Your steps echo below the drawbridge as you cross.  
When you thought of approaching this castle,
you thought to find lords and ladies gaily bedighted
as in Arthur or Chaucer but there is a silence in the air.

A feeling like something is waiting for you to act.
You pass under the portcullis and enter a courtyard.
The walls are grey and slightly moist in this light
which has not changed and so you can't know if 
whether day or night is coming.  

Ahead in a doorway you see a torch burning.
You remove it from its sconce and proceed up the stone steps.
Once up the stairs you come to a door slightly ajar.

You step inside the chamber and see a beautiful woman on a throne.
She rises and comes towards you and though you've sworn not
allegiance to her, you still fall on one knee and avert your eyes.

She laughs slightly and bids you rise, "Dear Wanderer, you have in
you the power to make my people happy."

You dare to look into here bright green eyes and say, 
"But how?  I don't even know where I am."

She shakes her dark curls and smiles, "Oh but I do!  
And I will gift you with such things as you will need."  

She walks over to an alcove and opens a small chest.  
"Come here, Wanderer."

You walk over as if in a dream, 
which isn't really a possibility you'd rule out at this point.  
She bids you kneel and goes thru the motions of placing a necklace or chain
 about your shoulders.  You look and cannot see anything there but 
you feel a slight weight upon your chest and clavicle.  
You ask, "M'lady, what is this gift?"

She answers, "A key to open all doors.  Come now and sleep.  
For when you wake, your journey will have begun and the guide 
I'll send shall find you."  She guides you out of the chamber and 
into a bedroom with big soft comfy-looking pillows.  

She turns to leave you to your rest and stops halfway when you ask, 
"M'lady, how shall I know this guide?"

She answers simply, "You will know."  And returns to her throne.  
You ponder this but it's quite difficult to ponder when the cushions are so 
soft and the bed so deep and maybe if you just close your eyes for a second
 it'll help you concentrate.  
Your eyelids flutter a bit and you drift off to slumber.