"Jeran? What are you doing here?"

"What, can't I go to the library in my spare time too?" the Lupe said, shrugging before he pulled out a dusty old tome, flipping through its pages before sighing, shaking his head, and pushing the book back into its place.

"No, but you and I both know this isn't exactly your favorite place to hang out," Lisha answered. She furrowed her brow in thought. "Is there anything you're looking for?"

At first, Jeran shifted from foot to foot, not meeting the Aisha's gaze. Finally, he asked, "Do you know of any books about the Castle Defender?"

"The Kougra spectre that fought for Meridell during the wars? Well, there are stories here and there about how he came to be, but no one really knows who he is. I know, because...I've tried looking him up too." Lisha shrugged, then she peered up at Jeran. "Why?"

"Because..." Jeran's voice trailed off before he dropped it to a whisper into Lisha's ears. "Because, Lisha, I've been having dreams about him for several nights now, and each time I dream about him, he says the same thing..."

A heavy silence fell between the two of them as the meaning sunk in; it was one thing to be dreaming about it, but saying it aloud truly gave the words a hefty weight. Jeran was the first to speak after a moment longer.

"I don't think it's a coincidence, Lisha. He's truly reaching out and warning us." Jeran said in a whisper, trying not to alert any other ears in the library.

"I believe you." Lisha said determinedly. "I can grab all the books that I know regarding him, but.. there aren't many." She said softly.

"Anything helps. It's at least a start." He said with a soft smile.

They gathered the books together and brought them back to a table to peruse them for information. They both stared at the pile, a little disappointed that their extensive search had only brought about four books in front of them. Even after spending the next few hours carefully looking over each page, their studies did not bring back anything helpful to their current situation.

Lisha let out a sigh. "He wants you to find his sword?" She asked. "That hasn't been seen since the end of the battle.. where are in Neopia are we supposed to find it?"

After a moment of deep thought, Jeran responded. "I think I have an idea of who to ask..."

“Ugh, no way! Why would we talk to that nasty old Skeith?” Lisha asked, her face twisting with disgust.

Snargan is a Green Skeith known for his gambling trickery and lack of hygiene. In his free time, after his duties are done for the day as Meridell’s royal treasurer, he runs Double or Nothing and gambles using the King’s money. However, because of his deceit, he usually comes out ahead. Otherwise, King Skarl would likely shut down his operation.

“Snargan might be dishonest and, albeit, a tad gross, but he knows every detail of those castle grounds. Not to mention, the gossip that goes around the coin table at Double or Nothing... It’s enough to write a never-ending book series. I’m sure he knows where the sword of the Castle Defender was tucked away,” Jeran explained.

Lisha nodded, catching onto his reasoning.

“We’ll just have to convince him to tell us where it is…” the Lupe continued, trailing off in thought

“And how are we going to do that?” the Yellow Aisha inquired, pushing her red, thick-framed glasses up the bridge of her nose.

“I’m not sure, but what I do know is that we can think our way through anything,” Jeran boasted, showing a big toothy grin.

“I hate to say it, brother, but you’re right. Let’s find that old smelly Skeith!” Lisha said with a giggle, heading towards Snargan’s private chambers where he hosts his infamous game of Double or Nothing…

“Ha ha ha! I’ll enjoy counting my winnings!” Snargan bellowed as he pulled a pool of coins close to his chest. “Thanks to you, I’ll be having extra cheese on my burger tonight,” he added with a wink as his opponent stood.

The Meridellian Knight placed his helmet back on his head, muttering to himself as he left the table. “… Nasty Skeith always cheats…”

Snargan was counting and stacking coins as Jeran and Lisha joined the table. Lisha’s face scrunched up in a look of disgust as the Skeith let oud a loud belch. Jeran lightly elbowed his sister, and she quickly replaced her previous look with a small smile.

Once the small silver towers were organized around the table, Snargan looked up to greet his new guests. “Fancy a game of chance? All of this money could be yours!”

“We actually came to see if you could help us with finding some information,” Jeran spoke. “We are searching for the Castle Defender’s sword. We have reason to believe that the importance of finding the sword is dire for Meridell’s state. Have you heard of anything regarding the Castle Defender, or his sword?”

The Green Skeith let out another deep laugh. “Knowledge is power. You think that comes free? I’ll need some mighty convincing to let any words regarding the Castle Defender slip from my lips.”

Lisha spoke up to aid her brother. “You like to gamble? Explain your game; we will offer up our Neopoints to wager against what you know.”

