Chapter Twenty Four is Oh So Nice

Thursday, June Sixteenth, just after the evening feast, which ended a little early, because everyone skipped dessert, Walli-Wo island time

Shortly after King Lemmy had announced that his great great grandfather had been kidnapped, he’d gotten up from the table and left the great hall.  Alex and Harry followed after him as he hurried away.

“King Lemmy, please wait!” Alex said.

“I do not have time to wait, I must try to find my great great grandfather,” King Lemmy said.

“Well, he couldn’t have gone too far yet,” Alex said.  “Wait for us!”

King Lemmy paused for a second, and said, “That is why I’m hurrying.”

“Well, hang on a second so we can help you,” Alex said.

That slowed King Lemmy down a moment longer, and Alex and Harry were able to catch up to him.

At the moment, they were about halfway between the great hall and King Lemmy’s home.  King Lemmy looked around himself, scanning the area for anything that seemed out of place.

“What can we do to help?” Alex said.  “Do you want us to come with you and help search?  Should we split up?  We’ll probably be able to cover more ground that way.”

King Lemmy looked at Alex and said, “You are a good friend.  And, you are the expert at finding things that have been lost.  What do you think we should do?”

Alex wasn’t sure he was really all that good at finding things that were lost.  Really, he was more of an expert and going and getting things back from where they weren’t supposed to be.  In other words, he was a repo man, not a detective.  However, he wanted to help King Lemmy, so he paused for a minute and thought about what would be the best way to track down the statue.  He was glad the island wasn’t bigger.

“Can we be sure that he’s still on the island?” Alex said.  “I mean, if someone arrived or left, we’d know about it, wouldn’t we?”

“Yes, we have lookouts watching the perimeter of the island.  They would have seen anyone arriving or leaving by sea.  And you know we would have heard any aircraft that arrived or left,” King Lemmy said.

“Is there a way we can check in with the lookouts to see if they’ve noticed anything?” Alex said.

“Of course.  They have walkie talkies,” King Lemmy said.

“Do you think we should ask them before we search the island?  We can also warn them to keep an even closer watch,” Alex said.

“Yes, that is a good idea,” King Lemmy said.  He turned to Harry, and said, “Please go check in with the watch, and tell them to be alert to anyone leaving Walli-Wo.”

Harry nodded, and walked off at a brisk pace.

“OK, Alex, now what do you think we should do?” King Lemmy said.

“Well, should we go look at your house and see if we can find anything out of place there?  Would someone have to break in to your house to get to the courtyard?” Alex said.

“I do not typically keep my home locked,” King Lemmy said.  “However, with all of the unknown visitors we have had today, I decided to lock the doors.  Just in case they accidentally tried to explore my home again.”

“OK, maybe there will be something there that will give us an idea of what happened, and where we can look next” Alex said.

King Lemmy nodded and said, “Yes, let’s do that.”

When they arrived at the house, both of them were astonished to find King Lemmy’s front door laying on the ground about fifteen feet away from the house.  One of the hinges was still attached to it. The door’s frame was splintered and blown out of the house as well.

“Whoa,” Alex said.

King Lemmy remained silent, looking back and forth from the door to the front of the house.

“Say, did your door open in to the house, or out?” Alex said.

“In,” King Lemmy said.

“Wow,” Alex said.  “Was there an explosion inside?”

King Lemmy said nothing, and instead started walked towards the house again.

Alex followed behind.  The two of them walked through the hole where the front door had been.  Alex was honestly expecting to find more wreckage just inside the door, but apart from some dust and wood splinters from the door frame, everything seemed to be exactly the way it had been the last time he’d been in there.

“I guess that there wasn’t an explosion, then,” Alex said.  “That’s good.”

As they went further inside, the rest of the house seemed basically undisturbed, apart from a lamp that had been knocked over.  And then there was the broken glass from the sliding door that led out into the inner courtyard.  Alex was more than a little puzzled by that mess.

For one thing, the glass had all fallen in to the house.  Whatever had force had broken it had come from the courtyard side, pushing in on the glass.  So, so far it sure seemed like someone had broken out of King Lemmy’s house, rather than breaking in.

