Dazed

by Katie Hauenstein

  Delegate Oak’s face was completely red, the tips of his ears were even red, from his anger. “I agree that the issue needs to be discussed today, but not immediately. Surely, we should discuss honoring and burying those who have passed within the last several days first.”

  “I concur with Oak,” The Duchess of Birch said, now simply poking her index finger next to her eyebrow. “I move to table the discussion of selecting new Nobility until the end of this Council session.”

  “Seconded,” Delegate Oak unsurprisingly said.

  “All in favor?” Father asked.

  All but Delegate Maple “ayed.”

  “All against?”

  Delegate Maple “nayed.”

  “Movement accepted. Now, let us discuss the honoring of the Noble families.”

  The Delegates from the nobleless provinces and Delegate Juniper were put together as a committee to plan the memorial services and that was about all that was said concerning our dead friends.

  The conversation quickly shifted to bureaucratic discussions about paperwork, finances, law, and other things that probably should have concerned me, but didn’t. I glanced over to The Duchess of Birch, who was now sweating through her lovely sea foam green blouse; she really wasn’t doing well. I was concerned for her and, as an extension, for Brian.

  Then, I looked over to Peter, who was dutifully paying attention, but I could tell he was about as interested in the volume of this year’s sap harvest as I was. Honestly, I was wondering why we were even discussing it at the meeting. It was supposed to be an urgent session about the mutated Daze.

  Next thing I knew, I found myself infuriated with the people surrounding me. Could they seriously only see the superficial bandages that needed to be applied? What about the other families? What about poor The Duchess of Birch who was obviously unwell?

  “I think we need to discuss the King’s Test, Majesty,” Delegate Juniper pulled me out of my thoughts of enrage. Peter was also shaken from his thoughts and gave his province’s Delegate an incredulous look.

  “What of it?” I found myself unintentionally asking out loud.

  Delegate Juniper and Peter both looked at me. “Two of the seven participants have died, Your Highness. Surely, the Test will need to be reorganized. Possibly even rewritten.” She looked to Father. “Only you know what the King’s Test consists of, Your Majesty. Is this something we should be concerned about or will it be able to take place as scheduled?”

  My mouth dropped. “A bit eager to see Duke Peter crowned, Juniper?” Delegate Maple belligerently asked. Peter was then even more aghast than he had already been. My mouth dropped further. To his credit, Duke Maple, my uncle, was shaking his head with embarrassment.

  Before things could get any uglier, Father spoke, “I will have to do some shifting and rewriting, and the Test will likely be two months rather than three, but we should be able to start on schedule.”

  Slowly standing, I smoothed my hands over the round, wooden conference table and addressed the men and women present. Simply standing up garnered their attention. “Gentlemen, Ladies. I think we are forgetting something very important here; far more important than paperwork and suitors.”

  All eyes were still on me, then, including those of Father. “Three of ten Noble families are completely wiped out. One is down to only a Duke.” I couldn’t meet Peter’s eyes. “I think it is imperative that we put extra Guards on the remaining Noble households.”

  The Duchess of Birch spoke up. “I must say that I agree with the Princess. Brian has put on a brave face, but Brianna is afraid.” She was talking about Count Brian and his twin sister.

  Delegate Alder responded. “I understand the fear that must be present among the Nobility, but I fail to see what more Guards will accomplish. The Cedars, Willows, Junipers, and Oaks all died from a disease, yes?”

  “Yes, they did, Delegate Alder,” I said. “But Doctor Winston has a current hypothesis that the Noble families are being targeted. Perhaps stationing more Guards will keep out suspicious individuals that may make it passed the few that are already stationed there.”

  “A hypothesis? You wish to reassign the Royal Arborian Guard over a hypothesis?” Delegate Alder asked.

  “She is not wrong, Delegate Alder. I have been speaking with Doctor Winston as well and he seems to believe it to be true. It is more than a hypothesis; it is an educated hypothesis,” Father defended me.

  Thank you, Father. Wait. Wasn’t Darrel supposed to be here?

  “I sincerely doubt that every one of Doctor Winston’s hypotheses have turned out to be true,” Delegate Alder said with disbelief.

  “Doctor Winston was going to come today, but was in the middle of a test when the meeting began,” Father said.

  “I move to add more security to the remaining Noble households,” Peter blurted.

  “Seconded,” the Duchess of Birch said.

  “All in favor?” asked Father

  “Aye,” the seven Nobles said.

  “All against?” asked Father.

  “Nay,” said the ten Delegates.

  “The ‘nays’ have it. We will not be adding more security to the Noble households.”

  When the vote went through, I was still standing. I was so furious, I began shaking. There was a dead silence in the room and no one could meet each other’s eyes. Knowing that some of the Delegates only voted ‘nay’ because the other Delegates did made me see red. Balling my fists at my side, I calmly said, “Please excuse me. I have some important matters to take care of.”

  Before anyone could say anything, I walked out and marched straight to Darrel’s lab. How I wished that we still had doors that I could slam. I had never done it, but I had read about it in quite a few novels and it seemed like an action that could take some of my anger out of my system.

