Part One: Theo's Solution | Part Two: Detective Baldwin and The Mystery Man in The Forest
Kingdom of Largo
Chapter 13
Part One: Theo's Solution
When Theo went back to his chamber, he immediately copied Emma's note onto another piece of paper. Now, the note was perfect. He told himself that he would take it with him to see his father tomorrow. If not, then on the day after.
The following day, as King Aylard returned to his chamber after performing the morning's court affair duties, he found Theo already waiting at the door for him.
“Theo!” King Aylard exclaimed. “What's the matter? Why are you here?”
“Father!” Theo was excited to see his father. He couldn't wait for his father to hear what he had to say about the west-side farmer's ruling.
“I have come up with the decision of ruling to the west-side farmer's case,” Theo announced proudly. He was prepared to take full credit for Emma's findings.
“Already?” King Aylard was surprised. He did not expect Theo to come up with a solution so soon – he had to find out how he did it.
“Yes! I have something to show you!”
“Okay then! Let us sit down first, and we will look into it.”
After they both took a seat, Theo presented his father with the note he had written. King Aylard was greatly impressed.
“That was good investigation skill, Theo! I am pleased with this! Now, tell me how you would rule this case!” the king inquired.
“Father, as I have mentioned before, we cannot compensate the farmer with gold, for all of the other farmers will be tempted to ask for the same compensation,” said Theo.
“Okay, now... the problem is the cow has passed away, so this farmer obviously cannot produce the same amount of milk to the palace for distribution. What must be done about this?”
King Aylard sat quietly, waiting for his son to unfold his ideal ruling.
“Father, I have been thinking about this yesterday. I think in the meantime, instead of compensating this farmer in gold we may set a lower production target for this farmer. We will allow this farmer to produce less milk and dairy products to be sent to the palace for distribution, until such time that the two female calves have reached their production capabilities, then we will reset the production target to a much higher standard, so there will be more milk and dairy products to be delivered to our warriors at the borders. Our men could then access more food daily. We must keep our warriors strong.” Theo continued to explain his ideas. He was thinking about the 50 warriors of his own as well.
“What about the sheep that he claimed he has lost?”
“The same ruling will be applied to that lost sheep as well. The farmer is actually in much better shape than he was. Four lambs have been born since he gave one away. We will lower the standard of production for now until the four lambs have matured into sheep.
King Aylard was pleasantly surprised with Theo, who was beginning to show compassion and caring towards the kingdom and its warriors. He also showed an understanding of the structure of the Largo Kingdom and its agricultural capacity. He was happy that Theo was learning fast.
Everything seemed well-planned so far by Theo, and he was showing great enthusiasm in gaining new knowledge so far. King Aylard was proud of his son. He must visit his wife Isabella to tell her the news about the changes in Theo. Isabella would be proud of her son as well. He would also need to get together with Samuel again soon to see how Emma is doing.
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Part Two: Detective Baldwin and The Mystery Man in The Forest
Samuel Edward has been in a very good mood ever since he had the meeting with King Aylard a year ago. All he had been thinking about lately was how fortunate he had been because his daughter, Emma, was going to be the future queen. He was contemplating holding the best wedding ceremony for his beloved daughter.
He had always been negative about Emma's behavior being unladylike. Emma had been so different compared to other girls her age. He used to feel embarrassed by his daughter. Emma did not want to be like other girls her age, she did not want to just stay home to help out with doing household chores – instead, her tomboy behavior had landed her a future to becoming the future queen of Largo! This was more than a surprise to Samuel. He often let out a secret smile in honor of his good fortune whenever he thought about Emma. Samuel was proud of his daughter.
He thought about the naysayers and gossipers who had been spreading rumors about him and Emma: he had endured their whispering, their staring, the disapproving expressions on their faces while they were spotted in public. Now, he could finally take a deep breath and shut them up. They were nobodies anyway – simply petty, ill-meaning gossipers.
He now realized that perhaps Emma and Theo were actually good for each other. He was glad that he did not stop Emma from seeing Theo, although, at one point in time, he had truly wanted to forbid Emma to see Theo when they went outside of the palace's boundary with that little two-seater dog wagon. Now, whenever he recalls these memories, he breathes a sigh of relief, pleased with himself for holding his tongue. After all, what do other people know about their lives anyway? Only petty people who envy others would scorn two children who were not their own.
He needed to plan soon for a good dowry to contribute to the wedding, as both Theo and Emma had kept to their promises of learning new things. He must admit Theo had changed a lot since a year ago. He had become less of a bully to others ever since he had been with Emma, and Emma – if anyone still wished to complain about her running around with Theo, Samuel would set them straight, he would tell them they were set to marry each other soon. King Aylard had been nothing but kind to him. This, also, had caused some jealousy among other members of the council, but Samuel chalked it off as normal human behavior. It's the least of his worries right now.
His biggest issue now is his fear of the magician. He wondered if he should still be looking for the magician since everything seemed to be going so well with Theo. The least he wanted to do now was to stir up something with the magician that would cause him to harm Theo. Perhaps, the least said about anything is the best policy. Theo seemed to be growing into someone who would take responsibility for his own action. He was glad that there was little or close to nothing, that had been reported about anyone being bullied by Theo. He was happy about that.
