Day 3

Archie crept through the forest, following the faint tracks in the churned up earth. From the marks, it was clear that they had been made by mortal men, answering one of many questions Archie had. It appeared that the men were carrying the children. How they had managed to kidnap so many with barely a sound would be explained in due course, he thought. The group had made little effort to disguise their tracks, or direction, and Marcus agreed that they were indeed heading toward Castle Von Mises.

It took Marcus and Archie most of the day to cross the two valleys, and get close to the castle. As they reached the brow of the mountain late in the afternoon, Marcus called to Archie “Von Mises Castle is on the opposite side of the next valley. You'll be able to see it once we reach the top.”
Indeed, as they reached the brow of the hill, the view opened out and he had his first view of Castle Von Mises.
It was a huge Gothic style castle, built from dark granite. Towers and turrets sprang up like a forest of trees. However it was clear that the ravages of time had not been kind to the building. Several towers had collapsed, leaving the lower halves jutting like broken branches. There was nothing old and decaying about the outer walls, however, which looked like they had been repaired. Similarly the only entrance, a massive wooden gate with foreboding watch towers on either side.
Archie gasped in recognition, “I've been here before”
“I thought you didn't know this area?” Marcus asked in surprise.”
“I didn't think I had, but I have been here before, when it was new.”
“But, Archie…this castle was a ruin when I was a lad. You can’t possibly be old enough to have seen it new.”
“I’m older than I look, “Archie replied cryptically. “That is where the evil lies. I think I know what we will find inside”.

Archie made his way across the valley floor and climbed the hill towards the castle gate. The gate was even larger than it had appeared. Solid oak, with metal reinforcement against assault. The only windows were high up on either side, impossible to reach without a ladder, or rope. Marcus and Archie had neither.
“What do we do now?” Marcus asked.
“We could knock”, Archie replied with a smile.
At that moment, there was movement in one of the windows, and the twang of an arrow being released. Archie barely had time to jerk his head sideways as the arrow neatly removing his hat. He picked his fedora up, and dusted it off. He poked a finger through the neat hole that the arrow had made through the brim, Archie said “Okay, now I’m really pissed off.”
“You still want to knock?” called Marcus, who had removed himself to the safety of the trees.
“Oh, I don’t think I’ll bother.” Archie replied. He unslung his gun from across his back, and pointed it at the doors. Bracing himself, he pulled the trigger.

BLAM!!

The blast echoed around the valley. From his vantage point behind a solid tree, Marcus saw Archie and the doors disappear in cloud of smoke. As the smoke cleared, Archie emerged coughing slightly. The smoke dissipated further and the doors could be seen. Or rather, what was left of them. The doors had been turned into so much matchwood. As had the frames. And a large chunk of the walls on either side. The devastation seemed to continue someway into the gaping hole that was left.
A couple of feathers floated gently down. Archie glanced up, and raised an eyebrow.
Saying nothing, he reloaded the gun before walking up to the new entrance to the castle.
Inside was a large entrance hall. Stepping through the remains of the gates, Archie looked around. Corridors led off into the distance and there was a wide set of steps leading up into the bulk of the castle, and a narrow set leading down.
As he moved further in towards the stairs, followed by Marcus, there was a rush of movement and a group of armed men came through one of the side doors. Twelve of them, wearing chain mail armour. Their leader, marked by a plumed helmet, waved them to take up position. Each was armed with a crossbow, which they levelled at Archie. Archie nonchalantly levelled Bertha in their direction.
“This is Bertha, an elephant rifle. Now, I know you have never met one before, but you’ve seen what it just did to the doors. Imagine what it would do to you. Now, you might be thinking ‘He only has one shot, he might not hit me’. You’d be right. I might not hit you. But then again…I might.” He hefted gun from side to side, covering the group. “What you have to ask yourself is… ‘Am I feeling lucky?’ Well. Are you?”
As one, every guardsman carefully uncocked his crossbow and slowly lowered it to the floor. Then took a very large step back.
“See, isn’t it better when we talk to each other, instead of resorting to violence? Now, which of you put the hole in my favourite hat?”
None of the guardsmen said a word, but edged away from the one with the plumed helmet, leaving him suddenly alone. As he realised he now had Archie’s sole attention, he realised the knocking sound filling the silence was his knees banging together.
“Um…s-sorry about that, Sir” he managed to squeak in terror.
“Right. You, stay here. The rest of you, leave. Now.”
Without needing further encouragement, the guards ran for the hole in the wall. As the sound of their rapid departure faded, Archie turned back to the leader. “Was it you that took the children last night?” he asked.
“Yes sir, Dr. Munter said he’d kill us if we didn’t. I was only looking for a cozy guard job…I didn’t expect to be kidnapping anyone. Dr. Munter is mad! Please don’t kill me!”
“I’m not going to do that. You guards are always taking the rap for your masters. Myself, I go direct to the root of the problem and handle things myself. And don’t hold a grudge. But I always remember a face. And a hole in my hat. Never forget that.” He gestured toward the door.
The guard didn’t need to be asked twice, and made for the gap, his feet almost spinning on the flagstone floor in his haste.
Shaking his head, Archie turned back to the stairs.
“How did we just survive that?” Marcus asked.
“What do you mean?”
“There were twelve of them with crossbows. Anyone of them could have killed you. And if you’d fired that canon of yours in here you would have brought the roof down on all of us”
“And therein lies the difference between you and them, my friend. Do you really think they were in any state of mind to think that through, given the state of the doors?”
“No, I guess not,” Marcus said thoughtfully, “You are a strange one.”
“You have no idea.” Archie muttered under his breath, as he slung the strap on Bertha over his shoulder.

