Title: Castling
Date: August 2002
Author: The Pimpernel
Rating: At a guess PG13 for bad words, innuendo and
gratuitous use of cliche.
Classification: S
Keywords: X file, UST
Spoilers:  Anything's fair game up to season 8.
Feedback: I'd be stunned but if you want to I promise to
reply when I've picked the keyboard up off the floor. -
thepimpernel@waitrose.com
Archive: I'd be even more stunned but go ahead. It's
written to be read.
Disclaimer: Fanfic is a self indulgence of the non fattening
type for neither body nor bank account.
In other words any reference to characters created by Chris
Carter real or imaginary is purely deliberate but they're not
mine.

Summary: Things go bump in the night at a ghost ridden
castle - surprise.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**

Part 1 of 6

It was a dark and stormy night. The wind rolled heavy
bulbous clouds menacingly across the sky, and caused the
sea beneath to broil and writhe, driven forward to crash with
loud crescendo against the high craggy cliffs. The waves
split asunder, scattering into a thousand splintered droplets
that hardly had time to fall before being driven by the wind
into the rocks. The wind eddied up the cliff face to find
release at the top where it could again charge forward, this
time across the short tufted grass of the cliff top almost
flattening the blades to the ground with its ferocity. It
gathered small items in its travels; twigs, stones, feathers,
paper, flotsam and jetsam from the sea and land which it
carried and tossed along in its wake before they were
brought to a sudden shuddering halt as they hit the solid
grey walls of the castle.

Splendid in its proportions, solid against the elements,
magnificent in it's outlook. The walls were unmoved by the
blasting they were receiving. They had seen it many times
before, had withstood the barrage with only the odd chip in
the stone or a scratch in the moss and lichens covering the
stone leaving a bare strip on the wall. The walls stood
defying the wind its unrelenting course. The wind intent
upon its direction, not to be denied, hunted up, down and
round. Here and there it squeezed itself through gaps and
notches, under doors, to whistle through keyholes and rattle
through gaps in the windows. To create draughts that
scooted gleefully along the flagstones in the great hall
gathering dust balls, twitched the tapestries hanging from
the walls, even reaching the pennants hanging from the
beamed ceiling. The flagstones gave way to oak plank floor,
grained, worn and aged with the passing of years.

A dust ball was caught in a draught that tossed it across the
room and under a dark oak battened door. Further the dust
ball was pushed, down a creaking wooden staircase,
spiralling down to cracked broken flagstones, damp and
mouldy in places but nothing yet to halt the dust ball's
progress. On across this new room was it pushed or maybe
it was pulled now, past chains, shackles, a still glowing
brazier with cooling branding irons and pincers. To be
brought up short, suddenly in a pool of congealing blood in
the heart of the castle dungeon. The life of the dust ball
coming to a sticky end.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

In the bowels of a building in Washington DC, lurked a
device capable of inflicting grievous torture on innocent
unsuspecting citizens. Dana Scully was currently being
subjected to this evil device being wielded by the hands of a
merciless persecutor. Fox Mulder was giving a slide show in
the x-files office, situated in the basement of the FBI
building.

"A castle Mulder?" she said incredulously. "Don't tell me,
let me guess.. Uhmm" she said putting her hand to her
forehead in mock concentration "... It's haunted?" she
added sarcastically.

"OK, I wont tell you its haunted, just that three people have
died at this tourist attraction in the last six months," he
replied.

"And the vague connection to an x-file?" she asked.

"The resident ghost is being blamed."

"A ghost?" she queried sceptically.

Mulder grinned while shrugging himself into his jacket "It's
not my interpretation..."

He saw her gearing up to a diatribe on ghosts and walked
towards the door of the office, deliberately waiting a few
seconds for her to take a deep breathe before stalling her
with "Skinner phoned down earlier. I was just looking up
some details while I was waiting for you. He wants us in his
office yesterday."

With which he opened the office door and indicated she
should proceed him out, all the while trying to keep his face
straight but his eyes twinkled. He knew she hated it when he
doled out bits of information. Sometimes it was necessary,
he needed someone to look at each piece of data with a fresh
outlook, to give him scenarios he might not have thought of.
Other times he did it just to watch her face, he just couldn't
resist. At some point during their years of working together
she'd cottoned on to this and tried hard and often succeeded
not to rise to his bait. However, occasionally he managed to
press one of her buttons and it made the game all worth
while.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"This one should be right up your alley Mulder," Skinner
said as he handed a copy of the case notes to the two agents.
Mulder realised later that was deep irony on Skinner's part.

"Three victims in the last six months, two died from
multiple stab wounds, weapon or weapons unknown. One
was a man from Social Services the other an undercover
drugs cop trailing a suspected drug dealer. Apparently
unrelated apart from the type and number of wounds. The
guy from Social Services was chasing up illegal immigrants.
His latest paper work can't be found but a colleague seems
to think he'd recognised an illegal immigrant deported last
year posing under a different name. The cop reported his
last location as Castle Ghaistrid, a well known tourist
attraction in the area providing ghost hunting weekends
amongst other things."

Scully who had been glancing at the autopsy reports said
"There's nothing ghostly about this pattern of stab
wounds... or the number, twenty covering the entire body
neck to ankle. Not only that but the stab wounds differ in
size and depth indicating multiple weapons."

"There's only circumstantial evidence that relates these two
deaths to Castle Ghaistrid. The other death..." Skinner
handed them another file. "Someone fell from a window. It
sounds like a stupid accident but there were claims that he
was pushed... by a ghost. He was on vacation with his wife.
The guy was a cop, it's a consideration that he might have
seen something he shouldn't. An investigation was done but
nothing suspicious was found. Guests reported strange noises
and things that go bump in the night but nothing concrete.
The owners indicate there's a genuine haunt, sightings
reported by various witnesses over the last two hundred years
or so but not in that part of the building. No doubt bad for
business if the ghosts start killing people. The case was
going to be dropped but the wife's kicking up quite a stink
so the local office has requested that the ghostly element
either be substantiated or refuted so they can better direct
their resources. You have been requested specifically."

"Prove that the ghost doesn't exist?" said an astonished
Scully.

"Well aren't we just the flavour of the month!" chimed in
Mulder not overjoyed at the prospect.

"But it says here that a masquerade party was going on.
Isn't that a likely reason for seeing ghosts if there was one?"
continued Scully.

"There were no ghosts at the party, it's been checked. That's
your assignment agents. The local office will fill you in on
the details. You'll be reporting to SAC Wilson. Your flight
leaves in an hour so I suggest you hustle." Skinner was curt
because he was as equally embarrassed by the assignment
but the request had come from on high so he had little
choice in the matter.

Mulder and Scully looked at each other as they rose to
leave, they were in accord, both thought this was a crap
assignment even if it was for different reasons. Scully
wouldn't be so disrespectful as to mutter under her breathe
in Skinner's presence but Mulder was less reticent. He
addressed Scully as they exited the door "I just need to get
my ectoplasmic detector gun from the office before we
leave Scully."

Outside Scully retorted "I'd have thought ghost busting was
right up your alley Mulder."

"Yeah, but being sent on a wild ghost chase isn't!"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*


At the local office SAC Wilson was filling the agents in on
the details.

"We were pretty stalled on this investigation when your
name came up as someone with a less conventional
approach. It looked like an open and shut case. Man has one
too many to drink at a party and falls out of an open
window. Happens all too often, but Mrs Younge insists he
was checking something out and that she saw this headless
ghost coming down the stairs shortly after her husband went
up them. And before you ask she hadn't been drinking party
or no. She's four months pregnant and insists she never
touched a drop of alcohol. She also insists that we
investigate the matter thoroughly and she has an influential
contact to ensure we keep investigating until we come up
with an acceptable answer. So I'd appreciate any light you
might be able to shed on this."

The agents gave a sympathetic nod.

Scully asked "I take it she doesn't believe in ghosts then
sir?"

"That I don't know, she just feels it was too convenient
given what he'd told her. Unfortunately, even with a crowd
of fifty people milling about no one else saw it. So I don't
care if you approach this laterally, bent over forwards or
backwards just get me an answer."

Mulder and Scully nodded again, he wasn't being nasty to
them, just frustrated at the situation.

"There's a special event at the castle this weekend, a
spiritualist medium is going to converse with the castle
dead. It's useful that you are a mixed team. We are going to
send you in separately so you can meet there and become
interested in each other. Past experience has shown this will
give you a good excuse to prowl the hallways without
arousing too much suspicion and appear too engrossed in
each other to be interested in any covert activities."

Mulder glanced at Scully but she was intent on reading her
cover story. Her lips were pursed but she didn't look too
sour, he hoped she could see the funny side. He grinned to
himself, there was a good side to this case after all. He got
to make blatant overtures at Scully and she had to
reciprocate. He'd get to do touchy feely stuff without her
clipping him round the ear... He thought about that a bit
longer. Okay there were limits but they would be a lot more
elastic than usual. Suddenly this assignment looked like fun,
they didn't get a lot of that. He paid a bit more attention to
what the SAC was saying.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Mulder walked in through the large wooden doorway and
into the great hall of Castle Ghaistrid. The hall was
impressive; a huge vaulted ceiling with great arched beams
from which pennants hung. The windows were leaded and
there was a substantial stone fireplace with an elaborate
overmantle carving complete with a log fire made up ready
to burn at one end. The basket and firedogs were of intricate
wrought ironwork with lions featuring prominently. There
was a pair of large leather bellows propped up in the corner
and a huge poker in the other. A vast oak table and chairs on
which stood refreshments for the welcome meeting
dominated the flagged hall. At the other end was a staircase,
presumably also of oak. It was typically wide and straight
with large landings and carried elaborately carved newel
posts. Various old weaponry from pole axes, spears and
pikes to maces, hand axes, swords and shields were
displayed on the walls.


There were about thirty people in the hall already. Overall
the conversation was subdued as people introduced
themselves apart from one loud couple whose laughter was
in keeping with the size of the room, and who seemed to be
making the other couple they were talking to extremely
uncomfortable. Mulder was a late arrival of course and he
was scanning the room, from atop the steps at the doorway.
As he made his way towards the refreshments he noticed the
Scottish theme to the food smoked and fresh salmon, haggis
- where had that come from, whisky flavourred mustard,
baps and balm cakes, smoked venison and drop scones.
He'd had a friend at Oxford who had been from Scotland,
his mother had taught him to make drop scones, porridge
and something they'd nicknamed cleggy before he left for
university so that he could get the good old taste of home.
Mulder preferred to forget the concoction of mince and
potatoes which had had a taste so far removed from edible
food even for an non picky student's palette like Mulder's,
but the drop scones with lashings of butter had always been
wonderful.

Mine host appeared as Mulder was filling his plate. He
introduced himself as Alasdair MacLeearie and indicated
another guy standing behind him as Alex Gileynour and
they'd be happy to be of service yada, yada, ya. He then
proceeded to give the welcome speech. The castle had
originally been on the West Coast of Scotland. Back in the
early 19th century the sixth son of the then laird Angus
MacLeearie had set sail to the Americas to make his fortune.
Which he duly did being of an engineering bent. Due to a
series of tragic misfortunes Angus was left as the inheriting
son. He'd gone back to Scotland to take up the mantle of
laird and of course had tried to introduce new practises and
modernisation. This had not gone down well with the local
populace and the long and the short of it was that
MacLeearie had left in high dudgeon, up and packed
everything including bricks and mortar and moved back to
America.

There followed a boring history of the rebuilding of the
castle and its uneventful life since, to which Mulder paid
little heed. As the presenter wound down extolling everyone
to have a good time but just one last thing before everyone
was shown to their rooms. It had been reported that the
castle was haunted. The ghost was reputed to belong to
James McKay, alias Red Jamie, who was said to have been
murdered in his bed by his wife who then married his
brother. They both came to a nasty end. It appeared that the
ghost had been transported along with the stones and
continued to haunt the rooms of the west wing. Of course no
one sleeping in those rooms should worry if they were to
hear bagpipes on the battlements or see an apparition in the
hallways. Apparently he was a ghastly sight, having had his
throat cut, and had scared some people but he had never
done anybody any harm. It was hoped that the medium
scheduled for tomorrow night would be able to
communicate with the ghost.

