The Madrol Empire Part Five

The Madrol Empire Part 5

                Neesus begins his day as he usually does with a quill in his dried fingers. This particular day he delves into the legend of Hercules. He was ordered, by Leeana, to re-write the story of the great strong man as Tailon, who is the reincarnation of Hercules. A very ridiculous assignment, thought Neesus, but he must please his requestors as they are the ones who handsomely fund his work, so he abides.

                Earlier in the week Leeana stopped by to receive the scroll of Tailon’s heroic exploits battling the barbarians written, of course, by Neesus. She made a second visit praising the historian’s skillful work, “our emperor was pleased.” She told Neesus. “You did a fine job, please continue. I have a new assignment for you. Tell the tale of Hercules, but instead of the famous legend, describe Tailon’s feats of strength. He is the modern day Hercules. Do you think you can do that?” Leeana asked him.

                “Of course, I’ll make it my highest priority.” Said Neesus with a wry smile.

                “Excellent.” Leeana said as she left the historian’s room.

                Neesus thought to himself once she left: “she really is an interesting woman. I would like to learn more about her. Something doesn’t quite seem right with her…” He continued his work, but quickly got bored. He decided now is the time to work on his research into the deaths of Marcus Madrol I and Alernus. Also he wished to research the attempted assassination of Marcus Madrol II. He stumbled upon the body of the assassin while making his way to Alernus’s quarters that horrible night some seventeen years ago. He assumed the dead man was after young Marcus Madrol II, because Alernus was not in his quarters. Who else was he sent to kill?

                There was a large puddle of blood surrounding the man with stab wounds throughout his body and a laser pistol in his hand. It appeared difficult to figure out what transpired here, but Neesus was an expert. He could tell it was self defense, but who killed the man? This was a perplexing question. Neesus immediately went for help, but seeing that Alernus was gone he went to find Marcus Madrol I or his wife Catherine. Marcus I was not in his quarters but his wife was. He told her that little Marcus was missing along with his servant Abe and there was a dead man in the hall outside of little Marcus’s room. Catherine was hysterical. She ran to his room but couldn’t believe he was gone. The castle guards were alerted, they searched the castle for the boy and his servant. They also noticed that a steel dragon was missing, but they were unable to track it.

                About that same time the guards found Marcus I dead with a laser wound to his head. Catherine was silent from that day forward. She couldn’t recover from the disappearance of her son and the death of her husband.

                Neesus reflected on that night while he tried to piece together the puzzle. He sat in his chair and looked around the room, as if the answer was written on the wall. In fact there wasn’t much on the walls at all. He was a man of few belongings. He didn’t need much. All he asked for were blank scrolls and plenty of ink, but he was quite wealthy. Before being hired by the Gaius’s he was just a common investigator, recording history in his free time. He swore he would never be an investigator anymore but the events that happened that night seventeen years ago were too intriguing. He vowed to solve the mysteries.