Operation Bismarck - The Good Days

"So, why do you eat meat?" the Queen asked Ater as they started eating. Ater chewed a large piece of steak before responding:

"In my early youth..." Ater put down his fork and knife. He wiped his mouth with a napkin, preparing for a longer story. He crossed his arms and continued, "In my early youth, I was banished from all Munda tribes."

"Why?" Now the Queen put down her cutlery too, turning all ears.

"If Teacher Set hadn't found me, I wouldn't have survived the third night without food and water," Ater continued, ignoring the Queen's question. She didn't object.

"Teacher Set was the then Master of Blood who lived apart from the other tribes, mainly because they considered him an oddball."

The Queen nodded, encouraging Ater to continue.

"Teacher Set had... peculiar habits. One of them was hunting and eating meat, which is unheard of in Munda culture... Anyway, I spent several summers with him, during which I adopted and solidified my love for meat, especially game," Ater laughed before picking up his fork again and stuffing another piece of steak into his mouth. The meat was fresh, of high quality, and very tasty on its own, and Ater had perfectly seasoned it. Even the Queen had to admit that the meal was truly a treat.

"Can you tell me more about Set?" Theresa asked curiously.

"Teacher Set had a habit of seeing things that weren't there, but I managed to cure that."

Arbor raised his fork with the meat to his mouth.

"How?" the Queen asked.

Ater put down his fork: "The cause of his hallucinations was his unstable spiritual state. By stabilizing his spirit, I eradicated the cause, thus removing the hallucinations."

The Queen opened her mouth to ask another question.

"The cause of his unstable spirit was daily prayers to the god Letus. With much effort, I managed to get him to stop," the Healer anticipated her question.

"You have more gods? I heard Edward talking about a goddess... Bey...? Bergen...? Beregeniy...?"

"Bereginiy. Yes, she is the main and only god of the Munda."

"Huh? Then who is Letus?"

"A foreign god. A tricky one. Hope you never meet him," Ater said as if it were the most normal thing ever.

"Wait... You met a god? Like... a real deity?" the Queen asked, surprised."

"A demigod," Ater corrected her, "and I didn't want to meet him. I didn't want to fight him either, but you can't have everything," Ater shrugged.

"You fought a demigod? You must tell me about it!" the Queen said excitedly. Ater's pleasant demeanor, the delicious food, and the intriguing story made her almost forget the situation she was in. Arbor knew what he was doing.

"Haha! If you insist…" Ater said with a smile. By the time they finished their conversation, the uneaten food had long gone cold. The Queen was engrossed in listening to her captor.

Frejo and the Prince had finished their breakfast a while ago and were now lying in the garden, chatting among themselves.

"Ater has been with the Queen for quite a while," Frejo mentioned.

"Mhm. I hope love blossoms between them," the Prince said, twirling a blade of grass between his fingers.

"W... What?" Frejo asked.

"Ah, you're still young. A human in love is the easiest to control," after this brief explanation, Frejo still looked confused.

"Listen, Ater is perfectly loyal to me. If the Queen's heart becomes attached to Ater, I'm the one holding the end of the string."

"Well said, Teacher... But what if Ater becomes attached to the Queen?" Frejo asked.

The Prince started rolling on the grass with laughter. He writhed on the ground, clutching his stomach.

"Really, really good joke, young Frejo. Ater? Turn against me? For a girl? Are you sure they didn't put something in your fruit? HAHAHA," the Prince laughed. Frejo, on the other hand, wasn't so sure. He could definitely see a scenario where Ater turned rogue. He would have to keep an eye on the Healer.

The Healer stood with one foot on a chair, spreading both arms and gesticulating as he told his adventures to the Queen. She occasionally interrupted him, asking questions when something wasn't clear. Several times she asked him to go back and retell the more interesting parts. Neither the Queen nor Ater could remember the last time they had this much fun. But their conversation was cut short when Antonus knocked on the kitchen door: "The Prince wants to see you," said the Munda and left without waiting for a response.

"We better go. We'll make him nervous if we keep him waiting," Ater said, heading towards the door.

"Him? Nervous?" the Queen asked in disbelief.

"If only you knew," Ater replied mysteriously.

As usual, the Prince greeted them with a smile from ear to ear. "Your Majesty! Ater! I hope you enjoyed breakfast!" The Queen nodded. Ater did not react.

"Oh, is this to prevent getting lost?" the Prince gestured towards their hands. Ater reflexively pulled away from the Queen's grasp. He didn't even remember when she had taken his hand. The Prince somehow smiled even wider at this sight.

"Why did you call us, Teacher?" Ater asked, unperturbed.

