Heroes of Darkness

IV

ALEXANDER

The two grey-helmeted guards stood outside the door of Sheila's room, just like his father had told him. Franco, the captain of his father's guard, stood in front of the door, wearing the same clothes as the guards, minus the helmet. He was shorter than Alex, but muscularly built. He had dark curly hair, and by his side sat a patient Ninetails. At a young thirty years of age, he was still spry and strong.

"You're late," he said, almost bored.

Alex stopped and smiled. Banette hovered around to his side. "My apologies. Leo's back. I had to go and see him."

"You could have seen him after you inspected the body," Franco responded. "Your father gave you a job to do. It doesn't matter. Just do your job first next time. Come in and let's take a look." Franco turned and opened the door, and his Ninetails stood up and followed him into the room.

Alex entered Sheila's room, and was greeted with a slight stench. Franco must have noticed how he wrinkled his nose. "It smells like death. Get used to it. Over there." The captain of the guards pointed to a shape underneath the bed sheets.

He looked uncertainly at Banette, who frowned. Alex took three slow steps and pulled back the bedsheet. The stench didn't bother him anymore. Poor old Sheila looked so peaceful. There was no blood, but upon further inspection, there was a small, stick-like object protruding from her neck. Alex reached out to take a closer look.

"Don't touch it!" Franco said quickly. Alex pulled his hand back. "That's what killed her. It's a poisoned thorn. I've seen its type before."

Alex was puzzled. None of this made any sense. "Someone went through an awful lot of trouble to kill her," he said sadly. For as long as he could remember, Sheila had been kind to him. "Who would want to do this to her?" He turned back to Franco. Ninetails was sniffing around the room.

Alex looked at his Spirit Pokémon. "Banette," he said. "See if you can locate her spirit." The ghost-type Pokémon nodded and slowly melted into thin air.

Franco started walking around the room, inspecting the walls. He traced his hands around the stone, trying to find any clue about the killer. "You want to know who would want her dead?" he asked Alex. "You need to ask the questions and try to answer them yourself. Who would want her dead? Did she have any enemies in Mt. Pyre?"

Alex racked his brain but couldn't find anything. "I don't think so..."

"So then her enemies must be outside of Mt. Pyre," Franco finished the train of thought for him. "Isn't this strange? This was too clean, too perfect to be carried out by any person with a grudge. Ah ha!" There was a scraping sound on one of the walls. "Someone's interfered with the structure of the walls." His voice sounded unsure.

Alex started thinking again. "Whoever it was sure went through a lot of trouble. Did any of the guards report anything suspicious?" He already knew the answer.

"Nothing," Franco said. He grunted as he pulled the stone in the wall out, the others it was resting on collapsed to the hard floor with a rumble and a thud. Where once the wall was, there was a small tunnel.

Alex felt a sense of dread wash over him. What is the meaning of this? A poison thorn, and a secret tunnel. "We should go in there," he said finally.

"You're too rash, rookie," laughed Franco.

"Ninetails, nine!" cried the captain's fox Pokémon. It gracefully padded over to its Spirit Partner. When it passed by Alex, he saw a shiny glint in its mouth.