Abandoned - Candlelit Castle - Story 21 NWS

[Abandoned]

Chapter 15


  When the young lord became of age, the Lord and Lady informed him he would marry the daughter of the captain of the guards, she was quite a bit older but was a good match.  They would be married in the Cathedral on his 15th birthday.  The young lord had other ideas; he was in love with a village girl he met at the market.  She was a bit younger but was expecting his child, he would have no other for wife.  Yes, eager explorer, it must have been a shock to his parents. 

  The village women could not say for sure what happened, whether the Lord of the Castle threw his son out or whether the young lord left of his own accord, but he and the young village girl slipped away, she left a goodbye note for her parents.  Neither the young lord or village girl were seen or heard from again, as far as the village women knew.

  We pointed out that we had a key to the keep and a deed so there must have been some contact; we doubted those items would have been given to the young lord before he left the castle.  The village women agreed and recalled that 3 young monks left shortly after the young lord and his young lady did; the monks were gone for quite some time, perhaps they went in search of him.

  Dark days fell over the Castle after that, few if any candles were lit. The Lord and Lady of the Castle were rarely seen.   There were no new projects started or repairs being done.  There was no merrymaking at the monk's garden center or the village brewer barrel.  The grape vines were not being tended, and the apple orchard was neglected and overrun with other trees.   More young people left the village and castle.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 16


  The quality of life in the Castle and village further deteriorated in the following years, especially after the Lord and Lady died of influenza.  There was no one left in charge to oversee the day-to-day running of the castle.  There was no market worker in the Castle going to the village to gather food and other items; villagers did not think they should continue to go get food and other items from the Castle market. 

  The old monks began making cheese instead of wine in the monastery, and their crafter's guild was baking bread; they saw to it that both the Castle folks and the villagers got some. The old village mill had been severely damaged during a storm.  The old butcher, baker, and other old workplaces in the Castle were no longer safe to work in either. The newer candlemaker had no beeswax from the neglected orchard to make candles with. The old anvil was brought up from the underground storage and taken to the village to ensure the farmers had tools to work with. 

  Several severe storms along with years of wind and rain further damaged the buildings and the castle walls.  The newer monastery and village buildings weather the storms and the years much better than the Castle did. 

What was once a beautiful castle bustling with happiness and light was little more than a ruin when we arrived to claim the inheritance.
 

[Abandoned]

Chapter 17


  There were 6 of us who arrived in early autumn, Ranco and I plus 4 servants; a few good friends promised to follow us later.  We were met by a few of the villagers and given a quick tour of the settlement.  Our view from the hilltops gave us a basic idea of the layout; we saw the village with the damaged windmill in the foreground and the ruined castle behind it with the monastery buildings to the west.  The tour began in front of the castle by the front entrance.  Only 1 of the entrance arches remained standing.   We could see that most of the original castle walls had crumbled away.





  The market in the outer ward had little food, the storage unit was all but destroyed, as was the butcher, baker, and smith.  The houses were newer and had been repaired by the residents over the years.  To the right, the wall had crumbled away revealing the overgrown apple orchard.  To the left was the monastery complex.  The buildings seemed to be in good repair, but the grounds and the vineyard were overrun with weeds.





  The walls of the inner ward were almost completely gone.  One of the tall guard towers was badly damaged, as was the small chapel next to it, and the bakehouse, grand hall, and the kitchen pantry. The school still had a few students.  There were chickens running loose and the small farmyard was still producing some crops.

  The outside of the keep had held up well but not the inside.  The villagers prepared rooms for us in the 1 tall tower that remaining standing.  We were tired and hungry.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 18


  The servants only found beans, cabbage, cheese, and some berries in the crates near the destroyed kitchen pantry.  There was nothing edible but honey at the market in the outer ward.







 Ranco set to work immediately.  He assigned a worker to the market to gather more food and sent for a hunter to bring venison for the big roasting spit in the outer ward.  Chickens were put on the small spit in the inner ward.   He sent for the monks to bring bread and cheese, and when they arrived, he asked if there was any wine left at all.  The monks went back to the monastery and returned with several bottles of wine and some ale. 

  Those inside and outside the Castle had a lot of work ahead of them.  They needed good food and drink.  Ranco had word sent out to one and all that dinner was being served in the outer ward.

