The jump through the window had done the trick. Even though the landing came harder than Mervella had expected. After she had picked herself up from the dirty road she had crashed onto, she saw the weird box again and stepped right into it without hesitation.

When she stepped out again... she still wasn't back in Ezdarail.

"Damn it!" Mervella used to keep her anger inside, but now she had enough. "If I ever find this grey-haired crone again, she will answer for this! What have I gotten into this time?"

Looking around didn't really answer it. There was another castle, another river, but apart from that she was surrounded by tall buildings. Some of them could have been from her world and time, but others looked to her like constructs out of magic - nothing but steel and glass. There was a bridge visible in some distance that led across the river, a really tall and impressive bridge with huge towers on both sides that were connected to each other near the top as well. The ground all along the river was elevated, with benches to sit on and lamps illuminating every few meters of this street made of neatly placed and patterned stones.

It was still dark. Or maybe it was dark on another night, somewhere completely different in time. Mervella wouldn't rely on any knowledge as to where or when she was. Just face the challenge and be done with it!, she thought by herself. She turned her attention to that strange castle, a really odd sight in this environment. It looked more like a stronghold than the last one, but Mervella had never come across a castle that was set right in the middle of a city.

"It's the Tower," a familiar voice said next to her.

She turned around quickly. Instinctively her hand went right to her sword, and she squinched her eyes when she recognized the person. "You!"

How in the name of everything did he get here?

Bertrand Romania Wolfgang stepped into the light of the nearest street lamp and showed an almost friendly smile when he saw her reaction. It would have been friendlier if he hadn't shown his fangs with it. "Don't worry! I won't bite."

Mervella didn't buy that for a second. "Vampire or not, if you take one step closer, I will rip your fangs out with my bare hands, you scum!"

Bertrand stopped. "I was just to tell you what to do here. Once you've completed this task, you are free to return to where you came from. Then the challenges will be over."

Finally, some good news! "Alright, what is it?"

The vampire pointed towards the castle. "This was a very famous prison in these lands. Many poor souls were imprisoned and found a tragic death within these walls. Their ghosts still roam the place, telling tales of their tragedy." His grey eyes focus on Mervella again. No red was visible this time - maybe he was honest with her for a change. "You are tasked with going in there and find as many ghosts as you can."

"And then what?" Mervella asked distrustful. "Destroy them?"

"No!" Bertrand backed away from her, appalled. "You only need to find them. Feel their presence, count them, and then leave again! Besides, there is not much you could do about them anyway."

"Don't you underestimate me!" With these words Mervella made one step forward, her face and body language a promise of things to come if he stepped out of line. "Ever. Should you cross my path ever again, I will do my duty and smite you, whatever it will take."

Whether Bertrand took this threat seriously or not, he didn't show. He just raised an eyebrow. "Fair enough. Good luck, Mervella!" And he disappeared into the shadows of the city again.

Inside the castle walls Mervella came across the main building of the fortress. What did the vampire call this? The Tower? Mervella raised an eyebrow. As far as towers went, this one was kind of... lacking height. It was merely three stories, albeit tall ones, and with four towers at the corners which were just insignificantly higher. The entire structure couldn't be seen from outside the walls. On the other hand, that building being a prison was easily believable.

She proceeded further inside. Nothing was to be seen there. But she could hear things. Distant wailing and crying, both from male and female voices, but they had an eerie echo to them. In between those, Mervella heard something that she didn't expect here: the faint giggling of children. It sent cold shivers down her back.

A scream sounded behind her, and suddenly she saw it approaching on the tower green. Instinctively she pulled her sword, and finally it came out of the sheath with a metallic sound. Mervella was so surprised that it took her a moment to get into the defensive stance, just long enough to finally make out what was coming towards her. It was a woman. She was injured and in panic, fleeing from someone with a black mask over his head, wielding an axe. Mervella didn't think or hesitate - she let the woman pass her, then raised her weapon and struck the masked man chasing her.

The blade of her sword went right through his neck... and hit nothing. When Mervella finally turned around, both had vanished into thin air.

What the... ?

Now Mervella understood what was expected of her, and she didn't like it one bit. At least those weren't the kind of ghosts that she had dealt with before - these weren't like the Varjons that destroyed her home village and drove her and Rhojeka into exile. But still... they were restless souls haunting this place, and they had no business still being in this world. Fortunately, it was not on her to do something about it. What did Bertrand say? She just had to count them and get back.

So she searched the building.  Basically everywhere she went, she encountered some sort of ghost or spirit version of people that had suffered and died here. Even on the battlements she saw the source of the children's laughter: two little boys in fancy clothing playing at the wall, not too far from a lone figure in a flowing dress wandering about, not even looking at Mervella or the boys for one moment.

Each of the four towers presented their own surprises. But at least some of the ghosts didn't wander. One that Mervella found was sitting in a prison cell and wept in solitude, right next to the word "Jane" that was crudely scratched into the wall. In another, she just heard more screams and cries for mercy without actually seeing anyone. Still, in her mind she counted that as well. In the corridors between those towers, a figure in a pretty dress crossed her way - only that this one had no head. A smell of cheap perfume crawled into her nose when she passed through another door, and she felt a tab on her shoulder... but nothing was there when she turned around.

Another door, another room. Now this is interesting...

Mervella looked at the armor and weapons displayed in here. This might even keep up with what the knights in her kingdom would be equipped. Even though some of the weapons seemed more for show than for combat, they were pretty impressive. Some were even of a very strange design that she couldn't really make out. Like the one that had a handle like a crossbow, but lacked everything else except a long barrel with lots of holes to the side and...

All of a sudden a piece of cloth was wrapped around her neck and pulled tight. She gasped for air, struggling to free herself from it. With one swift move she whirled her sword and stabbed behind her. But again, all she hit was empty air. And as sudden as it started, the cloth fell off her throat and vanished like everything else.

Now she was done with this place. "Is that all you got?" she yelled into the dark corridors. "Is that the extent of your power? Cheap childish tricks?"

A growl answered her from the dark. A deep, loud and threatening growl. Whatever caused it, it wasn't human...

Mervella readied her sword again. The handle in both hands, the blade right in front of her, raised to strike. "Come on!"

And it came.

It came so fast and so big that for one moment even Mervella froze in fear. This was not what she had expected at all. The gigantic shadow that charged her, a shape of such enormous proportions that it should have been impossible for it to pass any of the doors inside this castle. It was entirely covered in brown fur, the snout long with a large black nose at the tip and a mouth full of terrifying teeth ready to sink into her and maul her to death. The growl had turned into a monstrous scream, and this massive creature charged her relentlessly and seemed nigh unstoppable.

Still, it took a second to reach her, and it took Mervella only half of it to come out of her frozen state and react. She ducked as the gigantic bear jumped towards her and stabbed her sword upwards while cowering and waiting for the inevitable impact. For this one critical moment she closed her eyes... only to find that even two seconds later, nothing had happened. The bear was gone. Like all the others.

She made it to the exit again and stood on the tower green, breathing heavily and enjoying the fresh air. This assignment had been all sorts of crazy. Whoever thought that she was the right one to do this? But at least, for now she was still alive. And she had encountered fifteen ghosts throughout this strange prison castle.

A bell somewhere in the city chimed. Mervella looked back to the tower. At the last strike of the bell, one figure that she hadn't seen before, a nobleman, appeared at one of the windows. Sixteen, Mervella corrected in her mind. Anyway, it was time to leave this wretched place. So she did.