Roland's Castle (6 page)

“And good riddance too!” Firebrace
replied. “Ah! I think we have a compatriot coming to join our cause
already!”

Firebrace indicated Oliver, who was
running through the castle gate toward them. He ran up
breathlessly. “What happened? We saw the whole kerfuffle from down
below! Your uncle ran through the village with his bum on fire and
everyone else chasing after him – is it a new sport?”

“They have just experienced the
power of the tower
,” Roland told him.

“The
power of the tower
eh?
They say that the most powerful magic rhymes.”

“We need to make sure they don’t
come back. We are going to defend the castle against them.”

“Sounds like fun. What do you want
me to do?”

Roland said, “Could you have a look
around to see who’s left – and try to work out whose side they are
going to be on?”

“Alright,” and Oliver went off to
see to it.

At that moment the debris that had
been the grandstand seethed and erupted. A small, battered helmet
poked out of the middle of it, followed by another. Both were
covered in dust and muck. Crying and wailing was coming from inside
both. Roland and Savitri climbed onto the debris and looked down on
them.

“Who are these jellyfish?” Savitri
demanded to know.

“I think they are my evil cousins,
Dogwood and Dagwood.”

“They seem too flimsy even to be
mildly irritating,” Savitri said. She had picked up a sword
discarded in the panic and she bashed the top of the first helmet
with it. The contents began to wail even louder. “Be quiet boy!”
she scolded. She lifted the visor of the helmet with the tip of her
sword and Roland saw that Dogwood was inside. Dogwood wailed even
louder than before. Roland lifted the visor on the other helmet and
confirmed it was Dagwood.

“They said I fight like a girl,” he
said.

“And I bet it wasn’t a compliment
either!” Savitri said. “Wait 'til we get you out! I’ll show you
what a girl really fights like!” and they both began to wail in
terror.

“I think we ought to be gentle with
them – they have been through a traumatic experience,” Roland said,
magnanimously.

“Traumatic?! Not compared to what I
will do to them!”

We must dig them out first,” Roland
said, hoping that Savitri might have calmed down a bit by the time
they had done that.

After Dogwood and Dagwood had been
dug out it occurred to Roland to ask “What are we going to do with
them?” He asked Firebrace. “Can we trust them?”

“You must make the decision
yourself, Roland.” Firebrace replied. “They are your kinfolk, after
all.”

“They are not mine,” Savitri said,
but Roland gave her a look that indicated that he was making the
decisions.

“Will you promise not to betray
us?” He asked his cousins.

They both looked at Savitri, who
was still brandishing her sword.

“Yes! Yes! Please! Just don’t let
her near us!” they begged.

“I think we ought to put them under
guard, just to be on the safe side,” Roland said, looking at
Savitri and considering that it was more for their own protection
than anything else.

At that moment Oliver returned and
said “I only found these two in the gatehouse. They were
asleep.”

Roland and Firebrace saw that
Bobblejob and Jubblebub were behind him.

“Oh great!” Firebrace said in an
exasperated tone.

Both the twins were wearing eye
shades to prevent the confusing sunlight getting in their eyes.

“Reporting for duty sir!” They both
said, and saluted.

Roland indicated Dogwood and
Dagwood and asked Bobblejob and Jubblebub, “Can you guard these
two?”

“I think we can.” Bobblejob
said.

“I think we can too.” Jubblebub
agreed.

“If we have some long pointy
things.” Bobblejob said.

Some long pointy things were found
and Dogwood and Dagwood placed under guard.

Once that was accomplished
Firebrace said to Roland “We’ll have to delay taking stock of who
and what else is left. It’s more important to get reinforcements
right now.”

“But from where?” Roland asked.

“It is time you learned the secret
of this castle,” Firebrace said.

“Not before we have something to
eat, we haven’t eaten since yesterday.”

Roland objected, indicating himself
and Savitri.

