Plague - 1

Coughing echoed through the streets, a parasite that caught the eye gazing upon the souls of those that could and would not move.

Merely paralyzed in their unmoving grace. Trying and failing to rip it from their souls, only to fall into some sort of depression and die soon after. Souls fading into the cosmic background.

A sight so horrid, that I, forced to gaze upon it, found myself gaping. My mouth held in almost suspended disbelief. Finding the hand that held my own, of my betrothed, so… 

So cold, so distant.

I let go, stumbling towards… somewhere. I knew not, only that it brought me closer still to the fading souls of the night.

A plague, affecting not the body but the soul. How had it done that, how had it infected something so sacred and precious.

I felt vomit threaten to fall from my mouth, trying and failing to excrete the contents of my supper. Only to fail as I was placed over a chair. Commanded to take deep breaths.

"What is it?!" It was a panicked cry that woke me from the dwelling of my thoughts. Her hand patting the back of my heaving body.

"I- I- I don't know." I stuttered, tears falling through my cheeks and onto the ground. Emotions of the tens that had died in my absence. All coalescing into a dark sadness.

"Shit!" Abigail yelled, her soul departing from the room with a swiftness I had never seen before.

No, I had felt it once, when she had first appeared before my special sight, gliding me into her arms and taking my body among hers.

I shivered once more, looking at the dying souls again. How they had departed in the time I stayed here.

The mere minutes.

I couldn't allow this to continue, not at all.

And no amount of stumbling, no fall could keep me from them. I took a stumbling step towards where I knew the door to be.

The memory of my betrothed storming through it still clear in my mind. So, with a flailing walk I took step by step through the door.

Through halls that seemed to stop me at every turn. Servants rushing around and trying to help me back to the room.

Only to be cowed by the might of my glare. Staring deeply into their soul.

It was only after a breath, a moment of thought.

"Help me." I asked.

No, it was more accurate to say that I commanded them to. Taking the hand of the servant and absently healing her. Of the injuries and scars that she held.

"Take me outside, now." 

She dared not disobey. And because of that fear, that deeply held fear of hurting a noble and the subsequent execution, she followed my directions.

To the letter.

I could only hope that I was not too late. For there was no greater fear of mine, than to have to watch the fading souls of the damned. When I could have helped them.

…

[Abigail POV]

I hurried through the door, taking one last look at my spooked husband. As he gazed through the window with purpose.

I could quiz his mind after all of this. Of how he could see what had been going on. Of the sickened people throwing their lives over the edge. An evil presence that only seemed to grow by the minute.

Over and through doors, through the main hall and to mother's office. Once there I slammed the door open, panting at the extreme speed I had used.

"What is going on?" I asked, my gaze hardened and my hand upon the sword at my waist.

I had not left it behind. No, I had a feeling that it would be needed.

"I do not know, and cannot tell."

"Then what am I to do, command me, I am at your service my liege."

Mother nodded, understanding the severity of the situation. If only from the words from my mouth.

For I had seen death, plague, and a power growing within the depths of the city. Only a day before I was to be sent from this city.

No, it was the previous week that I was to be sent, only hidden so as to protect the reputation and name of my betrothed.

So that he may traverse through his career in the academy without the prejudice of the teachers. Without the expectations of cheating. Of favored protection.

And so, it was obvious now what had happened.

They dared not act in my presence, only when I was not here. To take the city that I had sworn to protect and haze it to the ground.

With a disease.

I shook my head of such thoughts. Knowing that to stop and question here would only bring ill tidings. 

Disease and death that would occur without my interference.

"No, stay."

I turned to leave, relieved that I was not to be commanded by mother. Only when I tried to leave I was forced to stay.

"Yes."

"Do not act so rashly, you may be able to prevent more deaths, but the cause of this. We need an upper hand. So call that husband of yours. He will provide healing and bait for the perpetrators."

I grit out my response, a small nod of agreement as I left her office. Gabriel was a nice boy, he even made my heart flutter, healing it too.

But even then, for the good of the territory, I would put him in danger. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.

Even so, there was only a small chance of injury and harm.

At least that was what I comforted myself with.

Yet when I slammed open the door to my own room. An expectation of gold, of finding the boy hidden within.

I found nothing, only stumbling nothings that fell to the floor in a hurry. Stopped by the cold ground.

It was to this realization that brought a creeping dread.

"Gabriel…" I growled. Worry pulsing through my veins, "Where did you go?