Sage Savita

"Master," Czar brings his head a bit lower, "we have an issue, another body had been found, contemplated to be suicide but I don't think it is."

"What?" Mace jerks from his throne, "show me." He orders and he rises from his throne, his sword swinging loosely from his waist, he was worried that all these deaths were unnatural.

He follows Czar to the garden and they see a soldier hanging from one of the trees, his heart sinks but it quickly resurfaces, he had never had a case of suicide in his castle. This is the first and it is bound to strike fear into the hearts of others, they would start believing that they're not safe and their king can't protect them. They would believe he is incompetent.

"How did this happen?" He was still in a trance as he gazed upon the dead body that swung freely from the tree, "bring him down Czar." He watches as the body is lowered before it falls to the ground with a thud, he bends to the soldier, his eyes were wide with fear, it felt like he was murdered.

"This Is the fifth body in three days, someone is doing this and I'm very sure of it. We have already lost three maids and two soldiers, we can't go on like this." Czar bends down a little to meet the dead body, "look at this master, it shows that it isn't suicide, the marks on his arms are still fresh, it must have been a struggle and look at his neck." He points to the marks that were accompanied by the red circle.

Mace examined the body, it was still fresh, and so were the bits of evidence, he must have died about two hours ago.

"Do you have any suspects?" He wanted to make the person pay for all his losses,

"I have a few in mind but no evidence to prove anyone guilty at the moment, we must have a spy in the palace that is killing our men slowly. It could be the work of Queen Arcadia." Mace heaves a heavy sigh before stretching to his normal height,

"Send this to Conan, I want reports by evening." He felt bad for the soldier, he didn't deserve to die this way,

"That lousy doctor is around? I wonder what you even see in him master." He scoffs before slinging the body over his shoulder,

"He may be clumsy but you have to admit he knows his stuff well, he would be able to tell us what really happened and how it happened. Take it to him immediately and give me report by evening, I'll be expecting you." And with that he leaves his Beta to handle the corpse.

But thought didn't stop running though his mind, could it be such that Arcadia had already been living in his palace with him? And which one out of his men came off as a traitor? He would not spare the man or woman with a double face.

"Please do not hurt me, I beg of you it is not what you think It is!!" He pleads for his life, this was why he hates following Asher's stupid plan, now look at where he was.

If he knew that Orla was skilled in Martial arts and could wield a weapon effectively then he would have never come in the first place, he would've slapped some sense into his half brother and told him a big fat no. But now he wasn't even sure if he would make it out alive.

"It's all part of his plan, he wanted to fake the decree being stolen so he gave it to me and told me to leave!" He spills everything in his heart and this forces Orla to push him away, he lands on the table and he turns back to look at her, her brown gems had turn to magenta gems and her jet black hair had become a different shade.

She carried herself like royalty and when realization dawned on Conan, he let out a loud gasp,

"Queen Octavia?!!" His eyes are wide with fear, "is that really you?! I thought you were dead!!" He rubs his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing a ghost but she wasn't happy with the fact that he had a royal decree with him.

"Do I look like I'm dead to you?" Still as salty as ever, she looks at the decree in her hand, "you better start talking before I chop your head off." She places her fan back in her clothing and expected an answer from him. He sits up immediately to answer his Queen,

"Asher told me to take the decree, it was given to him as a reward for his bravery by Queen Arcadia, he believed that if she found out that it was stolen it would prompt her to attack Mace to get it back, hence getting her people that are held captive here." He hoped the plan made sense to the Queen cause even Asher had to beg before he agreed to his nut-job idea.

Octavia thinks about it for a while, her lips were pursed and her brows were furrowed, and Conan was praying to the moon goddess that she believes him and didn't think he was telling a lie. Last thing he wants was being beheaded by the Queen.

"Who is this Asher?" She wanted to know the relationship he and her daughter shared,

"He is Arcadia's best man, her personal Beta, he is master Xerxes student." He decided to mention the last part and it did wonders, her gaze had softened at the echo of Xerxes, she had missed him terribly, "he saved her from an attack and he almost died in the process, the Queen ordered me to be his doctor and that was when he came up with this whack idea." He hated his brother even more.

"How old are you lad?" She needed to know,

"Just 20 years ma'am, please don't end my life so early." He begs and she smirks,

"No wonder you're agreeing to crazy things, you obviously don't value your life. If Arcadia noticed you stole this, she would hunt you down and eat you herself." She sighs heavily, "what sort of people is my daughter surrounded by?" She asks the goddess herself but she bets she must've been laughing at her all along.

"She has good people around her, it's just my brother, he is an idiot." Conan throws some mud on Asher in his absence,

"Your brother?" She cocks her brow at his statement,

"A half brother." he corrects himself, and she nods, "but Queen, everyone believes you're dead, how did you survive? You were buried and—"

"I was never dead to begin with." She clarifies that part before he went further with his gibberish,

"But your grave, and....what is happening here?!" He was so confused, and he hated being confused, he would never be in this position if he told Asher no in the first place, "please explain to me Queen." His brain was not made for such complex riddles.

She laughs a little before sitting on the table, her hair and eyes reverting back to the way it was before and she had taken the persona Orla once again,

"After Magnus tried to finish me I thought I was dead, the kingdom was set ablaze and nobody really saw me being buried, I was dragged away after Xerxes and Arcadia rushed to help fight the enemy troops." The memory was still fresh in her head, she remembered Magnus' head being severed and it still brought her great joy,

"But my Queen, who is the one involved in this conspiracy? Who dragged you out? And why?" He was still so dumbfounded, the Queen was sitting in front of him.

"Beta Azeah found out that I was still alive after I tried to crawl out of the fire. He......." Her claws stratch the table as she remembered what he did to her, the tears stinging her eyes,

"He did what my Queen?" He picked further, the tears choked her throat but she refused to be weak,

"He assaulted me and tried to kill me, but I managed to escape. I was badly wounded but I was rescued by a kind soul." She places the decree in the bag and pulls up a dumb face, she had a feeling someone was coming soon and she needed to get into the act again.

"Who helped you?" He knew this was his last question he would ask her so he decided to ask who her aide was, the mystery was further complicating itself and there were a lot of people involved in this story of theirs.

"Sage Sativa." And she is Orla again.