The First Suspect
The Never Ending Quest - Episode 38549
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Constable Gervasel b'herps paced along the floorboards of the Constabulary
of the township Lhex. His hands were cupped behind his black-jacketed
back,
his steel
club hung from his belt and made tune to the pacing. of all the people
to be murdered! he thought. why the Duchess of Windsor, why the
Lady Penelope Warmonger?!!? Indeed, why? The Duchess had only just married the man Frederigo, the stranger who claimed to be a Duke's son in some strange land called Allaria, though no one in Windsor Duchy nor the neighbouring lands of Fyrsor Kingdom, Urthsor Principality, or the Hydrosor Theocratic State had ever heard of any "Allaria". At first Fred was called mad, but then he met the Lady Penelope and he made her laugh. They were married within a few weeks, that was only a short time ago, now she was dead. The Constable continued his pacing. He had arrested Fred immediately as the usual suspect, but too many people had seen him in a tavern during the probable time of the heinous act. Now the Constable had other suspects to interrogate... the first being-- "Stop that damnable pacing!" yelled Fred. "It's what I do," said the Constable, a tidbit irritated but not overly much. "What would you rather I do?" "Find my wife's killer!" yelled Fred even more vociferously. "Perhaps it is your so-called Dragon of the Southern Caves which did the deed!" snapped the Constable, though he regretted it almost instantly. Here in the Duchy Windsor everyone knew that "dragons" did not exist - at best they were the result of too much heffenberry beer. If it was monsters you wanted all you had to do was travel to the Wicc Wastes where dwelt the hairy and wild chimeras! but dragons? nonsense! Fred choked back a cry; he too had wondered if his happiness had been cut short by machinations of the Southern Dragon. It had been that vile beast which had sent him to this foreign land far from his own, probably on the other side of the world. But Fred wanted to concentrate on more local suspects. "I was thinking maybe Ashaliea," he said. . . Ahaliea lay in the dirt outside the Prancing Aelbeast, one of many taverns within the township of Lhex. Her skirt was ripped, her hair was mussled, the flesh on her inside thighs was bruised... it was just another ordinary day for her. She was the town drunk, and by default, the town whore. She could imagine a hundred different ways to make a better living, but she could never quite get the energy to make any of them real. She stood up, or attempted to at least... her wobbly legs could barely hold her, and the pain between her legs was none too pleasing. Before she fell back to the ground a hand reached out and grabbed her arm. A strong arm it was. She looked up through red eyes and saw that the arm was attached to a body, the body of a man, and a good-looking one at that. He hefted her up as if she didn't weigh a thing. Then he sat her down on a barrel nearby. "Hello," said the dark, tall, stranger. "Uh..." said Ashaliea as she stared at the man who was indeed tall, of dark olive-like complexion and a complete stranger to her. Her mind wandered right then... to days from her youth, during her Turning (that is, from a girl to a woman). She recalled her long black locks, her soft white flesh, and her perky, small breasts... and she recalled how the Barber Hermin would look at her and tell her how pretty she was. All she wanted was to be taken care of, all she wanted was to be wanted... "My name is Paxton," said the stranger, almost shaking the whore out of her semi-drunken reverie. "The deed is done, here is your pay." And with that he handed to her a small bag full of shiney silver coins. Then he left. Ashaliea stared at the coins for a long time. What had she done? She hadn't f*&#@!ked this man, or at least she didn't remember doing so. But what had she done? With the bag in hand she wouldn't need to sell her sex for quite some time, that was a good thing, but what had she done.....? . . There were a lot of suspects, thought Fred. Too many people who would love to see a Royal dead, or a feud to begin, or an old feud to be continued. Fred was too new to this strange land, he had had no way of getting back to his homeland and so he settled here, but he knew enough to tell him that he knew far too little to help him find his fair wife's killer.
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5/30/2005 2:23:00 PM
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