Oh, sweet mercy, it's another chapter! Surprised? Well, if you aren't, then I'm even more surprised than I already am! XD

Demons of Deltora:
The Plague

Flames licked at the sky, reaching towards the stars as six men lay as fire slowly enveloped them, releasing their souls to the other side. Lief stood to the side, his hands folded, his brow creased in thought. Jasmine walked over to him, putting an arm around him. "The guards have been laid to rest in the way that they wished; they are now free to roam in the heavens." She looked up into the sky, the stars twinkling back at her.

The funeral was private, for Lief, upon the insistence of Doom, had decided to keep the plague a secret from the general public, even their families, at least for now. No one was allowed to leave the palace, and he, Doom. Jasmine, Barda, and the remaining half of the guards were to keep away from anyone else, and, despite Lief's protest, even his meetings with his subjects had been cancelled. The bonfire that now washed over the fallen guards took place just outside of the palace, the only time Lief had left the palace in nearly a week, and despite the tragedy, he felt relieved.

Jasmine kissed him lightly on the cheek and left him to brood with a smile. Lief sighed, forcing a smile back at her, and as soon as she was out of sight, but his chin into his hand, staring at the flames until he could still see the flickering orange and yellow. Then, there was a light chuckle from behind him, and his eyes shot open and he looked behind him instinctively, seeing an amused Doom.

"Too much paperwork for our precious King?" Lief smiled weakly, and Doom took his place on the old log next to him. Lief's eyes slid away, seeing Jasmine and Barda conversing quietly, and a couple of guards wandering aimlessly and looking out of place. Jasmine turned to look at him, and he looked away quickly, back at Doom, who was now staring intensely at the fire, which reflected ominously in his eyes.

"So, perhaps you were right, for once, Doom." Doom raised an eyebrow, breaking his stare-off with the fire to look at Lief. "About something coming." Doom laughed. "Oh, don't look at me like I've seen the future, just an old man's worries."

Lief nodded silently, and Doom was silent for a few moments. "So, do you think this is the Shadow Lord's doing?" The good humor was gone from his voice, and he was back again, gazing into the endless flames. "I don't know." His answer seemed to be swallowed up by the oppressive silence, nothing breaking it but the crackling of the funeral pyres.

"It seems too outright, too sudden and unplanned. Perhaps I'm just paranoid or not willing to accept he's really back.." He looked directly at Doom, who didn't remove his gaze from the fire. "I don't think it's him." Doom narrowed his eyes. "And that, still, begs the question, then, as to who it could possibly be?" Lief looked up at the sky. "Maybe it's natural, a new disease that just happened to incubate in the chapel? It's been closed off for years, it would have been isolated from the world, it could have mutated, or.." Doom was now looking at him, a smile playing on his lips. But then he sighed, following Lief's gazes up to the stars. "Perhaps.. You're right."

He wasn't.

Jarred looked up at the ceiling of the main hall of the palace, dressed in peasant's clothes, surrounded by angry peasants. He leaned against a marble pillar, where, so many years ago, a young man of the same name had been, as his best friend had been named King. It was that same young man who fled to the Forests of Silence and was taken to the Shadowlands, to then escape and become the leader of the Resistance, and eventually, advisor to the King.

Now, though, instead of eagerly waiting and whispering for a king to be crowned, it was full of angry townspeople, shocked to find that the King was no longer seeing them and that they were receiving no answer.

Now it was Ranesh who stood on the platform, a flustered and bewildered look upon his face, which Jarred could not help but smile at. "Please, your attention, please! I know you're all upset, just - !" He scowled, one particular man, who appeared to be from Broome, swore particularly loudly. Jarred broke out laughing and tried to hide it from those near him, but Ranesh picked him out of the crowd, having a small break in the thronging people around the pillar. He seemed to mouth something that looked like "Help me!" But Jarred just shrugged. Ranesh was less experienced with crowds since he dawdled over Marilen since the birth of Josef, and didn't let her do anything he feared might strain her, even though Josef was only a year or two younger than he and Endon.

