Winterfall

I ended up back in my father's office —well, now my office—and thought about our newest discovery. My suspicions were correct. Crimson had infiltrated the kingdom long ago. Theo's draconic senses further supported this, and now the scry confirmed everything.

Before you ask, seven. Theo's voice chimed through the bond.

It was only four in the afternoon, meaning I had three hours to kill before I met him to train. I sat back in my father's chair and closed my eyes. Sybil was Crimson; they were the same person. This plan had been in place for years, something else we kind of already knew.

Stop thinking about it. We know now that we can't change what happened; we can only plan now.

He was right. There was no going back, only forward. You know, I don't like it when you are right.

How often am I right?

More often than I like.

I heard him laugh. Now you know how every man feels when women claim they are always right.

Please, we are.

You just proved that I am right more often than you like.

Whatever. What are you up to?

I'm just about to do my first official round with Quinn.

Can I watch?

Yes.

~ Theo's Point of View ~

I sat back in my chair as I couldn't help but keep a foolish grin on my face. It wasn't often when Maria pointed things out like that, but when she did, I teased the crap out of her. She hated it, but it brought me joy.

"Any second now." I glanced over at the door as I heard Quinn's heavy footsteps against the stone floor. "You don't need to knock."

She opened the door, "How do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Know our every move. It's a bit creepy if you ask me."

"I'm just observant." I took my time standing up from my chair. Overall, I felt one hundred percent better, but there were times when I second-guessed my own ability to see what wasn't there. A few times now, I have stood up and felt dizzy—not to the point where I needed bed rest, but I needed to use caution. The strangest thing was it wasn't from power drain, but power gain. I felt a bursts of energy run through me during bedrest. I felt a burn sensation pierce my right bicep however nothing was there. All this made me think I was crazy. All of it I kept from Maria.

"Are you sure you are up for this?" Damn women and their keen sense.

"Yes. The sooner I get back to normal, the better." Quinn had visited me and Maria a few times, as I still had her on her night watch at the castle. We ended up sitting Quinn down and telling her Maria had me bed-bound, considering she was one of the few who knew the truth.

"Does Maria know you get dizzy?"

"She does now," I grumbled as I had yet to tell her, and knowing that she was watching this, well, the jig was up. As I said, I wasn't worried about falling over or collapsing due to weakness; I just assumed the dizziness was a side effect of utilizing that much magic quickly.

"You should have told her, captain, you are not invincible, you know."

"I'm fine. I would have lost it if I had to stay in bed one more day." I hated bed rest. Though I didn't mind Maria taking care of me, that was the only positive.

We will talk about this later, Theo. Shit, the tone in her voice, I knew she was pissed.

"Thanks, Quinn." I grumbled as I grabbed my bow, strapped it on my back, and put my draconic sword in its hilt. "Ready?" She nodded, and we left.

"Sorry if I get you in trouble with her, but she would have had both our asses if I didn't say anything."

I didn't respond to her. Instead, I just picked up a steady pace and started our round. I had stretched prior, so all I had to do was focus and run. Halfway through our round, Quinn stopped, causing me to stop. "Captain, look." She was looking down a darkened street, where an outline of a body was. Something I didn't catch right away, and maybe it was because that body was not there when I passed. Or was it?

We both approached cautiously, scanning the area in case the person responsible was still there. "Run on the roofs," I told Quinn, "See if there is anything up there." She nodded, quickly climbed the building, and started examining the roofs.

I remained on the ground and examined the fallen corpse. The corpse was a human female, still warm to the touch. Upon further examination, it was evident that she had been dead for at least thirty minutes. There was also no apparent force trauma to the body. I utilized my magic to help further investigate the body, to which, to my surprise, the magic indicated poison. The same poison we had encountered a week ago.

I sifted through the body and found a pinhole in the back of the neck like the last one. "Interesting," I murmured under my breath. "I thought we took care of that when we took out the Incubus and Succubus."

