Pick Your Poison

Chapter 8

Everyone of the royal family was waiting for Fychon when he when Fychon finally arrived at the castle at dusk the following day.

Their expressions seemed worried, or maybe even grim, as most of their cheeks had been blotchy and red, their eyes filled with tears.

At first, he was convinced it was because of how weakened Fychon looked; with his muddy clothes, his even scrawnier build than before and the blue-ish tone of his skin from being in hypothermia for about the entire return journey.

He soon found out that wasn't the case, though.

Something had happened, something bad enough to cause tears to well up in even Aurus's eyes as she helped lowering Fychon and his weakened body off Blodyn. Something terrible, or so it seemed.

"What's going on?" Fychon asked, as soon as he stood steadily on the ground.

Something about the situation told him he wasn't going to be too pleased with the answer, and he better held on to Blodyn for support so he didn't collapse. That's how everyone's expression made it feel, at least.

"The prince-" Aurus shook her head, her voice sadder than Fychon had ever heard it before; she always seemed so composed, but now.

Fychon's eyes went big when he muttered, "He didn't, right?" He clenched his bag which held the bottle with what the prince Kaine needed. If he was-

Well, Fychon almost died getting it; prince Kaine had to still be alive.

"No, he didn't," Aurus reassured Fychon almost right away, promising that the prince was still alive. "Just barely; he hasn't been conscious in two days."

Fychon nodded once, before pushing past Aurus determinedly. "I can deal with unconscious," he announced. "I'll get to him right away."

Aurus asked him if he really didn't want to eat something, and when Fychon limped past prince Kaine's family, the queen asked him if he shouldn't change clothes first since he clearly was dirty and cold.

"No." Fychon did take off his filthy shoes before entering the room. "I can do that later, there are more important things the matter here. I mean, he probably has a fever, which needs to be lowered, and I bet there wasn't enough medicine to keep him taking it all the time I was gone. I need to make more of that and then make sure he takes it somehow." He kept going, listing things he needed to do before being able to change clothes, eat and sit down, as he walked through the hallways as quickly as he could with his aching muscles.

He was exhausted, but all of this had to go first; he didn't almost die to have prince Kaine die on his watch anyway. That would be absurd.

He stopped in front of the bedroom, panting.

"Are you sure-"

"Yes," he responded, leaning with his hands on his knees in an attempt to catch his breath; he felt like he'd just run a marathon. "I can push through a little longer, I'll eat and everything as soon as I get him fed up on meds again, make his antidote and get his ready for the first dose." It sounded so simple, so quick, but Fychon as well as prince Kaine's family knew this could last up to days too.

"Just take it slow, okay?" the queen told Fychon. Her voice and expression told him that it didn't matter whether he would work his ass off or not; the prince's family seemed to have already given up on him.

Fychon nodded once, before smiling. He promised in that moment that he would try his best to save their son, without working himself to a burnout. A promise he would try his best to keep, even though that burnout was going to happen anyway; he already overworked himself so much, a couple of hours extra wouldn't hurt too much.