Deserter

TWENTY-TWO

{Chapter Triggers: poison dart, stealth attack, unconscious body, several knives, attempt to remove poison, one (1) swear word, assessing and bandaging wounds, mention of snake bites, discussion of a traitor, mention of a crossbow. 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.}

"PATTON!"

The two men raced towards the healer as the drawbridge slowly began to lift again.

Roman bypassed the healer completely, grabbing Virgil by the front of his shirt. "What did you do to him?" He demanded.

Virgil snarled and shoved him away. "Nothing, let me get to him!"

The knight growled, but Virgil wrenched himself from his grasp easily and darted over to where Patton lay.

As they had dismounted from their horses in the courtyard of the castle, Logan and Roman on their way to greet them, Patton had suddenly collapsed.

Virgil pulled a knife from his boot and sliced the healer's heavy tunic off, his eye flicking critically over the man's body and looking for anything foreign.

He spotted the dart after a few moments, and carefully rolled Patton onto his stomach.

"Logan, get his medical kit."

He didn't have time to be surprised at the lack of resistance. Logan turned on his heel and bolted in the direction of the castle.

"Roman." Virgil snapped, eyeing the dart. "Come here."

He spoke with a level of authority that Roman wasn't used to hearing from others, but the knight was already rattled enough by the situation that he didn't question being ordered around.

"Where the hell did that come from?" He asked, crouching next to Virgil and looking at the little wooden projectile sticking out of Patton's back.

"I don't know, but I've got to get it out. And probably get the poison out too-"

"You mean...?"

Virgil nodded and Roman pulled a face. "I thought that only works on snake bites."

He didn't get a response for a moment, then Virgil pointed to Patton's arms. "I need you to hold him down. He will most likely still feel this, and I need him as still as possible."

Roman nodded and shifted farther down Patton's side, leaning over to grab the man's forearms and hold them to the ground. He nodded to Virgil.

The prince produced another knife, a tiny blade about as wide and long as his pinkie finger. He used his larger knife to cut Patton's undershirt open as well, then with practiced ease plucked the dart out. Taking the smaller knife and inspecting it for a moment, he scored a small X over the spot where the projectile had been.

Roman cringed a little as he felt Patton shift underneath him. "Poor man."

Virgil didn't answer, leaning down as blood began to well up in the fresh wounds. Never having liked this process, Roman turned his face away.

He heard the prince spit several times, then footsteps approached them again.

Logan was already digging through the box. "There are several antidotes in here, all labeled, but I am afraid I would not know which to use in this situation."

Virgil sat back on his heels, reaching over to grab the dart off the ground again. He held it up, peering at it for a few moments, then brought it to his nose and smelled it.

"I know what to use. Give me the kit."

Logan handed the box over dutifully and Virgil began to look through the bottles. After inspecting three, he picked up a fourth and uncorked it.

"He'll feel this too." He warned Roman before leaning over the healer and slowly tilting the bottle until three small drips of liquid had fallen onto the wound.

Logan carefully picked up the dart to look at it while Virgil bandaged Patton up. Roman hovered worriedly, ready to help any way he could.

"Give me that." Virgil held out a hand. Logan raised an eyebrow, but placed the dart on his palm. Virgil wrapped it in a piece of bandaging material and shoved it in a pocket of his tunic. "Logan, I want you to take him to the infirmary. Tell his orderlies it was Souhait, and that they need to keep an eye on the wound for any signs of infection or inflammation."

Logan nodded and slowly picked Patton up, moving with the utmost care.

Roman moved to help him, but Virgil grabbed his wrist in an iron grip, holding him in place.

The two men watched the king's lead strategist carry the healer to the castle, disappearing in the large front doors. Roman immediately turned on Virgil, about to demand answers.

He found the prince holding the dart again, eyeing it closely.

"I want to speak with your guard." Virgil said, not looking at Roman.

"Excuse me?" Roman crossed his arms. "You can't possibly be insinuating-"

"From the way the dart was lodged in Patton's back it had to be a close range shot. With the way it was angled, it couldn't have been from outside the palace walls. No one would be able to make a shot like that, even relying an inhuman amount of skill." Virgil turned to him, eyes blazing angrily. "Do you know what Souhait is?"

Roman didn't say anything.

"I didn't think so. Souhait is a poison that comes from a small purple flowering plant. Despite being so widely used, the only place in Eaden where it can grow is Speira. This is a message from Deceit directly, which means he has someone here in the castle. With where Patton was standing and the direction he was looking, the shot was made from the walls themselves.

"The only men who have constant access to those passages are yours, Sir Roman." Virgil finished, re-wrapping the dart. "I want them all in this courtyard by the time the sun is at the West Tower."

He didn't wait for a response from Roman, walking over to the horses that had been abandoned where they stood. Taking the two sets of reins, he walked them off towards the stables.

Roman gathered his men, having them stand in a drilling formation in the center of the courtyard. There were four sentries that he left at their positions, men who had been working for the castle since long before King Thomas took the throne.

"Sir, may I ask what we are waiting for?" One of the men asked once they had been standing there for several minutes.

Roman opened his mouth to answer, but heard footsteps approaching and stopped, turning to see who was coming.

Virgil had changed. He was dressed in all black, the cape he had been wearing earlier gone. At his right hip hung a quiver filled with crossbow bolts, and the weapon itself could be seen poking over his shoulder.

He stopped in front of the group and cast a downright terrifying glare over them, not speaking.

{PSA THE SNAKE VENOM THING DOESN'T WORK BUT THEY WOULD PROBABLY HAVE DONE THINGS LIKE THAT BACK THEN. DON'T TRY THAT, IF YOU OR A FRIEND/FAMILY MEMBER GETS BIT TRY TO GET THEM TO A HOSPITAL/CALL 911 ASAP}