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Many thanks to Linda62953 to help me to present this story better.
Chapter 8: Castle Visit
Walking up the road toward the castle, Charlotte felt light headed. Had the mending of Eveline's dress drained her so hard that her head was swimming? Or was it the set of spells she had used earlier during the day? She'd felt totally fine during lunch, otherwise she wouldn't have tried something with the dress. Still, the sunlight between the trees was not as it should be. The road felt longer than expected, something was strange here. Charlotte could not put her finger on it, as if the whole place was trying to reject her, but wasn't succeeding in it.
She pushed on, and after another sharp turn, she could see rocks above her. They continued into the walls of the castle. The castle itself was not that big, however, it was still intimidating to look at from down here. Someone on the battlements could easily throw stones on this road, and with the difference in height those would be deadly. However, she could not see anyone, and continued walking up the road to the gate.
The single tower of this castle loomed overhead, and Charlotte noticed something strange about this building. There were trees growing close to it, and vines were covering the rocks near its base. But those never grew onto the stone of the building itself. Someone was very diligent in removing them or, what was more likely; they could not get a grip on the walls. She stepped off the steep road close to the castle, and climbed onto the rocks there.
It always made her feel vigorous to move over those rocks, like the chamois she had seen darting along the deep mountains faces. Quickly, she climbed toward the wall above her. In this area, the rocks were not hard to scale. She placed a hand on the wall, and felt the tingling of power through it. Now she had some answer to her trouble on the road; powerful spells had been used in this area before and now, they were messing with her senses.
Though the spell was certainly years old, it was still lingering there. It did not felt alien to her though. It was even similar to the one she had used on the dress before, but far more powerful. There had been a witch here, who had wanted to protect the place with all her might. Charlotte knew most of the witch's cabins in the mountains had protection spells cast on them. Never cast at the time they were built, but they were usually cast during a heavy storm during the remaining part of the year. By that time, the witch living there was doubting if her handiwork would hold up against the elements.
But why a castle on a mountain needed this kind of protection was beyond Charlotte. Average men could not have posed much of a threat to such a building anyway. Certainly not when an active witch of this power was inside it. There had been a magical battle here, of this she was sure. However, those were extremely rare, nobody, in their right mind, would try to battle with a witch in her home. There were stories of wars in which witches had fought. One reason that witches lived away from people was, that those wars had been far more devastating than wars without their participation.
She climbed back to the road, and walked the last few steps to the portal. It was a large wooden double door that would allow horses and wagons through, with a smaller door set in the left one. A big portcullis could be lowered on the outside of the whole door. This was a castle that was built to withstand an army. She used the knocker, which was fastened to the smaller door. The wood of the whole thing enhanced the sound. She could even hear a quick echo of her knock.
A man in a leather cuirass and a metal helmet opened the door. He looked like he had grown around his waist lately, because his cuirass did not fit him well. He smiled and declared, "Hello lady, we do not often have the pleasure to welcome unknown women here at castle Roden. My name is Bill Wells, I'm a guard of Lord Crawford."
Charlotte was quite content with that, she had thought she would have to persuade the guards to let her in. "I am Charlotte Cartwright, nice to meet you. I am seeking an audience with Patrick Crawford."
Bill started to open the door further, when another guard walked up. "What are you doing Bill? You know you cannot let strangers in, just because they ask nicely."
Bummer, there also were less-nice guards on duty. A far more skinny guard pushed Bill aside, to block the now wide open door. "Sorry woman, you certainly don't have an invitation, so back away."
This was worse than meeting the skinny guard directly; he was already in a defensive mood. "Why not let me enter, dear guard? I am sure Lord Crawford likes an occasional surprise visit of a mysterious woman."
"You can say that," was Bill's response, "Hey Charlie, just let them decide about it."
"And let them say that I did a bad job at the gates? Not during my shift." No, Charlie had taken a standpoint, and would be hard pressed to change it.
Charlotte had a backup plan, and a victim to use it on. She was not intimidated by Charlie, especially since he was rude to the more elegant Bill. He would not move away from the door, or she could step inside easily, so she moved closer to him. "Charlie, do you never fantasize about a dark woman standing in front of your door, seeking to stay, desperately?" She stroked his not very impressive torso.
"What has that to do with this?" was his defiant answer. In addition, he pushed her hand aside.
"Oh, I am not desperate; however, I would really like to meet the men here." And she let her fingers slide to the naked skin between his glove and the cuirass. She tried to mimic the spell of Lilah as close as she could, in a gentle touch to his skin.
Charlie pulled his arm away quickly, taking a step back, being slightly intimidated. "Do not try to fool me, woman! Send a message first, and see if the people here are interested in you." His face was now turning red; Charlotte looked over the man to see if she had made him react even more. He was getting flustered while looking at her, which amused Charlotte a lot, it even made her strike a pose inside the door frame.
Now Charlie certainly had an erection, but did not have the proper clothes on for it. Pain was spreading to his reddened face; he hopped from one leg to the other in trying to relieve his burden, but only managed to make it worse. With a yelp, he darted to a door in a wooden building built on the inside of the wall. Bill laughed sheepishly at Charlotte, shrugged and moved away after Charlie, who certainly could use help getting more room in his cuirass.
Now the courtyard was fully accessible for Charlotte, who stepped in. A tingle moved across her skin, another old but unknown ward was still in effect. This place was fascinating! Only people with a sense of spells would notice it, however. There was most definitely a story to be told here.
She walked further inside, to get a better look at the castle. There was a two story main building to her left, built against the tower. Battlements were built along the rest of the wall to allow defenders access to every part of it. A nice touch to it, were the clean clothing and bedding that hung up there, to dry in the wind.
There were a few other wooden buildings here, with one clearly for the guards. A small door near the tower opened in the main building, a tall, and slightly bald man in a black garment walked out of it, looking around. He immediately noticed Charlotte, and walked towards her.
