CHAPTER 3

Queen Parthena Oldfield of the Hunter Galaxy slept straight through the morning and didn’t wake up of her own accord until one cycle past midday. Despite the fifteen hours of sleep she had gotten the night before, she was still so tired. That was an unfortunate normality; for the last three years, her health had slowly but surely fallen to the point where was nearly bed-ridden. Everyone around her would always insist that she should stay in bed and call for help if she needed to get up, but that didn’t stop her from trying to get up and move without assistance.

Her stubbornness was born in the strength of her religion. All her life, she had been taught and believed that Aries, her Patron Zodiac which she had been born under, would protect her so long as her faith remained strong. At this difficult time in her life, her method of showing her devotion was pushing herself to get out of the comfort of her bed to kneel in front of the little shrine that she had made when she fell ill. If she couldn’t go to church, she had to bring the church to her.

As she knelt before her little shrine, a particular thought crossed her mind; she had seen several men and women lose their faith in their Patron Zodiacs when they had experienced the same or a very similar levels of misfortune that she had. Many would wonder why Parthena’s faith continued to remain strong in the face of the disease she was fighting, but what else could she do? She, her son, her future-daughter-in-law, and her Apothecary were all doing everything within their power, but at the end of the day, there wasn’t much any of them could do to turn the tides. The power rested in higher beings alone, and until someone could prove that Aries had abandoned her, she would continue to pray.

Once her prayer was complete, she poured herself a glass of Sapphire Spirit, an exotic beverage that she was immensely thankful for. Her son had only discovered the drink three years ago when a cargo ship from the Phoenix Galaxy had made port in Miessa, but it was still a gift from Aries; the drink made the pain and exhaustion of this illness far more bearable. It was such a wonderful creation that Parthena wished she could share the drink with everyone in the Galaxy, but it’s exotic origins made it so high in demand and so expensive that only the very top of the upper class and nobility of the Galaxy could afford it.

The moment that Parthena finished her first glass of Sapphire Spirit, there was a knock on her door. “Just moment.” She hurried back to her bed as fast as she could –

which wasn’t that fast at all – and pull the covers back up around her. The only problem was that the simple task left her breathless. “... Come... in, “ she panted out, trying to sound like her heart was beating a normal resting pace rather than a hundred-beats per minute.

Prince Barnaby Oldfield, the Duke of Miessa, entered his mother’s bedroom with Apothecary Carter behind him. “Good morning, mother.” He came to her bedside and bent down to kiss her clammy forehead, just below the head scarf that the Queen used to cover the hairless head that embarrassed her so. Parthena could see in her son’s eyes that she wasn’t fooling him, but he didn’t call her out in front of the Apothecary. “I hope you are feeling better this morning.” The Prince had said that every morning ever since Parthena fell ill. She would always smile and lie to him, saying that she was feeling much better, even though she knew she could never fool him.

Aside from the fact that he looked much healthier than her, Barnaby looked just like his mother. The resemblance was less in the shape of his nose or the frame of his cheek bones, but rather in the parts of him that had been affected by the Sapphire Spirit, which he also indulged in, though not to the same level as his mother. His blonde hair and green eyes had taken on a blue color, and his naturally sun-kissed skin was as fair as a china dolls. This was another reason why the Sapphire Spirit was so sought after and so expensive; it gave the consumers a level and style of beauty that was highly sought by the bourgeoisie. If Parthena hadn’t been so ill, she would have waist length, thick, blue hair that would be several shades darker than Barnaby’s. Her eyes would match and her skin would look like polished china.

Prince Barnaby stepped aside to make room for Apothecary Carter and sat on the opposite bed side, holding his mother’s hand to give her strength for her daily examination. “Good morning, Your Highness. How are we truly feeling today?” Apothecary Carter could see through the Queen’s attempts to be strong just as her son could, and would always ask that question a second time.

The Queen sighed out a little giggle. “In truth, Mr. Carter, I can feel no improvement, but I also do not feel any worse.”

Apothecary Carter pressed the back of his hand to the Queen’s forehead, feeling both her temperature and the clamminess. “Well, I suppose no news is good news, but we might actually see some improvement if you rest. Straining yourself is only going to make it easier for the disease to spread, and then it can weaken you even more.”

Apothecary Carter had been saying that ever since he was summoned to take on the Queen as a patient. The Queen would always say that she understood and would follow his orders, but she never did. If she were anyone else, Apothecary Carter would’ve reprimanded and scolded her, but as she was a woman sick with a disease like he had never seen before, he would withhold his reprimands and humor her. Besides, she was the Queen and no one could ever tell the Queen what to do. They could only make polite suggestions that she was free to ignore if she chose to.