"What about the guy that died last month?" someone spoke
up from the back. Glad to see I'm not the only paranoid one
thought Mulder. That apparently had been an unfortunate
accident and had been in the East Turret anyway. They were
free to wander anywhere in the castle's public rooms or
grounds except the dungeons which were now considered
unsafe. Also the cook would appreciate it if they would avoid
the kitchens while meals were being prepared but for those
interested in architecture the roasting fireplace was
something to see. Drinks and snacks would always be
available in the library. Dinner would be served at seven
there was to be a mediaeval banquet this evening. Costumes
would be provided. So long as I don't get the jester's outfit
Mulder thought.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The bedrooms were traditional, with four-poster beds
complete with curtains, solid oak wardrobes and chest of
drawers. The walls were panelled but not as elaborately as
downstairs. The window looked out over the sea. It was a
lovely day, seagulls circling and calling and you could hear
the pounding of the waves against the cliffs. There was a
rustle of leaves as a gentle wind blew through the grass and
trees, just enough to cause a gentle ripple over the water.
The moat was quite wide, with water lilies spreading across
the surface, jostled slightly by the breeze. Dragonflies
flicked here and there, bees buzzed, it was all very idyllic.
All very normal.

Mulder had a bedroom in the east wing so did a quick prowl
of the hallways but there was not much to see just doors to
bedrooms, the waxed floorboards were exposed to either
side of the runner up the middle of the hall. There were a
few dark oak tables with various ornaments or vases of
flowers and in places evidence of ye genuine olde worlde
wood worm transported along with the stone and ghost.
Tapestries and paintings hung from the stone walls
interspersed with various old weapons. There was a suit of
armour at the juncture where the stairs meet the landing.
Great wooden stairs with carved posts but oddly, no door to
the turret.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

End part 1

Part 2 of 6

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**

In the meantime Scully had headed back down stairs to be
almost immediately accosted by a fellow guest. He
introduced himself as Keith Archer and doggedly kept her in
conversation. She walked round into the dining room and
then the library trying to shake him while pretending to
admire the architecture and wood panelling. Mulder should
have a field day with this she thought, all these possibilities
for secret passages and hidden doors. Filtering out Mr Archer,
as it didn't need much of her attention to listen to him drone
on, she allowed her mind a moment to wander. She caught
herself in a flight of fantasy debating how to amaze Mulder
by revealing a hidden door behind the bookshelves in the
library. She'd been seriously thinking that perhaps twisting
the centre of a shield or maybe pulling at one of the sconces
by the fireplace would cause a shelf unit to swing open.

"How did you hear about this place?" Mr Archer asked
dragging her back from her musings.

"My brother. He kept going on about such a feat of
engineering. How had they managed to get this amount of
stone across the Atlantic and the Continent without losing a
single piece. Just consider the weight of stone here let alone
the wooden beams, panels, staircases. Do you think they
transported all that too? I wonder how many shiploads it
took?"

If Scully had been trying to get rid of him she'd obviously
picked the wrong conversation. Archer gave ponderous
consideration to the weights, measures, logistics and how
much it must have cost. Possible ways of transportation,
how long it would take to dismantle numbering every stone,
then how long to reassemble. Did she detect the voice of an
accountant? When he mentioned he thought the records
were kept here in the library and moved to look for them
pulling her along with him, she was just praying for a priest
hole so she could lock him in it.

Just then she caught sight of Mulder leaning against the
doorframe. He was smirking, he must have been listening in
on their conversation. Archer was becoming positively
limpet like and getting far too close for her comfort. As her
own persona she could have dealt with him quite efficiently
but here she was trying not to draw too much attention to
herself. She hoped Mulder was going to intervene and not
just watch in amusement from the sidelines, they were
supposed to strike up a rapport after all. When it didn't look
like Mulder was going to come to her immediate rescue she
gave in and sent him a pleading look, carefully disguising
the 'I'll get you for this later' look. She wasn't entirely
successful but it stirred Mulder into action.

He strolled up to them in his inimitable style said "Hey,
babe I'm a ghost buster. Let me spirit you away from all
this."

With which he grabbed her by the elbow and ushered her
out of the room before she could more than smile
apologetically at Archer, who up to that point had been
unaware of Mulder's presence, having his back to the door
and had been too busy recounting dimensions to make more
than a token  'hey' as Scully was whisked out of the room.

"Mulder that was rude." She whispered at him once they
were out of the room.

"I thought I detected a plea winging its way along the
ephemeral plane in my direction, it was quite compelling.
Jim."

"Huh?"

"Jim Benyon ghost buster extraordinare, sideline in rescuing
damsels in distress. Pleased to meet you." He stuck out his
hand.

Another couple walked through the hall at that point causing
Scully to temper her response.

"Er, um. Heather Ferguson. I wasn't really a damsel in
distress," she said shaking his hand.

"Looked it to me, close to being bored to death. Anyway
one look at you and I was just fascinated by your aura. I just
knew you'd be receptive to my services. Do you find that
you're really sensitive to astral phenomena?"

She was going to kill him.

 "Very. Just the mention of it causes a knee jerk reaction."
she snapped sarcastically. Not adding the 'in a groin
direction'.

Mulder's eyes widened in surprise then his eyes gleamed in
anticipation, not of the thought of the knee and parts of his
anatomy but of the play.

Scully walked over to the noticeboard containing the list of
entertainments for the afternoon, Mulder at her heels. They
read the list, croquet and quoits on the lawns, tea and
crumpet at 4 o'clock, a video about heraldry. For those who
wanted to tour the castle there was a clipboard with a history
of each room, it's significant pieces of furniture, ornaments
and paintings. Scully picked up the clipboard and proceeded
to the billiard room carefully avoiding the library. Mulder
followed playing the gallant.

Scully recited the blurb from the clipboard. "The fireplace
in the Billiard Room is especially handsome, and the
pargetted plaster ceiling is noteworthy. An 'almost secret'
door leads to the terrace and a hidden staircase in what used
to be a cloak room, leads to the landing on the main stairs,"
she said for effect as they entered the room in case anyone
else was there.

"Do you make much money from ghost hunting Mr
Benyon?"

"Jim. No it's merely a hobby."

"And how do you go about detecting them? Should I be
checking the eyes of the paintings, will they be following
me around the room?"

Mulder rolled a ball across the billiard table.

"I have this imagine of eyeballs rolling along the floor
hiding under tables so they can get a look up your skirt." He
grinned, she counter grinned.

"I think you've been reading too much Edgar Allan Poe,
ghosts don't need peep holes," he added.

They surveyed the room as they chatted. Mulder found the
hidden staircase, no light.

"Oh, so they can see through walls as well as walk through
them?" she asked.

Scully put the clipboard down as they started up the stairs.
Their eyes adjusted to the dimness to reveal a staircase that
was dark, dusty and full of cobwebs but there were several
sets of footprints in the dust. No housekeeping in here but
then it was probably supposed to be more authentic.

"Maybe it's a case of they don't see the walls rather than see
through them."

She quirked an eyebrow.

"An interesting theory. And how many ghosts have you
seen?"

"Not many but I feel their presence a lot." He looked
slightly melancholy.

"Are you sure it's not wind?"

He looked astonished, whether from what she said or from
finding the door at the top of the stairs unlocked was hard to
tell. They emerged from behind a tapestry onto the main
landing.

"I mean some hoaxer hiding behind the panelling with a set
of bellows and a tape recorder?" she clarified.

"I admit to finding a few of those but not all incidents are
hoaxers."

"So are you here to find the castle ghost?"

"I thought I might do that in passing. Want to help me with
some late night research Heather?"

"And what would that entail Jim?"

"First we investigate the obvious, knocking on walls to
detect any hidden spaces. Checking behind paintings for
hidden strings, that kind of thing," he said demonstrating.

"I shouldn't imagine that goes down very well with your
fellow guests. Surely that can be done during the day."

"Yes, but some research can only be done in the dark."

"So for now I should be checking in vases for hidden
speakers?"

She picked one up and looked inside, then looked up at him.
He answered with a querying look. She turned the vase
upside down and a dead spider fell out.

"But we just find that housekeeping is a little lax. Maybe
you want me to lift the sword on the suit of armour in case
that opens a trap door or maybe there's a headless corpse
hidden in the suit of arm..."

She flipped the visor of the helmet up and broke off mid
sentence.

Mulder turned from his inspection of the panelling to see
her staring at a video camera inside the helmet.

"Looks like ghosts have embraced new technology."

"Part of the castle security system," said a voice behind them
making them jump. It was Gileynour.

"Rather than have them jutting out of corners spoiling the
plaster and wood work we try to position them more
discretely using the natural cover so to speak. It works quite
well don't you think?"

He dropped the visor back into place as he spoke.

"Very ingenious. Does it help you track the ghosts?"

He smiled shallowly. "Unfortunately we have all too many
earthly visitations who make off with the antiquities. This
camera is part of the CCTV surveillance system that we use
to ward off such activity."

"Do you have them in all the rooms?"

"No. No. We value our guests privacy it's just done in the
big public rooms and hallways."

He gestured for them to walk back towards the hall.

"Perhaps I can interest you in a cup of tea, it's such a lovely
day we are having it out on the front lawn today. The beech
trees provide pleasant shade."

Mulder and Scully didn't have much choice but to proceed
the man outside. Behind them a man watched from the
shadows, before edging his way behind the tapestry.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Mulder's dress for the evening consisted of kilt, Jacobite
shirt, jacket, sporran, dirk and sgian dubh, although the
weapons were just plastic. There was hose, garters and
brogues. Also included was a Highland bonnet complete
with a not so tasteful ginger wig and beard. There was a clan
badge in the bonnet, although he was unsure as to the
authenticity of the MacLeearie coat of arms. Feeling
somewhat self-conscious of his naked knees he went down
to the dining room.

Mulder was slightly taken aback as he entered the dining
room. There were a lot more people in the evening than
there had been in the afternoon and they were all dressed in
similar outfits. Mulder, although feeling somewhat awkward
with his exposed knees and a draught round his thighs,
considered it could have been a lot worse looking at some of
the other bare legs. It was going to be difficult to find
Scully. The women were all dressed in long tartan skirts,
white shirt, a plaid sash pinned at the right shoulder and a
long ginger wig! Mulder didn't usually have a problem
finding Scully in a crowd even though she was short,
normally he'd catch a glimpse of her hair but he was going
to struggle this evening.

The only people standing out were the ones providing the
entertainment. There were jugglers, acrobats and fire-eaters.
A jester was circling round telling jokes and doing simple
conjuring tricks. Waiters and waitresses were milling round
with trays of drinks. He snagged a glass from a passing
waitress who winked at him as she went passed.

He weaved his way through the crowd, it crossed his mind
that it would be difficult to tell if any body was missing
from a party such as this. He eventually spotted Scully.
Some guy, probably the one from earlier had her pretty
much pinned to the wall and was leaning in close to her ear
to speak. It was fairly noisy in the room but not yet loud
enough to warrant that sort of closeness. She was probably
going to clock the guy any minute now. Mulder decided to
do his Sir Galahad act before she gave the game away.
Anyway it was his perfect opportunity to leer at her through
dinner without her being able to complain. He'd get an ear
full later but it would be worth it.

He timed his rescue to coincide with the juggler distracting
Archer's attention, although it took Mulder nudging the
jugglers arm so the balls practically fell on the guy's head to
achieve that goal. At which point Mulder slid between them,
put his hand in the small of Scully's back and spirited her
away with a "I really admire your hair... it's quite
charming," he said glancing down, "A great look for you,"
he smirked at her.

"Mul.. Jim you are quite incorrigible."

By the time Archer had turned round, Mulder was steering
Scully towards a dining table just as dinner was announced,
giving the other guy no time to recover. 'Timings
everything' thought Mulder grinning inwardly to himself.

To get the mediaeval banquet in full swing the jester acting
as master of ceremonies explained that there must be much
quaffing and wassailing. Wassailing was the ancient form of
toasting from the Old English 'waes hal' meaning 'be
whole'. The term was later applied to the Christmas feasting
and revelries and in particular the bowl of spiced ale or wine
which was a feature of the mediaeval Christmas. The proper
way to quaff was also explained and to make sure everyone
got it right the jester had them practise wassailing followed
by a quaff.  By the time the first course was served most
people were wassailing and quaffing for the Olympics.

