The Maiden's Song (draft-editing)

Chapter 24 Awake

Chapter 24   Awake

The room was packed with medics and healers from all the kingdom. The aroma of medical herbarium filled the air. Dozens of bottles with different tonics and infusions occupied the tables and dressers in the chamber where Am laid unconscious. People went in and out the dormitory constantly: the king, the queen, Lord Roderick and Prince Alaster.

The healers restricted the visits for Am's condition was delicate. Only Jocelyn remained day and night next to her daughter's immobile body.

Three days passed since Am's sudden blackout in the Masquerade. It was a big commotion. A second after, Lord Roderick was carrying her up to the stairs and Prince Alasther guided him to the dormitory she was now occupying. They tried to revive her, applying thousand things, but everything was in vain. The maiden was subdued in some kind lethargic state. Her breathing had decreased day after day as well as her pulse. None of the medical crew convoked by the king could find or even guess the reason...or the cure.

The medics examinated Am periodically. They prepared potions and tonics every minute trying to wake Am up. Jocelyn cried her daughter feeling frustrated and impotent.

Lord Roderick didn't leave the castle, offering all his gold and possessions to the person who could wake her up. He looked in a deep distress. His eyes were red for the lack of sleep

and sorrow. The duke walked up and down the hallway feeling despaired. He had sent for medics or healers from each corner of the kingdom and its borders.

Lord Roderick often contemplated Am and how her body had decayed so quickly in the last three days. Her face appalled and her skin became translucent with sickness.

King Ataro and Queen Cephora also felt anguished for the maiden's condition. Both of them came every then to get reports from the kingdom healers. They tried to comfort Jocelyn, who attempted to stay calm, but she couldn't bear watching her only daughter leaning inert in that bed. The royals put all the kingdom's resources in her hands: medical and monetary.

Prince Alasther went in and out the room. He hadn't slept in three days and he could barely eat. The handsome prince felt irritable, and his annoying fiancée bothering him with the wedding theme, exasperated his temper even more. She harassed him constantly. 'Can't she understand that I just want to be alone... with Am...' Alasther thought.

He felt as worried as Lord Roderick. In fact they competed for space and time in the alcove Am rested. Both of them exchanged infuriated stares every time they met in the dormitory. Their silence spoke more than their words. It was a war for the leading role, but Alasther knew he was losing his spot. Lord Roderick was more friend of the family than he was. The duke conversed with Jocelyn with ease and she trusted him. And now he was betrothed to a woman he didn't love... a woman not like his beautiful Amalthea who seemed to be losing her fight for staying in this world... with him.

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That night, the prince went straight to his chambers without eating dinner. He just wanted to escape from the pesky Lady Katharina. She was talking about wedding invitations and gowns and he was not in the mood for that. Now he was standing by the big glass window in his room, looking to the clouds that suddenly covered the stars making it extremely dark. His memories flew to the moment he first saw Am, walking in the salon looking so radiant and alive... and now she looked so pallid and aghast. He felt the urge of leaving his room and going to Am's... and finally so he did.

He knocked the door gently. "You can come in." Jocelyn said. Her voice sounded harsh with drowsiness, for she hadn't slept either in three days. The medics had gone for the night and she was alone with her daughter in the room. She was about to stand up to greet the prince but he interrupted her.