Here Kitty, Kitty - 11. Chapter 5.2

Kitryn watched as Meg’s mouth dropped open. She let go of the door in time for Fran to jump into her arms.

“Where you been? You said you’d be back. Why did you no come back?” Fran fired questions rapidly and Kitryn finally snapped out of his shock.

“Fran hush. Meg, as much as I want to get the same answers as Fran, I need somewhere out of the sun to put Simon. He’s heavy and won’t wake up for at least another few hours.”

Meg nodded numbly and, still holding Fran, she led the way to a back bedroom. The curtains were drawn and Kitryn gratefully dropped his burden gently onto the bed. After unrolling Simon, he tucked the man under the covers. Once he was sure Simon was safe he exited the room to find Meg in the kitchen getting the still chattering kits drinks and snacks. A box of chocolates already sat open on the dining table.

Kitryn bided his time and soon enough the kits' heads started drooping. Meg helped him get them settled in her bed and they returned to the kitchen.

“Meg, what happened?”

Meg paused with the kettle in her hand. With a sigh, she put it down and joined him at the table.

“I was banished.” Her tone was very matter of fact, but her eyes held utter devastation.

“What?” Kitryn hissed. He didn’t want to wake the kits. “Why in the name of the Goddess would Mars banish you? You were his closest advisor. Hell, you have the same power as Fran. You could have seen what was going to happen in time for us to—”

“I did!” Kitryn stopped and stared at her. She was silent a few seconds before continuing. “I told Mars he had a mole inside the group. I even told him who it was. He didn’t believe me and when I insisted he needed to up the patrols without telling this person he went mad. He gave me twenty-four hours to pack and be off the territory. He said if he found out I’d spread my lies to anyone else he would kill me as a traitor. He told me I was to tell anyone who asked that he was sending me on a mission and that I wasn’t allowed to speak about the details. When I tried to protest that I at least wanted to get my family out he said if I tried he would kill them as traitors too. Kit, he even said he’d kill Fran. So she couldn’t spread her evil powers any further, apparently.”

Kitryn sat in shock. Mars had always been a good leader as far as Kitryn had ever seen. But, as he thought back he started to see the changes in behavior that he’d dismissed before. New rules confining the group to the territory boundaries. Only the inner circle allowed to leave for any reason.

Eventually, he looked up at Meg and asked, “Why?”

“He wasn’t himself. My power is not infallible. I saw only one traitor. I didn’t see that someone had gotten to Mars. Kit, you and I both know Mars would never hurt any member of our group. He also wouldn’t put anyone in danger, especially the kits. I’ve managed to put some of it together, but there are still bits missing. From what I can piece together some sort of magic user gave something to one of the kits when they visited a nearby town. The object wouldn’t affect children but would do something to adults that made them more susceptible to suggestion. The magic user must have been in the territory at some point because once the object had affected an adult, the bastard would have to be nearby to make use of the suggestibility and give the adult instructions to follow.”

“Sort of like being hypnotized.”

“Yes, that would be the closest analogy.”

Kitryn leaned back in his chair and ran his finger through his hair. “So, what do we do now?”

Prompt used - a box of chocolates.
Thank you to everyone for your continued support, you are the ones that make writing worth it  
Thank you as always to Tim for his continued patience in correcting my mistakes