Shayret's Adventure: A Mystery in Meridell - Part Three

     "No," said Zeke, "I can't believe we have all these files and stuff and we still can't find anything." Although they were in a rundown shack at the edge of Meri Acres Farm, with a push of a board, Zeke had transformed it into a research center. "If we don't come up with anything soon, King Skarl will have our heads."

      "Yeah," replied Shoyru, "but we just have to keep-"

      "Wait!" interrupted Zeke, "I think I've got something!"

      "What is it?"

      "Well, how much do we know about the whole royal family?"

      "What do you mean? There's King Skarl and King Hagan. They're brothers. What else is there?"

      "I mean, what do we know about the rest of their family?"

      "You mean their parents?"

      "Exactly! What if the person behind all of this has some kind of grudge against the royal family?"

      "It's definitely a possibility."

      Shayret walked over to a computer and entered the words "Royal Family". "I don't know if I'll get anything," he said, "I spent most of last night looking for information on the family tree, but it was all blank." As he suspected, the search turned up nothing.

      "Maybe it's too old for the database," said Zeke. "After all, it's been quite a while since the king's parents were in power."

      "Yeah, but there must be something on them. It's not like they never existed!"

      "Hm…" mumbled Zeke, "Try looking in 'Former Rulers of Meridell and Brightvale.'" Shayret did so and was shocked to see a full 3 pages of results! He looked down at the first page, but it didn't have anything to do with what they were looking for. After he had been through the first 2 pages, he began to give up, but Zeke pressed him on. At last, about halfway down the 3rd page, Shayret spotted a link that said "King Hector and Queen Sophie-Former Rulers of Meridell and Brightvale". Shayret began to read the article about the parents of King Skarl and King Hagan. After reading the entire page, the only interesting thing he knew was that the former king and queen had been involved in 6 wars during their rule. It didn't surprise him very much.

      "What did you find?" Zeke asked as he walked over.

      "Nothing much," Shayret replied, "Why don't you have a look?"

      Zeke took Shayret's spot at the file cabinet and began reading. After only a few seconds he stopped. "Wait," he said, "look at this!" Shayret walked back over to where Zeke was sitting and read the sentences he was pointing to. "When King Hector and Queen Sophie came into power, they hired a royal advisor by the name of Dublin."

      "What's your point?" asked Shayret. "All it says is they had a royal advisor."

      "But look at the name."

      Shayret looked more closely and read the name Zeke was referring to.

      "Dublin?!" Shayret exclaimed.

      "Yes, Dublin," said Zeke. "I think I'm beginning to see what's going on here."

      "What?"

      "I'm not completely sure yet. I need to look further into this."

      Zeke stood up and walked towards the door.

      "Where are you going?" Shayret asked.

      "I'm going to see Nigel Dublin," Zeke replied. "I have some questions I want to ask him. I'll be back tonight."

      "Okay, good luck!" Shayret called to him as he walked out the door.

      Shayret went back to the computer and started searching for more information, but he couldn't find anything. It wasn't long before he was once again fast asleep. When Shayret woke up, it was already morning. He blinked a few times and wiped his eyes. He stood up and stretched and then looked around. No sign of Zeke. Everything was the same as it had been before he had fallen asleep. Shayret wondered where Zeke was. He had said that he would return that night. Shayret searched the shack for his companion but didn't find him. He wasn't worried, though. He figured that Zeke had just stayed the night at King Skarl's castle.

      After a few hours of waiting for Zeke to return, Shayret decided to go out and do some looking on his own. He exited the enormous shed and walked down the path in Meri Acres Farm that led to Meridell. In just a few minutes, he found himself in the medieval country. He, like Zeke, wanted to talk to the King's advisor, so he made his way down to the castle. When he reached the castle doors for the second time that week, he was surprised to see that there was a lock on them. He examined the humongous padlock and reasoned that someone was determined to keep people out.

