Deserter

SIX

{Chapter Triggers: poison, unconscious individual, mentions of attempted suicide, vomit, mentions of assassination attempts, false accusations, confrontation, repressed emotions. Those are all I can think of/figure out from reading through the chapter, I apologize if I missed any and feel free to inform me.}

Roman and Logan watched as Patton leaned over King Thomas, humming to himself. Even in such a grim situation, the healer managed to keep a sunny disposition.

It was driving Logan up the wall.

He wouldn't say anything yet, he didn't dare disrupt Patton's concentration right now.

Roman was still fuming from the interaction between himself, Patton, and Anxiety. He wanted nothing more than to gut the little coward where he stood, but Anxiety was smart and someone had the cell keys.

Patton, Roman realized, had the keys. As the healer checked the king's pulse, he could see the faint outline of the key-ring in the pocket of his trousers. He bristled indignantly, but said nothing, also understanding the need for silence here.

Remington bounced nervously in the corner. He was to fetch anything that Patton needed, and his energy set the whole room buzzing.

When the healer finally sighed and stood up straight, his colleagues both tensed expectantly.

"He'll live." Patton nodded, smiling. "There is poison in his body, I smell it on his breath, but it is weak."

"What does that mean?" Roman asked.

"It means that whoever did this used poison that expired. Enough to make the king sick, knock him out and keep him in bed, but not potent enough to kill him." Logan shook his head. "But why?"

"Well, Deceit is coming." Patton shrugged. Remington gasped loudly and Roman shooed him from the room.

"We cannot say that, Patton, we have no idea whether or not Anxiety is telling the truth." Logan rubbed a hand over his face. "Until we can prove it, we should keep it amongst the three of us."

"Four." Patton corrected with a smile.

"Did I say four?"

"No."

"Then I suppose I didn't mean four." Logan snapped tersely, turning away. "We should speak with his guard. Find out if anyone came to call during the night."

Roman nodded in agreement, following the head strategist out of the king's bedchamber.

Patton sighed and leaned over King Thomas once more. "Don't worry, we'll get to the bottom of this." He promised his unconscious sovereign.

It might have been just his imagination, but for a moment he thought he saw a smile cross King Thomas's face.

Roman and Logan were having a serious conversation with two members of the king's guard. Patton shifted the grip on his medical kit and walked over.

"No one was here as far as I know, Sir Roman," The taller of the two was saying. "The first person I saw was the footman who came to get you."

"Where is he, by the way?" Patton asked. He wanted to make sure that the boy was okay.

"I believe he is in the kitchen, Sir Patton." The guard said. Patton didn't miss the vaguely irritated tone in his voice.

Many of the guards felt that he didn't deserve his knighthood. He didn't blame them for that, but sometimes he wished they'd be more subtle about it.

"I'm going to go check on him, if you need me feel free to send for me." Patton told Logan and Roman. "Once I'm done there I will most likely be in the tower again."

Logan followed him as he walked off. "Patton, we need to discuss this."

"Discuss what?" Patton asked cheerfully, running through what he needed to ask the footman in his head.

"Your affinity for Anxiety, especially after what seems to have transpired last night."

The healer laughed, turning a corner and stepping aside to let a maid with a large tray pass him. "I don't see that as anything that needs to be discussed, Logan, but if you really would like to talk about it I'm happy to do so."

Logan stepped into his path, staring the healer down. "You don't seem to grasp the gravity of the situation, Patton."

"I grasp the situation as anyone would." Patton replied. "King Thomas has been poisoned by someone, we have been warned that Deciet is trying to make a serious move, and a little boy is sitting in the kitchen, terrified that he may not have done his job properly."

He stepped around Logan and continued down the hallway, heading in the direction of the kitchen. The king's strategist frowned and followed him.

"Patton- how did you know that poison becomes less potent when it expires?"

"It's a basic medical fact." Patton shrugged.

Logan raised his eyebrows. "Is it?"

"Of course. There was a group- er, cult, I think in Truston," a bordering country, "they were locked in a building with law enforcement surrounding them, and they decided to take poison rather than being arrested. The poison was out of date, so it only made them vomit." Patton shrugged.

He looked up at the strategist, who was watching him with a strangely reserved expression. Patton frowned and stood a little straighter.

"Logan, you aren't thinking- why on Earth would I have poisoned King Thomas?" His voice shook a little just at the idea of it.

He'd been the king's main physician since he had contracted mild influenza as a child. Roman was the one closest to King Thomas's own age, and Logan was known as the most logical and strategic of the three advisors (his occupation required it) but oftentimes the king came to Patton when he needed to talk about something that was bothering him.

"Given the unlikeliness of it being Anxiety, and the fact that you have associated with him quite a bit since his arrival, I believe it may be a logical conclusion. Objectively, there are many factors that point towards you having been involved." Logan crossed his arms, watching Patton's reaction.

Patton took a sharp breath and tipped his chin up, meeting his colleague's gaze. "I did not poison King Thomas. I'm offended that you even considered that. I have to get to the kitchen and check on the king's footman."

He turned on his heel and marched off down the hallway, clinging to his medical kit. He wasn't going to cry, absolutely not. The other residents of the castle didn't need to see that.

Logan watched the healer walk off. He would readily admit that it was highly unlikely that Patton was behind the crime, but at the same time he had to consider all possible options. Once Patton had disappeared around a corner, the king's strategist turned back and went to find Roman.

{most organic poisons tend to break down and become less toxic over time. I've seen the story about the cult taking expired poison and being arrested, but cannot find a source. However, a member of the Black Hand who assassinated ArchDuke Franz Ferdinand, when his bomb failed to kill the ArchDuke, took cyanide and jumped into the river near the road. The cyanide was expired and the river was five inches deep. He was arrested}