The werewolves are creatures with claws sharper than steel and bite tighter than titans. They once roamed their endless realm. Not following the treaty of peace, they are bound to extinction.
*****
The road trip lasted for an hour or more and I am already feeling sick by the amount of travel I have had by now. I am a person sitting still at one position with my paintbrush and canvas but I don't like the idea of bobbling.
We sit together and the only thing we share as common is that our head is continuously bobbing like a pendulum by the endless pebbles and stone that the wheel of the coach steps on. Once out of the station the horses captures a terrifying speed to say. They were talking to the winds and the loud air lashes my little locks.
I notice the tension in the coach decreases as the more time we spend silently. When the finely built road is the insight we are luckily having a peacefully calm swift journey. I peek outside through the head of the passengers sitting parallel to me on the white sunshine of the day that blinds every eye. We were climbing down by the side of a steep mountain at a pace. Beneath us lies lush lamp forest and a long stretched river. Next to the river are mountains with sharp edges waiting to swallow the sun.
An old woman who seemed to glance me with hidden eyes quiet frequently finally speaks out her heart, "Why are you going to that cursed castle?"
"I am invited by the Englishman to draw a portrait of him"
After I finished every mouth in the coach was dropped down to hell and their eyeballs had fallen to the floor.
"Are you serious?", stammered one of the man. His frighten is clearly visible through his words and shivering hand movements.
I nodded realising that there is a sudden tension inside the coach. All of them went silent by then and after fifteen minutes I stopped to have something to eat. Once out, the people in the coach were staring only me and whispering to each other whilst securely focusing their concerning gaze on me. Luckily, they left and I could have something to eat without a hundred eyes pointed over me.
The restaurant I went to was quite old fashioned. I ordered some light paprika chicken wings. It was fresh and moderately spicy. I love how the juice melted in my mouth right away after I chewed. The fresh brew of herbs on the chicken added to the flavour.
Then I booked myself a free coach with much space for me to stretch my legs. There was only a man and his wife. I was able to enjoy the beautiful scenery of the place and not get disturbed by tension-gaze.
An hour past and the coach stopped in front of a lodge that I can rest in for tonight. It was the lovely couple who told me about this hotel otherwise I had to sleep on a bench if had I not been able to find a hotel.
The lodge has been beautifully decorated just to impress the tourist who came to visit this place in hundreds every day. The rest of the day I enjoyed scrolling down the town and sketching down some local food market. Apparently there are a lot of places to visit here but I have no time to chill. I had to head out early tomorrow for the Castle of Flames.
The river I saw earlier is called Atlascut river and I would have to follow that in order to reach the castle. Apparently, the reason this city is such a tourist spot is because it is said to been haunted by a vampire. I don't like to eavesdrop but they call it
- The Vampire city over
Bersekawa
I reached my hotel room and was served some soup and their traditional food. The hotel owner who is a corpulent lady told me that this place lives its life on the day of Halloween.
"Where are you heading young man? To the waterfall or the vampire house?" she inquired.
"To the Castle of Flames", I replied.
For a moment I thought she would have the same kind or close to same reaction as the people in the coach earlier had but no she laughed heartily.
"Kids these days...", she muttered to herself in laughter and went her way.
I did not found anything funny or scary about my visit. People here are really peculiar in terms of their reaction. Next morning I was early to find a coach but all of them seem to reject me to take to the castle. Some mocked me while others cursed me in their native language. Someone dropped eyes or someone laughed heartily. At last I met a driver who obviously didn't agree to take me there but explained,
"No would go there because no knows the way to there. The place is kind of haunted. To be honest we don't even know if the place is real or such a made up by some freak"
His words sadden me more than anything for if that place isn't real, how have I received a mail from there?
I thought to myself sitting on a greyish stone. Just as my thoughts were tangling up my brain, in the silent damp air of the morning, a cold hand pressed on my shoulder.
I turned back to find a man with an elongated wrinkled face smiling at me.
"Do you want a ride to the Castle of Fire?" he asked, his voice very cunning.
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