On the stage, Ranesh, who was sweating profusely, took a deep breath and let out a mighty yell: "Everybody shut up!!" The throng died down almost immediately to a hushed whisper here and there, and Ranesh cleared his throat and straightened his collar. "I know you're all upset, just - ." He tried to finish but was interrupted by the man from Broome. "Yes we are! While the crop harvests are plentiful, the fishers of Broome have nothing!"

The man moved to continue, but Ranesh gave him such a fearsome glare that he thought otherwise. "As I was saying, I understand that you are all upset. But there are some grave matters that have arisen that prevent the King from seeing you." Someone piped up from near Jarred. "But what about his advisor, Doom? Or the Guard Captain?" Ranesh frowned. "King Lief has been detained, along with Doom, Captain Barda, and Queen Jasmine."

This didn't satisfy the crowd, for there were more angry murmurings. "I'm sorry I can't give you more information. I would if I could, but I can't tell you any more at this time." He took a deep breath. Then, there was a clear path of whispers across the crowd, but despite their efforts, Ranesh's keen ears picked it up. "The Shadow Lord has not returned!"

The hall went silent.

"Do not start fearful rumors! If the Shadow Lord was back, you would know!" Ranesh said angrily, and Jarred was sure that the same thing had occurred to him. If rumors began of the return of the Shadow Lord, the entire kingdom could be sent into an uproar. But for Ranesh to be countering it with such fury, it made Jarred actually wonder. They wouldn't even tell him why he couldn't see his father or mother, but he decided it better to not ask questions or interfere.

Ranesh took a deep breath, and re-opened the floor. "I will take a few question, and I will answer them to the best of my abilities." Ranesh had finally gained control of the crowd, and though he certainly wasn't a King Lief, the crowd seemed satisfied.

Now Jarred saw two people weaving skillfully through the crowd across the hall, and smiled. He raised his hand above the crowd and drew a glance from Ranesh on-stage but no one else seemed to notice, and soon enough, two teenagers were entering his small circle around the pillar. "Hey, Josef, you're Dad looks like he's having fun." Josef glanced uneasily at the stage, for Ranesh had clearly spotted his son in the crowd and flashed him a brief smile before continuing his interrogation from the crowd.

But their time together was short-lived, as there was a scream that echoed through the hall, and all three of them whirled around to see the source. A man was on the other side of the hall, doubled over in pain. In seconds, he was on the floor, and Jarred looked away in disgust. The man's skin was clear and defined, his skin suddenly stretched over his face to the skull, green veins slithering beneath it. It was horrible. Jarred suddenly felt a need to get out of the hall.

Josef and Endon evidently felt the same. "I'm not going to stick around to get whatever that guy's got, let's get out of here." Josef laughed half-heartedly, and they began to make there way back through the crowd, but there were more shouts screams. More people were falling down, but Jarred tried not to notice, something in the back of his mind pushed it away.

But then it started to become sheer turmoil in the crowd, people were falling over each other, writhing on the ground, and Jarred was suddenly running like he never had before. Ranesh had vanished from the stage, and Jarred barely saw him in the crowd, rushing towards his son. Josef was too busy escaping from the hall. The crowd behind them were pushing and shoving, trying to get away from the sick. There were many of them now, too many.

This wasn't natural, and Jarred knew it. But the one thought in his mind was the thought that he tried to push away. Even though he was supposed to act as if he would spring up from behind every corner, rise from every shadow, but it was almost unspeakable to him. He couldn't imagine it, all his life he had been free of it. The Shadow Lord. What if this was why his father was locked away, forbidden to all company, even his own family? He wasn't ready, he knew he wasn't. He couldn't fight the Shadow Lord, not now. His life was finally just as he wanted it. Peaceful, free, normal.

Now there were more people, so many that those who still were forced back into the hall were stumbling over them, all sickeningly writhing, some, Jarred was painfully aware, were dead.

What was happening?

Lief leaned back in his chair, stretching his legs and running his hands through his hair absentmindedly. He was physically and mentally exhausted, his mind a whirl of thoughts he himself had trouble sorting through. He had spent the day staring out the balcony and approving the replacements for the palace guards, even though neither he or Barda or Doom were allowed to leave their private quarters unless for very important reasons, of which fresh air was not.

