The sun's rays spread across the room, magnified by the properties of the window, falling onto Cassia's face and bathing her in a beautiful glow, accenting her best features. She gripped the bedding with her left hand and rolled gently to the other side of the bed, throwing her right hand over first. Her eyes were still closed, and as she settled into the pillow again, she slowly pried her eyes half-open. At the first glimpse of her aide, she slammed her eyelids shut again and feigned sleep. "You have duties today, m'lady. We must oversee the building of the church in the village of Coldmarsh. You know this." She whined and buried her head in the pillow. "Gabriel, do you honestly intend me to go to a place known as 'Coldmarsh' now? I'm not feeling well." He pulled the bedding away and grabbed her cooly by the shoulder. "Yes, I do. You will be dressed in a few moments. Be ready." He pulled her to her feet and left the room.
Later, as her servants finish adjusting her dress and brushing her hair, Liviya exits her bedroom. "Ah, g-good morning...m'lady." Liviya stared down at her feet and blushed, not looking in Cassia's direction. Liviya stood in the corner and didn't say a word the rest of the time Cassia's servants were there, and then followed her out of the bedroom and down the corridor, where Gabriel was waiting for them. He stood leaning against the wall, tapping his foot impatiently. When the girls reached him, they stood for a few moments, waiting for him to speak. He finally piped up. "Are you forgetting something, Liviya?" Liviya looked around the corridor, checked her pockets, looked over the both of them and then shrugged. Gabriel rolled his eyes and sighed, giving Liviya a few moments to suddenly remember what she'd forgotten. She yelped and ran back to the bedroom, the door banging against the wall as she dashed in. Gabriel held his head in his hand. "Perhaps she was a bad choice..." Cassia grinned at him. "She's fine. I think I'm beginning to even adore her." Gabriel sneered in her direction until Liviya returned, carrying the "royal stool." She bowed while trying to catch her breath. "I..uhm...apologize. I forgot..." Gabriel ignored her. "The carriage is waiting for us." And with that, they left.
They all piled into the carriage and left for Coldmarsh. The ride was bumpy, as many of the roads along the way were in an awful state of disuse. Cassia's stomach still wasn't completely settled from the other night, and Liviya too looked rather uncomfortable. Cassia laid her hands in her lap the entire ride. Gabriel stared out at the landscape. Liviya looked like she was trying not to vomit the entire time. The only other person in the carriage, a guard, sat motionless, fixing his eyes on a point between Cassia and Gabriel. Everyone seemed to be entirely in their own world.
Roughly twenty minutes away from their destination, a putrid smell reached everyone's nostrils. The guard looked uncomfortable and embarassed, trying to fan his nose discreetly. Gabriel looked between everyone and sneered, before looking out the window again. Cassia looked at everyone, but then fixed her gaze on Liviya, who began to look a sickening shade of green. She was also breathing erraticly. "...Should we stop for a moment?" Cassia asked her, and her eyes immediately shot up. She nodded hastily. Cassia tugged Gabriel's sleave. "Pull the carriage over a moment, I think Livivya's about to be sick." Gabriel groaned. "You must be...alright." He leaned out the window and yelled at the driver to stop. He pulled in the reigns and the carriage lurched to a stop by the side of the road in a field of very tall grass. Liviya rushed out, with Cassia following her out of concern. The guard quickly got his act together and followed them. Gabriel, however, remained behind, yelling to them "Remember that we have commitments! Don't be long!"
Liviya ran through the tall grass with one hand cupped to her mouth. Once she was just barely out of sight of everyone, save for Cassia, she stopped. In a rather impressive feat, with one hand still covering her mouth she pulled her dress up and her underwear down and squatted over the ground. With no hesitation, she removed her hand from her mouth and retched. She clutched her abdomen for dear life and retched again, chunks rising in her throat. Cassia bravely walked up and stood beside her, keeping well clear of her mouth and ass, and patted her in the head, half looking away. "There there." She cooed. Liviya gagged again and spilt steaming chunks of vomit onto the ground, while her other end sputtered and released gallons upon gallons of watery diarrhea. The smell was intolerable, and Cassia was trying hard to keep from puking just the same. She patted her on the shoulder. "Should we return for the day?" Liviya spat and caught her breath before answering. "...M...M'lady, you have...business...erk..." Liviya threw up again. Cassia then realized that Liviya was much stronger than she appeared, perhaps even stubborn.
"We can reschedule for tomorrow, and I can bring along a replacement for you...or even do without your position altogether." Liviya shivered as her bowels let loose again. *PrrtCLRRKKspllt* Cassia had finally had enough. "We're going home. I'll bring the things you need to clean yourself up and then we'll ride home. You're not well." Cassia parted the grass and walked back to the carriage, making eye contact with the guard as she passed. His eyes seemed to be filled with sympathy, as if to say "Good job, taking care of the poor, sick girl." She paused for a split second and turned around to face him. "Did you hear any of that commotion?" He shrugged, but his eyes again gave him away. Cassia pushed this out of her mind and approached the carriage. Gabriel did not look amused. She explained the situation and Gabriel sneered. "We can't do this any other day, it needs to be now. You have responsiblities." She gave him an icy glare, and for once, he felt respect for her, if only through a very vague sense of fear. Perhaps she could make a good leader after all. "The church will be there tomorrow. It's not even complete yet. They will understand." She grabbed the things she needed and took them back to Liviya. Liviya looked depressed, pale and worn out. She led Liviya by the hand back to the carriage, and they turned around to go home. They had to stop one more time for Liviya to vomit by the roadside, but fortunately she never made a mess.
When they arrived back in the mid-afternoon, Liviya crawled into bed and passed out. Cassia was at first afraid she might be in mortal peril, but after checking her over, the royal physician assured her it was a minor stomach flu and would pass in a few days. She breathed a sigh of relief and went to bring Liviya a bucket. Along with the bucket, Cassia left her own stool by Liviya's bedside. She brushed the hair away from her eyes and felt her sweltering forehead. "You deserve the best, perhaps more than I do." She retired to her bedchamber and laid herself down. Minutes later, she heard rustling from the next room, followed by Liviya vomitting into the bucket, then more rustling and the sound of vicious diarrhea hitting the pot. Cassia rubbed her eyes and groaned in disgust. "This will be a long night..."
No comments:
Post a Comment