heard of the place. I’m sure it’s nice, though.”
Linda nodded, then sighed and took a seat on a low stool beside the armoire. She propped her head up on one hand, elbow on knee. “I’m probably going crazy.”
“Such talk, and from a pretty young girl like you.”
“This is probably a hospital, and you’re probably a nurse, and I’m hallucinating the rest.”
“A nurse, mum? Me? Oh, I’m much too old.” She put a hand to her ample bosom. “Dried up long ago, I did. I’ve nursed a few whelp in my time, though. I certainly did.”
“That’s not —” Linda giggled. “God, this is so nutty.” She watched the maid fit the bed with fresh sheets.
When Rawenna was done, she tucked the sheets in, drew up the beautifully quilted bedspread and smoothed out the creases.
“I don’t even know how I got here. Or why I’m here.”
Rawenna stooped and slid out the chamber pot.
“I didn’t use that.”
She pushed it back under the bed.
“I don’t know if I can. I guess I’ll have to.”
“If you prefer to use the bath, mum, it’s just down the corridor.”
Linda brightened. “You have a bathroom? With a toilet?”
“A water closet, you mean? Yes, we do. Some of the Guests prefer it. Others … well, like me, they’re used to what they’re used to.”
“Guests?”
“Why, yes. The other Guests.”
“But I’m not a guest. I can’t be. No one invited me here.”
Rawenna looked at her. “How did you come to be here, mum? If you don’t mind my asking.”
Linda rubbed her forehead with a palm. “You’ll think I’m crazy.”
“Not at all.”
“I was in the closet, in my bedroom. At home, where I live …” She threw up her hands. “Oh, I can’t even say it, it sounds so insane.”
Rawenna considered it. “Sounds to me as though you got yourself lost, and found yourself in the castle. Am I right?”
Linda spread her arms wide. “Sounds good to me.”
“Then you’re a Guest, all right.” Rawenna finished with the bed and gathered up the sheets she had draped over the footboard.
“But who am I a guest
“Why, of His Lordship.”
“His Lordship? Well, it fits.” Linda stood up. “Does he have a name?”
“Incarnadine is his name, mum.”
“Incarnadine. That’s his full name?”
With both hands Rawenna whumped the sheets into a manageable pile. “No. He’s called Incarnadine of the House of Haplodite, King of the Western Pale, Liege Lord, Protector of the — Oh, it goes on and on.”
“I see.” More to herself, she said, “A genuine castle, and a genuine feudal lord-type person.”
“Beg pardon, mum?”
“Oh, nothing.”
“Would you be wanting breakfast in your room, mum? Or would you care to join some of the other Guests?”
“I suppose I should meet them. Maybe they know something about all this.”
“Two floors down in the small dining hall, mum. I’ll take you there if you wish.”
“Thank you — after I take a shower, or a bath? It’s been two days. The other night I slept in a dusty old storage room full of crates.”
Rawenna shook her head and clucked. “Pity, a young lady of good breeding having to do that. We send out the men every night to gather up any new Guests, but … sometimes I think this drafty old place is just
Linda laughed. “
“I’ll fetch some fresh towels for you.”
Keep — Somewhere Else
“Snowclaw.”
“What?”
“Is it my imagination, or is the ceiling lower than it was a minute ago?”
The great albino arctic beast came over to where Gene was standing. He looked up, then brought his gaze down to peer at the juncture of floor and wall. “It’s your imagination,” he said. “What’s really happening is that the floor is rising.” He absently scratched his furry stomach with one clawed finger. “Either way, let’s get out of here.” He yawned, recovered with the snap of his toothy jaws slamming shut. “Great White Stuff! I’m tired. Hungry too.”
“Over here.”
“We just came through there.”
“Couldn’t’ve. This doorway wasn’t here a second ago. I watched it appear.”
“Damn. I’m getting confused.”
Snowclaw followed Gene into a small foyerlike area with three more arched doorways leading to other rooms. The place was bare, as were most of the chambers they had been passing through for the last hour or so.
“Which way?” Gene asked.
“The floor’s still rising in here too.”
“This way?”
“Fine with me.”
They chose the left exit, moved through another small room, this one with a single exit leading into a narrow corridor. Following it, they went straight for a good distance, then to the left at an L. The corridor then went into a series of lefts and rights, finally debouching into a room that looked identical to the one in which they had first noticed the rising floor — stone walled, bereft of furnishings, and somewhat trapezoidal.
“Right back where we started.”
“Maybe,” Snowclaw ruminated.
“Well, we’ll just go back to that foyer and take another … oh, hell.”
“What foyer?”
“Great.”
Snowclaw pointed to the doorway straight ahead. “Did you see that one appear … just now?”
“No, I was looking —”
“Look at it!”
The doorway was moving slowing to the right, drifting over the stone like a reflection over the surface of a pond, yet carrying the room beyond with it. It began to pick up speed, sliding toward the far wall.
“Run for it!” Snowclaw said.
They did. As if to elude capture, the doorway put on a burst of speed and disappeared enigmatically into the corner. Now the room was exitless.
“Wonderful,” Gene said.
“Here comes another one.”
They walked along the wall to meet it. This doorway was moving at a more leisurely pace. It opened onto a stairwell going up.
“Should we?” Snowclaw asked.