As rapidly as they were emptied the pewter mugs were
replenished, by the incredibly keen serving wenches.
Mulder noted that they were dressed in provocative off the
shoulder drawstring chemises, supposedly in imitation of
the period. Scully doubted their authenticity, Mulder
appreciated the view and explained it away in the name of
entertainment, well it was entertaining for him. The master
of ceremonies explained that management allowed
fraternising with the serving wenches but that in the
tradition of the era, a flagon round the head was the
wenches' way of expressing how flattered they were by the
attentions of drunken or lecherous revellers. There were
guffaws of laughter from around the table and more
quaffing.

The quaffing continued through dinner with much
encouragement by the master of ceremonies. Between
courses there was entertainment. The master of ceremonies
explained that the applause should take the form of banging
on the tables. Everyone practised this then quaffed when
they got it right. Mulder could tell there would be much
sloshing as well as quaffing as the night progressed. Both he
and Scully were trying to be frugal with their quaffing but it
was difficult when the wenches kept checking their mugs
for refills as if they were paid commission per mug filled.

The evening progressed, a bard played a lute and sang
between the first and second courses. The roasts were
paraded in and suitable applauded around the room with
more quaffing. By this time Mulder and Scully were
surreptitiously pouring wine in various vases, other people's
mugs and even onto the bread which soaked up quite a bit.
Mulder found that his beard was useful in this regard too,
which was good because up to that point it had been a
hindrance to eating and drinking. Bits of hair getting stuck
in his mouth and up his nose and generally getting in the
way in a very annoying manner.

The noise from the diners was rising exponentially in
relation to either the amount of food they were consuming
or the amount of drink they were imbibing. Inhibitions were
starting to be shed. Even Mulder and Scully were a little
more unwound than usual. Mulder had managed to get
Scully to laugh several times, he was feeling giddy just from
that.

The quaffing continued through the main course, which
much to their relief was served on a plate and eaten with
real cutlery. Mulder had half expected the haunch of
venison to be slapped down in the middle of the table with
just a knife provided to slash and stab with. Not too bad for
Scully with her scalpel wielding skills but he envisioned
himself hacking ineffectually and going hungry. Of course
another part of him regretted the absence of fowl that would
have allowed him to tear a leg off, gnaw at the bone before
tossing it over his shoulder behind him to the dogs. He'd
said as much to Scully.

"You feeling the awakening of the primal beast within you
Jim?" asked Scully in a playful voice.

"Given the right circumstances, the primitive biological
imperative driven by my genetic heritage overrides my
schooling in the cultural and social mores of the current age
to create a need for only the base instincts of food, shelter
and reproduction to be satisfied. I've got the food and
shelter bits covered, so all I need now is the club."

"The club?"

"Yeah, the bit where primitive man goes out, clubs a good
looking primitive woman over the head, drags her by the
hair back to his lair and proceeds to satisfy the third base
instinct."

"And that works for you does it?"

"I've never really got passed the gnawing the bone bit.
Every time I go out with my club the primitive woman
appears not to have regressed as far as me and carries a
mean looking hand gun."

Scully chuckled.

"So have you tried clawing your way through the primordial
slime and up the evolutionary ladder in order to improve
your chances of satisfying your instincts or are you typical
of your gender and destined for extinction?"

"Oh low blow Heather. Typical of my gender, my survival
instincts tell me to ignore that as a trap."

Scully pressed her lips together trying not to smile but her
eyes danced. Mulder continued

"Actually I have started to apply cunning and recently I
have been disguising my club."

Scully's eyebrows rose "How so?"

"I disguise it as a baseball bat. So far it's been successful."

Scully nearly choked on the sip of wine she was just then
taking. Mulder couldn't help the mischievous smile that
appeared on his face. Leaning into her so as to practically
breathe in her ear his arm stretching across the back of her
chair.

"So Heather is your primal beast awakened?"

He got the 'back off Mulder' look but he couldn't resist.

"Do you not feel the stirring of primitive biological
impulses, do you not feel the endorphins racing through
your body, hormones seeping into your bloodstream. Does
your stomach not flutter, your heart not thump as the beast
inside you sends out the clarion call of want, want, want,
mine, mine, mine dragged from the very depths of your
animal self?"

"Mulder sometimes you are full of crap."

He chastised her with a look for using his name but inside
he was gleeful, it meant he had her rattled.

"So that's a no then?"

"I'm about to cut the tightrope you're walking."

Mulder smiled but this time he changed the subject, his
subconscious had a survival instinct even if he didn't. Still
leaving his arm round the back of her chair he reached for a
flower from the display on the table. Twirling it round in his
long fingers.

"You know the Elizabethans were into the language of
flowers and the aphrodisiac qualities of food. They had an
appreciation of beautiful things especially for redheaded
wilful women."

"They also defecated out of windows. The flowers were
there to mask the stench of the aromatic streets. And the
redheaded wilful monarch had a propensity for cutting off
people's heads when they annoyed her... shame the
practise was discontinued," she said pointedly.

During the second and third course, the entertainment
revolved around a kind of strong man act. At one point he
was lying on a bed of nails with a serving wench stood on
his chest which everyone dutifully applauded. This was then
changed to arrange a piece of wood with a chair on top on
his chest with the largest person from the guests sitting on
the chair. This turned out to be a guy about 300lbs and it
was an impressive sight to see the performer support that
much weight on is chest let alone on a bed of nails. There
was much louder applause and cheering for this feat.
Followed by quaffing. Fortunately the wenches now seemed
less twitchy if there was still some wine left in their mugs
when they came round with the flagon.

When dinner was over the entertainment consisted of old
fashioned games. There were skittles, shove halfpenny,
quoits, bar skittles and various other games.  As most of the
diners seemed well on their way to being drunk, there was
much laughter, ribaldry and what could only be described as
groping.  Mulder and Scully joined in the games just so they
didn't look out of place but he wasn't being allowed to
grope much beyond the waist. Although he did manage to
get some gratuitous holding and cuddling in by
demonstrating the art of ball control... for playing skittles.
She probably didn't need it, was probably about to complain
when he muttered in her ear about blending in. So she'd had
to grin and bear it.

When Mulder thought about it away from the heat of the
moment, he felt a little worried. A compliant, quiet Scully
was a Scully to be scared off. Under most circumstances
Scully was objective, professional, softly, thoughtfully
spoken and ignored his more outrageous behaviour. In other
circumstances she was a 'don't get mad get even' sort of
person and in still others she was angry, snippy, irritable and
down right frustrating.

If she was going to get even he was in trouble, that was
when she was at her most unpredictable. Unfortunately he
liked her like that and if he spotted it coming the somewhat
self-destructive not to say masochistic imp inside himself
only wanted to goad her more. Of course he subjected
himself to embarrassment, possible humiliation but he did
this because he lived in hope of a jackpot win. No playing
the odds for him, he was aiming for Scully reversing the
tables on him, trying to beat him at his own game. He'd
fantasised about how far he could push her if she ever joined
in. Toyed with the idea that she didn't join in because she
knew it would get out of control, that she might lose control.
In reality he'd probably be so shocked he'd take three steps
back to double check it was still Scully and thereby miss the
moment. And talking of reality back to ghost busting.

The party broke up rapidly, people yawning widely and
reeling off to bed. The malaise was widespread. Scully
leaning very close muttered in his ear that she thought the
wine might have been drugged. People's eyes were dilated,
it could be the dark or the drink, difficult to tell. Mulder
gave a passing thought to the fact that his eyes were dilated
for a different reason before concurring with Scully and
suggesting they follow suite. Scully pretended to hide yawns
politely behind her hand, Mulder did a huge yawning stretch
arms above his head, head thrown back.

As they were on their way up the stairs Mulder caught her
arm and asked "Heather would you swap rooms with me
only I'd like a chance to see the ghost if possible?"

Scully's eyebrow went up in surprise but she replied with
"Sure Jim, I'll go get my things."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

End part 2

Part 3 of 6
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Scully had only just changed out of her costume when
Mulder came barrelling in.

"What's going on Mulder?"

Mulder gave her a warning look and mouthed Jim at her. He
started stripping off his outfit while he spoke tossing them
in a heap on the floor.

"Nothing really Heather, it's just this is the wing where the
ghost is supposed to make his appearance and whether it's
mice in the wainscoting or another type of rodent finding a
meal ticket, there's no reason for us both to lose a good
night's sleep."

When he got to the kilt Scully arched an eyebrow at him.
She thought briefly about turning her back but then realised
this was Mulder's choice, he could have gone into the
bathroom. She wasn't going to back down.

"Are you wearing that kilt like a true Scotsman?"

Mulder waggled his eyebrows at her before dropping the kilt
to reveal a pair of tartan boxers.

"When you get to know me better Heather you'll realise I'm
always authentic."

Scully couldn't help a small smile. Then he got really close
to her in the guise of a good night hug and whispered in her
ear.

"You know I don't really sleep and anyway this is in
keeping with Jim."

"You know you're supposed to have two people on stake
out Mulder."

"Too much risk of being watched and someone needs to
keep an eye on the other wing in case anyone else decides to
leap out of a window. Besides you get the dungeon."

"I do?"

"Yes you're lighter so if the stairs are worn there's less risk
of you falling through."

"Gee Thanks!"

"Anytime."

He brought his lips round to hers as he spoke as if about to
give her a goodnight kiss. Scully dodged away, picked up
her toilet bag and Mulder's key and headed for the door.

"Goodnight Jim, may the spirits be with you," was her
parting shot.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**

In another part of the castle, Gileynour was speaking to a
henchman.

"Skailer is everything ready for the swap?"

Skailer surveyed the bank of monitors in front of him,
double checking the empty dining room and hall.

"Yes, all the guests have turned in for the night."

"Did you see any odd behaviour or anything suspicious
going on to day?"

Skailer shook his head.

"Not really. The Simpsons seem to be trying to draw
attention to themselves. Benyon was knocking on the wood
panelling this afternoon but he seems like one of the
genuine ghost hunting freaks. Plus he seems to be fairly
distracted by the redhead."

"Keep an eye on him anyway. Anything else? What about
Archer? "

"Archer is trying to make up to the redhead too but not
making much head way. He spent most of the afternoon
browsing through the library, he seems harmless enough.

"Did the girl's report any teetotallers?"

"No everyone imbibed well. Did you want to start?"

"No, we'll keep to the schedule. The sleeping draught in the
wine should ensure that everybody gets a good night's sleep
but we don't want to take any chances at this stage. Keep an
eye on the monitors, I'll check the halls."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Scully made it to Mulder's room without meeting anyone
else. She started undressing for bed, but danced nervous
glances round the room she couldn't get the thought of the
hidden camera out her head and feeling somewhat self-
conscious she entered the bathroom. She was still feeling
uncomfortable, the walls were so thick they could easily
hide a camera behind a mirror or a tile but she would have
to use the facilities eventually. Well if they had a camera in
here they were going to get a show.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Archer was snooping downstairs, checking in all the rooms.
He found the dungeon room door locked and after trying a
shove with his shoulder passed on round the hall. He was
moving cautiously and quietly, dressed in black with
soft-soled sneakers on his feet. He headed up the stairs and
turned towards the west wing.

As he neared the top of the stairs one of the claymores from
the crossed sword and targe display on the opposite wall
started to move. He paused momentarily before looking
suspiciously and heading towards it. Only to stop abruptly
as the claymore detached itself from the wall and swung
towards him. He tried to edge passed it down the hallway
but it moved in front. He stood there contemplating his
moves when the claymore got bored and thrust towards him.
He flinched backwards but managed to dodge round to the
left. He grabbed another sword from the wall, and swung at
the suspended claymore but it dodged and he missed. He
thrashed about at it a bit more but to no avail.

Eventually he ended up standing staring stupidly at it. He
thought he had hit it but his sword passed straight through it.
He did it again, the claymore just hanging there untouched.
Archer went from perturbed to terrified, sweat was forming
on his brow. He tried backing off but the claymore
continued to advance swinging to his left, backing him up to
the stairs. He looked behind him nervously and started to
edge backwards down the steps, sword held out hopefully in
front of him. When he had descended a few steps the
claymore seemed to hesitate. Archer breathed a sigh of
relief and lowered his guard slightly. The claymore lunged
at him and the startled man lost his footing and tumble down
the stairs, his sword spinning end over end above him
following him down.

He came to rest at the angle of the stairs and as he gathered
his wits together, he realised that Gileynour was standing
over him asking him if he was okay. He shook his head
slightly and glanced up at the man, as his thoughts came
back to him he glanced round furtively looking for the
claymore. It was back in place on the wall. The sword he
had been using was lying between his legs, it looked like he
had had a lucky escape. He started to get up Gileynour
helping him.

