Saturday Crime Story in Medieval Castle
A cold wind whipped across the battlements of Grimstone Castle, carrying with it the stench of death. Sir Gareth, the renowned investigator for the King, tightened his cloak and stepped over the threshold of the solar, his boots crunching on scattered herbs. Lady Eleanor, the castle’s mistress, stood by the ornately carved bed, her face etched with grief. Her husband, the imposing Lord Edgar, lay still beneath a velvet coverlet, a single dagger protruding from his chest.
“A brutal end,” Gareth muttered, his keen eyes scanning the room. The opulent furnishings seemed untouched, the only disturbance the body itself. Servants huddled by the door, their faces a mixture of fear and morbid curiosity.
“Murder most foul, Sir Gareth,” Lady Eleanor choked out, her voice thick with emotion. “He was a good man, despite the whispers.”
Gareth raised an eyebrow. Whispers? A lord this powerful wouldn’t be without his share of secrets. He dismissed the servants, their worried murmurs receding down the stone corridor.
“Tell me, Lady Eleanor, about these whispers you speak of.”
Hesitantly, she explained how Lord Edgar, a renowned warrior, had returned from a recent skirmish subdued and secretive. The usually well-stocked armory held fewer weapons, replaced by dusty tomes filled with strange symbols. He’d been muttering about a hidden treasure, an ancient artifact rumored to hold immense power.
Gareth’s interest piqued. A dead lord, a missing weapon, and whispers of forgotten magic — this wasn’t a simple robbery. He questioned the castle’s occupants one by one: the stoic steward, harboring a secret resentment for the harsh Lord; the ambitious nephew, coveting the lordship; even the soft-spoken priest, who spoke of Lord Edgar’s sudden interest in forbidden texts.
Days blurred into nights as Gareth meticulously pieced together the puzzle. He discovered a hidden passage in the armory, leading to a long-forgotten library. Inside, amongst dusty scrolls detailing forgotten rituals, lay a single empty space where the stolen artifact must have been.
Finally, a breakthrough came from the unlikeliest source — a scullery maid who confessed to seeing the nephew sneaking into the library late one night, shortly before the murder. Armed with this information, Gareth confronted the nephew. The facade crumbled. He confessed to the murder, desperate for the treasure to escape the shadow of his domineering uncle.
The case was solved, and the truth was revealed. Yet, a nagging feeling lingered. Why would Lord Edgar risk so much for this artifact? As Gareth delved deeper into the library’s hidden texts, a chilling realization dawned. The artifact wasn’t a source of power, but a prison, meant to contain a malevolent entity. Lord Edgar, in seeking the treasure, had unwittingly unleashed a dormant evil upon the land.
Sir Gareth knew his work was far from over. The true mystery had just begun. With a grim determination, he resolved to face whatever horrors the artifact had awakened, the weight of the kingdom’s safety resting on his capable shoulders. As the wind howled around Grimstone Castle, a new chapter unfolded, bathed in the chilling shadows of the unknown.