(Note: The chapter title has changed in the meantime.)



Chapter 1: The watchman.


Newcomers in town always drew much attention as Marjorie Simms found out while she walked through the square and sat down on the edge of the fountain.
Gossiping neighbors quickly turned their heads away when her eyes found them and pretended to be talking about anything but her.
Majo, as most people called her, was used to this coming from a small village herself. She was born in Orangelia a town to the west with a population of approximately a hundred and fifty inhabitants and started wandering the world at the age of nineteen. Her late father who was a traveling jeweler had left her with a smart sum of money to get her started.
After nineteen years in a quiet town she wanted to see everything there was to see on this world and as a child she had often dreamed of visiting the places her father spoke of.
Majo had spend three years in Earian, the largest city on Carrotus with a population of nine and a half million.
Thanks to her charming looks and her positive attitude in life she had managed to find a decent job as a typist for one of the richer people in town who had provided her with a fancy apartment in Gathorich, the oldest and most luxurious neighborhood in town.
Earian lay by the sea and many people came and went, she was an outgoing person that enjoyed meeting new people and she could listen for hours when someone new would come in to the tavern she visited frequently and told a fantastic tale of hare and beast; and far away lands.
After three years Majo found it was time to move on, she packed all of her belongings and quit her day job to travel, through the lands where she experienced the most fantastic things life had to offer.
Majo saw the sun rise over the mills of Pneum Arlik, bathed in the lake of Farodine which supposedly blessed anyone who entered it and was situated in the most beautiful green valley on the planet.
She toured through the mines of Aroroth and visited the underground castle which, as legend tells, had been home to a mythical creature named Bruhn.
Majo had been on her way to New Carrotus, the capital city and still had a long way to go when she crossed Greenthorpe, a village with a rich history and a majestic mansion long since abandoned that had sparked her interest. She stood up and bought a small bag of golden-colored Talsian pears before heading for it and see which parts of the legend were true.
According to an old hare she had met in a tavern outside of Orleton the village was haunted by a ghost from it's own past often seen through the cracked windows of the mansion.
Majo left the village and made her way down the sandy path when she saw two boys resting in the grass.
"Don't go any further." Markie jumped up and blocked her path.
Majo smiled and decided she'd play along with what was obvious a little game they were playing. "And why would I not continue brave sir?"
She saw the fear in his face and in the face of the child still sitting in the grass and wondered if something else was going on.
"Are you two alright?" Her question remained unanswered for a few moments while the boys wondered if they could trust her.
Tim got up and walked over to Markie. 'She's not from around here, maybe we can tell her.' He whispered in his friends ear.
Markie nodded as he looked over the girl in front of him "There's a ghost in there, miss. We just saw him." He shuddered again at the thought.
Majo smiled and sank through her knees a little to level herself with the faces of the boys. "Tell you what, why don't I go in there to tell him to leave the innocent boys alone from now on."
Tim and Markie looked at each other, there mothers had only told them he eats children so they both figured the young woman had nothing to fear. They nodded in agreement.

Majo walked trough the gate onto the path that led towards the mansion. The door stood open, as if the house was inviting her to come inside.
The gate creaked as she walked down the path. This might have scared the children leading them into believing the place was haunted.
She walked into the hallway and covered her nose with her sleeve, just as Markie had done before her.
Majo took a quick look around. The place was disgusting that was clear, a few dead rats here and there, but certainly no ghosts.
A sound in the room beyond drew her attention and she walked over into the drawing room, the windows let through little sunlight and darkness enveloped most of it.
Her imagination seemed to be running wild since it looked as if a person was sitting in the chair facing the windows.
"Hello, is someone there?" She asked against better judgment.
The person in the chair clutched the arm and leaned over the side to take a look at his visitor.
A tired man with deep, dark eyes stared at her for a moment and then sank back into the chair without speaking a word.
Majo´s heart positively raced in her troath over this other presence in the house and she ran back to the door leading outside, but as she reached it to take one last look she saw that the tired man was still sitting in his armchair facing the window. Piles of books surrounded him, coated in the dust of decades.
Majo slowly walked back. The man might be a traveler like her, he was pale and tired but there was no sign of him being either a ghost or monster.
"Are you alright, sir?" She asked cautiously and her hand touched the back of the chair.
As she gazed down at him another wave of dread ran through her body.
His shirt hang open, buttons ripped off rather violently. His skin as pale as a blanket of virgin snow and his eyes were blank, void of life.
"Sir?" She asked again but the man did not respond, he merely turned his empty eyes towards her and coughed.
Majo looked around the room and noticed one door that stood ajar giving her a look into the bathroom beyond. She ran in there, turned on a rusty old faucet and filled a cup that stood on a shelf underneath the bathroom mirror with water. She ran back to the man and offered him the drink. "Take this sir." He looked like he could use it.
But he held up his hand and politely refused. "Thank you miss, but I am not thirsty for water." His voice was so soft that she could hardly hear him.
He got up out of his chair with what seemed like the weight of the world on his broad shoulders trying to hold him down.
The tired man took a few paces towards her, like an infant who just learned how to walk and fell down on his knees.
"I think we need to see a doctor, sir. You are not well." But the man waved her comments away.
"I will be fine miss, I always am, please take a seat and let me prepare something to eat for you, I must..." He coughed again and sat down on the floor.
Majo walked over to him still holding the glass of water. "Why don't you wait here while I go and get a doctor."
"No!" The man screamed as he managed to get up on his feet again. Majo took a step back color flushed over his body as he screamed but left right away turning him into the weak man he was before.
"Trust me, this has happened before, I'll be fine." Majo took a seat and allowed him a moment to recover, he walked into another room and left her waiting in here.
She drew open the curtains and thousands of particles of dust danced in the sunlight. A frightened spider shot out from behind a vase covered in cobwebs.
Between the two windows hung an old family portrait that caught her attention. A friendly looking man and a beautiful young woman both had a hand on the shoulders of a young boy in the middle that resembled the pale man she had met minutes before. She rubbed the small golden plaque attached to the frame underneath the canvas clean of the filth that had gathered on it and read 'Greenthorpe family portrait. 1242.'
"That makes it over two hundred years old." She mumbled to herself as the sound of footsteps behind her revealed that the tired hare had returned.
To her surprise she noticed that the color had returned to his face and his fur was thicker and softer then it had been before.
He walked up straight and his eyes that had looked so hollow before were so warm and friendly now. "My name is Louie Greenthorpe." He said as he reached out his hand.
"I'm sorry if my appearance before has upset you."