Chapter 13 Chapter Thirteen

Locals and foreign tourists crossing the Vulkan Pass only saw the appearance of the castle.Moreover, the road was difficult, and fear held back even the bravest men in Welster and its neighbourhood.In the eyes of everyone, this is just a pile of dilapidated rocks. But is the interior of the castle really as dilapidated as people imagined?Not at all.Protected by solid walls, the feudal fortress-style complex remained intact enough to house a battalion of soldiers. Huge arched gates, deep cellars, numerous corridors, overgrown grassy courtyards, basements that never see sunlight, ladders embedded in thick walls, and bunkers illuminated from narrow gun holes on the city walls.The central tower is divided into four floors, with bedrooms for the people inside, and a platform decorated with crenelated crenellations on the top.The corridors in the castle are intricate, and you can go up to the roof of the corner building and down to the lowest floor of the castle.There are also several water storage tanks, and when it rains, the rainwater drips inside, and when they are full, the overflow water flows into the Niard Creek.There is also a long tunnel, which is not sealed as people think, it can lead to the avenue of the Vulcan Pass-this is the general structure of the Carpathian castle.Its measured plane figure is not inferior to the labyrinth built by King Polsena in ancient Greece, or the labyrinth on Lenos or Crete.

Like Tissey the daughter of the conquering Minos, a strong and irrepressible emotion drove the young count through the deep and winding corridors of the old castle.Can he find the thread that guides the ancient Greek hero Arianna? Franz originally had only one idea: to enter the castle, and he succeeded.Maybe he should have thought about it: the drawbridge that has been pulled up seems to be lowered on purpose to let him pass! …Maybe he should have been worried why the secret door behind him had suddenly closed! ...but he had no time to think about it.At last he enters the castle, where Baron Rudolph de Golz has imprisoned La Stella, and he risks his life to see her.

Franz walked into a spacious, tall promenade with oblate vaults. It was dark all around, and the stone slopes were bumpy, so he had to be very careful when walking. Franz leaned close to the wall on the left, groping forward with his hands on the wall.As soon as the hand touched the wall, the limestone on the wall peeled off one after another.There was silence in the corridor, only the sound of footsteps in the distance.A warm, rotten-smelling draft came from behind, as if someone was pumping air at the other end of the corridor. He walked past a stone pillar supporting the last corner on the left, and came to the entrance to a corridor that narrowed considerably.As long as he stretches out his arms, he can touch the wall.

With his back bent, he groped forward with his hands and feet, trying to figure out whether the corridor was straight ahead. After walking more than two hundred steps, Franz felt that the corridor turned to the right, and after walking more than fifty steps, it turned to the right again.Does this passage lead to the castle walls, or to the bottom of the tower? Franz tried to quicken his pace; but sometimes he found a bump in the ground, and sometimes he had to turn.He often found other openings on the west side of the corridor, leading to the corner.It was dark and unfathomable, like a tunnel made by a mole, a veritable labyrinth.He wanted to determine the direction, but it was only at his own expense.

Several times, he felt that he had turned into a dead end and had to go back again.He was worried about stepping on a trap and falling into the dungeon, from which he would never come out.So, when he stepped on a certain board and made a rough sound, he carefully supported the wall.He still walked forward with enthusiasm, and he had no time to think about it. But since Franz was always walking on a level, never going up or down, he was always on the level of the castle courtyard, so that this long corridor could hopefully lead to the main tower and even to the landing of the stairs. There must be a quicker passage through hidden doors and castles.True enough, when the Baron de Golze lived, one didn't have to walk through never-ending corridors.On the opposite side of the first corridor, facing the dark side, there is another door, leading to the training ground, with a tall tower in the middle of the training ground; but this door is now blocked, and Franz does not even recognize it. The place.

The young count walked for an hour along the winding corridors, bumping here and there.He listened for sounds in the distance.He dared not call Lastira's name, for the echo might reach the tower.He was undaunted and unyielding.He will go on so long as he has strength, so long as no insurmountable obstacle appears to hinder his progress. Before he knew it, he was exhausted.He hadn't eaten since leaving Welster.He was hungry and thirsty, his feet were unsteady, and his legs were weak.The passage was damp and stuffy, and his clothes were soaked through.He was out of breath and his heart was pounding.

At about 9 o'clock, Franz stuck his left foot out and missed the ground. He bowed his body, and felt that there was a step below, and there was another step down. This is the stairs.It leads to the ground floor of the castle, won't there be an exit? Franz stepped up without hesitation, counting the steps.The stairs descended obliquely from the corridor. He descended the seventy-seven steps to a level path that turned so that he couldn't see his fingers. Franz, who had been walking for half an hour, out of breath with exhaustion, stopped to rest for a while, when a bright light appeared two or three hundred paces ahead.

Where is this light coming from?Is it just a natural phenomenon? Will there be flickering phosphorous fires in such a deep underground?Or was it a lantern lit by the people in the castle? "Could it be her?" murmured Franz. He suddenly remembered that when he was lost among the rocks on the Algal Heights, there was a light guiding him to the gate of the city.If it was Lastella who had lit the lamp at the tower window, wasn't she leading him again now, through the winding subterranean structures? Franz collected himself, bent down, stared at the light, and did not move. This is not a bright spot, but a diffused light, reflecting a tomb at the end of the passage.

Franz's legs became weak and he could no longer walk.He decided to crawl over, it would be faster.Having just climbed a narrow passage, he collapsed on the threshold of a basement. This basement is well kept.It is about 12 feet tall and about 12 feet in diameter.Eight bulging capitals support the circular vault of the basement. The ribs of the vault gather toward the center like rays, and a glass bulb hangs in the middle, emitting a dim yellow light. A door opened between two pillars, and another door on the opposite side was closed. From the large rusty nail heads above, it could be judged that the outside of the door was locked by a bolt.

