Chapter 143: THE STINGER NIGHTWORM
[MUSIC RECOMNDATION: EVERYONE ~ VAN MORRISON]
"High Priestess Mubera is unconscious... poisoned!" The shrine maid announced, not speaking coherently. As she ran, her ssage caused panic to streak down the backs of the servants who heard it.
Small murmurs erupted from the crowd, as everyone did not understand what was going on. First, they heard that a person had been kidnapped, now the high priestess.
Hieron hit the side of the wall he stood with an iron to get everyone’s attention. Now the corridor was quiet, the voice of the younger white Lord was heard.
"Everyone should assemble at the courtroom right now. Chantal, lock the palace gates, make sure nobody leaves," Nix spoke in an authoritative voice, his words laced with a sense of urgency.
Chantal turned imdiately and rushed to the gates to carry out the orders. While the palace servants filed to the courtroom, murmuring among themselves about what the problem could be.
Nix walked steadily to the courtroom, his strides precise and sharp as they clicked against the marble floor. But his eyes were now looking disoriented, as if the carpet was pulled from his feet while he was standing. Sothing was happening in the palace, and he didn’t know what. He had been looking for Kitanna since she left his room.
"Clephas, Felipe, arrange every servant according to where they work. Make sure everyone is accounted for and find what they were doing at different tis. I will leave here to you, Lord Hieron. Let
go to the shrine."
"I will go with you," Cortez said, following Nix behind, while Hieron stayed back to get the details from the palace servants.
On his way to the shrine, Nix saw Chantal running towards their direction.
"Lord Nix, I have locked the gate, but I saw the workers who renovated the back of the palace leave already." Chantal relayed the information.
Nix stopped walking for a mont, "Workers? How co I didn’t hear about that before it started. Get
information on who ordered the construction," He said, walking briskly to the shrine. Nix’s mind was here and there. He couldn’t believe it happened again, that the princess was not in the palace. She has only told him in the morning that she wanted to visit Mubera, but now news from the shrine was that sothing happened to the priestess, and Kitanna was not in the shrine.
Stepping inside the shrine, Nix saw the shrine maids trying to treat the high priestess. She was looking pale and white, with her eyes closed peacefully.
"Lord Nix," the first shrine maiden to see him bowed, as others quickly joined her, making space for Nix to pass. He sat on his heels and touched the woman’s face; it was cold but she was still breathing. It was indeed poison. He frowned; his face showed his concern. Who would dare poison the high priestess? Except Almaria was already making bold moves, he thought.
Cortez went to stand beside Nix and said, "This looks familiar, can I check sothing?" He asked, and Nix nodded, giving him space to look at the woman.
Cortez held her lips open; it had filants of purple, and on her neck, there were similar patches. He touched her neck, closing his eyes. When he opened them, he said, "The stinger nightworm. It’s a poison used by the locals to kill wild animals that attack their crops." He said softly.
"Does it have an antidote?" Nix asked, standing up from his position with his hands dipped in his pocket.
Cortez humd, "We would have to ask the locals. I know a woman, Lady Hash." He remarked, then he added, "But sothing doesn’t click; this poison doesn’t work imdiately on humans. For her to be unconscious, she has been fed this poison since the past three days or more."
The new information startled the shrine maidens; they could not believe soone among them had been feeding the high priestess with sothing poisonous. Who could have dared?
Nix looked around the room for a mont, his eyes stopped on two persons. "Lady Bareea, why are you not in the main palace? There’s a census going on in there." He remarked, his eyes moving to look at the guest that stood beside her.
"Chief Panha, I didn’t know you pray too." Cortez added, now noticing the two won they had initially missed because of how occupied they were with the high priestess.
Not waiting for them to reply, Nix said, "Everyone in this shrine should move down to the main palace; I’ll take care of the high priestess." He announced, and effectively, the shrine maidens started filing out of the room. Bareea and Panha followed suit.
After placing the high priestess on a bed and keeping her warm with the bed cover, Nix and Cortez joined others going to the main palace.
"Lord Nix, they have all been accounted for, including the shrine maidens. Three persons are not here, excluding the two held in prison," Felipe, the head eunuch spoke.
"Who are the remaining two, apart from The princess?" Nix asked.
"Axilla and Lady Larel," it was Clephas who answered. His eyes looked at the lady’s brother worriedly.
"Larel? She is not here?" Cortez asked, looking alard now. He was with Nix in the morning, discussing the next trading season and how Morado should be given the best of every good when a maid had co to tell them that she saw soone being abducted.
