The plague came like a whisper in the fog. First it was the cough, then the fever.
Houses were closed, temples were filled with worshippers desperate for mercy from a cruel God, and cemeteries stopped counting.
For months, the plague had devoured entire villages, peasants and nobles alike. It was a shadow hungry for centuries. There was no cure, there was no pattern.
The king's death surprised no one.
The surprising thing was that it took so long.
The funeral was a choreography of shadows.
A mourning procession descended the stone steps with white masks with curved peaks. Doctors used them to protect themselves. Now they were a symbol of mourning.
Long noses, round eyes like insects. They made them look like scavenger birds on the prowl, nothing far from the truth. The feathers of the hats barely concealed the poisonous glances that flew from noble to noble. Silence weighed more than death itself.
Kai, the Prince, looked at the coffin with the indifference of a cat in front of a broken vase. He stood next to the coffin. Motionless.
Beside him, his sister Elira swayed from one foot to the other. She was never good with ceremonies. Nor with silence.
"If I die, please don't put me in such an ugly box," he murmured. I want a boat. And a torch. And fireworks. Shaped like what? Shaped like me, of course.
Kai didn't answer. He kept looking at the coffin.
"Kai?"
"I want silence, Elira.
Something that Kai never liked, today he asked for it more than ever.
"If I were to rule," he murmured, unheard, "the first thing I would do would be to force the council to wipe the stables with their tongues.
Their mother, Queen Sibylla, watched them from a distance. He said nothing. I knew that sometimes pain needs to be dressed up as sarcasm so as not to rot inside.
Days later, the plague had not gone away. He only hid better. Like a murderer who had learned to read maps.
The palace library was a jungle of columns and books. Kai was hunched over a desk full of jars, notes, and drawings. Her gray hair fell over her eyes. The clothes, messy. Dark circles like ink stamps.
A gruesome image for a mother who had just lost her husband, and now found her eldest son turned into a zombie. The light passed through the stained glass windows painting the floor with impossible shapes. Kai was not sleeping. He didn't even eat. He didn't talk to anyone.
Queen Sibylla entered, dressed with impeccable sobriety. Her white hair pulled back into a thick braid that fell like a sleeping snake over her shoulder. His walk was slow, but not fragile. He seemed to glide like a ghost in mourning.
Kai didn't move.
"Son?" He said, in a calm voice.
"Mmm.
"We need you to come to the council."
"Board meetings?" Kai muttered, without looking up. Send them a scented letter. Tell them that they can kiss my wide buttocks if they want to see me so much. Both. With reverence. And that they take turns.
Sibylla sighed, walking up to him. He brushed aside a lock of white hair, so identical to his own that it looked like a mirror in another era.
"You loved your father," she said softly.
Kai finally looked at her. His gaze was a contained river.
"I don't know if I loved him," she admitted, lowering her voice. But he was the only one who made me feel like the world had a center. And you? Did you love him after so many years?
Sibylla nodded.
"He took me in and protected me when I had lost everything. They hanged my sister." Kai grew more patient, listening once again to his family's tragic story. His lover burned my kingdom in revenge. Obviously I understand your pain.
Kai raised an eyebrow. Archie tensed, as if waiting for the ground to open up beneath his feet.
"How did you endure it?"
"I didn't," he replied. I learned to live with an empty soul. I became something more useful than pain. You can too.
Kai rested his forehead on the book.
"Comb my hair," he asked in a whisper, like when he was a child and couldn't sleep.
Sibylla laughed quietly and began to comb it delicately.
"Closing yourself off from the world won't bring it back," he said. Not even the plague will go away on its own.
Kai closed his eyes.
"I heard from a man. Born under an October eclipse. Just like me.
The queen stood still.
"And?"
"They say it can stop what no one has stopped. That it is not a man, but a spell in the form of flesh.
Sibylla frowned.
"Won't you believe those rumors, son?"
Kai looked at her as if the answer was obvious.
"It's our only hope," he stood, his eyes shining with faith. I ran out of books. The remedies. Ideas. And I'm hungry.
Sibylla sighed. He took his face and looked at him as if he already knew what it would all end up in.
"Son...
The queen smiled, almost sadly.
"You look so much like him when you talk like that.
"Send for him," he interrupted. Let them look for it. That they scratch the forests and the mountains. Offer a reward! Let them dig the dreams if necessary! Look for the sorcerer born under the eclipse.