Castle Planner's Journal: 1000 Years

     It had been almost 2 weeks, Lisha, Morris, Boris, and Wolcott were all trying to use their free time to split up the monumental task of trying to check every wall and surface in Meridell castle for that specific tapestry.

     During breakfast one day, Lisha gathered her friends and made a heavy announcement. "According to the maps that Wolcott copied, and my gathering of all of our data, we have finished inspecting the whole of the castle... we didn't find it." She looked tired. She had been up all night, not only gathering and processing the data, but also emotionally coming to terms with the situation.

     "Awww. No hidden corners?" Morris asked.

     "No, I even personally checked all the secrets areas that Gaius has been logging." Wolcott clarified.

     "I'm sure I saw it. I know it's here!" Boris gently posted his fist on the table. He didn't want to doubt his convictions, or to have wasted his friends' time.

     “I’m sure it is... Without knowing what it looks like, we could easily have missed it.” Lisha worried. “Regardless... now that our search is complete, I don't think I can ask for any more of your time. We are all taking on more and more responsibilities, so I guess it's time to put away such childish adventure-seeking.” Lisha sighed. She wanted nothing more than to have that adventure, but she knew that she couldn't let her imagination get the better of herself.

     “Aww...” Morris and Boris whined, crestfallen. They also still had a strong thirst for adventure, but it was time for them to focus on finishing their squireships. Then become knights, aiding the kingdom and servicing the community. “We can’t use our time to chase treasure maps so selfishly.” Morris said, reflecting on their actions.

     Wolcott looked around, and saw how sad his new friends were looking. “Well... Wait a minute! Just because we didn't find it, doesn't mean it’s over. Yes, we have to face the facts and reality, but curiosity isn’t childish!“ Wolcott stood up, waving his spoon full of porridge around as he gave a pep talk. “Gaius is always scurrying off to seek adventure and solve secrets. Adults do it too! It’s allowed!”

     “But Gaius is a bit... eccentric.” Lisha explained.

     “Well, yes. But so are all of us, in our own way! It’s just a matter of finding that balance. We are young, we have time! We might still find it someday, as long as we keep an eye out.” Wolcott continued, a bit overly proud of himself for his speech.

      They all sat and thought for a moment. “Yeah! Okay! I will keep looking for it while I’m working, but just won't spend more of my time actively looking.” Boris resolved as they finished their breakfast

      Another week had passed, and the feeling of defeat had finally started to fade from the group. Lisha was studiously stocking books back on the shelf, and assisting scholar’s on their research projects. Wolcott was once again helping Gaius, and working closely with him to focus on his apprenticeship. Morris and Boris had both volunteered for double duty community service work, and had been spending a lot of time in town. Even Kayla had been taking advantage of the squires’ newfound availability, and sent them on quests for rare ingredients.

     Gaius and his young apprentice walked down a residential hallway of the castle.

     “So apparently someone's Petpet has been nibbling on the plaster in this hallway. It’s a pain, but replastering is a key skill you will need to practice plenty.” He said, handing a trowel to the green Ogrin.

     Wolcott observed the master at work, as he went over some tips. “Now, make sure you use clean, cool water. Grabbing it from the river helps. Then, always slowly mix a little at a time and stir to avoid clumps. It's best to add the plaster to the water for the same reason, but you will need to be very precise with measuring.” Gaius explained, and then handed Wolcott a whisk. “You stir, while I add it in.”

     The youngster internally groaned at the busy work, but knew it was what had to be done, and got to mixing.

     The process of making the plaster made a big plume of dust that got all over the floor and their clothes, in stark contrast to the noble pets that were passing them by in the halls. A few of them sneered at the mess, whether it was the workers’ dirty appearance or the floor, It was hard for Wolcott to tell.

     The two kept working away at it. Gaius made sure that Wolcott was applying the plaster to the wall at the correct thickness, at the right time in the curing stage, and making sure that no stark lines were left behind. It was a relatively quick process, but the two were done in no time. All of the holes had been patched.

