The Queens Right-Hand

Poison?!

Albert

" You think that Annabelle and the Queen have been poisoned?" he asked the doctor absolutely shocked.

The doctor nodded looking somber " The fact that they have pretty much the same symptoms. What I want to know is how" he told them.

" I know typically the entire castle eats the same and no one else so far is sick. Do the two ever go into town and eat different things? Does anyone else ever give them something different?" he asked.

He and James exchanged a look and James nodded.

" They will often go into town just the two of them into the bakery. But there's no way the baker would poison the Queen. We take very good care of his business, to lose our support would destroy him. Along with losing his life of course" James told the doctor.

" Well someone did, who else would they have taken food from?" the doctor asked him and James shrugged his shoulders.

" It's hard to answer that, I rarely go into the Kingdom with them. But clearly we need to send a warrior with them from now on" James told the doctor.

" Let's find out" the doctor said as they walked down the hallway.

They peered inside the Kings room to see that Annabelle was sleeping again. They looked into the Queens room and she was awake so they went into her room.

" Are you feeling any better your highness?" the doctor asked her.

" It's hard to tell but I'm hoping so" the told him.

" What I'm going to say is going to sound scary. Within the last few days did you eat anything from someone you don't know?" the doctor asked her.

" We did go to the bakery the other day, do you think something was prepared wrong?" she asked him.

" Unfortunately no, I think you and the other one were poisoned. So I need you to think really hard what else you could've eaten" the doctor told her.

" We did walk past a man selling fruit and we each had a strawberry could he have poisoned us?" Charlotte asked clearly getting upset.

Albert went over to her and grabbed her hand giving it a kiss " Hopefully not my Queen but we need an answer" he told her.

" Do you remember his name?" James asked her.

" He never said his name" she told him.

" Do you remember where he was?" James asked her and she nodded.

" He was right by the fountain " she told him.

" I'll get the warriors, I'll let you know when we've got him. Keep an eye on Annabelle " James told the king as James left the room and made his way downstairs.

James

James went into the training area on the grounds. He threw open the doors and they all stopped their sparing and looked at him.

" Whats wrong?" the head of the warriors asked walking towards James.

" The Queen and Annabelle have been poisoned. The Queen said a man selling fruit by the fountain could be the culprit. Bring him to the castle dungeons and let me know when he's there." he told the warriors.

" Alright you know what to do" the head warrior William told the warriors.

Half of them went to the fruit stand and the other half stayed at the castle to keep watch. A few hours had passed and James was pacing the castle anxiously waiting for the warriors to return. James wanted to kill this guy himself for putting Annabelle into harms way. James knew that he would really have to restrain himself when he was brought to the dungeons.

The door to the castle opened and it was the head warrior " We've got him, he's in the dungeons right now" he told James.

" Thank you. The King and I will be down in a few" he told him as William nodded.

James sighed and made his way upstairs first he wanted to check on Annabelle, she was still sleeping. James went over and checked to make sure she was still breathing and made his way over to the King.

" He's here" James told the King.

" I'll be back" he told The Queen as they both made their way downstairs to the Dungeons.

" Alright who do we have here?" The King asked him as he got to his cell.

The man was badly beaten and just covered in his own blood. His eye was so swollen he could barely open it, serves him right.

The man spat at the floor " I'm not telling you a single thing" he told the King.

The King smiled " You and I both know you will be talking, just save yourself an additional beating and just talk" he told the man.

" Why does my name matter when you're going to kill me?" he asked him and the King shrugged his shoulders.

" That's fair. Fine I don't care about your name anyway. Why did you poison the Queen and her right hand?" The King asked him.

The man just looked at him and didn't reply. A warrior inside his cell gave him a hard punch to his stomach.

" Are you deaf? The King asked you a question" he told the man grabbing onto his shirt.

" It wasn't supposed to be for either of them. The plan was she would bring the fruit home to you Albert" the man spoke.

Was another hard hit this time to his face, blood splattered everywhere across his cell.

" What could I have possibly done to you to warrant being poisoned?" the King asked him.

" My kingdom still hasn't recovered from the trade agreement you forced us to make two years ago. You have forever tarnished the reputation of Malikai kingdom" he spat out at the King.

The King just shrugged his shoulders " I will see what I can do to change that and fix it. It's unfortunate you won't be around to see it. Your execution day is tomorrow" the King said as he and James went to leave.

" You're really planning on fixing your mess?" the man asked him.

" Yes, and I would've looked into this had you had enough brains to mention it. Plotting to have me poisoned, failing and poisoning my wife instead. Your hanging will take place at dawn" he told him.

" What did you poison them with? Will they die?" James asked him.

" No they won't die. When I saw the two of them take a bite I took the entire basket back. You will regret having me executed " he told the King.

" I doubt it" the King said as he and James left the dungeons.