Snargan paused to consider this, rubbing his chin. “Double or nothing,” he let out with a grunt. “I ask for 10 Neopoints for your bet. I start with tossing a coin. If it’s heads, you double your cash, and then you can keep going as many times as you want. But if it’s tails, I keep the cash.” He took a moment as he appeared to be calculating some mental math. “Let’s change it up slightly, for your proposed scenario. I have three pieces of information I can offer regarding the Castle Defender. You will have to win three tosses in a row for me to divulge all that I know. And of course, if you lose at any time, I’ll collect your entire bet. I’ll allow you to play as many times as you’d like,” he stated with a smirk and crossing his arms.

The siblings looked at each other and checked their pockets to see how much they had between them. After some quick counting, they found that they had a total 60 Neopoints.

“This doesn’t give us a whole lot of chances…” the Yellow Aisha started with a worried look growing on her face.

“We must trust our luck here. Maybe the Castle Defender will help guide the coin. Snargan confirmed he knows something, so we have to try.” Jeran placed 10 Neopoints on the table. “We’re in. Let’s begin.”

The Skeith chuckled as he reached for his coin. Everyone watched as the coin made its first flip in the air.

TAILS.

Snargan pulled the coins to him as Jeran immediately placed another set of Neopoints down. Snargan nodded and flipped the coin again.

TAILS.

The Skeith smirked as he collected the bet. Jeran eyed him carefully as Lisha added Neopoints to the table.

The coin once again went up and fell back down.

TAILS.

“Heh heh heh, I just love to win,” Snargan said as he grabbed his winnings. “Luck just doesn’t seem to be on your side today. Want to keep going?”

Lisha set down more Neopoints. As Snargan tossed the coin, Jeran was quick to grab the coin from the air. He quickly looked to examine the coin as the Skeith stood up from the table in a panicked state. This was not a normal coin, but a double-sided Tails coin.

“You’re trying to cheat us!” the Blue Lupe exclaimed. “You’ve already taken our money. Share what you know now, or word will spread of your corrupt game, and you’ll never have anyone to play again.” He looked at him with a frustrated look, trying to keep his cool but also understanding the importance of his new quest.

Snargan glared at the two and let out a deep sigh. “Fine, I’ll tell you what I know…”

After what seemed like a terrible and smelly eternity, he finally gave them his three pieces of information about the Castle Defender’s sword.

"Here’s what I know: first, a young Blumaroo knight came in here a few weeks ago boasting about a giant sword he found at the Rubbish Dump. Second, that day a new customer came in, cloaked in all black and he didn't show his face at all. He stayed silent until he heard the Blumaroo’s story and offered him an exorbitant price for the sword. Third, then about a week ago, some comrades of that knight came in, whispering about how the Blumaroo had disappeared after foolishly selling the sword to an old enemy..."

Jeran and Lisha were both taken aback by those last words. In unison they asked, "Who did he sell the sword to?"

The Skeith lowered his voice at this point, and his unpleasant face actually looked apologetic.

"If I had known who that cloaked figure was, I would have kicked him out and alerted the guards right away. The young ones know nothing of the horrors Meridell once faced unfortunately... See, turns out that young Blumaroo knight sold the sword to..."

The siblings gasped in unison, but the Skeith was quick to hush them.

"I couldn't verify the sword with my own eyes, but if it's as you say..." The Skeith sighed as he relaxed his posture, before adding, "I may be a betting man, but I never would have put money on that he'd walk straight past the guards for his mark."

The room went silent as the weight of Snargan's words settled. Even he seemed to treat the matter with more respect than the siblings thought possible for the Skeith.

Lisha was the one to break the silence. "The Thieves' Guild prefers to target items that already have buyers lined up. What if Lord Darigan was planning something big?"

"Then disarming the Castle Defender could tip the scales in his favour..." Jeran answered. He paused, pressing his chin into his hand while he thought.

Finally, he leaned toward his sister and whispered, "But my dream said a new foe festered. If not Darigan, then who...?"

Lisha and Jeran looked the Skeith up and down. Did they want his advice? He had led them far along their journey with helpful information so far.

"Let us hear it," said Jeran.

"I don't know how to find Kanrik, but if he came here once, he can come here again," said Snargan. "Let me organize a Double or Nothing game for the ages that will surely draw him in. We can tip off the guards, making sure they don't give him any trouble. Once he's here, we...well, you, can confront him and figure out what the deal is. We can ask him all about his buyer, we can ask him all about Darigan, you name it."

Jeran considered his proposal. "That is quite...ingenious," he said. "And noble, and brave, to put yourself in the presence of such a dangerous foe."

"Well," said the Skeith, rubbing his hands. "I may get a bad reputation, but Meridell is my home. I don't want to see it in danger if you can help it. And so, I don't mind spending a bit of the King's money if it means I survive for another day."