"What happened?"

"I don't know, I must have tripped on the stairs."

"But what are you doing with a sword you could have killed
yourself?"

"I er... I must have knocked it when I fell, I don't
remember," he said shaking his head in imitation of a
confused man.

Gileynour picked up the sword and replaced it back on the
wall. As he did so he stared significantly at the distance
between the wall, the landing, the stairs and then back at
Archer. However he said nothing.

"What are you doing in this part of the house at this time of
night?"

"I thought the house was open to exploration," he said
defensively.

"Yes it is but we generally expect people to respect other
guest's repose. It's usually considered to be prowling at this
time of night."

"Actually I'm visiting someone... a private matter," he tried
to look sheepish and suggestive at the same time. Gileynour
knew what he was trying to imply.

"Oh aye, and is this person expecting your visit?"

"Yes. Yes of course" he blustered.

At which point Mulder opened the door to his room and
peered out as if on cue. In actual fact he had heard the initial
commotion and had just been edging the door open when
Gileynour moved passed the door towards the stairs. He'd
jerked back before giving himself away then waited until
Gileynour seemed to be concentrating on Archer before
sneaking to peer round the wall and down the stairs. Having
satisfied himself as to who it was and seeing Gileynour start
back up the stairs with the sword, he had slipped back to his
room to listen unashamedly at the door. When he heard
Archer trying to imply he had an assignation with Scully he
couldn't resist adding to the man's discomfort. Even if they
hadn't been working and undercover he couldn't imagine
Scully agreeing to such a clandestine meeting. A private
person she may be but straightforward and up front with it.
Anyway he wanted to try and shock this guy into blurting
out the truth, although there was something furtive about the
guy so he wasn't expecting much success.

Mulder's appearance took both men back. Gileynour
recovered quickly and looked suspiciously at Archer "Who
was it you were coming to see?" he asked spitefully.

Archer floundered for a moment and then tried an attacking
tack "What are you doing in Ms Ferguson's room?" he
asked Mulder accusingly.

"Oh she agreed to swap with me, I wanted to be in this wing
in case the ghost made an appearance. However, you seem
to be a manifestation of another sort. What are you doing
here?"

Archer muttered something inaudible about a
misunderstanding. Gileynour piped in impatiently with "I
think you should return to your room now before you wake
anybody else up. I'll show you the way wouldn't want you
visiting some other unsuspecting soul."

"Goodnight Mr Benyon." Gileynour turned and waited
pointedly for Archer to proceed him down the stairs.

Mulder went back into his room and started to close the
door until he heard their footsteps die away when he opened
the door and looked back the other way. All he saw was the
end of the hall, the very solid stone built end of the hall,
with a solid looking oak table in front of it. He moved down
the hall to run his fingers over the stone, after looking at the
candle scones on the wall he shrugged sheepishly to
himself, but twisted and pulled them anyway. When nothing
happened he sighed and pausing only to twitch the tapestry
behind which was an alcove and was equally
unresponsive he headed back to his room and closed the
door, still puzzled as to where Gileynour had appeared from.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

On a TV monitor in an unknown room Skailer watched
Mulder impassively as he re-entered his room before
switching views to see Mulder get undressed and into bed.
When it appeared that the man had settled he switched the
view to display Gileynour ensuring that Archer got back to
his bedroom without further mishap.  He grimaced, the man
was a snoop for sure, his story might have held up but for
Benyon and Ferguson switching rooms. That was
unfortunate for him and lucky for them. They would have to
find out who he was before they killed him, he smiled evilly
to himself. The jury was still out on Benyon, he'd have been
tempted to get rid of him too but they didn't want too many
accidents, disappearances or dead bodies to draw any more
attention. They would have to close down the operation
which would annoy management with such a drastic loss of
income. They'd have to keep a close eye on him. Being
paranoid he checked on Ms Ferguson just to make sure but
she was sleeping peacefully. Shame she was wearing
pyjamas he wouldn't have minded a good ogle. He checked
some rooms to see if anything interesting was going on but
everybody was sleeping. The mild sedative in the ale and
wine worked every time. Wonder how Benyon escaped? Bet
he was trying to stay awake waiting for the ghost. Well he
would get his wish if he wasn't sleeping the sleep of the
drugged later.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Scully used her lock pick to gain access to the dungeons
hoping that her ruse with pillow, pyjamas and ginger wig
was working if they were monitoring the rooms. She was
somewhat relying on the fact that if they were monitoring
then they wouldn't be continuously watching each room, it
would need too many people.

Taking out her torch and switching it on she inspected the
wooden stairs which may possibly have been slippery if wet
but otherwise looked well looked after. Scanning the torch
round she could see there were cobwebs everywhere but no
rotting beams or broken crumbling masonry. She cautiously
made her way down the steps, they creaked a little but
otherwise gave no indication of imminent collapse.

In the room at the bottom candles burned in sconces giving
a dim and creepy light. Odd for a room out of use she mused
to herself. She wandered round, there was plenty of torture
equipment with branding irons, pliers, a scold's bridle,
chains, great vats and braziers. Ropes hanging from the
ceiling. In the centre was a slatted table, well worn,
darkened in place where the fanciful might consider blood
had oozed.

Apart from its melodramatical appearance there didn't
appear to be much of interest here. She took another
cautious look round then noticed scratches on the floor. On
closer inspection they were semicircular. She stood back
and glanced round, feeling somewhat silly she pulled one of
the chains hanging on the wall close by. Nothing, that was a
relief, she tried the other one just for good measure. She
jumped back as a door swung open, 'Oh God, wasn't
Mulder going to just love this' she thought to herself.  She
peered round the door so see another room again lit by
candles. In here were more chains and shackles, braziers and
a rack, a rack that would seem to be greased.

At the back, hard up against the wall, was an iron maiden it
had an eerie appearance in the flickering light. Scully
opened it cautiously to reveal wicked looking spikes. Scully
touched one and then rubbed her fingers together. She
moved on to inspect the chains and shackles attached to the
wall. Surprisingly they all looked in good condition, a little
rusty, here and there a little grime, an authentic cobweb or
two but overall not particularly like a room not in use.

Finding little else of interest she headed back towards the
steps shutting the hidden door behind her. Halfway up the
steps she heard a grating sound and turned round to look but
could see nothing. She shrugged to herself then carried on
up the steps.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

An hour after Mulder had gone to bed the ghost of Red
Jamie was heard playing his bagpipes on the battlements of
the west wing. Mulder heard it, had been waiting for it and
scrambling out of bed rushed to the window to look out, it
was still dark and the angle was all wrong - he could see
nothing. He heard a grating noise and a distant rattling of
chains. He moved to the door putting his ear against the
wood to listen. He couldn't hear anything, so he cautiously
opened the door and peered out to see a... stone wall.

A Stone Wall!

He yanked the door open and stared somewhat
dumbfoundedly at the wall in front of him, mouth agape.

He gingerly put his fingers up to touch the wall, it felt like
stone, solid and cold. He put the palm of his hand against it
and pushed, very solid.  He kicked it and stubbed his toe,
solid. 'What the hell' he thought. He knocked on the walls
to either side of the door with his knuckles. Solid. He
backed up from the door, frustrated. The screech of the
bagpipes seemed to come closer, almost overhead. He
rushed over to the window. Only one of the small leaded
windows opened, which he could not get his head through.
The bagpipes were trailing away into the distance. He
cursed and turned away from the window in frustration. He
cast his eye around the room hoping for inspiration his
glance flickering over the door as he panned round. Then
something triggered at the back of his mind and he whipped
his head back towards the door. It was closed, he was sure
he had left it open. He went over and opened it to be faced
with... the hallway.

He reached forward with his foot tentatively, not quite sure
what was going on, he tapped his toe cautiously on the floor
before stepping into the hall. He looked round rapidly.
Nothing. Most of the candles had burnt out so there was
only a dim flickering light to see by. However, Mulder
could see that there was nothing. He walked up and down
the corridor and glanced down the stairs. Nothing. Then he
saw movement out of the corner of his eye, he swung round
to see a headless spectre, large and looming, headed towards
him arms outstretched. Mulder staggered back but slipped
on the wooden floor, falling backwards on his ass, just as
the spectre reached him passed over his head and down the
stairs behind him leaving a stunned Mulder in its wake.

He shook his head then scrambled to his knees to peer down
the stairs. Nothing. He paused momentarily thinking about
Gileynour and Archer earlier but then his curiosity just got
the better of him and he started down the stairs. He was
doing fine until he got to the ground floor when he nudged a
suit of armour. He managed to catch it before it clattered to
the floor but there was much creaking and rattling as he
tried to set it upright. True to form Gileynour came round
the corner.

"What are you doing?" he asked suspiciously.

Mulder decided to go with a version of the truth.

"Sorry I thought I heard bagpipes and after the story about
Red Jamie I thought it might be him. I was just looking for a
way up to the battlements when I accidentally bumped into
the Tin Man here. Nearly gave everyone an early morning
alarm call."

Gileynour helped settle the suit of armour.

"Did you hear something too?" Mulder enthused "Is that
why you're up?"

Gileynour gave a suppressed a smile "Well it is said that
Red Jamie walks the battlements. He always used to play his
pipes before going into battle. But it is said that he wasn't
killed in battle, that his wife stabbed him in the back and
hurled him over the ramparts. However he wasn't killed
outright by the stab wound and it is said he cursed and
swore an oath to haunt the heirs to Ghaistrid castle until he
was avenged."

"All that before he hit the rocks below?"

Gileynour smiled depreciatingly. "I merely retell the tale
and no I didn't hearing anything. Most likely it was one of
the other guests playing a radio or something."

Mulder knew better than to pursue it at this time. He
adopted an air of exaggerated disappointment, his shoulders
slumping "I guess you're right," he yawned deeply "I was
pretty out of it. I guess I just heard what I wanted to hear.
I'll just stumble off back to bed before I wake anyone else."

"You do that sir. See you at breakfast, eight o'clock sharp."

Mulder yawned again as he mounted the stairs saying over
his shoulder "Oh yeah, no problem," in a pigs might fly
voice, as if there was no chance.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**

End part 3

Part 4 of 6
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**

Of course Mulder could survive quite well with little sleep.
He wasn't exactly on the dot of eight, it was about eight
fifteen. Breakfast was served until nine o'clock but he was
surprised when the only other people in there were Scully,
Archer and another couple over in the corner keeping very
much to themselves.

Archer had invited himself to join Scully for breakfast. Not
a morning person if she could help it, she obviously hadn't
got through her first coffee before being beset because she
looked ready to bite his head off. Mulder watched them
surreptitiously while helping himself to juice and cereal
from the counter. He sauntered over to the window seat next
to their table. He debated on joining them but decided it
would be safer for him to watch the fun at a slight distance.
He had to give the guy credit for persistence, it wasn't as if
Scully was at her most diplomatic in the mornings and she
obviously didn't like the guy much so she was bordering on
the point of rudeness as opposed to her normal directness.

Funny that he thought, how Scully's general trend was
forthrightness but having been trained in the social graces
she tried to temper it into a more diplomatic presentation.
Unless she was stressed, then she'd revert to type and went
with blunt, brute directness. And stressed covered a
multitude of scenarios, one of them being harangued before
her first coffee when there was no fire, flood, pestilence or
injured person. That list excluded dead bodies, which would
still be there when she finished her coffee so they could
wait.

He snickered to himself and went to get some toast as
Archer explained how wassailing was actually a traditional
winter ceremony going back to pagan times and consists of
toasting trees and fields that are going to produce food for
the following year. The ceremony involves singing, Morris
dancing, lots of noise to ward off evil spirits and decorating
tree branches with pieces of toast soaked in cider for robins,
which are said to be good spirits in disguise.

When he returned to his table Archer had moved on to
pontificate on the dimensions and proportions of the library.
He heard 'the fireplace is carved and flanked by carved
cabinets, the design of which is repeated in pilasters on the
north wall. Rich wood panelling and exquisitely detailed
hand carving extend throughout the house.' He sounded like
a real estate agent.

He chuckled to himself and went to snag the coffeepot as
Scully got up and walked to another table leaving Mr
Chirpy mid recitation. No doubt if he had caught her with
this tale during tea in the afternoon she would have listened
politely, nodded and smiled in all the right places even if
she did think him a jerk. He walked over to her table and
filled a cup for her. She scowled but he wasn't worried, the
scowl was aimed at the morning in general as opposed to
him specifically.

