"Did you find anything?" Logan asks, surprising Noah.
Noah jumped at the voice and turned around to see Logan, equally sweating like Noah.
"Fuck! God Logan! Why the fuck would you sneak in like that?" Noah shouts, keeping his hand on his heart. It was beating unbelievably fast and for all the wrong reasons.
"You were the one who sneaked in here! I was in the servant's room when I heard someone climb up the stairs. At first, I thought it was a ghost but then I saw you. I called you but you were so engrossed..." Logan starts to say.
"Wait! What were you doing in the servant's room? How did you get the key?" Noah asks. He was trying to get it from William for so long and finally found his chance today.
"I had a duplicate made." Logan shrugs off. "The cops here are vulnerable to bribes. So, did you find anything?" Logan now looks at the portrait.
"Of course a duplicate! Why didn't I think of that?" Noah murmurs to himself.
"Did you say something?" Logan asks.
"Oh, no! What were you doing down there anyway? We have finished examining that room." Noah asks.
"I thought we could get something there. Like something small." Logan murmurs.
Noah scoffs and continues, "That's your problem, Logan. You always aim for the small things. Aim for something bigger in your life."
"Like you?" Logan raises an eyebrow.
"Yes," Noah says, beaming with pride.
"Uh-huh. And what has that brought you? You are also digging here and there for the crown and you are in no way superior to us. I am starting to doubt your plans." Logan says cockily.
Next thing he knows, he has been picked up and thrown towards the wall. He falls down with a thud. Noah slowly walks towards him and grabs him by his collar.
"How dare you speak to your master like that? Don't forget that I am the heir of the great King Samuel." He throws him down again, "Also I needn't remind you how I saved your parents from that fire." He walks back to the portrait.
Logan tries to stand up on his wobbly legs. It seems like he must have bruised his back. He had no other choice than to join Noah in his plan. He saved his parents. This was the least he could do!
"Maybe this will work....." Noah tilts the painting at an angle of exactly 45 degrees to his right, getting a rumbling sound from the left of the portrait. It looks like a safe!
"Bingo!" Noah exclaims. It seems as he was closer to get the crown. But he was so wrong!
He tried to open the safe but couldn't. It was those old-fashioned locks with a single dial to open it with. And Noah wasn't into picking locks.
"Can you open this?" He asks Logan. Logan shakes his head.
Noah gets up and tries to pull the handle but in vain. Maybe he thought the safe must have deteriorated with time. He kept pulling until he was tired. But he couldn't give up! Not being so close to his crown!
He goes back a little and kicks the dial violently. To his surprise, it broke and the safe opened. But the sight of it was depressing. There was nothing inside! No crown, nothing!
"Shit! No, no, no, no.....my crown!" Noah sits down, dejected. There was nothing but silly papers there.
"There are more poems here," Logan says looking through the papers.
"They are shit!" Noah throws them back inside and leaves the room in a fit. But Logan decided to keep them. They seemed like important poems. Important enough to be kept inside a safe.
He thinks of giving them to James or Dylan to decode it later.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
"It's weird but I saw Noah going out in a hurry," James says when he came to Dylan's room.
"This late at night? He must not be able to sleep." Dylan thinks. It was unusual for Noah to be up this late at night.
"Anyways, what's new for me?" James asks.
"Nothing actually." It was embarrassing for Dylan but he just wanted James's company. They would meet every night to discuss something related to Castle Nale, but tonight was different. They had nothing about Castle Nale except for King Benjamin and they all decided to look into that from tomorrow. So Dylan had called in James to just talk. "I just wanted to...." But his sentence was cut short by James.
"Oh! I remember! I saw a very interesting poem from Benjamin's diary. I know we decided to wait but couldn't stop myself. Would you like to decode it? I mean if you are tired then it's okay." James says with a pout.
"Uh...no...absolutely not! I was going to ask you myself if you have any poems or no." Dylan lies.
James shows him the picture of the poem.
"David has the whole journal and he wouldn't let me touch it so I took a snap of it," James says showing him his phone.
"Walls have ears.
Doors have eyes.
Trees have voices.
Beast tells lies.
Beware the rain.
Beware the snow.
Beware the man
You think you know."
"This sounds like more of a warning. Warning to someone to be aware of their surroundings as every object has their eyes and ears." Dylan says. James looks a bit confused at that so Dylan further explains.
"Look. People in ancient times used to worship nature. Like the sun god, rain god, etc. They personified the elements of nature and wrote about them as they were living beings, just like us humans. That's why the line 'Trees have voices'. And the next lines telling us to be aware of rain and snow, telling us to be aware of the gods too." Dylan explains.
"Why the gods?" James asks.
"Maybe to show that the human's plans may come in between god's plans for us. And no one has ever tried to cross paths with destiny. The one, who tries, is doomed forever." Dylan suggests.
"Wow. You talk like a poet!" James praises.
Dylan chuckles before continuing, "And the last two lines suggest being aware of a man whom you know. Or you think you know. Outer appearances can be deceptive."
"Hmm. This was the line that intrigued me the most. What if King Benjamin was talking about the royal who would betray the castle?" James also suggests.
"It seems possible. But we have to be certain that this was written by King Benjamin. We can't make unnecessary statements. David would get the conformation by tomorrow." Dylan says.
"Ah yes. You are right." He closes his phone, "Man! What a roller coaster ride this is!" James chuckles.
"Yeah." Dylan agrees.
The more they indulge themselves in this mystery, the more confusing it gets.
It's a web of poems.
YOU ARE READING
Mystery Hunt (Complete - Under Major Editing)
Mystery / Thriller"They say that the loveliest angels make the cruelest demons and my darling; you were so kind and beautiful before they dragged you to hell. Your fall wasn't an accident; you were chosen for the damned." The curse was set lifetimes ago. But why is D...
