Sin: Path of Poison

Chapter 17

I laid there for a long while. Gathering my energy I channeled it to listen in on the conversations around the Crown Prince. Blake ordered the guards to stand outside. He did not want to disturb the scene nor bring shame to General Bai. If the soldiers saw the scene within, who knew what sort of comments they would make. Not only was the reputation of General Bai at risk due to his son being part of this mess, it could very well bring shame to the Crown Prince himself. This was also an obvious breach in Blake's protection, clearly he did not prepare properly, causing himself the most shame.

Although the message on Lei was not made out to General Bai, Blake immediately knew who the letter was intended for. After the first few guards arrived, Blake chose one to go to General Bai's manor and bring him back. All the while Blake slowly paced around the rooms, trying to find clues. Despite everything he saw nothing seemed to make sense.

There were clearly two parties at play here, one to kill the Crown Prince and one to save him. But who hired the one to save him? Why would the savior enjoy a leisurely bath while everyone around him was dying, dead, or unconscious? Maybe it had something to do with the poisons that were used? The discarded robes were clearly of a patrol guard and the person to lure Blake here was also clearly in patrol robes.

Horses were generally not allowed in these parts of the palace, so it was a rare thing to hear horses racing through the corridors, even more so in the dead of night. The two horses came to a halt, I could hear General Bai's panicked voice calling out orders.

"Bring the royal doctors! Why aren't the royal doctors here? BLAKE!" He yelled before going inside to find the unlucky person to vent his anger on. Upon seeing the bodies sprawled on the ground, General Bai rushed faster. "Where is he?"

Blake met him in the doorway, allowing General Bai to take everything in for himself without commenting. Maybe General Bai would see more clues. Arriving with General Bai was his closest student, Ryce. Most considered him to become General Bai's future replacement.

Ryce stopped immediately behind General Bai and joined him in looking over the room. General Bai rushed to the Crown Prince and tapped him gently on the hand for a response. He touched his wrist gently, feeling for a pulse, his shoulders relaxed after he confirmed Jin was alive. General Bai's focus shifted, he saw Lei for the first time. Nearly crawling to where he lay, his hand started to reach out to his body but suddenly froze as he saw the message.

"Did you move anything?" General Bai suddenly asked in a cold voice.

"Nothing. I sent the guard to get you first, I didn't ask the doctors to come." Blake trailed off. General Bai quickly ran to the open window.

"Call off the doctors!! Turn them back!" He yelled, his voice carried down the orders. "Ryce, you can wait downstairs. If anyone insists on coming in, block them." General Bai added. He fell silent and waited for Ryce to leave. General Bai immediately knelt down next to his son, picked the letter from atop of Lei then folded it neatly and shoved it deep inside his robe.

"Who did this?" Blake asked. "I can only conclude that someone was hired to protect the Crown Prince without my knowledge. This person is obviously skilled."

"Tell me what you saw first." General Bai asked. Blake explained in detail the limited amount of information he knew. After listening to the story, General Bai walked around the rooms and took note of everything Blake noticed.

"The person knows you, the message was for you. Who is it?" Blake inquired again.

"The person, I don't really know much about the person myself. I trained this person for a few months and thought they were someone I'd have by my side forever, like Ryce. But they suddenly disappeared. Actually Ryce knew the person as well, they trained together, but he doesn't know what happened next. Last year I got wind that there were potential threats, but I didn't know when and from who. The closer I got the more they pulled back. Instead, I decided to hire someone from the outside, so I made a contract with them. I didn't realize the person I hired was the same person from the past. I've never been fooled like that." He trailed off.

"So you're the one that hired this person?" Blake tried to confirm.

"Yes, but I don't have control over the situation, no updates, nothing. They do things their own way. The two people dead in the kitchen were also a part of this. There will be more." He continued.

"How do you get in contact with them?" Blake asked.

"The golden eagle was my only contact, but it won't fly to them anymore. It's like the Eagle forgot the scent of the person it was trained to track." He laughed, it sounded strangled. "Honestly, when I first thought of hiring someone, I didn't think they'd infiltrate this deeply."

"Is the note trustworthy? Should we have a doctor see them?" Blake asked.

"No doctors." The General replied. "The contract is to keep the Crown Prince alive, they won't care about any other losses unless it's beneficial to the contract. They probably thought Lei could be of more use in the future and kept him alive. The poison used on him is different, otherwise they wouldn't wake so far apart. The killers probably poisoned the Crown Prince and the servant. Lei was poisoned by something different."

"What should we do?" Blake asked.

"We move the dead bodies out of here and clean up the mess ourselves, the guards downstairs can clean up the others. Then we wait for the Crown Prince to wake up and decide if it's okay to leave Lei here until tomorrow night." General Bai summarized.

The General and Blake got to work moving the bodies out to the hall where the guards finished disposing of them. They brought up buckets of water to scrub everything clean, even the dirtied wash tub. After removing the soiled clothing they waited in silence for daylight. As promised, the Crown Prince and Nomi started waking up within moments of each other.

"Stop!" The Crown Prince yelled as his eyes suddenly snapped open. Startled, he sat upright too fast causing him a dizzy spell.

"It's over." Both General Bai and Blake said at the same time. Nomi, who woke up more gradually, had time to take in the familiar voices around her.

"What happened?" The Crown Prince asked. "It's all foggy." He looked around at the present company before settling his eyes on Lei. He rushed forward to get a better look.

"Will he be okay?" He asked, startled.

"He'll be like this for a while, is there somewhere we can move him?" General Bai asked.

"My bed is okay." Nomi offered. She pointed in the general direction. Blake and General Bai carried him gently to the bed. It was certainly more comfortable than the floor.

"What's wrong with him?" The Crown Prince asked.

"Some sort of poison, he's been given the antidote." Blake replied.

I dozed off at some point, not wanting to listen any longer. The sun was just coming up, but nobody would come to get me until later. Nomi wouldn't be thinking of me right now.