章 20: Chapter 18: The Poisoned Chalice IX
"My Prince?" Ahangadan called as he saw him clenching the goblet, his fingers scratching the edge, his eyes almost bulging from his socket, his skin going red and his veins at his neck running up to his face protruded so elongated. "My Lord?" He called again.
Verlock looked at him. "Are you alright?"
He held his throat when he started to feel feverish as he tried unbuttoning his shirt. He was sweating and his throat was congesting. He couldn't breathe. He lurched against the table and within seconds, his chair moved back with a kick. He fell.
"Guards!!!"
"Seize them!"
...
Drane looked around in confusion as he watched the guards walk towards him, the jar of wine falling to the floor, making a tugging sound as the wine spilled. They grabbed him at his elbows.
"No my Lord. No! I didn't do anything!!" He screamed at the top of his voice as if it was the only thing that could help his case.
His vision blurred as he watched the other guards capture the maidens as they screamed, resisting profusely. "I didn't do it!"
"It wasn't me!"
"No! No!"
They dragged them along the hall, down the path to the dungeon in the gallows.
...
"He will recover...slowly." He said to Sharma and Ratarod. His quarter was crowded with about eight people, Ahangadan, Verlock, Romayo, Rod and Amon included. Hadu looked at the silver goblet in his hand, studying the lining.
"What is the cause?" Ratarod was dense, looking at his brother who laid on the bed, he was sweating.
"It is poison, my Lord."
"I know it is poison. What kind? Will it affect him?"
"Like I said my Lord, he will live. Thankfully, he only ingested a little dosage. If he had drank a lot of it, he would be dead by now."
Ratarod nodded in agreement. "But what kind of poison is it?"
He handed the goblet to Ratarod. "Take a look inside, my Lord. What do you see?"
Ratarod looked at Hadu sceptically as he collected the goblet and looked in it. It was empty. "There is nothing here."
"Look more closely, at the edge."
Ratarod squinted his eyes as he drew the cup closer to his face, trying to find what it was Hadu was pointing out. "I don't know. I think I may have an eye problem seeing as I can't still find what it is you are referring to. There is nothing here."
"There is a lining around the mouth of the cup my Lord. You can't easily catch it because it blended well with the silver colouring. A thoughtfulness on the part of the plotter."
Ratarod observed it again, he saw it now. It wouldn't be noticable to someone who wasn't looking for anything.
"Let me see." Sharma collected the cup from him and looked at it. "It was blended masterfully...indeed. What kind of poison is it?"
"It is Monkshood, also known as the Venus' Chariot—also called the Devil's right hand." He looked at Sharma who handed the cup to Verlock to look in.
"I have never heard of it." She said. "Is it foreign?"
Hadu looked at her with much hesitation as he walked forward into the room, looking at Rod as he said, "It is a poison which can only be found on the mountains of Metir. It is indigenous to the people of Metir in Meridon."
"Meridon?" Ratarod asked.
"Yes my Lord. Whoever planned this was intent on killing one person tonight. But who, we do not know." He looked at Amon who looked him straight in the eye. "If I may ask my Queen, where did the goblet come from?"
"It was a gift...it was a gift from Sir Westen of the Garden's Vineyard. It came through the head cook, Drane."
"If I may give my humble opinion my lady..." He turned to Ratarod. "My Lord?"
Ratarod gestured for him to go ahead.
He looked to Sharma for approval, who also gave it. "The poison was not in the wine, it was in the cup, hence, the reason why the rest of you were not affected by its toxin. It was specifically planted around the lining of the cup, the only different cup from the others. Perhaps the person was hoping that you, my lady," he gestured to Sharma, "will not be the one to use it. That is also adding the fact the plotter knew both rulers would be offered the golden goblets. His plan was set." He walked around the room, talking out loud in his own head. "The plotter was aware that King Ratarod and his brother were in Aridal and signing a treaty which they are against. What other simple way to stop it than to give an impression that the Queen of Aridal intend to kill the King of Rabadon, or its prince?"
The air in the room changed as he said it.
"So, are you implying that Drane has nothing to do with this?" Verlock asked.
"Regent," he turned to him. "There is no way Drane is the plotter of this scheme."
"And on what grounds did you plant that assumption?" Ratarod asked.
"Drane was only a medium through which they passed their plan. The plotters worked on information. They knew that they couldn't poison the wine, because it would be tested before handed over to the royals of the court—"
"So they poisoned the cup instead. The only one thing they know Drane wouldn't mess with." Romayo interrupted. "They took their time."
Hadu's eyes lighted as he knew they got the point he wanted to make.
"What about the maids?" Ahangadan asked. "They could have done it."
