CHAPTER 25
The King was tired from his travels, the day was long and he didn't like being away from the castle…away from his wife. He just wanted to wash up and change, then check on Amiley before getting some sleep. He had some of his personal affects moved to her room, he'll bath in his room and change, then take a short nap at her side before going down to the dungeon where the body they brought back laid.
Syrah had informed him that she would meet him back at Amiley's bed chamber, she was supervising the careful transport of their only clue. She said she would not leave the body only until it was secured, she also had then swear the guards into silence, probably by promising death if the body was found out by unwanted attention.
As he turned into his hallway, he noticed the Arch mage's apprentice standing at Amiley's door. His pace quickened as he rushed to the door, could there be a change in her condition?
He walked past the page and straight into the room, the old wizard was standing before Kane and talking a mile a minute, holding a vile of clear green liquid. Kane looked back at Mark and smiled, a sigh of relief filled the King as the wizard finally took notice of him.
"Ah!" The wizard smiled at Mark, "King Marcus, I bet it must feel good to finally be King! I remember when Harein became King, he was just a nervous wreck…"
"Master Godfrey," Mark interrupted, "Is there a change in Amiley?"
"Oh yes, as I was just explaining to the Duke here, I found out the poison! I am quite surprised that anyone other than a wizard would know it! I myself had a very difficult time discovering in the broth…"
"Master Godfrey, please! What is the poison?" Mark demanded.
"The poison? Why it is none other than a rare root of a plant called Dragonsbane. It grows only near dragon caves, in their stool actually. Again, that is a very rare herb to collect, being so close to a dragon's mouth and all…"
"Do you have a cure?" the King was getting frustrated and impatient with the old man.
"I'm getting to that point, my son. Now, the only cure for Dragonsbane is an elixir created from the blood of a dragon. Now, I said to myself, 'Godfrey? Where in the nine hells are you going to find a dragon?' So I decided to go for a walk after lunch, it was such a nice day that maybe a cold swim in Gossamer Lake would refresh me. So I did have a good walk to the lake, and Lord and behold! Why if there was not a dragon floating in the lake! What luck! So I cast a spell and froze the lake, makes it much easier for me to get to the thing, being so far away from the shore and all. It didn't matter if the thing was dead, and dead it was! I pulled out a good magical elven arrow out of it's eye, it was so deep and I fell when I finally did get it free. It could be from an elven spy, you should send a few of those Agora girls and go find that spy, who knows what he could be doing right now! So I collected the blood and came back and made the antidote. I was just on my way out from administering her first dosage. Now, as I was just telling your brother here, it is four drops of the potion to one bowl of broth. You have to make her take it all down, the body has a natural reaction to swallow small amounts of liquid placed in the mouth. You need to give her three dosages a day, once for break fast, once for lunch, and one for supper. She should wake up in a few days, but she will still be ill. I would estimate that a full recovery from a poison this powerful is approximately a month, or two. But not more."
Mark waited a moment before saying anything, he didn't know if the old man was done, "She will be alright?"
"Oh yes, she will back to her old self in no time, within the time I have said of course, but she will be alright." The wizard smiled with pride.
Mark grabbed his hand and shook it hard in his excitement, "Thank you Godfrey, the Royal family humbly gives you thanks."
"It was my pleasure, I do so love mysteries. But now I must be off, a big day tomorrow, I am teaching my apprentice the fine art of bating imps. He needs the practice. I will bid you good night, King Marcus, Lord Kane." The wizard nodded to them and left the room, Mark and Kane just smiled to each other in silent.
"That guy never shuts up!" Kane chuckled.
"I don't care," Mark laughed, "He's saving Ami's life, I'm willing to listen to him tell me the fun in picking herbs for days if I have to."
"Ami?" Kane grinned.
"What? You don't like it?" Mark asked.
"No, hey, it's a cute nickname. Really it is."
The King moved to the bed and took Amiley's cold hand into his, soon those beautiful blue angel eyes would open again and she would smile at him. She was going to be ok now, he wasn't going to let anyone hurt her again.
"Did you find the girl?" Kane finally asked.
"Yeah, but Martinez got to her first, she's dead." Mark replied.
"Fuck off. What now?"
"We wait, Martinezo wouldn't have killed her if he didn't think we were snooping. He knows we're on to him. As far as he's concerned, we don't have anything…yet. He's safe for the meantime."
"He's still a threat." Replied Kane.
"I know, but I can't order his execution with the proof that he's a threat to the Royal Family. I need hard evidence." Mark looked back at Amiley, "Right now, Martinezo is going to back off for a bit, he's going to sit back and wait to plan his next move. I just hope he'll fuck up and we nail him. Syrah's got two girls on him right now, watching every move he makes."
"Fuck man! I hate waiting! Let's just go kill the fucker now! Get it over with!"
The door opened as Syrah rushed inside, "Godfrey told me the news, pray the gods she will be alright."
Kane stared puzzled at the Agora as she knelt at her daughter's side, "How did he tell you the news if it didn't take all night?"
"You just tell him to give you the short version." She grinned as she kissed her daughter's damp forehead, "Oh my little dragon, you are going to be alright…"
"She's going to be fine…" Mark smiled at his mother in law, Syrah smiled back.
"We still need to be careful." She said calmly.
"I know, Amiley's not going to like this but she is going to stay guarded. More than ever, until Martinezo is either dead of behind bars." The King replied.
"Your word is my command, my King." She grinned.
"Whoa!' Kane stood back in shock, "Did I just hear Syrah the Harpy say she obeys you? And me without my video cam!"
"Yeah, I'm still trying to get used to that." Mark answered.
Syrah laughed, "I said those same words to Harein, I still only obey if I agree with the command."
"That doesn't make any sense!" Kane exclaimed.
"Hey, I'm just happy she's not beating on me anymore." Mark grinned.