"Yeah..." Thomas replied slowly. "Look, I wish I could explain things to you now, but then the king strictly instructed me to keep it to myself."
Felix stared at him. He stared at Evander too.
"Evan, I think you should head out." He said. "I will get back to you after this discussion."
Evander, although not happy with the arrangement, nodded and left. Felix waited until Evander was out of sight, then he signaled for Thomas to follow him.
Thomas followed Felix, and they walked the way from the side of the castle, to the back of the castle. Looking left and right, Felix took out a small key and unlocked the door that no one might have ever noticed. Thomas followed him, skeptical but curious.
"What is this place?" He asked. The room was dark and dusty, Thomas could tell that it hadn't been opened for a long time.
Felix turned on a candlestick and held it in his hand.
"Come." He urged. Thomas didn't like the eeriness he felt as he walked further into the room. It had seemed small when Felix initially lit the candle, but as they went further, he realized it was a passageway. They walked through the dark hall, the only source of light being the candlestick in Felix's hand. The walls were dark and seemed moist, the paint was peeling off already and he could see some cracks.
They got to the end of the passage and Felix held his hand for Thomas to stop. Then he handed him the candlestick. Thomas held the stick while Felix took out another key and inserted it into a small wooden door that seemed half the size of a normal door. Thomas could understand that the next place they would be would require them to crawl.
Felix collected the candlestick and bent to enter the small passage, crawling on all fours.
"Come on along, Thomas." He called. Thomas gulped, but he followed nevertheless.
They crawled further into the passage and when Felix stopped again, it was a ladder that led down into a darker room. Felix climbed into the room and began to light more candles. Thomas could already feel claustrophobic, yet he followed through.
The place was huge, it almost felt like a sanctuary.
"What is this place?" Thomas whispered. The walls looked ancient and there were candles on every side. The power supply did not get to this point. Some trees grew in there yet they did not wither. Thomas touched the tree.
"So alive..." He murmured. "How is this possible?"
"This... This was the place where the sorcerers used to live. They performed all their rituals here. This castle used to be their meeting house."
"When Calhoun's grandfather defeated them, he refurbished the castle and made it his own," Felix explained. "Yet, no one knows of this place."
"How did you figure it out?" Thomas asked. He held a thick book in his hand, the pages seemed thousands of years old. "So antique!"
"Yes, yes." Felix nodded. "That is their spell book. As for this place, I had gotten lost in the castle one day, I found a door under the bed in a room and I followed it through. The moment I entered the door, it slammed shut and it couldn't open anymore."
"Turns out the door only opens from the outside. Afraid, I had to find my way. Just like I showed you, if we repeat the same movement, only going the other way, it would lead you to a room in the castle."
Thomas was wowed. "Why did you bring me here? What has it got to do with the king?"
"Thomas, the king is dying. We have to do something about it."
"What can we do?"
"The vial... The one you went to find in the dungeon where you met Yara, did you manage to get it?"
"What vial?" Thomas asked, feigning ignorance.
"Come on!" Felix exclaimed. "I have shown you a secret place that exists between me and Calhoun's father. You cannot hide it from me."
"It's in my room," Thomas said. "Let's go and get it."
Felix led the way back out and the moment he felt he was free, he took a deep breath.
He and Felix went back inside the castle and he led Felix to his chamber.
"Wait here, I will get it," Thomas said. Felix sat on the bed while Felix went into the bathroom, to grab the vial. He placed his hand into the basket and he couldn't find it.
"It's gone." He announced. Felix was up and in his bathroom in no time.
"What do you mean by it's gone?"
"I placed it here! It was just here, that's where I kept it!"
"What?! Who else has entered this room except you?" Felix asked. "Do maids serve you? Are there any maids assigned to you?"
"Never. I do all my chores myself." Thomas said.
"Well? Has anyone else been in here?"
Thomas thought about it. Mentioning Simon's discussion with his daughter would require telling about the secret he wanted to keep for Calhoun and saying no one had entered would mean he might have hidden it.
"I did find Simon in here once, but then he said he didn't know anybody stayed here." Thomas finally said. "I don't think he would have come back here to search for my toiletries."
"Toiletries?! You kept it among your toiletries?!" Felix yelled. Simon barged into the room with a huge scowl on his face.
"What the hell has got you both screaming? What's the matter?!" He demanded angrily. "Can you not keep your voice down? We have guests!"
"Guests?!" Felix demanded. "What guests?"
"They just arrived in the castle now. The guards have been searching for you, where have you been?"
Felix ignored the question. Turning to Thomas he said, "Find that vial." Then he stormed out.
Simon stared from Felix's angry figure to Thomas's surprised one.
"What vial?"
"Nothing that should concern you, noble Simon," Thomas said, offering the man a kind smile.
