"Lord no!" gasped Nicholas and slumped on his cot holding his head between his hands. Then looking up at Damianos he said - "Help me save Balthazaar! Help me, please. His condition wasn"t good. The dungeon isn"t a place where he can survive!"Even though Damianos wanted to rush to the Royal palace ground and check upon Morpheous, he was equally worried about Balthazaar. The situation was grave and only one could be saved at that moment.
Damianos looked at the rickety table on which Nicholas"s herb pouch was lying and then he looked, at the cot and saw a few broken petals of wolfsbane and other herbs on the sheets. He thought,
"If the herbs were given to him today morning then why it is on his bed?"
So looking into the eyes of Nicholas, he said, "Let"s save Morpheous first! After that, I promise that I will help you save Balthazaar."
Even though Nicholas didn"t want to save Morpheous, his hands were tied now. Saving Morpheous was the only way to help Balthazaar, even though it meant breaking the promise of Balthazaar. So getting up from the cot, he looked at Theo and said,
"Thank you, my friend. We will leave for the palace grounds now."
"Are you mad? You want to save the man who is going to be punished by Nubeous now! Why do you want to dig your own grave? You think you can persuade Nubeous with your words! Huh... I can bet 10 coins that he won"t even let you speak for that man. And who is he to you Nicholas?"
"Who said we are going to persuade him?", said Damianos with a blank face and left the room.
Turning towards his friend before leaving the room, Nicholas replied,
"That man is my wild card for saving Balthazaar!"
Nicholas saw the surprised expression on the face of his friend, but there was no time to explain anything because deep in his heart he was dreading the fate of Morpheous as he had already made him inhale the wolfsbane flower.
.
.
Crossing the common areas, Nicholas and Damianos reached the palace ground. Crouching behind the stone sculptures of the b.u.t.terfly garden which was next to the palace ground, they tried to estimate the situation.
His hands and legs were tied with chains of iron.
His body lied there without any motion. It looked like there was no flicker of life left in his body.
"Is he..."
"Do not even dare to finish this sentence," thundered Damianos and looked at Morpheous"s motionless body. Closing his eyes, he mustered up all his strength to communicate with Morpheous from afar.
"Morpheous!"
"Morpheous!"
"It"s me... Damianos. Can you hear me? Please tell me that you can hear me. Just move an inch and let me know that you can move."
But there was no reply or no sign of movement from him!
"Lord help me!" muttered Damianos helplessly and kept trying. He was not someone who would give up hope that easily and that too on Morpheous.
"For the sake of heaven, for the sake of your father get up Morpheous! You shall rise Morpheous. For the sake of humanity, you shall rise!"
But no matter how hard Damianos tried to invoke, there came no response. Feeling a bit dejected, feeling a bit defeated, he took a deep breath and then looked at Nicholas and said,
"We need to get him here. There is something wrong with him. He isn"t this weak to ..."
Then he paused for a moment and looked at Nicholas for a while and then said, - "There must be some Sicklewort plants nearby. Get me the leaves as fast as you can."
"Will that help?" asked Nicholas.
"Against wolfsbane? Yes!," replied Damianos curtly which shocked Nicholas. He was already dreading about his secret being revealed. Unable to meet his eyes with Damianos, he asked,
"You knew?"
"Just bring me the leaves, Nicholas. You can repent for your follies later. This is a garden and you can probably find it if you hurry!" said Daminaos and then focussed on communicating with Morpheous, but a few seconds later his concentration was broken by the acute sound of the blaring foghorn.
Nuboeus had arrived at the palace grounds.
For a moment, Damianos couldn"t breathe after seeing him, for the mere sight of him repelled every inch of his skin for he was one of those who had conspired against his great fathers - G.o.d. Gritting his teeth, he patiently waited for the arrival of Nicholas.
He knew that the flower that Nicholas had given to Morpheous was poisonous, he knew that he was a man who couldn"t be trusted with Morpheous"s life, but at that point in time, he knew that he could trust him as he would do anything to save Balthazaar.
There were hundreds of soldiers who were in and around the palace grounds, so it wasn"t possible for Damianos to fight them all. So he had to think of a quick way to get close to Morpheous.
"Here!"
"There was just a small plant with barely a couple of leaves," said Nicholas as he handed over five Sicklewort leaves to Damianos who looked at him as if he was scrutinizing him.
"Trust me! This is all that I could get," said Nicholas hanging his head low.
Ignoring his words, Daminaos quickly smashed the leaves in his palm without losing any time as he heard Nubeous order,
"Check that man. Bring him to me if he still has a pulse."
"Disheavel my hair and clothes! Fast," asked Damianos looking at Nicholas who obeyed and ruffled his hair and loosened his robe a bit.
"What are you planning to do?" asked Nicholas, unable to understand the whims of the old man.
But without replying to his question, Daminaos came out from hiding behind the stone sculptures.
"What are you doing? Come back!" screamed Nicholas, but Damianos marched ahead without paying any heed.
He closed his eyes for a second and remembered G.o.d and then entering the palace ground, he yelled,
"You sc.u.mbag! You shall die in my hands. Your hands are stained in the blood of my son. No heaven will spare you, you piece of filth!"