The Hand of the Plague: Redo (Subject to Revision)

"... And so the Magi Empire, such as it was, was dismantled by the other three kingdoms. The exact reasons behind the attacks are unknown, though early writings insist that the leaders of the kingdoms at the time were given instructions by the gods to do so."

"To destroy and enslave an entire population," Liam muttered under his breath as he absently doodled. His brother, Fergus, nudged him painfully in the side, shooting him a look of amused warning.

The classroom of the Human Church was large, made of stone, and currently sweltering. Sunlight beamed through the stained glass windows, sending richly colored shadows shaped like the Holy Mother and the Ascended Father across the stone floor. The teenage sons of noblemen, slaves and peasants alike sat on wooden benches behind long wooden tables, listening, or pretending to listen, to the Holy Son's Second, Brother Ewan. The boys all languished in the heavy heat, sweat dripping from their brows and the shirts of every boy stained noticeably. Some dozed, or used the paper they supposed to be using to take notes as fans. Ewan was just as moist, but persevered with a great deal more grace and sophistication than the teens currently under his care.

The Human Church gave educations to all people who sought it, though the actual classes depended on ones station. History, basic math, and religion were taught to all, but while nobles continued with swordplay, tactics and politics, peasants and slaves usually just stopped with the basics.

It was because of the Church's kindness that Liam and Fergus, both sons of an incredibly prominant nobleman, were sandwiched between a peasant lad who kept his eyes firmly away from them, and one of the slaves of their own household, a muscular Mage with shockingly violet eyes named Anik. Anik heard Liam's irritated mutter and grinned broadly, though Brother Ewan was far less than amused.

The priest sighed and shut the book he'd been reading from sharply. "Lord Liam... Is there something you'd like to say? Has your arm suddenly begun to fester? Are your fingers becoming blue due to a sudden lack of circulation?" Fergus covered his mouth with his hand and attempted vainly to smother his laughter. Liam laughed outright.

"No, Brother Ewan, just thinking aloud. Nothing to be too worried about," he said cheerfully. The taller man at the head of the classroom raised a dark eyebrow.

"Is that so? Well then, let's continue with the lesson, shall we?"

"Of course, Brother," Liam said affably. "I wouldn't dream of taking up any more of your time." Brother Liam nodded as the church bell rang, signaling the end of classes for the day. Ewan sighed loudly and set his history book aside.

"Thank you, Lord Liam, for wasting the last few precious moments of my school day. All of you listen!" The door to the main hall of the church opened, and two large, heavily armed and armored Church knights strode in, their faces obscured by helmets. "You will follow the knights out of the Church today. We have esteemed guests in the building, and the Holy Son and Daughter don't want a bunch of loud children antagonizing them."

"Who are they?" Anik asked with interest. Ewan raised his eyebrow again.

"I'm not sure that's really something you or anyone else needs to know, Anik," he said evenly. "Just follow the knights and go home before you all get heatstroke." The boys laughed and filed out of the room, led by the knights.

Liam walked with Fergus, while Akim drifted towards the other Magi in the group. If one didn't look closely, one wouldn't see any physical differences between the Humans and Magi. They weren't short, like the Dwarves, nor did they have the canted eyes and pointed ears of the Elves. The Magi were inevitably clothed in clothing far worse off than the Humans, since the Magi were slaves in the Human capital of McKinnley, and every other Human city for that matter, but there was only one physical difference. The eyes. Magi eyes were vivid, intense versions of the normal hues. Icy, electric blue, emerald or lime green, gold and vivid violet.

As the group of Magi and Humans walked out of the room, their eyes, oddly colored and otherwise, were drawn towards another group, far more interesting than their own. The Holy Daughter and Son, the two infallible heads of the Human Church, walked with the bear-like King Ardal, the blonde and comparatively frail Princess Morrigan, and two others that were completely unfamiliar.

They were shorter and slimmer than the Humans that surrounded them, and they were dressed oddly. The taller of the two, and male from the figure, was dressed in clothing that were varying hues of green and black. The other, quite obviously female, was dressed in a close fitting, high collared dress that was blue, and decorated elaborately with gold flowers. Their hair was inky black, and pulled back in buns, making the ears visible.

