Chapter 57 - Search Squad

"Again?" James screamed as he entered into the Alpha King's chamber and saw him battling with his life on the bed.

"It happened again" Queen Teresa moaned weakly.

"What is this?" James rushed to his father's side and felt his hand. They were very cold.

"The physician said he was exposed to some substance that he was allergic to" she explained again. She was obviously frustrated.

"Exposed? What is that suppose to mean?" James wanted her to go deeper.

"The physician will be here soon" she was not going to say anything again.

"I need to know what has happened in the few days that I have just left" James blew hot.

"He's here" Queen Teresa pointed to the physician that was just making his way in.

James stared at him like he was the cause of his father's illness.

"You said he was exposed to some substance?" James challenges him straightaway.

"Yes, His Majesty was exposed to some substance poisonous to him" he repeated all James already said.

"And what is that exposed supposed to mean?" he asked angrily.

"He could have drunk it, eaten it. Any of it. He has been poisoned" the physician had been engulfed by fear.

"What if he inhaled it?" James said what was on his mind. It was time to start his own part as Quentin had paved the way.

"Can you identify the substance?" James questioned.

"If I can notice two or more elements in it. I will just check that against....." the physician kept ranting.

"Can you identify it?!" James interrupted him harshly.

"Yes, my Lord" the physician shook as he replied hastily.

"Then we will need to search the whole palace. It must be somewhere in here" he said quickly.

"Why don't you let us worry about him getting well before embarking on the search for the substance" Queen Teresa advised. She had earlier decided to keep her mouth shut.

"No. We have to find it. We will need it for making the cure" he explained.

"My Lady, the heir is right. We will need it to make the cure" the physician supported him.

"James, you seem to know more about this substance in question" Queen Teresa was definitely driving at something but she would be disappointed. James was fully prepared for everything.

"I do not know anything about the substance. But I am a bit used to the kind of this procedure" he discerned her.

"Anyway, we have already arrested someone that we suspected. She is in the dungeon" Queen Teresa said like she was boasting.

"She?" James asked in amazement. "Who is she?" he quickly inquired.

"Martha. She seems to be the owner of this substance in question" she asserted.

"You have made a mistake" James concluded instantly. "There was no way it could have been her. She wouldn't be able to get it across to the King except she had help" James was surprised to hear that Martha had been locked up.

That shouldn't affect his mission, he thought.

"She was working alone" Queen Teresa affirmed.

"Do you have any evidence against her?" James wanted to protect her.

"No" Queen Teresa replied sharply after being silent for some minutes.

"Then we should release her immediately. We don't want his father's wrath right now" he had successfully vindicated her.

"Guards!!!" James yelled hard

A couple of guards rushed into the chamber.

"I want you and some other guards to search the whole palace, everywhere, everywhere, every chamber. Bring any strange medicine or substance that you find. You must search everywhere. Report anyone that resist you from carrying out my order" he commanded them and the guards left immediately with the physician.

"I will release Martha only if she can convince me she had nothing to do with the King's ailment" Queen Teresa asserted. She stood up and walked out.

"The only thing left is your death" James chuckled at his barely living father.

He could just kill him right now and everything would be over. Michael would be sentenced to death for conspiring against the King.

He grabbed a pillow. He smiled. This was very easy. All he had to do was pressing his face with this pillow until he would breathe his last.

"Goodbye Father" he bent and was about covering his face with the pillow when someone came into the chamber.

He used the pillow to blow air on his father. He looked back. It was Queen Teresa. She walked back in and took her seat.

"I should be with the guards" James dropped the pillow and went out.

****************

"We won't give this to anyone. No one else must know about it. None of it must be found. Once it is found, I will never be acquitted" Michael spilled sadly in front of Julia. He held the vial up.

"So what are we going to do with it?" Julia couldn't understand him.

"We will look for any other one and discard everything" he proclaimed.

"I think we should start now. We have little time" Julia winced and wanted to start searching.

"Julia!" Michael called her suddenly. He walked close to her, knelt down and held her legs. "I'm sorry for everything I said to you. My mind was clouded. My eyes were blind" he apologized emphatically.

"It's okay. I won't take any of it against you" she acknowledged.

"I'm sorry" he cried without getting up.

"Stop. Anyone might come in right now" she pulled him up.

"We should start searching" she smiled at him.

"His plan right now will be to kill the King. He will not be able to pass a death sentence unless the king is dead. We should find a way to protect the King" he implied.

"We are going to do this one after the other. We will need to cure the king. I think I know how we can do that" Julia opened up.

"Really?" Michael sounded excited.

"She got this substance from a strange creature. The substance should lose effect if we can kill the creature" she advised.

"Then we will have to kill it. Once the king has recovered. He has nothing else to hold on" Michael assumed.

They started searching all over the chamber. Julia went out to Martha's corner. She searched all her belongings shaking off all her clothes.

After some minutes of ransacking to no avail. She brought out the box she saw her with. She flung it open with the hope of catching Wookah by surprise.

"Where the hell are you?" she whispered as she couldn't see anything.

Michael came to her.

"I am very sure there Is a creature in this thing. I don't just understand how it used to disappear" she quickly explained before Michael could say anything. She remembered he didn't believe it the first time they talked about it.

"And we will also find a way to make it appear" Michael replied calmly. He smiled. He must have noticed how surprised his response had made her.

"I will always believe whatever you say because you are smarter, wiser and better" he praised her.

"I believe your father will be okay if we can get this creature destroyed" she affirmed again.

"Did you find anything?" Michael asked about the potion they were searching for.

"No. I found nothing. That was obviously placed underneath your bed to implicate you" Julia surmised.

"Go to your father and make sure he was never left alone. I will find a way to kill this creature" Julia carried the box and walked outwards.

"And give me the vial" she stopped and reached for his hand.

"Okay" Michael handed it over to her.

"Stay with your father. Do not let him get a chance to kill him" she noted repeatedly.

"Where are you going with the box?" he asked.

"You should not worry about that" she dismissed him.

"Maybe Martha is not really Martha anyway" Michael recounted. His eyes was just opening now.

Julia nodded. She was glad he was getting himself back together.

"Whoever she is, she is a powerful sorcerer" she revealed. "Go to your father" she said to him.

Michael walked out of the chamber.

Julia stared at the box. She would get this box to Rachel. She would definitely know how to end the creature's life.

She hid the vial and walked out of the chamber. She saw some guards with the physician coming towards her. They looked like a search party looking for something.

Immediately, she went back into the chamber. She was scared and was breathing heavily. She heard someone knocking. That was surely the guards. She gasped.

"That is Prince Michael's chamber" the physician snorted with his old weary voice from outside.

"We are asked to search everywhere" one of the guards opposed him.

"We are looking for a poison used on his father, right?" another one of the guards asked.

"The order is to search everywhere" the guards that spoke earlier said again. It seemed he was a stubborn fellow.

"We are going to search of course. That will be after we couldn't find it anywhere else" the physician explained to them.

Julia heaved a sigh of relief as they walked away.