The Legend of Carmine

Carmine had passed out due to suffocation. But Rulean was still strangling her. Suddenly, he heard

"STOP!!! What are you doing? I, Emperor of Norand, command you to let go of the General."

When Rulean turned he saw Emperor Cyanx and Alor in the dungeon. Rulean defended himself and said stammering," Big big ..brother but he is a woman. He...I mean she cannot live."

"What will our subjects and people say when they will know that the Great General of Norand got defeated by a mere woman."

Cyan thundered and commanded, "I command you as an Emperor to let go of the General. And this is an order and not a mere request from your big brother. "

So, Rulean reluctantly let go of Carmine.

However, Carmine had already passed out due to suffocation. Cyan then turned to Arol and said," Take the General Armine out for treatment. "

Actually, Cyanx and Alor were at quite a distance from her. But when Alor got near he could see her beauty bone and a peek of bosom being tightly wrapped by bandage from the gaps of her clothes. So, as a gentleman, he took off his cape off and covered her, and carried her out of the dungeon.

As he carried her out, he recalled how he was reluctant to leave the dungeon when General Rulean had ordered him to leave. But, when he had reluctantly came out of the dungeon. He had got the news that the Emperor was here. So, Arol rushed to Emperor to state the situation because he firmly believed that General Armine was a capable and respectable warrior and did not deserve such disrespect and insult. Alas, who would have thought that such an outstanding General would turn out to be a woman!

As per Emperor's order, Alor sent soldiers to fetch a physician from the town because Imperial Physician was out of the city and other Physician had gone into hiding after the invasion of Norand in the city. Finally, the soldier got hold of a doctor in the city and he was none other than Owen. The soldiers marched into his home and stated that the current Emperor has ordered to get a doctor to treat someone in the palace. ( Note: Owen has not gone into hiding because he knew thanks to his medical achievements he will able to build a good relationship with Norand by treating their soldiers. So, that he could insure his, Allaya, and Allen life's.)

Finally, when the soldiers took Lord Owen to Alor. Alor escorted him to a room. When Owen saw the Princess, he froze on the door. He saw that her complexion had turned pale with dry and chapped lips and had dried blood on it. As his eyes traveled down her face he could see bruise of fingers on her neck, a sign that she had being strangled. As his eyes ventured further down he could see her beauty bone and implying that her clothes had been attempted to tear. He could also see that Princess was covered in the stain of blood and it had all dried up on her clothes. He could not imagine how many wounds she had in her body. As he saw such a pitiful state of the Princess, he was frozen because his mind was trying to process these all things. While Alor was escorting Owen to the room he was talking to Owen but after seeing the Princess, he felt that everything had gone to utter silence and he could only see the Princess. Alor noticed that Owen was lost in a daze and to bring him back to his senses. Alor shook his shoulders and asked," Are you okay Lord Owen?"

Owen came off his trance and hurriedly replied, "Yes, I am." And immediately walked towards the Princess. As Owen rushed towards her tears were already forming in his eyes but he was fighting it back. So, it would not fall down. Then, Owen went to check the Princess's pulse. He carefully placed a handkerchief over her wrist to check it. In Owen's head, as he trying to feel the pulse he was scared that it would have been too late but he could still feel a feeble pulse.

After that, he turned to Alor and said, " Lord Alor, I will need someone to help me because this patient appears to be a woman and it is inappropriate for me to check the wound. I practice medicine with my wife she helps me to look after my female patients. Could you please get my wife here? Furthermore, I need some other herbs as well. I will write it for you. Could you please give it to my wife? So, she can bring it with her, from my pharmacy."

Alor took the paper given by Owen and went to Cyanx. As he found it a bit suspicious. But when he got there, Rulean was also there. It seemed that they had sorted out their dispute. As both of them seems to be enjoying playing chess with each other. So, Alor was a bit hesitant to report but he did.

"Your Imperial Majesty, We have got a doctor to treat General Armine. But he appears to be behaving weirdly."

Cyanx casually took a chess piece and put it on the board and answered in his calm attitude, " Is it now? And why do you think so?"

"Well, Your Imperial Majesty, when I first took him to see General Armine he just got froze on the door as soon as he saw her. And when I shook his shoulder to get his attention he immediately walked towards her. Furthermore, I am certain I saw tears forming in his eyes. And as if to avoid me he rushed towards her. Finally, after he examined her pulse. He immediately said that it will be inappropriate for him to look into her wounds and he treats his female patients with help of his wife. Aren't doctors unbiased of gender when they treat their patients? Moreover, he has requested some more medicine to be brought from his home. Don't they usually have essential medicine with them when they come to see a patient?"

Cyanx replied, "Interesting, it seems that the man knows the General's real identity or maybe he may have some old grudges with her. Do you have the things he has ordered? And do we have anyone who can analyze the medicinal herbs for us?"

Rulean replied, " Yes we got one comrade who can do it. He is a Physician's son and had learned few things regarding it but he was never interested in it and did not complete the studies. Rather he became an elite soldier in our troop."

So, they summoned him. When he looked in the list of herbs he could not find anything for a long time. Finally, he deciphered it and said, " Your Imperial Majesty, all the herbs quantity is good but there is this particular herb, it's quantity is very large. These herbs if used in moderation helps in recovery by slowing respiration and inducing sleep but in the excess amount, it could be fatal. This herb could be used in old people who have too much pain to inflict painless death. This herb would slow their breathing and ultimately stop it... So, I think we need to monitor his medication preparation to conclude if he is trying to kill the patient or not."

Rulean," It seems we underestimated the doctor. But why does he wants to kill her."

Emperor Cyanx," We are still not sure if he will use it to kill her. Hmm... As he said it depends on the quantity of the herb he will use in the medicine. But if he is planning to kill her there could be two reasons:

One- He could have a personal grudge with her and he wants to kill her which means he knows this women's real identity or there is more than it meets the eyes. So, he wants to kill her as dead tell no tales."

Cyan ordered, " Get his wife and the medicine here and keep an eye on his every move. So, we can know what he is up to?"