Franz straightened up, and dragged his heavy legs to the door. He shook the heavy hammer on the door vigorously, but it was useless. There are several pieces of dilapidated furniture in the room: a bed, which is actually just a wooden couch made of old oak heartwood, with a few pieces of bedding thrown randomly on it; a low stool with bent legs; A table fastened to the wall with iron nails, with various utensils on it, pots filled with water, meat on plates, and a loaf of bread, a bit like biscuits on a ship.There was a trickle of water in the corner filling the tank, which was already full, and the overflow ran under a pillar.

Are these preparations not for entertaining a guest in the basement, or rather for keeping a prisoner in the prison!Isn't this prisoner Franz who was tricked by the design? Franz was so confused that he did not suspect this at all.He was tired and hungry, so he picked up the food on the table and devoured it, drank the water in the can, and then lay down on the simple bed, maybe resting for a while, he could recover a little bit of strength. He wanted to sort out his thoughts, but found that his thoughts had escaped long ago, and he couldn't hold them back like grabbing water with his hands. Should he wait until dawn before continuing his search?His consciousness has become so numb that he can't even direct his own actions? ... "No!" he thought, "I can't wait! . . . to the Tower . . . I'm going to the Tower Fantastic tonight! . . . " Suddenly, the lamp hanging in the center of the dome went out, and the dungeon was instantly shrouded in darkness. Franz tried to get up...but couldn't, his mind fell asleep, or stopped suddenly, like the hands of a clock with a broken spring.It was a strange kind of sleep, an unbelievable, unbearable stupor, one of absolute exhaustion, but by no means due to mental relaxation. He woke up.How long he slept this time, he had no way of knowing.His watch stopped and he didn't know the time.But the dungeon is bathed in light again. Franz got out of bed and took a few steps towards the first door: it was open; then towards the second door, which was still closed. He wanted to think it over, but it was too much work for him. His body has recovered from the fatigue of the night before, but his mind is heavy and blank. "How long have I been asleep?" he wondered, "Is it day or night?  …" The lights in the dungeon were turned on again, the food was restocked, the pots filled with water, but nothing else changed. Someone came in while Franz was asleep?Does anyone know that he went under the castle? ... He fell into the hands of the Baron Rudolph de Golz ... Cut off from all connections with the outside world? Don't be discouraged, you have to escape, walk through the long corridor, go to the dark entrance, and escape from this castle... go out? ...he just remembered that the secret door was closed just after he entered the castle... okay then!He will try his best to get to the edge of the wall, find a gap, and slip out from there... Without paying any price, he should have escaped from the castle in an hour... But what about Lastella...has he given up on his plan to rescue her? ... Won't he take her back from the hands of Baron Rudolph de Golz and fly away together? ... no!He couldn't do it personally, but with the help of the police that Rodzko moved from Katzburg, she could be rescued...to launch an attack on the castle immediately...to turn the castle upside down! ... He made up his mind that there was no need to delay now, and he should act immediately. Franz got up and walked down the passage from which he had come.Just then, from behind the second door of the dungeon came the sound of objects sliding. It must be the sound of footsteps, it is getting closer and closer one by one softly. Franz put his ear behind the door, held his breath, and listened... The sound of footsteps was very regular, as if they were going up a step.There must have been another staircase connecting the dungeon to the courtyard in the castle. As a precaution, Franz drew the dagger from his belt and held it tightly in his hand. If it was the servant of the Baron de Golze who came in, he would jump on him, snatch the key, so that he could not follow him, and then he would go out by this new junction, trying to reach the tower. If it had been the baron himself who had entered—that face, the face he had glimpsed when Rastilla fell on the stage of the San Carlo, he would never forget it—he would beat him up, never show mercy. But the man stopped when he reached the outer threshold. Franz didn't move, waiting for the door to be pushed open... The door was not opened, and an extremely soft voice reached the ears of the young earl. It's Rastila singing... yes! ...Although the voice is weaker than before, it is still full of indescribable charm, tenderness and mellowness, and this is an enviable and wonderful art that people think has disappeared forever with the death of female artists. Lastella sang over and over the weeping melody which, when Franz dozed in the hotel lobby in the village of Welster, carried him like a lullaby to sleep. Nel giardino de'mille Riori, Andiamo, mio ​​Cuore… The song floated into Franz's heart like air, like holy water, and Franz sucked greedily and drank it.Lastella seemed to be inviting him to go with her, and she kept on singing: Andiamo, mio ​​cuore...andiamo... The door never opened! ... He couldn't get close to her, hugged her into his arms, and led her out of the castle! ... "Lastella...my Lastilla..." he called. He threw himself on the door and shook it hard, but the door wouldn't budge. The singing became less and less...at last it disappeared...the footsteps faded away... Franz was on his knees, shaking the door desperately, picking at the iron lock with his hands, and kept calling Lastira.Her singing only left a slight lingering sound in the air. At this time, a terrible thought flashed by. "Crazy!..." he cried, "she's crazy, she didn't recognize me...she didn't answer me!...five years, locked up here...in the hands of that man...poor La Stella... she's lost her mind..." He stood up, his eyes glazed over, as if lost, his mind was on fire... "I'm crazy too... I feel like I'm losing my mind too!..." he kept saying. "I think I'm going crazy too... crazy like her..." He turned around in the dungeon, like a wild animal in a cage, restless... "No!" he kept saying, "No! . . . I must not lose my mind! . . . I must escape from the castle . . . I must escape!" He rushed towards the open door... It had just been locked without anyone noticing. Franz was listening to Lastella's singing at the time, and didn't notice at all... He was already trapped in the castle, and now he was locked in the dungeon.