83 The sons of Richard Beyor

The carriages go fast. In just half an hour; they were already leaving Gaftan. Anne sighed while her eyes looked at the view from the window.

“I never said my goodbye to Henry and Horden. I was hoping I could say at least a goodbye.” Anne whispered to Vale, who sat beside her.

Vale tried to calm her. “Don’t worry, I wrote a note. When he is fit for traveling, he will surely go to the alchemia tower.”

“Then, in four days, he will be fit for traveling.” Muttered Anne, her hand stroking into the soft fur of her familiar, Chikara’s purring comfortable enough to sit on his master’s lap.

“Miss Anne, how are you feeling right now?” Asked chief Hale. He was sitting next to Justice, observing either the crown prince or her.

“I am perfectly fine, a little lightheaded maybe, but nothing serious.” Anne gave him the proper answer before looking out the window once again.

“What about you? Your majesty? Any discomfort?” Asked chief Hale to Justice.

Shaking his head to chief Hale, Justice gave him a clear answer of his condition. “I feel fine and strangely feel healthy as ever.”

Chief Hale took out his healer note and begin to ask questions to Justice, although the alchemist is the one that had done the experiment, healers need to give the assessment to their patients, that’s why the healer and the alchemist are the units that need to stand beside each other.

.....

One of them was still curious about Vale’s story. It was Xavier, he looks at Vale and asked him truthfully, “I just couldn’t understand, Vale, who’s the man on your side of Beyor’s cemetery legend? It was so puzzling to me.”

“Alright, let me tell you the side of the story, the first part of the story is the same,” Vale give in to Xavier’s request, after all, they have a lot of time on their hand right now, “Although, the only difference in my grandfather story that after the sons brought the dead body of Richard Beyor, on the third night of mourning, one of the Richard Beyor sons slaughtered the family.”

Everyone inside the carriage was suddenly interested in Vale’s story, even Brom, who was sleeping soundly the minute ago.

“What? so Richard Beyor wasn’t the killer?” Asked Xavier, he was so infested with the story now.

“No, in my grandfather’s version, Richard Beyor never awaken, and the slaughter was committed by one of his sons. The mansion also wasn’t burned immediately.” Vale continued on, looking at the other people, “Instead, the whole family came outside and committed killings in the nearby town, they dried up the victim’s blood, and the victims became the same as the assailant, hence the origin of the blood plague.”

“Interesting, so, Richard Beyor wasn’t the killer, and the slaughtered become the origin of the blood plague,” Muttered chief Hale. His mind then goes to another point in the story. “Which of the Richard sons, though?”

“They never knew, only one of them, so not all of them, but which one, we never know.” Answered Vale to chief Hale.

Suddenly, Anne remembered something in her old world, where technology is the key to civilization. There was a certain plague that came originally not from humans but it was man-made. The plague came from inside the lab, from the glass tube into the immune system of the human.

“Oh, my God! I think I know who’s the one that slaughtered the entire Beyor family.” Said Anne to the others.

Justice frowned and curiously asked our heroine, “Really? Who was it?”

Anne excitedly answered Justice, “Well, it was obvious, the one who took the golden device, Drake Beyor.”

“Why? Why him?” This time, it was coming from Xavier.

“Because all of you questioning who is who but not what is what, obviously the golden device was the trigger of all the tragedy, and who’s the one that grabbed the golden device? It was Drake Beyor!” Said Anne. She then gave them her reason. “Look, the first son saw the golden device, but never took it. So does the second son, but the third son grabbed the golden device.”

“That makes sense. Miss Anne, I think you’re into something here... interesting.” Chief Hale was more impressive than ever to Anne.

“What a fact, very impressive Anne.” Vale smiled proudly at Anne, his hand teasing her arm, making Anne glance at him. They look at each other fondly until Chikara meowed at his master and hissed at Vale. Justice chuckled from the other corner of the carriage. He knew very well about Anne’s obsessive familiar.

