The news spread all across town. There was found among the king's servants, a traitor who shall be killed by noon.
Everyone felt bad for the scapegoat, at the same time they couldn't help but mock his stupidity. Who in their right mind would go against Calhoun? Calhoun had always been scary, but in the past year, he had grown into something worse than scary. He wasn't just scary, he was a scare in itself.
The murmurings across the town were loud enough to reach the castle's ears. Calhoun did not bother. He couldn't help but think about who decided to save his kingdom.
"Look at it this way, my king." George began. "They just saved themselves. They must think we are the regular werewolf type."
"That will be highly impossible, considering that their spy was an insider." Calhoun refuted.
"They do know what they are up against. We, however, do not know what we are up against."
"We just have an edge because we are werewolves and we adapt." Calhoun finished. He sipped his wine and closed his eyes, savoring the taste.
"This wine gets sweeter and sweeter every time I taste it." Calhoun hummed. "Who mixed it this time?"
"That would be Patricia," George said. Calhoun's eyes flew open instantly and the wine turned sour in his mouth. His eyes turned rigid and cold.
"Where is she?" He demanded.
"I believe she is somewhere with the other servants, whispering about the latest treachery," George said. "She must indulge in gossip a lot. I overheard the other maids asking her things about you."
"Did she blab?"
"I don't think she would dare," George said. "I think she just brags about the fact that she was chosen by you. Although the other maids envy her, they would never admit it. You know how the rumors spread about you being cursed, they all feel it's a communicable curse."
Calhoun burst out laughing. His laughter was deep and reverberated through the walls of his chamber.
"George, you crack me up!" He exclaimed after laughing. "Communicable? Do they know that the curse was placed on the throne and not me? Whoever sits on this throne is the curse. I am only sacrificing myself for them."
"I know that my king, but they don't," George said.
"Fools," Calhoun commented. "Such folly as I have never seen before! Those tiny human girls that I could squeeze by just wrapping my tiny finger around their bodies? They dare to gossip about their king."
George began to feel as if he had said too much. "Ignore them, my king. A time shall come when you shall have an heir and their mouths will be shut."
Calhoun tsked. "Have an heir? That's not exactly possible. Except if Diana had somehow broken the curse. But then she would have been pregnant."
George shrugged. "Perhaps she was pregnant. Who knows?"
"It took a month before she left. Someone should have known." Calhoun stated. "It was surely up to a month."
George inhaled and then exhaled sharply. "Whatever it is, my king, we can only hope for the best."
"And prepare for the worst, George," Calhoun added. "Never leave that part. Hope? It's never enough."
"You are shrewd," George commented.
"I would never have it any other way," Calhoun said with a deep chuckle. "Besides, who better than a shrewd man to sit on this cursed throne?"
George shook his head. "Nobody could have done it better than you."
The market sellers were all bothered. Who's child was going to earn the wrath of their king?
"You wouldn't believe it, how come the king is so happy, killing off his subjects?"
"You can't say that." Another woman interjected. "As much as I don't support his brutal ways of killing, I wouldn't also say he didn't warn."
"Warn? The man made a mistake, how could he not be forgiven?"
"Keep quiet lady Madeline!" A man shushed. "Don't you know that the king has spies all around the market? If anyone hears you say such a thing, they could report you to the king as well!"
"And what? He would kill me? I did nothing wrong!" Madeline said. "If he dares to touch me, he shall regret it!"
There were gasps in the market as if she had already challenged Calhoun.
"I wasn't here today, I didn't see you and I heard nothing." The other woman said, packing her goods into a big bag. She was going to lock her shop for the day. She didn't dare to irk the king further than he had been irked.
Madeline mocked her. "Don't be a fool now, your king is human like you are. Don't because he looks more animalistic, begin to fear him."
"Say whatever you wish to say, I can't hear you." The woman repeated, locking her stall. Once she was done, she carried her purse and left them there. The man stared at her retreating figure, considering leaving as well.
"Look at how your king has enslaved you!" Madeline yelled.
"Lady Madeline, if you wish to incur the wrath of the king, I will ask you to step away from my stall please." The man said. "I do not support treason and never will I be a part of it. If not for the good then for the sake of my head will I not do so."
Madeline laughed evilly. "Why not join my kingdom? My king allows us humans to have the freedom to do as we, please. The werewolves and the humans live in harmony. The king doesn't value his kind more than us. His wife is a human!"
The man ignored her. Yes, serving Calhoun had its perks, but it also had its benefits. They were the safest kingdom of all. They couldn't ever be unsafe and that was also because of Calhoun's ruthlessness. So even if he was brutal in the way he dealt with the offense, all they could do was avoid offending him. Just like his neighbor had done, she had quickly left. That was how to avoid Calhoun. And he was going to do the same.
Ignoring the ranting woman, he packed his goods and left as well. Madeline would not give up. She kept moving from stall to stall, trying to convince the people to turn against Calhoun but no matter how much she spoke, no matter how much good of her king she preached, nobody gave her audience. She was surprised at the level of loyalty they had for their cruel king.
