Spear of Destiny by James Baldwin (room on the broom read aloud txt) 📗

to vote for my plans, once they’re ready. Preferably two-thirds majority, to avoid conflict.”

“There will be conflict no matter what you do. Those who refuse to join this revolution of yours will become your enemies,” Vash said. “So if you go through with this idea, you had best install bars on your windows and those of everyone you care about. Taethawn is wiser than he seems. Your life will be in danger, perhaps even from the Volod himself.”

I sighed. “Of course it couldn’t be easy.”

“Nothing worth having is ever easy,” Vash replied. “Except whores. And even then, the more expensive they are, the better they-”

I held up a hand. “Not right now, dude. I do not need the mental image of you in a brothel full of women.”

“Who said anything about women?” Vash beamed at me.

Groaning, I slumped back into my chair. “Just go get the mayor.”

Five minutes later, I faced the acting mayor of Karhad as he doffed his plain woolen cap and bowed deeply. He was a great big ham of a guy, built wide and solid. Vlachians were normally a swarthy people, but Alan Bubek was pale and pinkish, with a balding thatch of honey-blond curls that clung to the sides of his head like lamb’s wool.

“Good to see you again, Bubek,” I said, once he stood up. “I’m guessing this isn’t a social call.”

“I’m afraid not, Your Grace.” The Mayor wrung his hat nervously in his hands. “I am here because the Hospitalers of Veela have isolated a woman with a case of Thornlung Plague.”

Chapter 11

“Plague?” I unconsciously gripped the armrests of my throne. “Just the one case?”

“Yes, my lord.” The Mayor bobbed his head. “The Hospitalers are trying to find out if she had contact with anyone other than her family, but with half the city in ruins and many still living in tents as the cleanup continues, it is impossible to know for certain.”

Vash rumbled and shook his head. My blood ran cold. I didn’t know what Thornlung was, but I knew from intimate personal experience how terrifyingly fast and deadly an outbreak of disease could be. The HEX virus had torn my world apart in the space of three months.

“Was our Patient Zero a refugee in the camps?” I demanded.

“No, Your Grace. She is a tailor’s daughter, who lives and works at the cloth mill in the Riverside District with her family. It was left relatively unscathed by the Demon.”

“Is the hospital in Riverside?”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

“How is Thornlung spread? Air? Water?”

“I... do not know, in truth.” The Mayor shifted from foot to foot. “I am no healer, Your Grace.”

“Air,” Vash said. “It spreads from person to person inside of houses and other closed, dank spaces.”

“Great.” I leaned in toward the Mayor. “Okay, Bubek: Here’s what’s going to happen. We shut down the entire Riverside District for two weeks. The only things allowed in or out are essential deliveries and wagons carrying medical staff. I want the district gates closed and guards posted on every street, in and out.”

“Guards?” The Mayor squeaked.

“Yes. I’ll send a couple of platoons to fill out your staff. Their job is to control traffic, stop people trying to enter or leave, and to issue cloth masks to people in the Riverside District and the immediate surrounding neighborhoods. Everyone entering or doing business in the Riverside half of the city MUST wear a mask covering their mouth and nose,” I said. “Man, woman, and child. Do you understand me?”

The Mayor’s mouth opened and closed a few times. “Those are... very strict measures for one sick woman, Your Grace. They will be expensive, and will most definitely not lend me popular-”

“Which makes it even more important that the District is closed NOW. Because you know what will make you less popular? Letting our citizens die of Thornlung.” I scowled at him. “And one other thing: the miller’s entire family, their staff, and the doctors who treated this lady? They’re to be confined to their homes for the quarantine period, starting immediately.”

“And... if they protest...?”

“Then they can serve out their two weeks quarantine in jail, and if they do have Thornlung, they get the best medical treatment we can offer. Once they recover, they can dig graves for the people who die because they couldn’t be bothered to stay home,” I said. “I’m not joking. I’ve seen what happens when people drag their feet over stuff like this. We crush this outbreak early, and we crush it hard. The Duchy will compensate workers in Riverside who can prove they lost wages due to the lockdown.”

“Yes, Your Grace. There is wisdom in what you say. Hard, somewhat brutal wisdom, but wisdom nonetheless.” Mayor Bubek bowed uncomfortably. “But if the worst happens, and the plague spreads...?”

“Is it treatable?” I asked Vash.

He nodded. “Yes, if caught early.”

I turned back to Bubek. “Then we set up an early screening system and arrange to have the medicines made and held in reserve.”

“A screening service will be difficult without help from the university,” Mayor Bubek admitted. “The brightest minds of Myszno lived and worked there. Now, it’s full of prowlers and other riff-raff. People swear they’ve seen monsters inside.”

“Believe me, fixing the University is on my Top Five Things to Do when it comes to Myszno. Until then, we’re just going to have to make do.” I slumped back into my chair. “Can you issue these as quests?”

“Yes, Your Grace. One moment.”

[Alan Bubek would like to issue you two new Kingdom Quests: Supply and Demand and the Vaunted Halls of Karhad University.]

I brought up the HUD, and let the system narrator read the quests to me:

  New Kingdom Quest: Supply and Demand

As the province of Myszno continues to recover from the invasion of Ashur of Napath, the cracks