MEGAN

I stared furiously at the ruined furniture’s. My little exercise wasn’t calming my nerves as I had hoped.

     “AHHH!!!” I screamed enraged.

How dare those infidels? Duke rushed in immediately. My scream must have alerted him.

    “Get this idiotic fool out of my sight.” I bellowed at the guards standing outside my office. Duke had left it opened when he rushed in. The fool in question remained still where he laid on the floor. A single swing of my bat had knocked him out. The weak motherfucker.

    “Supreme, people are watching.” The statement earned him a glare.

    Was he trying to end up like the fool?

But, on second thoughts, he was right. This wasn’t my private office, it was my office in the council building. Unknown eyes were watching. I was the 1^st healer; I had a reputation to maintain.

    As gracefully as I could, I walked over to my chair and sat down. It was the only surviving furniture left in the room.

The fool was dragged out shortly after.

     “I will have him taken to the harvesting ground immediately.”

   “No,” I replied. “I want him alive. Take him to my lab. Since he choose to be useless, I would make something useful out of him.”

    All that fool had to do was hand over the drugs to the council. How could he have messed up such a simple task?

I tested those drugs myself just to make sure they were perfect, but the drugs came out clean? What a complete idiot.

   It cost me a fortune to get access to Archie’s vault, but all of that money turned out to be a waste. After everything I did, he was still declared innocent. Even his ward was cleared, completely clearing him of all suspicions.

    It took me 200 years to build a reputation in the council, only to be humiliated because of this barbarian’s incompetence.

    I indicted Archie in council and even persuaded the council to believe he could have switched the drugs before submitting them. When they discarded that theory, I suggested that he could have had someone else do it. I took advantage of the fact that his ward was seen on the CCTV camera a few weeks ago opening his vault. But she too has been cleared of all charges, leaving me looking like a fool.

    Making a false accusation in council was a huge offence. Luckily, Archie didn’t push the matter further, and I was only asked to pay a reasonable sum to him.

    I had thought out a perfect plan and was so close to finally having Archie at my mercy. How did he get himself out of this mess?

    “How could he have gotten away?” Duke asked, echoing my thoughts. “Do you need me to look into it?”

    “I invested too much this time to have it go to waste. I must get to the bottom of this.”

He nodded in agreement.

    “What do you know about the lass?”

    “What lass?” Duke replied.

    “Archie’s ward, she made an impression on me in council.”

   “You’ve met her before three years ago when you took a reading of her source.”

   “I did? I can’t remember.”

   “She is just a sickly healer. How could she have made an impression on you?” he replied with a chuckle.

    I rolled my eyes at him. “That girl is not as innocent as she seems. I don’t except an idiot like you to see it.”

    He ducked his head shamefully. “Do you think she had something to do with this?”

    “I don’t know, she was declared innocent by the 1^st

Leader herself. If she felt the child was involved in the case, she wouldn’t have let her go.”

    “Who do you think helped the 10^th healer this time?”

    “I have no idea. Archie doesn’t seem to know either. He didn’t sound like someone with a strong backer in the panel. He was completely terrified. If I was privy to such information, why would I need you to get to bottom of this?” I turn away from him in disgust. “The only person seen around the vault in the last couple of weeks was his ward. The only other time the cameras were off was on the day of the maintenance check. No staff was present that day, and all the technicians present on that day have been questioned and they were all cleared. The only other person who torched the drugs without my supervision was that fool.”

    “Is that why you want him alive?”

    “I need to punish him for betraying me. By the time am done with him, he would wish he was harvested.”

    He flinched. It was a good thing he knew what would befall him if he should ever choose to betray me as well.

    “Find someone to take the fall for this. I can’t afford to have this case unsolved. The council needs a murderer. Give them one.”

    “Yes supreme”

    “Also, find out Prince Luke’s present condition. He is the only surviving person among Archie patients who had their drugs tampered with.”

    He remained silent, but I could tell he had something to say.

    “I don’t have all day, speak!”

    “I heard the Prince have gotten much better.”

    “What!”

    “Yes, supreme. The nurses you assigned to him were changed as well. Only lord Archie’s ward is allowed to administer any drugs to him, and she brings them along with her every day.”

    I was stupefied by the news. How had all this happened right under my nose? The child must have noticed that the prince’s drugs were poisoned. Why else would she have put such measures in place? Did she really have nothing to do with what happened?

    “Keep an eye on the girl,” I ordered.

Things were surprisingly getting interesting around here.