"Yeah, cut the crap and tell me," Simon said. "We are all in this together. If the king dies, we are all doomed. If he wakes up, we are saved. So cut the crap and talk to me."
"I don't take orders from you, need I remind you?" Thomas asked, turning to resume his search in his basket.
"Searching for this?" Simon asked, shaking the vial in his face.
Thomas stretched to grab the vial from him but Simon was fast to tighten it in his fist and pocket it.
"Never try to blackmail a man you know nothing about."
Thomas chuckled. "Just like Diana used to say; if you want to outsmart a smart man, you have to outthink him."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Simon asked, feeling angry all of a sudden. The man was supposed to beg him, how come he was proud? Thomas turned around and walked over to his window. He opened the curtains and allowed the morning sun to seep in.
"Ahh...." He moaned. "So warm and lovely!"
"We are creatures of the night, we do not bask in the warm sunlight." Simon stared, folding his arms across his chest.
"We should also be noble creatures..." Thomas said. "At least I heard the beta call you a noble. Does it only have to do with the title and not the character? Calhoun might be a man of twisted words, but we know he goes for character over wealth."
"Don't you dare insult me!" Simon warned aggressively.
"Or what, Simon?" Thomas asked. "Are you also going to steal the king's health? And frame someone else for it? Go ahead and take the vial."
"I did hear some interesting conversation that day. Between a father and a daughter." He hummed. "I do wish I could hold any conversation at all with my Diana... Definitely not that kind because she would never poison the king and threaten to blame it on me."
Simon's eyes went wide and his entire body began to shake. The vial fell out of his hand and rolled forward. Thomas was quick to grab it. He raised it and looked at it closely.
"This is fake. Where is the real vial?"
Simon was surprised. "W..what? This was what I found there. What real vial are you talking about?"
"This is not the real one, this is..." Thomas opened it to sniff it. "This is vinegar."
Simon scowled. "What the heck? Who would walk into someone's room to steal?"
"Apparently you," Thomas said. "No time for jokes, Simon, where is the vial?!"
Felix walked in right at that moment. "I see you found it. Where did you find it?"
"Simon had it," Thomas said. "Now this isn't even the original one, it's a fake. Someone stole it and took the contents, and replaced it with vinegar."
"Vinegar?" Felix asked. "Who could have done such a thing?"
"We have only one suspect, so let's ask him," Thomas said, glaring at Simon.
"It wasn't me, I swear!"
"There is no proof for that. If the vial was found with you, there's every chance you might have tampered with it as well." Felix said. "At this point, we can't trust you to keep the king safe."
"What?!" Simon demanded. "You can't send me away, I'm the king's doctor."
"Perhaps that was what gave you the audacity and guts to try and steal the king's only chance of survival," Felix said. He turned away from Simon. "Guards!"
Simon's eyes flashed with anger. "Felix, you will not embarrass me like this."
"Watch me," Felix said.
Simon gritted his teeth. "Fine! I will leave on my own and I shall not step foot into the castle anymore. If the king dies, ensure to let his spirit know that his blood is on your heads."
He turned and left. He just couldn't believe that a single act of evil could land him in such big trouble.
"Is he one of your suspects?" Felix asked after he had left.
Thomas shook his head. "But it will surely link to him."
"How so?"
"Leave the issue for now. We only need to find the contents of the vial." Thomas said. "Otherwise, it's the same thing as not having it in the first place."
Felix nodded. That was the go-ahead that Thomas needed to fulfill his wish.
Now that Simon was out of the way, he could assume the position of the king's carer. He could stay and watch over the king's body.
"Felix, if you send Simon away, who will watch over the king's body?"
"I will."
"I have an idea," Thomas said. "Instead of keeping Calhoun's body in his chamber, why don't we relocate his body to a different room."
"What do you mean?!" Felix inquired. "Have you lost your mind as well?"
"Listen to me," Thomas said. "If you came to visit King Calhoun, where is the first place you'd go to search?"
"His chamber of course," Felix answered. "But that's if I do not find him in the meeting chamber or the throne room."
"Assuming you heard of the king being injured and you hurried to come to see him, where would you go first?"
"His chamber," Felix answered.
Thomas smirked. "In the same way, an enemy would come and hurry to the king's chamber first, because he knows that even if the king is not there, he will soon arrive."
Felix reasoned the issue. It made perfect sense to him now that Thomas had explained properly.
"What room shall we then place him in?" Felix asked.
Thomas smiled. "I know the perfect place to keep his body."
Felix and Thomas went to the king's chamber together to pick up his body. They entered the king's bedroom and found him lying, looking even paler. Just as they lifted his body, a guard rushed into the room where they stood.
"Beta Felix!" He exclaimed. "The castle is under attack!"
They sure didn't waste any time. Thomas thought.
"Take the king with you, I will handle them."