In the tallest tower of Castle Nocturne, a lone watchman gazed at the mountainous surroundings of the castle through a pair of powerful binoculars. His job seemed fairly monotonous and boring, but on this day, at this time, something quite significant caught his watchful eye.
Down on the ground, in a horse drawn cart, a familiar mask wearing, blue robed figure sat beside fellow guard Gus. With them was an unknown older man who lounged in the back with his belongings.
This guard focused the binoculars more just to confirm it was who he believed it to be.
“It is,” he mumbled to himself. “The King has returned!”
Tossing the binoculars down onto the table besides him, he believed now would be a good time to abandon his post and announce to the higher-ups of the castle that Marin had returned home.
The spiral wooden stairs on the thin tower creaked as the lookout guard dashed down them. This guard’s name was Rudolf, and he hoped that this would not be the time they finally gave in to his generous weight, causing an accident.
All fears left him as he stepped onto the brick base of the tower. He passed a fellow guard, exclaiming to him his discovery.
“Quick, tell Loid!” He yelled back.
“I’m gonna! Where do you think I’m goin’?”
Rudolf made haste to Nocturne’s main office, taking several more flights of stairs to reach his destination at the bottom level. He passed many castle dwellers and workers, who wondered what the rush was.
Rudolf was about out of breath by the time he had reached Nocturne’s central hub for processing all paperwork, a location that Helva, Loid, and Harrel were frequently found in. When he barged into the room, he had enough air left to bellow out his grand announcement, one that he thought he deserved to declare as a reward for the boring post he was stationed at.
“The King has returned!”
Helva’s head rose from the paperwork she was buried in. Not more than a moment later, Loid appeared from a side room.
“What did you say?” Loid asked, wanting a confirmation of what he believed he heard.
“King Marin has made it back home! The cart is pulling up now as we speak!”
Loid, who was wearing his regular suit and tie took no time in passing the guard in a hasty manner, leaving the room and walking down the hallway. He made his way to the grand entrance where he expected to meet his King and friend.
“Spread the word,” Helva commanded to Rudolf as she grabbed her coat and made her way to the exit of the room, in a less hasty manner than Loid had.
“Yes ma’am,” Rudolf happily answered.
Time at the castle under Loid’s management had gone smoothly for the most part. Events had risen up here and there that might’ve been handled better with Marin’s guidance as a natural decision maker, but Loid was confident Marin would see he had done well.
Loid had received a letter in the mail a day earlier that Marin would be heading home, but this was more sudden than he had expected. He had no qualms about the matter, Loid was ready to give the helm back to Marin after the two weeks of added stress in trying to do right for him.
The mail in the world ran just slightly faster than a person could travel themselves, due to some transitions of letters being handled by trained fowl. Since Marin had arrived just a day after his letter made it, announcing his return, he had made great haste and wasted no time in making the travel back home.
Loid paced to the front of the castle’s entrance hall, beautifully decorated with red banners that hung from the rafters.
“Open the doors,” Loid commanded to the two guards stationed at the entrance.
Without question, and at Loid’s demand, the guards grabbed the front handles on either side, and forcefully swung open the large oaken doors that served as the castle’s front line of defense.
As they parted, the light of the sun combined with the stinging cold air of the mountains flooded him. Loid raised his hand to shield his eyes from the bright snow, reflecting the sun. As they adjusted, sure enough, he saw a cart approaching. This must have been Marin.
“Looks like they were expecting us,” Eisen noted from the back of the cart as they drew nearer to the entrance.
The three of them watched as the front doors to the castle open from less than one hundred yards away.
“It was probably the lookout guard,” Gus happily explained. “There’s supposed to be one in that top tower during all hours,” he pointed.
Marin nodded accordingly.
“Who’s that silver-haired man standing at the entrance like that?” Eisen then asked.
“That’s going to be Loid,” Marin responded. “...I’d expect nothing less of him than to be the first one awaiting our approach.” He chuckled.
“He seems pretty… enthusiastic,” the doctor noted.
“Loid’s always been well respected. He ran a tavern in Heroca before it was destroyed. Everyone likes him because he’s diligent,” Gus tried.
“That’s why he’s in charge when I’m not there,” Marin ended it with.
