair countenance as I approached my third decade had served me better than raw brawn could ever have.

Sure, perhaps with Holy or Infernal might coursing through my veins, if the time came when such was needed I would have been able to bend the bars and make my escape from any instances of…mistaken identity and actions both.

But thankfully there’d been little need for such till now. Quick wit, a quivering lip, wide eyes and my overall stature ensured that even some of the most suspicious of guards and other such persons refusing to share some of their excess wealth with those in need, namely me, like the scriptures commanded, either believed my lie and let me go or forgave this ‘young rascal of an orphan’ and did the same.

As for those few that didn’t?

Blessed with brawn I might not have been but my foot have ever been fleet.

“Me grandfather swore it was such.”

“I see.”

“His great-grandfather was a knight, so he knew the tale to be true!”

“Oh! Then there can be no doubt, sir!”

A pleased smile spread across the old timer’s face seated on the other side of the small and time-worn table. “I see you understand, good! Such a nice and respectful young lad.”

Despite it all, my lips twitched at that but bringing my mug close took care of that.

“If only the rest of your…friends.”

“More like traveling companions, really, I wouldn’t dare to presume such.”

The man’s features seemed to shift some, as if a small weight was lifted. “Oh, that’s heartening to hear, tis no good for a lad with such a bright future ahead of him to waste his life in the company of such sort.”

Well he had little to worry about that.

My…‘companions’, as it were, seated a few tables over and throwing more good coin after bad just to listen to yet more tales. Well, it wouldn’t be inaccurate to name them fellow professionals.

Or perhaps mercenaries.

That is to say no, friendship hadn’t been a requirement before we set out although a few did seem to strike it off in the time it took for us to get here.

Why I suspected the wizard and the bard, instead of maintaining a professional distance as the rest of us did had even revealed their true names to one another, using neither the fakes we picked for use while in town nor as had been the case, our roles in place of them.

Although I still believe that to call me merely ‘thief’ was rude and a gross misunderstanding of my specialty and talents.

“Yes, it is a bad idea to stick with their ilk,” the old timer said, eyes fervent as he reached across and gave my shoulder an affectionate squeeze and I pondered whether to reach back and rescue another coin from unjust captivity “Our Lady was betrayed by craven folk like these. Heed my words lad!” he cried before starting to regale me with tall tales of the ‘Lady’s’ virtues and beauty anew.

Hair spun from the stars of the night sky.

Eyes that could ensorcell the dead.

To say nothing of her figure which, at least, each retelling agreed that much upon and as such it was likely true that the woman had been most curvaceous if nothing else. So, at least, unlike the rest of the usual sorry excuses for nobles, for all that her visage was no doubt best perceived under flickering candlelight. And after partaking in some spirits, at least she must’ve had a pleasing figure.

But I’d heard enough of the town’s tall tales and even if this, doubtlessly, exaggerated retelling was for once free, it remained of little use to me.

Worse still, I’d misplayed my cards as it were, and the old timer started to focus almost exclusively on the ‘drab and terrifying castle’ and its rumored fell inhabitant and away from the subject that actually interested me now, that is, rumors, whispers and ponderings regarding the next town over.

A good Samaritan starts scouting his next mark in advance after all.

Biding my time until the appropriate amount of time had passed, I offered a final nod and an apologetic smile.

“And grandfather said, that if his words were to be believed.” The ‘pure’ ancestor knight apparently, although in my dealings with knights, I’ve encountered precious few, that is none, who can be called either Holy or pure. “The Lady had been twisted but traces of the once kind soul remained, and as long as you were a good guest, then⁠—”

Glancing to the side at speed, I made the old timer startle and pause before I offered him another apologetic smile as I turned.

“Forgive me, it seems my companions have need of me,” they in fact, did not. “I thank you for the company,” I said and started to rise, fingering a coin from my purse. “Please, allow me to repay you for the company.”

Only for the man to scowl and wave his hand.

“Bah! Put that away, lad.”

“I insist.”

“Well, so do I.”

Inclining my head I acquiesced. “then, I thank you.”

“Tis nothing, thank you for keeping an old man company.”

“It was my pleasure, sir.”

Wonder of wonders, droning and endless prattling full of tall tales aside, my words were not entirely a lie.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me⁠—”

But as I turned a surprisingly strong hand grabbed my wrist, the weathered digits almost like a clamp.

“Be careful lad!” he whispered as I met his eyes. “They are fools and I fear they intend to visit the castle.

Well what do you know, not all of the townsfolk were complete simpletons it seemed.

“They are fools. Fools! Let them go to their doom if they wish but do not waste your life alongside them, lad.”

“I’m sure I don’t know what you are talking about, sir, but I have my duty,” to my coinpurse and the treasures awaiting within the castle’s walls. “nonetheless, thank you once more.”

He seemed to grow older right in front of me as he sighed and let go.

