Greedy Detective Baldwin has a plan for himself, and he places excessive demands on Samuel and the King for his rewards. No doubt, Baldwin is the kingdom's top detective. He has proven himself by the result of his investigative work. But will this greedy and arrogant Baldwin's demands be granted? Read this chapter, and you will find out.
Kingdom of Largo
Chapter 21
Baldwin's Plan
When the troops arrived back in the palace, the six soldiers were surprised to find themselves quickly ushered off to the prison quarters where they were threatened by Baldwin with incarceration. Their only chance at freedom, Baldwin promised was for each of the men to pen a letter stating Miles' true identity. Each man was reminded to write their testimony just as it has been told earlier to Baldwin and his team while they were in their tent.
Baldwin told them the 500 gold coins were still on the table as a reward to each of them to use as they please, but that they could only get their hands on the currency until after they testified in court. Each was provided with a quill, inkpot and parchment to write their testimony.
Baldwin assured them they would be treated well and promised them after they testified in court and Miles was punished for his sins that they would become citizens of Largo and would be rewarded for helping him and his troop of the 50 warriors. He also promised the six soldiers that something good was about to happen to him which will benefit them all. All they needed to do was tell the truth in court about Miles.
Baldwin left the six soldiers to write up their confessions, anxious to be the first one to meet Samuel to tell him the news.
Armed with the six confessions, Baldwin set off to see Samuel the following day. He felt very positive about the information about Miles that he and his men had found, about the special friendship between Miles and Queen Isabella. Once Samuel became aware of this newfound knowledge, Baldwin speculated, that a handsome reward may follow – a thank you for successfully extracting this information from the normally tight-lipped six soldiers. Baldwin could not wait to see Samuel.
Baldwin made his way down to the courthouse atop his precious horse, only to find upon arrival that Samuel had already left for the afternoon. Baldwin thus decided to see him in his chamber in the palace. When he arrived in the palace he found Samuel in the garden by the side of the cage talking with Belinda. He couldn't help but marvel at the structure that was built in the middle of the garden.
Samuel was surprised to see Baldwin back to the palace only after two full moons.
“Baldwin! What a surprise! Back already so soon?” Samuel greeted Baldwin heartily.
“Yes! And I have good reasons to be back!” Baldwin responded, he looked proud under the sunlight.
Samuel watched as Baldwin come forward. He was ready for some good news.
“So, what's the good news? What have you found out about Miles?”
“First thing first, Sir Samuel,” Baldwin said, looking straight into Samuel's eyes. It seemed as though he already knew what he was going to say.
“I know what you have been up to,” said Baldwin, continuing to look into Samuel's eyes and read his facial reaction. Being a detective, Baldwin had been trained to read people's facial reactions.
“What?” asked Samuel, acting innocently. He was not going to let Baldwin intimidate him.
Baldwin scanned the garden, making sure no one else was around, he said, “All warriors in black are dead. No one survived. He's not human,” Baldwin said. He took a chance and repeated what the last warrior had said to him, pretending that he knew Samuel's whole scheme.
“What is not human? Who?”
“Hmmm... you tell me! Sir Samuel, I've got what you need... over here!” Baldwin said, pointing to the scrolls of testimonies from the six soldiers that he had collected that morning, tucked safely under his armpit.
“Well, that was the message the last warrior told me before he died. He wanted me to convey the message to you,” Baldwin continued.
“Did he?” Now, Samuel was convinced that Baldwin knew something. He would not let him speak further in the garden.
“Let's go back into my chamber and we will talk some more,” he motioned for Baldwin to be quiet.
He gave Belinda a pet on her head and tried shooing the little girl back into the pool.
“Pretty thing, eh? Is it a girl? Where has she come from?” Baldwin asked, seeing Belinda for the first time, noticing the pink skin on her.
“Oh, this is Miles' pet. Not ours! Yes, it's a girl! Theo has made a promise to Miles to care for her while he's down at the southern border for training.”
