Of Swords and Needles

Chapter 4: A Deal Sealed in Steel

Alex hastily walked up the bright concrete path, in front of him was the kingdom's castle. Alex agreed to do his best to help cure the King's daughter, as long as the knight accompanied him. Vittorio and Abraham guided the two of them up the path and towards the castle, Alex was practically breathless from the sheer size of the castle. He kept his plague mask on, not wanting to chance either catching the plague again from the princess or just in case his plague spurred up again. The people in town stared at both him and the knight accompanying him, some looked in fear, some looked in confusion, but most, if not all, looked on in worry.

The four arrived at the palace entrance, barred by numerous knights and filled with flowers and shrubbery. Alex, Vittorio, and Abraham entered past the knights guarding the castle, however the knights barred the black knight accompanying Alex. He turned to the them as soon as he saw them barring the entrance "Let him in, I need him." "Sorry sir, the King requested you and you alone to treat his daughter." One of the knights said, stoic and unmoving. Alex was about to protest until the black knight spoke "It is alright Alex, you can cure the princess without me." Alex looked on at him as he nodded his head in approval, and he backed away from the knights.

The three walked up the path and towards the castle's gate. The giant wooden doors opened with a low groan as the three walked in, Alex more cautiously than the two knights. Abraham was excused from escort as Vittorio guided Alex to a small dark room. In front of Alex was a young woman on a table. She had long brown hair, wore a nightgown, and had wet mascara below her eyes suggesting that she was crying a lot. Her body seemed normal, aside from the blackened veins and a slight discoloration to her chest. Alex approached, almost unsure of what to do. This was different from the plague that had wrung his town dry.

He looked at the table next to her and saw a flower, the same flower that cured the plague that afflicted his town. Alex was flabbergasted, he looked at Vittorio "How did you find one? I looked in the forest for a whole day and found nothing." "One of our townsfolk found one while procuring some lost stock." Vittorio answered. Alex put some gloves on and felt the princess' arm, it was cold yet still had blood flow. Alex opened the girl's eye and asked Vittorio "How did she get infected? Was anyone else infected?" Vittorio stayed back and answered "She was taking a stroll through a forest, after that she got sick. She was with her maid who died yesterday. The two of them were collecting flowers and the maid said that it was a green and red butterfly." Alex looked at him "Aside from those two, no one else was infected." Vittorio concluded. Alex sighed and took out his mortar and pestle to ground the flower up. "This flower might only work a little. It might not work at all. This plague is unlike that of our town, there may be no chance of revival." Alex said, solemnly. Vittorio hung his head and opened the door "If you need any assistance at all, yell for me." and closed the door.

Alex studied the princess, her breathing was labored and she was starting to sweat. Whatever she was infected with, it was acting faster than the plague he knew. He continued to ground the flower until it was perfectly ground up, he was about to mix it with other ingredients until the princess awoke. Alex looked at her and her eyes went wide, relaxing quickly afterwards. "They have no hope for me, do they?" She weakly said, Alex almost didn't hear her. He kneeled down next to her and spoke softly "I'm a doctor ma'am, not a local. You've been infected with the plague. I can~" the princess then started to cry. "Doctor or not, I don't have any chance in being cured." Tears welled in her eyes "Arianne died from the same thing. All the doctors who saw her said there was no hope." Alex mixed the flower with some ingredients, knowing the mixture that cured the plague, and put it in a needle. He was about to inject it in her arm until she started to convulse.

"VITTORIO!" Alex shouted to the top of his lungs. The knight rushed in and saw the princess convulsing "What happened?" "She started convulsing, hold her down I need to inject this in her." Alex said, frantically. Vittorio held her down and yelled "Men, get in here! We need help!" and three more knights entered, holding the princess down to try and keep her still. Alex injected the needle in her arm, she convulsed less but her pupils started to dilate. Vittorio saw this and looked at Alex "Doctor? Did it~" "I.... I used the same mixture. The same ingredients. The same dosage. I'm..... I'm sorry." The knights arose and surveyed the table, the princess was dead. Alex hung his head, the knights did too, and the room stayed silent. It was ungodly how quiet it was.

After a few minutes, Vittorio spoke up "We did all we could. Let us..." he shakily exhaled "Let us inform the king." The four knights walked out, leaving Alex with some shame in his heart. He walked up to the corpse and closed her eyes. He sighed, grabbed his things, and was about to leave. Before he did, he overhears two knights passing by "~the king heard there was another town infected by a plague." "Another one?" "Yeah, and he plans to do the same thing this time as the other town. He's going to leave it until it either heals or dies." "That still sounds fuc~" Alex shakily held his heart which was now beating a million miles a minute. He opened the door with shaky breath and exited the castle.

Knights rushed by Alex as he walked down a different winding path, faintly hearing the King's angered tears. Alex wandered this new path and saw a lush garden, filled with numerous flora that looked mesmerizing. Alex looked around and saw a flower that caught his eye: a flower. The flower. The one flower that they said they only found one of. No one could tell from the mask, but Alex was livid. The kingdom had a way to cure his village, and they left them for dead. He speed walked past all the knights and he saw the black knight, sitting down in an alley past the castle. Alex rushed to him, the knight immediately getting up as soon as he saw him.

"Those bastards." Alex angrily muttered "Those bastards!" he yelled, kicking a small box against the wall. He growled, almost sounding like his past gender, and tried to calm down. The knight watched on, waiting for Alex to calm down. After three minutes of Alex's anger, he spoke up "I heard about the other town," Alex gasped at what he said, looking at him "I can help cure the town, save them all. But doing so will cost something valuable." Alex got closer to the knight and asked "It's blood, isn't it?" the knight nodded, showing no emotion or regret. Alex breathed in and exhaled just as slowly, processing it all. He looked up at the knight, anger showing through his mask "Let's kill them all."