He put the coffeepot back and when to get her fruit, bagels
and cream cheese returning to the table with them. He
placed them on the table before popping down on a chair in
front of her. He said nothing. She drank her coffee, then
picked up a bagel. The waitress brought his ham and eggs.

Scully was half way through her bagel, took another sip of
coffee before saying "Ok Mul... Jim let me have it."

Mulder shook his head, suppressing a smile.

"I can see you are dying to tell me something so tell me
already."

"Uh, Uh, I distinctly heard you say you wanted to eat in
peace, so if you think I'm going to face the Scu... Heather
death glare at this time in the morning by ignoring a blatant
warning you must think I'm stupid..."

Scully smirked, was about to reply but was interrupted by

"Don't answer that!"

Scully replied with spoilsport and continued eating. She
finished her coffee and said "Ok, I'm about as sociable as
I'm going to get, you have permission to speak."

Mulder grinned, "How did you sleep last night. Everything
quiet?"

"Yeah fine nothing out the ordinary."

"Only you received a couple of the visitations last night."

 Scully arched an eyebrow at him.

"The first was from Mr Chirpy there," he nodded his head in
the direction of Archer "implying that he had a prior
arrangement."

"What!"

"I don't think Gileynour set any store by what he said. He
was at his conciliatory best as if putting a drunk to bed."

An evil grin came over Scully's face "Perhaps I should
press charges, get him clapped in irons in the dungeon."

More people were filing down to a late breakfast looking
considerably the worse for wear. He'd been right about the
similar costumes being a good disguise, there were several
people Mulder didn't recognise.

"And the other visitation?" asked Scully breaking into his
thoughts.

"Red Jamie serenaded you from the battlements."

"You saw him?"

"No, I could only hear him. He faded in and out as if
someone was walking up and down... or, OR," he said more
strenuously before she could get a word out, "It could have
been a very good recording. The strange thing is..."

"Go on," said Scully.

"I couldn't get out the door to investigate."

Scully looked suitably puzzled. "Go on I'm biting," she said
round a mouthful of melon.

"You'll never guess."

"Was the door locked?" Mulder shook his head.

"You tripped up over your own shoes in your rush and
knocked yourself out?"

Mulder gave her a warning look over his cup of coffee.
Scully sipped her juice.

"A suit of armour guarded the door?"

"A little extreme even for you Heather," he smirked at her.
"You give in?"

Scully nodded her head.

"When I opened the door... I came face-to-face... with a
stone wall."

Scully chortled, "Yeah right Jim. How much did you have
to drink last night? You did fall over and bang your head
didn't you? Should we be getting you checked for head
trauma?"

"Heather," he said warningly.

"Right door?" she questioned. He returned an intense stare.

"Real wall?" He nodded patiently.

"You head butt it?" Before he exploded Scully chimed in
with "Ok, it was a stone wall. So how did you make it down
to breakfast?"

"I went back to the window to see if I could get out that
way..."

"It's a fifty foot drop down a sheer wall!"

"I couldn't and when I turned round the wall had gone."

"A ghostly wall. Now you see it now you don't."

"There was nothing ghostly about it."

"Isn't that my line?"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Archer was making a great show of watching Mulder and
Scully still sitting by the window but in actual fact taking
furtive glances round the other diners. Apparently he'd seen
enough and shoved away from the table, throwing his
napkin down before striding out of the dining room in a
huff. When he got to the split in the stairs he casually
glanced over his shoulder before taking the stairs to the west
wing. At the top of the stairs he glanced nervously at the
swords on the wall before sneaking to the last room on the
left. He tried the handle and found it locked, so he took out a
set of lock picks and opened the door to creep inside.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Heather do you notice anything odd about the breakfast
crowd this morning?"

"I see that several people have not made it down this
morning, hardly surprising after the amount of alcohol
consumed last night."

"I don't think the Hiddlins are here, the couple that were
opposite us last night they didn't drink that much."

"Some people just aren't morning people."

Mulder gave her a significant look. The number of times
he'd had to prize her out of bed. That's when he'd learnt
that a cup of coffee was quickest and best especially on a
Saturday morning.

"There's people here I don't recognise."

She looked curiously at him for a moment and then quickly
cast her eyes over the diners.

"Four new couples... they could easily be the ones that
arrived late yesterday afternoon. Do you think there's some
significance?"

He shrugged noncommittally "Just an observation I guess. I
think it's time I showed you some of my ghost busting
equipment."

He got up from the table and walked round to the back of
her chair to move it out for her. Scully eyed him dubiously.

"Heather..." he said before she could protest reminding her
of their roles. She tried to remain gracious as she rose from
the table.

"You got a ghost divining rod or something?"

Mulder leered at her "Yeah something like that, would you
like to try it out...?"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Archer came out at the bedroom putting a small video
camera into his pocket. He turned his back to the hall to lock
the door and missed the movement behind the tapestry. He
hurried down the hall with a smug smile on his face, failing
to notice Skailer behind the tapestry who leapt out and
knocked him unconscious. Archer slumped to the floor.
Skailer searched his pockets and removed the camera, he
was about to continue searching when he heard Mulder and
Scully on the stairs

Mulder and Scully were chatting about the hallway
apparition.

"And it was a headless spectre?"

"Yes."

"So not Red Jamie's ghost?"

"Well I suppose it could have been a severe cut throat."

 As they got to the top of the stairs Mulder demonstrated
with his arms the direction the ghost had taken. Scully stood
back to watch him.

"Shouldn't there be some ghostly residue, ectoplasm or
something?"

"Not necessarily, what I need to do is set up a camera and
we might be able to detect some light energies."

"Light energies?"

"Yes, they are supposed to be an early indication of ghostly
life." Mulder was staring at the sword and shield display as
he said this. He poked the bosses and rattled the swords. "I
wonder how Archer managed to dislodge a sword from here
and end up tripping down the stairs there?"

"Could he have been making it up?"

"He could have been but he looked pretty shaken up...  he
didn't sound drunk either, not like he had at dinner. I
wonder why he wanted to give the impression he was drunk
when he wasn't?"

"To cover up his nefarious activities or perhaps he was
genuinely ghost hunting like someone else I can think off,"
Scully suggested.

"Or perhaps he really did have an assignation?" He quizzed
her.

Scully merely arched an eyebrow at him.

Another thought occurred to Mulder "You didn't set me up
did you Scully?


Scully grinned, then realised Mulder had called her Scully
again. Since finding the video camera in the suit of armour
they had been careful about sticking to their roles but names
were so instinctual and it wasn't as if they practised being
undercover. Mulder saw her face and realised what he had
done and grimaced. Scully decided that it was best to ignore
it.

"You know I wouldn't do anything like that to you Jim,

she purred with a straight face but her eyes were twinkling.
Mulder walked over to her shaking his finger at her but
another couple were heard on the stairs and he refrained
from saying anything further, merely gestured at the door of
his room with his arm. Just then Scully noticed the carpet
was rumpled and walked towards it. It was oddly rucked as if
something had been dragged over it.

Mulder saw her looking and said, "There was an alcove
behind that tapestry."

She looked back at him, picked up a candlestick off the
table and whisked the tapestry aside... to be met with a
vacuum cleaner. Scully let the tapestry drop back into place,
and replaced the candlestick, she straightened the carpet
with her foot and walked back to Mulder's door.

"So this is where the ghostly wall appeared?"

"I told you there was nothing ghostly about it."

Scully smirked. "Get your binoculars we'll go and do some
bird-watching."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Down in the dining room MacLeearie approached a couple
just finishing breakfast.

"Good Morning Mr. and Mrs. Guiser, I hoped you slept
well?"

There was a mumbling consent from the table. Mrs. Guiser
looked distinctly tense and very pregnant.

MacLeearie continued, "I have changed your itinerary for
the day," he said handing them an envelope. He glanced
round him before leaning forwards and growling
menacingly, "This is going to cost you twice as much, you
should have told us about her condition before."

Mr. Guiser blanched under his olive skin and gulped but
managed to keep his voice steady as he saw one of the other
diners passing. "I'm sure everything will be satisfactory,
we'll pay any additional costs involved."

MacLeearie nodded briefly and stalked away.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**

Scully looked through the binoculars at a couple of gulls
flying overhead. She followed them and they very
conveniently landed on top of the castle. She did a brief
survey of the castle roof before letting the binoculars drop.
"They're just common or garden gulls, do you mind if we
walked round to the woods, there might be something more
interesting to see?"

"I'm enjoying the view from here but I guess I'll get a
similar one from over there," he got up from his lounging
position and ambled over to Scully taking his binoculars
from her.

"Nothing?" He asked under his breath. She shook her head.
He sat down beside her, then taking her hand where it rested
on the grass, he leaned towards her pushing her backwards.

"Mulder!" she hissed at him instinctively grabbing at his
shirt with her free hand, although he was supporting her
fall.

"You haven't told me about last night yet Heather," he said
by way of explanation, half reclining on her, elbows either
side of her shoulders, fingers playing with her hair.

"Mulder you are really pushing your luck!" she whispered indignantly.

"Can't be too careful," he said matter of factly, but his eyes
regarded her tenderly. She tried to push him back a little
while she described the dungeon, he was distractingly close,
she'd forgotten what it was like so have someone's hot
breathe puffing over her neck. She was going to kill him
after this case was over, he was following orders far to
closely for her comfort in this matter, deliberately so. She
had been considering fighting fire with fire but held back
because that just might create an uncontrollable blaze. Still
from this supine position she could hardly help retaliating,
she deliberately brushed her lips over his ear as she
whispered her findings. She related finding the hidden room
with only a hint of smugness, and that the iron maiden could
have been the cause of the wound pattern on the two dead
men. She also had the satisfaction of having a long standing
curiosity satisfied just before Mulder shifted his hips from
her thigh.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**

Down in the dungeon Archer was chained to the wall.
MacLeearie, Gileynour and a couple of henchmen, Gulloot
and Skailer, walked in. MacLeearie with the video camera
in his hand walks up to Archer, "Well Mr Archer you
appear to have been spying on our guests. I'm sure they'd
complain personally about the breach of privacy but we
don't want to create a fuss now do we?"

Archer was silent so MacLeearie continued not that he'd
expected any response.

"Who are you working for? Who's your contact?"

Archer remained stony faced. MacLeearie sighed, "So we
have to do this the hard way."

He looked round the dungeon. "You're interested in
historical artefacts I believe Mr Archer, such a diligent
search of the library archives. Let us demonstrate one of
them in action, I think you'll find it fascinating. Hmm, let's
see...  I think it's about time we gave the rack an airing... or
maybe... no, the rack."

Archer's eyes opened in surprised horror. MacLeearie
motioned to his two henchmen who grabbed Archer. He
struggled valiantly but he was no match for the two. He was
soon tied down to the rack.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**

Scully was again peering out of the binoculars following a
flock of birds across the skyline which just happened to be
flying over the castle.

"See any red breasted..."a glance from Scully shut Mulder
up mid sentence.

"They are not very common around here Jim, so I wouldn't
get your hopes up.


Before he could give a retort to this, Scully glanced at him
and jerked her head slightly in the direction of the castle.
Mulder leaned towards her putting his arm round her and
then leaned close to her ear, "What you got?


"There must be a door on the ground floor of the East
Tower, judging by the windows a possible staircase runs
just inside the outside wall. Let's go."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**

"Who do you work for?"

Archer said nothing, the Gulloot turned the ratchet on the
rack and Archer grimaced.

"Much as I'd like to stay and chat to you I have several
urgent things awaiting my attention this morning so I must
hand you over to one of my associates," said MacLeearie.

"He's had years of practise at this and is very specialised in
his field, you can be certain you're getting the best
treatment. I'd like to say that I'll speak to you later but I
don't think that will be possible now. However, I'll make
sure to see you before you leave Castle Ghaistrid, you
having been such a good customer. Good bye Mr Archer, I
leave you in capable hands."