“Is that so? What is this?... A snake?”
“I don't know!” answered Samuel, “At first we all thought it was a snake, but it has been growing very fast, much too fast to be a snake.”
“You see...” Samuel continued, “Now, on both sides of its upper torso, there seems to be something sprouting, ready to poke through its skin.”
“That's amazing!” Baldwin gasped, looking at the growths that were now protruding, trying to break through Belinda's upper torso on its back, “I don't think it is a snake. Snakes won't have anything growing out from their bodies.”
“That is why we have to build this cage for her. She quite enjoys the outdoors. Lucky girl!” said Samuel, “she's very friendly though.”
“She's very pretty!” Baldwin said, noticing Belinda's green eyes and the long eyelashes.
“She certainly is!” said Samuel, with a smile on his face. “She has very beautiful eyes.”
Upon saying that, Samuel petted the top of Belinda's head and stood up. He bid the little girl goodbye.
“Okay, Belinda! Bye now! You'll be a good girl! I'll come by to see you again later!”
Belinda watched as Samuel and Baldwin walked away. Neither of them suspected that she has been eavesdropping. She slithered back into the water to cool off. She thought about what she has just heard and wondered if Miles was in danger again. She must find out more details.
XXXXX
Baldwin followed Samuel into his private chamber. He was invited to sit down to have some wine.
“So, what have you got for me so far?” Samuel asked.
“Let's not go there yet. First thing first!” Baldwin's arrogance was beginning to surface again. “Let's talk about those warriors in black first.”
“What do you know about them?” asked Samuel. He was beginning to get annoyed. He couldn't believe Baldwin was now trying to blackmail him – the one who has helped him to get the reward of 1000 gold bars, and hired him to do the most important job.
Baldwin held on tight to the six scrolls of testimonies under his armpit like they were the most precious things in the world.
“Listen! My men knew I was coming to see you, and the six others who wrote these knew I was coming to see you as well this afternoon. If anything happens to me, they will know where to find you.” Baldwin said, making it clear he had a safety net in place, should anyone think of harming him.
“Okay, I need to see what you've got first, and then we'll make the deal.”
“First things first, as to the information on the warriors in black I need to be knighted immediately, I will keep that a secret and you'll be rest assured that my lips are sealed,” Baldwin said, continuing to challenge Samuel, even though he knew nothing about the warriors in black.
“Well, that won't be too hard since you have returned with some information about Miles. I'm assuming it is valuable information.”
“Yes, it is!” Baldwin said again, “I can tell you it involves the Queen too, and I have also found out the whereabouts of the king and queen of Kebia.”
Samuel's eyes lit up immediately. He couldn't believe his top detective had found all that information in just two full moon's time. This was an amazing discovery.
“Okay, okay! Let's not waste any more time! I will assure you, whatever your deal is, I will convince King Aylard to fulfill them. I promise!” Samuel said, looking straight into Baldwin's eyes. He was now too excited to care about what Baldwin may ask for.
Baldwin, on the other hand, was taking his time, making sure his demands would be met.
“I will take a Lordship after I'm knighted. The Oakwood Village sounds good to me,” Baldwin said.
“Oakwood Village! It is not possible! Baldwin, Oakwood Village is under Lord Conrad's ruling. He owns the Oakwood Village,” Samuel responded, surprised that Baldwin would lay out such a huge demand. What was he going to do with this arrogant young man?
“I like that Oakwood Village! I've visited it several times before. There are ready-made blacksmith stores, bakeries, woodworking shops and pottery shops already. Farmers work on the Oaktrees, lumbering them for woodworking shops and there are Maple trees to produce syrup. The village is very prosperous. The peasants are there already doing their jobs and I don't need to give them special training. Sir Samuel, can you please convince King Aylard to give that to me as a reward? I am sure I can govern the lot well.”
“Yes, but if we reward you the lordship to the Oakwood Village, where do we put Lord Conrad? You can't just walk in and take over! That will cause a riot in the kingdom.”