While he stared out of the balcony or sat in his study in boredom, Jasmine fluttered in and out of different rooms. What she had found to do Lief couldn't fathom, as he was stewing in his own uselessness. He couldn't sign papers or royal letters or anything, they would be infected, and would in turn infect the messengers, infect the birds that carried them, infect any animals they came in contact with, and those who received it.

It was an endless network of ways it could spread, and Doom had orchestrated a way to avoid it all even while sitting in his own quarters, having nothing better to do than give orders and ask about the crops through a slit in the door.

But, as his two sons and Josef fled the meeting hall, Lief was experiencing problems of his own.

There was a shout from behind him, and he thought for a moment that it was Jasmine, but she wasn't even in the room with him. It came through the open door to the balcony. Standing up, he strode out and looked over the edge to see what was happening. After a moment, he folded his mouth into a thin line, and uttered one word: "Damn."

He could already see it happening, a woman had fallen over in the courtyard, and a nearby guard rushed over to help her. That was two people. Two more men came to help her up, a third to feel her pulse. Five. The first guard rushed to another guard to tell him to send news to the King. Six. Then the first guard, leaving the woman, would climb back to his post along the outer wall. With him on the walkways were six more guards. So, that made twelve. Twelve infected in the space of a minute. It was too late. It was already spreading.

Lief turned for the door to his chambers, and he heard a shout from Jasmine, "Lief?" He ignored her. He pulled open the door and the guards looked at him in surprise, putting their hands over their mouths. "King Lief, you can't - !" But he continued anyway.

How did it get out? Did a guard kiss their wife, did somebody take a breath of fresh air just a someone was passing by? There were a million ways it could have happened, but Lief couldn't think of any Doom hadn't already thought of. But the guards had let him get away easily enough, perhaps another, stupider, guard had decided to go for a stroll through the castle. Or maybe it was something else entirely, something darker, something at the moment Lief couldn't, and didn't quite want to, imagine. But he would make a note to check his guards thoroughly from now on.

He ran frantically through the halls of the palace, he could hear the guards running after him, but he doubted any of them were man enough to try and stop him. He threw open the doors to the courtyard, the doors sending a hollow boom through echoing of the walls. The guards in the courtyard immediately saw him, and knowing their orders, moved to stop him. "Sir! You can't be here! You have to stay in your quarters, you are quaranti -!" Lief shot him such a hard glance that the guard froze, and he pushed him limply out of his way.

"Your Majesty, the plague!" Lief turned on him. "Keeping me locked away isn't going to stop it! It's already out! It's spreading! The moment you touched her, you got it, and then they got it, every single person in this palace is going to be infected now if I don't -!" He was stopped in mid-sentence by a cry from the battlements, someone was shouting and pointing. Lief looked up, several guards were on walkways, watching the scene from above. One was now screaming and clutching his face, stumbling towards the edge, and in an instant, he was splattered on the ground below. Lief could only stare, and mutter one word, "Damn."

Jasmine hesitated, hearing both Lief's and their guards' footsteps retreat into the corridors of the palace. She wrung her hands, and with a breath, started running. All the guards were in the courtyard attending to the incident, and no one stopped her until she reached a courtyard. A young guard was running through the doors from the courtyard, a look of terror on his face. He looked at her for a moment, "Lady Jasmine!" He cried, just as startled to see her as she was him. She started to say something but he let out a gurgle of pain, falling against the wall and clutching her head.

Jasmine gasped, then screamed, running past the guard and towards the courtyard, she burst through the doors, but no one seemed to notice her. Several bodies were on the ground, surrounded by pools of blood, and, looking around, more were hanging from the walkways above. She gasped, clutching her hands on her heart.

Slowly aware of her, Lief turned around on the center of the courtyard, and she met his eyes in confusement and terror, just in time to see an expression of pain cross his face. He slowly moved his hands to his head, and then, his eyes bulged out of his head and he collapsed, letting out a heart-wrenching scream of agony.