As the group took in the pair's ears, they all halted abruptly in shock. The woman turned, investigating the change. Her green, canted eyes surveyed the group of ogling teenage boys with amusement.

She was an Elf.

"The guests are Elves!" Fergus muttered as the female Elf hurried to catch up with the rest of the group. "Why in the world are they here?"

"Perhaps it has something to do with the plague in Va Atrast?" One of the other Humans proposed. Fergus and Liam looked at the boy sharply.

"There's a plague in the Dwarven capital?" Liam asked with interest, but before the other boy could answer, the knights called for the group to keep moving.

"My father told me," the other boy whispered as they trudged towards the door. "Apparently, it hit a few days ago and managed to infect the entire city in that timeframe."

"That's not too outrageous," Fergus muttered. "Plagues come and go. Yeah, it's awful, but I don't get why they're bringing Elves into our city about it."

"Well, I have it on good sources that the Elves think that the Humans are behind it," the other boy whispered, obviously happy to have information of such importance. As the door opened, letting in a wave of oppressive heat and sun, Liam and Fergus gaped at the boy in shock, along with several of the surrounding boys that happened to be listening in.

"Why in the name of the Ascended Husband would they think that?" Fergus asked, aghast, but again the other boy was interrupted, this time by a high, horrified shriek.

The group, knights, Humans, Magi and all, froze as the shriek hung in the air for a long moment before stopping abruptly. As the knights ran for the direction that the esteemed group had gone, the boys couldn't help but wonder which woman had screamed in such a terrifying way.

Most of the boys hurried out, eager to leave that sound behind them. But Liam crept to the side, ignoring Fergus' irritated, "Oh, Liam, get back here, don't make me- Oh fine." Fergus followed him into the shadows of the side of the room, skirting the heavy beams of sunlight pouring from the open door and creeping between the stone walls and the wooden pews.

Liam wasn't entirely sure what he was planning on doing. The repercussions for whatever people would THINK he was doing would inevitably be very painful. But his curiosity surged up too powerfully to ignore. He wanted to know who screamed, why the Elves were there, and why they thought the Humans were behind the plague in Va Atrast.

This wasn't the first decision Liam had made in his life that would, if he was caught, have long-term consequences. But he ignored what most would call his common sense, and continued towards where the group and the knights had gone, his uncomfortable older brother close behind him.

Sounds of movement came from down the hall that the knights and the group had gone, and Liam and Fergus silently panicked, looking about wildly for a place to hide. Driven into a corner, figuratively speaking, they had no choice but to crouch behind the pews, chewing their nails and silently praying that they weren't caught.

The entire group, royalty, Elves, religious leaders and all, walked into the sanctuary of the Church.

"This is unforeseen," a deep, oddly accented, feminine voice said quietly. The Elf woman.

"It's disturbing," King Ardal's intimidating bass boomed. "How could someone steal those? From our very Church? It's-"

"A gross breach of security," Princess Morrigan said, her voice clipped and irritated. "Where were your knights? Surely objects of that power and danger were under extreme amounts of security?"

There was an awkward silence as the royals and Elves waited for a reply. Fergus and Liam shared a look of confusion and interest, listening silently, but not risking looking over the pews at the faces of the group.

"Honestly, Your Highness," the Holy Son said quietly. "There was no record of the artifacts being there."

"No record?" Morrigan said sharply, causing an almost audible wince. "Blood of the Holy Mother, why wasn't there any record of something like that?"

"Your Highness, please!" The Holy Daughter said, obviously scandalized. "You're in the Holy Church!"

"Yes, yes, but you haven't answered my question," Morrigan said impatiently. "Why wasn't there any record?"

"Perhaps the Church stole the artifacts?" An unfamiliar male voice said, accented as the female Elf's voice. "The corruption of the Human Church at that time is no secret." Liam and Fergus shared intrigued looks. That was certainly a secret here in McKinnley.

