I went to the woods behind the orchard to source the herbs I would be needing for the special brew I would be making for his Majesty. Today was the first day of the treatment procedure meaning I had thirteen more days to live.
I needed red sage, milk thistle, and hawthorns fresh. I was going to be picking theses from the woods. Next, I would have to go to the market to buy ginger, turmeric and garlic.
True to his word, Mr Kellan assigned me a maid to assist me and a coachman to give me a ride to whereever I wanted to go. After my herb gathering excursion, I was shown to a private room in the royal infirmary where I would be making the brew. It had all the apparatus I could possibly need.
I took my time preparing the ingredients. I peeled, cut, sliced, dried and crushed and then a little before sunset, I made a fire underneath the little cauldron given to me and began to make the brew.
When the brew was almost ready, I made sure my assistant was busy cleaning up and I slipped my secret into the cauldron: the leaves of the nightshade plant.
While Papa told me that nature provided us with the herbs we needed to save lives, it also produced poisons to take lives. One of these poisons was nightshade, a slow poison.
Not many people knew about it's poisonous quality, and it really didn't have much effect when ingested in small quantities.
But when it was injested frequently, the toxins in the plant begin to build up to a level the body could not fight and the person would eventually die. The average time for the poison to eventually kill someone who had taken a high dosage of it was twenty one days which was approximately seven days after I must have died.
It was quite disappointing to know that I wouldn't be able to see the Dark Lord die but it was alright too, I could still imagine it. His face and body will become slightly purplish and then he would cough up blood until he died. And even these symptoms wouldn't manifest until the last three days of his life.
I watched the leaves boil with the rest of the brew and by dinnertime, it was ready. I sieved out the used herbs and poured the rich liquid I had extracted into a ceramic teapot. I set the tea pot on a tray along with a matching teacup.
I took the brew along with me back to the main castle building to find Mr Kellan. I looked everywhere he could possibly be and I couldn't find him. I found Gilbert the butler supervising the dinner being made in the kitchen.
"Good evening Gilbert." I said to get his attention.
He turned from what he was doing to face me. "Oh, good evening Miss Frieda. Is there something you need?"
I shook my head. "Not really. It's just that I can't seem to find Mr Kellan no matter where I look in the castle."
"Oh Mr Kellan." The butler recounted. "He went to the docks to bring in the merchant ships coming to Kerva. Is there something you needed from him?" He asked.
I showed Gilbert the teapot. "I'm not really looking for him, I just want him to see the brew I had made for his Majesty as well as request that he takes the medicine to the fifth storey."
Gilbert glanced at the pot I was holding. "I guess you'll just have to take I up to the fifth storey yourself." He told me.
What? He didn't expect me to walk into the dragon's lair by myself now, did he? Who knows what that cruel tyrant would do to me?
"But-but Gilbert, you're his butler. You have to take it to him." I protested.
"And you're his physician and you are concerned greatly by the health of the king. You'll have to take it." Gilbert said to me.
"No. I couldn't possibly go up there by myself." I tried to reason with him. He finally heaved a sigh and adjusted his monocle.
"Alright, fine. I'll come along with you to the fifth floor." Gilbert offered.
Going up with Gilbert didn't seem any better because I was still going up to the fifth floor regardless. But I didn't have a choice in this.
Gilbert led me up the stairs all the way to the fifth floor. With every step we took, my heart pounded in my ribcage. Finally I was going to see the Dark Lord I so detested. The one who turned Kerva upside down. The one who had my life in his hand and whose life rested in mine.
I was going to see the ugly monster withy very eyes right now.
Climbing up to the fifth floor and walking down the long hallway, we got to an ornately carved wooden door that seemed ten feet high. There was a dragon insignia carved on the door and with that I could tell that we had reached the Dark Lord's chambers.
The butler knocked first and went in
A few moments later he returned and asked me to go in as well. I felt my palms begin to sweat and I felt my resolve weaken.
Gilbert urged me gently to go in and I took a deep breath before pushing the huge doors open and stepping into the room.
Well, he wasn't called the Dark Lord for no reason. The entire room was dark save for a few candles that provided a very dim light in the room. My eyes eventually adjusted to the darkness and I saw a figure standing at the balcony. From the moonlight that shone down on him, I could see that he was wearing a robe. A black one.
"Good evening, your majesty." I said after mustering up all the courage I could in one single go. "I'm Frieda Evans and I'm your physician. I'm here to give you your medicine."
He said nothing. There was absolute silence in the room save for the sound of the cold breeze blowing into the room, causing the candles to flicker.
"Your majesty?" I called again. He just stood, unmoving like he hadn't heard me call him. Like he was a statue of some sort. He didn't speak.
Was this how I was supposed to stand so awkwardly, waiting for him to acknowledge me? I know he heard me. Wasn't it quite childish the games he was playing right now?
He was a bad host who was tetering at the edge of being a savage because ignoring someone like this was not civil behavior.
"Your majesty? Please it would be best if you take your medicine right now. When it becomes cold, the potency of this medicine can drop significantly." He needed to quickly take the nightshade so it could work quickly and kill him faster.
"Come in." I heard a cold voice echo in the room. The man at the balcony had spoken. I hesitated a bit. Was I ready for what was going to happen next? Was it too late for her to back out now?
The man turned and walked away from the moonlit balcony into the dim room. He walked towards me with confident strides and even in the darkness, I could see his dark wavy hair bouncing with every step he took towards me. I could feel the fear rising inside of me as he came closer to where I stood.
The soft clack sound of his shoes echoed in the room. They stopped when he finally stood right in front of me. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you...the Dark Lord.
I bowed respectfully clutching the pot in my hands. When I stood up straight, my eyes scanned over the man who stood before me in the dim light.
He was tall, but not too tall. Just two inches shorter than six feet. He wasn't overly built, he seemed on the lean side and his face didn't look old at all like I had expected. The Dark Lord seemed to be in his late twenties.
But there was something about his eyes. They were a set of golden-brown eyes I knew quite well. The familiar eyes of Mr Kellan.