The Castle On The Hill

Part 4

Part-4

Sam couldn't sit still after five minutes. It was just too boring-waiting without doing anything. He flicked his torch around to see what was in the room.

The room was pretty big and round. He could see several doors on the opposite side and a grand spiral stair that wound up to the floor above. He guessed the room was right in the middle of the castle and you had to pass it to access the other areas. He then focused his attention to the walls. Decaying tapestries barely covered them as he could see stones on walls through the holes in the tapestries. There were shallow alcoves all around the room which displayed a number of different antique weapons. But almost all of them were covered in rust due to lack of proper care. An impressively huge chandelier hung from the ceiling, the only thing to provoke any sense of awe. Even with the dust covering it now like all the other things, he could tell it shone majestically once upon a time. Several large paintings also hung on the walls, depicting various landscapes in a few of them and family portraits on others. The paintings glistened as light from his torch fell on them. He guessed it was because they were oil paintings. His eyes got stuck on a particular picture of an English Noble man. It was the only portrait of a person alone. The portrait's quality was excellent. He could feel the powerful aura of monarch exuding from the portrait. This must be the ancestor, he thought. He also saw an outline of a grand piano in the corner of the room. It was covered with a white sheet of cloth. A few chairs were also stacked on a corner. Other than that, the room was primarily empty. He examined the paintings for a few moments then turned back to sit down. Just as he advanced maybe about two steps, he heard a curious sound. It seemed to be coming from very far inside the castle.

He instantly stood still and in alert. The sound emitted a hollow gurgling noise almost like a man choking on something.

"So there really were odd noises!" Sam whispered to himself. Roy's father must've also heard it. It was not just some old man's imagination!

He turned off his flashlight and closed his eyes to sharpen his hearing to determine where the sound was coming from. He was sure after a while that the sound was definitely coming from the north side.

He walked towards north side and stopped before a door. He had no idea where it led to but his interest was piqued. He opened the door and was greeted by another dark hallway. The strong beam of his torch illuminated the hallway enabling him to see it better. This hallway was straight- not long and serpentine like the first one. He could see the door on the other side quite clearly from where he stood. He walked forward and stopped on the middle to see if the sound really was coming from the front.

The sound seemed a little bit louder confirming his hunch. Sam moved carefully as to not make any noise. He slowly rotated the doorknob when he reached the door at the end and pushed it open. He was hoping that it would not make sounds but the rusty joints of the door made them anyway. The muffled screech sound reverberated across the hallway.

Sam froze for a second. He feared that the odd sound would stop. When the screech sound from the door died out, he sighed in relief as he could still hear the odd noise. He then inspected the room he just entered.

It was yet another big room with a high ceiling. He could see outline of some furniture scattered around. They were also covered with sheets of clothes.

He then turned his gaze towards the big table in the middle. It was a big dining table. The table was split from the middle and only one half of it was standing. He guessed the other half was stripped down and made into new furniture.

Even though it was broken, it was still long and wide enough to accommodate ten plus people easily. He could only guess that it served dinner to over twenty people at once in its prime. There were no chairs around it though. He saw a medieval style fireplace on the other side of the table. Sadly, it too was unusable as it was covered in cobwebs and there were big chunks of stone blocked the inside of the fireplace.