Jeran and Lisha exchanged a knowing glance. "There's the Snargan we know," Lisha said.

Snargan shrugged. "It will take some time to put together and get word out about the event," he said. "So, I will see you tonight?"

"See you then," said Jeran, and they parted ways until the evening came...

"I have no idea," replied Jeran, "but it's the best plan we have. You ready?"

The siblings stood outside Snargan's chambers once more. Jeran had borrowed an outfit when they went to explain things to the castle guards, and now looked every part the ideal guardsman. Lisha, meanwhile, was dressed as a server, complete with full serving tray.

"If you are..." said the Aisha.

Jeran pushed the wooden doors open and the two were assailed by a wave of loud noise. The room was packed, Neopets pressed together around the centre of the room.

"STEP RIGHT UP!" boomed a familiar voice from the throng of Pets. "A DOUBLE OR NOTHING GAME FOR THE AGES! NO NEOPOINT LIMIT!"

As the gathered Pets scrambled to place their bets, Jeran's eyes darted across the room. Against the wall, a hooded figure watched the crowd. Jeran subtly elbowed Lisha in the shoulder, nodding in the direction of what must have been Kanrik.

As Jeran looked back at the figure, something grabbed their attention. The hood snapped to Jeran and whoever was beneath must have seen him looking, because the figure immediately shoved the nearest Neopet forward. Before Jeran could react, the figure had darted their way to the door.

"Wait here!" Jeran yelled at Lisha, sprinting away. If his sibling protested, he didn't stay around to hear it. He shoved the door open just in time to catch the figure rounding a corner at the end of the hall. Jeran followed as fast as his legs could carry him.

They were quick. It took all of Jeran's speed and knowledge of the castle to keep up, and even then, he was unable to gain ground on his target. The two ran in a circle around the castle, eventually heading back in the direction of Snargan's chambers. Jeran knew that if he wasn't able to catch the figure soon, they would make it to the castle doors and their chance would be lost.

"STOP!" yelled Jeran, struggling to run faster.

The cloaked figure turned its head slightly in Jeran's direction. Distracted as they were by Jeran's yell, they failed to notice a serving tray wheeled directly in front of them from a side hallway.

With a loud crash, the figure ran headlong into the tray, nearly flipping over it. Jeran was able to tackle them to the ground, his knight training allowing him to hold the figure despite its struggling. From beneath the hood, he could see the face of a Blue Gelert scowling at him.

"So you must be Kanrik," said Jeran. "You bought a sword from a Blumaroo recently. Who did you sell it to?"

"And why would I tell you that?" spat Kanrik.

A third voice piped up from beside Jeran. Lisha had approached the struggling pair from her hiding spot.

"Because we know who you are," she said matter-of-factly. "You're Kanrik of the Thieves' Guild. I'm sure your Order wouldn't approve of one of their members being in King Skarl's dungeons, their identity revealed to the world. We can avoid all of that if you just give us a name."

Kanrik snarled, "Fine! You win. I bought the sword on behalf of a client..."

Jeran's grip loosened as his eyes widened with shock. Of all the potential mysterious buyers he had imagined, King Skarl's own brother had not been one of them. Kanrik took advantage of the knight's surprise, slipping out of his grasp and clambering to his feet.

"I'll be going now," Kanrik muttered bitterly, as he dusted himself off and straightened his hooded cloak. He threw Jeran and Lisha one final fierce glare before taking off, running to the nearest castle window and deftly hopping out without pause.

By the time Lisha reached the ledge, Kanrik had already scaled more than half the castle in his descent, close to the castle garden.

"He'll be across the drawbridge and long gone by the time we make it down!" Lisha cried.

"Let him go," Jeran said, slowly rising to his feet. "We have what we need. We must seek an audience with King Skarl before it's too late."

As the siblings rushed down the castle's winding halls, they tried to make sense of the new information.

"King Skarl doesn't have the best relationship with King Hagan and vice versa, but our kingdoms are hardly at war," Lisha said, perplexed. "King Hagan values knowledge and wisdom above all. There's no reason to attack and he knows that!"

"He looks down on us," Jeran pointed out with a scowl. "Royal snob. But agreed, that's hardly a reason to target Meridell. He must be under a spell or evil influence of some kind. It's the only explanation at this point..."

Jeran trailed off worriedly as he wondered what they would find in King Skarl's throne room. The Castle Defender's sword was a powerful weapon indeed, but one still had to be trained in combat to wield it appropriately. Did King Hagan have any such training? Jeran certainly hoped not. And if Hagan was indeed cursed, there was still the matter of breaking it...