Perhaps it's better to let a sleeping dog lie. I won't look for the magician anymore. Why stir up anything at all when everything is calm? Samuel thought to himself.
He was just about to close the court for the day, King Aylard had already left to go back to his own chamber. Samuel gathered up all the documents and rulings for the day to give to the court officials to record into the books. As he turned around and tried to leave, he found Detective Baldwin standing there in the middle of the court.
“Detective Baldwin!” He called him loudly as he was taken by surprise.
“Sir Edward,” Baldwin responded, “Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you!”
“What brought you into court today, Detective Baldwin?”
“Oh, no! This isn't a court matter. This isn't about me! Sir Edward, it's about the magician whom you have commissioned us to seek out. I do believe I have some information that may be of interest to you,” said Baldwin.
“Okay, we are just concluding here. Please come with me to my chamber, and we can discuss this further,” Samuel replied.
Detective Baldwin followed Samuel to his chamber. After both men were seated at the table, and all that was discovered was revealed, the detective noticed that Samuel's demeanor seemed less enthusiastic to hear his findings. He wondered why.
“Yes, Baldwin! What is it that you have found?” Samuel asked.
“It's about someone who may be the magician that you were looking for. We found a man shacking up in a tiny cabin in the woods. He was by himself.”
“Does he belong to any groups, any tribes?”
“No! I went to him under the pretense that I was looking for someone else, and during the course of our conversation, he indicated to me that he lives alone and has no contact with anyone or any groups or tribes,” answered Baldwin.
“But how can he survive? What does he use for food?”
“He survives by living off of the land. He eats what grows naturally from the forest and drinks water that comes down from the mountains,” answered Baldwin.
“So, how would you know he may be the magician?”
“If you have seen what I have seen before I confronted him you would also be convinced that he is both the man and the magician that you have been looking for,” Baldwin said. He raised his eyebrows and enlarged his eyes. Tilted his head to look at Samuel.
“What? What did he do?” Samuel was curious now.
“As my men and I spotted the tiny cabin, we proceeded with caution. We were in the forest in the northeast territory, We were not expecting to find anyone there so we approached towards the cabin very quietly,” Baldwin continued, “The following is my encounter with this person in the woods.”
xxxxx
As we neared the cabin, we hid behind the bushes and looked for anyone, any humans at all, who may be living there.
From a distance I could see the figure of a bearded man, sitting with his legs crossed in front of himself. I thought maybe the man was meditating, so I motioned for my men to be as quiet as they could be so we would not disturb or startle him. We watched the man from a distance.
We watched this man sitting in his meditation pose for some time, when, suddenly, we saw his whole body rise into the air about 15 feet off the ground. Then he opened his eyes, looked around and discovered us hiding behind the bushes.
“All you people must come forward. I know each one of your hiding places. If you do not reveal yourselves and come forward there will be consequences,” he warned us.
I leaned myself against the trunk of a tree to look out at the man, and all of a sudden a silvery object flashed in front of my eyes. The next thing I knew, there was a dagger next to my face, stabbed deeply into the trunk of the tree that I was leaning on.
I motioned for my men to come out from hiding, and I moved forward to greet this man, putting both my hands up in the air as if to surrender so he could see that I held no weapons.
The man descended back to the ground as my men and I came out and moved forward.
“Hello!” I greeted him, “I'm sorry to intrude upon your privacy! We had not expected to find anyone here in the woods. Are you here by yourself?”
The bearded man checked me out with his sharp dark eyes. There appeared to be some silver streaks in his hair as well as his dark beard.
“Who are you? Why are you asking?”
“Let me introduce myself. I am Detective Baldwin,” I replied, "and these are my men. We work as a team."
“Why are you here?” The man asked me again.
“I am investigating a person who has been doing a robbery spree in the Kingdom of Largo,” I explained, “that is from where we've come.”
There appeared to be a moment of displeasure forming upon the man's face, as though a patch of dark cloud had suddenly rested above the top of his head. Quite frankly, I was afraid of what he might do next.
“I heard the man has run out of the kingdom to escape being caught, and that is why we are out looking for him," I told him again.
"I have not seen anyone coming this way," he finally replied.
“All you people!” He spoke loudly as he jumped up from his sitting position and began pointing a finger at us, “you all should get out of here right now! STOP trespassing on other people's property! You do not, and should not, come to areas where you don't belong! This is MY place, MY space! I live here!”
"Do you belong to any tribes?" I asked him again. I held my ground. I knew I must appear to be un-intimidated by his actions.
"No, I don't belong to any Lords or any tribes! I'm on my own. I am my own Lord," he declared.
"That's great! I'm glad you are on your own. We are actually looking for this person who had committed several robberies in the Kingdom of Largo,” I told him as I pulled out a fake sketch from my pocket and handed it to him. The sketch had been made of no one in particular, and a fake name had been attached to the sketch.
He looked at the sketch and said, “No, never! I have never seen him before.”
