Xanthos, Prince Kairo and I were able to make it back to the castle this morning, though it took us nearly three days to do so. Xanthos said the trip there had only taken one full day. Perhaps it was Kairo's annoying gambol that took us so long, or perhaps the frequent encounters with skeletons. It seemed like they were combing the countryside, looking for something. When we got to the castle, I realized what it was they were looking for: Survivors.

As we reached the clearing, the mephitic odor of death filled the air. It reminded me of the rotten stench of a compost heap, but on a much larger scale. Decomposition seemed the only active process still taking place. Insects flew about the desolate wreckage, in search of an easy meal, and rudimentary fungi were cropping up in the hollows of the broken rock. Nothing of the castle remained standing. The iron portcullis pay to the side, bent almost in half, as if struck by the hand of one of the gods. Indeed, the destruction seemed to only be feasible by celestial nature. Xanthos and Kairo, with looks of disbelief etched upon their faces, stumbled up to the edge of the rubble. Neither could see how such destruction could be accomplished in such a short amount of time. They had only been gone four days. Even the fasted sieges of legend had not been completed in that time, and even they left the castle standing. Then Kairo set his foot upon the rubble, perhaps to search for some survivors, but when he did the stones crepitated and clattered, as the bones of skeletons often do. Kairo immediately fled back into the forest, at such a sound.

Later, I was able to find him a short way into the woods, sobbing uncontrollably. He could not take the loss. Everyone he had ever known had lived at this castle. All of his family, all of his friends, he even felt the loss of those with whom he had quarreled. He regretted all the things he didn't say, all the opportunities he had missed. I think his lone wish would have been to have told his parents he loved them before he had gone of on a crazy crusade. But now he couldn't do that. In a short period of time, his life had been smashed, as if by a sledge hammer, and now all he could do was pick up as many pieces as possible, and try to reassemble the mess.

Xanthos fared only slightly better. He was able to control himself until he could walk back into the forest. There, insular in the depths of the woods, he could permit his emotions to overthrow his facade of peace. I could hear him shouting, even though he had gone into the forest. I knew he needed the isolation, so I didn't even try to follow him.

I let both of them go about their sorrow. I have known great misery before, and I can usually see the light which only comes after a great darkness. But I also know that sometimes, some introspective reflection is best suited to alleviating one's depression. And so, I left them to their own devices, and tried to accomplish something useful.

Though I was not as afflicted as they, this wanton destruction still embittered me. Though these people had cast me from their society, I felt their loss. No one should be capable of committing such atrocities. There were civilians among the castle staff, people who had no military experience, and would pose no threat to an invading army. Under normal circumstances, these people would have been spared. But strewn among the wreckage, I found some bits of clothing, much of it the simple garments of peasants and serfs. At this point, even my outrage was rising to a dangerous crescendo.

I had been in the castle a few times before, and usually at night, so I was able to find my way about the interior of the castle, even though the walls were no longer there. In a short time, I was able to find the cellars, and know that if anything was intact, this was where it would be.

As I neared the location, I saw the door to the stairs, or rather, the splintered remnants of it. I worked at clearing the debris from where I expected the stairs to be. There was a depression in the pile of shattered stone, so I started my work there. I was assuming that the stones had fallen reasonably evenly, and so the depression would have indicated a lower initial ground level. Of the work, I have only one thing to say, and that is that I never want to work in a stone quarry, or with stone construction. Even the small blocks were ridiculously heavy. After nearly every other one, I would be required to take a break.

By noon, I had managed to clear about half the ruble, but I knew I wouldn't be able to keep up with my pace too long into the afternoon. So I left my work for a bit of lunch. The rotten smell of death clung to my clothes, shadowing me everywhere I went. This stanched my appetite, but I was able to find a small stream and wash up. There I found some berries, which made a wonderful lunch. I know all the books say I should eat more, but I just can't bring myself to do it. I always think it will ruin my figure, which I really don't want to have happen now. I mean, Xanthos is really cute, even when he's sad and pissed off.

