Dryads and Nymphs

Chapter 12-Poisoned

Ariana felt Aron stiffen at her side, as the warm moment faded and was replaced by the cold wind cutting through them.
"What do you mean?" Aron asked.
The servant looked distraught. "Your Highness, the King, he was coughing but then it got worse and there was blood-"
At this Aron took off running. Ariana blinked in a moment of hesitation, but then the moment passed and she was running after him, his long strides no match for hers.
The reached the chamber at full speed and Aron kicked the doors open in front of her. Inside the King was crouched over on the bed as a maid held a pot below his face. He was coughing uncontrollably and was as pale as the maid's apron. Hearing the disruption he raised his head and Aron strode to him briskly.
"Father," he spoke, his voice soft.
The king clasped his arm, still coughing. Ariana stood in the doorway unsure if she wanted to intrude on their moment but then Aron turned around, his eyes filled with pain as they searched for her and her feet moved her forward. She clasped Aron's hand with one of hers and with the other she took the camber pot from the maid.
Aron stared at his father for a moment before getting up. "Get me the doctor," he ordered, his voice hard.
The servant at the door who had broken the news to them ran off immediately.
Ariana chanced a look up at Aron in between the King's wheezing. He was pacing around, running a hand through his hair. He cast his father an anxious look and caught her eye. His face turned impassive, as if made of stone, and she could not believe that this was the same person who had given her a ring a few minutes ago.
There were footsteps and the doctor arrived, looking out of breath. A tall man with a pale face and haggard hair he looked like he had just been awoken.
Aron stopped pacing and turned to watch him bow first to him and then to the king before making his way to the still coughing king. He took the pot from Ariana and motioned the maid to come and hold it while he began checking his pulse, his eyes and listened to his breathing. Ariana stood to a side, watching him before she walked over to where Aron stood, motionless. She slipped her hand in his limp one, and squeezed it gently. Aron closed his eyes, his face impassive but did not return the squeeze. He opened them again and Ariana saw a hollow look she had never seen before in his eyes, as he stared at his father and the doctor bent over him.
Finally the doctor straightened, his face relatively calm in the situation. Maybe it was a facade to calm down Aron from overreacting, she thought.
"The poison...," the doctor began, his voice hushed, "the poison was in his cough medicine, in my opinion."
"Will he be fine?" Ariana heard herself asking.
The doctor hesitated for a moment before saying, "I believe so. I still need to find out what kind of poison it is."
"Who put the poison in the medicine?" Aron growled from behind Ariana.
The doctor blanched even more and said, "Your Highness, I cannot find that out. It-"
"YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE THE ROYAL DOCTOR! INCHARGE OF THE STORES OF MEDICINE! IN CHARGE OF MY FATHER'S MEDICINE! HOW DID SOMEONE MANAGE TO SNEAK POISON PAST YOU INTO YOUR OWN STORES?"Aron thundered, appearing in front of Ariana so fast that she backed away. His fist was a blur of movement as he grabbed the doctor's collar and yanked his face closer.
The doctor didn't struggle, his face now paler white. "Your Highness...," he began.
Aron sneered, his face twisting with anger as his eyes shone with a violent light. "Beg for my mercy and I will execute you immediately and hold you responsible for my father. Find the antidote, and find who did this. A soldier will stand behind you at all times and if you cannot find it or the person he will dispatch your head immediately," the prince growled, his face inches from the doctor's.
"Y-yes Your Majesty," the doctor whispered and Aron pushed him back.
"If he gets any worse than this I will make sure your death is painful," he said, his voice eerily quiet after the shouting, and all the more dangerous.
Ariana looked at Aron in shock and it wasn't until he turned and his eyes fell upon her that she thought of moving forward and stopping him. But there was nothing to stop now; she had been too shocked to think clearly. His brown eyes arrested her where she stood, but the stormy expression in them didn't vanish. Instead he walked past her, not bothering to acknowledge her presence.
She took one look at the doctor bent over the king again and followed Aron out the door. He was talking to a few guards just outside the door.
"Seal the gates, I don't want anyone to leave. Check everyone who comes in twice, even the grocery boys. Find the Chief Guard and tell him to meet me right now. If I find anyone slacking on their job I will make them regret the day they were born," he finished. The guards nodded and hurried away on their designated duties.
"Aron," Ariana called, and he turned, his face impassive again. Was this the boy who had asked her to marry her a few months ago, who had given her an engagement ring just now? Ariana found no sign of that boy in this one.
He was waiting for her to say something so she cleared her throat. "Was threatening the doctor really necessary?"
Aron glanced at her before staring at someone behind her. She turned to see the hallway empty, save for her and a couple of guards at the door.
"You two," Aron called, his voice steely. The storm had turned to fire again in his eyes. The guards left their places and saluted him.
"Were you two here when the King was poisoned?" he demanded.
"You Highness, we were not. The shifts changed while you were in there," one of them provided.
"Fetch all those who have duties guarding this hallway and the King's door. I will have a word with you once I have met the chief guard," Aron said.
They nodded and bowed before one left and the other resumed the duty.
