The Mercenary Lawyer: Part Two by moonsunangel |  |
Untitled Document
I came out after awhile, my face expressionless. I took
out the empty bottles- at least, previously empty. One contained a necklace of
some sort, another held two slips of paper, and a black gem sat inside the last.
Diva immediately recognized the necklace, and said as much.
"Oh, that's my poor Diva's necklace I gave him!"
I thought this over and sat down next to her
on the bench. Opening the bottle and taking out the necklace, I let Diva examine
the necklace carefully. As I expected, she gave a cry after a minute.
"This isn't Diva's necklace! It's a fake imitation!"
"I thought as much, Miss Diva."
I carefully bottled the copy necklace again.
I had not sensed the feeling that I had whenever I picked up silver, and the
necklace did not reek of Chia as it should have if it was truly Diva's. Then
I took out a paper slip. Diva's eyes widened.
"Oh, what does it say??"
I reread the slip silently to myself, and then
just as silently showed it to Diva. Her eyes got even bigger.
"erusaert ,rednu sehcni net ,enirhS eht ta renorc
tfel"
"What is that supposed to mean?" Diva exclaimed
unhappily.
"It means our thief is partly clever, but is
a bit lazy at finding a hard code," I answered. "It reads, 'left corner at the
Shrine, ten inches under, treasure'."
"Oh!"
"Next stop- Coltzan's Shrine."
We got to the Shrine with no trouble, and I
led Diva on a path that avoided the main stalls. The left corner of the Shrine
was shaded and cool, and I felt right at home.
The note said ten inches under, so I dug hard
and fast. I covered roughly ten inches when my paw struck something slightly
hard. I pulled out a chest made of strange, dark, glossy wood, with a strong
padlock on the front. I took out my lock-picking kit, but that didn't work;
the lock was ancient and of better design than the modern locks. I thought hard
for a minute about what had happened so far:
1. Uni's Clothing was closed and guarded, something
was fishy.
2. Found imitation of Diva's necklace and two
slips of paper.
3. Had a chest that was said to contain treasure,
which could be anything.
I snapped to the present.
"Diva, may I take this home with me? I think
I can get it open with the right tools. I'll call you when I get it open."
Diva agreed and walked off. I glanced around
and melted into the shadows. With its help, I got back to the Central fast,
and walked to my home in a trance-like state. Though Diva had forgotten about
the second slip of paper, I had not. It read:
'X3, Be careful. Neopia has its snoops. You
know what to do with It and Him.
X1'
I studied this as I got to my room. Skye had
noticed my current state and knew that if I bumped into somebody or somebody
interrupted me, I'd have a temper, so she got Chiva and Kashee out of my way.
I was grateful, in a corner of my mind. I set the chest down on my bed, along
with the bottles. My Elements would help me. I closed my eyes. My Elements were
Air and DarkFire. Elements are the powers within you. If you are especially
magical, those powers can be controlled and used. I called upon my DarkFire
Element, and gave it a challenging task, which it leapt to willingly. DarkFire
is the most powerful known Element of all, and it loves to be challenged. I
took a deep breath, controlled the power it gave, and directed it to the chest,
which promptly burst into flame- purple flame. The flame died in an instant,
and I rested. It had taken a lot of power to do that; though DarkFire regenerated
quickly, I had to have a certain amount of DarkFire in me to be healthy and
normal. When I looked up, the chest padlock had partially melted. It had been
a bit sloppy, but had worked- the padlock was open.
unlatched the lock and swung back the chest
lid. Inside, sat something so precious, so rare, that I could only stare.
An Aisha Myriad.
I had heard of these, through legends and myths.
You see, some Alien Aishas searched for the Hidden Tower. Upon finding it, they
were confronted by the Faerie Queen, who allowed them a tour of the Tower. She
showed the Captain each artifact, and its origin and powers. The Captain, however,
had a "tiny, automated micro photo scanner", which would not only show the picture,
but the materials it was made of and the inner blueprint. The Aishas, upon reconstructing
the items, decided it was a great burden to carry all of those things around,
and someone had the idea of combining all the items into one- an Aisha Myriad.
The Faerie Queen got revenge and stripped the Aishas of their Myriads, and few
are circulating Neopia.
I closed the chest, stunned. I had to hide this
quickly, and somewhere safe. I melted into the shadows. Returning to my room
without the chest, I promptly put my head in my paws. What was I going to tell
Diva? Humans often could not control their natural greedy instincts. Making
up a lie was going to be hard... or I could say that I couldn't tell her. I
think, I hope, she will be cool with that. I got onto the communicator, but
Diva had gone off for the night.
I lay down flat on my back on my bed, suddenly
weary. This case was more sinister than I'd thought- Uni's Clothing was too
heavily guarded and closed, a fake imitation of my client's necklace, and an
Aisha Myriad that a slip of paper had led me to. I had to put the Myriad out
of my mind, at least for now. I padded down the stairs and out the door without
a word to Skye. She'd understand.
To be continued…
|