Hadu shook his head. "The maids of the second sector have no access to the kitchen. They are handed the food by the cooks who supervises them all the way to the chamber, they wait outside. But the room you all used today was very close to the kitchen corridor and Drane supervised them himself. A walk from that distance is only close to a minute. Whoever lined that goblet took close to an hour to perform his task." He looked Sharma. "I am not making my theory based on sentiments, my Lady. I am an order of the royal court and a simple practical input wouldn't go to waste. Meridon is a far Kingdom, and to get a poison of that caliber, you will need to be inbred of the witches' society. That takes twelve good years of life's practice, subjecting oneself to a rulership of mages and sages."
Romayo had heard stories about the witches' society. She heard them from the indigenous people of Metir when she travelled through on her way to Satyrn. The children told her about how witches' society was formed with going through pains of punishment, day and night which could lead one mad or dead. Whoever survived it was granted access to a lot of things any normal mortal wouldn't have. Apparently, they were called great Mane Sorcerers, and there were only five of them in the whole of the world. "Are you saying, that sorcery is involved?"
"It could. But a sorcerer wouldn't need to go through such long process if he wanted to cause an uproar."
"So what is it you want to say, Hadu?" Sharma asked.
He stood straight, looking at everyone in the room. "An indictment will suffice by questioning Sir Westen and the boy who brought forth the benefaction."
.....
.....
"May I have a moment with you, my lady?" Hadu diverted Sharma to a corner. He left Rod and Amon in his quarters and instructed Rod not to leave the bedside of Prince Artirad for any reason.
"What is it Hadu?" Worry was in her voice as they walked to towards a corner of the ground royale. A maid of the second sector greeted them as she walked pass.
As soon as they were alone, Hadu started. "I couldn't say this in the presence of King Ratarod as it is not of his concern."
Sharma's eyebrows were drawing close to each other. "What is it?"
"Have you heard of Wolfsbane?"
She sighed. "There are a lot of words that you use Hadu that I am not familiar with. Would you mind explaining?"
"Wolfsbane my lady is the same as Monkshood."
She tried to remember where she heard about it before.
"It is the poison that Prince Artirad ingested." He said, noticing her struggle.
"What is it about Wolfsbane?"
"Your father asked me not to tell you this when he was alive, but I now fear I may put you in danger if I keep it to myself."
When Sharma heard about her father, her curiosity peaked. "What has Wolfsbane got to do with my father?"
"Wolfsbane, also known as the Devil's right hand and the witches' scorn is the same poison that your father ingested over the years."
"Ingested?" She was surprised because she was certain her father was shot with poison in the war of the Darkened. "He was shot an arrow covered in poison, was he not?"
Hadu nodded. "Yes my lady. He was pierced with an arrow at war."
"So, what is this ingestion I am hearing now?"
"Your father, King Andor, was fed poison over the years. Do you remember a certain man named Luthyr who your father said was a friend of his? He stayed in the palace for four weeks?"
Sharma nodded. She remembered him. A skittish old man with brown eyes and black hair which seemed odd, considering his age. He was always in red coloured cloaks. "Yes. What about him?"
"Luthyr is one of the Wizard's of the Witches' society in Metir of Meridon. I bet you also remember Dracra."
"Yes? My father's second hand maiden after Lurian died."
"Dracra was executed by your father."
Her eyes elongated. "Why?"
"She was feeding the king subtle amounts of Wolfsbane poison every week for three months before the war of the Darkened. It was given to her by Luthyr. A poison that could only be gotten by an indigene of the society. She was caught by your father's guard once and that was when she was executed, a pretence then passed over to say she left." He walked closer to Sharma whose eyes wanted to be moist, but were struggling to drop tears. "Your father was sick for three more months, coupled with the poison shot in battle, he could not have survived the season."
Sharma blinked her eyes, holding back tears as she was trying to process the whole ordeal. "He suffered...in silence—for months. Holding in those perils and circumstances he wouldn't speak about?" She looked at Hadu.
"I am sorry my lady." He bowed his head. "The load that rested on your father's shoulders were very heavy and he only shared little of it with me." He raised his head and looked at Sharma. "My Princess_" He closed his eyes. "My Queen, someone is plotting in the shadows, wandering about Aridal, seeking to bring down the Wartabans and the kingdom along with it. I would want to say your uncles are a part of it but this has now gone beyond just the war for the throne. It is now a battle to crush down one of the Greatest kingdom of its time. A battle that is begining to rear its head at your reign, puncturing holes. It is seaming its thread together, joining loops and stitches until it will form the full picture. We have to be watchful, my queen."
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