She decided to leave. While she was leaving, a few guards stopped her. She placed her hand in her coat pocket to take out her rifle but she was sprayed with a special type of drug and she fell to the ground immediately, unconscious. The guards carried her to the castle.
Madeline woke up, feeling a slight concussion. For a few seconds, she forgot who she was and where she was. After a while of thinking, she finally remembered. Her eyes widened in fear as she looked around the place she was kept. It was a dungeon. What was she doing here? She remembered trying to leave and then she was stopped by guards.
George noticed that she was awake and walked over to meet her.
"Hello, the lady Madeline." He greeted me with a warm smile. Madeline felt a little at peace with the smile he offered her.
"Hello, uh.. where am I?"
"You are in King Calhoun's dungeon. It's where he keeps offenders of all kinds. Slanderers, traitors, thieves, liars, troublemakers, murdered, even suicidal people."
"What?" Madeline demanded. "Suicidal people? Shouldn't he care for them instead?"
"Calhoun is an extraordinary man, he doesn't like allowing bad vibes to rub off on people," George said.
"Vibes," Madeline repeated. "What do you mean by vibes?"
"Bad energy," George said. "When the energy you receive is negative, you tend to think negatively."
"Oh," Madeline said. "Well don't you think it's illegal to keep me here?"
"Why?"
"I'm not a part of Wisteria." She said, smirking cunningly. "And if my king finds out I'm missing, he will wage a war against Wisteria."
"Don't you think it's illegal for you to slander a King in his land, before his people?" George asked in return. "When you travel to a place, their laws abide on you until you leave. You don't have to be a part of Wisteria for you to obey the rules."
Madeline frowned. "Calhoun does not know what is coming."
George opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by Calhoun's voice from behind him.
"Does he now?" Calhoun asked. "I could have sworn that he did."
Madeline was struck by Calhoun's look, she began to rethink her decision.
"Who are you?" She still dared to ask.
"Hm." Calhoun hummed. "You come into a place and mock the owner yet you do not know what he looks like? If this isn't the height of folly."
Madeline's eyes flashed in anger and a mild rage. "Who do you dare to call foolish?"
"Dare?" Calhoun repeated. "I am Calhoun Montego, I do whatever I want. If you don't like it, that's your fucking business. If you feel like you can stop me..." He chuckled. "I would love to see you try."
"George, keep her silent for the time being. We have a traitor to punish as a lesson to the others." Calhoun ordered.
"Don't you think my king, that it would be rather awesome for lady Madeline to watch the punishment given for treachery? At least since she has good imaginative skill seeing how she insulted a man she had never seen before, she can also imagine what fate will await her for slander." George suggested. Calhoun never felt more proud of him.
"Brilliant!" He exclaimed. "Quick, have the guards tie her properly and bring her as the guest prisoner."
Madeline growled at him.
"Humans growl too?" Calhoun mocked. "I would rather call it a purr."
Madeline was seething. How could she be insulted so greatly? She needed to escape the penitentiary. She had to leave.
The stage was set up. The guillotine was brought up the stage. There was still a wooden tub that was wrapped in metal. The stage was just a foot high so that the villagers could watch and see how traitors were treated.
George was the one who did the introductory speech to inform everyone as to why they were gathered. People were murmuring among themselves but they didn't dare to speak any bad words against the king. Calhoun reclined in his seat which was brought for him. Madeline was chained by hands and feet to a long pole. She could only watch since it was directly before her. There was no turning for her.
"This is the punishment for all who would dare to act treacherously to the king and Wisteria as a whole," George announced. "For those who do not know, this man allowed himself to be used as a spy for a distant country that plans to attack us soon and kill every one of us."
"Our noble king has found his plans and he denied it not, rather he tried to attack the king as well."
The man, tied from his mouth to his hands and feet, tried to refute their public claims. Yes, he was a spy, but he didn't try to attack the king. He begged for mercy!
"Now, he shall be placed in the guillotine and everyone will watch him beheaded," George said. Two guards came and put the man in the guillotine, his head to the crowd of villagers. Calhoun had stood up as well. The sight of blood made him excited and he was going to miss it for the world.
The heavy blade came down like a whoosh and the head fell off his body and rolled down to the ground. There were screams as the head kept rolling. Calhoun grinned in excitement.
"Now, burn it up." He ordered.
"My king... That was not the agreement -"
"Who is the king among you and me?" Calhoun asked, getting angry already. George bowed and did as the king commanded him. The other two guards removed the body from the other side of the guillotine and placed it in the wooden tub. They poured oil on it and set it ablaze. The villagers watched in tears how their own was killed. Madeline's heart thumped in her chest. Could she swallow the fact that this could also be her?
Before anyone could say or do anything, an arrow whooshed slightly above the crowd of villagers and went directly into Calhoun's shoulder.