It is early in the morning, the sun just begins shining through the leaves of the trees, the birds are chirping. Although the villagers are already up and gathered in the centre of Kovinskii Village, a village which is ethnically seperate from it's name and the crown of the Novazyr Empire, having only recently been conquered five years ago. The locals don't yet speak Novaz, the mandated national language.
Although all those politics don't matter to them them right now, as the adults of the village are crowded around a corpse, young Omir, his corpse is hallowed and grey - the plague.
'Check the crops!' Alziir commands.
Alziir founded this village fifty years ago, closest thing to a mayor there is here. He is wise and old, knows his way about the land.
The men rip up some carrots, hurriedly, they're rotted. Spewing out black goo that reeks of death.
This was possibly the worst news Alziir could hear, he had heard of a plague from the East that has been reaping the lives of thousands, although it is typical that it would hit his village first of all, being on the Eastern border of the Empire.
Omir's corpse is swiftly, and crudely, buried, immediately after Alziir gathers everyone in Kovinskii village to announce to them:
'It has come to my attention that a very serious plague has hit this village, so to save all of your lives, we must refuge west. In an hour top-!'
Everybody groans, but they disperse quickly, dare not go against Alziir.
Aside from their skin being darker, the Novaz people hate the Alabic people for another reason, they see them as barbaric savages. The Tsar's attempts to assimilate them has made him and his spotless reign less popular with the Novaz people.
-
Fasiya begins packing away her belongings. She is a young, brown skinned, brown eyes, black haired, mother of three, twenty-five years old. Her oldest son, Masud, enters the room:
'Why're we leaving ma? And why was everybody surrounding Omir this morning?'
Masud is barely eleven and Omir was his best-friend.
'Uhm, the crops have rotted so we are just moving west for a few weeks.'
Fasiya continues packing but can feel Masud's eyes boring into her asking 'What about Omir?'
'...and Omir was just feeling sick yari. He'll be staying here while we're gone.'
'Why west? Don't they hate us there?' Masud asks.
Fasiya actually didn't know the answer to that, she thought surely if they went to a Alabic nation they'd be safer. But she trusts Alziir's judgement.
'And what about da?' Masud adds on.
Fasiya turns around and grasps Masud's shoulders.
'Da is still in Valdens, he'll be okay. Now go pack away your sisters' stuff.'
Masud reluctantly leaves to do as his mother commands.
-
The village has assembled in their pack, Alziir leads on horse-back, the only horse. There are 10 bow-men behind him.
Just as it reaches noon they set off, leaving their lives behind them.
The country around Kavinskii is sparse with people, would be at least a five hour journey to the next village, where they could rest, but Alziir aims for the nearest city Surgat which is a three day journey.
Fasiya, Masud, Aayun, and Zayiah are near the back of the pack. Aayun and Zayiah are Fasiya's other two kids.
Masud tugs on his mother's arm:
'Ma, my chest hurts. Like the skin hurts when I touch it.'
Fasiya, truthfully, is exhausted with his constant complaints, but lifts up his shirt to check. What she sees fills her with fear and dread, she quickly drops it back down.
'Don't talk to anyone else about that! You hear me?!'
Fasiya is practically shouting, fearing Masud.
'O-Okay ma...'
What she saw was the skin on his chest being grey and flaky. She saw Omir's corpse, it's definitely the plague, but if she tells anyone she doesn't doubt that Masud will be murdered, so she keeps quiet.
Suddenly she's paranoid, checking if any of the other families are watching, she prays to her God that they can reach the village before he dies or infects anybody else.
She keeps Masud by her side, holding his hand. His cold, cold hand.
A few hours pass, two maybe three, Fasiya can't tell. Alziir announces a water break, so they stop and sit down. They are in a valley, red cliffs stretching for a few miles surround them on both sides.
'Ma, *cough* I dont feel good'
Masud says, his voice growing raspier.
'I know yari, but there might be a Shariqi in the village, he'll have you good in no time.'
Fasiya tries to comfort Masud.
