"The Castle Pilots" by Heathcroft

Mixed Medium • Fantasy • posted on Aug 07, 2008

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Description

Digby left our earthly realm last August exactly a year ago, aged 15. For some months before he died, he would, at the same time on each evening, stare intently for 30 minutes or so at a spot on a wall in our house, beyond which lies our garden, the sea, and further away, about 2 miles across the bay, Gorey Castle, which has become the focus of these stories.

Whether you believe in an afterlife or not, it is strange that he looked in that exact direction so long and so regularly each night before he died.

So allow me to let the venerable Count Tyrannus tell you about Digby (he does it so much better than I ever could.)

"Ah - My Children, so you wish to know more about The Castle Pilots?

Here they are up close and personal and also in the new Hind Gunship which brought them to our rescue in the last post. Digby (of course) is on the left.

Things are now quiet, the slaves are sleeping, chained to their iron bunks for their own safety, and the warriors are off duty (somewhere recreational no doubt.) So I will, if I may, tell you more about The Castle Pilots.

Pilot Officer Digby (First Class, C.D.M. with bar) is our link to the World of Men. He brings Dr. Cannibal Spectre to the Castle each month at the time of the full moon, when I rise from my crypt and prepare for the monthly feast.

Digby had a fine career in the S.A.S. and was known as 'The Shadow' as he was never seen by the enemy before he struck. He travelled widely and secretively in the World of Men and excelled quietly in theatres of war such as Bosnia, Croatia, Iraq and Afghanistan, stopping off on leave to acquaint himself with the prettier lady spaniels in the various cities en route to his destinations.

Digby sired 4 litters (that he admits to, anyway) and has a total of 38 pups, many of who now are pilots in the Russian Air Force. You can see two of them in the picture.

Whilst in Russia, Digby made a commercial killing by finding a source of cheap perfume and exporting it in vodka bottles to the West, where its was repackaged in fancy bottles and flew off the shelves in its new branding of 'Moscow Nights'. The ingredients are a well kept secret, but I can vouch that before it was bottled it had to be diluted by a factor of 1000 before it could be sold to the Western market. One whiff of the powerful yellow 'essence' would made one's eyes water, and could induce hallucinations.

Having finished two tours with the Regiment, and by then a multi-millionaire, Digby went freelance, just to keep his paw in, and that is when my spies heard of his covert skills and contacted him in his villa in St. Moritz. He immediately agreed to be the link between our world and yours, and also agreed to visit us each month with our special visitor, the good Doctor Spectre.

It was on one of these visits that the dragons of Garnsea attacked us and Digby decided to obtain the Hind gunship and trade in the Castle Sikorski, which was a bit old and knackered (rather like me.)

And Barnaby? Well, Digby has a soft spot for his dopey son, and tries as best he can to accommodate the soppy spaniel. So, useless as Barnaby is as a navigator, when passing his Island home, Dad picks him up for the ride out to the Castle.

So there you have it My Children. Now to business: " Seaglemus, fetch me that haunch of peasant and a flagon of wine. I am ravenous!"

All comments welcome! Thanks for dropping by!
Dave
Previously....