Fortunately there was plenty of
food left over from the banquet that had been served to the
spectators. Savitri went around the table taking great pleasure in
using the sword to slice and skewer pieces of meat, chunks of bread
and various unfortunate vegetables and fruit. As they ate Oliver
said to Roland “I saw those two nutters from the Scary Oak were
with your uncle,” and with Savitri out of earshot he asked “What’s
her story?”

“Ill-treated. Bitter. Angry. Very
dangerous with sharp objects. Watch out.”

“Okay, Got it,” Oliver said.

And they watched Savitri stab a
roast pullet with malicious intent.

Firebrace was impatient to be
getting on and didn’t eat anything himself. With the meal over he
simply said “follow me,” and strode ahead without looking back. He
walked quickly for his age, and quicker than the three young people
could easily manage to keep up with. He marched up to the
Unfinished Tower and up its winding staircase right to the top. He
went to the very edge of the highest step, and only then paused and
looked back to check that Roland was following. For the first time
he noticed that Savitri was with them and shot an enquiring glance
at Roland.

Roland understood its meaning, “I
will vouch for her. I have already shown her the secret room, and
the Companion.”

“It is good to be trusting,
sometimes,” Firebrace cautioned, “but you can be
too
trusting…”

He said no more but faced forwards
again and put his foot out into thin air – or so it appeared.
Instead of falling he just vanished. Roland looked over the edge of
the step to see if he had fallen – but no, he was simply gone. Then
Firebrace’s – apparently disembodied - arm reappeared and its hand
gestured for Roland to follow. He stepped up to the topmost step
and looked down. It seemed to be a long drop and he faltered. This
was going to be a leap of faith. He looked up and saw the hand
reaching out to him. He took it and stepped off of the step…

Roland nearly tripped up as he had
been unable to see the invisible step right in front of him and
hadn’t raised his foot high enough. Now he did so and placed his
foot firmly upon it. Then he took the next step up, and the next.
He stopped and looked around. Firebrace was above him and now he
could see that a winding staircase led upwards, enclosed by walls
with flaming torches each side.

“Stepping off of tall buildings is
not
normally
a good idea!” Firebrace cautioned.

Roland nodded agreement. He looked
back and could see Oliver and Savitri looking up to where he was,
wondering what was going on. He stuck his hand back over the
threshold as Firebrace had done. They too took a deep breath and a
hold on their courage, and each stepped up into the rest of the
tower.

“Welcome to the
finished
tower!” Firebrace said.

He led the way up the winding
staircase until they found it blocked by a huge door studded with
nails. Firebrace raised his fist and gave three mighty knocks that
practically shook the building. It took a while, but eventually
someone answered. There was a small door inset within the main
door, the top about Roland’s height so that a grown man had to
stoop to pass through it. This door opened and a man poked his head
out. He had a face like a V that pointed downwards and his hair was
on upside down, a huge beard bushing out from his chin whilst the
top of his head was bald. He didn’t even bother to look to see who
had knocked but just told them “We’re somewhere else! Come back
yesterday!” and the door was banged shut.

Firebrace looked peeved and knocked
again. Shortly after the same face appeared.

“What do you want?”

“We are here to see the tower.”
Firebrace told him.

“You can’t see it! It’s invisible!
Every fool knows that!” And the door was banged shut again.

Firebrace banged the door very hard
and kept on banging in a most insistent way. Eventually the man
reappeared. “
What is it now
? You know how long you were
banging on that door?”

“We want admission!” Firebrace
fumed.

“Ah, well, admissions for adults is
ten quid children and concessions seven concessions is with OAP bus
pass letter of proof from doctor or passport or other official
document which can include birth certificate or driving licence
except for a provisional licence showing date of birth that in the
case of OAPs must be sixty five years or more
prior
to the
first day of the calendar month on which admission is sought or
with children be not more than fourteen years prior to the first
day of the calendar month on which entry is sought. Clear?”

“This is the owner of the tower!”
Firebrace stormed, indicating Roland.

The man looked scathingly at
Roland. “When you gonna do something about the plumbing? And the
lift’s been out for seventy years - more!”

