Lost in the Castle

~3~

"Of course, my lord. I won't disappoint you," Katerina replied seriously. "Come with me, my lady."

"Go with her, Samara," Vlad told me when I refused to move from his side.

"Are you not coming with me?" I demanded, feeling alarmed. I didn't want to part with him.

He smiled and kissed me on my forehead. "I'll pass by later to see how you have settled. I have a few things to attend to now."

I nodded, letting Katerina take me by my arm and guide me out of the room.

"Make sure she has something to eat; she's weak. And give her some more wine, she needs a good sleep," Vlad called as we were exiting the room.

Katerina only waved to him, and when I turned round, I saw him contemplating the blazing fire, lost in thoughts. His shiny, black hair reflecting the tall flames seemed to come alive and move on its own accord, a complete opposite of his perfectly still body.

Then the door shut, separating us, and I was in a long, cold corridor illuminated by a seemingly endless row of flickering candles.

"Lead us to the Lady Chambers upstairs," Katerina ordered the knights. I looked up just in time to see them exchanging a puzzled look, but they obeyed without a word. They led the way, illuminating the floor in front of us with their burning torches. For some reason, I didn't like them, their appearance made me shudder. They were tall and strong, with cruel, waxen faces and red lips, reminding me of the dancing guests I had met before. They wore a half armour and a blue cloak with a red dragon. I opened my mouth and looked at Katerina, ready to ask her about them, but before I could say anything, she brought a finger to her lips, obliging me to remain silent.

We walked along the cold and humid corridor lined with many closed doors, then climbed a long flight of wide steps, which I recognised from my previous tour around the castle, and one more. Finally, we reached the right floor, with another, even darker and narrower corridor. I was freezing when Katerina opened one of the doors, pushing me inside a warm chamber.

She turned towards the knights, saying, "Your lord wants you to stay here until he decides otherwise. You mustn't leave Lady Samara's door."

Then she closed and locked the door, and led me to an enormous, lit fireplace. I slumped on a dark wooden bench by the fire and started removing my shoes immediately, I couldn't stand them anymore. I was exhausted and dying to take a shower... The thought made me giggle. I didn't think I would find a proper bathroom in this time period. But I tried my luck anyway.

"Katerina," I asked, "could I take a bath, please?"

She looked at me like a good, proper nurse, ready to reproach me for my silly, eccentric ideas. I could feel a few sharp responses forming on the tip of her tongue, but then she seemed to discard them all, opting for a simple and polite answer.

"Maybe tomorrow, my lady. It's too late to bring the tub and warm up the water now. The maids are asleep. You may wash your face and teeth," she said, pointing to a kind of a vanity table placed between the two small windows of the chamber. "But first you must eat something." She took a silver tray from a nearby table and placed it on my lap.

"I'm not hungry at all, Katerina, I'll eat in the morning, I promise," I said.

"Lord Vlad won't be pleased if I tell him, you heard him yourself!"

"Then don't tell him, please!" I begged.

"Good, but only this time," she said, giving up and taking the tray away again. "Wash your face, I'll get your bed ready."

I put the shoes back on, walked over to the table, and studied my face in a strange, metal mirror hanging on the wall above it. Some of my memories started to trickle back slowly, guiding me. I took a small piece of rough linen and dipped it into one of several glass containers placed around an earthenware basin filled with water. Spreading some paste made of salt crystals and herbs over it, I  used it to wipe my teeth, as if I had always done it this way. Then I washed my face and dried it with a smooth, white cloth, which was still warm from the fire. The smell of burning wood trapped in its fibres made me feel even more at home.

There were a few more metal mirrors like the one hanging above the table around the room, reflecting and multiplying the glow of the fire. This way, there was no real need to use candles, the chamber was bathed in a soft, warm light.

Using my last strength, I dragged myself towards the bed. It was a high, large, four-poster bed placed on a wooden platform, with canopy and burgundy coloured curtains, nearly the same shade of my dress. It was full of warm blankets, looking so cosy...

Oh, I was so tired, I just wanted to sleep. I climbed up the few wooden steps separating me from the bed, and then Katerina helped me take off my dress and shoes, leaving me in the long, white linen shirt I was wearing underneath. Then she took away the warmer from underneath the blankets and made me climb in.

"My hair, Katerina, can you undo it?" I pleaded, my words slurred by sleep.

"Oh no, just keep it that way, we will think about it in the morning," she said, drawing the curtains around me.

"Leave this side open!" I called, another memory finding its way back.

"As always, my lady," she said, smiling, then went to sit by the fire. "Good night, and welcome back," she added.

I mumbled my response, unleashing my hair as soon as I was sure that she could not see me from where she was seated. Much better, I sighed inwardly, my thoughts shifting into first dreams.

When I woke up in the middle of the night, scared by a strange, confused dream, I found Vlad sitting next to my bed in a chair. He smiled and caressed my hair soothingly, and I fell asleep again immediately, holding his hand.

But it might have been just another dream, because when I woke up in the morning, I was alone.