A bow-man is walking past, and stares at Masud. Fasiya looks at Masud to see why he's staring, then she notices just how bloodshot Masud's eyes are. She quickly drapes a hood over his face to hide it from the bow-man, although it seems like she isn't successful as the bow-man hurries towards Alziir.
And surely enough, Alziir signals for her to come up to him, she does, leaving Masud.
She awkwardly sits down in front of him.
'Who do you think you are Fasiya!?'
Alziir shouts, making Fasiya flinch,
'If you don't have a good reason for this, you know what I'll have to do.'
'I-I was just thinking there might be a Shariqi in the village we're going to...'
'Shariqi's are incredibly rare! You want to bet all our lives that someone who can heal him is there?'
Fasiya thinks for a second then stares into Alziir's eyes with conviction.
'Yes.'
Before Alziir can retort they hear a tussle happening. They look back and see adults pulling kids off of Masud.
Fasiya sprints over.
'But da-! He stinks!'
A kid shouts.
Fasiya crouches down next to Masud, who is splayed on the ground, face to the dirt, and instantly notices the foul smell.
'Masud! Are you okay yari?'
Masud slowly turns his head to look at his mother, and Fasiya is struck with fear.
'Wh-what's wrong ma?'
Suddenly screams are heard as people stampede away.
Masud's face is grotesque, his eyeball sockets empty and the skin peeling off of his face.
Fasiya feels sick, before she can properly intake what happened arrows are let loose upon Masud, filling the boys body, killing him.
And at the same time, the vibrations from everybody running causes an avalanche of boulders to block their route through the valley.
The woman stares at her dead son, tears forming in her eyes. But nobody besides her two daughters care, as they only care about their path being blocked.
Alziir talks to his men about what to do, eventually he sits on his horse and shouts to every body:
'We must re-route! We need to exit the valley from where we came in, and go around the top!'
Everybody knew what this meant, the valley was a shortcut, now it would take a day, at the minimum to reach the closest village.
But that is stopped by the growl of something other worldly. Fasiya stumbles back.
'M-Masud?'
Her voice shaky.
The newly dead boy is standing, frothing black goo out of his mouth and eye sockets.
Everybody is silent, only the sound of the goo dripping on the floor.
Then the patter of tiny feet, Aayun is running to her brother.
'Masud...'
She says, her voice basically a whisper.
Masud turns around, looking at his sister, dread sets on her face.
Everybody watches, Fasiya extends her hand, as if to tell Aayun to run.
But she is too late...
...Masud's teeth rip into his sister's throat.
Bedlam, everybody is sprinting towards the boulders, as Masud stand in the way of the exit, some try to climb them.
'A-Aayun...'
Fasiya is completely distraught, but then she remembers Zayiah is somewhere, she lost her own child.
A man tries to run past Masud to escape, but Masud, like lightning, pounces on the man and kills him. Immediately after Masud jumps into the crowd of people, deafening screams are let out.
Fasiya runs around, looking for Zayiah. Blood splatters on her.
Then she sees her, Zayiah crying in a ball on the ground.
'Zayiah-!'
She screams as she begins to run.
But all of a sudden she is being dragged away by the collar of her shirt. Alziir is grabbing her and pulling her as he rides away on his horse.
'No... No! Zayiah-!'
Tears stream down her face as her hand is extended, grasping at the air.
They rode on horse back for around half an hour, before stopping under a tree.
Not a word is said as they get off the horse. Alziir ties the horse to the tree. Fasiya crouches and just stares in the direction from whence they came.
Alziir crouches down next to her.
'We're lucky to even be alive.'
He says.
'I'd rather be dead right now. I've just lost all my kids.'
'I'm sure Zayiah made it out...'
He can feel her eyes so he adds
'...We'll check if her corpse is there in the morning.'
'Say, Alziir, why me?'
'I promised Usman to keep you safe while he's doing his business at the capital.'
The two sit there, breathing, the horse snorting, and the sun setting.
'...The capital' she snorts to herself.
-
Moonlight shines through the panes of the ballroom, the crackle of candles and the chatter of people. The smell of meats coming from the kitchen.
