The Flower Among the Flames

Chapter 20

"Mauled, you say?" Zhao Meng asked dryly, her hand covering her mouth. A soldier had come to report another macabre event, and it appeared as though he also felt somewhat sick towards the description. He nearly vomited earlier for that matter and who could blame him? Seven of the eight surgeons, tasked with examining the dead bodies found that morning, were found dead or, more specifically, in pieces. What or who could have possibly done this, no one knew, but the castle was once again under high alert.

The bell chimed with each strike, its harrowing tolls echoing across the landscape. The garrison was up and about, marching in the courtyard with full equipment. It was interesting how fast an army could mobilize. But certainly the situation demanded such diligence. The last surgeon did not survive unfortunately. He died of blood loss in the medical ward. Perhaps it was better that way, she wondered. She doubted that the man would have wanted to experience any further pain. His wounds, had he survived, would have haunted him for the remainder of his life. Bao He is going to want an explanation, Zhao Meng thought grimly. They were his men after all. Hopefully, Bao He would not jump to conclusions against Seulgi as he did before.

"Yes, sir," the soldier replied. "The troops found the surgeon in the hallway, crawling in a pool of his own blood. His arm looked as though some feral beast chewed it up. We tried getting him to the medical ward, but..."

The soldier grew quiet and his eyes were downcast. She nodded understandably.

"Were we able to get anything out of him before he expired?" Zhao Meng asked, casting a nervous glance to the Shaos who looked equally frantic. They were with her under orders of finding secrets within the walls, and their enthusiasm from before was gone.

"Yes," the soldier nodded. "He kept repeating the word 'monsters.'"

"Monsters?" Zhao Meng repeated the word quietly, her head lowered in thought. This felt all too familiar for her. It had to have been connected to the mystery of the castle and its phantoms. The voice. It had to be her doing. She did try to kill Zhao Meng after all and failed. She doubted the sinister spirit would simply stop there. With that in mind, she inferred that the surgeon was most likely left alive as a message. Alongside her fear, she felt a sudden burst of excitement; it was like a detective story except it was real. Whether this should have made her more scared or not, she did not know.

"Do we know anything that could have been the culprit?" Zhao Meng demanded of the soldier.

"Well, there are local sightings of bears, wolves, and tigers," the soldier answered, eyes towards heaven in thought.

"Is it possible one could have gotten in?" She asked.

"Unless they can scale a fifty-meter wall," the soldier shook his head. "Meaning that this is murder. Not some bizarre accident."

Oh, it was murder all right, and it was bizarre, if anything. The voice definitely had a hand in this...if it indeed had one. Zhao Meng ran a list of possible culprits through her brain; each one as implausible as the next. Then a chill ran down her spine in realization. The ghosts, the bodies, and the voice; they all appeared one after another and each increasingly sinister. They already experienced the dead spirits being able to attack them, but what if...

"Where are the bodies now? Are they still in the morgue?"

The Sheng soldier frowned. After a moment of silence passed through the room, he rubbed his neck sheepishly, saying, "What bodies?"

In the attempt to calm herself, Shao Yen took in a deep breath, her eyes staring outside warily. Zhao Meng grumbled, "Well, crap."

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