He was fated to be eternal, yet now he bore the visage of a mortal on the cusp of his final breath. He clung to the dominion and might he had seized through guile and treachery, yet he lingered, a mere shadow dwelling in a fragment of his once vast and mighty realm, now ravaged and bereft. He harbored visions of a flourishing future, yet the path to such grandeur eluded him, a costly ignorance for which he paid dearly.
And so, by no volition of my own, I found myself a witness to his most grievous chastisement.
The Counselor knelt before an imposing four-poster bed, bathed in the tentative caress of dawn's light—or perhaps it shunned him. His attire was in disarray, his locks unkempt, his feet bare, save for the cloth that hinted at his aimless wanderings through the castle halls, driven by either forgetfulness, despair, or sheer indifference.
"What have you wrought upon my daughter? Speak!" he demanded, his frail form unleashing a flurry of blows upon me.
Though he struck with all his fading strength, it was as naught to me. I could only gaze in bewilderment at the unfolding scene.
"Prostrate yourself before the Counselor!" - came the command, accompanied by a strike to my skull, then my limbs, rendering me lowly and insignificant, but not at the hands of an irate, albeit pitiable, elder. I might have believed he merited such a fall, until the sight of a woman's hand, slipping from behind the bed's curtains, stayed my judgment. Whether she yet lived, I could not tell, but the Counselor's attention abruptly shifted from me to her side.
A maid swiftly drew back the curtains, revealing a tableau that confounded all present. At last, I comprehended my purpose there.
"Summon the Physicor! Where has he vanished to? She swoons once more!" The old man's plea snapped me back to the stark reality, his gaze piercing into me.
"I shall neither torment nor slay you—not
in this plight, and I fear it would be futile. But answer me, why did you taint the venison?" I should have feigned shock, yet it was clear none saw what I was observing here.
"Why presume I meddled with the meat?" I inquired back, as the old man's eyes narrowed, his visage taut with restrained fury.
"You are among the scant few who hunt for meat in these parts, and thus, your patrons are those with means to purchase. It would be trivial for you to harm those who partake. Hence, the accusation stands."
Despite my ignoble position, I could not quell the laughter that seized me. Silence reigned until another blow sent me sprawling. Yet, even as I lay there, gasping for air between bouts of mirth, no hand was laid upon me. I was of value, and their astonishment was my delight. They understood not, nor did the Counselor.
Eventually, I composed myself, resumed my kneel.
"Will you speak? What is it you desire?" The Counselor's glare remained, yet he stayed his hand.
"It seems we must elucidate matters here."
"And how so?" he demanded, his voice rising to a near shout.
"Counselor, let us begin from afar, and perchance we need not delve into the sordid details of transpired events. Attend to my insinuation."
Abruptly, a slap struck my cheek—a response to my decision to veil the obvious and illicit, unfit for the ears of those gathered. But the Counselor, ever impatient and hot-headed in the face of sudden crises, had lost all semblance of reason, especially given the incident with his daughter.
"Are you aware of the creatures' abode whose flesh graces the market stalls of the outer city?"
"Cease these frivolous queries! Reveal your misdeed and produce the antidote—that is all you must disclose!" he bellowed, looming over me, one hand gripping my collar, the other fumbling for a spell. Alas, his rage and lack of self-control rendered him impotent; his magic would not surprise me this day.
"Do you know who feasts upon the beasts in this wood?" I persisted, noting the Counselor's mounting agitation as he shook me with greater fervor. "Or rather, it is not the flesh they consume, but their very essence—their insignificant souls. And what, pray tell, befalls a creature once it is bereft of its inner strength, reduced to an empty husk of life?"
At those words, the Counselor's grip faltered, his eyes fixed upon me, my insinuation taking root.
"Do you comprehend the fate of an animal stripped of its vital force, left as a vacant vessel?"
With that, the Counselor sank to his knees before me. Now we were equals, yet it was I who gazed down upon him with sovereign disdain.