Brom, who’s sitting between Justice and Xavier, once again staring at Anne. His new fascination with the girl was a surprise for him.

“What the f*ck are you looking at there?” A voice whispered in Brom’s ear.

Turned around he saw glaring eyes from Xavier, Brom shook his head and close his eyes, but after he was whispering to Xavier, “I was just looking, no need to growl at me, you don’t want her to know about your true nature, right?”

Xavier clenched his fist. Brom surely knows something more about Xavier than he should. Vale saw the anger inside his friend. He called his name and gave Xavier a silent warning. This is not the time for them to argue.

At the other corner of the carriage, Justice tried to remember the face of the mysterious man who gave him the wound. He touched the bite mark and glanced at Anne. Guilty remorse always came into him whenever he saw a glimpse of the bite mark on her neck. He feels disgusted by himself; he doesn’t know who else is going to become his victim. In his mind, he needs to find a cure as soon as possible.

They took a rest at one restaurant near a lake, getting to see the beautiful lake, even though they need to eat in a hurry, Gaftan and the capital are actually three days journey, they tried to reach it in two days, not impossible but an arduous task.

“How long since we go out from Gaftan?” Asked Xavier, he was in the middle of pouring some moomilk for Anne and chief Hale, while Justice, Vale, and Brom already munching on some bread and butter.

Vale took out his MoonSun dial and put it on the ground. He took a peek and said to Xavier, “Almost five hours, remember we need to be back on the road in half an hour.”

“Oh, come on, was it already that long?” Xavier becomes grumpier, he then stands up from the ground and runs in a circle.

“What are you doing?” Asked Anne to Xavier, she was shocked to see him running around.

Vale and Justice chuckle when they look at Xavier, they already use to Xavier’s antic. Chief Hale came from the carriage, he got some rest one hour before they arrived at the restaurant. All of them don’t want to wake him up, since the second wave, and this is the first rest that he could get.

“Ah, why don’t you wake me up?” Said chief Hale. He sat on the blanket and drink the moomilk, while Anne prepared him the bread and butter.

“Are you alright, chief? We don’t want to wake you up since you look so tired, and all of us thought you need the rest.” Anne explained their reason and handed him the bread and butter.

He munched the bread and butter and let out a sigh of relief. Anne feels sorry for chief Hale, and she offers him her homemade tonic, which he gratefully took. Justice told chief Hale that the tonic is potent and good, although he never locks eyes on Anne anymore. Justice feels afraid even to stare at her. He was hoping Amaris, the chief Alchemist, know the cure.

Drinking the tonic, chief Hale could feel the energy going back into his system. The tonic really works wonders for him. He looks at Anne and praises her, “This is amazing, miss Anne. Would you be willing to patent your tonic?”

A bit surprised by chief Hale’s suggestion, “Really? I mean, I know it was good for your body, but I never thought to patent the tonic.”

“Why not? After you patent the tonic, you can sell it everywhere. It will help so much for the exhausted soldiers everywhere.” Said chief Hale.

Anne looked around and finally made a confession, “The tonic is my family recipe. I don’t know if my parents want it.”

“Maybe you should ask them first?” Justice gave his opinion to Anne while trying to avoid her eyes. “You don’t know how much it means for the soldiers everywhere. You even saw them. They were struggling.”

After thinking for a while, Anne gave in and said yes, “Alright, I will ask my parents, but I can’t guarantee the answer. My father never intended to commercialize his creations.”

Chief Hale leaped and even shouted in the air, making everyone around him surprised by his excitement, “Oh, Gods almighty, thank you so much, miss Anne! You don’t know what it meant for the soldiers in the front line everywhere.”

One hour later, they are preparing to go back on the road. Anne was in charge of bringing back all the plates into the restaurant. However, she doesn’t realize there’s a pair of lazy eyes following her from behind. The curious eyes tried to find some kind of answer from the girl with purple color hair.