Chapter Twenty-Two

Meantime, in the dungeon, the second group stared in horror at the basement. It was a big basement, but it was an unusual one.

The graves lined up the soil of the dungeon, very few have markers. Justis walked down the circular stairs cautiously. The group followed him down. They noticed for each row was 15 graves.

“My God.” whispered Salome. “Why here, why not in family cemetery?”

“I doubt this was a family cemetery.” said Justis.

“What made you think so?” asked Rachel.

Justis had stopped at one of the few graves that have markers. “To Our Beloved Son,” he read, “1670 – 1683”

“Such a short life.” Philip remarked.

“My bet is that son was disfigured.” said Justis. “Family don’t get buried in the dungeon and at that time, disfigures was a form of embarrassment to the families.”

“You mean, they hid the child somewhere in the castle until he died?” asked Rachel.

“Yes.” said Justis.

Rachel looked shunned. She can’t imagine that parents would do that to their child.

Justis noticed Rachel’s expression. “Like I said, disfigured children were embarrassment to their parents. Parents believed that they did something wrong and the children were sent to punish them.”

“I see a door.” said Dara.

“Let’s go.” said Philip. “I don’t think I can bear being in this place any longer.”

“Me, too.” Rachel agreed.

The group went away from the grave. When they were gone, a lonely figure appeared out of the darkness. The figure bent down at the grave. “My brother.” It whispered. “I still think of you.”

A gorgeous red rose appeared in the figure’s hand and it laid it on the grave. The figure got up and vanished.

While the first group traveled through the top building, Derek had a funny feeling. The feeling that Kathleen was still alive. But that was impossible, he had seen her died. Derek remembered the tale; one of the ladies in the castle was The Legacy in hiding. Then it hit him.

Legacy was with the second group. She watched them carefully while at the same time kept an eye out for danger she knew would come. Something about the basement graves. Derek saw unmarked graves in the dungeon. Only few have markers. On one of the marked graves was a gorgeous red rose. It was not there before when the group explored it. Derek suddenly stopped.

“What’s wrong, Derek?” asked Alex.

“Someone is here in the house with us.” Derek whispered. “Someone else.”

“Yeah, the warlock.” said Nick.

“No, not the warlock.” replied Derek. The feeling he had when he was 15 with his father just moments before his death hit him like a brick. “Something’s going to happen in the dungeon!”

With that sentence, Derek ran out into the hall and down the stairs with the first group at his heel!

The second group was unaware of the growing danger ahead of them. They kept on down the barely lit hall. Unknown to them, a figure followed them so quietly it was like it was floating. They came upon a bend and continued.

Salome was the first to saw the door. The door was unlike any of the door in the giant castle. It was make of steel and contained a keyhole. Anyhow, the door was opened so Philip was about to open it. Suddenly Justis stopped him.

“What the…?” asked Philip.

Suddenly the sharp axe appeared at the door.

“Booby-trapped.” whispered Metis. “How do you know this would happened?”

“I have seen this kind of door before. It usually meant someone who put the door and the traps there was hiding something serious.” said Justis. He opened the door wider and nearly gagged.

The room stretches out before them. It looked like a prison but more like a torture chamber. The walls were made of stone bricks and the floor of soil. Several cell doors was opened, rest closed. In every cell were shackles. Right across from the group was another door.

Metis stepped into the room and gasped in terror. She heard the screams of the people trapped and shackled to the walls of the cells. The evil laughter did not cover up the desperate screams. It was like Metis had transported back to the past. Every cell was full. In a cell the right of the second door was a lady. She had her right hand shackled to the wall. The lady was beating the wall with her left fist. “Let me go! Let me go! I haven’t done anything!” Suddenly she yanked the shackle and screamed in pain. Metis came a little closer and noticed the lady’s right wrist was red.

She heard a moan and turned around. Standing right before her was an old man. “You can see us, can you?” he asked.

Metis nodded. “It really happened.” the man said. “I don’t know how but the warlock got released and now he’s holding us hostages.” He collapsed to the floor. “He had no mercy for us. He held us hostages once and now….”

“How can we send the warlock back again?” asked Metis.

“Only Legacy can do that.” the man said. “She caught the warlock right there.” He pointed to the fourth cell. The fourth cell was the only one empty.

Metis came up to the fourth cell and looked into. But nothing appeared. She turned around but only things she saw were her friends. Metis looked at the second door and decided to open it.

The second door led into a smaller room. To her left was a bloodstained bathtub. On the right were a wooden bloodstained bucket and a table.

“My God.” said Rachel. “You mean the warlock killed whoever was in the cells and used their blood to bathe in?”

“Yes.” Metis answered.

“Excellent, my dear.” said the warlock. “And you’re next.”

At the same time the warlock said that, Derek burst through the first door with the first group. Suddenly, he found himself pinned against the wall.

“Your blood is noble.” said the warlock. “I made the deal with the devil that if I create a bloodbath, I would live forever.” He grabbed a knife and headed toward Metis.

“I don’t think so.” A new voice said from the door. The Legacy stood in the doorway, now face to face with the warlock.