**I just couldn't get it all to fit. It ought to read, "5 demonesses, 2 demonlords, one furry Zele but no partridge in a pear tree."
Yeah well, it's not like I get Christmassy all that often. I'd also like to apologize for what I'm doing as I struggle really hard to get a lovely Scots accent to come through in print. I originally wrote it straight, but the feeling just didn't come through, so if you're Scottish, try to remember that I'm trying hard to do this justice. O_o
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Illa looked carefully at them from her perch. There were seven altogether, five of them females. She saw her friend, the older one who wished to be known as 'Mother', along with two who appeared to be somewhat younger. One of them looked much like her friend and the other one was a little different from them. The last two looked younger still and other than their coloration, they were very similar.
There were two males, the kobold and the one who must surely be the laird, she thought. He looked something like a giant to her and she doubted that there was very much about him that was soft until she saw him smile at the younger females and she knew that they were together somehow.
Toby looked around. "What is this place?"
"Zele's pet told me of it," the old demoness said, "and it stirred some memories in me. As I flew here to see it, many more thoughts came to me then, and when I walked in here, the last piece fell into place and I knew where I was.
The whole thing," Mother said, "is the ruin that is Yester Castle, or was, once. There is a newer manor house nearby, but the tower and a few half-tumbled walls are all that remains of the original structure. Where we stand now is the Goblin Ha or hall. It is said that the first laird's grandson, Sir Hugo de Giffard was the one who built the original keep around 1267. Sir Hugo was known as the Wizard of Yester, a powerful warlock and necromancer and it is said that he practised his art right here in this hall. The hall and much of the place was supposed to have been built by his personal army, a benefit of his pact with the devil."
She smiled, "It is never said which devil, and anyway, most people believe nothing of the tale anymore, though I know the ones who were involved. But I can say that in legends and folklore among the humans, there is almost always a kernel of truth to the often fanciful tales, and this is no exception," she said with a smile toward Maezou. "You have been here before."
"Yes!" Maezou said, remembering, "There was a knight who was the lord here. He lived long according to the terms of the agreement, but he refused to honor it when the time had passed. He had another agreement with a different pit for his life to go even longer. Somehow he tricked both pit masters. When that was known, there was a separate arrangement made between the two pits and I was sent to hunt him down.
I knew the details because it was told to me that I was to bring him, but he was to be taken in a way that would not upset things. His heir was not to know that the soul was gone to a hell. It was to be seen as a normal death. All that was to be known was that this place was to be left."
She smiled, "I came to him as a lost young woman, one who wanted to be a witch, but knew little of how to do it. He brought me here to use me, but I took more than his seed from him. I took all of his essence over three nights. He intended to kill me the last night, but he knew at the end and tried to run up to the main keep when I broke his chains and came after him. But he was old and his life was almost gone. There was little left to drive his heart and he died on the way. No one saw me take the last of him and then I was gone, leaving his body behind. It was seen as the normal death of an old man."
Mother smiled, "The arrangement has outlived almost all of the parties. The first demonlord's hell fell and was taken by another soon after in the normal course of events." She grinned as she looked around the hall, "But the arrangement survived. This place was built as part of the keep. The lord and his family were Normans. When the Scots rose up, the castle was pulled down so that the English couldn't use it, but no one dared to touch this hall or the tower above it, and no horses or oxen would come near to be used to pull it down. Any who tried to lever out a single stone died horribly in sight of others, and so it was left alone.
The castle was rebuilt in a different style twice more, once as a concentric castle, walls around walls around the keep, and after that it was built with even more complexity, with a moat made by the diverted river so that it was almost on its own island. But by then, that sort of castle wasn't needed, and it fell into disrepair and the family didn't spend their gold to repair it. They built the new manor house over that way. The people came and took what stonework they could for their homes and no one prevented it.
But no one touched this hall and one corner of the watchtower -- and of course, there are reasons for that, and they stand here still today. There are secret doors leading down to a lower level where Thiery was born and raised in the hall of a goblin king. People today know nothing of the doors and they are right over there, though humans can't see them. Look there and you see the large hearth. We all do, Lord Tobias. But if you stood here as the man you were before, you'd see only the same blank walls everywhere."
She stepped over to the wide hearth, already full of firewood with a huge pile nearby that Illa had brought and placed there over the time. She held her hand near the flue and felt the draft pulling away from her.
"Thiery," she said pointing, "The path to the well and the bolt-hole are still open. Go and look to see if smoke rises from the main chimney stack of the manor house. If it does, we may light the hearth here and begin to dry the place out. It will be dark very soon, and we need to set a few things straight before we go to the levels below."
The kobold nodded and ran off. Illa watched, wanting to follow, but she didn't dare to reveal herself. He was back moments later and nodded, "The main stack shows smoke."
"Good," Mother sighed, and she spun to send a thought to the hearth. The hall was lit by the glow of the flames a moment later. "Now," she said, "Let's see about the main doors."
"Wait, Mother," Toby said, looking around in a bit of wonder, "What does it matter if there's smoke from the manor's chimney? Is that where this flue leads?"
"No," she smiled, shaking her head, "of course not. It leads to the watchtower above us. There is still a flue from the old hearth there and this one connects to it. Soon, there will be a new mystery here, "she chuckled.
"The locals can tell their tales over their pints in the pubs about how the old watchtower fire burns again -- because it will. This place is known to a group of humans who care for the castles remaining in this land, and they'll likely come to see what's going on, but by that time, we won't be here, and they'll find doors that will not open, both here and in the watchtower."
She laughed a little, "In truth, they choose carefully from among the castles that they are charged with caring for. They have only a certain amount of their money to spend, so they choose and divide what they have. Some castles are repaired and restored very carefully. It's all for the people so that they keep their history alive. But no one cares much about this place since there is so little left. They just come here and look to see that it hasn't fallen in."
The cold breeze from the entrance stairway stopped as a grating crunch came to their ears and Mother smiled, "And the next time that they come here, they'll find that the old Goblin Ha has stone doors once more which cannot be opened."
