The countryside flew by the silver sedan as the vehicle trudged along to its destination. It had been an hour or so since they had last seen signs of civilization. Nothing but a dense forest and a few mountain peaks beginning to appear. Night had fallen and the winter storm they had hoped to avoid was closing in, making their already stressful travel more dangerous. The higher the road climbed the more Caius cursed under his breath. “Shortcut my a**..”

”I'm sorry...I was just following the map that shop owner gave us.”The timid voice next to him chimed in and he glanced over at his sister who was huddled in the passenger seat, her gaze set on the landscape outside her slightly foggy window. Caius frowned, pausing for a moment before reaching over and ruffling her tawny hair. “You did good, Tahnya, I'm just anxious to make it home. It will be nice to finally be home after the past few months.” She only offered a small smile in response but he knew that was a good sign. It had been very convenient that her plane from college and his from a lecture landed about the same time so that they could travel back home for the holidays together. This was not the way he would normally have driven them home but the road they normally took to Salzburg from Vienna had been shut down in anticipation for the blizzard that would hit the cities close to the Alps.

Caius didn't think that the road was supposed to go through the Alps; after all wasn't that what they had tried to avoid? It was an unfamiliar scene to him so he wasn't sure but what other mountains could they be? As the snowfall began to thicken he reached down to adjust the heat in the car, taking his eye s off the road for just a moment when Tahnya's hand shot out towards the front end. “Look out!” Caius looked up to see the shadowy outline of what looked like a person in the middle of the road up ahead. He cursed again as he tried to break but the road was too slippery, his only choise was to try and swerve to avoid them. At the last moment he was able to pull to the left and just barely passed the figure. Tahnya rose and turned to look out the back window – who or whatever had been there was not visible anymore – and came back just in time to see the “dead end” sign in the road that appeared out of no where before her brother drove through it.

Beyond the road became a rough-hewn road, as if they had stopped construction for whatever reason. The path then descended slightly into the tree line and even though he tried his best to avoid it the large tree came out of nowhere like the figure. What happened next was a blur of broken glass, the sound of metal connecting with wood, and darkness. Caius blacked out for a few moments but came to as the sound came back and the car horn woke him. The tree was smack dead in the center of the hood, and luckily they had both been wearing their seat belts.. Pushing back from the steering wheel he looked over to his sister. She was slumped over in her seat but was still breathing. He had to check on her, and to do that he had to get out and go to her side. Trying his door he found it was jammed but his window was one of the ones that broke. Carefully he managed to climb out with minimal cuts and staggered over to the passenger side of the car.

Her door opened with a bit of effort and he examined her as best he could. “Tahnya? Tahnya, can you hear me? Wake up sis!” It took a bit but she finally opened her eyes. “”Thank God, are you alright? Can you get up”

“Ugh, I think so.” Tahnya looked up at him and took the hand he offered as she tried to get up. A sharp pain ran up her left leg and she gasped, looking down to see what was wrong. The tree had gone a bit further onto her side and collapsed part of the front end onto her leg from her shin down. Caius saw how she was stuck and immediately went to work, running to the trunk of the car and looking for his emergency kit. Amidst their suitcases was the emergency kit and the crowbar he kept along with the jack to take care of replacing a busted tire. It was the only thing he had to try and pry her free. It took him nearly fifteen minutes but he had jimmied the interior wreck of the car to loosen it from around her leg enough to pull her free. He took her under her arms and under her knees to craddle her and with a tug got her out of the car. There was a pretty bad gash and bruises were starting to form already. Setting her in the back seat he went back to the emergency kit for the first aid things to bandage her up. As he worked on her wound e handed her a blanket to wrap around her shoulders.

“Caius, what are we going to do? The storm is getting worse and we can't stay in the car, we'll freeze.” She looked worried and although he was focusing his energy to be strong for her he was worried too. The bandages would hold for a bit, but if they didn't find shelter soon it wouldn't matter.

“We're going to have to find something.” he replied, taking her up in his arms again; she wouldn't be able to walk easily, this was the best solution. It did, however, mean they had to leave their things behind. Closing the door he took off back up to where they had veered off. Tahnya pulled the blanket tighter around her and leaned against him, hoping that they could share a bit of warmth. Back up on the unmarked road, he could see both the broken sign about 10 yards off and another path ahead of them leading up further into the forest. Maybe they could find a cave or something to wait out the storm in, where he could use his phone to try and contact someone to rescue them. Beneath the trees the snowfall was manageable and the boughs shielded them from the worst of it. This path wound higher and higher from the crash, and for about an hour he trudged along before Tahnya pointed up ahead above the tree line.

“Look, what is that?” Looking up he saw a light from a tiny window up in a tower. Had they found a house of some kind? A sudden burst of adrenaline at the thought of real shelter pushed him on until they came into the clearing that housed not a house but what could only be described as a small castle. Who would have thought a castle would be up in the mountains, very well hidden by the forest it resided in. The siblings were in awe at the sight of the building and the closer they got the larger the castle seemed. Climbing the front staircase he set Tahnya down and examined the large door that towered a good fifteen feet above the landing. There was a large metal ring hanging from the door but as he reached for it to knock he brushed against it and it creaked open enough for them to pass through. Caius was beginning to feel uneasy about this place but as the wind picked up behind them he knew they had no other choice. Picking up his sister once again they passed into the entrance of the castle and closed the door behind them.

Beyond the door was a great hall that gave the first impression of what they could expect from the rest of the castle. The interior was deteriorating and dusty from what appeared to be neglect and years of abandonment. But hadn't he seen a light upstairs, as if there were inhabitants. The grand staircase lay at the other end of the hall, and a few rooms littered the first floor. The one closest on their right was ajar and he decided to inspect it. Good choice as a study of sorts lay beyond, with an unlit fireplace, a couch, and a set of armchairs surrounded by bookshelves on the walls, concealed slightly by moth eaten cloth in an attempt to keep them from gathering dust. Carefully he laid her on the couch and settled her in before inspecting the fireplace to see if there was a way to light it. A stack of logs already rested within, he just needed to find some matches. Longingly he thought of the lighter back in the car with his cigarettes, but that was a far off dream.

Instead he turned to the bookshelves in the hopes that he'd get lucky. Pulling down a few of the cloths he marveled at the old leather bound books, most with titles in an old language he couldn't read. With sheer luck there was a small box on a third shelf that he recognized immediately and taking it he counted the matches within as he crossed back to the fireplace. 10 left, he would have to be careful. As Tahnya watched Caius took a few blank papers he had found on the same shelf and rolled them individually, sticking them in between the logs. Finally he was ready for the matches and he murmured softly, “Please be kind...” One match. Two matches. Three matches gone without success in getting the fire to start beyond burning the paper. At this rate they were going to run out and then where would they be? Striking the fourth match he set it to the paper again near the base and waited until the fire burned down close to his finger tips. He saw that the paper caught, but waited with bated breath to see if it would stay. The paper began to burn out and he shut his eyes angrily, grateful that Tahnya couldn't see his face. Suddenly, he heard a faint crackling and his eyes shot open – there was the beginning of a promising fire. Resisting the urge to exclaim with joy, he moved back to the book shelves to find more paper. After several minutes and with ample stoking they finally had a roaring fire. Sighing, Caius settled on the floor resting his back against the couch. “Well...here we are. Let's rest up a bit.”

“Yes...but where is here?”