But that is beside the point. Once I was done eating, I went and looked for Kairo. He seemed to have cried himself out, and was sitting on a stump, dragging a stick through the ground. He was so lost in his own thoughts that he didn't even look up when I walked up to him. I sat down and talked to him for a while, trying to convince him that he needed to keep going. Its what his parents would have wanted. But about halfway through the conversation, he broke into tears again. But I was able to convince him to help me. So I walked with him back to the remains of the castle, and just let him try to recover from his sorrows.

Then I went after the other whiny one. I found him deeper in the woods, in a clearing of smashed trees. It seemed as though he was more angry than depressed. He was similarly sitting on a log, though he had his sword with him, and was chopping a stick into tiny bits with it. However, he looked up and said a curt "hi" to me as I approached. I sat down with him, and put my arm around him, rubbing his back. I wanted to try and be as nice as possible to him. He was much easier to convince to help me. I'm not sure if it was some intrinsic charm of mine, or whether he just wanted to get moving, and take his mind off the catastrophe.

I walked him back to the castle, keeping my arm around him, both as a comfort to him and to me. With the three of us working to clear the rocks away together, we made much better progress. By the time the gloaming set in, we had cleared away a small hole into the cellar. I didn't want to chance trying to enlarge the hole, because I didn't want anything to collapse, and ruin all of our hard work. So I squeezed through the hole and into the black abyss beyond.

I was immediately lost in the darkness. I could see the small twinkle of light behind me, letting me know that I was not irrevocably lost. But that was all. I cast a quick light spell, and a small bauble appeared in my hand. Its glow illuminated the horrors of the room.

There was a heavy wooden table in the center of the room, with some assorted papers on it. But what startled me was the twelve figures around the table. They were all seated, and seemed to be engaged in some sort of heated discussion. But they were all dead. Their skin was drawn taught about their bones, and was dry and flaking. Clothing hung loosely about them, and their gaunt figures. Their faces were especially disquieting. Their eyelids and lips were drawn back, having shrunk with the dehydration. The remaining faces seemed to bulge out at me, and stare with haunting grins. It seemed as though the life had simply been sucked out of them where they sat, completely ignorant to the occurrence.

Turning my eyes away from them, I was able to move past the table with only minimal frightened shuddering. Near one of the back walls, I was able to find some provisions. In one barrel was a leg of salted pork. I knew that would keep for some time, and be of use to us on our journey, so I grabbed it and put it into a sack I had procured for this exact reason. I was also able to find a few wine skins, which I figured we could refill as we went. But besides that, there were very few food items in this cellar. I attribute that to the coming fall. The people were expecting to be able to be able to bring in their harvests, and start hunting, and storing up for winter. But they hadn't been able to. This would undoubtedly make our adventure that much more difficult.

Snaking back past the table, I threw the bag ahead of me through the hole, then followed by crawling through myself. Kairo seemed interested in what I found in the cellar, but I didn't want to tell him about the bodies, and start another crying fit, so I stuck to the lack of food. He seemed to accept this story, though I think it was more because its what he wanted to believe, rather than what he actually thought.

By this point we all wanted to get away from the destroyed castle. It was becoming depressing, and the odor was only getting worse. I led them back to the stream I had found, and we pitched camp there. Using some of the sparse rations we had left, accented with some of the nearby berries, I think I managed to make a decent meal. It didn't receive any compliments, but dinner conversation was limited to begin with.

After the meal, both Kairo and Xanthos just wanted to go to sleep. I don't blame them, I wouldn't want to do a whole lot if my home was destroyed, and everyone I had ever known mysteriously disappeared. But I guess the only thing we can do now is keep going. At the conclusion of our travels, we should meet the mastermind behind these heinous atrocities. I'm sure that both Kairo and Xanthos will be more than happy to wreak their vengeance upon him when that event occurs.

Perhaps tomorrow will have a better outlook, but that will only be told by future events. I'm looking forward to it, though. This should be an exciting adventure, even if just because it will be a break from the monotony of my cottage. And who knows what will lie, just around the river bend.

From the hand of Diarie.