Chapter Six: The Council Chambers

DG had always thought official 'council chamber meetings' would take place in windowless rooms, lit with candles and roaring open fires. She'd imagined there would be serious men talking in hushed tones and heavily armed guards in corners looking meaningfully into shadows.

The reality was pretty much the opposite. There was no need for fire or candles as one wall of the long room was made of a series of floor to ceiling windows. The window-wall showed Central City in its bustling glory. There were serious men, and those included her father, Glitch, Cain- both of them, Jeb having been allowed out of his sick room as long as he was careful, and some more of the high up advisers. Her mother and sister were there too, but no one was speaking in hushed tones.

Clearing his throat Glitch interrupted the babble.

'As of this morning 118 people have become infected, 92 of them are having the nightmares, 18 have the rash, and... 7 are dead.' Ambrose spoke with a confidence DG still found strange. After he'd been reunited with the rest of his brain Ambrose had still been glitching sometimes, but more often now he spoke as he must have done before, confident, quiet, friendly and certain.

'That's 117.' said Az looking around the room. 'Master Cain here has yet to develop a rash.' All eyes swivelled from the advisor to Jeb Cain who shrugged.

'Maybe it's all the alcohol Dad force fed me?' DG stifled her giggle as the rest of the people gathered nodded.

'It's worth considering certainly.'

'118...' Mused Lavender... 'Well that should determine our decision then.'

'No. It's 112 sick. Ambrose said 7 had died.' Ahamo said shaking his head. The babble rose again in hushed tones.

'What's going on?' DG asked looking from her mother to her father.

'110 is the limit we give to officially announce an epidemic.'

'You mean you haven't?' DG was genuinely shocked. 'People have died!'

'We don't want to worry people unnecessarily... we can't just quarantine the city. That has huge impacts on trade and commerce DG.' Ahamo said firmly.

'Don't people know?' DG was confused... surely 120 people being sick in a city of only a few thousand must have been noticed... most of them were from Lower Town.

'Things have been kept... shall we say... discreet.' Said Captain Jamely, he was responsible for the 'outside face' of the Palace's decisions. That was the team who made announcements etc., what DG would always think of as public relations.

'That's disgusting.' DG said. She felt cold, keeping something so huge a secret was wrong.

'That is the way we do things, Your Highness.'

'Maybe we should be doing them a different way?' DG said quietly. Her response was met with stares.

'I don't understand.' Said the Captain.

'Why can't we do things a new way?' DG spoke more loudly but she kept her voice slow and as calm as she could.

'This is the way things have always been done.'

'But not the way they must always be done, surely?' she asked, genuine frustration and confusion giving an edge to her voice.

There was silence. Then the hushed whisper started up again, DG could hear phrases such as 'For Ozma!' and 'No understanding!' amongst the conversation. Seeking help she looked to her mother.

'It is our way, dear. It always has been. It works.' Said Lavender gently. 'Come in, Jonathon.' She was now addressing a young runner who hovered in the doorway. Try as she could DG couldn't remember names the way her mother did. Lavender knew the names and some background on every single member of her staff.

'Ma'am, another girl from the Lower Town has passed away.' The room fell even more silent, if that was possible.

'Which girl? Was it Caydie Albred-son?' Wyatt Cain asked. Jonathon nodded and left quickly.

DG had dropped her head into her hands the moment the runner had said someone else was dead. She'd thought it could be the girl straight away. She and Cain had talked to a few but Caydie had been the first infected... the furthest into the sickness and DG had liked her; tears fell from her face into her lap. She felt pressure on her shoulder and knew it was the Tin Man without having to look.

'Did you know her?' Azkadellia asked, concerned.

'Yes... well... I spoke to her, and I had drawn her...' DG said looking up, pulling her grief back into herself, forcing her tears away.

'You drew her? When?' asked her mother sharply.

'I don't know... I draw lots of people from the Lower Town from my study... Maybe a few weeks ago? The same time I sketched you two,' DG nodded at Jeb and Wyatt Cain, 'while you were playing cards.'

The Queen and her advisor exchanged glances. DG felt as if she'd swallowed ice, something was wrong. She looked up at Cain who had taken his hand off her shoulder but not off of the back of her chair. He shrugged slightly. He and the youngest princess had spent a lot of time together negotiating with rebels and talking down ex-Long Coats, they knew how to read tiny gestures like that from one another.

