Amanderella and the Marduk Affair Chapter 1

Chapter One.

 

A New Mystery.

 

Lady Amanderella Gottsnobbler sighed as the last polite claps faded away.

She had just spent an hour describing her journey toward the deep jungles of Burkoland, including the month she endured in the noisy, overcrowded ports of the Azure Coast, only for the final question to be:

“Is the tap water safe in Marseilles?”

She had answered with a strained smile, though she suspected the gentleman’s interest in the “Gate to the Interior” was purely theoretical.

As the audience drifted toward the refreshment table like a slow‑moving tide of tweed, Amanderella began packing her things. Her notebook, stained with salt spray and ink, went into its leather case. Next came the magic‑lantern slides, each wrapped in silk: The Docks at Port Saffron (Crowded), The Coaling Station at Night (Sooty), and The Customs House (Aggressive).

She had just finished rolling up her hand‑drawn nautical chart, annotated with warnings such as Currents unpredictable and Harbourmaster prone to bribery, when she heard it.

A cough.

A small, brittle, nervous cough.

Amanderella looked up, her hand still resting on the brass latch of her slide box. Here we go again, she thought.

A young woman stood at the front of the lecture theatre, staring at the floor and tracing a slow circle with the toe of her shoe.

When she finally spoke, her voice was soft and hopeful, as though she wasn’t entirely sure she deserved an answer.

“Can I help you?” Amanderella asked gently.

“My name is Dottalyn Danebred.” She took a breath and added hurriedly, “My friends call me Dotty.”

She pushed her glasses up her nose. “I’m only here in the capital for a librarians’ conference. I saw your lecture advertised and… well… I’ve always wanted to hear you speak.”

“Good evening, Dotty,” said Amanderella.

Dotty blushed and pushed her glasses up again, even though they hadn’t slipped. “I need help.”

“I guessed as much,” Amanderella said. “Help in what way?”

Dotty swallowed. “My friend Marduk… Marduk Tibrickler… has disappeared.”

Amanderella gestured to a seat. “Sit down. Start at the beginning. Tell me exactly what’s happened.”

Dotty perched on the edge of the chair as though afraid she might leave a mark. She twisted her fingers together, took a shaky breath, and said, “I read about you in the newspapers, how you found the Bangolin fruit and the Ppockingstull treasure. The reporter said you were famous for solving problems.”

She paused, pushed her glasses up again, and added in a rush, “So I thought… well… I thought you might help me.”

“The newspapers exaggerate,” Amanderella said. “I sometimes wonder whether the reporter actually attends my lectures or simply reads the title and invents the rest.”

Dotty blinked. “Oh,” she said softly, as though this possibility had never occurred to her. “I… I thought you really did all those things. I’m sorry if I’ve got it wrong. It’s just… you seemed like someone who might know what to do.”

Amanderella’s expression softened. “Well now, just because the reporter doesn’t get the facts correct doesn’t mean the reports are entirely wrong. I do have some experience.”

Dotty let out a breath. “It’s hard to know where to begin. I’m the Librarian for the Public Library and Museum in Pentegfawr, a small town on the coast.”

Amanderella nodded.

“Marduk used to come in every week for his six books. We got talking and eventually we began walking out.” She blushed. “Only on Saturdays. And only as far as the promenade. He said it was important to get fresh air after too much reading.”

“A sensible principle,” Amanderella said.

“Yes. He was very sensible. Very… steady.” Dotty twisted her fingers again. “People didn’t always notice him.”

She hesitated. “Marduk is… well… he’s very honest. Almost too honest. If someone drops a penny, he’ll chase after them to return it. If the grocer undercharges him, he tells them. He once apologised to a man who walked straight into him.”

Amanderella raised an eyebrow.

“He never makes a fuss,” Dotty went on. “He doesn’t argue or complain or draw attention to himself. Sometimes people forget he’s there, even when he’s standing right beside them.” She gave a small, sad smile. “I suppose he’s easy to overlook. But he’s a good man. A very good man.”

She whispered, “I noticed him.”

Amanderella inclined her head.

“There’s something else,” Dotty said quietly. “I think he went away because of something I said.”

Amanderella looked up. “Go on.”

“There was a position at the museum,  Assistant to the Curator of Local Antiquities. Marduk applied, but they overlooked him. They always overlook him. They gave it to Mr Penberry instead. He’s very loud.”

Amanderella made a sympathetic sound.

“I told Marduk he ought to make himself more noticeable,” Dotty whispered. “Not rudely. Just… so people would see him properly. Speak up more. Look people in the eye. Take up a little more space.” She swallowed. “He laughed, but it wasn’t a real laugh. And the next day he was gone.”

She blinked hard. “What if he left because of me?”

“How do you know he has left?” Amanderella asked.

“Last Thursday he came in as usual. Returned his books, all on time, and borrowed six more. He said he might call in again on Saturday if the weather held.”

“And did he?”

Dotty shook her head. “No. And he didn’t come on Monday either. I thought he might be ill, so I went to his lodgings. His landlady said he’d gone out early on Friday morning and hadn’t come back.”

She twisted her fingers again. “I did go to the police. Well… to the policeman. We only have the one. He mostly deals with bicycle lamps and boys throwing stones at ducks.”

Amanderella’s eyebrows lifted.

“He said Marduk was probably ‘off visiting someone’ or taking a little break. He told me not to fret. He thinks I’m over‑anxious.”

Amanderella’s expression sharpened.

“He didn’t even write it down,” Dotty whispered.

“Did Marduk leave a note?” Amanderella asked.

“That’s just it. He did, but not a note.” Dotty rummaged in her handbag and produced a small, well‑handled book. “He left this on the library desk. Open. As though he wanted me to see it.”

Amanderella took the book: an old Everyman edition of The Wind in the Willows. A page had been marked with a strip of paper.

“He never marks books,” Dotty said. “Never. And the sentence he left open… I don’t know what it means.”

Amanderella looked down at the page. The sentence read:

“I want to see people, and I want people to see me.”

Dotty’s breath caught. “You see? That’s why I think he went away. I told him to make himself more noticeable, and then he leaves me that.”

“It is certainly deliberate,” Amanderella said. “People do not mark books by accident.”

Dotty hesitated. “I should say… I’m not very good at puzzles. Marduk loved crosswords, but I never could make sense of them. If he’s left a clue, I won’t understand it without help.”

“Fortunately,” Amanderella said, “I am very good at puzzles.”

“But that line doesn’t tell me where he’s gone,” Dotty whispered.

Amanderella closed the book with careful precision.

“Then,” she said, “there must be other clues somewhere in the library. We shall have to find them, if we are to find him.”