404 Horns- Part 1

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Madeline stepped out of the room once she made sure that Beth was well taken care of, lying in her bed. Beth had been in too much pain, and she had fallen unconscious before they reached the castle. With a soft click, she closed the door behind her and saw two maids who stood outside to attend to Beth. Madeline caught sight of Lucy and Raphael who stood not too far away from the room. 

"How is she?" asked Lucy, who had heard from a maid about what happened, and immediately she had made her way to the guest room where Beth was. 

"She is resting now. It's good that she's unconscious," replied Madeline, pressing her lips together.

"My deepest apologies, my queen for not keeping an eye on her," Raphael bowed his head. He hoped that Beth would be safe inside the carriage. But he would have never guessed that Beth would come to attract one of the werewolves, that would come to bite her. He felt guilty for not looking after the girl, not because she was the Queen's sister, but because she was Elizabeth Harris. 

"It wasn't your fault, Mr. Sparrow. What happened today was a series of misfortunes which none of us expected it to happen," Madeline didn't blame Raphael because when they had stepped into the village of Cossington, she had only thought about Jennine. Who knew the demons and werewolves would come out of the blue to attack the villagers, "If we can find the antidote, there will be nothing to worry about."

Lucy's eyebrows furrowed in deep worry, and she said, "Forgive me, my Queen, but as far as I know, no cure for a werewolves bite has been found until now. It is inevitable." 

"My grandmother said the antidote for it exists, but she didn't tell where to find the antidote," answered Madeline. 

Out of all the lies that her grandmother had told them over the years along with her grandfather, Madeline hoped this little information was true. With James, who had decided on how he was going to live, she had dropped the idea about finding the antidote. But with Beth being bitten, she didn't have a choice but was forced to find a cure so that Beth would never turn to a beast-like creature. 

"But where will you be able to find it?" questioned Lucy. As easy as it was to tell that there was a cure, every human who had been bit by a werewolf and also vampires who had got bitten, they had been unsuccessful when it came to getting their hands on the antidote. "I remember a distant uncle of mine who was a human, who got married into my aunt's family. A person of high status and pompous, who had once gone hunting in the borders of the land of Devon only to be bit by a werewolf. Orders were sent out to bring the antidote because there was a rumour that was spread about it being present in one of the caves that comes near the Bellmount mountain."

Hearing this new piece of information, Madeline's throat went dry, "Dies?"

"Lady Lucy is right, my Queen," affirmed Raphael with a heavy heart. "When a werewolf bites a person, it leaves venom behind. Some cope up with it by transforming into werewolves while some don't survive."

Lucy continued with the story, "While the relative of mine who was trying to hold up, men went in search of the so-called antidote, but they returned with nothing but dead bodies of the men, and some skeletons. In the end, the person succumbed to his death, and he passed away. Don't worry, Lady Madeline, let's hope that nothing happens to Lady Elizabeth."

"Yes," whispered Madeline. 

Leaving the front of Beth's room, Madeline started to walk in the corridors while she thought what to do. When James had turned, she had believed there was nothing worse than it, but now knowing about the transition of the werewolves, Beth could die. Worry continued to plague her mind. Her sister was finally coming around to the way she was when they were little. Madeline didn't want to lose her sister. 

She wondered how things were going in Cossington. After seeing her back to the castle, Calhoun had left to visit Cossington as he wanted to follow the scent that he had noticed earlier, while also wanting to find where Paschar was. 

She continued to walk idly and alone by herself in the quiet parts of the castle, giving room to her thoughts so that she could think of something. She wondered if Paschar could help in fixing Beth's condition, after all, angels were the helpers of God. Standing in the middle of the corridor, she closed her eyes and held both her hands together, whispering her prayers, hoping Beth would be saved from her current situation. 

Madeline had gone to the village for her work. 

She shouldn't have taken Beth along with her, thought Madeline to herself, feeling the sliver of guilt that weighed on her mind, she couldn't help but blame herself for being irresponsible. At the same time, no one knew this was how the day was going to transpire. She didn't know how things would turn once the High House members would find Beth's condition. Beth would be taken away from here and treated like a wild beast. 

Unable to stand around doing nothing, Madeline wanted to check how Beth was doing even though it had been only thirty minutes since she left her sister's room.

Reaching the front of the room, she saw the maids continued to stand on the opposite side of the door. Madeline was about to turn the knob when she heard something from the inside of the room. It wasn't voices but crackling sounds that had her frown. Did Beth wake up? 

Turning the knobs quickly, she stepped forward to feel and felt her heart slip from her ribcage on what she saw. If her hand wasn't holding the doorknob, it would have been trembling now. 

Beth was on the bed just like how Madeline had left her with the blanket spread loosely so that it wouldn't press on Beth's leg that was wounded. But Beth was not alone, and she had company. 

Something stood next to Beth's bed, something Madeline had never seen or dreamt of before. It wasn't a person, but a creature that had a stag-like face with antlers. But the problem wasn't that it was an animal with the stag-like face which had no muscles or skin on it as it was nothing but bones located between the shoulders that belonged to a person's body. 

Her first guess would have been that a person was wearing a mask and trying to make mischief, but she could see the wall that was behind the creature through the gaps of the boney face.