Tigris had attended many meetings between her father and the bounty hunter, but none of them had ever gone like this.
"So, you've unleashed an inkblood on my city, Draven?" the king asked, his voice as icy as the rain that assaulted them from all sides.
Draven winced, a rain soaked leaf splatting against his bald head. He bowed, sensing the fury building in his monarch's eyes. "I swear to you, my lord. Every precaution was taken to keep the cursed inkblood bound in chains. I saw someone in a cloak helping her escape."
"You took every precaution but took the time to get a drink?" the king mocked cruelly, staring at the now empty tavern sitting behind the dilapidated cart. Draven's pale face reddened at the insult. Wisely, he kept his mouth shut and looked down, like a kicked dog.
Tigris brushed a damp strand out of her face, adjusting her gown which was beginning to stick to her legs. She leaned forward, inspecting the cart. There was human excrement and urine piled in the corner. Even the damp scent of the rain soaked air couldn't erase the foul smell. She wrinkled her nose, turning back to address the king as disgust turned her stomach.
"The knights said that the inkblood and her ally were seen fleeing into the castle grounds," she reported, glancing at Draven who nodded in confirmation.
The king pursed his lips, "Organise the guards. See to it that they are at Draven's disposal." The king turned to the hunter, whose eyes lit up with hope, "It is only because of your previous successful bounties and experience with inkblood that I am allowing you to redeem yourself. If you can find the inkblood, you will get all the coin you are owed for a successful hunt."
Tigris watched the hunter's face bloom with relief and felt a stir of doubt regarding her father's plan. Her father allotted huge sums of the kingdom's finances to bounty hunters every year. She could understand the need to eliminate inkblood from the kingdom, but it seemed that bounty hunters often targeted inkbloods from the pacifist covens that often strayed into the kingdom's forest. Tigris found the practice distasteful, even if the covens had inkblood.
Draven bowed deeply, oblivious to Tigris hidden disapproval. His eyes gleamed brightly, reflecting the bolts of lightning that cracked through the sky.
"You won't be disappointed, your majesty," Draven insisted, his deep voice carrying over the crash of thunder, "This inkblood is a special one, you see. Even those awful covens didn't want her."
Tigris barely managed to hide her surprise. What had this inkblood done to warrant exile from the peaceful covens?
"Truly?" the king asked, curiosity overriding his anger. Draven nodded.
"I found her stumbling through a forest, a coven not too far off from her. They'd left her for the dead. They looked happy about it too." Draven toyed with one of the rings on his fingers, one of which was crusted with red flakes, "Pity they didn't survive the journey over here, or you could have asked them more."
"Indeed," the king agreed, "Finding this inkblood is a priority, then. Tigris, assist aid to Draven as necessary. If the inkblood is hated by other monsters of its kind, it cannot be allowed to roam the city."
"Yes, father," Tigris agreed, ignoring the unsettled feeling that knotted at the base of her spine as she curtsied. The walk back home was drenched with rain, erasing any possible tracks that the escaped inkblood had left behind.
Tigris vowed to help Draven as much as possible. She didn't want anyone that the covens feared roaming the city.
Roche was waiting in Tigris' chambers when she arrived back in the castle. The maid was humming, setting a fresh plate of food on Tigris's study.
"You're in a good mood," Tigris noted, watching Roche flit about with a dopey smile on her face and a strange bounce to her step, "I thought you'd be upset."
Roche paused, cocking her head. "Why would I be upset?"
"You hate the rain. And being in the forest. You had to do both today," Tigris replied, wringing out water out of her hair. To her surprise, Roche didn't scold her for dripping water on the freshly cleaned floor. Instead, she simply held up a fresh gown for Tigris to wear.
Tigris inspected the girl's face. Her warm brown skin was practically glowing, and her dreamy eyes were further away than usual. The answer clicked in her mind as she sat down to eat her dinner.
"What the hell is this?" she asked.
Roche's eyes focused from whatever daydream she'd been in. She peered over Tigris' shoulder at the plate. "Your dinner?" she answered.
Tigris felt a flash of annoyance. "I can see that," she growled, pointing at the sparse plate. There wasn't much on it, save for a single piece of roast beef and a handful of leafy greens. Nothing else. Her stomach growled in protest. "Half of it is missing!"
"That's what the kitchen gave me," Roche answered, her eyes widening almost imperceptibly. Tigris wouldn't have noticed it if she wasn't looking.
"You're lying!" she declared, gleefully noting the way Roche paled, "What did you do?"
"Nothing!" Roche squeaked.
Tigris scoffed. "You idiot. You've been drinking again, haven't you?"
"Wh-what?" Roche stammered, brows furrowing, "Hang on-"
"You've lost half of my meal, my chambers aren't clean," Tigris pointed to the puddle of rainwater she'd left on the floor, "And you've got the most dopey expression I've ever seen! You're so drunk that you can't see straight, aren't you?"
"Hey! My face always looks like this!" Roche protested, stamping her foot indignantly. She didn't deny the accusation. It would have been cute if Tigris wasn't missing her dinner.
"Go back to the kitchens and get the rest of this damn meal. Once you've turned down my bed and helped me into my nightclothes, you'll be polishing the swords in the armoury to sober you up!" Tigris ordered, relishing in the way Roche seemed to sober instantly, the dreaminess fading from her face.
Roche muttered something so foul that Tigris chose to ignore it, because if she didn't, Roche would be spending the night getting sober in the dungeons. The maid stomped off with that dazed gleam in her eyes. Tigris sighed, grabbing a handful of reports from the guards about the escaped inkblood to review as she ate.
She hoped Roche would be sober in the morning. She couldn't afford any more distractions with such a dangerous inkblood running around.
