The Crown's Entrapment



At Cordon Castle

"What?"

Jayra frowned the more she heard about this new mystery disease that suddenly sprouted in the middle of the Tornado Pack Territory. It was unlike anything she had ever heard of, and she was pretty sure that she knew almost every illness under the sun.

"It's what Aurelia said. I'm just reciting her words to you to the letter," Bartos shrugged, his own frown apparent as he acted as a relay for her and her friend to talk. "She also said that the dark rashes aren't caused by anything other than the patient's skin rupturing and bleeding out onto the skin."

"You say that, but she didn't say anything about the cause of the bleeding in the first place?" Jayra pinched the bridge of her nose as she asked.

"...Aurelia said that the disease is still evading her efforts in identifying it," Bartos replied after a bit of time. "She also says that the patient displays signs of delirium almost a full two days after contracting the disease."

"Of course it does," Jayra sighed. "Well, at least the sample got here fast enough. I'm sure that our King will issue a lockdown over the area in the next few hours."

She was already counting her lucky stars with the fact that the small jar sitting on her desk even arrived to her. She didn't know how long it had been since the discovery of the disease, but she could only assume that her friends would be stuck in the Tornado Pack Territory for the foreseeable future.

"Dear, Aurelia's about to cut the connection," Bartos called out to her. "Anything else you want to say to her?"

Jayra blinked as she waved her hand at her husband, "Just tell her my thanks for sending me a preserved specimen, and tell her that I'll do everything I can on my end to see if this thing even exists on any archive I can find."

With her words fully relayed, Jayra put on her serious face as she stared at the dangerous jar of flesh sitting on her desk. It was delivered in a pack of ice, which would allow whatever was causing the disease to survive the journey.

"And done," Bartos hummed as he nodded. "So, do you need anything else?"

"I'll handle this on my own," Jayra remarked, her eyes never leaving the jar in front of her. "And make sure to sanitize everything that you're currently wearing, as well as whoever messengers had come across this jar."

"You want to go that far?"

"We're not taking any chances," she grimly stated. "I'm already at risk just studying this thing. The worst thing that could happen is us getting sick and spreading this thing across the entire kingdom."

"I'll heed your advice then," he seriously nodded. Turning around to leave, he gave her one last pause as he added, "And Jayra? You better take care, alright?"

"I will," she nodded while giving him a confident smile.

Hearing her husband leave, Jayra immediately went to work as she put on her protective gear. After making sure that both she and her workshop was fully sealed, she then went ahead to open the jar.

"I sure hope I'm not opening the lid to death itself," she chuckled to herself.

She really didn't want to die an early death because of something she couldn't even see. She was sure that she could make a few breakthroughs with this, maybe even find a cure that they sorely needed before this entire situation blew up on their faces.

***

King Darius was not having a good day.

[And you only reported this now?] he ground out.

[We did our best to try and nip the problem in the bud, Your Majesty,] Alpha Niro explained himself with an apologetic tone. [It's barely been a week before the first case popped up in our clinics.]

[I find it hard to believe that such a deadly disease managed to spread that fast,] Darius grumbled in both annoyance and worry. [How are your pack's emergency stockpiles?]

[We have enough food for half a year before the next harvest,] Niro quickly replied. [As for raw materials, we only have enough iron to last us a month.]

[I see,] the King hummed. [And you say that the disease is going rampant?]

[Lady Aurelia is performing her research at the moment,] the Alpha dutifully replied. [She says that she would need at least a few days before she could even begin to understand how to fight this off.]

Darius let out a sigh as he took in the influx of information. He could already feel his Xen's reassurance flowing through their Bond, and he was sure that she'd want to hear what exactly caused his distress that late in the day.

[You said earlier that you've isolated the core villages of your territory, correct?]

[I did so as quickly as I could,] Niro responded. [Why? What do you have in mind, Your Majesty?]

Darius deliberated the decision he was about to impose. As much as he wanted experts to truly mull over such a move, from what he was hearing, this mysterious disease wasn't giving them the time to even try and go about things rationally. People were dying, and they couldn't afford to be indecisive, especially when the entire Kingdom of Cordon could be affected by it.

[Niro, I want you to impose a strict lockdown of your entire territory,] Darius firmly instructed. [Nothing will go in and out of your lands no matter the circumstances.]

[I… I understand,] Niro grimly agreed. [I'll see it done as soon as possible.]

[I'm glad you understand,] Darius nodded. [Rest assured that the entire Kingdom's resources are currently moving to lift the curse that currently plagues your lands.]

[I can only hope it will be fast enough, Your Majesty,] Niro sighed.

With their connection being cut off, Darius let out a tired groan as he sagged into his seat. It was at that moment that his mate came to see him.

"Darius?" she asked. "What's wrong?"

"Xen," he weakly chuckled. "It would seem that trouble has just landed on our people yet again."

Really, first the war, then some mysterious disease… Well, he could at least hope that this illness could be stopped before it became a deadly plague.

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