“Why can't you give Conrad a smaller village to manage?” Baldwin said. “I need those trees in the village's forest .”
“I don't know, Baldwin. This is a huge demand. I don't know if King Aylard will agree to this,” Samuel said.
Seriously, Samuel had doubts about such huge demands from Baldwin:
First, it's the knighthood;
Secondly, it's the promise of an entire village.
Baldwin must be out of his mind. Samuel thought.
“Listen, Sir Samuel,” said Baldwin, pointing to the scrolls underneath his armpit, “I have information here to stir up real problems and riots in the whole kingdom about Miles and the Queen, and about King Aylard inviting an enemy into the Kingdom. Not only that, he is lodging an enemy inside the palace. I have all this information from six soldiers that my warriors and I have captured. They are in prison now under my supervision. They are willing to testify for me. I will be the one who will tell them what to say and what not to say. I'll leave it up to you and King Aylard. It won't matter. You just have to knight me first, and secretly agree to my demand of Lordship to Oakwood Village, and I will do the rest. In the end, it will look like you and King Aylard were never in any way involved in the decision. What do you say?”
“On top of that, Sir Samuel, your secret of those warriors in black are safe with me. No one else will know,” Baldwin once again reminded Samuel of his secret.
“Okay, then... First, let's look at those testimonies,” Samuel said. He knew he didn't have much choice for now. First things first. He must take a look at those testimonies and then decide what to do next.
Samuel's eyes scanned the scrolls, noticing that each testimony was similar to another, so the soldiers were all from the Kingdom of Klaxaedia. He struck out the contents about the Queen and Miles knew each other before. Only wanted the soldiers to confess to knowing Miles because he was a palace guard in the Kebia Kingdom. Samuel also allowed them to confess to the whereabouts of the King and Queen of Kebia. Everything was all set.
As Samuel prepared to depart from his impromptu meeting with Baldwin, he instructed Baldwin to have the six prisoners write up new confessions, and he will let the King know about the Queen by himself. He said he would urge the king to knight him, but he could not guarantee that the King would meet his demand of the Oakwood Village. Baldwin told Samuel all the king had to do was to secretly agree and he and his men would do the rest and in the end, it would not involve Samuel and the King at all.
When Baldwin went back to the prison quarter he immediately ushered the six soldiers to another secret location where they were told to write up a new testimony, eliminating the information about the former friendship between Queen Isabella and Miles. The six soldiers, who were well-fed and well-clothed at the time, agreed to rewrite their testimonies on a scroll. Baldwin reassured them once again that they will be dutifully rewarded for their confessions.
It did not take long for Baldwin to be knighted. He was called into the palace for the ceremony a few days later and received his knighthood uniform. He was so proud of himself. He presented the new scrolls of testimony to King Aylard and Samuel and told both that the original confessions were still with him. He asked if he could be rewarded with Oakwood Village. King Aylard stated that he would only agree if Samuel and himself would not be involved in the process. Baldwin was also awarded another 50 troops of warriors.
Baldwin was very happy! He felt as though he had just fought another battle and won. Now, he must get set to do his work. He must plan everything before the court date, just in case the king and Samuel might change their minds. He had only another three full moons to fulfill his wishes.
XXXXX
Inside Oakwood Village...
Lord Conrad woke up to a beautiful day. The sky was bright and blue, with a few clouds. He inhaled greedily the fresh air that was expelled from the trees around the Oakwood Village. He couldn't be happier with his village. He noticed a few clouds floated by, taking forms. The farmers and the Maple workers must have been up working already since the weather was just perfect. It was not too cold, nor too warm.
The lumber workers have been working hard to produce fire logs for the fire pits. The larger pieces were sent to woodworking places to produce furniture. In return, he would be paid well for the wood supplies, from which he would pay a portion to the woodworkers. Everyone in the village was happy with Lord Conrad. There was also enough pottery made to be filled with maple syrup which would be sent to the palace for distribution. He was quite happy and proud of his own village which he had inherited from his father, Lord Conrad Sr.