“Have you taken your Sapphire Spirit this morning, Your Highness?” With the disease being so foreign and unknown, Apothecary Carter had been working for three years to try to find a cure. It took him a year to go through all the confirmed cures and procedures, all of which had proven completely useless against this ailment. At that point, he had to start trying to invent a cure procedure from scratch. He was going through every medicinal herb, fungus, and agent in alphabetical order, trying to see if anything would produce even a remote improvement. When he would see such an improvement, he would try adding a second ingredient. That was as far as they had ever gotten in the invention of cure recipe; every time a secondary ingredient was added, it would only produce nasty side effects that made the whole plague even worse. The only thing that seemed to work was the Sapphire Spirit, but only as a painkiller; not as a permanent solution.

“Yes, Apothecary Carter; just as you instructed, but I do believe that Etta mentioned that we were starting to run low.” Every failed attempt to cure the Queen wore on everyone’s hope, but it was a small consolation that she was at least comfortable, if exhausted. The only trouble was that she needed the Sapphire Spirit at least five times a day; three times drinking it, and two times having it injected directly into the blood stream. This lead to an even higher demand of the liquid – which was already difficult to get – and it meant that the Queen’s handmaiden had to learn how to give the Queen her injections as Apothecary Carter had other patients to attend to, and couldn’t clear his schedule completely to be at her beck and call.

“Well, the good news is I just put in a reservation order for the next shipment that comes in. It should be here in another day or two. I’ll ask Miss Etta if you have enough to last you until then.”

“Thank you, Mr. Carter.” Once the conversation was over, they proceeded with the Queen’s daily exam. For the most part, it was painless, but Barnaby was there to support and comfort his mother for the drawing of her blood, which had started off

painful enough and got even more painful as time went on. Her body had become so frail and weak that even her blood vessels would shift and slip beneath her skin, making it very difficult for Apothecary Carter to get the needle to connect. He had to move the needle around while it was still inserted into the Queen’s inner arm, scrapping against her muscles and inside of her skin. This would always result in deep, blue bruises on the insides of both of her arms. The same thing would happen with her Sapphire Spirit injections, but at least that would start working to ease the pain the moment that Etta broke into the vein.

When the exam was finally over, Apothecary Carter packed up his medical bag and told his patient and her son about the new ingredient he was going to try. As pertinent as the information was, the Queen’s eyes were starting to get heavy and she could barely stay awake enough to take in anything more than choice words. She tried to nod her head so as not to be rude and show that she was having a hard time listening, but it was easy for her son and Apothecary Carter to see her exhaustion. Both forgave her and got up to leave her to sleep. The Apothecary gave his goodbye and Prince Barnaby left to show him out, promising his mother he would be back later to check on her. The moment that the door closed behind the two men, the Queen almost immediately fell into an unmoving, dreamless slumber.

This, of course, meant that she didn’t hear the jiggling of Starz when Prince Barnaby dropped a purse full of them right into Apothecary Carter’s small hand. Without looking at the little man, Prince Barnaby stated dryly, “You’re burning the samples you take from her like we arranged, yes?”

As if out of nowhere, Apothecary Carter broke into a greedy grin as he weighed the pouch in his hand, relishing in the clacking sounds coming from within. “Believe me, Your Grace; as long as you are a man of your word, I shall be a man of mine. You can trust me.”

Prince Barnaby had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep himself from scoffing at the man’s statement. “I do hope so. After all, we both know that one word from me is all it takes for your license to be revoked. We don’t want that, now do we?”

“... Of course not, Your Grace.” The Prince could hear the well-hidden passive aggression in the man’s voice. He knew that Apothecary Carter was not a man who would usually take threats and ultimatums from anyone, but as the Prince of the Galaxy, Barnaby had the potential to make the man’s life living hell. Moreover, if he tried to expose the Prince out of spite, it was the Royal Family’s word against his. Those

were not odds that any wise man would bet on. “As long as you provide me with ‘medicine’ and what you promised me, I will obey. Can your dear Dr. Tanko get me more Devil’s Blood?” The secret nickname that Apothecary Carter gave the Sapphire Spirit had always fascinated Prince Barnaby, which was a shock since the man was otherwise not fascinating in the slightest. Still, he wondered why the man called the drink “The Devil’s Blood” since he had never heard anywhere that the devil’s blood was speculated to be blue.

“You need not worry. You just do your job and Dr. Tanko will do his.” As the Prince walked away from Apothecary Carter, he said “You should know your way out by now. I have an appointment with my fiancé.”

“Of course, Your Grace. Please give my best to Lady Eva.” Again, Barnaby had to bite his cheek to withhold a scoff. “Good day, Your Grace.” Barnaby didn’t even bother to acknowledge the man as he left.

Next Chapter: Chapter 4