"We'll need to cut some costs because of what we did with the servants, you know... That trio over there is only willing to clean four rooms. The castle has dozens. So we'll be using only four rooms as personal quarters," Ater nodded. It made sense. There were seven of them, including the Queen. An odd number...

"Frejo, you sleep with Antonus. Those two will share a room too."

"So, am I sharing a room with you, Teacher?" Ater asked cautiously, expecting the Prince's response.

"Of course not! I'm the Prince! I get a room to myself! No, no, no, you will be sharing a room with the Queen, to ensure that we don't have a repeat of this morning's fiasco," the Prince winked at both the Queen and Ater.

"You two will be in the Queen's personal chambers. The rest of us will take the surrounding rooms. I don't want us spread all over the castle."

"You're aware that the castle has frequent... visitors? It's only a matter of time before someone notices it's empty... Then we're done for," Ater noted.

"Hey, hey, don't wooooorry. I've got everything under control, okay? The plan... The plan is mine! And my plans are flawless, haha!" the Prince babbled. Both the Queen and Ater gave him a skeptical look. Frejo didn't miss this. Ever the cautious advisor.

Ater saw Frejo frowning at him. "Hey, Mr. Advisor, drop by my... our quarters tonight. We have a few words to exchange." Frejo turned to the Prince, who who shook his head in denial.

Ater bowed and headed towards the castle. The Queen ran after him.

The Prince watched her with his perpetual smile. He turned to Frejo: "Arbor will have to return to his homeland in October for the Black Tree festival. I want the Catalyst to be finished by then."

Frejo nodded. They had seven weeks until then.

Ater and the Queen went to her chambers. Once inside, Ater saw a chair by the open window and sighed. It reminded him of something. He pulled four vials of red liquid from his coat. The Queen raised an eyebrow, "What is that?"

"I'm going to take a bath. This will ensure you don't go anywhere," Ater said.

Ater opened the bottles, pouring one on the door and the other three on the windows. He mumbled something under his breath. The blood formed a thin layer over the windows and door, barricading all exits from the room.

He approached the door, and the blood shifted to allow him to pass. The Queen crossed her arms angrily. She almost forgot… She was a prisoner here…

She approached the barrier on the window and tapped it. The layer of blood was so thin that it let through a reddish light, keeping the room from being completely dark. She punched the blood barrier. It was slightly elastic, and her fist bounced back surprisingly hard. She doubted she could break it.

After half an hour, the barrier on the door lifted, and Ater re-entered the room. He was laughing, clearly enjoying his bath, finally getting rid of the salty smell he carried from his recent overseas journey.

"Now I need to use the bathroom!" said the Queen. Ater laughed, pointed at the barrier on the door, and it opened again.

"After you, Your Majesty," he said with a mischievous smile. The Queen blushed and turned her head so he wouldn't see. Ater noticed.

They walked to the bathroom in silence. The Queen finally broke it, "Frejo uses lightning, Antonus fire, his friend ice, and you use blood… Can I assume the third warrior uses invocation?"

"Mhm," Ater confirmed.

"And the Prince? I haven't seen him use magic yet. What's his branch?"

Ater was silent for the next three minutes. Finally, he honored the Queen with a response: "The Prince is… special."

The Queen stopped in front of the bathroom entrance. "Elaborate?"

"Well… The Prince was supposed to be the next Great Chief. He was supposed to spend his life learning Eldrik, and when he mastered it entirely, he would become the new ruler of the Munda."

"Supposed to?" asked the Queen.

"He had a big fight with his father, and the Great Chief decided the Prince wasn't worthy to replace him. The Prince had a great talent for Eldrik, perhaps unprecedented… It was predicted that he would master it entirely by the age of 25, breaking all previous records, making him the youngest Great Chief ever. But…"

"But…?" the Queen encouraged him. Ater looked into her large, piercing eyes. His voice turned cold:

"In fear of what the Prince could do with his current knowledge of Eldrik, the Great Leader cursed his blood so that neither he nor his descendants could use magic."

"Cursed the blood?" The Queen relentlessly questioned Ater. 'It's really not hard to get information out of this man,' she thought.

"The magic of the Munda is in their blood. The Blood Master and the Great Chief, using Eldrik and blood magic, can curse someone and all their descendants."

"Even to take away their ability to use magic?"

"Yes. It could have been much worse. The Great Chief wanted to curse him and all his male descendants to live only 17 years."

"Wow…" sighed the Queen, "their quarrel must have been really serious."

"Mhm," said Ater.

"What did they quarrel about?" The Queen asked her last question.

"No," Ater snapped, pointing to the bathroom, "You have five minutes." The Queen ran inside.

