LOUISA/CRANE-25a

...A SON'S DETERMINATION

After two hours in the palace infirmary, Doctor Holmes and his assistants did the best they could. Cold and pale, Queen Anne was unconscious, after having her mysterious wound bandaged. Strangely, the bleeding had stopped the moment she was brought in the infirmary by Sir Wells. Prince Carroll followed just a few minutes later, arriving right when the elderly palace chaplain finished administering the emergency last rites to the queen.

Sir Wells took Prince Carroll by the hand to lead him to the queen's bedside.

"She was calling for your brother, of all people", Sir Wells whispered. "She cried out 'Joseph' repeatedly while under treatment before losing consciousness again."

Prince Carroll said nothing for a while as he tried holding back his tears. Just then, the chaplain came to the prince's side.

"Look...", the chaplain said fearfully. "Her Majesty has the mark of the Black Wolf on her throat. It appeared during the reading of the Healing Prayer."

Prince Carroll then looked at his mother, with his eyes on the strange mark - a black wolf's head with its mouth open, showing its fangs.

"This is all his doing", Prince Carroll mumbled angrily.
"Mother was bleeding from her old wound, the one he made on the night he tried to take me away..."

"It's the power of the dreaded Bloodsword!", came Homer the blind Palace Prophet, as he walked in the room. The upper half of his face was wrapped in bandages, with blood stains on the lower layers and just like Queen Anne, he had the same Black Wolf mark on his throat.

Homer continued:
"It appears that Her Majesty and I have been cursed through our old wounds, the wounds that Prince Conrad Josephus inflicted on us five years ago."

"What if this happens again?", Sir Wells asked worriedly. "Anne lost so much blood today. God forbid, she might not survive the next time she's cursed! Is there a way to remove whatever spell that demon Conrad Josephus cast on her!?"

"There is a way", Homer said solemnly. "A holy flower hidden faraway... it's essence is what we need. But only His Highness Prince Carroll can see it."

"Send the prince away?", Sir Wells exclaimed in disbelief.
"He is the heir to the throne, my sister's only son! The king will not allow it!"

"He doesn't care about mother and me!", Prince Carroll cried out suddenly."He isn't even here. Why worry about what he'll think?"

"A perilous journey awaits thee Your Highness", Homer told the prince.
"The holy flower I speak of, the Panacean Bloom, is in the Tolkien Valley, the land of great abomination."

"I will go there...for mother's sake!", Prince Carroll declared.