MacLeearie turned and left but to Archer's horror he was
replaced by a headless spectre who leaned over him
brandishing a hot iron. He pulled at the ropes securing him
to the rack, it was futile. There was panic on his face as he
felt the heat approaching his left thigh, then he screamed.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Meanwhile Mulder and Scully are searching for a door to
the battlements. Conscious of the fact there may be hidden
cameras or hidden eyes watching them, they are chatting
and acting as if searching for priest holes. Mulder,
convinced that the door is concealed, knocks on the wood
panelling and peers behind the tapestries but only finds
more panelling or stone walls.  He even tries pressing the
centre of some of the scrolls and nudging some of the
beading in the hope that it hides a hidden door. So far he's
been unsuccessful.

"Are you sure there will be more than one priest hole in this
castle Jim?" Scully put a very creditable whine in her voice.

"I'm sure. Priest holes were used in turbulent times and in a
building this size there would be several hiding places.
Despite the ingenuity of the carpenters of the day, many
people died so they are usually good points for ghosts to
originate. If we can find one we may be able to track one of
the ghosts' path through the castle."

"Jim, I'll go do some research. I think the library might
contain records. I'm sure Mr Archer mentioned something
about it yesterday."

"His favourite haunt. You trying to ditch me in favour of
Archer?" he said to her retreating back.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**

End part 4

Part 5 of 6
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Once in the library Scully breathed a sigh of relief that
Archer wasn't there then debated where to start. Hadn't
Archer said something about the old shipping records,
maybe there was a plan of how to put the castle back
together, she headed over to where she'd seen him pull out
the texts just before Mulder came to her 'rescue'. She found
it easily, it was right on top. Was this what Archer had been
researching yesterday?

On her way back through the hall to Mulder she stopped and
looked round when she thought she heard a scream. When it
didn't happen again she continued on to Mulder.

"Jim did you just hear a scream?"

"No. Don't tell me the spooky atmosphere is getting to you
Heather, it's broad daylight."

"I found something."

Mulder looked interested "That was quick."

"Yes," she said noncommittally.

Mulder compared the plan to the wall then counted across
the panels. He stepped forward to twist the beading round
which exposed a small hole, peering in he saw the hidden
latch in the gap. He poked his finger in the hole and a door
swung open. Scully stepped up to look.

"That's no priest hole," she said eyeing the stairs.

"Let's see where it goes? "

"Jim, that's probably a private stairs..." she said to his
retreating back.

"Come on MacLeearie said we could go anywhere that
didn't say private. And this doesn't say private," his voice
drifted back to her.

"I don't think he quite had you in mind," she mumbled
following him up the stairs, closing the door behind her. The
scream forgotten.

The stone stairs spiralled up the tower, there was enough
light from the small murky windows to see the rather worn
steps. Scully reflected that there probably wasn't much call
for window cleaners who specialised in castle towers. When
they got to the battlements there wasn't much to see apart
from a nice view over the cliffs.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The spectre walked into the monitor room where
MacLeearie watched Mulder and Scully coming out of the
tower stairwell.

"What did you find out?" MacLeearie asked him.

The spectre raised his hands to his shoulders and then lifted
the top part of his costume off to reveal Skailer. "Mr Archer
was a private detective, it appears that Nathaniel Jones the
guy we shifted October last year has not been keeping up
with his alimony payments. Mr. Jones' ex-wife hired Archer
to locate his whereabouts. As Jones also jumped bail there's
a bounty out for his arrest which made him a juicy target for
Mr Archer."

"How did he find us?"

"Seems Mrs. Jones had credit card details up to last
October, the last one being a cab ride..."

"How did she get those?"

Skailer shrugged, "Needless to say Archer traced Mr.
Jones's last journey to here. So he started snooping."

MacLeearie sighed and nodded, "Someone's been sloppy.
Let's tidy up here and then work our way back. I am
inclined to take Mr. Jones to task but a trail of dead bodies
is bad for business."

"It could be made to look like an accident."

"We are not in the assassination business. Talking of which,
I don't think we should use the maiden to dispose of Mr.
Archer."

"No, I've got something else planned for him. What about
those two?" he said nodding to Mulder and Scully now
walking down the hallway.

"He's rather persistent in his hunt for the paranormal but all
he's discovered is the tower steps. Perfectly in keeping with
the castle and he found nothing on the roof but a nice view.
But I'm watching him carefully he's just the type to stumble
over something he shouldn't. Pass the word round everyone
is to be very careful and make sure he's in his room tonight,
I don't want to lose a guest over the battlements.


Skailer nodded in understanding.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Mulder and Scully were headed back to his room, Mulder
fumbled for his key, "I'll just put my binoculars away
Heather and then we can join the treasure hunt. We
should..."

A couple came out of the room next door, it was Mr and
Mrs Guiser from breakfast, and with a brief nod at the two
agents they carried on down the stairs.

"... be in time for the start.


Scully looked at Mulder who had a puzzled frown on his
face. He opened the door and she followed him in. He put
his binoculars away. Then he stepped up to Scully leaning
close to her ear putting his arms round her waist.

"Jim!" She jumped slightly, but stilled herself realising
Mulder needed to say something to her. Damn those video
cameras. All the furtiveness was getting on her nerves, she
couldn't ever relax. There probably wasn't a camera in the
room, it was just Mulder's paranoia or an excuse...

"That was not the same couple as was in that room
yesterday," he whispered in her year.

Scully concentrated "Maybe they swapped too," she
whispered back pleased to see goose bumps on the back of
his neck.

"I didn't see the other couple at breakfast."

"Perhaps they skipped breakfast and we haven't actually
mingled much with the crowd today have we?" She pushed
herself away from him, "come on we'll miss the treasure
hunt."

When they joined the throng on the front lawn for the start
of the treasure hunt Mulder's scanned for the couple he'd
seen. He looked back at Scully and shook his head. Not
everyone was here of course there had been a fishing trip
arranged for today also, but Mulder had a funny feeling
about it.

After the treasure hunt, which they had done because it gave
them a good excuse to snoop and observe the other guests,
they met back in Scully's room. She headed for the
bathroom. Mulder flopped face down on the bed.

The canopy above the bed trembled.

"Hey Heather, I haven't seen Mr Chirpy since breakfast
have you?"

The canopy above the bed began to shiver.

"No."

"How did you scare him off, he didn't seem the type to be
so easily dissuaded."

The canopy above the bed slid down a bit.

There was no comment from Scully. Mulder persisted.

"I'm just surprised we didn't see him this afternoon he was
quite taken with you yesterday."

Scully popped her head out of the bathroom and scowled at
him. Then moved back into the bathroom to start the
shower.

"Shouldn't you be going to change for dinner?"

The canopy slid a little more.

"What was the excitement for this evening?"

"The spiritualist medium. How could you forget."

"Joy. Do you think I'm going to cause negative vibes this
time?" he said starting to rise from the bed.

There was a loud thump as the canopy plummeted onto the
bed.

Scully leapt out of the bathroom, shirt partly undone.

"I think it came from downstairs," said Mulder as he dashed
for the door.

When they reached the landing below, there was a crowd of
people in various stages of undress looking concerned
outside a door.  Mulder opened the door and walked into the
room with Scully close behind him. There on the bed a body
rested weighed down by the fallen canopy. Well presumably
there was a body, the only thing that they could see was a
pair of feet. They walked over to the bed and stared at the
feet. Scully noticed that the ankles seemed a bit swollen.
She reached out just as Gileynour's voice intruded, hustling
people out and away from the room.

Mulder turned towards the voice blocking Scully from
Gileynour's view. She quickly pulled the sock down to look
at the ankle, rapidly pulled it back up again before joining
Mulder and letting Gileynour usher them from the room.

One of the guests was heard to say, "Are these beds safe? I
don't know how I'll be able to sleep tonight. Perhaps we
should go home, Roger."

Gileynour was heard placating, talking of accidents and that
someone from maintenance would be sent to check all the
beds while they were at dinner.  There was no need for
concern. Mulder and Scully took the opportunity to remove
themselves from the scene.

Mulder inspected the bed in Scully's room, even if the
canopy collapsed there should not have been enough weight
there to flatten a man to the bed. The worst he would have
expected was a concussion and bruises. When Scully had
put the shower on again he joined her in the bathroom using
the noise of the water to hide their voices.

"You going to run me a bath then Heather?"

Scully as usual ignored it, "The man had been tied up
somewhere, his ankles were swollen and rubbed raw. I
didn't have time to see what with."

"Those looked like the style of socks Archer was wearing
this morning. So do you think he's been flat on his back all
day?"

"He was cold."

Mulder nodded, "It was carefully orchestrated. There's
something very odd going on here. Watch your back. In fact
I think I should get in that shower with you and do just
that."

The impatiently resigned look from Scully.

"I could wash it too. Make myself useful."

The 'one more word and you'll be in extreme pain' look.

"We need to get a message to SAC Wilson," said the ever
practical Scully.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

At dinner that night Mr Archer was definitely missing and
so were the couple Mulder had seen yesterday evening,
although Mulder thought the numbers were the same as
yesterday. Minus Archer. It was difficult to tell though
because the same costumes were being worn. Odd that.

The wine flowed as freely as the night before and everyone
was encouraged to quaff and wassail again, despite the fact
there was more of a Halloween theme than mediaeval to the
evening. That was odd too.

Moving in close on Scully he said "Heather, I think you
should stay with me tonight, in case of any visitations or
dangerous collapsing beds."

Scully acted as if he hadn't spoken, "I'll take the
battlements, you make sure you're on the wrong side of the
stone wall if it happens again tonight."

"I'm fairly sure it will."

"Did you manage to contact Wilson?"

"No. No signal in the castle and when I went for a run the
trees blocked the signal. There was a signal on the front
lawn, but one of the castle staff was out there and I didn't
want to risk being overheard so just gave the amber signal.


"So they should be standing by if anything goes down?


Mulder nodded.

"But what is it that's going on here?


Mulder shrugged. "Of that I am not sure, but it's obviously
enough to kill for."

The medium made a splendid entrance complete with
atmospheric dry ice and a cold draught through the room, no
doubt staged. He gave a scarily sinister performance of a
series of dead castle souls preaching death and destruction.
Ending with that someone was in danger tonight. In all
fairness to him, he looked terrified as he left.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**

Mulder switched off the light as he got into bed, he wriggled
about a bit to bunch the covers and pillows up before
slipping out of bed and elbowing across the floor. The hall
was going to be the bigger risk. With candles burning it
wasn't as if you could just switch the light off. A table hid
him as he crawled out of the room. But he needed to get to
the alcove behind the tapestry. He used his best pencil
throwing techniques to snuff out a few candles on one side
and hoped that would make it dark enough to hide him. He
crawled under the table as close to the alcove as possible
then with heart racing dived for cover. He waited trying to
keep his breathing steady. He heard voices and stiffened but
it was only the couple opposite turning in for the night.
They must be the last he thought, while trying to make
himself comfortable in the narrow opening. He was
expecting a long boring night, there was at least another two
hours to go before Red Jamie's ghost turned up. Of course
there was no saying that Jamie kept to a schedule, in which
case he could still be here in the morning. However Mulder
was betting he stuck to a schedule, and cliched through it
seemed, he was not above suspecting the fact that there was
very little moonlight tonight and some cloud cover was
useful to someone too.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Down in the monitor room, Gulloot was flipping through
the cameras. A bit of action was going on in the Blue Room
otherwise everyone was where they were supposed to be, all
sleeping soundly. He went back to the Blue room, might as
well be entertained while he waited but he kept an ear out
for Gileynour. It wouldn't do for Gileynour to catch him
only observing one room. Everyone was twitchy enough,
what with Archer and doing two assignments in a weekend.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

This time Scully was wide awake when the bagpipes started,
distant but audible. She was ready and sprang for the door
when she heard them. She cautiously crept across the
landing and down the stairs to the main hall.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Mulder jerked from his doze as the bagpipes started, he was
trying not to fidget or glance out from behind the tapestry
and so give himself away. He was rewarded when he heard
a whining sound followed by the chains and the grinding
noise. He'd been leaning forward trying to peer through the
gap between the wall and the tapestry, so he didn't
immediately realise that the wall behind him was moving
until he stepped back a little and caught his heel. Then he
realised it was him that was moving not the wall behind.

Mulder nearly lost his balance as the movement came to a
halt and he was faced with what appeared to be a deep dark
void. He switched on his flashlight to throw light on a set of
stone steps. He whistled to himself, this was a secret
stairway and a half. He was just about to set off down the
steps when he heard a doorway open in the hall. From the
direction he thought it must be the Guisers, he risked a
glance from behind the tapestry. Yep definitely them, they
were carrying a small amount of luggage.

