Respite

The manservant leads the passengers through the library, into another room, a drawing room. The rooms is slightly smaller than the library onto which it opens, although it can hold all five of them. Going clockwise from the doorway through which they enter, there is another outside window looking out across the battlefield, and flecked with rain from the storm, then a large mirror the same size as the window. Hanging on the wall opposite the window, and again matching it is size is a framed architectural drawing. Below the window, is the same set of unusual controls as beneath the window in the Library.

The drawing is an external elevation of the house at night, with a constellation of stars visible in the sky above it. The house sits on the brink of an enormous lake. This is odd in that there was no sign of a lake in the area around the house, and certainly, there was no lake right against the walls of the house. There is a label below the drawing.

The drawing room is furnished with two angular, white chaise lounges, and three chairs, the same type as in the library. There is a white metal sideboard equipped with decanters of what looks like wine, brandy, and vodka, as well as the requisite soda siphon, glasses and a square bucket of ice. The manservant walks to the side board, stiffly produces a metal tray from within the sideboard and begins to pour each of the travellers a strong measure of brandy. Having passed a glass to each of them in turn, he gives another slight bow, and leaves the room, passing back through the library. If you are a connoisseur of such things, it smells of good quality and offers warmth after the rain.

On one of the chaise lounges, there rests a child's doll. It is expensive looking, and the one of the few signs of personality and character in this ordered, minimal and stark house. You get the impression that even this object, which in a more lived in home, could be cast anywhere when a child finishes playing with it, has been placed here with thought and intent.

The silent manservant returns after a few moments. He places a stack of folded white towels on the low coffee table. On top of the pile rests a folded map and what appears to be a local time bus or train timetable. Having placed this burden down and handing Manny a sealed packed of fresh bandages, he once more departs the drawing room, leaving the bus passengers alone once more.

Richard takes the glass with a smile and a nod, sniffing it to confirm that it is indeed brandy, not some local concoction that you could no doubt strip paint with (remembering one time in Russia when he was all but temporarily blinded by a liquid that clearly was not the vodka he'd been expecting). Having drained the glass, and feeling the warmth gradually seep through his body, he places the glass back on the tray and walks over to take a peek at the strange dials and controls, before noticing manservant bringing the towels in.

Richard's knowledge of things mechanical and technological suggests that this might be some sort of fancy control for polarising the window. The wall is thick enough to contain the system of recessed lighting that would be necessary. It would allow the windows to be changed from transparent, to dark, and potentially to a reflective mirror. If the windows could be controlled together it would explain why the lights had not been visible as they approached the house. Perhaps they were lit, but the windows simply polarised in the wrong direction.

Or the butler had been sitting alone in the dark before they arrived.

"Ah, thank you" he says to the manservant, as he takes two towels and walks over to Manny, offering him one.

"Mind if I take another look at that bump of yours? I can redress it now we're out of the dark and rain."

Manny allows Richard to look at his wound. As he is being tended to he drinks the brandy and voices his concern.

"I am thinking that perhaps our friend [meaning Kurt] is right. There is something strange afoot. The servant is a monster of some sort, and where there is a monster there is often a master."

Once Richard has finished and Manny feels more himself again. The daze and fuddle of the injury have been alleviated. He springs to his feet and walks to the window. Addressing the group, he says:

"I was once a master of monsters myself, a beast more ferocious than he I should wager. The African lion. It is a simple thing to control a beast if one remembers a golden rule. Never should you trap the beast and never should the beast trap you..."

Manny taps the glass of the window in an attempt the gauge thickness, The glass of the window reverberates solidly under Manny's tap. It is thick and well fixed in place. Then he walks back to the drawing room door and checks that the route back out of the library to the hall is still open. The way through the library to the entrance hall is clear. The large open doorways between the rooms make it easy enough to see from one room to another. He then adds, melancholically,

"...It is when you are cornered that there are problems"

Kurt says to Manny.

"Steady on friend, I never said the chap was a monster. I was just remarking that anyone who lives in a place like this is going to be a mite strange. And then some."

He then moves to take a closer look at the picture with the house and lake. The label underneath the drawing reads: Adhemar Grau: Architekt and Schwarze Wohnung. Kurt's no art critic or student of architecture, but it's not the best drawing he's ever seen. From the way the house is positioned against the landscape, it really does look like it is a drawing of this house in situ. Apart from that sizeable lake that sits right up against it, of course. The constellation of stars is not familiar to Kurt. He shrugs non-committally and heads for the drinks cabinet.

"Oh come now," scoffs Hal. "The manservant is no more a monster than you or I. He is simply an unfortunate soul who happens to have an excentric, and elusive, master.

"Besides," continues Hal as he picks up the bus timetable, "if you wish to trap people presenting them with their means of escape is not a good way to proceed."

"I don't think there's going to be a bus coming any time soon. This is probably the kind of place where they get one a week, and we left it back in a ditch remember?" Objects Kurt.

"There is something unsettling in his eyes - deeply unsettling. And as our friend says even if we are not trapped in this house. We are trapped in this wilderness." observes Manny

“Only until lunchtime tomorrow,” replies Hal. “Given our backwater location I think going back to town is our best option. From there we can make what alternate arrangements are necessary to reach our respective destinations. I’m sure our host will offer us a bed for the night, and once we are rested, warm and dry we shall be able to view our current circumstances from a more balanced perspective.”

With Brandy warming his belly and the harsh weather firmly locked outside Hal is beginning to enjoy himself. Although their situation is reminiscent of many horror stories he has read over the years (the ultra-modern architecture of the house is a nice deviation from the traditional gothic mansion). He sees their current situation as odd, but not threatening.

The timetable is byzantine in it's complexity. However, If Hal is reading it correctly, then there appears to be a local service, stopping at all manner of local hamlets and towns. It's going in the wrong direction, back towards the city the bus departed from..

It should pass along the road near here at some point around lunchtime tomorrow.

Richard looks somewhat relieved upon hearing Hal's remark.

"Tomorrow, you say? That is a relief!"

Having finished tending to Manny, he then returns to the dials and controls by the window.

"Hmm, this may explain why we couldn't see any lights from outside, this seems to control the polarisation of the windows."

He looks up from the dials, and unsure as to whether the faces of his companions are blank through tiredness or confusion, adds

"You can use these to darken the windows, and make them so that light cannot escape. You could possibly even create a mirror effect, though I shall not venture outside to test that theory."

"Don't count on it," says Kurt pouring himself a drink. Then to Richard "You sure you know what you're doing with that?"

"Oh, it's been a while since I've seen a device like this, but the layout and counters certainly fit. I won't touch the settings, so don't worry."

Richard dries his hands on the towel once more, before walking over to Kurt and extending a hand.

"Apologies, in all the chaos I didn't introduce myself, I'm Professor Richard Pimms, but please call me 'Richard'."

"Pleased to meet you. Kurt Steinhauer, currently on holiday."

"Pleased to meet you too. Let's hope that this setback doesn't impede your holiday too much!"

"Good to meet you Professor. Well I for one am fascinated by this whole encounter. To find the Black Chateau, fully constructed and out in the middle of nowhere? This is an extraordinary opportunity, I certainly wouldn't want to leave before meeting the man responsible. Besides, I'm really out here more for experience than to reach a particular destination, so all this suits me just fine." adds Roland joining the conversation.