     “Alright. We will have to paint it tomorrow, but until then, we should double-check check we didn't miss any marks. Lady Bryer’s Snowbunny is a voracious nibbler.” Gaius had Wolcott check one half of the hallway, and He took the other.

     Wolcott took a studious eye as he passed through the hall, looking for things wrong. The afternoon sun came through the windows on one side of the hall, and illuminated the walls, which were occasionally broken up by doors to various fancy pet’s apartments in the castle.

     Between two unassuming doors, Wolcott spotted a plain-looking burgundy and dark blue tapestry hanging on the wall. It was plain and simply bore the crest of Meridell on it, but it looked like the colours in the fibres that made up the fabric were seemingly ancient. Wolcott’s mind wandered to the previous week’s adventure, looking for the Tapestry of Culture, and how they had come up empty-handed.

     Wolcott’s thoughts snapped back to reality when his eyes wandered to the blank wall above the tapestry. It was not truly blank. He looked a little closer, and he could see where the wall plaster was noticeably discoloured. A ghostly outline was all that remained as evidence of a long rectangular plaque that was once displayed above the tapestry. This gave him a glimmer of hope, and his heart fluttered with possibility. He would have to come back here with the others to confirm the find. He quickly pulled out the notepaper that Lisha had given him and took down information about its location. He knew he would have to resume his work without too much hesitation.

     “Looks like there’s just a little pitting over here. Not sure if it's nibbling or just the plaster flaking from age.” Wolcott said with a renewed smile as Gaius came to the end of the hall to meet up with him.

     “Oh, glad you are so happy to see fallen plaster” Gaius teased him. “That’s not nibbling. Looks like natural flakes. It’s come off in rough fluffy shapes, rather than smooth lines indicating scraping.” Gaius used his claws to demonstrate the difference. “Likely water damage.”

     The two worked into the afternoon to finish plastering the walls. The whole time, Wolcott was attempting to contain his excitement to share his findings with his friends. Once the dinner bell rang, he bid a good evening to Gaius, and raced to the Great Hall to share.

     It didn't take long for the group to come back to the Royal Apartment wing of the castle, this time with Kayla in tow. She had been drawn into the curious adventure by Morris talking endlessly about it during his errands with her. Once she saw Wolcott excitedly sharing the new lead, she had to participate!

     All five of them stood in front of the boring tapestry and looked up at the outline on the wall. The evening sun was starting to wane, but the last of the light was shining directly on the wall, making it plain as day that a plaque once rested there.

     “See? I think this might be our tapestry!” Wolcott argued.

     “Are you sure? It’s....boring. No wonder I didn't give it a second thought when I searched this wing.” Morris claimed.

     “It truly is. I don't know that we can get much out of this. The plaque is missing, and the tapestry doesn't have much on it to give us information!” Lisha said, trying to get a closer look at the large swaths of even colour. Nothing in the fabric betrayed anything more than solid craftsmanship.

     “And what if the plaque was for something else?” Kayla wondered.

     “It’s still possible. I can see why I might forget the tapestry itself, it's pretty plain, but the plaque was very ostentatious. “ Boris squinted at the missing plaque.

     As they discussed the nature of whether this was their target or not, the door to the left of the tapestry swung open suddenly. “You are making quite the ruckus out here.” the Royal Nimmo scolded them. “What could possibly be so important as to disturb my evening nap?”

     “Sorry!” They all apologized.

     “We were trying to figure out more information about this tapestry!”

     “Oh that old thing? They have had it hanging by my door for decades. What do you need to know?”

     “Is this the Tapestry of Culture?” Lisha asked immediately.

     “Oh. Yes, it is.” The old Nimmo nodded.

     The five teens could barely contain their excitement.

     “How do you know?” Wolcott wanted to be sure.

     “Oh. Well, there was a plaque up above it with the name until last week.” The Nimmo looked up. “Never did figure out why they took just the name down. I thought they were going to move or replace it” he wondered out loud.

     “Last week?” Wolcott wondered.