“Have there been many people that passed by this area in the past?” I asked him again.
“No, in fact, you people are the first bunch to trespass this area in many years. I live alone, and I don't like visitors. I do not like entertaining anyone.”
“I see. But what do you do for survival? What food do you eat?”
“I eat things that are grown in nature: the fruits from the trees, and root vegetables grown from the ground. I drink the water that comes down from the mountain. I seldom get sick,” he told me.
“Ah, that is good!” I responded.
“But what made you want to live all the way out here? Do you have any family?”
“I once had a brother,” he answered.
“Where is your brother now? Why aren't you with him?”
“He died. He was killed more than 14 Summers ago,” he answered again.
The man looked at me as he spoke, then he seemed agitated and his eyes shone with anger.
“Am I under any investigation? Why are you asking me so many questions?”
“Oh, I am sorry! I do apologize! I was just being curious! That's all!" I said.
"Anyway, we should be on our way now. So sorry to have disturbed you. Carry on, good sir.” I said, offering my salutations as we made our exit back from where we came.
The man waved his right hand in the air and suddenly, a short-bladed knife appeared in his hand. He aimed for a spot on the ground and threw the knife at it. The knife landed beside my left foot. The blade just barely missed my baby toe. I was taken by surprise.
“Do not ever let me see you again! Next time you come, this knife will cut off your toes,” he gave us a second warning.
“No, we won't be coming by again,” I assured him so he would not harm any of us.
With that being said, my men and I continued to depart from the area. It was a close call.
XXXXX
“So, he told you he had a brother who was killed more than 14 Summers ago? Hmm..."
Samuel was now curious as to the identity of the man's brother, and how was he killed. That information would be the crucial missing piece of the puzzle required to reveal the identity of the man in the cabin.
“He did not tell us his name, nor did he tell us his brother's name. Only told us his brother was killed,” Detective Baldwin informed Samuel.
“His brother could be the clue to who this man is. Let me look into the Kingdom's Death Registry to see if I may get some clues. But in the meantime, don't alarm this man. Stay away from him for now.”
Upon that instruction, Baldwin bid Samuel goodbye. He assumed his mission had been accomplished. He and his team would not do any further investigations until he heard from Samuel again.
Armed with the information he gathered from Detective Baldwin, Samuel decided to do some investigative work himself first before he would go to King Aylard about this finding.
First, he must check the Kingdom's Death Registry. If they had not forgotten to record every death in the kingdom, then the name of the deceased brother should be in there. He decided he should look up the deaths from 14 Summers past.
Then it dawned on him that around 14 Summers ago, the-then young King Aylard had been at war with the Kingdom of Kebia after he went against the king's and the queen's wishes to arrange for their daughter, the-then Princess Isabella to wed the King of Khaxaedia. King Aylard saved the Princess by eloping with her from the palace of Kebia, thus saving her from being bound to an arranged marriage to which she had not agreed.
So, is this hermit of a man related to any of the royal families? Or is he just simply “the magician” that they were looking for? Samuel did not know whether or not Queen Isabella had any brothers. Perhaps a talk with King Aylard may shed some light on this.
According to Detective Baldwin, the hermit has silver streaks of hair on his head and his beard, so he could not be a young man. He may be the same age as King Aylard or close to Queen Isabella's age.
Samuel went from page to page, looking up the Death Registry to find out if any logs were matching a young man who may have been the hermit's brother, but all he could find were the ones who had died of old age. Three young men had died around the same time frame, but they all belonged to the farmers' families, and all had died from illnesses, not from being slain during combat.
One clue that Baldwin mentioned that struck him was the way the man spoke. He told Baldwin and his men that they should not trespass on other people's properties. Why would he say that? And why would he express any anger toward them after Baldwin introduced himself and his men and told the recluse that they had come from the Kingdom of Largo? Could this mean that he disliked hearing the name of the Kingdom of Largo? If so, why? Does he belong to any opposing kingdoms?
Then again, Baldwin had described how the man could rise 15 feet up in the air. Samuel could still vaguely remember that when the magician was praying for a baby boy for King Aylard and Queen Isabella, he had done almost the same thing during the ritual. He remembered the table with the offering of the good food that rose about 5 feet up in the air while the magician himself sat unmoved on the ground in what appeared to be a meditation posture, praying for the miracle. So, perhaps this may be the magician that he was looking for.
Samuel decided that he must get together with King Aylard to find out what they should do next.
Should they continue to pursue this man? Samuel was afraid that should they approach this man, it may cause him to perform some kind of magic spell to harm Theo, should he truly be the magician that they were looking for. Samuel would not want that to happen. As far as he knew, Theo had grown so much this past year while training to be the King. He has been learning so much and has not disappointed anyone. Samuel thought he must tell the king how he feels about the magician, and maybe King Aylard would agree with him to just leave the man alone.
A great chapter Sandie, things are starting to fall into place, and questions finally answered…
Your writing skills are to be admired!
Keep on keeping on!
All of the different scenarios are falling into place and the answers to the perplexing questions are being answered in one way or another...You are a Master in tying a story together...You have a very great gift of writing talent...
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