Blood, Lace, Steel, Honor and the Outer Dark - Musketeers 3

Etienne L'Fleche examines the clock in the great hall of Castle Bois De Coeur.

The Clock in the Hall

Soon after the disappearance of Lady Adele the clock in the great hall began running backwards, as did several maids and pages who tried to touch the hands of the ancient timepiece. Lord Anglais, the husband of Lady Adele, sealed off the hall and summoned the musketeers immediately.

An investigation of the clock found the workings to be carved from bone and woven braids of hair. Within the body of the clock an entrance to a foul tunnel was found; A circular passage that twisted down into the bedrock below the castle itself.

The musketeer Etienne sent word to his partner Leon, a theologian, alchemist and master of white magic and back to the chapter house in the provincial capital.

As with the pit beneath the floor of the castle's cellar, a foul and musty odor issued forth from the winding tunnel. Using great caution and a number of peasants bearing torches, Etienne and Leon wormed their way down into the dank whole. At the bottom the found a wide chamber littered with rounded stones and a black stream that disappeared in either direction through a water-carved passage of stone.

When the pair approached the sluggish and viscid liquid the sound of stone rubbing against stone erupted all around them.

" Vipera Seoanei," moaned Leon."It would have to be Vipera Seoanei."

"Looks like snakes to me," said one of the peasants before Etienne slapped him in the head.