  When we finally returned to our tower room for the night, we found it softly aglow with candlelight.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 19






  The next morning, we toured the village farms.  They all were well kept and seemed to be producing well.  The barn was well stocked with a nice variety even after the vendor had transferred some to the market.  There was quite a bit of wheat; Ranco inspected the damaged mill and concluded that the base was sturdy and only the top part of the mill needed rebuilding.  The builders got right to work and there would soon be flour.  Ranco told the farmers and builders that they should not hesitate to help themselves to new tools from the storage crates in the castle.  We agreed that I would supervise food production and the inventory records, and he would supervise the workers and see to rebuilding the Castle.



  It was a gloomy rainy day when a fire broke out in one of the castle towers; everyone got out safely, but the old tower was completely destroyed despite the rain and all the citizens with buckets of water from the wells.  The workers all seemed surprised to see Ranco and I with buckets too.  The residents of that tower moved into the tall tower with us.

  Ranco thought that the wind blowing through the Castle kept fanning the flames resulting in the towers complete destruction; the castle walls needed rebuilding as well as 2 towers now.  There was stone on the stockpile, residents tried to keep up with clearing the rumble from the crumbling walls, but it would not be enough.  Ranco assigned 3 workers to the tiny quarry.  Work began clearing more rubble and again the townspeople were surprised the see their new Lord of the Castle working alongside of them.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 20




  The hedgerow with the apple and chestnut tree in the outer ward also had stones in it from the crumbled wall behind it.  From there we could see the weedy berry bushes along the cathedral wall and the overgrown apple orchard.  I thought the area should be restored before winter so the berries and apples would have a good start regrowing in spring.  Ranco sent 2 of the foresters to help with cutting the unwanted trees that had grown in among the apple trees, and I got a couple of the village women to help with weeding the berry row.  They looked a bit shocked to see the Lady of the Castle on her hands and knees pulling out weeds and dead branches.  We had a rather fun afternoon working together.





  By the time of the first snowfall in late autumn, the orchard apple trees were pruned and had more sun and room to grow.  A few of the beehive tables were replaced as well as one or two of the hives themselves.  The berry bush row was also neat and tidy and would be more productive next season.  The jam house was in good shape and after a good cleaning would be ready to make berry jam again.



  Meanwhile, Ranco had been working on the front castle wall and missing arch.  He said the workers were getting used to seeing the Lord of the Castle working with them. The tower that was destroyed by the fire was also rebuilt.  Once the wall was completed, the brewer barrel was in a nice shelter spot for residence to enjoy their mugs of ale.  The tables were repaired or replaced and all had new umbrellas.  The workers were surprised to find some of the apples from the outer ward hedgerow already brewing in the barrel.



  I was surprised when the old soothsayer approached me and advised me to leave the heavy work to the laborers and villagers, for the sake of my unborn son.  I had only just begun to suspect I might be with child.  What?  Yes, eager explorer, he was right about our first born being a boy.  He also predicted that our second child would be a girl and our third would be another boy.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 21


  By spring, the back walls of the castle were rebuilt but there were still the side walls of both the inner and outer wards, and the 2nd tall tower that was severely damaged that also needed rebuilding.



  Everyone celebrated with us when little lord Flinton was born that spring.  There was a feast with roast meat and chicken, bread, cheese, vegetables, and wine and ale.  Not surprising, a few of the young people took off with two of the few remaining bottles of wine; there was a lot of heavy labor yet to be done on the walls and on rebuilding. 



  Grapes were needed for more wine, but the grape vines were doing poorly because of the weeds.  The village women and I again did the weeding and pruning and soon had the vineyard and monastery complex in good shape, and we had fun doing it.  Little lord Flinton in his basket was dotted on the whole time.




  The men worked hard that spring and summer and soon had all the castle wall repaired or replaced.  There was another celebration with wine and ale.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 22




  The following year, there was a lot more work to be done. The tailor and smith in the outer ward were next on the builders list.  When those 2 buildings were up and running it was time to turn their attention to the storage shed in the outer ward and the kitchen pantry in the inner ward.  There was a lot of food still in crates and barrels and they needed to be in proper storage buildings before winter came again.  The tall tower was rebuilt at the same time.





  When the butcher shop was rebuilt no one was surprised to find venison sausages at the market; the monk's crafter's guild had been baking bread, so it had been a long time since there were sausages to be had.  However, when the bakery in the inner ward was completed, the citizens were surprised to see me, the Lady of the Castle, carrying a heavy sack of flour from the market to the bakery, and even more surprised when I baked several batches of honey and oat cookies.  My oat cookies disappeared almost immediately every time they appeared at the market.



