"What—what is this?" Talia asked as she stared at the much smaller clock face inside the tower, with its hands moving backwards.
"Milady, this clock is at the tail end of a countdown timer that was set over two-thousand years ago."
"I find it hard to believe this clock has been running uninterrupted for over two-thousand years. Are you telling me that this structure is that old?"
Master Euclid nodded. "As I said, Milady. This place was once an ancient fortress belonging to the druids of old." His eyes grew misty with reminiscence.
"Three sides of Primrose fortress comprise of the high cliff faces of the three impassable sister mountains. Tamma to the east, Lina to the west, and Venta to the north." He indicated with his finger.
"The south side, where the train station now sits was once where a high strong stone wall was built across. There was a large wooden portcullis that allowed entry into Primrose Valley."
He sighed with regret. "The walls and portcullis have all been torn down to make way for the train station. And the castle…"
He looked up at the clock tower. "The castle was redesigned and remodeled so that it looks more like a hotel and less like a castle. This is the final result after many remodeling attempts, with several extensions and add-ons."
Talia's eyes widened with amazement.
"I'm surprised no one ever touched the watchtower and the clock tower."
"I'm not." Master Euclid chuckled. "The clock tower and the watchtower are both vestigial structures that have never been touched because no one dares to."
"Why not?" Talia wanted to know.
"There is an ancient curse that has been placed on the two towers that will be triggered if it is torn down, but don't you worry." He waved a dismissive hand.
"As long as the two towers are maintained and in good condition, the owners will be safe from their damaging effects."
"If that's the case," Talia looked around. "Why does it look so neglected?"
She turned back to face Master Euclid. "It hasn't been maintained lately, has it?"
The old dwarf shook his head. "No, I'm afraid it hasn't. The previous owner cares nothing for ancient curses or lore although he did agree to leave the towers alone and to let the timer run down."
He looked back at the countdown timer.
"And now that there is only six months left to go on this timer, he was quite anxious to unload the place."
Talia tapped her lips. "So we bought it at a distress sale price?"
Cedric laughed. "I had no idea it was distressed. I bargained him down to almost nothing."
"Who?" Talia asked.
"The Baron Leboeuf. He owned this entire valley as well as a good stretch of land on the other side of the train tracks."
"I didn't know you had talked to him." Talia smiled.
"I didn't. Hubert took care of all the details, including haggling for every penny."
Master Euclid smiled. "Baren Leboeuf had been trying to sell this place for over a year. Since everyone who was local knew about the count-down on the clock tower, nobody wanted to buy it."
"Hmmm. So the price had been steadily declining for almost a year." Cedric began to chuckle.
"Yes. As desperate as Baron Leboeuf was to ditch the place, the locals figured it was just as easy and less risky to buy it after the countdown was over, if nothing untoward were to happen."
"What could possibly happen?"
"We don't know, Milady." Master Euclid shrugged. "All we can do is let the clock run down to its final seconds to find out."
"Then that's what we'll do. But in the meantime, we need to clean this tower a bit." Talia looked around. "At least get the dust and spiderwebs cleaned. And while you're at it, recondition the clock so that it will remain in good working condition."
"Yes, Milady."
She scratched her head. "The watchtower. Is there anything interesting over there?"
Master Euclid shook his head. "It's just a watchtower, Milady."
"Would you like to go and take a look, Love?" Cedric offered.
"Can we? All this talk of ancient lore has gotten me quite interested."
"The blizzard is blowing outside. We have nothing better to do with our time but to explore this castle."
Talia nodded with excitement. "Let's do it."
The original footprint of the castle was not that large. It was more a small fortress keep than it was a palace built for royalty.
"As you can see, right here, Milady."
Master Euclid pointed to an inner wall that was comprised of large flat boulders of diorite stone that had been fitted together seamlessly without any hint of mortar.
"This was one of the original walls."
He turned and looked at her. "We are standing at what used to be the outside of the castle."
"Half of the inn is not even within the original castle?"
"That's right, Milady. The kitchens, inner courtyard, long dining hall, and the west wing is part of the original castle. Everything else was added much later and expanded upon the original."
As they continued to move towards the south side of the inn, Master Euclid paused.
"This is where the original castle ends." He placed his hand right at a spot somewhere towards the middle of a hallway.
"How…how can you tell that the castle ends there?"
Master Euclid pointed to the floor a few feet away.
"The castle was built upon a solid flat cut stone that jutted out from the castle by about three feet. Over there is where that flat cut stone ends which would make this spot the end point."
He pointed upwards at the ceiling. "See that pattern?"
Talia looked up and nodded, noticing a strange watermark.
"That's a water stain pattern that happened over time, when the ground began shifting and the edges began to pull apart."
"Is it dangerous? Will the roof cave?"
Master Euclid shook his head. "No no. It's all been reinforced and fixed, but the stain remains because no matter how much we paint over it, the stain reappears."
"I see. I hope it's not mold." Talia sighed.
Master Euclid shook his head. "It's not. I've treated it."
He pointed towards the end of the hallway.
"That doorway leads to the base of the watchtower."
"Interesting that it's not part of the old castle." Cedric murmured as he and Talia followed the three dwarves to the end of the hallway.
"The clock tower was part of the old castle. The watchtower was a separate structure that became incorporated into the inn when it expanded into the size that it is today."
Master Euclid reached out for the door knobs.
"And here we are. The watchtower."
He turned the knobs and pushed at the doors. They swung into the darkened interior with a loud creak.