      Shayret tried knocking on the doors, but after 10 minutes of waiting he gave up. Shayret had walked about 100 feet away from the doors when he heard a large crash from inside the fortress. He ran back to it a pressed his ear against the door and listened, but nothing else happened. He backed up and prepared to break the law. He was going to break into King Skarl's castle. Shayret stood about 15 feet away from the tall double doors and drew in a deep breath. With one big blow, Shayret sent a circle of flames crashing into the doors, leaving a large hole. He crawled through it and looked around. Nothing was out of the ordinary, except the huge hole in the doors.

      Shayret spread his wings and soared into the air. Shayret usually didn't fly, (he had had a bad experience when he was a kid involving a kite and two broken wings) but this was an emergency. He flew around the entire castle and checked all the rooms except the throne room, which was locked. Not surprisingly, he couldn't find anything. He returned to the entrance to the throne room and tried looking through the keyhole. He could barely make out the dark figure of a Krawk lying on the floor. It had to be Zeke.

      Shayret backed up and prepared to scorch another door. But as he drew in his second deep breath, he heard the click of the lock on the door, and gasped as Nigel Dublin slowly pushed it open. Shayret couldn't believe his eyes. Not only was he disturbed by the evil grin on the Royal Advisor's face, but he was also completely astonished by what he saw inside the King's throne room.

      Shayret rushed past Dublin and fled to the other side of the room where Zeke was lying unconscious.

      "What happened?!" shouted Shayret.

      "Well, let's see," replied Dublin. "I believe he came to the castle to ask me some questions or something. But, when he arrived to find the doors locked his theory was confirmed. I don't know how, but he made his way into the castle and found King Skarl bound and gagged."

      Nigel paused for a moments to let Shayret figure out what he was saying. It didn't take long for Shayret to put 2 and 2 together.

      "You kidnapped King Hagan!" he screamed.

      "Yeah," Dublin said calmly. "I'm surprised it took you so long to figure that out, what with Zeke's research center and all."

      "But, if you were behind all this, then why did you go through all the trouble to hire Zeke and me?"

      "Isn't it obvious? I was trying to get you two out of the picture! Without the two greatest detectives in Neopia around, no one would have ever suspected little old Nigel of kidnapping the Royal Family! So, I set up the whole charade. I was going to lock you both in the dungeons when you came back here, but your little friend found me out. Yes, the whole thing was necessary for my plan to work. Of course, I could have just told you that I hired Zeke, also. But having Zeke kidnap you was just a bit of fun on my part."

      "You're insane!"

      "Yes, yes I am. But that's beside the point."

      "What is the point, then? Why did you do this?"

      "I have my reasons! My family has worked in this castle for years, and what have we gotten in return? NOTHING!"

      "And kidnapping both of the kings is going to get you something?"

      "Yes, actually. I'm getting my revenge!"

      "Once again, you're insane!" At that moment Shayret noticed that King Skarl wasn't in the castle. (He had just been through the entire thing.) "What have you done with him?" he said.

      "He's perfectly safe for now," said Dublin in a menacing voice.

      "What are you planning to do?"

      "Well, it's pretty obvious. If a royal family dies out, the closest person to them is presented to the throne."

      "But you're just the royal advisor."

      "That may be so. But if you look a little further, you'll find that there isn't anyone else even remotely connected the royal family except me and the maid. And the maid is WAY too depressed to ever run a kingdom."

      "So you're trying to take over Meridell?"

      "And Brightvale."

     "You won't get away with this you know."

      "Oh yes I will. Think about it. Your partner is unconscious, King Hagan and King Skarl are my prisoners, and you are the only one who knows what's going on! I've already won! You can't stop me all by yourself!"

      Shayret looked down at Zeke and back at Nigel Dublin. "Maybe not," he said, "but I can try." As he finished his sentence, he jumped up and ran with all of his might to the closest window. Dublin pulled out a purple blob potion and threw it at Shayret, but it exploded just after Shayret flew out of the castle and into the air.

To be continued...