“We could perhaps make our fire here tonight, but the hall is open to the winds. I also fear that the ice is all that holds the ceiling in place, and to thaw this room will cause it to fall down and kill us all.”
“Aye, we are safer in the kitchen.”
“And warmer. We have labored the afternoon away in this ice cave. Let us return to the comfort of the cook’s den.”
We climbed out through the windows and the rest of the day was spent in the kitchen next to the fire, eating bread and cheese, drinking wine, and listening to Voltemont’s apparently endless store of bawdy songs. I made notes regarding what we had found, the instruments discovered and those yet missing.
Cornelius and Voltemont were soldiers, but at Kronberg they spent most of their time watching ships drop anchor to pay taxes and then sail away. Neither man was much used to a day’s hard labor. Nor was I, and so it was not long after sunset that we spread our cloaks on the floor and slept. Very near the witching hour, my dreams were broken by a voice in the dark.
“You must awaken, Soren.”
It was Cornelius, whispering in my ear and shaking my arm. I sat up.
“What is the matter?”
“Peace. Listen.” He pointed to the stairwell.
“I hear nothing.”
“Quiet!”
Then I did hear noises. Something was being dragged around upstairs, and then dropped, the noise immense in the darkness. We rose and put on our boots and gloves. Cornelius and Voltemont strapped their swords about their waists and we crept up the stairs to the second floor terrace. From behind the door, which we had left sealed by the high snow drift, we heard things being moved, and the floor creaked under the feet of the intruder. I held my breath and listened hard enough to detect a voice, though I made out none of the words.
“The ghost,” Voltemont whispered.
I pointed to the snowdrift before the door. “We will dig. Quietly.”
Voltemont shook his head, eyes full of fear. Cornelius and I stepped around him and dug away at the snow. It was very cold and my hands ached from all the digging we had done earlier in the day, but we worked quickly and soon the door was exposed. I took the handle in my fist. Cornelius and Voltemont drew their swords. Voltemont crossed himself.
“This had best be a ghost,” Cornelius whispered. “Else I shall surely make a ghost of him who dared disturb my sleep. I was dreaming of many beautiful women.”
I pulled on the door. It resisted. I pulled with all my might and the door let loose a shrill creak and then it flew open.
{ Chapter Twelve }
A WORLD OF WONDERS
THE DOOR OPENED INTO A CORRIDOR RUNNING THE length of the upper floor. At the far end the wall had fallen away. Through the ragged hole I saw the sky and patchy clouds lit by the remains of the waning moon. Silhouetted against the opening was a cloaked figure who held a broken chair.
“Stay, spirit!” Cornelius shouted, and took a step into the hall. The figure started like a guilty thing and dropped the chair.
“Nay, hold!” Cornelius said. “I command you in the king’s name.” He took another step toward the figure, his rapier held out before him. “Show yourself, intruder!”
The figure turned and fled through an open door, into the great bed chamber where Tycho and his wife once slept. I saw a flash of steel plate before our trespassing spirit shut the door behind him.
“He wears armor,” I said to Cornelius. “He may have a weapon.”
“It is a demon,” Voltemont said.
“It is a man,” I said. “Come out and subdue him.”
Voltemont and Cornelius walked down the hall, kicking at mounds of debris and ice. The air stung our faces and lungs and we breathed clouds of ghostly white. I was unarmed and I was afraid, but I followed Cornelius and Voltemont to the chamber door. There were slick patches underfoot. I slipped once and nearly fell through the opening in the wall.
“I have a great need to piss,” Voltemont said.
“Quiet,” Cornelius whispered. “This is not the time.”
“Yet it is painful and distracting.”
“Open the door,” I said.
Cornelius kicked the door, hard. It swung open halfway and then stuck upon the floor, which was broken and uneven. My armed friends went into the chamber while I stayed in the hall, my hands in fists I knew not how to properly use.
The chamber’s ceiling had mostly fallen down