Damien
After hearing what Cecilia said, I decided to act. Afterall, my first duty was to my people. I had to take care of them.
I pushed my depression aside and changed into my official clothes before stepping out of my room.
I could sense it in the air the instant I got out of the confines of my room. There was some kind of invisible pressure on all of us. It was like a curse having a physical form. The grim-faced maids as they walked past me, the weathered guards and soldiers saluting me.
Cecilia didn't lie, my land was in trouble.
"Get me the elders. We have a meeting, right now!" I growled at the guards as I went straight into the hall.
The air was very dry, there was zero moisture present in it.
The door opened and the council members slowly poured in. They were surprised to see me waiting, almost as if they hadn't expected to see me there at all.
"Your grace, it is nice to see you well again." They bowed their head in unison and I beckoned them to their seats.
Father and Raymond flocked in later and nodded at me as they went to their seats.
"We have pressing matters on our hands." I walked back to my seat but stood on the spot. "I need an update on the farming sector, what's going on?"
"Our reserves have been depleted, we barely have enough for the next couple of weeks," Raymond explained.
I frowned. "How is that possible? The reserves were designed to last a minimum of a year if we experienced famines."
Raymond sighed and continued. "The rogues attacked our reserves. They destroyed it and poisoned some with oil on their escape. The remaining batch got infected and now we can't even eat them."
"All of these happened in a space of what—three weeks?" This was the period I had locked myself away. I couldn't believe that so much had happened in such a short amount of time.
"Yes, your grace." Raymond replied and my stomach twisted.
"Isn't there a way to use the remaining batch as manure and draw water from the river to start farming again?"
Father shook his head, and my attention moved to him. "No, there's another problem." He whispered and I noticed how weak he sounded.
"What is it?" Even as I asked the questions, I could already feel the trouble above us in my throat.
"The rivers are dry; we don't have rain even. Honestly, I don't even know why everything is going wrong."
A loud murmur broke out along the table as my father's response seemed to have sparked even more fear of our situation.
"Silence! Silence!" I clapped loudly and some degree of calmness flooded the hall again.
"What about wheat? The one reserved for the horses and soldiers? We can use that one as a substitute for food as we find another way to feed ourselves and fight off the rogues," I said.
I noticed that Raymond sighed sadly again, and I shook my head. "No, don't tell me. Did something happen to that reserve as well?"
Raymond nodded. "As crazy as it sounds, yes your grace. Everything is covered up with maggots. The soldiers can't fight on an empty stomach. We are at our last."
"Your grace, the rogues have taken camp not far from the capital. They know of our situation and are taking advantage of it. The horses are weak, and our men are exhausted, what are we going to do?" The commander of the army asked.
The officials started speaking loudly again. A form of mini chaos was likely to break out, but I quelled them down.
"I will get to the bottom of this. Just give me some time and stay as calm as possible." I ended the meeting.
The officials left the hall embroiled in arguments while I pulled my father aside.
"Father, this isn't normal," I started, my face squeezed in a confused frown.
He shook his head. "I know. But how are you feeling?"
"That doesn't matter now, Father. I am rather worried about you and the realm." I looked back at the door. "The last meeting we had with the apprentices, I told you all that there was a chance that we had a witch in our mix, but you all didn't believe me. Now we can see that it's evident with Arielle gone."
He raised his brows in confusion. "Damien, you never told me about this."
I was going to argue when I remembered that he truly wasn't in that meeting. "Right, you were fucking Bailey when I was having this meeting."
That took a sting at Father, but he only clenched his jaws.
"What I'm saying is, I told an apprentice to investigate this matter some time ago. I couldn't get back at her but now we will see her together. Come with me."
Father and I went to the apprentice workroom to see Simon the apprentice.
As soon as she saw us, she got to her feet and cleared her throat. "We have made a grave mistake," she went straight to the point.
"I can see that, tell me what you found." I took my seat. Father followed suit and watched what transpired.
"For starters, the young woman called Arielle was actually the one protecting us from the doom."
"What?" Father let out and Simon raised a finger in the air.
"I will be right back." She went further inside the workroom, and I felt my empty chest constrict.
"What's going on here—what is she saying?" Father asked angrily.
"I don't know… I'm just as surprised as you." I shrugged. Arielle not being the curse was already shocking. I wondered what Simon was going to bring out.
She finally reappeared pulling a giant board along with her. She rested it on the wall and pointed at the scribblings on it. "This is the history of the pack. We mixed up our facts from the beginning, Arielle was the wrong child—"
"What are you saying? That's blasphemous!" Father exploded.
"Calm down father, let's listen to what she has to say." I calmed him down and turned to her. "Don't waste our time and go straight to the point."
"The prophecy was never complete—"
"If the prophecy was never complete and Arielle was the wrong child, why aren't we able to kill her?! Why does she have a curse imbued on her?!" Father erupted again.
Simon remained calm. "Every magic spell can be a curse, depending on what angle you are seeing it from. Her Hex that protected her, acted as a curse if anyone tried to kill her. But at the same time, it protected the realm from another curse, the curse of doom."
"Who is this quack apprentice you have brought me to, Damien? She claims she is better than the priestess?! Is she crazy? Arielle is the doom the priestess warned us about!"
Simon smiled. "I know it sounds crazy, but it's the truth when you look at it calmly… Think about our situation."
"Stop beating around the bush and tell us what exactly you have found!"
Simon turned towards me, the grey strands in her hair caught my attention. "Two children were born that night. One is the child of doom, the other is the child of protection."
She folded her arms and stared at us. "Arielle is the child of protection, we can already see that after she left, the kingdom fell into chaos. We must find the doom living among us... The second child born on that same night."