  The newly restored orchard and beehives did well that year.  The beeswax was again being used at the candlemaker; only some clean-up and minor repairs were needed inside.  Candlelit Castle was again worthy of its name.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 23




  It did not take long to rebuild the small chapel in the inner ward, or to demolish the small school.  Both Ranco and I agreed, when the time came, we wanted our children to go to school with all the other children.  The monk's education center was large and could school a lot of children, it was centrally located and easy enough for all the children to get there even in winter.
  By autumn, a fall food market stand was built where the small school had been.  There were roast corn, potatoes, or apples to have for a quick snack depending upon which of those foods were available in the kitchen pantry.  There were always oat cookies available at the bakehouse, across from which a small park for the children was built, all the children inside and outside the castle were welcome to come and play.  It looked very festive in autumn.



  It was just before the first snow of the season that Ranco and I and Flinton and baby Halline moved into the 2nd floor of the renovated keep; the servants and their families moved into the ground floor.  The builders insisted on working on the keep whenever there was a lull between building projects.  We knew the village women had a hand in decorating our quarters.  A bench with cushions and a rocking chair with a knit blanket stood before the small fireplace.  There was a table with chairs and a small well-stocked pantry in the main room as well.  There were 2 sleeping chambers, one for us and one for the children, both nicely furnished.  There were candles everywhere and a bottle of wine on the table.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 24


  Having moved into the keep, there was room in the two tall towers for all of our friends from back home when they arrived.  There were 4 couples with 5 adult children and 2 young ones.  It was wonderful to see then after so long, we all had families now. We laughed and teased each other like old time but one of the old villagers scolded that we were not being shown the proper respect when we were called Ranco and Benni instead of Lord Ranco and Lady Bennifred.  That title alone got quite a few laughs.  They brought news; Ranco's younger brother and the shipping business were doing well; he was married now too with 2 children.  We had a small feast in the grand hall to celebrate our friends' arrival.

  Shortly after they arrived that spring, 2 river boatmen pulled up along shore by the Monastery.  There were 2 of them because of the waterfall; they had to portage the boat over land past the waterfall to find us.  Apparently, word was out that we had exceptionally good wine made by monks.  The river boatmen were looking to get some for their customers.  They wanted to know if we would consider trading some of the wine for whatever we needed, as long as it was not too heavy to be portaged around the waterfall with the boat. The only thing we could think of was wheat seeds; we had everything else.  Over a meal by the big roasting spit by the market, they saw we had candles and textiles, they would gladly accept those in trade too.



  We immediately built a trading post there by the monastery complex and began stocking it with wine, candles, flax, and honey.   We were surprised when, in late winter, Durwardo, the seed merchant, arrived with the wheat seeds.  He said it was actually easier to portage the boat over the snow-covered land; it was like pulling a sled.
 


  We made the trade for the wheat, and he was soon on his way.  It was only after he left that we thought we should have ordered oat seeds; only one of our farmers grew oats but everyone loved the oat cookies.  The boatman did say he would return.  When spring came again, the wheat was planted in a 7'x14' field behind the windmill.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 25


  So, eager explorer, there really isn't much we can tell you about the river boatmen.  We thought it commendable that they go to the extra trouble of portaging around the waterfall in the river to get to us, but there really was nothing we need.  Even the boatman remarked how self-sufficient we were.  Other towns don't do as well.



  We are quite proud of our Candlelit Castle but for the most part we have the villagers to thank for all their hard work maintaining their homes and farms.   The tower residents and the monks did their fair share also.  Restoring the castle took a lot of teamwork.



  The outer and inner wards are again bustling with activity and productivity, the orchard too.  The Cathedral district is a peaceful respite, and so is the monks' garden corner.  The farmers and foresters keep the Castle well supplied with food and logs for building and firewood. 







  The Castle is again a happy place to live and is aglow with candlelight when times get dark.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 26


 We really do appreciate you coming by, eager explorer.  It must have been an experience for you traveling by riverboat.  But as you can see, there really is nothing we need, but we will be happy to supply the river boatmen with wine and candles if they want to make the trip around the waterfall.  We plan to keep those items stocked at the trading post.  The boat should be here soon to deliver our oat seeds and to pick you up and take you back to your houseboat, you've been here a long time.



  We can't believe how long it's been since we first arrived here at the ruined Castle; our children are all grown now but still living at home with us.  Other young people are still living at home too ; there are 74 families living in 51 homes.  It's time to build more now that all the castle renovations have been done.
 


  Candlelit Castle has 243 citizens, 124 adults, 51 students, and 68 young children.  The students all attend the monk's education center together.  Our citizens are all healthy and happy, and busy now lighting candles; the autumn evening come early.

Good night, eager explorer.


The End

[kid1293]

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