As they grew closer, so did the size of a crowd behind Loid. Everyone who had spare time gathered to welcome the return of King Marin. The King could now make out Helva in her glasses, her husband Harrel in his top hat and pencil-thin mustache, as well as Phil and Rocko off to the side.
Well, I know now everything Marin had told me was true, Edward Eisen thought to himself. The castle’s impressive, there’s a fleet of citizens all waiting for him. He really is a King.
Instead of taking the horse-drawn cart to the left where the horses were staged, Marin pulled straight up to the front to greet all his subordinates.
Cheers could be heard when they reached the castle doorway. Marin halted the cart, and went to get off. Loid took his hand in helping him down. Gus jumped off alone, and someone else assisted the doctor.
“Look who’s back so soon!” Loid declared as a greeting to his King.
“Hello, Loid. It’s good to be back. How is everyone?” Marin asked.
“I’d say I’ve held it together in your absence,” Loid responded, a large grin across his face.
The other castle dwellers nodded in agreement. They all waited in anticipation for what Marin had to say.
Reading the room, Marin spoke up.
“Thank you, everyone, for working together and keeping the castle running smoothly while I was away. I have recruited one new member to our kingdom, this is Doctor Edward Eisen.”
Marin then turned around, and gestured Eisen to step forward and make himself better seen. When the doctor stood to the side of Marin, he continued.
“He is going to be our new doctor. He is also quite the skilled elemental. In offering medical treatment to whoever needs it, he will also defend our castle in dire situations, which I’m hoping will never happen.”
Eisen did an uneasy wave to everyone. He was not a people person, and the entire situation was uncomfortable to him.
“I uh, thank you, Marin,” Eisen struggled. “I’m looking forward to life here, and will try to help everyone as I can.”
Eisen’s speech impediment became worse the more nervous he was, which in this state, was considerably noticeable.
Marin stepped back in to alleviate Eisen from speaking further.
“I will do a more detailed speech of my travels and of our doctor at dinner tonight. Speaking of which, instruct the cooks to throw a large feast for my return. I want everyone to be there, and to have a good time.”
There were cheers from the crowd, all satisfied at the statement.
“I thank you for the warm return, everyone. I will see you all at dinner tonight in several hours,” Marin ended it with, signaling that the crowd should now disperse.
Before everyone returned to their business, many took a turn in welcoming the king back and shaking his hand. It took several minutes for Marin to satisfy his denizens and speak with each of them before he finally had a chance to address his administration.
Finally, after the greeters departed, the ones left standing were the small group of the castle’s managers.
“Gus, you can go, too,” Marin mentioned, removing him from the remaining pool of people. “I thank you again for the taking the journey with me. Take a day off tomorrow from your regular duties, then return to them. I’ll be in contact with you about your training soon.”
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Gus nodded, a bit sad he would not be sticking around to hear important matters on the kingdom, but understood he was not in that kind of position. Not yet, anyways. He waved at the rest, and walked off to his quarters deep within the castle. At least he was excited to see his fellow guards after being away from them for almost two weeks.
The five remaining people standing were Marin, Eisen, Loid, Helva, and Harrel. They stood together in a circle, ready to talk just as a servant hauled the horse-drawn cart away.
“So, how did it go?” Loid finally asked.
Now that they were alone from anyone else, Marin could speak his mind.
“Not great. Not great at all. Things had happened that… I would’ve never anticipated.”
“Do tell,” Loid urged him.
“Well, for one, I nearly got Gus killed. A couple of times.” Marin was direct and to the point. He found no reason to candy-coat anything he had to say. “At this point, I regret taking him. I should’ve just tried doing it all on my own. The things he had to go through… it wasn’t right.”
Helva lowered her head. Harrel stared with wide eyes, stroking his chin. Everyone was shocked besides Eisen.
Marin continued, knowing a statement like that was in dire need of explanation.
“Things went smoothly getting to Whitewood City. As you all know, Bob Galrus carted us down. From there we walked through White Forest. Then in the southern region of Tresdor, we were ambushed.”
“Ambushed?! By who?” Loid demanded.
Marin stood there, telling the story in detail to his friends. He spoke of the Scarlet Eye in Tarenfall, and the terrible dealings with them. It was all chance he had crossed paths with them, and made enemies with their leader before they had even reached the city.