Roland decided to try to smooth
things by showing a personal interest in the man. He introduced
himself, offering a handshake, “My name is Roland – what’s
yours?”

“Not that it’s really any of your
business I don’t suppose but my names Botherworth -
Mister
Botherworth. The others call me a lot of things but this is a kid’s
book so let’s not even go there.”

“This is Firebrace,” Roland
continued.

“He definitely gets in as an OAP,”
the man said.

“Oh get out the way!” Firebrace
insisted angrily, shoving the man aside and stepping through the
doorway. The others followed.

“Cor blimey! Rudeness!” The man
said, “It’s all the same these days! I blame that social media -
Tweetface or whatever it is! It was never like that in my day!
There was a sense of public service back then, before they
privatised the railway - that was the end of public service if you
ask me. And then there was that Tony Blair…”

“What’s he talking about?” Roland
asked.

Firebrace said, “I don’t know.
Sometimes The Tower displaces people from one time to another; they
get very confused and talk gibberish. Just ignore him or nod
gently.”

Roland nodded to the man, then
decided to ignore him.

Behind the door was a landing and
beyond it yet more stairs. As they passed across the landing Roland
noted there were doorways in the sidewalls. One of the small doors
– presumably Botherworth's lair - was marked “PRIVATE! NO
ADMITTANCE TO
YOU
!”– and a larger one had a sign hung on it
which read “OUT OF ORDER.”

They followed Firebrace up the
stairway beyond, up and up as the staircase wound around until they
really thought they were in the clouds. Roland noticed that the
spiral was widening all the time as they got higher. The tower
obviously got much broader and Roland wondered how the base could
support it. But then, how come it was invisible from outside? It
was time to stop trying to make sense of it all.

After quite a climb they came to a
second door very much like the first. This one was also studded
with nails, and also with a smaller doorway set into it. Again
Firebrace knocked.

At this door the greeting could not
have been more different from that at the door below. Both of the
large doors were flung open and a short chubby man with open arms
sprang forth. He was dressed in a bizarre combination of armour and
a monk’s habit.

“Welcome! Welcome! Welcome! Good
cheer to you and welcome! Come in! Come in! Come in and don’t
tarry! We are all positively bursting to meet you!”

Behind him they could see that
there was a vast space like the inside of a cathedral. The doors
were at the front of a central aisle which stretched into the far
distance. It was lined with columns that stretched upwards into
darkness.

The man introduced himself, “I am
Brother Goodwill. Brother Stalwart is occupied at the moment with a
– a minor domestic emergency, let us say, but I am sure he will
make time to see you! Do follow – please, please do follow, we are
all eager to meet you!”

Brother Goodwill led them down the
central aisle. As they walked they were aware that at the sides of
the hall, in the far distance, there were many small, gloomy
alcoves. From these people were watching them, shyly, as if they
had not seen an outsider for many years. They didn’t seem at all
keen to meet anyone, Roland thought, feeling that Brother Goodwill
had rather exaggerated their friendliness.

“What is this place?” Roland asked
Firebrace. “Who are these people? Have they been living above our
heads all this time?”

Firebrace stopped and turned to
Roland. Brother Goodwill also halted and waited patiently, looking
on as Firebrace spoke, “This is the hall of the most noble creed of
the knights Fortressers. They were once the boldest and proudest
warriors on all the Earth. Their ferocity in battle was truly
terrifying. They slew all who had the misfortune to oppose them!
Over many years of fighting, and killing, they grew to be sickened
by it and took an oath of peace, swearing never to kill another
living thing. In exchange they were granted immortality. But if
they should take another life – even one - they will become mortal
again. Now they will build defences, but they will not fight. They
built this tower long ago and when they had built it they retreated
inside it to a life of contemplation and devotion. All but one of
them. He sacrificed himself, remaining outside, sworn to kill in
The Tower’s defence and thus to remain mortal. Your great great
great great great grandfather, Roland. But The Tower is more, much
more, than just their retreat – as I will explain at length later.
Meanwhile, to Brother Stalwart, please, Brother Goodwill!