Lord Conrad Sr. had passed away some full moons ago, and Lord Conrad Jr. was elected to run the village. Lord Conrad Jr. had learned to trade at a very young age. As a small boy, he would often stand beside his father, learning to trade as soon as he could remember and understand what his father was doing. He secretly thanked his father many times in his life for giving him the knowledge. When he took over the village after his father's passing, he was surprised at how smoothly he could handle all trades, effortlessly taking over his father's tasks like he was born with the knowledge.
The villagers all knew their chores. They would wake up every morning and knew exactly what they had to do. It was like working in own their businesses.
However, something had happened today and what seemed to have been a perfect day was suddenly turned upside down by some mysterious happenstances. Some farmers woke to a rude awakening.
Some crops in the fields had been trampled upon during the night, and some cattle were missing. The Oakwood Village had always been peaceful. Who could have done such public mischief? Who would have come in the middle of the night to rob them of their cattle?
At first, the farmers thought some neighboring farmers had done this, or perhaps their cattle had wandered off when the gates were left open during the night. They went out to the forest to look for their cattle but came back empty-handed.
Five of the farmers had appeared in front of the courthouse today to file a complaint about their trampled crops and missing cattle. The next several evenings the Council suggested sending some men to watch out during the night, to see if they could find something.
Perhaps it's the work of some wild animals? Lord Conrad Jr. thought.
There was no movement of anything mysterious shown up the following several nights. Eventually, the watchers had been released from their night duties. All had been quiet for another few days.
Then, one night while no one was watching it happened again. The farmers woke the next day to find more cattle were missing, more crops had been trampled upon!
The farmers were at the courthouse again, complaining about the night before! And this time, more farmers were complaining.
Lord Conrad Jr. was at a loss to understand what was happening. Why would that only happen during the night? Why couldn't anyone see or hear anything?
If this continued he must report this to King Aylard and let him send someone to investigate this. He believed his own farmers were ready for extensive investigative work.
Many days had passed and all went quiet again. The unsuspecting villagers exhaled a sigh of relief. Then suddenly, the villagers woke up to a surprisingly large gaping hole in the forest. Many Maple trees had been plucked out from the ground during the night, and no one had heard anything since the forest was a vast tree lot in which the land was covered by trees.
Now all you can see from a distance was a patch of the treeless lot, like a large gaping hole in the forest. The stolen trees had been uprooted and disappeared!!!
More farmers and lumber workers had come forward to file complaints again in the courthouse. The villagers were beginning to panic. So many complaints already and nothing had been done to catch these robbers. How many more loss they had to endure before Lord Conrad Jr. would do anything to protect their lands?
Lord Conrad Jr. decided to enlist the help of King Aylard. Samuel sent his top detective, Baldwin, for the investigation. He knew well what was in store for Baldwin, but it's okay, Baldwin would be on his own now. That was all he could do for him. Whether he could get the village or not now rests upon his own hands.
Baldwin came with his troops and the six soldiers. He introduced himself as Detective Baldwin. He met with Lord Conrad Jr., recorded down all details of the happenstances, and then interviewed the farmers and the lumber workers for more information. They led the troops onto the fields. Baldwin's men went around to investigate all the doors to the barns and the farmhouses, making sure they were secured. Then Baldwin and his men were led to the gaping hole in the forest where many maple trees were missing.
After the initial investigative tour, Baldwin suggested to Lord Conrad Jr. to build a barrier – A wall or something around the village border, which meant there would be a huge project since the village was large. Baldwin suggested building a wall or something along the skirt of the forest, since the forest was very important to the village, and all trees needed to be protected.
“How much for the workmanship that our villagers need to pay for such a huge project?” Lord Conrad Jr. inquired.
