Chapter 9: Poison

"Good morning, Mr Rickhorn. I didn't expect you to come this early in the morning." said Doctor Ganie.

When Dre and Roy stepped out of the carriage, they both caught sight of the young lady, Miss Woods, exiting the premises. Dre had not missed the way her eyes where brimming with tears but at the same time, still held the stubborn look she normally had on her face. He wondered what she was doing here as he thought that she was still at the mansion. But now was not the time to be pondering about such things. He had come to meet the Doctor regarding official matters.

"I did not see why I should delay the visit, especially since you mentioned in your letter that you have the results for the bodies I brought over."

"Of course, follow me gentlemen." said Doctor Ganie as he gestured for them to enter.

The Doctor led them to a room that was on the other side of the hallway, opposite from his study where the young lady had spoken with him.

He took them through a room that had a black door after he removed several locks, down a stairway and into dark and musty room. In the room, there was a stench of death. A candle was lit and then a few others until the room was finally well lit, enough to see the surrounding space where there were three metal containers which were sealed tight.

A desk was set in the far corner of the room and the Doctor walked towards it. From a stack of parchments, he pulled out a few pages that were bound together and handed it to Mr Rickhorn.

"This is the report done for the examination of the bodies you have brought over." said Doctor Ganie as his eyes glanced towards the three metal containers. "It was indeed poison Mr Rickhorn, which is rather strange if you that it was bandits who did this to these men. But that is not the only thing I am concerned about. The wounds had a purplish hue from this particular poison, a hue that I have only seen a few times before and not in this kingdom. It was when I was doing research in the eastern kingdoms."

"And that is why I wanted you to do the examination and not those castle physicians. Thank you for your work, Doctor." said Dre with a bow.

"It is an honor to be of help to the Rickhorns and to my kingdom." replied the Doctor, also with a bow.

The men then made their way back upstairs leaving the room locked once more. Reaching the entrance where they could hear the noisy street again, Mr Rickhorn handed the documents to Sir Roy and said to the Doctor, "Thank you for your work, I will be sure to let the council know of your assistance on this matter. After all, it has to do with the kingdoms security."

Doctor Ganie waved his hands as he said with a smile. "Oh I don't do it for the credits, Mr Rickhorn."

They all stepped outside and just when Sir Roy and Mr Rickhorn was about to take there leave, Rose had suddenly appeared before them in a passion, eyes blazing and chin up. Her hands where in fists and jaw clenched where it looked as if she was cross, but Rose was in fact trembling from head to toe. Granted, she was angry, but she had spent a few minute in the carriage thinking over her conversation with Doctor Ganie and finally concluded that he was barking mad!

"Doctor Ganie, my apologies for the intrusion but I must press on the matter we had just discussed." said Rose, no longer sounding like the gentle young lady from earlier, instead, she brought with her in her tone a purpose and a steely resolve that the three men.

"Young Miss Woods, what are-"

"It is my duty to let you know good sir, that you have made a dire mistake in rejecting my request to become your apprentice. Why? Well, not only have I the knowledge that you would normally teach to an apprentice in their first two years in learning about basic treatments for common colds and known diseases in the three kingdoms by spending my leisure time in the clinics of Willowtown three times a week, watching the nurses treat the patients and helping with sanitation of the supplies voluntarily, but I also have memorized the smell and physical appearance of every medicinal herb that is native in the Sienne and a few that come from out of the kingdom." said Rose in a fire rush of words before breathing in sharply before continuing, "I have read fifty-five documented medicine books in total where I have memorized the procedures detailed in them and though I have no experience performing those said medical procedures as I am underqualified to do, I am more than willing to learn and be trained to be able to do so." the three men watched as she slowly turned red with the lack of breath as she poured out another fiery lot of words at the Doctor. Dre was the only one from the three whose expression did not change from before she had arrived while the other two looked stunned by the woman. It seems like she hasn't noticed us, thought Dre, this amusing woman.

"Also, I must let you know that even if I am a woman, I am not fragile nor am I incompetent. I am very capable, I am driven and most certainly not just some girl to sit at home hosting tea parties until I marry and have children." she finally paused and took another deep and steady breath in. My goodness, she thought, I can't believe I said all that!

The adrenaline that was coursing through her just a few seconds ago started to deplete and now she felt her cheeks heat up but this time because of embarrassment. Just then she noticed that Doctor Ganie was not alone, but was with the two men whom she had breakfast with this morning.

Still keeping her steel resolve, she said with her voice slightly lower, "That is all, Doctor Ganie. Thank you once more for your time." and she turned her heel and carefully walked down the pavement to her carriage that was waiting for her, slowly because she could tell that the men where still staring at her and she didn't want to trip and fall while they did.

When the lady was finally out of sight, the men broke out of their trance. The first to speak was Mr Rickhorn, "She asked you to take her in as an apprentice?"

"Y-yes. But I told her that it is not something that I do, I have never had an apprentice in all my years of working, I have always worked alone." said the stunned Doctor.

Dre could not deny that he was slightly moved by her little performance, if not impressed. He had thought she was just another stuck up country girl who came to the city to grow her social circle and make connections in Kantor because isn't what most women did in high society? But she had changed the light in which he viewed her.

"Maybe it's something to reconsider." he said to the Doctor while looking in the direction the girl had come from. "Good day." he greeted the old man and Sir Roy repeated the greeting before they both made their way back into their carriage.

Once in the carriage, Roy spoke, "Well that was interesting."

"Indeed, it was." said Dre and he looked outside the carriage window, and Roy could have sworn that he saw him smirk.