"What was that, captain?" Quinn spoke behind me as she landed firmly back on the ground. "I didn't see anything on the roof."

"It doesn't surprise me. Take a look." I moved the woman's hair back to show her the pinhole. "Just like before. Was there any report when I was on bed rest?" I have yet to be able to review all the reports thoroughly since I returned. I knew there had been a handful of unsolved murders this past week, but Maria's orders are orders, and she wouldn't even let me go over my damn paperwork.

"There were three…no four poison cases, but none was reported to have pinholes."

"Did they look?"

Quinn shook her head, "No, captain."

"Did they examine the poison against the ones we knew to try to make a connection?"

"No, captain."

I sighed, "I suppose I'll have to go over all that with everyone again."

This was one of my worries. I was not fully present this week, so my guards slacked off a bit. Now that I was back, things had to go back to normal. They had to give one hundred percent, not fifty, not seventy-five. I need them to provide me with one hundred percent.

Quinn sighed, "Please, back for a day and already going full general."

I ignored her. "Get the mortician here to collect the body. I need to visit the city morgue to examine the bodies from the past week to see if I can see any connection."

"Got it, captain."

I left Quinn there to clean up the mess. I finished our round before I headed to the city morgue as I needed to know if these poison cases were connected.

There were always at least four people working the morgue: one to collect the bodies, one to prepare them, and two to place them in their proper resting place. I met the collector as I was getting there. "Just heading out, captain," he said as he passed me by.

The morgue, just like most buildings here were made of stone and wood. The morgue itself, sat just outside a large cemetery that stretched a mile or so on either side. The morgue had stone floors and and stone walls. Creating a cool atmosphere all year long. The morgue had a sterile stench that covered up the smell of decay mixed with a tinge of flora.

The brightness of the lights matched that of the infirmary, rather bright and oddly inviting. Thankfully, for me the deceased was all in the back rooms getting prepped for services. As on a few occasions there were some bodies out front.

I went to the front desk, rang a little bell that sat there and waited for the person who prepared the bodies. "What can I do for you, captain?" a female Earth Genasis asked. Her voice sounded harsher than most did. She wore a black sweat set that paired well with the coloration of her rocky looking skin. Her eyes shown that of molten rock and her hair a mossy green.

"Jade, I need to examine the bodies from the poison cases over the last week."

"Two of those are already in the grounds, sir; I can show you the two left."

"Very well, lead the way." I sighed. Damn it.

I fell in step behind Jade and walked in silence as she led me to a back room of the morgue and opened the first casket. "This was the third victim, and that one was the fourth." She pointed to another casket across the room. "What are you looking for exactly?"

I didn't answer her. I just carefully turned the body's head and examined the neck. "What I thought." I moved to the next one and found the same thing: a tiny pinhole marking the injection site. "Thank you for your time, Jade. If I have further questions, I know where to find you."

"Any time, captain."

I left her with the corpses and went back to my office. Taking a seat, I pulled out the paperwork regarding the four poison cases and read through them.

"The lack of detail," I grumbled as each case was at most two pages of information. "If I am not breathing down their necks…"

Easy Theo. Her voice chimed through the bond.

I ignored her, too. I was irritated as my guards slacked off, and I was bedbound. They knew their jobs. They knew what needed to be done. And they slacked off. "Training. Looks like I am going to have to give them a refresher."

Please go easy on them.

Why should I, Maria?

Because they did their job, yes, it was not to your satisfaction, but they did their job without their Captain fully in the saddle. Go easy on them.

I can not have them slack off.

Yes, but you can't go full general on them either.

They are still going to get a refresher. I won't punish them this time.

There you are, Captain.

Whatever, I have about an hour left to do the paperwork, Maria.

I'll see you in an hour.

I felt her pull from the bond. They had her to thank for me not going full general. I was still irritated that they slacked off, but I understand. Their Captain wasn't there to breathe down their backs, so they were able to ease up—something I hoped would not happen again.