From: erisande@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Kryst the Philosopher)
Subject: Castle : Life Beyond
Organization: Quitters Inc.
Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1992 18:33:56 GMT

	I suppose that I shall join in on the storytelling.  I am not
good at such telling, yet I think maybe it would be fun to try.  This
is more of an intro to a larger tomb of writing I am working on.  Now
understand that this is something I write on the spur of the moment.
While I write, I have no idea what is going to happen in the next
sentence, damn the rest of the story!  I hope it is not a waste of
time to read for you.

				- - - - -

	I will try to tell you the story as my grandfather told my
father, and my father in return told me.  It is a story of lies, evil,
and death.  It is the story of life.

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	Sunlight played over the castle walls while the children
played their young games in the courtyard and laughing the whole day
through.  It had been a beautiful summer and still looked promising
despite the late months.  Townspeople gathered themselves in the
centre of the town, examining the wares of outside travellers.
Everyone was having a good time soaking in the sun and the culture of
the day.

	Everyone but Moniford.

	It was dark inside his room except for a candle, and what came
through the window despite the drapes over them.  His eyes were
staring intently on a tome before him and his fingers following the
words on the page.  The only sound to be heard was his ever-present
mumble of words.  Something was wrong.  He was too worried about this
'wrongness' to enjoy the days as the other townspeople did.

	It had been twenty years ago when he found the bound book in
his masters study, and now with his master gone, he had inherited all
the texts, and finally had the chance to read everything in the
library which he had not had time to read before.  Now, he had begun
to wish he would have never picked the damn thing up.  Reading
manuscripts of a madman was not his idea of an interesting evening,
but if he was reading his master's notes correctly, reading THESE
manuscripts was reading the correct history, present, and future.
Moniford continued to read...

		"And thus the days of wandering had passed.  Settled
	and loving the area, Fengel declared the land around him to be
	of the kings.  There, he began to lay the plans of the castle
	walls which stand as I speak."

	His master was a wise man and read the pages of history to
Moniford daily telling Moniford that history was important.  History
was as important if not more important than the future or present.
"It is who people are, and who they will be.  They feel that their
past is  theirs and that they must be that way to carry on their
people's name," his master had said, "alas, people CAN change, but
this is only a slim possibility."  He flipped through pages he had
already studied and stopped at a passage which caught his eye.

		"Melanie, the kings daughter, called for the court
	jester, Laue Darrkwood, for his assistance.  She asked for his
	help in retrieving the staff of Worfengraff.  This staff was
	one of a history.  Though no magic was known to actually exist
	within the wood of the staff, the stories of old mentioned
	that any man who held the staff was the holder of the future.
	The holding of the staff promised a good and full life for the
	wielder.  Laue had known of the staff, and had spoken of
	knowing the whereabouts.  I know of this exchange of words,
	for this is the reason I am being held against my will.  But
	no one knows of the whereabouts of either Melanie or of Laue.
	I am saddned by this.  Can you hear the birds sing their loss?
	Can you feel the evil which has overtaken the walls?  The wind
	tells me of Laue's evil in stealing Melanie from her father.
	I greive."

	Moniford knew also of the staff, as his master had told him.
The text of the madman reflected the stories told by mothers to their
children about the staff and it's life powers.  Melanie disappeared
from the kingdom when she went to see Laue.  She was never seen after
entering the room with Laue.  Never seen by anyone, except for the
madman.  This manuscript was the only truth of what happened in the
room.  Anything after that was unknown to anyone.

	Moniford could not understand.  He himself had been one of the
king's men, and had known everyone which came into contact with the
king, but he could not recollect any Laue which might have existed.
Others had told him about the jester, describing him to perfection,
yet he could not remember any such person.  The king himself had
described the jester to Moniford, not understanding how Moniford could
have missed the jester.  This was one thing which stood out above all.

	Moniford stretched his arms and back which hurt from sitting
in a reading position for so long.  He walked over to the window and
looked out.  A laugh was heard below his window.  He looked down only
to see two children playing outside with one another.  His head
swooned for a moment with vertigo.  "It must be the lack of rest and
food," he thought.  "I feel so..."  Moniford began to sway with
dizzyness and fell to the floor in a heap.

				- - - - -

	"Sire, it is more than that.  Something is happening outside
the walls.  Something evil."
	The king looked to the sentry which had spoken, "Bring me
Moniford.  And glasses of wine for him and I."
	The sentry bowed out of the room and left the king to his
thoughts.
	"What could it be now?  First, I lose my daughter... my
precious daughter... and now an evil comes to me in dreams and from
outside the walls.  And all this during the fall gatherings."  The
king caught his breath in his lungs, trying to stop the tears which
would come.  As he sat on his throne, a man in robes came to him.
	"King, I have news which I feel important to you."
	"If it be sad news, then I wish not to hear it."
	"You must, for it is important to your finding of the
princess..."  The man did not wait for the king's response, "Sire, the
madman which saw the last of your daughter has passed on.  We have the
last of his writings," he retrieved papers from a pocket, "I thought
you should see them."
	The king reached for the pages and fingered through them.  To
him they were just markings on a paper.  They held no meaning.  He had
suddenly wished he could read.  If Moniford should leave him, he would
have to either learn or trust someone else with the pages.  That woudl
require more years of study and understanding by someone and he didn't
feel he would have the time to do such a thing.
	"I will look them over and show them to Moniford if I see it
fit.  He folded the pages back to their original creases and waved the
man out of the room.  He waited for Moniford Tulane.

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	I shall continue when my mind feels up to it.  The Darkone
still haunts my dreams...
-- 
He waits to hear her say 'forgive',
but she just drops her pearl-black eyes
and prays to hear him say 'I love you',
but he tells no more lies.
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