Archie pointed at the staircase leading downwards. “Marcus, I need you to go down there. You’ll find the children. Release them, then return with them to the village.”
“Where are you going?” Marcus asked, surprised.
“To the highest tower.” Archie replied. “That is where Dr. Munter will be.”
“How do you know that? He could be anywhere!”
“Let’s just say I have an insight into how his mind works. You’ll be perfectly safe. There will be no-one else around. Trust me.”
Nervously, Marcus took one of the torcehs from its holding ring on the wall, and made towards the steps. “Are you sure this is safe?” he asked.
“On my honour as a gentleman.” Archie assured him with a smile.
Marcus shrugged, and began to inch his way down the stairs.

Archie watched him go, then made his own way to the large flight of stairs. He marched up them, following them up and through corridors into the centre of the tower. Despite the dilapidated nature of most of the castle, it was clear that pasts of it were in use. Occasional repairs to walls, or fittings. A piece of furniture. However, there was a stale, disused air about the place. He reached another large, grand hall. This was the centre of the castle, and directly under the main tower. However, there were no steps, just doors along each of the four walls, all looking the same. A single large window faced south. Archie looked around, as though checking his bearings, comparing the current layout with that which he remembered.
He looked towards one door in the east wall. “You, I believe.” He said to himself. He strode over to it, and opened it. Behind it, a set of steps led up. He followed the stairs, spiralling around and upwards.
Eventually he reached another door. The large room on the other side was brightly lit. The room was at the top of the tower. Arches over head held the tiled roof. Large windows gave views of the surrounding mountains. As impressive as the view was, it was the contents of the room that drew Archie’s interest. The room was filled with some sort of machine. There was an empty chair in front a large control panel constructed from bronze and copper with a plethora of dials and levers. From this came a host of pipes and cables. Some ran up through a hole in the ceiling, through which some sort of antenna could be seen. The rest of the cables led to the two boxes on either side of the room, large enough to hold a man. There was a humming noise coming from the equipment, and now and then sparks would jump around with a sharp crackle.
Archie moved into the room, towards the control panel. There was the sound of a door closing with a click behind him. A key turned in a lock. “Dr. Munter, we meet again.” Archie said, turning around. A man stood there, holding a loaded crossbow pointed at Archie. He was wearing a white smock which was heavily stained with oil and something that Archie hoped was not blood
“Archibald Furrows, I thought I recognised the knock at the door. You know how hard it is to find oak doors here in this forest?”
“Your door supply problem is not what I am interested in. How can you still be alive? It was over two hundred years ago when I was here last. I saw you fall into the river. You drowned! I destroyed this infernal machine!”
“I did not drown. My braces caught on a tree branch as I fell. It took me some time to free myself without falling into the flood water, then I left the area, moving around Europe in hiding lest you realised I had escaped. As for still being alive, you thought you had arrived in time to save the children didn’t you? Well, you didn’t. The woodcutter’s children were used in my first test. It turns out that my first machine worked far better than I dared hope. Two hundred years of life those two children gave me! But only two hundred. I began to feel myself ageing once again. And so I returned to my home, and rebuilt. Now, with my improved machine and all the children from the village, I shall be able to live forever!” Munter began to cackle insanely. Covering Archie with the crossbow and keeping his distance from him, Munter moved over to the console.
“You’re sick,” Archie replied, “and this time I shall make sure I kill you.”
“I think not, Archie. This time I shall triumph. It is my destiny to live forever. It is Fate!”
“No, it isn’t. Fate is on my side.” With one fluid motion, he made his move. He swung Bertha around in front of his chest. Munter fired at the sudden movement. There was a dull thunk as the bolt buried itself in Berth’s wooden stock.
Munter paled on seeing Archie smile. Frantically, he began to reload the crossbow.
“My turn,” Archie said as he raised Bertha.

BLAM!

After the dust and feathers settled, Dr. Munter was no where to be seen. Neither was the machine that had filled the room. Nor, in fact, was the room. Archie was left standing at the top of the spiral stairs in the open air. A couple of feathers drifted past. He turned and made his way down the stairs.