City of Snakes - Book 2 The Council of the Light

-Seventeen-

17

A week after Madness died four servants were interrogated, dismembered, disembowelled and hung from the top of the Golden Gate. They were a warning to all those who intended to do the High King harm. The poison was an incredibly rare plant only found on a remote mountain range in a far off Fringe World. The common name for the plant was "Sleeping Leprechaun."

Jamie isolated and identified the poison. It had been put into Clarences water and as he ingested it over time the effects had worsened. Fraggles partner had done what a team of court physicians could not. In a moment of rare lucidness, Clarence appointed Jamie as his Head Physician and told him to come every day.

"The fact is, Sire, that you will not get better on your own. Not fully. Sleeping Leprechaun has the effect of forcing a Leprechaun's powers into dormancy, meaning that your body is healing like that of a Human. The longer you remain like this, the more chance there is of permanency."

The thought of losing his powers was like being told his leg would be amputated. "Is there anything that can be done!" he demanded. "Anything at all?"

But Jamie went away unsure and Clarence lapsed into a private terror made all the worse by the constant presence of his wife. During the worst points of his illness, she had been busy crafting allegiances in his Kings Council and had made a friend of the Secretary of State Tablax Clipper. When she sat by his bed reading the notes from the council meetings he seethed and when she gloated over how much more pleasant it was now Madness was dead he wanted to wring her neck.

The simple fact of the matter was that it was hard to deny the Queen when the King was ill. As much as he despised her, she was his second in the law. With him unable to stop her, she got everything she wanted from his servants and courtiers. Even Fraggle had the sense to keep in the background whilst she tested the strength of her influence. In practice, what this looked like was white bedsheets, white hangings and white rugs on the floor. Even his guard's uniforms had been switched from their usual dark green to a pastel shade.

On a warm evening, Fraggle woke Clarence with a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Sire," he said. "You need to come with me."

Clarence turned his head up and blinked with confusion, "What time is it?"

"Just after seven bells."

Clarence blinked through the fog of confusion and forced himself to sit up. "Has Jamie found a way to cure me?"

"That's not why I'm here." Fraggle's voice was tender. "We need to go quietly, sire." He picked up Clarence's clothes and helped him get dressed. Instead of leaving via the main doors, he tapped a brick behind a tapestry and a section of wall swung in. Clarence felt his muscles protest as he slid from his bed. His stomach spasmed and he clutched his arms to his abdomen as he stumbled after Fraggle.

"What's going on," he demanded.

"You'll see soon enough," There was excitement in Fraggles voice, but also anxiety. The passage between Clarence's room and Fraggles was winding, steep and narrow. Fit, Clarence would have navigated it without an issue. By the time they reached the doors to Fraggles apartment suite, he was shaking. Fraggle paused with his hand on the door and looked at Clarence with a slight smile.

"What?"

Fraggle pushed the door open.

A number of dogs looked up at him, a redhead turned around and as she moved he saw-

"Beatrix?"

He froze.

Beatrix wasn't moving. Her hair hung in rat tails, dried snot crusted around her nose and mouth. Her eyes were gunked shut and her skin was mottled and looked like it had been bruised badly. She was lying in front of Jamie's fire, which was roaring up the chimney as he mended her. Fraggle hooked his hand under Clarence's elbow and lead him into the sitting room.