Kitanna
Chapter 143: THE STINGER NIGHTWORM

Chapter 143: THE STINGER NIGHTWORM

[MUSIC RECOMMENDATION: EVERYONE ~ VAN MORRISON]

"High Priestess Mubera is unconscious... poisoned!" The shrine maid announced, not speaking coherently. As she ran, her message caused panic to streak down the backs of the servants who heard it.

Small murmurs erupted from the crowd, as everyone did not understand what was going on. First, they heard that a person had been kidnapped, now the high priestess.

Hieron hit the side of the wall he stood with an iron to get everyone’s attention. Now the corridor was quiet, the voice of the younger white Lord was heard.

"Everyone should assemble at the courtroom right now. Chantal, lock the palace gates, make sure nobody leaves," Nix spoke in an authoritative voice, his words laced with a sense of urgency.

Chantal turned immediately and rushed to the gates to carry out the orders. While the palace servants filed to the courtroom, murmuring among themselves about what the problem could be.

Nix walked steadily to the courtroom, his strides precise and sharp as they clicked against the marble floor. But his eyes were now looking disoriented, as if the carpet was pulled from his feet while he was standing. Something was happening in the palace, and he didn’t know what. He had been looking for Kitanna since she left his room.

"Clephas, Felipe, arrange every servant according to where they work. Make sure everyone is accounted for and find what they were doing at different times. I will leave here to you, Lord Hieron. Let me go to the shrine."

"I will go with you," Cortez said, following Nix behind, while Hieron stayed back to get the details from the palace servants.

On his way to the shrine, Nix saw Chantal running towards their direction.

"Lord Nix, I have locked the gate, but I saw the workers who renovated the back of the palace leave already." Chantal relayed the information.

Nix stopped walking for a moment, "Workers? How come I didn’t hear about that before it started. Get me information on who ordered the construction," He said, walking briskly to the shrine. Nix’s mind was here and there. He couldn’t believe it happened again, that the princess was not in the palace. She has only told him in the morning that she wanted to visit Mubera, but now news from the shrine was that something happened to the priestess, and Kitanna was not in the shrine.

Stepping inside the shrine, Nix saw the shrine maids trying to treat the high priestess. She was looking pale and white, with her eyes closed peacefully.

"Lord Nix," the first shrine maiden to see him bowed, as others quickly joined her, making space for Nix to pass. He sat on his heels and touched the woman’s face; it was cold but she was still breathing. It was indeed poison. He frowned; his face showed his concern. Who would dare poison the high priestess? Except Almaria was already making bold moves, he thought.

Cortez went to stand beside Nix and said, "This looks familiar, can I check something?" He asked, and Nix nodded, giving him space to look at the woman.

Cortez held her lips open; it had filaments of purple, and on her neck, there were similar patches. He touched her neck, closing his eyes. When he opened them, he said, "The stinger nightworm. It’s a poison used by the locals to kill wild animals that attack their crops." He said softly.

"Does it have an antidote?" Nix asked, standing up from his position with his hands dipped in his pocket.

Cortez hummed, "We would have to ask the locals. I know a woman, Lady Hash." He remarked, then he added, "But something doesn’t click; this poison doesn’t work immediately on humans. For her to be unconscious, she has been fed this poison since the past three days or more."

The new information startled the shrine maidens; they could not believe someone among them had been feeding the high priestess with something poisonous. Who could have dared?

Nix looked around the room for a moment, his eyes stopped on two persons. "Lady Bareea, why are you not in the main palace? There’s a census going on in there." He remarked, his eyes moving to look at the guest that stood beside her.

"Chief Panha, I didn’t know you pray too." Cortez added, now noticing the two women they had initially missed because of how occupied they were with the high priestess.

Not waiting for them to reply, Nix said, "Everyone in this shrine should move down to the main palace; I’ll take care of the high priestess." He announced, and effectively, the shrine maidens started filing out of the room. Bareea and Panha followed suit.

After placing the high priestess on a bed and keeping her warm with the bed cover, Nix and Cortez joined others going to the main palace.

"Lord Nix, they have all been accounted for, including the shrine maidens. Three persons are not here, excluding the two held in prison," Felipe, the head eunuch spoke.

"Who are the remaining two, apart from The princess?" Nix asked.

"Axilla and Lady Larel," it was Clephas who answered. His eyes looked at the lady’s brother worriedly.

"Larel? She is not here?" Cortez asked, looking alarmed now. He was with Nix in the morning, discussing the next trading season and how Morado should be given the best of every good when a maid had come to tell them that she saw someone being abducted.

