Beauty and the Werewolf

CHAPTER THREE: SAVING AMANDA

As Prince Morgan bent over to examine Amanda’s lifeless body, he had only one wish: "Amanda can't die." She was the only key they had to finding the heiress to the Midland Kingdom. She would provide useful information, and at the very least help to clear his name. "Amanda can't die," he exclaimed, looking up to heaven as if to request God to do something and quickly. He observed her to see if she was still breathing but noticed that she appeared to have stopped breathing minutes ago; at least, it would seem so. Not willing to accept the verdict of his own eyes, he tilted her onto her back to check further for breath without much success, then he reached for her jugular vein to check for a pulse. It was then that he noticed she still had a pulse, a very faint pulse. So faint that he was sure she wouldn’t make it back to the palace alive, much less reveal to the entire kingdom the whereabouts of Princess Olivia.

"Amanda has to stay alive, oh God." He wailed, looking around for anyone who could help revive her. However, Amanda's close-to-death situation meant one thing: whoever was responsible for Princess Olivia's disappearance was also responsible for Amanda’s plight. And though Amanda lay almost completely lifeless, whoever had put her in that situation had also helped to clear her name from the list of suspects. Even if she died, she would be posthumously honored for dying in the line of royal duties'. These thoughts kept Prince Morgan deeply worried.

'Hey!, can anyone help stop the blood loss?' 'Anyone, please?' he begged. One of the princess's guards, James Falon, stepped forward. His father, Matthew Falon, is famed for being a traditional healer who used herbs to heal people in the Midlands. In fact, he was so skilled that he was a Chief Royal Physician. He even won a medal of honor for helping to save King Edgar’s father, King Alfred, when he was afflicted with pneumonia. Everyone at the time had given up. King Alfred himself, being barely able to speak, had hurriedly named Edgar as the Crown Prince, fearing that if he delayed and died, the entire court would be turned into a theater of war. Though King Edgar learned the arts of warfare, he wasn’t as good as his younger brother, Prince Martins who was Prince Morgan’s father. Martins wasn’t just a warlord, he was a gifted tactician who helped to expand the territories of the Midland Kingdom. In fact, it was this uncanny and exceptional nature of his that led several of the Court Ministers to suggest to King Alfred that he jettison the first line of succession in favor of merit, talent, and abilities. Somehow, they wanted to have Prince Martins, who wasn't the first son, succeed the king. However, immediately after Matthew arrived with his special portion, the king’s health took a turn for the better, making naming a successor unnecessary at the time.

So he took up the call to save Amanda just as his father had once saved the Royal family from turmoil. Perhaps this was his time to save the Royal family like his father did, because he understood too well that inability to find Olivia would spell doom for the Royal family. He felt this was destiny calling, so he stood up and advanced towards Amanda yelling 'Stand aside!' After carefully observing her, he noticed one thing: poison had been used. He didn’t know what kind of poison it was, but he felt that it would only be a matter of time before Amanda was gone."

The first thing he told Prince Morgan as he took on the task of reliving Amanda, was to send one of the guards to his father, Matthew, with this information and have him come meet us at the palace. In the meantime, 'I’ll fetch some herbs to stop the bleeding'. Immediately he dished out his instructions like a commander at that moment, he sprinted off to the woods in search for herbs. He soon returned with strange plants. He applied some to the knife injury Amanda had sustained and squeezed another into her mouth. ‘Thank goodness,’ he said, 'the bleeding has stopped though there seemed to be little or no improvement in Amanda’s pulse'. he stated. ‘I owe you dearly, my friend,’ said Prince Morgan to James. By this time, evening had fallen, and a return trip to the palace was imminent. ‘Prepare the Princess’s carriage for Amanda,’ Prince Morgan instructed. ‘To the palace,’ he ordered with the last of whatever was left of his royalty. As they journeyed back to the palace, he recognized that what lay ahead of him could only be altered by God Himself and no human. He looked up to heaven and said a prayer, knowing he would need it more than anyone else.

Meanwhile, Matthew had reached the palace, waiting for the arrival of the Prince and his entourage. When King Edgar got wind of Matthew’s presence in the palace, he sensed that something must be wrong, though he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. He called one of his retainers and inquired, ‘is anything the matter?'. 'Is anyone grievously unwell that they would send for Matthew?’ ‘Not that I know of, my King' replied the retainer. 'Send for the Queen at once'. 'She must know why Matthew is in the outer courtroom.’

Queen Marylyn has a very beautiful and irresistible demeanor, but what the King doesn’t know is that behind that enchanting beauty lies the fangs of the most venomous snakes of the Midland. Marylyn's quest for power is insatiable, but her ability to conceal it is even more legendary.

"What worries my King this late evening?" she queried as she made one of her most stunning and elegant entrances into the courtroom, where the King sat impatiently. 'Thank the gods you are fine,' the King exasperatedly letting out a breath he seemed to have held since the moment he saw Matthew Falon, the healer. The Queen approached the King with her famous slow and elegant bow, extending her hand for the customary kingly kiss. "My King, what worries you?" she asked again.

"Matthew Falon is in the outer court," said the King. "I was extremely worried that you must have been so unwell as to have sent for the best physician in all the Midland."

"But now, my worries are all gone with the wind," he chuckled. Yet, as soon as he spoke, he remembered that he had not asked about the most important person to him in the world. At least in all of Midland.

"Where is Princess Olivia?" the King asked.

"She must be in her court," Queen Marylyn replied."I haven’t been seeing much of her these days owing to too much studying," the Queen said in a bid to pacify the king, who was now relieved, but his gut still wanted to know why Matthew was in the courtroom. Just as he was about to send for him, he remembered that the princess would be turning 21 soon, and it would be necessary to inform her about the betrothal arrangement that he had made for her. So, he took a stroll to her quarters. When he got there, he discovered that she hadn’t been there the entire day. Leaving Olivia’s quarters, he met one of her attendants, who told the king that Olivia had gone hunting with Prince Morgan. "Hunting?'' Princess Olivia hunting?" He seemed to remember Morgan telling him that he was going hunting but couldn't recall him mentioning that Princess Olivia would be going with him.

The king quickly connected the dots. 'Could it be that Princess Olivia was injured from hunting?' he asked himself. 'Is that why Matthew is in the outer court?' He didn’t need to send for him because he had become very restless, so he thought to go there to find himself. So the King hurried to the outer court to ask Matthew himself why he had come all the way to the palace. Sensing the king's dilemma, his guards followed closely. As he approached the outer court, he found that Prince Morgan had arrived, so, he hurried to meet him and ascertain that Princess Olivia was fine. He reached out to open the Princess’s carriage, and when he did, he was greeted by the greatest fear of his life. Princess Olivia was missing because he could see clearly that it was Amanda, not Princess Olivia, that lay, near death, in the carriage. 'Where is the Princess, Morgan?' 'Where is my daughter?' 'Where is the heiress to the Kingdom of Midlands?' With tears in his eyes and on his knees the entire time, Prince Morgan said, 'I’ll give you my head, my father'. 'Her whereabouts are unknown, my King.' Upon hearing this, the King passed out!