Chasing The Cure

Chapter 22: Blind Faith

"What? What do you mean?" Archie asked, his heart rate quickened instantly upon Bella's comment. The handmaiden chuckled as the color drained from Archie's face, apparently finding his panic amusing.

"Sybil is not here, you can tell me if her charms are finally melting your macho bachelor heart," Bella said, and Archie exhaled in relief at her misconception. "I saw you both at breakfast this morning, talking away without a care of anyone around you."

Archie did indeed eat breakfast with Sybil at sunrise, though the two did nothing but converse about how annoying some of the nobles were and shared stories of their past week and a half. Nevertheless, Archie would rather have Bella suspect he had something going on with Sybil than the person who was actually on his mind all the time and was the reason for his visible post-sex glee.

"I...I forgot that Francis wanted to speak with me about some work. I should go—"

"Oh come on, Archie! You cannot leave when—"

"Did I tell you how fantastic you look today? Well, you do! I will see you later, Bell!" Archie did not let her finish as he stood up and made his way out of the room. Nothing dampened his mood that day.

All the guests left the castle over the course of the next fortnight, and there was finally some peace and quiet around as work went back to its normal pace. Archie had been waiting for this because now he and Kenric could do the task of real importance that they had to delay due to the ball. While Godric dealt with weeding out the spies, Kenric and Archie were set on finding the cure for the King.

Archie had been insistent on taking Sir Christian with them on their search for the witch of the West. He seemed like the only person, at least one that they could trust, who had any sort of idea about her existence, much less her location. Kenric was hesitant, he did not like the notion of involving another person in their quest, but he could not help but agree that without the knight, it was likely that they would not be able to find the magic healer.

Kenric was supposed to know every inch of his kingdom, yet he had never heard of the lake that Sir Christian spoke of. So admittedly, he was their best bet.

They finally agreed on including Sir Christian. Of course, without telling him the real reason why they wanted to seek her. Archie had previously mentioned wanting to look for Sammy, but he knew it was a weak excuse and that Sir Christian did not believe him even then. He would never buy that Kenric would help the stable boy find the man responsible for his lover getting lashed publicly either.

Kenric had asked Sir Christian to meet him and Archie at the stables after nightfall, and both the men waited for the knight to arrive after making sure that the other stablehands had left the premises. Archie was rather impatient, whereas Kenric had a calculated look on his face as time seemed to pass by awfully slowly.

Sir Christian walked to them with his usual cheery smile, unaware of what the two men were going to ask of him. Upon seeing their serious expressions, he immediately knew that it was a matter of business and not a casual get-together.

"Your Highness," Sir Christian greeted the prince politely and bowed, before glancing between both of them as he furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "Is everything all right?"

"Archie informed me that you know of this...witch in the west? A healer?" Kenric got straight to the point, catching Sir Christian off-guard. The knight frowned, giving Archie a pointed look to indicate that he was not exactly pleased with the interrogation, before finally nodding and making the prince continue. "Is it true that she practices magic?"

"It is sire," Sir Christian answered, his voice vacant and without any hint of emotion. "May I know why you are asking me this?"

"No," Kenric retorted bluntly. "We will leave in two days to find her. You are to accompany Archie and me on the quest."