A new chapter of Scars! Below is a snippet, check out the link for the full text and I hope you enjoy!
~
“Some animals hide out of fear. Others hide because they’re laying in wait. I don’t have your experience in these matters, but I think you’re dealing more with the latter than the former, kinnei.”
“I don’t disagree.” Khy-kala rubbed the base of her throat. “Could Leothan have been made ill?”
Sie-thyne shrugged. “It’s possible,” she admitted, “but unlikely. There’s no trace of magic within him that I can sense. The Kingsguard have spell-hunter mages to seek out magic within the castle. The only way such an avenue of attack would work if the majority of the mages here were trying to kill him, and a conspiracy of that scale would have no need of a shape-shifter. Bringing plague into the castle would be no easier.” The human understanding of disease was limited, but it had progressed much over the centuries. The Kingsguard were on the lookout for illness as much as they were assassins and malefic spellcraft. Leothan had fallen prey to sickness many times already in his mayfly life; it wouldn’t have required any special effort to bring him low.
The severity and secondary infection in his body made the current situation as dire as it was, but Sie-thyne had seen such things many times herself, the body falling prey to one disease as it tried to stave off another, blood turning septic and organs rotting from within. It was a slow, painful wasting and one she’d only ever wished on the men and women who’d killed her husband and taken Fraln’s father from him. “I think it is as it seems; poor timing upon a physically weak man.”
Khy-kala hid a small smile. Three days ago, Sie-thyne wouldn’t have bothered making that qualifier. She didn’t call attention to it. “Then whatever is going on is a matter of opportunity, not planning.”
“I’m not a manhunter, but I’d agree,” the apothecary commented. “Unless someone is stealing directly from the castle’s own stores, hexbane is not easily acquired in large quantities. They’d still require a lot, but Unhart couldn’t have been getting poisoned for more than a few weeks, presumably shortly after the king took ill.”
“We guessed as much,” Khy-kala assured the healer. “We’re looking into how the plant could have been acquired. There’s a few possibilities. Too many, in fact.”
“There are few rulers so beloved that no one is willing to see them fall.” Sie-thyne observed. “If you are able to find a source and the poisoner’s own supply, I may be able to prove that the latter came from the former. That should help reduce the possibilities to a manageable level.” The humans said hexbane had been created by their gods as a defence against witches and demons. Whether or not that was true, there was no denying how unique the plant was compared to most other living flora. Its strains were easy to differentiate – if you knew how to look and Sie-thyne did.
The problem, of course, was getting hold of either to begin with. The apothecary tilted her head to one side, offering a wry smile. “Have you heard the proverb about it being good to have too many enemies, so they all get in each other’s way?” The amusement faded as she turned her head towards the direction of the king’s sick chambers. “Perhaps it’s not such a good thing after all.”
“No,” Khy-kala agreed with a slow sigh. “No, it isn’t.”
~
Proximal Flame's Fiction 