'What?' Azkadellia finally asked.

'The Witch... we thought she may have used miniature effigies to commence the influences of the Malady...'

'Voodoo Dolls. You think she used images of her victims to pass on the disease?' Cain said having unravelled Glitch's words. DG's mind had gone a step further...

'You think I'm making people sick by drawing them?'

The hour after the mention of Voodoo sketches or 'dawn effigies' as Glitch referred to them had been bustling. Azkadellia and Ambrose had rushed off to get Tutor and look at DG's sketches in more detail. She'd been questioned by her parents about how she drew, what did she think of, why those people... it had gone on and on until-

'I think I'll escort the Princess back to her rooms now.'

Wyatt Cain had swept in and pulled her out. He'd taken DG back to her rooms and left her in silence.

She felt... well she wasn't sure how she felt. She was so upset that Caydie had died. Even more distraught because it was her fault... and she was angry. Angry at her parents, at Captain Jamely, at everyone really. But one thing kept coming back to her: it was just after she'd thrown up... which had happened just after Glitch had mentioned 'effigies.' DG had looked at her parents and said:

'I'm killing people.'

'No dear. Don't be so ridiculous.' Her mother said dismissively.

'No. No. Good to have all information, we can start to clear things up now hopefully.' Captain Jamely had said patting her shoulder.

'Don't be so ridiculous.' DG whispered to herself. She felt the scream that had been lodged in her chest since she had attempted to yell at Cain, after finding out Jeb was sick, break free.

'Don't. Be. So. Ridiculous!' Each word was like adding pressure to a balloon. DG grabbed her hairbrush from the carpet, and hurled it at a window.

It struck and the window smashed... and froze. Gritting her teeth she forced her magic into the shards of flying glass and remade the window. White magic flared in it for a second as it became whole. Taking some steadying breaths DG sat at her dressing table.

'Nicely done.'

DG jerked round. Her sister stood in the doorway.

'Thank you.'

'Are you okay?' Azkadellia asked moving from the doorway to sit on the sofa opposite the dressing table.

DG took a deep breath, the anger still swirled through her head. As it did, so did the frustration, the sense of unfairness and the grief.

'I'll take that as a no.'

'I'm killing people.'

'No you're not.'

'Yes. Az, I am! My drawings are killing people.'

'We don't know that for certain. I... the witch... We think that she used dolls made of people's hair or their blood. You need a part of a person to cause them harm, DG.'

'Is that a rule?'

'What?'

'Is that a rule? Is there no way I could be doing this?' DG was speaking evenly now but still the mix of emotions pouring through her.

Azkadellia was silent. DG sighed and went to sit next to her sister. 'It's just so hard...'

'What is?' whispered Az, lost in her thoughts.

'Not knowing... with killing people. Even inadvertently.'

'You focus on not doing it now. You grit your teeth and say "no more." You do your best to make a change. Hope people can see the difference. Shut your mind to the memories and the nightmares. Pretend you don't see how some people shy away from you...' Azkadellia's voice trailed off. She then seemed to shake herself out the reverie.

'I'm so sorry Az, I didn't think...'DG put her head onto her sister's shoulder and snaked an arm around her waist.

The two sisters sat there for a while. Things that hadn't been said lay out in front of them. But little by little they both started to feel better.

'Do you think Jeb will be okay?' DG asked not moving her head from her sister's shoulder.

'If you or his father have anything to do with it, he'll be fine.'

'If I'm responsible for him being sick?' It wasn't really a question but Az knew what her sister meant.

'Cain doesn't blame you. Either of them.'

'I hope not.' The idea of being without Wyatt Cain was almost inconceivable for DG. She felt the dull panic and fear that she'd been hiding rise up in her chest again.

'What's going on with you two? You've been weird for weeks...'

'My leaving...' mumbled DG. Azkadellia was right, things might be okay with the Tin Man but they weren't right...

Az frowned. She and DG hadn't ever spoken properly about her 'leaving' as she put it. But she knew her well enough not to talk about at the moment.

'I love you little sister. I'll see you tomorrow.' Az dislodged her sister, stood up and left.

'Az?'

'Hmmm?'

'I've drawn Cain.'

'I know.' Azkadellia left pulling the door shut behind her with a click.