A/N: Think a sort of silent film…only silent writing. I wanted to see if I could do a whole fan fiction without ever using dialogue between any characters. Because there is no dialogue, it also means everything is in blocks of paragraphs so the chapters will be kept pretty short. Enjoy!
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"Mimicry Disease" was what the official name had been. But no one in the castle had a lick of a clue what had caused this odd malady. It wasn't deadly as opposed to the common sicknesses of the time but it was strange and slightly worrying. No one knew how it developed or when it ended. Any sort of cure was unknown. Would they just simply all live in silence forever? It had been nick named "Mimicry" by Jester, via ink and parchment, for the simple fact that it rendered one's voice unusable. There were no other symptoms or mortal threat. However it did make its mark in creating some rather interesting situations.
Everyone in the castle had adjusted to this some what of a new way of living after a month now. King Caradoc had written orders for Smithy to set up easels around the castle with plenty of parchment and ink at the court's disposal. Lives went on as usual for the most part and left open for rather creative yet silent ways for all of them to express themselves. Dragon found content with still being able to hear the mooing of cows after discovering the animals had not been affected. And when that wasn't enough, the reactions of the court to his never ending gas amused him greatly. Jester had taken advantage of the idea of Mimicry and did more performances in exchange for not being able to sing a single ballad or tell a joke. The castle staff went on in their usual duties and requests. Training went on as usual but more physical lessons had been put in place of verbal ones. Sir Theodore and Sir Ivon had attempted a makeshift classroom with the easel and parchment instead of lectures. So far they had been successful but it made it easier for Gunther to offend Jane by mouthing insults at her and making gestures. Jane lipped off her usual names for him but Dragon had taken initiative and stuck Gunther's practice weapons in a bucket of dung once.
Prince Cuthbert had been one of the first to lose function of his vocal chords. Caradoc practically had a conniption. His poor, poor little boy could not speak! They tried every remedy and concoction known to all and anyone on castle grounds. The fretful king had eventually calmed down after pointed out many times by healers, the Chamberlain and Sir Theodore that his young son was in no lethal danger. A week later, Princess Lavinia had developed the odd illness, along with Smithy, Jane and Queen Gwendolyn. Caradoc fumed in this growing problem but it had been stifled after coming down with the sickness himself. Gunther and Jester had been arguing over the spiteful knight pestering Jane over her lack of voice until Gunther argued himself right out of his vocal chords. Jester celebrated the card fate dealt until he lost his voice soon after. It wasn't before long that both of Jane's parents, Rake, Pepper and even Dragon could utter no words and Caradoc ordered a quarantine of the castle from the village. He had the Merchant deliver goods halfway down the road and Smithy and Gunther would come and carry the stock back to the castle from there long after the Merchant had left.
There was a temporary rule put out for the village barring anyone from speaking of this growing problem. The King feared his enemies using this to their advantage and attack. Little did he know the Merchant had already sold the secret.