“Right, forgive an old man…”

With that I made my way over to the rest of my party, who without fuss made enough room for me to join them and the night passed swift enough.

The next day found most of my group nursing a heavy hangover or for a lucky few among them, or perhaps not, in the arms of fair company.

A fact which, the father of one maiden, whom very much no longer counted as one and who’d been set to get married some time from now, to a Duke of all things. Something which the father took exception with, and to that, I have to say, our wizard, as it turned out, could move fast if properly motivated.

The husband of a fair beauty also took exception to finding our elven bard in bed with his wife. Our bard surprised nobody when he revealed that he could run.

But the source of a lot of the following night’s playful teasing and perhaps what might have become an amusing tidbit for the local gossips under different circumstances, was the fact that our warrior, who could not, in fact, run, was thrown out of the window alongside his paramour by the wife of said cheating husband.

Amidst grumbling and merriment both, we relaxed for the night, the wizard under a glamor, while through my limbs a familiar prickling, or perhaps tingle coursed.

The usual excitement and anticipation before a job.

Not that I expected trouble for once, after all, tall tales aside, this was a comparatively simple job all things considered.

Some amongst the rest of the party had been tasked with retrieving some valuable tome of magic or other, a secret they’d kept hush-hush at the start but which I’d managed to weasel out in bits and pieces, while the rest, like me, were here to loot and pilfer to our heart’s content.

And, perhaps, if encountering some forgotten magical construct or spirit with a grudge deal with it on our way to stuffing our pockets.

A resentful ghost, or perhaps re-animated skeleton might be dangerous to a solitary adventurer but to a group like ours?

Easy pickings.

And no, despite what other Good Samaritans might have tried to do, I had little interest in trying to relieve the warrior and his friends from their important book.

That was a good way to end up discovering which afterlife awaited me by way of mace or, if it really was such a dark tome, end up possessed, or, in the unlikely case I got away it…

End up discovering which afterlife awaited me, as the warrior’s patrons retrieved their tome.

With our preparations made, dawn came and with a party ready, for the most part, to fatten up our coinpurses we set out of the inn before the sun really started to mount the nearby hills and made for the town’s walls. Some of us more bleary eyed than others, a few of the guards standing guard by the gates sending commiserating nods to me and a couple others as I stifled a yawn and within one of my pockets, a hastily appropriated loaf of bread jostled.

Up ahead, a fair distance from the walls but not far enough for the superstitious townsfolk to ever feel safe, the castle loomed.

Perhaps to call it a castle would be to do it a disservice, after all, even in its abandoned state, it retained much of its majesty, and the inner palace held an, I will admit, sort of ethereal beauty.

In fact, the sight of it all, from the mostly intact pale walls to the inner palace filled my heart with a sense of sorrow and whimsy rather than any sort of terror.

No doubt, in its heyday, this must have been magnificent.

But bad turns of the wheel come and go, such is fate, and besides, there was little I could do about some ancient noblewoman’s bad lot.

We made good time to the outer gates, the sun hanging in the middle overhead as we pushed inside without much fanfare.

In fact our first few tentative forays revealed scarce little to worry about, on the contrary we discovered a fair deal to fill all our hearts with greed.

For even so far out, the place had been left mostly intact contrary to what anyone would expect.

A fact which should have filled me with a deep sense of unease but the sight of old coins, expensive silverware and more amidst the buildings and the rusted suits of armor littering interiors and courtyard alike ensured my focus remained upon the valuable treasure and the tentative realization that depending on how good a haul this turned out to be, there might be little need for me to rush from town to town for a long while.

Trouble of course, revealed itself at last in the form of a few gheists and a shambling skeleton or two as we made our way towards the massive palace itself.

Dangerous to a solitary traveler as they might be they fared poorly against our gathered might and so, with bolstered confidence we advanced and entered the palace, the size of the daunting structure demanding we split up.

Traipsing through rooms and corridors of history and treasure the curious sensation of prior melancholy returned anew as I marked various items that seemed lonely and could do with my company once we ensured no threats remained.

Thankfully no such threat presented itself necessitating me to run and inform my more stout companions and as such, backing out of a massive room able to fit what felt like the whole of the townsfolk, I returned to the entrance and made for the stairs I’d spied earlier, descending.

As the light dimmed behind me and I removed an old torch from a sconce, a shiver did run down my spine, the first shiver of unease which was banished as to my great relief, the torch blossomed into new life anew and I put the flint back in its place.

But the sight of the empty kitchens, dark and ominous, aside from the blood splatters which I foolishly ignored, did make me hasten back outside and towards a different direction.

Where the exaggerated tales of the bards had failed to find purchase the silence and the oppressive dark of the palace’s underbelly were finding no such trouble and by the time I chanced upon a distant ray of sunlight up ahead my heart might’ve been keeping a good rhythm and thus it was with quick pace that I entered a tall wide room. With the flickering shadows kept at bay by my torch being of no interest for once.