~~
Shawn
~~
The rest of the basement held nothing else for us. There were no other clues to be found. We ran another quick search on the main floor, and around the property that had been hidden. There was a shed that was filled with dried and canned goods, but that was about all. Well, that and some yard tools. It looked like they still had to maintain the yard manually, with a very ancient looking, yet still fully functional, tool. We had found some things though, and that was all that mattered.
Dietrich and I went back to the castle, but only to grab some food for the road and a car. It was a good thing that our staff here kept things ready for us to drop by at a moment's notice. If not, as the saying goes, we would have been up shit's creek without a paddle.
I was in the driver's seat while Dietrich looked through the materials that we had. Thankfully, the computer that we got was on that had a common charger, and that meant that mine would fit it just fine. It was currently charging in the back seat of the car as I drove us steadily toward Rorswil and the orphanage that we needed to visit. I just hoped that we didn't discover a building full of abused children. I would end up going home with a lot more children if that were the case.
The first thing that Dietrich was looking over was the large roll of parchment that he had found in the desk. From what I could see it was a family tree. At the top was listed Alaric. And when I asked Dietrich why there were no parents listed for him, he said that he didn't know who they were. Alaric had been found, abandoned, as a baby. He was raised by various people in his village until he was old enough to fend for himself. From there, Alaric had amassed his fortune and fame. Everyone in the area knew who he was at the time.
.....
“This looks like he was detailing the lineage of his family, but here, where the handwriting changes, must be when he died and someone else took over. Alaric seems to have had three wives, but they were concurrent.”
“He had three wives at once?” I could hear the disgust in my voice as I said that. “What an asshole.”
“I guess by then, he wanted to have as big of a family as he could. There are notes here that list traits, but I don't know what they mean yet.” He was pointing to little words written next to the names of his wives and children. “I will need to look at a key to figure this out, but if I can't find that key, then we might never know what they're for.”
“Alright, well, what do we know about this family tree?” I asked him, trying to find something positive.
“Well, he had sixteen children with his three wives. All of them were sons. Those sons fathered a total of fifty-two children. And this is where it gets weird. They children are listed as having more children of their own, but there are no spouses listed. They are just showing the children that each granddaughter had. And the same happened with the great granddaughters and so on. There is no record of who their husbands are at all. And there are no children listed for the grandsons and so on. Just the granddaughters.”
“That is weird. What were they doing, getting artificially inseminated? That wasn't a thing back then.” I was at a loss for what happened in this family over the last three hundred years.
“Well, that or they were having children within the family. And no one really knew which of the boys was the father. I mean, each of these girls had a lot of children in the beginning. They were having six, eight, even twelve kids with no fathers listed. Now how could someone be married and not have that listed here? The reason being, they weren't married, and they were keeping it in the family.”
“Disgusting. That is just sick.” I literally felt like vomiting at the thought of it.
“The birth rate seems to have died down later on. There was a time for about two hundred years or so where they didn't list a single spouse for any of the children. Soon though, the women are listed as having husbands that were outside the family. There are children that are listed for a few of the sons, but the mothers are listed only as outsiders. That is odd.”
“What the hell is the matter with this family?” I shook my head. “So, you think it was still that family that was running the mansion? That they are the ones that we're looking for?”
“I don't know, Shawn. We will find out when we get to Saint Alaric's. Hahh.” He sighed as he looked away from the parchment. “I can't believe that this is how things went. What happened to them? What happened to the people that I used to know? Why are they like this?”
“I..I don't know, Dietrich.” I reached over and took his hand. “That is something that we may never know.”
“Alaric cared for people. He wanted them to be safe and to be happy. By the time that his great grandchildren were born, the handwriting here changes. He never lived to see any of those great grandchildren.” Dietrich was looking down at the parchment again, anger and sorrow in his eyes.
“So, you think that the mess in the family is due to him passing away? That someone else was responsible for the incest and inbreeding that they had for so long?” I was trying to help him, to move the blame off the man that he seemed to care so much about.
“It would appear so.” Dietrich started to roll the parchment up again. “Anyway, the entries on this stopped about fifty years ago. There is nothing newer than that. None of the newest generation at the very least.”
“Alright.” I nodded, taking it from him and setting it in the back floor gently, being sure not to veer off the road while I did that. “What else can we learn from this stuff?”
~~
Dietrich
~~
“What else can we learn?” I looked over at Shawn. “Well, we have two journals. One from Alaric, and one from someone named Rayk.”
“Let's see what we learn from Alaric. Maybe we can see why he had three wives at once.” Shawn was trying to keep the mood light. He knew that as someone that personally knew Alaric all those years ago, I was feeling particularly upset about this situation. I just didn't know what had happened to my old friend, or his family, but these revelations were disturbing.
“Let me check the journal.” I flipped it open and started to read from it aloud.
1736- September 19
My friends have been gone for a month now. We disbanded our group and decided that it was time for us to work on ourselves. Orson, Layhan, and Dawson are mortals, the same as me. Unlike Dietrich, Agatha and James, we will not live a life of near eternity. I have missed out on so much already that I fear I won't have as large of a family as I desired. I have already found a few women that might be good candidates though. They are lovely, and they come from the village that I grew up in. I am still somewhat of a legend there. Rahel, Nini, and Iris. I have met with them all, and I do not know whom to choose. This will be a difficult time for me until I choose my wife. I am sure that I can come to love whoever it is that I pick. I just do not wish to hurt any of them.
1736- September 29
The ladies have come to a decision. None of them want to lose the chance to marry me. They have all agreed that we will live together. I am to marry all three of them. This is a decision that they have come up with on their own, and their families seem to approve. I do not hate the idea, but I will admit that I did not expect this. The weddings are also to happen as quickly as possible. They will all be one week apart from each other. The decision was made that the eldest of the ladies will be the first bride, and the last bride will be the youngest.
“Well, at least he didn't force that on the women.” Shawn smiled. “I feel a little better about that now than I did before.”
“Yes, I would not have been happy if he had forced the polygamy on these women. I am a little uneasy about the women themselves. They willingly wanted to participate in this situation with him. What was their end game? What was it that they wanted from him?”
“Yes, it is a little strange.” Shawn noted as he maneuvered the car through a curve on the mountain road. “Read on, I am sure that we will find out something else. Maybe we will learn what his family was like. And who it was that took over after him. At the very least, we might find out what happened to him.” He had a point. I needed to keep going. I needed to learn more.
