86, Help is coming

The following morning, they still hadn’t heard back from the Sanctum. Ayya knew they could start looking into it on their own, or they should at least wait to hear from the king. But she also felt like she needed to visit Jason. She had promised to see him in a couple of days. It had been almost four days ago. 

“Will you let me go visit Jason today?” she asked Tenac. Tenac looked at her for a while.

“Carriage or Estrela?” he asked. She smiled and kissed him.

“Estrela, always Estrela if it’s a choice,” she told him.

“Fine, but we will be taking six riders,” he said.

“I won’t argue,” she agreed. Ayya knew she had put him through a lot and she felt like she could give him this. They got ready and set off. The mood in the city was still tense, but there were a lot of soldiers moving around, acting as a deterrent against civil unrest. As they walked into the orphanage, sister Loise showed them into an empty classroom and then went to get Jason. When he saw Ayya, he ran up to her and gave her a hug. It moved Ayya, and she hugged him back. 

“Sorry that it took a little longer for us to come and see you,” Ayya told him as they sat down. 

“It’s okay. They said you were sick,” Jason said. There was a slight vibration in his voice. Ayya understood at once that he had been afraid she was going to end up like his family. 

“I was tired. I needed to use my magic when I shouldn’t have. It makes me really tired, and I slept for a long time, but I wasn’t sick,” she told him. 

“Really?” he asked. 

“Really. Tenac was looking after me and made me stay in bed. I ate a lot of desserts and took a lot of naps.” Jason looked at her and then at Tenac. Tenac nodded. 

“That sounds nice,” Jason said. 

“It was, but a little boring as well,” Ayya confessed. “How have you been doing?” she asked.

“Okay, my dad…” Jason started. 

“I heard, I’m sorry Jason. I whish there was something I could do.”

“Thank you. But I’m okay. They are nice here and everyone is really impressed that I know you after what you did last time you were here,” Jason said. Ayya smiled, and they continued to talk for almost an hour before she and Tenac needed to leave. Ayya didn’t know when she would be able to come back and see Jason, so she just told him she promised she wouldn’t leave without saying goodbye. 

They got back to the castle and found a message from Tariana. Ayya thanked Hinat and sat down to read it. 

“We need to talk to the king,” she told her friends as she finished. 

“Not good news, I take it,” Firlea said.

“Not good news, but not terrible,” Ayya told her. A while later, they received a note from the king, asking Ayya and Tenac to come to his office. Tenac organised six riders to go with them. As they were shown into the office, Zerden, the head of the council, and Father Ludi were also there. 

“Come and sit down. I was about to call you to ask you to join us in questioning the bishop,” the king said. “But let us hear what news you have.”

“I got in contact with the Lady yesterday and told her what we had found and asked for help in finding how we could neutralise the poison. They have worked all night, and we have got the answer,” she told them.

“How are you able to communicate so quickly?” Father Ludi asked. 

“It’s a new technique. We are lucky we had Hinat with us,” Ayya answered. 

“What is the verdict?” the king asked.

“There is no cure for those that have been poisoned. The poison is attacking the foundations stones of their being. There is nothing we can do to avoid that. We can only make them as comfortable as possible,” Ayya told him. The king looked grim, but nodded. 

“If we make sure no one else is affected, we will have to live with that,” he said. “And the wells?” he asked.

“We think we have found a way to cleanse them. It will be hard work and will take magic. Everything points to as the wells fill with new water, the poison gets diluted. You could just leave them and test the water regularly,” Ayya said. 

“How long before it would be usable?” the head of the council asked. 

“Based on the pattern of the sickness, we think about six to eight months. But it depends on how much rain, snow melting and so on,” Ayya said. 

“So the wells will be unusable for six months and even then there may still be poison present?” the king asked.

“Yes,” Ayya agreed.

“And if we use the other method?”

“The Lady offers to send twenty aari to aid in cleansing the wells. It would take them about two months to make the wells safe,” Ayya said. The king stared at her. 

“The Lady is willing to do that for us?” he asked.

“She is. This is what we do, your highness. We help those in need of help. You need help and we are more than happy to provide it,” Ayya told him. 

“We would be grateful to receive the help from the aari, even though we haven’t earned it,” the king said. Ayya nodded. “I will make sure we set up a place for them to stay. I am assuming we will have the privilege of hosting some grey riders as well.”

“Yes, how many would you say, Tenac?” Ayya asked.

“At least thirty,” he said. The king nodded and made a note. 

“Why can’t we use this method to cure the sick people?” Zerden asked. 

“The magic needs the poison to be at the boiling point for it to work,” Ayya said. The four men in front of her looked at her, then nodded. They understood why it couldn’t be used on a human. 

“Anything else we need to know?” the king asked. 

“No, not at this moment.”

“Thank you. I know I keep saying it. But truly, thank you for everything you have done and keep doing for us,” the king said. Ayya nodded. “Are we ready to question the bishop?” he asked. Everyone agreed, and they left the office. On their way to the cells, they were surrounded by soldiers and grey riders. They were heading into parts of the castle Ayya had never been to. The cells were located in the lowest part of the castle. It was damp and chilly and smelled of bodily fluids and mould. A chill went through Ayya, and she felt Tenac draw closer to her. 

“Are you cold? I can ask a rider to get your cloak,” he whispered. She smiled and shook her head.

“No, I’ll be fine. But thank you,” she answered. She didn’t want to look weak, and she didn’t want her cloak down here. She was afraid she would never get the stench out of it. They were shown to a cell. Inside, it was empty except for straw on the floor and a chair in the middle of the room. In the chair sat the bishop. 

“Get a chair for the lady,” the king said. Ayya was about to object, but a look from Tenac made her to keep quiet. A soldier brought a chair and Ayya sat down. Tenac didn’t stand behind her as he usually did, instead he stood at her side. Two soldiers were flanking the bishop. The king stood in front of him, Zerden by his side. The head of the council and Father Lobi stood a little further back. 

“So, this is quite a crowd,” the bishop said. He tried to look as he wasn’t bothered, but Ayya could see the nervous twitch of his hands. 

“I suggest you make this easy for all of us, Ludwig, and just come clean,” the king said. The bishop jerked as the king had used his first name and not his title.

“I never thought I would see the day I needed to remind you I’m the bishop and you owe me respect,” he said. The king laughed. 

“Ludwig, your title is at this point just a formality. You will not hold it for much longer and I refuse to give respect to someone that has murdered my subjects for almost twenty years.”

“I haven’t…”

“You are going to deny it, make us do this the hard way? You have to know not one of the people who saw the evidence yesterday has a doubt in their mind if you are guilty or not. It’s over, Ludwig. Just tell us why,” the King said. He had stopped sounding angry, and instead he sounded like he spoke to an old friend. Ayya had to remind herself that the bishop must have been someone the king had grown up around. He might even have been one of the king’s teachers as he grew up. They had worked together and even if the king wasn’t as dedicated of a believer as his father, the bishop was a mentor to him. Ayya tried to imagine how she would feel if she had discovered Procecsa had been responsible for the murder of hundreds of people. It would cut deep. It gave her a new respect for the king who had accepted the proof they had presented. The bishop looked at the king for a long while. It was quiet in the cell. 

“You are right. It’s time to face my sins and hope you see why it was necessary,” the bishop said. 

“Tell us from the start, why did you even think of doing something like this?”