Princess Sorevna Kalyshev sits in the corner of the full room, packed with around 45 people. She swirls her wine glass as she studies the folk, and their webs, in front of her.
The tax collector's, Grigoryev, threads connected to the general, Bilyakov, and the Court Physician, Savinkhov. Through his threads, she can tell the tax collector is very anxious and finds it funny. Those three are talking next to the warmth of the fireplace, she's been watching them for the last twenty minutes.
Her feet ache, she's been standing there for the past two hours, occasionally moving to get more wine. The only amusement she receives is watching these idiotic politicians and nobility talk.
She looks at herself in the reflection of her wine glass, her hair is long and blonde, her eyes are sapphire blue, her skin is pale. She has a hastily put on red dress which was originally her mother's.
She can feel her thread's strength increasing.
'Hey Irina...'
Sorevna says boredly, her face emotionless.
'I was tryna' sneak up on ya'! Stop reading me....'
'I can't really choo-'
'Ahhh what a night I've had Sore...'
The clearly drunk Irina Velsk wraps her arm around Sorevna. Irina has a much nicer dress on, she has black hair and brown eyes and very eccentric lipstick.
'How unladylike to carry around a bottle of booze.'
'Well atleast I'm not the heir of the empire haha-!'
She looks at her friend's clearly unamused expression.
'C'mon you need to enjoy your father's eighty first birthday some more-!'
She tries to shove the booze in Sorevna's free hand.
'Wine don't get you drunk quick enough-'
'I'm not trying to get drunk Irina.'
The two fall silent, until Irina gets a not so smart idea.
'What if... Shit, what's that peasant boy you're crushing on called again... uh, Usilov! What if we go pay him a visit!'
Sorevna blushes.
'You really think father will allow me?'
'Well you gotta ask 'im...'
Sorevna thinks, then takes a deep breath and begins to walk across the room towards her father.
Tsar Aleksi Kalyshev is splayed across his throne.
'F-father pardon me but... I just have found this party ever so boring can me and Irina have some fun about the city?'
Sorevna is unable to read her father's emotions, probably too drunk.
'You're what? 19?... Ugh, fine go live your life, but-! go wear some commoner clothes, to protect yourself against the peasants.'
Sorevna hesitates for a second at the word 'peasant' but eventually grabs his hand.
'Oh thank you father!'
She hurries back to Irina, but bumps into someone, she looks up to only be shocked, a man with brown skin, she's never seen an Alabic in the palace before.
'I'm so sorry your highness!'
She just stares at him not necessarily with disgust, but an emotion close to that, wonder and disgust mixed into one.
She turns to Irina and whispers,
'Why is someone like him here?'
Irina thinks for a second, trying to collect her thoughts.
'I think he's some envoy from the eastern edges of the empire... Let's fucking go though I'm starting to get bored.'
'Such vulgar language Irina! Also we need to put on some commoner clothes, father said to.'
Irina groans. Sorevna looks back to see the 'envoy' gone, she couldn't read his threads, no, he had none?
How is that possible?
They go into the storage room and get changed. Sorevna put on a brown shirt with a long red skirt, Irina basically copied her but put on a blue skirt because it'd be 'cute'.
After conversing with the guards at the gate they are out in Valdens proper, by far the biggest city in the empire. The castle is in the centre, so the nicest buildings surround it, but even at this hour there is hustle and bustle, hundreds of people walking around, horse-drawn carriages speeding down the roads.
Around thirty minutes of walking it takes, and Sorevna can clearly tell that this part of the city is a lot more dangerous, she felt the change throughout the whole walk. The architecture is no where near as nice, proven by Usilov's house, run down and sewage running down the street in front of his house.
Irina calls him a 'peasant' but he could be worse, he's at least not a serf, or at least that's what Sorevna tells herself.
Irina picks up a pebble and lobs it at his window, and after a few seconds Usilov stick's his head out of his window.
'Oh! Sorevna!'
He looks behind himself, then jumps out of his window, sliding down the patio roof before landing in front of the two girls.
He's tall, maybe one and a half Sorevna's, jet black hair, and a slight stubble. He's got a confident look on his face, but Sorevna can read that he's anxious.