Marin still had no idea why the rogues were so far removed from their base of operations, but if they were still on a journey, they had stopped to follow them back to the city. It had thrown a wrench in all of Marin’s recruitment plans, but the silver lining in it all was obtaining Edward Eisen, he explained.
After he told the story of how he defeated Lorette, the Scarlet Eye’s leader, he explained that he was ready to just get back home, and wanted no more risk of Gus coming across danger.
Everyone was saddened and disappointed at the story. They had all wondered why Marin had cut his mission short, but they now had their answer.
“That, and I needed to get back to the castle, seeing as RAM will be showing up soon to inspect the kingdom,” Marin added.
Everyone nodded.
“It will be any day now,” Helva said. “We had prepared to do the inspection without you, but it will look a lot better if the King is actually here at his castle, and ready to talk with the agents.”
Marin agreed. “I thank you so much for all your hard work, Helva. You’ve been instrumental in getting this kingdom acknowledged again.”
“So what’s this talk about training Gus?” Loid asked, changing the subject.
“Ah, that. I am teaching Gus the ice element.”
Everyone raised their eyebrows at the radical statement.
“The boy is passionate about it. Very passionate. I had no desire to teach him, and even recommended him to train elsewhere, but… He really wants to learn from me. So much so, I had him reunite with his father over it.”
“Really?” Loid responded in shock. “He saw his father? Gus had always said he would never speak to him again.”
“Times change. And I tell you, afterwards, he admitted that it was something he should have done a while ago,” Marin proudly answered.
“You guys really were busy. That’s incredible.”
All five of them stood there, talking for nearly half an hour longer. Eisen finally gave himself a proper introduction, and explained his medical expertise. He talked on how he developed an antivenom that saved Gus’s life, and that he had a lot of respect for Marin. Eventually it was time for everyone to get back to their work.
“Loid, why don’t you stick with me and we will give Eisen a tour of the castle. Afterwards, it will be time to eat. Plus, we need to figure out where to station our new doctor.”
“They took my belongings away,” Eisen commented about the servant who took the reins of his cart and drove off.
“Don’t worry, our servants are holding it all in storage until we find a good spot for you,” Loid responded, seeing the Doctor was severely out of his comfort zone.
“Well, I just hope they don’t do anything with my jars. You know, those jars. The ones where if they looked at them closely, they might get scared at what they see and drop them,” Eisen nervously explained.
“No one’s going through your luggage, doctor,” Marin assured.
“If you say so. On with the tour, then,” Eisen declared, ready to get it all over with.
Together, the three of them walked around. Marin had to wave and occasionally shake hands with a passing servant or member of the castle. Loid would nod. Luckily, no one paid much mind to the doctor.
Eisen had to admit, he was impressed. He had spent time in some castles, but none of this caliber. The rooms and halls were ornate, and wealth was exuded around every corner. He saw the dining room, the kitchens, the ballroom, a throne room which Marin almost never sat in, and hallway after hallway of bedrooms. Eventually, Eisen was able to see the grand library, where he met Marge.
The tour took a halt as Eisen and Marge immediately began conversation about obscure knowledge, both impressing themselves as quite the intellectuals. This was the most comfortable Eisen had been, as he leaned on the counter opposite of Marge, getting carried away explaining ancient history, and topics beyond the knowing of both Marin and Loid.
Marge was flattered, every sentence Eisen spoke only built her admiration of him. He drank it in, finally happy to find someone who was just as impressed with his knowledge as he was. She fired back with facts just as obscure as his, and Eisen felt quite satisfied that he would be living with someone who seemed to appreciate information as much as him.
It took Loid a bit of effort to pry the doctor away from the librarian and continue the tour.
“Now that’s someone I like!” Eisen declared as they left the library and continued down a hall.
“And I don’t like a lot of people! I like you, Marin. Loid, I don’t know if I like you yet or not. But time will tell,” the doctor added.
“Thanks… I uh, hope you do,” Loid responded, giving Marin a secret glare.
Eventually, they reached the opposite side of the castle, where Loid could finally show off the progress of the courtyard that had continued to be built while he was away.