Nix inhaled deeply, his eyes already looking tired. He nodded after the eunuchs had given him the feedback. It was certain that either the princess, the lady, or the maid, one from the three was not in the palace. Now soone had the high priestess poisoned. He decided to solve the case of the high priestess first; maybe that way, he would get a clue to sothing.
"The high priestess has been poisoned with the stinger nightworm. If you are the one who did it or you know sothing about it, step out now so your punishnt would be considered," Nix said, looking at everyone in the crowd.
A few minutes passed, but nobody stepped out or said anything. The courtroom was silent, so silent that even the heartbeats of everyone could be clearly heard.
Nix knew it was not going to be easy because which culprit would co out willingly for their own cri. He decided to make a small push.
"I would then imprison every shrine maid and servants who have been in the shrine for the past few days," he remarked, taking in the expressions of everyone.
"Lord Nix!" Soone shouted from behind, getting everyone to look at him. It was the royal physician.
"I have sothing to say," the elderly man replied, bowing his head deeply.
"Make way for him to get to the front," Heiron ordered. The servants moved to the side, allowing the royal physician to stand in front of the crowd.
"Greetings to the White Lords and Young master. I am the royal physician," he bowed again in respect, getting a nod as an acknowledgnt to continue. He started talking.
"I know soone who has been exposed to the stinger nightworm." This information caused murmurs to arise in the room as everyone was scared of being ntioned.
"Silence!" Nix ordered, and the serenity returned to the room. "And who is that?" He asked, motioning for the man to continue.
"It’s Lady Bareea; I went to her room this morning, and she was already showing symptoms of being exposed to it." The man completed.
"Lord Nix! Please don’t pay attention to this old chap! I was not feeling fine; I asked him to co and take a look at . He said I was exposed to sothing..." Bareea, who wanted to defend herself, stopped imdiately. What was going on? Soone was blackmailing her.
"And she has been frequenting the royal shrine for the past few days," the head shrine maiden added, receiving a glare from Bareea.
Bareea rushed to kneel in front of Nix, "Lord Nix, why would I ever poison the priestess? When I have my child, I won’t risk exposing myself to poison. Ok, check my room; I don’t have anything of such. This is my first ti hearing the na stinger nightworm," the concubine pleaded, feeling the tension that was now rising and how every mont made her a good suspect.
Nix whispered to the guard beside him to check her room.
"Lady Bareea, you frequent the shrine every day that even the high priestess got tired. Maybe you were angry she stopped giving you attention." Another shrine maiden added.
Nix continued to watch everything unfold, until the guard he sent out appeared holding sothing in a wrapped box. He handed it over to Nix, who then gave it to Cortez to check it out.
"It is indeed the stinger nightworm," Cortez confird, handing back the poison to Nix.
The palace servants gasped at the revelation. How could soone think of poisoning the high priestess? Such atrocity was unheard of.
"Bareea, was it Almaria who asked you to do it? As revenge? Did you also abduct the princess, Lady Larel, and Axilla?" Nix asked.
Bareea shook her head, "Believe , I didn’t do anything. I haven’t even heard from the queen dowager since she left this palace. I don’t know how that thing got to my room," the tears now flowed freely from her face. She turned to plead for help, but everyone looked at her scornfully.
"Panha, please tell them. You’ve been with , and you know what I’m capable of." Bareea turned, hoping her new friend would help her out.
Panha nodded; her face looking so sad. "Both Lady Bareea and the high priestess made my stay here warm. It’s so sad to hear that sothing of such happened. High priestess Mubera did not scold Lady Bareea; rather, she just stopped coming out every ti Lady Bareea shows up. I believed it hurt Lady Bareea’s feeling because every ti she was with , she reminisces about how the high priestess betrayed her mother-in-law. But I’m sure she didn’t an any harm in all that. And I only heard her argue this morning with Lady Larel, but I’m sure it’s just normal between co-wives even though I heard soone slap the other. I can’t tell who," Panha said, looking concerned as her eyes moved to look at Bareea. She bowed gently before going to stand at her position.
"Panha, you’re not making it better; what you’re saying is putting
in a tight spot." Bareea sighed, closing her eyes in frustration as tears slipped down her cheeks.
Before Nix could say anything else, Chantal ran into the courtroom.
"Lord Nix, I know who started the renovation at the back of the palace. It was the crow-" the young guard was not allowed to finish his words as the door flew open and soone walked in.
"Yes, it was . I, Adric, moved a motion for the renovation of the palace," the crown prince of Avon, made his way to where Nix was sitting.
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