an attack at the palace

Kiera arrived at the scene, going against the waves of people that fled from the palace as she made her way into the hallway that was where she smelled blood. Her two fellow generals were already there, looking down at the bloody body of the man. Gaspar was crouched low, eyes surveying the injuries on the man.

As she neared closer, Kiera felt the words on her lips shrivel up. Her blue eyes took in every detail of the corpse. It was as if the uproar of the palace was left behind them. She could barely hear the terrified screams of the party goers as they fled.

Blood smeared across the hallway, ending in a pool of blood that gathered just beneath the human man's body. His guts were strewn about him after being ripped out of his body. The man's throat was torn to shreds. It was truly a most gruesome death for anyone.

"What is the meaning of this?"

Sir Pavel arrived with the palace knights in tow. He looked accusatory to the generals.

Gaspar straightened himself out, calmly turning around to stare at the Head Knight head on. Kiera understood the look in his eyes.

"I don't like the tone in your voice," he seethed, "Human." His eyes flashed with anger.

At the beast general's open hostility towards Sir Pavel, the knights behind him all reach down to place their hands on top of the hilts of their swords.

"Gaspar." Helios warned the other man as he was still observing the cadaver on the bloodied ground before him. His blue eyes seemed to be diligently reviewing every little detail. Kiera knew the younger man was trying to deescalate the situation before Gaspar completely lost all sense of reason. Right now they did not have the luxury of making a bigger mess out of the current circumstances.

"What the bloody hell is all of this?"

Everyone's attention shifted from the two conflicting people to the kings that gathered around them. More of the palace knights were called forth.

She saw the Beast King with them. His face was devoid of all emotion as he stared at the gruesome scene along with the other kings.

"Your Majesty." Sir Pavel bowed his head to his king. "This is where the attack took place. I came here as soon as I could and I found these three," he motioned towards the Beast Generals with a look of contempt, "here looking over the body."

The Solomon King's gaze went over to them. He seemed to question them with his gaze.

"Your Majesty." Kiera stepped up. "We arrived after the man was killed. We were looking at the extent of the injuries. That is all."

Sir Pavel let out a snort, an undignified sound coming from the Head Knight.

"That is what she claims. She was dancing with the Third Prince, but we don't know about the other two."

"Are you openly accusing my people Sir Pavel?"

Her king's voice dripped with authority as he regarded the Head Knight with his predatory gaze. There was a threatening air around him even though his face never betrayed his thoughts.

"Hold your tongue Pavel." The Solomon King quickly scolded the knight. Then he turned to apologize to the King of Beasts.

"No one is accusing anyone of anything King William." He smiled, unease on his face. "We will investigate this matter and make sure the killer is found."

Helios looked at Kiera, seemingly sharing a thought between them. This spurred Kiera to speak up once again.

"If I may ask your Highness," all their eyes went to her as her voice rang through the hallway, "who will be in charge of this investigation?"

"My Knights will be in charge of investigating and bringing the killer to justice." The King responded as if it was only natural for his knights to take over. "Seeing as this occurred during our watch, we shall make this right by finding the person responsible for this tragedy."

Before Kiera could stake their claim as another investigators, King William cut her off.

"Very well King Gerrod. We will entrust the matter of bringing the man responsible of this horrific crime to justice to your dependable Knights." After the other Kings spoke their own minds, some of them offering their own guards to investigate with the Solomon Knights, the discussion was brought to an end after King Gerrod assured them the criminal would be swiftly captured.

They then dispersed, taken away from the scene of the crime as the Solomon Knights began their investigation.

Kiera took one last look at the body splayed out on the marble floor. His dead eyes looked out in horror as if he was frozen in fear before he was brutally attacked. Then she turned and followed behind her King and the other two Generals.

"What a mess." King William let out a sigh as he sat down on one of his room chairs. He messaged his temple with his fingertips.

"Report to me what you saw."

He looked up and his amber eyes settled first on Gaspar.

"The attack happened quickly. I estimate the man had about a couple of seconds to react before his throat was slit. The amount of blood outside of his blood suggests he was bleeding for a while before anybody found him."

King William sighed again. "Poor bastard." He said as if lamenting the man's death. Then his eyes went to Helios next.

"Helios?"

"It makes sense. There was blood everywhere in the hallway, already drying a little before we got there. His guts were strewn about as if the attacker was out of their minds. I noticed the man's liver was nowhere to be seen." King William's brow furrowed, disliking this new information brought forth.

"His liver?"

Helios nodded. "Yes. It almost seems like his liver was eaten."

King William looked at to her next. It seemed like he knew what she was going to say without even asking.

"Kiera? Is what I suspect happened is true? You have more experience on the subject than any of us."

Kiera's hands tightened to fists at her sides. She stared at her King before nodding firmly.

"The Deranged."

She didn't jump up in surprise as she heard the sound of King William's fist hitting the armrest of his chair.

Kiera calmly continued after her King motioned for her to speak.

"It's not uncommon for the Deranged to feast on the livers. It one of the most nutritious parts of any body. Usually, the Deranged are too far gone at that point if they went so far as eating a man's liver. If what Gaspar says is true, then there was almost no time for hesitation at all. The attack occurred and the Deranged managed to eat the man's liver all in the span of a couple of minutes."

"Then this was the doing of one of ours." King William seemed to be in pain as he said that. He continued to massage his temple with his fingers.

"Your Majesty." Kiera wasn't finished. "This was clearly an attack from a Deranged, but it seems all too odd." The King of Beasts immediately stopped massaging his temple and regarded her with interest.

"I have spent years of my life capturing and killing the Deranged. If any of our people were showing signs of having such thoughts, I would have taken notice." She had other things on her mind that she found odd as well, but she held her tongue. It was too soon to speak on those as they were only her initial ideas.

"It is quite possible," her azure eyes cut to Gaspar as his voice called out from behind her, "that you were too preoccupied in other matters that you simply did not see the signs." She knew what matters he was referring to. It had to be the Third Prince.

His words struck her hard. She straightaway denied his words, but after a moment she began to doubt herself. Perhaps during all this time she had been thinking of the prince, she had failed to notice all the signs?

"That's enough Gaspar." King William put a stop to such talk, steadying at Gaspar a cautioning stare. Gaspar ducked his head, a signal he showed as submission towards the Lion King.

"Kiera," his amber eyes once more went to her, "you are the most fit to carry on as the lead in our own investigation. Make sure you are as discreet as possible. I don't want the Solomon King to catch wind that we are conducting our own separate investigation."

Kiera nodded her head in confirmation. She showed determination within the deep blue of her eyes.

"Gaspar and Helios. Both of you are to help Kiera in whatever she may need help with. Do as she sees fit and try to keep the public's attention off of us. We cannot allow the blame to fall on us. The fate of the Golden Rose Treaty depends on this. If we fail, we might never see a day of peace again."

Kiera was the first to leave. The Twelfth Beast General knew what was at stake. There was so much resting on her shoulders that she could not afford any mistakes. Without peace with the Human Kings her homeland would fall back into the war times, and the Deranged would be left unchecked with no one tasked with capturing the criminals. Another young child would be left orphaned. Another family would be eaten. She could not let that happen.

After all, that is why she became the Twelfth General in the first place.