A Mouse's Tale

Chapter 12

A flurry of gasps echoed around the room and one of the women fainted into the arms of her nearby companions.

"Get the Physicians in here!" Lord Penton's voice rose over the crowd, Mouse just now noticing him on the other side of Arya. "And guard the doors! If this is foul play..." His eyes flashed around the room, falling hard on Mouse. "Then no one is to leave this room." She glared hard back at his accusing stare, shocked and angered that he would ever think that she would have some sort of involvement in this.

Within minutes, the Palace Physicians were in the room, examining the man.

"He's not dead," the head Physician, Iris, announced, gently setting his wrist back down. Arya looked at the dark-haired woman with disbelief.

"But he had no pulse..." Arya stuttered.

"He has a pulse," Iris gently argued. "It's just very weak." Iris' dark blue eyes fell sympathetically on the Queen as her cheeks went red with embarrassment. "It's alright, Your Majesty. I'm trained to notice things like this, whereas someone who is not experienced in this field would not. It's not your fault that you couldn't find his pulse."

"Do you know what's wrong with him?" Lord Penton asked, his eyes still flickering back to Mouse.

"I can't be certain," Iris replied, furrowing her brows. "But I believe that he may have been poisoned."

"Poisoned!" Arya gasped. "How do you know?"

"The only other time that I've ever seen someone in his condition was after they had been poisoned," Iris answered.

"How could he have been poisoned?" Arya asked, confused. "We've all been eating and drinking the same things tonight and no one else has fallen ill."

"Hmmm..." Iris mused, her eyes darting around, taking in the scene before her. "Which cup was he drinking from? Perhaps his cup specifically was poisoned?"

"It's one of those two," Arya pointed to the two cups lying on the floor, their liquids spilled out in a puddle around them. "He was holding my cup too..." Arya gasped.

"Do you think it may have been my cup that was poisoned?" She asked with wide eyes. "Someone had asked me to dance before I got a chance to drink it and he offered to hold it for me..."

"And it's possible that he could have taken a drink from it," Iris finished.

"What did you do?" Lord Penton's harsh voice hissed in Mouse's ear.

"Me?" she exclaimed, turning sharply to face him. "How can you possibly accuse me of doing something like this?"

"You would have been the one to get Her Majesty's drink," Lord Penton remarked. "You would have had the chance to poison it."

"There's a flaw to that theory and it's the fact that I wasn't the one to get her drink," Mouse snapped. "Besides, I wasn't even in the room!"

"A likely story," Lord Penton sneered. "I know that you never let her out of your sight!"

"It's the truth!" Mouse exclaimed. "I was with... someone."

"You?" Lord Penton laughed. "Who would ever want to be with you? You are lying!"

"She's telling the truth," a familiar voice broke into their conversation. Mouse turned and smiled at Vyron as he stepped forward. "She was with me." He extended his hand to her and helped her to her feet, putting an arm protectively around her.

"With you?" Lord Penton scoffed. "You would want to be with this peasant?"

"Yes, I would," Vyron remarked defensively, his eyes flashing angrily at the older man. "And I take offense in that you call her a liar and a peasant. You should have more respect for the Queen's personal servant and the Lady of a Knight." Lord Penton's cheeks flushed red with embarrassment and anger.