“Oh, that would not be too much! The material used would be wood, which the resource is in your environment already. Our men will put the logs of wood up along the skirt of the forest, then we will plaster the rack of wood with cement mix from the soil off the ground so the wall can become sturdy. After it is built I guarantee you, no one will be able to climb in to steal your trees and cattle,” Baldwin reassured Lord Conrad, Jr. and the villagers.
“Your villagers won't be missing any work. They will be able to do their daily work while we build the wall,” Baldwin suggested, "but we need to collect the logs from the lumber workers to build the wall."
"That will not be any problem," Lord Conrad Jr. assured them.
“Also, you no longer need to send men to watch over the fields and the cattle. My men will take turns in watching over your lands and crops during the night so you all can rest easy and won't have to worry.” Baldwin had already laid out his plan, which sounded good to the villagers.
By the end of the meeting, Baldwin and his troops were showered with gifts from the villagers. They were already impressed by Baldwin.
Baldwin and his team were shown where they could stay during the time it took to complete the project and were then treated to a festive supper by the unsuspecting Lord Conrad Jr.
Everything went well, just as Baldwin had planned. He sent some people to the forest border and the crop fields to watch over the lands during the night, and in the daytime, those troops would come back to rest and get their sleep while others would be out there collecting logs of wood to build the wall. The troops would rotate their duties so none would become too exhausted by their hard labor.
While the project was underway, no one had come to rob the farmers, no trees had been plucked from the soil. All was well! And the villagers began to feel secure when they saw the wall along the forest border was gradually erected. Each completed portion meant the villagers were much safer in their homes. They had already forgotten that Baldwin and his men were supposed to be there to investigate the robbery to catch the robbers, finding themselves instead exceedingly pleased by what Baldwin was already doing for the village. Its inhabitants were very pleased. Gifts from the bakeries were donated daily to Baldwin's team, and other poultry as well for the team's consumption. The shops were also very pleased that after Baldwin and his team's arrival their businesses prospered. Baldwin would place orders with the bakeries and other eateries for the food his team find delicious. They had never tasted anything that was so appetizing before!
One day, Sir Wilkin arrived to meet with Baldwin. He stood beside Baldwin and asked quietly, “So, what are we supposed to be doing? My five soldiers and I are warriors, we aren't builders or hardwork laborers, you know?”
Baldwin whispered, “I know. Sir Wilkin! Rest assured that I have your best interest in mind. You never have to worry. When I get to where I want to be, you will serve as my special council. Don't worry! We are almost there. Just be patient, okay? You must trust me!”
“I am okay with that, but the younger soldiers seem to be running out of patience. They want their 500 gold coins,” Wilkins said.
“I know. They will have the gold coins after they testify in court. Miles will be back in another two full moons. Tell them it won't be too long now. In the meantime, just do as all others, okay?”
“Okay, Sir Baldwin. As you say. I'll tell them,” Baldwin responded. Then he walked away.
Baldwin walked to the forest skirt to inspect. The wall looked very sturdy after the logs were plastered with cement.
This will do just fine to keep everyone out if they protest. He told himself. He was quite happy to see his plan unfolding in front of his eyes.
I FEEL FOR MILES...BUT I KNOW BALDWIN WILL BE TAKEN CARE OF. AND I'M SURE BELINDA WILL LET MILES KNOW, OR COME TO HIS AID...WITH WHAT'S GOING ON. I CAN HARDLY WAIT!!!!!! WONDERFUL STORYTELLING, SANDIE, THANK YOU!!!! LOVE, BLESSINGS AND FAITH...HIS+INSPIRATIONS
Sandie, your plots are so well-constructed! You are a natural born storyteller! I enjoyed this chapter immensely! I suppose Detective Baldwin wants that Oakwood Village for himself. He's such a crook! I feel sad for the villagers falling into his scheme.
Gav
Reviewed by JoAnne Cromp
5/29/2022
Bravo Sandie ! This is a classic prolific chapter filled with suspense and adventure and felt I was so there. Thank you
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