He looked towards the landing and stairs. Nothing. He was
debating where they were going when in a flash of
inspiration Mulder realised that they were headed for the
steps where he was. He turned and headed down the stairs.
He had not gone a dozen steps when he saw a light and
heard a movement further down. Damn, he thought and then
decided to take his chances going down. He knew what was
up he wanted to know where the Guisers were going.

He carried on down deciding surprise was his best weapon,
he went headlong only to meet another couple coming up
the stairs also with a small amount of luggage. They had
obviously been expecting to meet someone on the way
although probably not quite so precipitously. He managed to
check himself before he ran headlong into them however.

The man looked nervously at him "Is everything ok? They
said everything was ready downstairs. Is there a problem?"

"No. No problem just a small detail. The other couple are on
their way down you can carry on."

Sounds from the Guisers were heard above them, the couple
in front of him looked relieved. They shuffled round each
other and Mulder carried on down, now forewarned that
there was someone at the bottom, which he was expecting
anyway. It would have been nice to know how many but he
hadn't the time or the inclination for that.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**

Scully approached the hidden door they'd found that
morning, opened it cautiously then proceeded quietly up the
steps. She peered carefully round the opening at the top but
there was no one standing guard. There was a little row of
emergency lights along the front edge in the ramparts. So
the ghost can see where he's walking she thought
sarcastically. However she couldn't see anything either man
or ghost. She inched a little further forward. Now she could
see the ghost walking the battlements playing the bagpipes.
He was about to reach the end wall, so Scully waited for
him to turn. It wasn't much of a surprise when it turned out
to be MacLeearie. Well he wasn't doing much harm up
here, she'd leave him jam the door and go see if Mulder had
got into trouble yet.

She got to the bottom the steps without incident and
examined the latch on the door. It looked like if she poked
something through the hole MacLeearie wouldn't be able to
open the door from the inside. She closed the door and stuck
her pen in it. Perfect, good job she'd worn her jacket. She
stepped back and saw a movement out of the corner of her
eye. She was just in time to stave off the blow to the back of
her head. The assailant had obviously taken a big swing at
her because his momentum carried him forward. Scully
aimed a blow to the back of his neck as he went passed. He
staggered forward and hit his head on the old fashioned
radiator on the wall. He slumped to the floor. Scully used
his belt to tie him to the radiator and tied his shoelaces
round his ankles just for good measure. Now where to find
Mulder.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**

Mulder seemed to be going down the steps forever, not a
climb for the infirm. As he approached what he hoped was
the bottom of the stairs, he could hear the surf and
unfortunately smell rotting seaweed. He'd come out at the
base of the cliffs. There was a rocky overhang so the door
couldn't be seen from above and it would be partially
hidden from the sea by the rocks about twenty feet in front.
Very cunning thought Mulder as he crept forward and
peered around the rock.

There was a rocky channel with a couple of men and an
outboard motor boat moored against the rocks. He peered
out to sea but there wasn't much moon and it was cloudy.
He couldn't see anything. He checked his cell phone no
service down here. He heard the Guisers coming down the
stairs and edged to the other side of the rock. He wasn't sure
what was going on here. He didn't want to charge in only to
find that this was the ruse while the real crime was
happening elsewhere but then surely no one would be taking
this sort of risk on a dark night unless they were trying to
hide something.

The Guisers emerged and moved quickly towards the boat.
They were helped onto the boat which then pulled out and
headed off out to sea. One of the men stayed back. It was at
this point that Mulder realised he could still hear the
bagpipes. Scully! The man was still watching the boat go
out to sea so he must be waiting for it to come back. Mulder
raced back up the steps. Of course when he'd got there the
hall had already moved back and a stone wall blocked the
entrance. He kicked it in his frustration. The bagpipes had
stopped, he tore off back down the steps. There must be
another way up the cliffs.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**

Mulder awoke to find himself chained to the dungeon wall.
There was a fire burning in one of the braziers. This was the
back room of the dungeon, and the door was shut. Nobody
was going to hear his screams down here. There were voices
off to one side, muted but intense. An argument trying not to
be overheard.

One of them must have seen he was awake, "Well Mr
Benyon... is that your name? No matter what a tricky little
problem you've given us."

It was MacLeearie. Mulder looked quizzical.

"Two busy bodies to get rid of in one weekend. So
awkward. And you have captured Ms Fergusons' attention
enough for her to make a fuss if you just disappear."

 MacLeearie fluttered his hands in the air. Then he frowned.

"Gileynour go and check Ms Ferguson while I see if I can
get a few answers here."

"Leave her out of it, she has nothing to do with this. I was
just using her for cover.


Gileynour hesitated.

"Go check Gileynour. We can't afford any other oversights.
It's been a close run thing this weekend.


Gileynour nodded and strode off. Damn thought Mulder he
hoped Scully had her usual wits about her.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**


End part 5

Part 6 of 6
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**

Scully had crept up the stairs to Mulder's room to be met by
a stone wall. She stared unbelievingly at it, then poked and
prodded it. She stepped back. What to do now? Fortunately
there was a rattle of chains, the grinding noise then the wall,
began to move and the door appeared. She stepped forward
watching the wall move. Then something flashed in the
corner of her eye.

She turned to her left to see a claymore detaching itself from
the wall. She grabbed a candlestick off the table to defend
herself with as it came towards her; it leapt to her right
forcing her back towards the stairs. She wanted to get to
Mulder's door; she called his name and tried to circle to the
left round the claymore. It countered. Scully was pissed and
stepped forward towards the claymore to clout it with the
candlestick. She caught it off guard but ended up swinging
straight through it and practically twirled to the floor with
her momentum. Her mouth dropped open in shock, she
could have sworn she should have made solid contact with
it. She backed away from the claymore. Then she pulled
herself together. She didn't believe in ghosts and she sure as
hell didn't believe in ghostly swords.

She took off her jacket and waved it about in the air, first to
one side then the other. There... a flicker. She jumped up
and waved her jacket at the same time. The claymore
winked out of existence. A goddamned light projection, a
clever one but still a light projection. She huffed, put on her
jacket and stepped through the claymore to Mulder's room.
The claymore seemed to hang in the air sulking. Of course
Mulder was no where to be found. She walked back to the
landing, hands on hips. Now where to look.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**

Gileynour checked the monitor to Scully's room. She
appeared to be sleeping. He watched a bit more. She was
very still. He frowned and turned out of the room. He just
missed Scully coming out of Mulder's room on another
monitor.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**

 "Well Mr Benyon we just need to have a little chat. You
know that I need to know what you know. I don't suppose
you are going to do this the easy way and just tell me?


Mulder shook his head.

MacLeearie's face brightened, "Excellent. I wouldn't want
to waste a good fire.


He gestured at the brazier. As Mulder glanced that way
MacLeearie punched him in the gut. Mulder would have
doubled up in pain had he not been chained to the wall.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Gileynour charged into Scully's room and dragged the
covers back - pillows. Someone would pay for this. Gulloot
had been on monitor duty tonight, he hadn't been paying
attention, both Benyon and Ferguson out of their rooms.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Scully edged her way down the dungeon steps. She wasn't
sure why she was looking here except that the back room
had troubled her, and after having seen the marks on
Archer's ankles this seemed like the best place to try. She
went towards the hidden door and put her ear against it
hopeful of hearing something through such a thick door. She
heard muffled voices. She touched the opening mechanism
and slid inside. Mulder was now spread-eagled on the rack,
his shirt and jeans cut off him in a heap on the floor.

MacLeearie was bending over him "Right we'll start with
the easy questions Mr Benyon. What's my mother's name?"
he said smugly. He did so I enjoy these little question and
answer periods.

"Bastard," muttered Mulder.

"Wrong!" said MacLeearie and motioned to the man at the
brazier. Gulloot came forward with a hot branding iron.

"Freeze FBI," yelled Scully gun now out front clutched in
both hands. Gulloot was startled and dropped the branding
iron, which just caught Mulder's leg before clattering to the
floor. Mulder yelped in pain and in the confusion
MacLeearie dived off to the side. Gulloot reached for his
gun so Scully shot him once through the chest. He collapsed
to the floor. Scully ran forward to where MacLeearie had
dodged, stopping to peer cautiously round the edge of the
wall. MacLeearie had disappeared.

Scully eased up from her stance and checked on the body -
dead. She glanced at Mulder, then let her eyes run over his
body. Stripped to his boxers and spread eagled for her
delight. Wicked little thoughts of retribution for Mulder's
behaviour flickered through her mind. She really shouldn't
think about that, she shouldn't.

Mulder squirmed "Scullee??"

"Mulder." She smirked but she moved towards him.

"Come on untie me MacLeearie is getting away."

"What this isn't one of your fantasies?" she said her face
now having adopted a clinical aspect.

Mulder felt himself twitch despite the situation or because
of the situation.

"Are you okay?" she asked running her hand over his leg as
she inspected the burn.

"Fine just getting a few kinks out."

She sighed as she started to unbuckle his ankle then she saw
a movement in front of her. The headless spectre was
coming her way hefting a large axe. Scully went back to
unbuckling Mulder's ankle muttering something about
stupid light projections.

"Scully" Mulder said warningly his eyes on the rapidly
approaching spectre.

"It's just a hologram Mulder."

"It looks pretty real to me Scully."

"But you believe..." Scully broke off as she heard a noise,
the axe had touched an overhead chain. Light projections
didn't make a noise. The first shot went straight through the
spectre without stopping. She tried a little lower and had the
satisfaction of seeing a spectre crumple backwards.
However the axe, which it had been bringing forwards in an
arc, flew out of the spectre's hand and travelled on under its
own momentum towards the bound Mulder. It buried itself
in the leg of the rack.

Mulder gulped once then put his head back with a sigh of
relief. "Talk about in the nick of time."

Scully got Mulder free and helped to ease him off the rack.
He winced but was able to stand.

"I'm fine Scully, just the usual collection of bumps and
bruises," he gestured towards the prone spectre "Can you
see who that is."

She went over to inspect the body, eventually working out
how to remove the 'head' of the costume. Underneath was
Skailer.

"That leaves MacLeearie and Gileynour, I don't know how
many of the other staff are in on this. What happened to
MacLeearie?"

Mulder limped over in the direction that MacLeearie had
disappeared. "Did he disappear through the iron maiden?"
he said swinging the door open to reveal the wicked looking
spikes. "Look it's right next to the wall. I bet there's a
hidden door in here.


"I think that's what you're supposed to think Mulder. So
before you do anything so stupidly impetuous as to step
inside that thing, might I remind you about the alleged
previous deaths associated with this castle. As far as I can
tell without direct analysis those spikes appear to be in close
correlation to the stab wound pattern found in the autopsy
reports."

For once Scully's logic made Mulder hesitate "So where did
he go then?"

"I don't know and at the moment I think we should
concentrate on calling for backup. You said you got a signal
on the front lawn right?"

Mulder nodded.  "They also need to get a search going for
the Guisers," he said silently capitulating on MacLeearie for
now.

On the way up the steps Mulder described to Scully what he
had seen. When they got to the great hall, Scully went off to
phone for backup while Mulder shuffled towards the stairs
to go get some clothes. He had just started to ascend when
he heard a noise in the library. He stepped inside to find
MacLeearie cleaning out a safe hidden behind a panel of
books. He was throwing papers into a fire in the waste bin.
Mulder rushed forward.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Scully managed to get through to Wilson and rapidly
explained the situation.

"I've got men on standby, they'll be there in fifteen minutes.
Did you say the couple's name was Guiser Agent Scully?"

"Yes."

"Well I'll be... we received information this afternoon
about a Fred Guiser regarding a massive fraud case
something like $9 million. If that's the same man he must be
being smuggled out of the country. I'll get the boats out
and contact the coast guard about looking out for a vessel."

Scully switched off her mobile and made her way back into
the castle as she crossed the hall she heard a crash from the
library. She dashed to the door to see Mulder struggling to
subdue MacLeearie.

She reached for her weapon and yelled "Freeze FB... urgh"
as she was grabbed from behind by Gileynour. Scully
stamped down hard on her attacker's foot but he was
wearing thick boots and he only grunted before pulling her
jacket down over her arms then twisting it trapping her
hands behind her back. She was dragged off balance and
carted over to the fireplace.