The knight snapped his attention back to the matter at hand as they reached the magnificent gem studded double doors. He ignored the guards cries of "the king is unavailable!" and "he's with his brother!" and hastened his pace, bursting inside the room with Lisha at his heels.

The scene was disastrous with King Skarl and King Hagan engaged in a clumsy, but dangerous sword fight. The relief in the Blue Skeith's expression was evident as he caught sight of his finest knight standing in the doorway, mouth agape.

"Jeran! I don't know what's come over my ridiculous brother. Please help me...."

How will this story end?

Lisha loved Meridell, but secretly she had always admired Hagan and his kingdom. If relationships between the two were better, she could have seen herself going to the neighboring kingdom and studying in its libraries for hours. But, by the looks of things, that relationship was now worse than it had ever been.

"What is the matter with you?" Jeran growled to Hagan. "Stand down or I'll have to hurt you!"

"I must defeat Meridell," Hagan intoned. His voice was strange, and once Lisha took a better look at him, she noticed his eyes were unfocused.

"You'll have to get through me first," Jeran snarled and he gave a mighty wrench of his own sword. The Castle Defender's sword was thrust forcefully from Hagan's clumsy grip, clattering on the floor.

Lisha expected Hagan to scramble after it, but he merely stood there, staring vacantly up at Jeran as if taken aback by the superior swordsman. It was then that Lisha noticed Hagan's crown. It was a simple yet refined design, a golden headpiece topped with a shining sun to represent the light of knowledge shining upon the land. Only, the sun was not its normal brilliant gold but blackened, with gray tendrils leaking off it like acidic smoke.

Without stopping to think, Lisha grabbed the nearest book - a huge tome called 1,001 Scrumptious Recipes to Fill Even the Hungriest Belly - and charged toward Hagan. She knocked the crown off his head and then smashed the corrupted sun on the top of it with the book. The sun shattered with a piercing crack and an eerie quiet settled over the throne room.

"- hope you learn to keep a better eye on your things next time," Hagan said, starting as if he were in the middle of a sentence he had been speaking all along. "I won't always be willing to spend money from my coffers to clean up after you, you know."

Jeran's shoulders slumped and his mouth fell open. "King Hagan?" he asked.

Hagan gave a start and looked around. "By the sun, what happened here?" he asked. "Why has your knight raised his sword at me?"

"You raised your sword at me!" Skarl retorted.

"And it's not even your sword, it's the Castle Defender's sword," added Jeran.

"Yes, that's what I came here to tell you," Hagan said exasperatedly. "The Castle Defender's sword is an important relic and you just let it fall into the clutches of the Thieves Guild?! That's why I bought it, to bring it here and teach you a lesson."

"Does teaching me a lesson involve attacking me in my own throne room?" Skarl roared.

"Attacking you?" Hagan repeated. Lisha could see that Brightvale's king was struggling to piece together his memories with the actual events that had happened.

"I'm sorry, King Hagan, there was something wrong with your crown," Lisha blurted out. "It was all black and icky. You were fighting King Skarl, but you seemed possessed. When Jeran disarmed you, I took the crown and... I'm sorry, but I broke it."

Hagan's gaze followed Lisha's to the crown on the floor, gray smoke still billowing lightly from the shattered sun. "Well, I suppose now that you mention it, I don't remember what happened when I put on my crown last," Hagan said. "This is going to require some thought. I am very grateful to you, Lisha, for breaking that spell." He eyed the book Lisha had used, amusement in his gaze. "As I've always believed, it seems that knowledge has saved the day."

"The new foe!" Jeran blurted. When Skarl and Hagan looked at him curiously, he reiterated the dream he had been having. "The Castle Defender has been warning me, so I'd been looking for his sword. He said there isn't much time to prepare," he finished.

"In that case, we should prepare immediately," Skarl said. "Lisha, you should go with Hagan to research what happened to his crown. Jeran, you need to start preparing for a fight. As for me, I need my third dinner."

As he left, Hagan nodded to Lisha. "You may travel with my knights and myself," he told her. "I look forward to your assistance. You seem to have a knack for breaking curses."

Lisha looked up at Jeran. As it always seemed to happen, duty for Meridell was taking them apart again. Jeran's sad smile seemed to indicate he was echoing her thoughts.

"You're off to pore over books again, it seems," Jeran said with a bracing smile.

"I always do," Lisha said with a sad smile.

"You're good at it," Jeran agreed. "I can't think of anyone better. And I'm off to do what I'm good at, defending the kingdom."

Lisha rushed forward and embraced her brother in a hug. "I can't think of anyone better, either," she answered. "And Jeran? Come home safe."

Jeran wrapped Lisha into a hug as well. "I always do."

The End.