She didn't expect Ater to let her go alone. The royal bathroom had large windows through which a person could easily escape. When she entered the bathroom, it was clear. The windows had the same blood barrier as those in her room. Ater had pre-prepared the rooms where she was allowed to be alone. She smiled. She believed she could endear herself to him. She just had to be patient…

The Queen washed her face and leaned against the wall. She crossed her arms and began to think. Ater had given her a lot of useful information.

'Okay… So… Ater Arbor is a doctor, but he doesn't shy away from hurting people… His blood magic is interesting. Ater didn't seem to be tired from maintaining all these barriers. Also, he carried bottles of his own blood… How does it not clot? That's not important now…

Frejo. He can't be over 18… He uses lightning magic. So far, I've only seen him use it to change the position of himself and others. This switch is always accompanied by a loud thunderclap, so he can't use it quietly. He's the Prince's advisor? It doesn't seem like the Prince needs an advisor or that he would listen to anyone's advice. Frejo is very cautious and doesn't seem to trust Ater much. I'll have to be very careful with him.

Antonus and his crew… A bunch of blockheads. 'No brain under the helmet,' as the saying goes. Simple, loyal, good fighters… Perfect soldiers. Fire, ice, and invocation. I've seen fire and ice, but not invocation yet. Maybe I'll ask Ater to request a demonstration from that Mund.

And lastly… The Prince. Every time I see him, my hair stands on end. With that honest smile he never takes off his face… No magic, that's interesting. For the Munda, magic is second nature, do they see him as… an amputee? No… Ater said he's afraid of him. What does it take to scare someone like Ater Arbor? What has a man without magic done to frighten the Dark Doctor?

Haha, the Daaark Doctooor! I like how that sounds. Now I'll have to sleep in the room with him… So far, he's been… relatively nice to me. Oh dear, I'm completely powerless against them. Well, everyone is powerless when they sleep! I have a knife in the bottom drawer next to my bed.'

"Don't make me come in!" Ater shouted. The Queen snapped out of her thoughts and ran out.

"Sorry for keeping you waiting, dear," the Queen said sourly. Tonight, she would try to kill him... Maybe that would remove the blood barriers Ater had placed around the castle and who knows where else.

"Tsk," Ater replied.

The sun was setting when they returned to the Queen's chambers. A cart with food awaited them at the door. "Oh…" the cart was full of fruits and salads. Ater waved his hand and the barrier on the door disappeared. The Queen entered, and Ater pushed the cart into the room behind her.

Ater dove into the salad without waiting for the Queen. "I thought you ate meat," she said.

"A balanced diet is the key to a good metabolism!" The Queen didn't understand any of those terms. 'It must be something magical,' she concluded and began to eat.

When they finished, night had already fallen. Ater and the Queen hadn't spoken.

Ater looked around the room.

The Queen's private chambers were enormous. The northern wall of the room was adorned with portraits of previous rulers hanging above a bed that could comfortably fit five people. Next to the bed was a nightstand. On the eastern side of the room were three grand windows, currently covered with a thin blood barrier. A golden chandelier with numerous unlit candles hung from the ceiling. On the floor, three large carpets absorbed every sound of Ater's boots as he walked around the room, observing. The entire room was 40 paces long and 20 paces wide. Arbor stopped in front of a wardrobe with ten doors. He opened one. Dresses. He opened another. More dresses. He stepped away from the wardrobe.

In the southern part of the room was a tea table, surrounded by three white chairs. Parallel to the tea table against the wall was a long bench covered in leather and fur. Ater began undressing next to the bench.

The Queen had finished her meal by now and watched Ater with interest.

Ater began removing his boots. Without using his hands, he took off the black boot with his left foot and the white one with his right. He placed them by the bench. He removed his black glove. The Queen couldn't take her eyes off him. Under the moonbeams, which passed through the barrier as red, Ater, slightly hunched, took off the glove, revealing thin, long fingers. He put both gloves in his right hand. He reached into the right side of his coat with his left hand and pulled out another vial of blood. He placed it on the bench. He took off his coat and threw it over a chair. He placed the gloves on the table. He picked up the vial of blood from the bench and poured it onto the carpet, which immediately absorbed all the liquid, leaving a red stain.

"What… What are you doing?" the Queen asked, concerned.

"Mmm… Just in case," Ater said. He mumbled something to himself and the blood rose from the floor in the shape of a snake. The Queen recognized it. Ater lay down on the bench. Beneath all that fur, it was very comfortable. "Good night, Your Majesty," Ater said from his bed. "Good night…" the Queen replied reluctantly, watching the red snake climb onto Ater's chest and coil up there. The snake made eye contact with the Queen. Theresa shivered. She would have to deal with that snake first if she wanted to take care of Ater while he slept.

He was smarter than she thought.