The story wants to continue

But it wants to take its time apparently.

~~~~~~~~~~

Oh but how massive they were, these enclosing giants! What ancient trees had been used to craft them? And the metal that extended half across each one, near the top and near the bottom. As she neared the castle she saw that what from below had looked like nothing more than the slightest crack of an opening was in fact wide enough to slip through easily.

Amazed at her own boldness, she did just that.

She was assaulted first by smells; of dung, of rotting meat, of muddy earth. All made more potent by being held within the massive walls of the castle. Then there was the sound of deep loud snoring. Just inside the gates lay two men who seemed to have fallen asleep right there, on the ground. Each had a spear lain beside him at an odd angle; helmets lay just above their heads and must have fallen off as they fell down. Some gatekeepers! Well, she didn’t suppose she should judge them too harshly; after all, here she was, inside the castle yard! Around the edges of the yard lay five other men. It would seem there had been some sort of feasting at the castle.

Her uncle had once been a servant at the castle. Many had been the nights he would describe the feasts he had seen in his years of service, which ended when a cauldron of soup was upended, scalding his arm and making him unfit for service. Her parents had taken him in, and the family felt themselves paid in full by the stories he told in those few years he lived with them before the Great Sickness came over the land.