  I was mostly shocked that even the Delegates of the provinces that lost their Nobles did not vote in favor of Peter’s motion. They saw with their own eyes what we were facing and they did nothing. No. They did not do nothing. They voted the rest of the Nobles to their deaths. They made themselves a part of the problem rather than a part of the solution.

  As I walked, I briefly entertained the notion that we had a conspiracy going on.

  Do the Delegates want the rest of the Nobles dead? How could they go about making this virus without anyone finding out? No. Delegates Willow, Juniper, Cedar, and Oak genuinely looked distraught, and Delegate Maple even had a list of families to consider.

  Could it be the beginning of a revolution to overthrow the Crown? Surely Father would have informed me if there was any growing unrest among the people. I personally haven’t heard anything directly.

  When I made it to Darrel’s lab, I walked in without knocking and made my way to the opposite side of the table where he sat. He was hunched over the Duke of Juniper, Peter’s father, examining his brain. I could have gone the rest of my life without seeing his head cut in half with his brain exposed being poked at with some pointy metal medical instrument.

  “Good morning, Miriam,” Darrel said without looking up.

  Trying not to vomit, I said, “It is actually afternoon now, Darrel. It is a little after 1:00. Have you eaten anything today?”

  He looked over his glasses at me and replied, “Would you feel hungry right now if you were doing what I am doing?”

  “Touché.”

  “How is it that I can help you, Miriam?”

  Still somehow remaining calm, I said, “I was wondering how your research was coming along. Have you made it to a point where you can definitively say the Nobles are being targeted?”

  He straightened himself, then arched his back in a stretch. “I could use a break. Let us have a seat.”

  As we walked to his office, I considered the gruesome experiments his job had recently began requiring. I couldn’t imagine doing such things as cutting the head of someone I knew in half or slicing them open to examine their insides. Granted, Darrel wasn’t particularly close with any o
f the Nobility, but he had rubbed elbows with them at the various special occasions at the palace.

  Rather than going to his desk, he threw a blanket and pillow off the plush sofa and plopped himself down upon it. I lowered myself gently onto the sofa; princesses do not plop in public.

  “Have you been sleeping in your office?” I asked.

  Darrel rubbed his eyes with his fingers and yawned. “Yes. I have only slept a little since the bodies got here. No point in going back to my house when I am only going to be getting a half hour of sleep at any given time.”

  “Oh, Darrel,” I sympathized. “Thank you for your dedication to this. All the Noble families are afraid and it will do them good to hear that you are working around the clock on this situation.”

  “It is what I do,” he groaned. After a pause, he said, “About your question. Yes. I have determined that the Noble families whose bodies have come here were targeted.”

  “I figured as much. Are you working on a cure?”

  Darrel sighed. “I am trying to figure out a way to do it. The problem is that each virus is different. It makes it difficult to create a cure for everyone. I will probably have to assess each reported instance on a case by case basis.”

  “I thought it was a mutated version of the Daze. Can you not make a cure based on the original Daze?”

  “It is certainly a place to start, but the problem lies in the way the virus was created. Whoever created these viruses knew what he was doing; he is brilliant. It appears that whoever engineered this variant used multiple sets of viruses as the delivery systems. Meaning he created viruses that cannot spread on their own and generally do not replicate and die, unless someone has also been infected with another virus. Without knowing each set of matched pairs of viruses, it makes it really hard to predict.

  “The fact that the families have died synchronously is some kind of a crazy coincidence. There is no way he could have made it to have a specific time it would be released.”

  “I do not understand. I thought the Daze was killing them.”

  “There are no suicides among those who have died. If the Daze was progressed to the point of bringing death upon its host, statistically we would have had a few suicides. No. Each family has died from whatever affliction was raging their system.

  “For example, Stephan died of a heart attack. He was a perfectly healthy and strong young man, but the Oak’s Daze activated arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia, a rare genetic heart condition where normal heart tissue progressively transforms into fat and scar tissue. Our genius scientist must have figured a way to increase the rate of growth and that, in turn, brought each member of the family into cardiac arrest.

  “It was a condition that was fixed genetically in people who had it decades ago. After the fix, it was no longer passed on as a disease, but as an immunity, so no one in the Oak family has had it since then.

  “In order to begin developing cures for the remaining households, I will need to take blood samples from each family.”

  “That is assuming they are already afflicted.”

  “Right. Another reason for me to collect blood would be to determine if they are.”

  I shrugged. “That should not be a problem. The Nobles are all here for a special meeting of the Council. I will be heading back to the meeting after this and I will let them know that they need to stop by here before leaving. I have what I need from you, so I will let you get back to your work. Should they require a statement from you, would I be able to comm you?”

  “Yes, of course. I will just rest in here for a while so I can be near a holocomm in case you need me.” He closed his eyes sleepily.

  Standing up, I said, “Thank you, again, Darrel. For everything.”

  He gave me a sharp nod and I turned to leave. Rather than walk like I did on my way to the lab, I jogged back towards the Council Chamber. Anticipation and anxiety shot through me and gave me a jolt of adrenaline. I was ready to face the room of pretentious Delegates and give them a generous slice of humble pie.