"It's not something we like to broadcast, but yes, I see your point." The Holy Son said thoughtfully. "That's a possibility. Though I must wonder who would know that we had them, when we didn't know ourselves!" There was a tense silence, giving Liam a chance to absorb what he'd heard.

Powerful artifacts that should have been protected but weren't had been stolen, and this had something to do with the plague in Va Atrast? There was probably something that was missing, but that didn't seem to make any sense.

"This isn't a conversation for here," the female Elf said abruptly. "Even your Church walls may have ears. We should all continue this conversation at a later date."

"Of course, Princess Dren," King Ardal said agreeably. "We'll continue this in my office. Come on, everyone." All of the group, knights included, started for the wide open door, leaving the two eavesdropping boys behind. But as the group strode towards the door, the Elf woman, Dren, turned and looked straight at Liam and Fergus. Her disconcerting eyes surveyed them for a moment, then she smiled and waved slightly, turning back before her companions could notice.

--

The brothers walked down the cobblestone streets of the Human capital of McKinnley, both deep in thought. Liam kicked a rock in the street. The entire conversation still didn't make sense, and the fact that the Elf princess covered for them was another mystery he knew he wouldn't be able to solve. He sighed.

"Well," he said bracingly. "If anyone can solve this, it's King Ardal." Fergus nodded, effectively dismissing the entire problem from his thoughts.

"Right. So, let's head home. No doubt Father's gnashing his teeth as we speak. We both know that tonight's very important." Liam groaned and held his head in his hands as he walked down the street.

A festival in honor of the day the Magi Empire was overthrown was being held that night, and nobles largely used the festival to try and convince the princess to marry their sons. The forced romantic overtures were largely stupid and ignored, since it was obvious that the princess wasn't looking for a husband and was looking forward to ruling the Human Kingdom by herself. Her feelings were ignored by the parents of noble boys, and every year, without fail, the party that the princess went to was choked with awkward potential suitors.

Liam and Fergus' family was no exception. Every year, they were forbidden to go anywhere but the royal family's party. It never went well, and while they were on considerably friendlier ground with the princess than most suitors, the possibility that either of them would ever convince her to marry him was slim to the point of nonexistent. Their parents, however, refused to believe that.

The minute they walked through the door of their family's estate, they were practically tackled by their mother.

"Where in the world have you two been?!" She snapped, her hands on her narrow hips. Despite the fact that both boys were several inches taller than the noblewoman, the thin, red-headed woman commanded absolute obedience from both her boys, and a fair amount of fear. Such as it was, both young men stood straighter, as if they were soldiers and their mother was their commanding officer.

"In the Church, Mother," Fergus said sheepishly. "We got lost."

"Lost." Their mother said shortly, with no infliction. Liam chewed on his lip. "Right. Well, both of you go upstairs and get ready. Liam," she turned to her younger son. "I don't want you disappearing into the cellar with that slave Amara, do you understand?"

"Yes, Mother." Liam said placidly. She looked into his eyes suspiciously, then nodded.

"Good. Now, both of you, get gone." Both boys hurried down the hall.

"You're going to the cellar, aren't you?" Fergus asked irritably in an undertone. Liam grinned.

"You know me all too well," he said cheerfully, abruptly turning for the cellar. "Cover me, like a good big brother!" Fergus groaned, but said nothing else as Liam made for the cellar.

The Carrick Estate was a large mansion surrounded by a large wall. Like most of the buildings in McKinnley, the home and it's wall was made of stone, and Liam's footsteps made little sound as he crept down the dark, largely abandoned hallway with soft-booted feet.

These trips to the cellar always made him realize just how far away he was from those he considered his family. Despite the tight family bonds between him, his siblings and his parents, he wasn't truly their son. Liam was a foundling, and that was vividly apparent to any who looked at him compared to the rest of his family.

While most of his family had black hair, with the exception of his mother, his hair was an odd strawberry blonde, and though all of his family had the same green eyes, his eyes were a noticeable icy blue. Perhaps his eye color should have been the first clue to his true heritage.

He closed the cellar door carefully behind him and turned. Amara stood in the center of the room, smiling slightly.

"You're late," she said archly. "How in the world am I supposed to teach you magic if you don't show up for class?"