'Who is this?'
He says bluntly, as he begins staring at Irina.
'Oh this is my friend Irina Velsk, daughter of Count Velsk.'
He stops examining her and shifts his attention.
'I see... Well you got any plans tonight ladies?'
'For someone of your class you're very nonchalant...'
Irina butts in. The two lock eye contact and squint at each other.
'Oh come on guys-! Class doesn't matter if we're all friends and you're not a serf.'
'And he could be Alabic!'
All three burst out laughing.
After they regain composure, they begin just aimlessly walking.
'Speaking of Alabic, I couldn't read the threads of that envoy person.'
The other two gasp in awe.
'Really are you sure?'
Irina asks.
'Yeah, I'm not sure if he had any Niti at all. Very dangerous.'
'My granddaddy told me that some groups in the East don't have Niti.'
Usilov informs.
'Does your grandfather have a source?'
Irina asks.
'Yeah, he was a Razyrv and was sent to the East during your father's conquests Sorevna.'
'You had a Razyrv in your family and youre still this poor haha'
Irina jokes.
'yeah...'
Usilov says bluntly. Sorevna whips her head at Irina, giving her a 'shut up!' glare. Usilov goes silent.
'Why don't we get some ice cream?'
Sorevna suggests.
'What's that?'
Usilov asks. Sorevna looks at him with a grin.
'Let's go to your house Irina, your chef can make it. Usilov trust me it's delicious!'
They walk back into the rich area of the city, and they stop in front of a massive manor.
'Wait where is your dad count of?'
Usilov asks, staring at the massive building in awe.
'Lushoka... We have manors like this in most of the provinces. And my mother and father are your father's birthday party, so only the chef and the butler will be here.'
The three enter the building, they are greeted with a massive marble room, with a spiral staircase leading up to the higher floors, of which there are three. It smells as if it's freshly cleaned.
The three go up to the top of the staircase, of which the journey felt like it took forever. They head into Irina's room, which is massive and has a huge king sized bed in the centre. Although it's huge, it's not very clean, and smells of dust. Sorevna is used to the smell, having been here plenty of times, but Usilov questions:
'Don't you have cleaners?'
'I'm dumb enough to let them go through my stuff!'
She retorts quickly.
'Let me go tell the chef to make some more ice cream.'
Irina leaves as Sorevna and Usilov sit in two chairs she has in her room.
'I'm sorry about her, she-'
'No, what am I doing being around someone of your class?'
'Usilov! It's okay, trust me, if I didn't want to be friends with you I could've had my guards arrest you in a second!'
A moment of silence. Sorevna can feel that Usilov is going to say something big.
'Sorevna we've been friends for a few months... So do you think you'd be my g-'
'Ice cream acquired! He already had a box made down there!'
Irina bursts in holding a metal box and three spoons, she shuffles into a seat. She sees Usilov's embarrassed face and says:
'What? did I interrupt something?'
'No, it's okay'
Usilov says. Irina cracks open the box of ice cream, lathers a spoon in it and hands it to Usilov.
'You've got to try this!'
Usilov grabs the spoon, gulps, smells it, hesitates for a second and puts it in his mouth. After a second his expression lights up, he takes the spoon out and swallows.
'Tasty!'
The two girls laugh, but he grabs the box and begins shovelling it into his mouth.
'Hey don't eat it all!'
-
'See you guys tomorrow!'
Sorevna waves goodbye to her friends. They lost track of time so they all decided to go home just as Irina's parents came back.
The palace is a two minute walk away, she has to convince the guards she is the princess. She gets back in, takes off the peasant clothes, putting on a simple nightgown over her underwear.
She begins to walk to her room but reads threads of dread from her father's private chambers so she puts her ear to the door.
'A PLAGUE!?'
Her father shouts. And in a signature Alabic accent a man speaks.
'I have seen it with my own eyes your highness.'
Sorevna is shocked by this voice as she didn't feel any other Niti in the room.
'And you say it hasn't entered the empire yet?'
'Well it took me two months to get here, so its probably claimed hundreds of lives already.'