  As soon as I made it inside the palace, I knew something was awry. I picked up my speed and ran into the open door of the Council Chamber. Chaos had taken the reigns of the meeting. Looking around, everyone’s body language displayed their emotions like a flame on a dark night. Some people were crying. Some were angry. Some were in shock. Everyone had some negative emotion ruling their mind. When I made it to the table, I saw what everyone was upset about. The Duchess of Birch was lying dead on the floor.

  Bringing my hand to my mouth to squelch a cry of angst, I slowly took my seat at the table. A moment later, two men came in with a hover stretcher and removed her body from the Chamber, I guessed to bring her to Darrel.

  After they left, Father said, “Everyone please return to your seats. We have much to discuss.”

  Everyone made their way to their chairs; Delegate Birch didn’t look like he was in any state to vote on anything. The ogre of a man frowned at the table like it was the cause of the Duchess’ death.

  “I move to add more security to the Noble households,” he said mildly after there was silence for a time.

  “Seconded,” said Delegate Alder.

  “All in favor?” asked Father.

  “Aye,” said everyone.

  “All against?”

  No one said anything.

  “Very well. I will get together with the High General after this meeting and get more Guards out there.” He looked over to me. “Princess Miriam, I am guessing you left to have a conversation with Doctor Winston about the Daze?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “What did he say?”

  “He has determined that the Noble families are being targeted. Unfortunately, each family has a slightly different mutation of the Daze, so an overall cure is likely not possible. He will need to develop a cure for each of the remaining families.”

  “But – we do not know that each remaining family has the disease,” said the Duchess of Sequoia with a fearful tremble in her low voice.

  “That is true,” I replied. “That is why Doctor Winston needs to take a blood sample from each of you here. He will be able to determine if you have the virus and, if you do, he can begin working on a cure. I would recommend you do that quickly and return home to your families.”

  “I have concerns for the Royal family,” said Delegate Maple. Because he had only ever shown disdain for Father and me, his statement surprised me. “I think Evergreen Palace should be put on lock-down until all of this is taken care of. No one should come in or out after the Council leaves.”

  “I agree. So moved,” said the Duke of Maple, Father’s brother.

  “Seconded,” said Delegate Birch.

  “All in favor?” Father asked.

  Everyone voted, “Aye.”

  “The ayes have it. After the Council departs, there will be a quarantine put on Evergreen Palace. No one will enter or leave the grounds.”

  Chapter 23

  Everyone left the Council Chamber shortly after voting in the quarantine. Before Father left, he told me to join him at 4:00 PM for his meeting with High General Francis Miller.

  Peter and I walked together out the door and onto the royal trail through the forest so we could have some semblance of privacy. Even though my Guard was behind us a ways, it was nice to get outside and wander a bit. To try to forget for just a moment the evil lurking somewhere in the shadows. For a while, we walked together with only the sound of birds tweeting and our feet crunching through the dirt as our soundtrack.

  “I wonder if the rest of the Birches are gone,” Peter said.

  I shrugged and sighed. “Probably, if it follows suit with the other four houses. Poor Brian. He showed such promise.”

  “He seemed like kind of a tool on the dance floor.”

  I smiled and shook my head. “He made up for it in the interview. He was so intimidated and awed by me, he actually cried after he kissed me.”

  “Huh.”

  After another
pause, Peter asked, “Why do you think it is that I was not infected with the virus, but the rest of my family was?”

  Bringing my eyebrows together, I considered this. “Perhaps you were here when the infection was introduced. You and Ella do spend more time here than any other Nobles. There is no way of knowing how long it was in your family’s systems. There is also the possibility you were somehow purposefully missed.”

  Peter breathed out a shaky breath. “I’m going to miss them. I already do. I don’t feel ready to be the Duke, yet. I don’t – ”

  I turned and put my fingers on his lips to interrupt him. “Peter, worry will not help you. I know you feel very alone right now with your family gone, but you must know that Father will be available for you if you have any questions about your duties as Duke. I’m sure Uncle Edmond will help, too. And you have me for all the emotional support you need.”

  After bringing my hand down, I stood on my tip toes and gave him a peck. He smiled. “I know. Thank you for being there for me, Rose.”

  “Miriam! Peter!” I looked around to find the source of our shouted names. The voice was familiar; it was Ella. She only ever used my real name when she was angry about something.

  “Ella?” I shouted in return.

  She finally caught up with us and bent over with her hands on her knees, huffing and puffing like she just ran a marathon. “Is everything alright, Ella?”

  “No! Everything is not alright! How could you let them impose a quarantine, Miriam? How am I supposed to get to my family if anything happens?”

  “I assumed your father would bring you home with him. He didn’t appear to have any symptoms, though, Ella.”

  “Healthy as a bear,” Peter agreed.

  “That’s beside the point,” said Ella. “If anything happens, I’m stuck here! No offense, but if I’m going to die, I don’t want to die here.”

  “You’re not going to die, Ella. I won’t let that happen,” I said.

  “And how are you going to stop it? This virus has now taken out half the Noble houses.”