Who is Magpie?

(Author’s Note; If you skipped Chapter 1-15; Kay, known to everyone else in her organization as Kookaburra, was Magpie’s only friend and they had been friends for less that a year through her ordeal. She had taken Magpie to the garden, that she was forbidden to enter, the night she was sent out on her mission to kill Ezekiel and nearly died to the poisons in the plants that Kay had though were a lie)

A firmness settled in to Kay’s jaw. Magpie had never been allowed such as outburst as the one she now had in her room, having her every moment controlled. She needed something, something to hold on to. She wouldn’t take anything Bluejay said as fact, for as far as she was concerned he was as untrustworthy as any traitor.

As she thought strongly about the enemy, still not sure if they truly were anymore, she landed on a small piece of hope. The Fae, had no cells for they didn’t take prisoners, but she knew there was a prison wing in the pack house. She knew Magpie would fight to the end, but if somehow they managed to control their anger and subdue her they would simply put her in a cell.

Breaking her out would require a lot of planning. She had no doubt in her mind that Magpie would find a way in on her own, even without planning time. And after she got in, they would increase security and erase any possibility of a repeat experience.

Once she got in Kay had to pray that she was unsuccessful; if she killed the Alpha they would have no sympathy for her, but the Alpha might pity her if he were to find out she was being controlled. If she made it to the cells Kay would have until her trial to get her out, but… the withdrawals. Suddenly stopping however many herbs she was on, for as long as she had been given them would wreck her system.

Kay would have twenty-four hours from her last dose to get her more before the symptoms began. She paused then, pacing Magpie’s room. That was only a few hours away since she had them every morning.

Racing through the servants halls again she popped out in the medical bay and began raiding all the cupboards in the human corner. She was sure that all of the physicians had gone to bed and wasn’t at all concerned about being quiet. All she needed was a list of what Magpie was taking, she would even settle for a pre-made tea bag; she could guess most of them on her own.

“Kookaburra, what are you doing?” Doctor Swan came around the corner, nearly making Kay jump out of her skin.

Kay was only scared for a second before she was angry, pinning Doctor Swan to the wall. “Where is Magpie’s tea!?”

“Magpie?” Swan gasped. “She’s gone… on a mission.”

Kay snarled. “Yea, I know. And when the arrest her for trying to kill someone, she’ll die painfully in prison from the withdrawal shock to her body. Now where is her tea!?”

Swan began stammering, trying to remain professional, but quickly folded. “You won’t find any here. The botanist gathers the ingredients, but the amounts are only known by your grandfather and one other.”

“Bluejay.” Kay guessed.

“That is not something to spread around!” Swan interjected. “No one should know that, but Magpie won’t be back for it. They sent her on an impossible task.”

“I know.” Kay nearly growled in response. “And she’ll die from withdrawals…”

“I already packed her one.” Swan interrupted at a whisper. “I snuck a teabag into her bag before she left. It’s all I had for her without an ingredient breakdown, but I had hidden one bag away for an emergency.” Kay hesitated in yelling at her further and released her slightly. “If she’s caught and arrested, hopefully they’ll find it… she’ll recognize what it is and they’ll likely be able to identify the largest ingredient amounts.”

Kay released her fully and stepped back. “Do you think they’ll help her?”

Swan pat down her top and looked at Kay’s worried face. “I don’t know, but it was the only chance I had. That girl has been through too much to go out like that.”

Kay looked at her, noticing for the first time that Swan was out of her uniform. She wasn’t in the medical bay for her work, and Kay moved around her to look in the hall. There on the floor was a duffle bag and a coat.

“Planning on going somewhere?” Kay asked, realizing all at once that she wasn’t there even because she heard Kay’s racket but because she planned to use this entrance into the servants halls.

Swan’s face firmed up. “I’m only saying this because you are here for Magpie, so you must have noticed it to. We aren’t the good-guys we claim to be. For decades now I have noticed more and more how we have bended the rules to fit ourselves for control. I would have left a long time ago, but when they brought Magpie on…. That was both the nail in the coffin and the only thing keeping me here.

No one else would treat her, and if I didn’t stay she would have died long ago. Most of the other doctors have been so brainwashed by the cause that they wouldn’t even give her Sanaberry gel if she could reach it to tend to it herself…. I pray the painful memories she doesn’t remember never come back to her,- don’t ask I won’t repeat it.” Swan warned now, moving to grab her bag and jacket now.

“How many would I have to kill if you did?” Kay asked, her teeth starting to grind together at what the memories could possibly be for her to be unwilling to repeat it.

“More than you have fingers.” Swan warned. “I can’t handle it anymore, I refuse to be on the side that treats people this way. The humans in the middle would not be better off if we were victorious, even if half the things they claim about the wolven were true.”

“So you’re just going to leave? With all this information you can walk away and let them proceed?” Kay asked incredulously.

Swan nodded. “I have done my best, endured for as long as I could for Magpie, but now I need to take care of myself.”

She moved to go around Kay but she halted her. “I am still his granddaughter. And I will alert them to your defection, unless you do one last thing, for Magpie.”

Swan nodded hesitantly. “You are going to do what I would never be able to escape prying eyes long enough to do. You are going to take a letter to Magpie.”

“How am I supposed to….”

“You will figure it out. Get creative, but believe me when I tell you that if you betray her, even after you tressed her up for slaughter, not just this time but every time before this… there will be no globe big enough for you to escape me.”

Swan nodded again, now considering how she was going to get a letter there fast enough without leading it back to herself. While Swan considered her options, Kay drafted up a letter on a few scrap medical pads. She knew she needed to keep them concise, but she also needed to make sure Magpie knew she wasn’t upset, knowing that the compulsion of the mensdillia flower and her failed mission would run heavily.

Kay handed the numbered pages to Swan. “Keep your word Swan, and there will be a place for you when I take over.”

“Why would you employ a traitor?” Swan questioned heavily.

Kay smirked. “A doctor who doesn’t discriminate who they help, who leaves a boss who would trade lives for power… That sounds more like a good doctor than a traitor.”