Dante more the longer they were around here.
“How do you open it? I mean, is there a special word or phrase you use?” She told Grant she hadn’t any idea but did touch her hand to the stoned off area where the drawbridge would be. “Do you feel the earth around us? I do. It’s like everything is waiting for you to open up the magic the castle has. I’m not sure why that is how I feel, but it’s there. A pause in their lives until we arrived.”
“I can feel it here. The warmth of the stones. These stones would have been carved from the mountain behind it. Then brought here by the slaves that would have been doing most of the heavy work.” She stood up and looked at where stone met stone against the mountain. Also, where the six turrets were. “I wonder why six? I mean, usually, a turret would have been built with a staircase in it, with windows. At least that is what I’ve discovered with Duncan’s. Do you think we’ll have six flights of stairs leading to the same part of the castle?”
“The middle ones are there for storage. It came in quite handy when we had stuff to sort and store. My name is Baker. I guess you could say I come with the house. The master of the house, he figured I was useful and spelled me to the stone here.” Piper asked him what he was. “Troll. A runt too, but I’m a troll. My family kicked me to the side of the sea there and hoped I’d drown. The mistress of the castle, she found me, shook me out, and had me stay with her while the king of this place was away. He wasn’t a good man, my lady. Cruelty was how he got what he wanted in everything.”
“I’ve heard.” He asked her if she was truly one of the birds. “I am—the phoenix. My mate here is fae. So you can see, we together have a good deal of magic. I’ll free you from this place should you wish. I’d not have anyone here against their will, Baker.”
“You’d do that too, wouldn’t you?” She told him it would be her pleasure to do that for him. “I should like to be freed so I can have a roam when I wish. I canna go no further than the walls of the keep now. But I’d be proud to work for you too.”
“Thank you so much.” She turned and looked at the castle. “I don’t suppose you know how I’m supposed to cross over the threshold, do you? I could swim the waterway here, but I’d rather not. I don’t know what’s in that, but it needs to be cleaned up.”
“You’ve only to drop a bit of your blood on the stone there.” She asked him if he was sure. “Aye, I am, my lady. The mate too. Lord Grant will need to be welcome here as well, so that will be all it takes. But you’ll need to move back. From what I’ve been told about the magic there, it works quickly.”
She hadn’t any idea what that might mean but cut open her palm and dropped a few drops of blood on the stone. When she was finished, Grant did the same. Backing away from the stones when the noises coming from the castle started, they all three stood there watching and waiting to see what would happen. Baker had been right. It did happen fast.
The large stone doorway laid down to rest on the stones they’d bled onto. It was a loud sound that hurt her ears more than she thought it might. As soon as she was across the stone drawbridge, she put her still bloodied hand on the wall of the castle, as did Grant. Grant pulled her away from it as soon as things started to move. And move they did.
The opening of the castle looked like the castle was just waking up from a long nap. The yawning hole there was larger than she’d ever seen on a castle, but it soon moved to be the same size as the stone they’d crossed to get in. Stepping back more, they all watched as not only did the windows open in the solid stone walls, but things inside the castle began to move around. From where they stood, they could see the walls stretching and moving. A stone table appeared in a room,