"They will not come". The old but majestic figure pours some wine into his glass, sitting on the far end of the long dinner table, accompanying a series of empty chairs. The sound of wine hitting the floor of the glass rang through the silence of the empty dining, the hallway, the stairways and throughout the castle. He empties the glass, and stares at the ceiling. A shadow of a bat hovering near the ceiling could be seen in the dim lamplight.
"... at the time of the flood, I opened wide the castle door. My lands drowned, but hundreds of people were saved. And now, when I require them the …