For another thing, there was a trail, about a foot or so wide, where the broken glass had been pushed aside, right through the middle of the scattered glass on the floor.

Alex said, “Did someone drag your great great grandfather out of here?”

Simultaneously, King Lemmy said, “Did my great great grandfather walk out of there?”

Both of them then looked at each other and said “Wait, what?”

From behind them, Harry said, “The watch have not seen anyone leaving Walli-Wo tonight.  They will be alert to anyone who does, and let us know right away.”

Alex started, and muttered, “Jesus, Harry.”

King Lemmy said, “Thank you Harry.  What do you make of this mess?”

Harry looked down at the trail through the glass and then looked up at King Lemmy, wide – eyed. 

“Do you think he walked through it?” Harry said.

Alex had certainly encountered a few weird things during the course of his career, but he was reasonably certain that the statue he’d brought back here was not able to walk on its own.  However, he had just enough diplomatic sense to know that telling King Lemmy that statues can’t do that would be a mistake.

So instead, he said, “You don’t think he was just dragged off?  I thought he’d been kidnapped.”

King Lemmy and Harry looked at each other, and then back at Alex.  Harry’s expression was one that said “I can’t believe you can be that ignorant.”  King Lemmy’s was more sympathetic.

“Alex,” King Lemmy said, “I must explain this to you.  You see, when I said that my ancestors look over me and protect me, I meant that truly and literally.  My ancestors live in the homes that were made for them, and they will act when needed.”

Alex wasn’t exactly sure what he could say to that.  He thought it was a sweet concept, but he was also fairly certain that the statues were not, by any stretch of the imagination, sentient and capable of action.  He also knew that he should probably keep that to himself.

Especially because it would be extremely embarrassing if he was proven wrong.  He didn’t think he was, but then, he’d been surprised before…

“OK,” Alex said.  “I’m confused though, how could your great great grandfather have ended up in the United States, if he didn’t want to go there?”

“He is still living in a heavy stone statue,” King Lemmy said.  “Taking any kind of action requires a great deal of energy.  He knew we would find him, so he waited and rested.”

“Did he try to resist?” Alex said.

“Of course,” King Lemmy said.  “but again, like us, he only has so much energy before he’s exhausted.  Whoever took him the first time just wore him down until he couldn’t fight back any longer.”

“OK, I guess that makes sense,” Alex said.  Privately, he thought it was impossible.  “How do you know all this?”

“He told me,” King Lemmy said.

“OK,” Alex said.  There was no possible way to contradict that without calling King Lemmy crazy, so Alex changed course.

“Well, do you think your grandfather was kidnapped, or do you think he chased someone off and is somewhere on the island by himself, too tired to come back?” Alex said.

King Lemmy stood quietly for a moment, thinking.  Then he said, “Wait here a moment.”

He went out into the courtyard.  Alex and Harry watched him, but King Lemmy largely kept his back to them, so it was difficult to see what he was doing out there.  Alex was able to hear King Lemmy asking questions, however, and pacing a bit.  He seemed to be deep in thought.

After ten minutes or so, King Lemmy came back into the house.

“Harry,” King Lemmy said.  “Please stay here and clean up this glass.  Alex, come with me.”

Without another word, he led Alex back through the house, and out through the hole where the front door had been.  He led Alex back towards the port of Walli-Wo.  They reached a clearing, and stopped.  From where they were, they had a commanding view of the majority of Walli-Wo.  They were also, Alex recognized, in a place where they’d know it if they were being watched.

Quietly, King Lemmy said, “Alex, my great great grandfather was indeed kidnapped.  He did his best to defend himself and the house, but he was caught by surprise and overpowered.”

“Whoa.  That’s terrible!” Alex said.  “How do you know that, though?”

“I know it, because my ancestors saw it happen, and they told me what they saw,” King Lemmy said.

“They didn’t try to stop it?” Alex said.

“Of course, why do you think the house was such a mess?” King Lemmy said.

“Oh, of course,” Alex said.  He thought for a minute, and then said, “OK, what else can I do to help?”

King Lemmy put his hand on Alex’s shoulder, and said, “Alex, you are a good friend, and will one day be a great king.”

[Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!]