“It looks really good!” Marin commented, impressed with how it turned out.
New brick path was laid around a carved fountain. Stone walls topped with black metal gates surrounded the entire perimeter. Several benches were restored and repaired. During the day, anyone could now enjoy some fresh air while admiring the park.
“And who was responsible for this gorgeous restoration?” Marin asked.
“Fern Coronga. And Phil and Rocko, of course. They worked hard hauling and placing the stone while Fern carved it up,” Loid explained.
“They all did a perfect job. I’m pleased to see Phil and Rocko working hard and being taken care of. They deserve it. See to it that they get an extra reward for everything they did.”
Loid nodded. “I always make sure of that.”
Back inside, they rounded the rest of the castle, concluding the tour before making it to a staircase that would head down to the basement.
“What’s down there?” Eisen asked.
“That’s the basements and catacombs of the castle. Nothing important down there, other than some storage,” Marin explained.
“In fact, we haven’t done much cleaning in the basements yet,” Loid added. “Still thick with dust and cobwebs. I know we should get around to it eventually, but…” He trailed off.
“I want to see it!” The doctor exclaimed.
“There’s really nothing down there, Edward,” Marin tried.
It was no use. Eisen was already walking down the stairs.
Without much ability to object, Marin and Loid followed him down there.
At the bottom, they were greeted to a hallway, which lead to some small rooms, that lead to a vast open area of the basement, supported by carved stone pillars. An army of wooden crates and barrels called this area their home, some cracked, rotted, and opened, others still sealed from long ago. Above those were spider webs that had yet to be cleaned out. A thick coat of dust covered everything.
It was not a pleasant place to be, and a small path had been cleared out only for Loid, Helva, and Marin to go further down to get to the vault.
Eisen stood there, drinking it all in.
After a while, Loid spoke up. “Finished, then?”
Eisen walked forward, ignoring Loid and still admiring the basement. He was at peace down here.
Marin tried understanding Eisen’s fascination with basements, seeing as he was always down in his back in Tarenfall. It seemed like an unhealthy obsession, but who knew. Something about them rubbed the doctor the right way. He looked as if he could spend a lot of time down here.
Then Marin got the best idea ever. How had he not thought of this earlier?
“Doctor, I have something to ask you,” Marin said.
Eisen turned to look at him. “Yeah?”
“How would you like to be down here? Have your laboratory and hospital in Nocturne’s basements?” Marin plainly asked.
Loid was shocked. This was surely a jest. No one would want to be down here.
“You’re joking, Sullivan,” Loid immediately countered. “We have much better places to station him above-”
“I was waiting for you to ask!” Eisen said. He walked to one corner. “I’m setting up my tables here. Then, over there,” he pointed, “that’s where the bookshelves are going. I need all these crates removed.”
Eisen walked back up to them. “The front rooms before this one will be where I interact with patients. I’m going to need all my supplies brought down here.”
Marin nodded, a grin under his mask.
Loid was frozen, mouth agape, finger still pointing.
They looked over at him.
He lowered his hand, then closed his mouth and swallowed. He ran his hand through his combed back silver hair, regaining his composure.
“You… you really want to be down here?” Loid asked, his managerial brain trying to comprehend the logistics of it all.
“I assure you, Loid, he does,” Marin said with great confidence. “Nothing would make the doctor happier than being away from the noise of the upper levels. He values his isolation away from everyone else.”
“I… okay.” Loid gave in, still wondering why the kingdom’s doctor would want to be stuffed into the lowly basements of the castle.
“We’ll get you settled here immediately. Loid, have our servants clear out this place, moving the storage to a different wing of the basement. Get it cleaned up nicely, and have it done by tonight. Then, the next morning, we’ll move all the doctor’s possessions in, and we’ll have him set up down here by the end of tomorrow.”
Marin turned to face Eisen. “I hope you don’t mind spending one night in a guest bedroom upstairs.”
“That will be fine.”
“Alright then, everything is planned out. Sound good, Loid?” Marin asked to make sure it could happen.
Loid nodded. “Easily done.”
“Good. Let’s head upstairs now and get ready for dinner. I have a speech I need to make. Everyone’s been more enthusiastic about my return than I would’ve cared for,” Marin stated in a light hearted tone.