-------
There was someone in her chambers. It was the middle of the night, so late that it couldn't be anyone friendly.
Tigris waited, staying perfectly still under her mound of soft blankets. When the assailant was close enough, she struck. She leapt out of bed, using one of her blankets to wrap around the attacker's neck.
The intruder fell to the ground in a heap of fabric with a muffled shout.
"Guards!" Tigris bellowed, moving to pin the invader down. She peeled back the blanket once she'd wrangled the strangely skinny attacker and gasped, "Roche?"
"Good, you're awake and as pleasant as ever." the maid replied dryly, her cheek pressed against the ground, "The king sent me to ready you."
"At this hour?" Tigris asked, easing back to let Roche back on her feet. The girl popped upright with a huff, glaring at her lady.
"Yes. Leinos was called to the castle courtyard. He's found some strange illness that he's never seen before. A serious one."
Tigris' heart plummeted into the depths of her stomach as she was reminded of the last plague. "Is the victim dead?"
Roche hesitated, her face ashen. "Not exactly."
What on earth could that mean?
-------
The man was frozen in the middle of the square, his arms locked upright defensively. His face was twisted grotesquely, eyes bulging from their sockets with horror. His mouth warped with an unheard scream, lips locked in position by the stiffness of death and stone.
That was the strangest part.
"Is it contagious?" Aodh asked, standing with Tigris behind their father as Leinos tentatively dragged his weathered fingers against what used to be the man's cheek but was now solid, grey rock. His knuckles rapped against the man's face, and not a single crack appeared.
Leinos shook his head. "The petrification occurred almost instantaneously. Something happened to make him this way."
"And it is irreversible?" the king asked, looking unnerved as he gazed at the statue that used to be a knight. Leinos nodded sorrowfully.
"He was attacked first, nearly dead by the time he was turned to stone. Even if there was a way to reverse the petrification... he'd be dead by the time he was flesh again." the physician explained, pointing to the man's midsection. His clothes, now stone, were torn, revealing a huge, gouged bite that ran deep in his chest cavity. Tigris bit back a wave of nausea as she noticed the rivulets of blood that had once streamed down the man's legs had turned to stone before it could even reach the ground.
The king turned to Verita, who watched the exchanged with a pinched look.
"Could this be the work of inkblood?" he asked her.
Verita hesitated. "I've never seen anything like this before, sire, but it seems that way.."
"Scour the records. I want the cause of this to be found before anyone else's life can be claimed." the king ordered sternly. Verita curtsied deeply. Tigris nodded to her.
"Roche can be spared from her duties to me as needed, should you or Leinos require additional assistance." she added.
Verita's eyes flared with relief. Roche curtsied under the king's watchful eyes.
"I'll do what I can to help," the maid promised.
The king nodded, his eyes stormy with unease. Without another word, he swept into the castle. Tigris moved to follow until she noticed Finn and Kai standing in the shadows, the former uncharacteristically silent. Alarm bells immediately began to ring in her head at his withdrawn, pensive expression.
"Have you read of anything like this?" Tigris asked her brother, who jumped at the sound of her voice. Tigris felt suspicion crawl over her as Finn shook his head too quickly. "You know something, don't you?"
He and Kai exchanged a look that made her chest tighten with a sour emotion she refused to acknowledge.
"Nothing worth mentioning," he murmured tightly, stepping back, away from Tigris. Tigris noticed dark shadows under his eyes as they flicked towards the statue in the center of the courtyard that Roche was helping Leinos carry.
Finn pursed his lips at the sight.
"If you know anything, you need to tell us," Aodh said, coming up behind Tigris. His eyes pinned Finn sternly, "A man has died, Finn. A knight at that."
"I know," Finn snapped defensively, his forest green eyes darkening, "It seemed familiar for some reason. I need some time." His voice was strained. Tigris peered at him carefully, noticing just how haggard he looked. He must have been more exhausted and stressed than he was letting on.
He'd never quite been the same about inkblood related issues after they'd smuggled Orpheus out of the city. But this wasn't a pacifist, clueless child. They couldn't afford to be soft about inkblood, not when it was petrifying Faultless citizens.
Tigris nodded her head at him sternly. "When you figure it out, let us know. The inkblood responsible must be burned for this." she told him, hoping some of the words got through.
Finn's eyes strayed back to the statue, his eyes flickering with conflicted emotions. Kai leaned in, laying a hand on his shoulder.
"I'm sure it's nothing, Finn. You'll remember." he murmured gently, "Let's get you back to bed."
"I'm not tired," Finn huffed. Kai raised a brow.
"It's the middle of the night. Why don't you ask Leinos for a sedative-"
"You know why." Finn bit out. Kai looked away awkwardly, dropping his hand from the prince's shoulder. Finn's face tightened, and he turned on his heel, storming back into the castle.
Aodh glanced between him and Kai, his brows raised with shock. "What the hell was that?" he asked.
Kai studied the ground intently. "I should go."
"Why doesn't he want to sleep?" Tigris asked.
Kai shifted. He reluctantly answered, "He refuses to tell me much. He just wakes up frenzied and says some rather... unbelievable things."
Aodh snorted, relaxing. "Oh, that's just Finn in the morning. He always says the craziest things when he's first awoken."
Tigris felt uneasy. If Kai was worried about Finn, there was something worth worrying about.
"Keep an eye on him, alright?" she asked him. Some of the reticence melted from Kai's body as he met her gaze, his eyes warming.
"I always do," he promised, staring off after his prince, "He'll be okay. He always is."
Tigris held tightly onto the words as she watched Kai run after Finn, feeling a strange sense of foreboding press down on her like a wet blanket.
A/N: Two late updates in a row?! Sorry, everyone. Hopefully this chapter was worth the wait. Lmk what you think :)
As always, happy reading!