“Why now all of a sudden?” Lester asked. “Who is this adversary and what makes right now so special?”
Lester paused. “I will be honest, I don’t have all the answers. I just knew that I needed to find you before someone else did.”
The two of them walked down the passage until they arrived at a tall stone door that had two candles sticking out of either side. Raith pulled the left candle and the door creaked open and revealed what seemed to be an elevator with an old copper lever. Once the two of them got into the elevator, Raith pulled the lever.
“I never realized how many hidden secrets this castle had,” Lester said.
Raith looked at Lester, “it makes circumstances like this easier to travel around the castle unnoticed,”
The Blumaroo nodded his head in understanding.
As they started getting closer to what seemed like the top of the elevator shaft, Lester heard a loud creaking and saw the top starting to open as if they were coming out of a hidden hole in the floor above.
“Where are we?” Lester asked as they ascended out of the elevator, but Lester instantly knew. They had arrived in the great hall in front of Skarl’s throne room but it was pitch black with only a few small flickering torches trying to light up the room.
“L-L-Lester is that you?” a faint but familiar voice asked.
Lester looked over to a corner where he thought the voice was coming from. Lester gasped, “Diego?! Is that you?!”
The newly appointed jester was lying on the ground and appeared to be almost unconscious with scars all over his face.
“Lester, we might be too late. We must hurry!” Raith exclaimed as he grabbed Lester’s hand and ran towards the entrance to the throne room.
Raith flung open the throne room doors and loud music started blaring as a pleasant aroma filling the room. It was a party!
“I-I-I don’t understand,” Lester said now looking at Raith in complete shock.
“Perhaps I can offer an explanation?” It was Skarl. “I’m not really good at this type of thing so I will try my best. You have been serving me for quite a while. I know I’m not the best at showing my gratitude so I figured I should try and start. I reached out to Raith to help me devise a plan that would keep you from suspecting anything.”
“So you fired me,” Lester replied. “It all makes sense now, but what about Diego and all of his scars?”
The doors creaked open and in walked Diego. “Raith reached out to me and said they needed a skilled actor to help sell this and add a sort of dramatic appeal and I’d say I delivered well!”
Lester was now in tears and couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Skarl was never one to show affection and yet he put this all together to show him appreciation?
“This is the happiest moment of my life!” Lester exclaimed.
“Enough explanations and tears!” Skarl exclaimed. “Now is the time to feast and celebrate!”
All of the castle partied till late at night and Lester made sure to enjoy every little bit of it. The End,
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