"Aron," Ariana said again, anxiety building up in her. Why was he acting like this all of a sudden?
He turned back to her, his lips set in a thin line and she faltered for a moment, unsure of what she wanted to say to him.
"Stay with my father. He's your king too," he said, curtly but his voice lost a little bit of the new harshness on her. Still it was enough to make her bristle. She knew his father was her king. Why would he bother reminding her that? Did he think she was going to rebel again? But she kept her mouth shut, and walked back into the room.
The doctor looked up wildly but bent down as soon as he saw it wasn't Aron. Ariana walked over to the King, who lay on his bed, not coughing anymore but very pale, his eyes red rimmed as the roved over her face in deliria.
"Can I help?" Ariana asked the doctor. The doctor looked up from where he was bent over his bag. "Stay with him. If he starts to get worse, call for me, milady. I need to find the proper antidote in my office. I will be there. Please tell His Highness, if he...asks for me," he provided, shutting his bag and standing straight.
She nodded, and the doctor walked out of the room and Ariana found herself once again, in the course of a few months, by the side of a dying man.
***
The king coughed again and Ariana sat upright, rubbing at her eyes. It was deep into the night, and she had been awake all night, falling asleep in between.
The king wanted water and Ariana poured some, wondering where Aron was. He was probably awake as well, though he had not returned to see his father. She lifted the King into a sitting position and handed him the glass which he took with shaking hands. She had sent the maid away after midnight, after the King had started stabilising with the antidote the doctor had found.
The entire castle was silent, as she sat back down.
"My son," the king's raspy voice broke the silence, and Ariana frowned at him. "He's responsible when it comes down to it."
Ariana nodded. "Yes, I know. He can pretend he doesn't care but deep down he always does."
The king coughed, but smiled. "Takes after his mother."
She smiled in return. "What was she like?"
The King sighed. "I can't begin to describe her. She was strong, loved her children fiercely, kind. Everything was better with her."
"Aron has her eyes?" she asked, and the King nodded.
"You see her in Aron?" she questioned, voicing what she had wanted to ask for a long time now. Aron had mentioned once that that was why he and his father were not close.
The King's gaze pierced her but then it became distant as if he was remembering something. "Yes. Sometimes I do. And I don't want to, because it reminds me of her. Every gesture. I wish he took after me sometimes and sometimes I am thankful he didn't."
"Try being closer to him. Your kingdom needs it," Ariana murmured, her eyes growing heavy.
The king settled back in his bed, able to move a little on his own.
"Be good to him. He needs you," the King said, and Ariana who had been slipping into sleep woke a little to stare at the King before nodding. And then sleep ebbed reality away, the stress, emotional and physical both, of the past day overpowering her before she could say much more.
***
The room was swaying. No, she realized, she was the one swaying. She woke up enough to feel arms carrying her. It was such a foreign feeling; no one had ever carried her before. She tried to stand upright, stop whoever was carrying her, but her body wouldn't comply with her commands.
"Shh Ari," a familiar voice whispered in her ear, the breath tickling her cheek. "We're almost there, my dryad."
She stopped moving and tried to clear her head.
A few moments later they stopped moving and she heard the door being opened and then a bed was beneath her, the soft plush material whispering for her to return to sleep. But she struggled, opening her eyes.
It was dark, but she could see Aron's face into the dim light that seeped from the windows. This wasn't her room, she saw. Aron sat beside her and started to draw the bedcovers over her, looking more tired than she could ever imagine feeling. Her hands caught his wrist, and she sat upright.
"Aron," she whispered.
"Aria," he murmured back, his pupils blown wide.
"Ariana," she corrected automatically.
"Go to sleep. Its almost morning," he replied. "I brought you to my room. Its safer here. I should go."
She still held on to his wrist. "No."
Aron hesitated. "I have to go, Ari. I will be okay."
"No," she insisted and he sat back down with a sigh. She collected her thoughts before speaking. "You scared me last night."
"I scared myself, but I had to do what I did." His voice was low and rough.
"You don't have to shut everyone out to get what you want. Don't hold yourself responsible for what happened. Your father will be fine," she whispered.
Aron frowned. "I don't shut people out."
Ariana sighed, her thoughts scattering again, too exhausted to argue. Aron saw it too. "Sleep Ariana. I will be there in the morning."
"You can't push yourself relentlessly like this, Aron. You need to rest just as much as I need to. I won't sleep unless you do," she answered.
Aron smiled for the first time that night. "Stubborn. Always so stubborn."
"Please," she added.
"Ariana," he started to protest.
"Stay with me," she said, twining her fingers with his.
The fight went out of his eyes and he sighed, giving in. She lay back as he stretched out beside her. The sky was becoming lighter outside, and sleep began to pull Ariana under again. She felt Aron's arms encircle her and she clutched at his shirt, unconsciously drawing him closer. She felt a soft pressure on her forehead and Aron whispered, "Night," against it.
"It's morning," she murmured, her voice muffled, from where her face was pressed into his chest and she felt it rumble with laughter, before she fell asleep again.