     “Oh, thank you! This makes a huge difference” Lisha thanked him, with a little curtsey.

     “You are welcome... but keep it down.” The Nimmo quickly disappeared back into his room.

     As the squeals of excitement started to bubble up again from their crowd in the hallway, Kayla simmered them back down. “Well, we found it, but it’s practically blank. Is this not a dead end still?”

     “Oh... right.” Wolcott realized that Kayla was right. He had brought everyone here in a sense of victory, but it was still unhelpful. It didn't have an obvious answer to the puzzle.

     “Maybe it's behind it?” Morris asked, going to reach to lift it up.

     “Wait!” Wolcott called out to stop him from touching the artefact. “We can’t just touch it. If it's as old as the puzzle, it's probably very fragile!” Wolcott reasoned.

     “Then how do we move it?” Lisha asked.

     “I guess I can do it. I have helped move other artefacts...” Wolcott motioned to be the one to do it.

     “But not anything like this before?” Kayla asked.

     “...No. I’m sure it will be fine? I will just try to be very careful.” He said, shrugging, before drying his now sweaty paws on his shirt before very gently lifting the fabric far up off the wall. The thick and sturdy fabric moved with no issue at all. “See anything?” he asked, hoping to make this process quick.

     “The wall is blank.” Lisha confirmed after ducking down.

     “Wait, I think I see it!” Boris said, looking closely at the tapestry in Wolcotts hands, now that he had brought it closer to his face.

     Everyone turned to Boris, confused as to what he could see. Wolcott was straining to maintain his grip on the fabric, before eventually gently putting it back in place.

     “Where?” Morris didn't believe him at first.

     Boris got up close to the fabric hanging in front of the wall, and pointed carefully. “Look. The weave is irregular! And remember the riddle? ‘Woven in the Tapestry of Culture is resilience and our chivalrous code’ It's saying that it's literally woven into the artwork! The code is not a creed here, it's the actual clue!” Boris was giddy.

     “You’ve done it!” Lisha gave Boris a big hug in celebration. ”What does it say?” she asked as she leaned in, and saw the strange, but repeated pattern in the weave that Boris had mentioned.

     Boris carefully stared at the pattern. He had seen this method of encoding messages before in his studies. Sometimes spies would weave these hidden messages into their shirts to take messages to nobles across enemy lines. He counted out the warps before hitting the next weave, using his notebook to take quick notes. Eventually, a series of letters began to emerge.

     “SPICE” Boris triumphantly announced.

     “Quick! We gotta go translate the next part!” Lisha excitedly led the gaggle of teenagers to race down the hall and return to the library.

     As they disappeared, the elder Nimmo opened the door, and peeked down the hall, unseen by the kids, and gave a wry smile.

     Lisha shushed the excited bunch as they squeezed through the library entrance. “Hehe, come on guys, we have to be quieter.” She could barely manage to keep her own voice down as she reminded them.

     “But it's late in the evening! Surely nobody will be bothered” Morris kept his boisterousness.

     They all raced to Lisha’s desk as she started calculating the code. The tittering and whispers caught the attention of Gaius, who had been up late, sketching at his own desk until just a moment ago.

     “What’s going on?” he came over curious.

     “We got the next clue!” Kayla claimed, as she watched Lisha start to reveal work afterwards.

     “What? Already? I thought you had given up!” Gaius laughed, as he carefully watched, and confirmed that the clue was indeed revealing the next riddle.

     “THE SECRET SAUCE OF THE KINGS FAVOURITE” Lisha quietly announced.

     “Huh. Does King Skarl even have a favourite? He seems to like everything!” Gaius joked.

     “Well, we also have to remember it's not our King Skarl. It’s his ancestor from 1000 years ago.” Lisha reminded Gaius.

     “Too true. Good luck!” Gaius excused himself to return to his sketching.

     “We should head to the kitchens. I have a feeling that they would know more.” Kayla suggested. “They are the masters of all things sauce, and the stomachs of royalty.”

To be continued…