Nix inhaled deeply, his eyes already looking tired. He nodded after the eunuchs had given him the feedback. It was certain that either the princess, the lady, or the maid, one from the three was not in the palace. Now someone had the high priestess poisoned. He decided to solve the case of the high priestess first; maybe that way, he would get a clue to something.

"The high priestess has been poisoned with the stinger nightworm. If you are the one who did it or you know something about it, step out now so your punishment would be considered," Nix said, looking at everyone in the crowd.

A few minutes passed, but nobody stepped out or said anything. The courtroom was silent, so silent that even the heartbeats of everyone could be clearly heard.

Nix knew it was not going to be easy because which culprit would come out willingly for their own crime. He decided to make a small push.

"I would then imprison every shrine maid and servants who have been in the shrine for the past few days," he remarked, taking in the expressions of everyone.

"Lord Nix!" Someone shouted from behind, getting everyone to look at him. It was the royal physician.

"I have something to say," the elderly man replied, bowing his head deeply.

"Make way for him to get to the front," Heiron ordered. The servants moved to the side, allowing the royal physician to stand in front of the crowd.

"Greetings to the White Lords and Young master. I am the royal physician," he bowed again in respect, getting a nod as an acknowledgment to continue. He started talking.

"I know someone who has been exposed to the stinger nightworm." This information caused murmurs to arise in the room as everyone was scared of being mentioned.

"Silence!" Nix ordered, and the serenity returned to the room. "And who is that?" He asked, motioning for the man to continue.

"It’s Lady Bareea; I went to her room this morning, and she was already showing symptoms of being exposed to it." The man completed.

"Lord Nix! Please don’t pay attention to this old chap! I was not feeling fine; I asked him to come and take a look at me. He said I was exposed to something..." Bareea, who wanted to defend herself, stopped immediately. What was going on? Someone was blackmailing her.

"And she has been frequenting the royal shrine for the past few days," the head shrine maiden added, receiving a glare from Bareea.

Bareea rushed to kneel in front of Nix, "Lord Nix, why would I ever poison the priestess? When I have my child, I won’t risk exposing myself to poison. Ok, check my room; I don’t have anything of such. This is my first time hearing the name stinger nightworm," the concubine pleaded, feeling the tension that was now rising and how every moment made her a good suspect.

Nix whispered to the guard beside him to check her room.

"Lady Bareea, you frequent the shrine every day that even the high priestess got tired. Maybe you were angry she stopped giving you attention." Another shrine maiden added.

Nix continued to watch everything unfold, until the guard he sent out appeared holding something in a wrapped box. He handed it over to Nix, who then gave it to Cortez to check it out.

"It is indeed the stinger nightworm," Cortez confirmed, handing back the poison to Nix.

The palace servants gasped at the revelation. How could someone think of poisoning the high priestess? Such atrocity was unheard of.

"Bareea, was it Almaria who asked you to do it? As revenge? Did you also abduct the princess, Lady Larel, and Axilla?" Nix asked.

Bareea shook her head, "Believe me, I didn’t do anything. I haven’t even heard from the queen dowager since she left this palace. I don’t know how that thing got to my room," the tears now flowed freely from her face. She turned to plead for help, but everyone looked at her scornfully.

"Panha, please tell them. You’ve been with me, and you know what I’m capable of." Bareea turned, hoping her new friend would help her out.

Panha nodded; her face looking so sad. "Both Lady Bareea and the high priestess made my stay here warm. It’s so sad to hear that something of such happened. High priestess Mubera did not scold Lady Bareea; rather, she just stopped coming out every time Lady Bareea shows up. I believed it hurt Lady Bareea’s feeling because every time she was with me, she reminisces about how the high priestess betrayed her mother-in-law. But I’m sure she didn’t mean any harm in all that. And I only heard her argue this morning with Lady Larel, but I’m sure it’s just normal between co-wives even though I heard someone slap the other. I can’t tell who," Panha said, looking concerned as her eyes moved to look at Bareea. She bowed gently before going to stand at her position.

"Panha, you’re not making it better; what you’re saying is putting me in a tight spot." Bareea sighed, closing her eyes in frustration as tears slipped down her cheeks.

Before Nix could say anything else, Chantal ran into the courtroom.

"Lord Nix, I know who started the renovation at the back of the palace. It was the crow-" the young guard was not allowed to finish his words as the door flew open and someone walked in.

"Yes, it was me. I, Adric, moved a motion for the renovation of the palace," the crown prince of Avon, made his way to where Nix was sitting.

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