Mulder had managed to knock MacLeearie senseless so he
scrambled to help Scully. Gileynour attached her jacket to
some unseen part of the fireplace just as Mulder came
barrelling into him. Scully yanked on her arms but found
herself stuck. As Gileynour and Mulder untangled
themselves Gileynour grabbed a poker. It was a huge poker
in keeping with the fireplace, he swung it at Mulder who
managed to dodge and scramble backwards. Gileynour
came after him again and Mulder rolled to the side. As he
came up he grabbed one of the swords from a suit of armour
at the same time pushing the suit into Gileynour.

Gileynour caught a glancing blow from a gauntlet but stayed
upright. He saw the sword in Mulder's hand and a grin
appeared on his face. He saluted Mulder then adopted an en
guard stance and much to Scully's surprise Mulder did
likewise. This was rapidly followed by a clash of sword and
poker as they engaged.

Scully saw MacLeearie starting to stir and renewed her
struggle with her bonds. It was just making it worse. She
glanced over at the other side of the fireplace and noticed a
hook like arrangement perhaps for some sort of roasting
spit. If it was matched on this side then unfortunately she
needed to rise up further than she had movement in her arms
even on tiptoe. Looking round her she saw a pile of logs she
reached out with a foot to try to snag one.

Mulder and Gileynour continued to thrust and parry neither
seeming to gain the advantage, Scully was somewhat
stunned to see that Mulder obviously knew how to fence
and quite well too. How did she not know that about him?
She knew very little about sword fighting words like riposte,
counter-riposte, remise, derobement, trompement came to
mind and she was certain that those moves were being
enacted here as blades clashed, wrists flexed, hands circled.
A groan from MacLeearie had her concentrating on
positioning the log to try to give herself more height.

Gileynour grabbed a candelabra off the library table and
threw it at Mulder, taking the opportunity while Mulder was
off balance to grab a real sword from a wall display. They
engaged again, thrust, parry, counter, backwards and
forwards across the library floor. They passed and lunged,
knees flexing, legs extended, points perilously close to
hitting their mark. Mulder still only dressed in his boxers,
the sight ought to have been funny but it was all too deadly
serious.

Gileynour was getting frustrated, sensing urgency and
piqued at Mulder's skill, he had expected to best Mulder
easily, as it was he was only just holding his own. Gileynour
was an experienced and practised swordsman the American
had obviously been trained by an expert. He feinted and
parried, changed the cadence, he was perhaps occasionally
reckless but the attacks had been well constructed Gileynour
not having the chance to press the advantage. In one move
their guards had clashed he'd expected to force the
American's sword down but he'd been surprisingly strong
for such a lanky man one moreover he had assumed to be a
soft city boy. He tried distracting Mulder "You fight well
Mr Benyon where did you learn your skills?"

Mulder was perfectly capable of maintaining a conversation
while his mind and body was engaged elsewhere, it was like
he had a separate set of neurones just for that purpose.
"Thank you. I'm a bit out of practice I don't think I have
wielded a sword since Oxford."

Gileynour still making no headway changed tactics. He
dived over the library table towards Scully.

Scully managed to lift herself off the hook and stumbled off
the log knocking against the table at the side of the fireplace
but managing not to fall or twist her ankle. As she righted
herself she saw Gileynour coming towards her, fortunately
Mulder reacted quickly enough to jump onto the table and
intercept him before he could swing his sword at her.

MacLeearie was now up and staggering around but having
taken one look round the room had gone back to emptying
the safe in an agitated manner.

Gritting her teeth against the pain, Scully wriggled her arms
over her hips, her hands were starting to go numb from the
lack of circulation. Her upper arms were screaming at her
but she continued to squirm. She felt a small breath of relief
as she cleared her hips and wriggled her arms down her
legs. Just her feet to go she thought getting down on the
floor.

MacLeearie had finished with the safe, he prodded the fire
in the waste bin checking that everything was burning. He
stared at her and she knew a moment of panic. She got a
foot free. MacLeearie put a couple of ledgers under his arm
and headed towards her. Another foot free, she sprang to her
feet ready to fend off MacLeearie. He hesitated, glanced
quickly over at Gileynour and Mulder still having at it,
Gileynour just at that moment hurling a bust at Mulder,
which Mulder dodged. MacLeearie obviously reached a
decision and rushed towards the fireplace. Scully tensed but
continued trying to free her hands from her jacket while not
taking her eyes off MacLeearie. He came towards her, then
bolted into the fireplace and disappeared.

Scully blinked in surprise looked down at her hands and
after a bit for shaking and pulling managed to free them
from the jacket. She moved forward to peer into the
fireplace but all she could see was the fire blackened stone.
MacLeearie's disappearing acts were really beginning to
irritate her.

A crash of pottery brought her back to the other occupants
of the room. Gileynour had thrown a vase at Mulder who
had managed to dodge but then lost his footing on the
fragments of pottery from the bust. Gileynour moved to stab
Mulder while he was down just as Scully hit him over the
head with the coal shovel. He slumped to the floor. Scully
grinned at Mulder and adopted a victory stance with the
shovel. Mulder grinned back and heaved himself off the
floor. Scully went to retrieve her gun while Mulder tied up
Gileynour with the curtain cords.

"What happened to MacLeearie?"

"He went through the fireplace. He's very adept at slipping
through walls, could be he's a ghost," said Scully somewhat
muffled as she delved under an armchair looking for her
weapon.

Mulder moved over to the fireplace and started pulling,
pushing and tugging anything that stuck out.

"What are you doing Mulder?"

"Trying to find the switch that opens the door."

He pulled one of the handles that would have been used to
stop draughts coming down the chimney when not in use.
That resulted in him being covered in soot. Scully
suppressed a giggle.

"Come on Scully he's getting away. Help me search, it must
be here somewhere. Try down that side."

"Are you sure it's going to be something like that?"

"What else is it going to be?"

"Well some cliches round here have been pretty high tech
for an old castle. Like the video cameras for surveillance
rather than the eyes through the portrait."

She cast her eye over the nearest wall anyway. Mulder
started to move books, Scully sighed there were hundreds of
those. She moved forward to do the same when something
on the coffee table caught her eye. It was a remote control,
there was nothing vaguely electronic in the room so unless it
opened the safe... she picked it up, pointed it at the fireplace
and pressed a button. Nothing.

"Scully what are you doing? You're wasting time!"

She looked at the buttons again then pressed another one
and a door swivelled open. She looked at Mulder trying to
keep the smugness out of her face. Mulder narrowed his
eyes at her "Your feeling really smug now aren't you?"

Scully shrugged her shoulders as she walked through the
door but her eyes were twinkling merrily and her lips were
twitching. "I'm never going to hear the last of this," he
muttered to himself as he followed her through the door.

There was a maze of corridors and no sign of MacLeearie
but they did find the room full of monitors. They started
flicking through the various cameras. They had been right to
be cautious, Mulder's paranoia had paid off because there
appeared to be dozens of cameras. Every bedroom, Scully
winced to see her bedroom displayed, all the halls, in the
gardens, everywhere. Then they hit pay dirt when they
found MacLeearie in the stables uncovering a jeep. They
watched him as he drove out of the yard and towards the
woods down a rough forest road, away from the direction of
the main driveway. The way the backup should be coming
any minute now. By the wonders of modern technology
there was a telephone in the room. Scully contacted Wilson
and advised him of MacLeearie's direction.

Scully came off the phone and looked over at Mulder
"Mulder I really think you should put some clothes on
before the SAC gets here."

They headed off back towards the library.

"Do you want me to check on that burn?"

Mulder glanced down at his leg. "Scully do you realise that
I am now branded for life with an S!"

Scully smirked, it was a wavy line really, more like a snake
but it could be interpreted as an S.

"It could have been worse, it might have been a ring through
the..." she paused deliberately "nose."

"Where do you do your fencing practice Mulder?"

"I don't. Haven't fenced since college. One year I had a
room mate who did the pentathlon, the modern one with
swimming, running, riding, shooting and fencing. I used to
go running and swimming with him. The fencing was
something you could do indoors when it was raining and
believe me it rained a lot. Basketball wasn't all that common
so he offered to teach me how to fence because he was
always looking to practice. I don't think I was ever much of
a challenge to him, he just used to defend. He said it did
wonders for his reflexes because I never did any of the
expected moves..."

"That I can believe!" said Scully amused. Mulder grinned.

"Actually he had a brother at Glasgow University who came
down one weekend and told this tale about a sword."

Scully gave him her go on look.

"The thing about the old Universities is that they have this
history and have bye-laws going back hundreds of years.
Apparently a fellow student was studying for his exams in
the library when he came across a book of bye-laws. For a
bit of light relief he browsed through and chanced upon one
he thought he could use to his advantage. Of course he
didn't tell anyone else wanting to amaze his friends. So he's
sitting in the examination room studiously writing away
when about half way through he signals to an adjudicator
who comes trotting over expecting a request for more paper
or something equally mundane. However this guy asks for a
glass of port. The adjudicator thinking he hasn't heard right
asks him to repeat which he duly does. The adjudicator
gives him the eye and walks away. The guy thinks he's
going to be ignored but lo and behold a few minutes later a
glass of port is duly brought, not missed by most of the
students in the room. So come the end of the exam the guy
saunters out, basks in the amazement of his friends, to
whom he regales the bye-law by which he was entitled to
ask for the port. They stroll off towards a well deserved pint
at the nearest pub but when he gets to the gate the warders
leap out and arrest him for walking across the quadrangle
without his sword!"

Scully gave a chuckle of laughter. "You're kidding?"

"I jest you not."

Whatever tale Scully had been expecting it wasn't that,
maybe a phantom sword story but not this amusing little
anecdote.

They were on their way up the stairs now and could hear
Wilson and his men arriving outside. Scully turned and went
out to meet them while Mulder went off to dress.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Some time later the story is starting to unfold. SAC Wilson
and his men have the perpetrators under arrest and several
of the guests. From the ledgers recovered from MacLeearie
it appeared he had been running a little identity swapping
ring for several years in fact. Known felons swapped names
and histories with like individuals from another country.
They changed addresses and by the time the law caught up
with the swapped John Smith of course he didn't match
physically or on fingerprint record. The authorities thought
they had just been side tracked by the real John Smith and
went back to square one not realising he'd skipped the
country. Castle Ghaistrid provided the swap point, the
ghosts and spectres providing perfect cover for clandestine
movements and noises in the night should anyone not be
overcome by the sleeping draught added to the drinks
provided at the evening's entertainment.

Mulder and Scully had given their statements and were
waiting their final release so they could go home. Mulder
offered to teach Scully some fencing moves while they were
waiting.

"There's the salute, a customary acknowledgement of your
opponent when you start and finish a bout. The en-garde
which is the stance to assume when preparing to fence."

 He was stood to the side and slightly behind her instructing
her on how to hold the sword positioning her left arm hand
on hip, her right hand forward.

"Now the wrist is very important as is the grip. The wrist
may be pronated or supinated so you must keep your wrist
flexible but hold the sword firmly..."

Scully glanced at him.

"What?" he said disguising a smile, "If you keep the wrist
stiff some one can knock the sword out of your hand. Now
to thrust you lunge forward, flexing the knee, arm straight
out...  here I'll show you."

Scully started to hold out the sword to him when Mulder put
one arm round her waist the other on her sword hand and
moved his body directing hers forward and down in a lunge.
Scully was too startled to do more than give a breathy gasp.

SAC Wilson shook his head, 'What a pair' he thought, they
should be dropping with fatigue at what was now nearly six
in the morning and they could only have managed a couple
of hours sleep at most and here they were practising sword
play. Mulder instructions floated across to him as he turned
back to get a report from one of his men that the Guisers had
been apprehended.

Apparently the operation had been using an old Russian
submarine to transport people. Very sneaky not the type of
vessel they would have been looking for if they hadn't
known the Guisers were out there. Jesus the paperwork on
this case was going to take months to clear.

"Mulder I thought you were supposed to be facing me for
the en guard position."

The End

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Author Notes:

The meaning of the following words in the Scottish dialect:-

Ghaistrid - ghost ridden
Gileynour - a cheat or swindler
Gulloot - big ugly fellow
Guiser - masquerader
Hiddlins - secret, clandestine - a place of concealment
Skailer - scatterer, disperser
Leearie - liar
Targe - Scottish shield
Claymore - Scottish sword
Sgian Dubh - sock knife


The Glasgow University exam story is supposedly true but
comes seventh hand as I didn't attend Glasgow, a friend did.