Shayret's Adventure: A Mystery in Meridell - Part Four

      He walked through the ruined house and examined the damage. Almost everything was destroyed. But Shayret knew that Dublin hadn't found what Shayret needed. He walked into the middle of his room and pulled up a board from his floor. Shayret, being the cautious Shoyru that he was, had installed a safe under the floorboard in order to hide his precious belongings. This way, he thought, even if someone stumbled upon his hiding place, they would have no way of getting to his stuff.

      Shayret stooped down and began to turn the safe's knob. He carefully turned it to the correct combination: 3 right turns to 5, 1 left turn to 15, and right to 29. *Click* He heard the small lock open, and inserted his key into the safe's keyhole. (I told you he was cautious.) He opened the safe, reached into it, and retrieved the velvet bag that lay within. He stood up and reached inside the bag. (In it, he kept all of the items that he didn't keep in his Safety Deposit Box.) He withdrew a Healing Potion V, and slowly drank the cool liquid.

      Shayret instantly felt better, but upon checking his stats, he found that he was still not fully healed. He knew that for his fight with Dublin he would need to be at full power. Unfortunately, he didn't have any more Healing Items, and he wasn't exactly rich! However, there was another way...

      Shayret put his velvet bag in his pocket, and looked out the window. He noticed that it was beginning to rain. He stood there for a few moments watching the small droplets fall to the earth. He got an umbrella from the hallway closet before he walked out of his house and headed towards his next destination.

      *******

      As Shayret flew over the Wheel of Excitement, he closed his umbrella. The weather in Faerieland was completely different from Meridell: it was sunny and warm. Shayret had come to Faerieland for one reason. He wasn't even at half health, and he needed to visit the healing springs. He was just hoping that the Water Faerie wouldn't raise him 3 hp and apologize for not doing better. He touched down on the fluffy clouds and made his way over to the springs. The Water Faerie saw him and said, "Hi, Shayret. What can I do for you?"

      "Well," he said, "I was hoping you could heal me."

      "Of course," said the Water Faerie as she waved her hands.

      Thankfully, Shayret wasn't disappointed. Not only was he fully healed, but he was also not hungry anymore. Shayret thanked the Water Faerie many times before he left the Healing Springs and flew off again. As he landed on the drawbridge of King Skarl's castle, he took a deep breath and prepared himself for what would probably be the hardest battle of his life.

      Shayret crawled through his homemade porthole and made his way to the King's throne room. He told himself that, after this was all over, he would never EVER come to this room again. Shayret thought that Dublin would have barricaded himself in the room or something to stall for time, but he was mistaken. When he drew near the doorway to the throne room, he saw that the doors were not only open, but had been torn off their hinges. He wandered into the room and immediately noticed that Nigel Dublin was sitting in the king's throne at the far side of the room. He had his feet propped up, as if he had been waiting for a while.

      As Shayret made his way down the red carpet, Nigel yelled at him. "Welcome back!" he screamed. "Are you ready for your downfall?"

      "I was about to ask you the same thing."

      "Well then, let's get started."

     Dublin wasted no time. He leaped into the air and, from within his jacket, produced two Purple Blob Potions. He threw them at the Shoyru and the Shoyru swiftly dodged the explosions. Shayret used the space of time to make his move he drew in a very deep breath and fired a powerful fireball. It was a direct hit, and sent Dublin onto his back. But he was soon back on his feet. He quickly withdrew 2 more Purple Blob Potions and hurled them, once again, at Shayret. Shayret avoided one, but the other clipped his wings. The blast damaged Shayret's wing, restricting his ability to fly. Shayret made a desperate move and fiercely attacked. But, as we all know, that almost never works.

      Dublin dodged Shayret's attack easily and decided to end the battle with a bang by using his most powerful weapons: 3 Red Clockwork Grundos. He wound all three of them and sent them towards Shayret. Shayret tried to avoid them, but failed. The blow sent him soaring into a suit of armor. It didn't knock him unconscious, but he couldn't get up.

      Dublin walked over to him and reached inside his jacket. He was no doubt getting a weapon to finish Shayret off. He was smiling smugly and said, "Don't worry, Shayret, it will all be over in a few seconds." But before he could say or do anything else, he was hit over the head with a large, metal tray and fell over in a daze.

      Shayret looked up to see the maid (a Grey Kyrii) holding the tray. She was looking down at him with menacing eyes, which quickly turned teary. She opened her mouth, said, "He told me that my cooking tasted bad!", and ran out of the room bawling. Shayret looked over where Dublin lay, unconscious, and tried to think of why anyone would go to so much trouble. He decided that he didn't care, as long as he didn't have to deal with it again. Shayret's attention was suddenly drawn to an object on the other side of the room. It was Zeke regaining consciousness.

      This time, it was Zeke's turn run to his friend's aid. He rushed over to Shayret and asked him if he was alright. "That depends," Shayret replied. "Is it all over?" Zeke assured him that it was most definitely over, except for the fact that King Hagan and King Skarl were still missing. A few moments later, though, that problem was also solved. Shayret and Zeke started hearing distant voices echoing through the castle. After a thorough search of the castle, the origin of the voices was still a mystery. They searched all of the rooms, and even the dungeons, but nothing turned up.

      Shayret, who, although limping, had helped Zeke search the castle, hobbled over to the king's throne and sat down. "That has to be the kings," he said.

      "Yeah," said Zeke, "But where are they?"

      Shayret propped his feet up (as Dublin had previously) and leaned back. He was startled when the throne flipped over onto its back, revealing a small chamber underneath the spot where it had once sat. Shayret peered into the darkness of the chamber, and jumped 10 feet into the air when King Skarl's head poked out.

      All he said (or roared, rather) was, "It's about time!" before he stormed off.

                 *******

      The next day, Shayret woke up to find his room was filled with tons of gifts from the citizens of Meridell and Brightvale. Apparently, it hadn't taken long for Shayret's heroic tale to be told throughout the land.

      He walked outside and smelled the fresh air. It was a blessing to him. It seemed like he hadn't been able to just enjoy it in weeks. (Which was actually true.) Shayret didn't spend much time enjoying the outdoors. He had an appointment later that day with the kings of Meridell and Brightvale, who had been so grateful that they (King Hagan had made King Skarl do it) also rewarded Shayret with 200 million NP.

      Following Nigel Dublin's demise, he had been put in prison for life and Shayret had been awarded the Meridell Medal of Honor. Zeke, who had regained consciousness just in time to see Shayret beat Dublin, had also been awarded a medal for his brave efforts. The old grey Kyrii, who had brought the whole ordeal to an end, had been rewarded with a handsome sum of neopoints and a Faerie Paint Brush. Needless to say, she used it at once and began dancing around the room shouting happily, "YAY! NO MORE GRAYNESS FOR ME!"

      It turned out that Dublin had been planning his evil scheme for quite some time, but he kept his plans so secretive, that no one ever suspected him of anything. Fortunately, he foiled his own plans when he tried to dispose of Shayret and Zeke.

      Shayret the Shoyru returned home after the awards ceremony and sat down on his bed. He lay down, closed his eyes, and began to dream of his next big case.

The End