Tears of Blood

Chapter 1
The Plague

As the small white candle got lower and the light grew dim Aleera’s light blue eyes shed tears that were caught by her soft brown hair, while a tear fell onto the off white paper in her shaking hands she began to read that which was the letter left by her mother.



            Aleera please take this amulet and do not let it out of your sight...         
                I expect some strange things will soon happen, stay strong.



Aleera carefully folded the letter in half again then picked up the tiny silver bag and looked inside, there was a beautiful sapphire with golden rimming.

As her last tear fell and the candle burnt low Aleera lay down on the piece of foam which she called her bed and fell asleep.

“Aleera, Aleera.” A gentle voice called, Aleera opened her eyes and found herself standing outside her house. The damp grass lay beneath her slender feet and the cold nights wind blew about her long black gypsy skirt. Again the voice called “Aleera” she began to follow it seeing all the suffering that had begun.

Her mother was the first to die from it,  but now her father and the king had it... the plague was spreading fast

She soon found herself at an almost running pace closing her eyes because of the horror in front of her with women, children and men all scared and in pain. She saw a young girl with tears of blood, a woman with a baby in her arms but the infant was pale and deformed, there was a man who’s arms and face looked burnt and frail. There were hundreds more who had been deformed all calling her name or begging for help, the whispers became louder and louder until her mind was filled with a thousand voices each one piercing into Aleera’s thoughts. She grasped her head and fell to the no longer soft grass but cold hard stones still trying to stop the terrifying sounds and horrible sights.

She then awoke in complete darkness, it had been long since she first went to sleep it was no longer day but well into the night.

Aleera was breathing heavily and covered with sweat, she took a deep sigh of relief and lit a new candle. The small gem was still in her pocket, it seemed to give her comfort. She slipped her hand into the small pocket on the side of her skirt and pulled out the beautiful sapphire.

Aleera sat back on her bed and examined the precious amulet... it was at this moment that she noticed the foreign inscriptions on the back, the strange symbols were smooth and sensual yet she still had no idea what they meant.

The small room was cold and even with the flickering candle it was still very dark, the atmosphere never really seemed to change much in there you could always see long and lonely shadow even though the only furniture was her bed and the small wooden table with the candle on it.

The rest of the house was  silent so she went to see if any one was awake. As she exited her sleeping chamber and began to creep silently down the hall she heard faint moaning coming from her fathers room.

Aleera started to open his door when she felt a strong hand on her shoulder and a deep voice whisper “Leave him be” She spun around too see her elder brother Antonio glaring at her, she scoffed at him and headed back to her room “Aleera, our father will be ok... I promise.” She turned round with a cold stare and raised her voice “How do you know that? How does anyone know that? Don’t make promises you can’t keep Antonio.” She then speedily yet silently ran back to her room.

The next day Antonio went to see Aleera hoping that by now she had calmed down. As the creaky wooden door opened and he peered inside he saw Aleera again staring at the sapphire amulet, straight away she knew who it was but did not  bother to look up with her deep secretive eyes. “Is that what mother left you?” He asked, Antonio paused hoping for a reply but he got none. “Looks like it’s pretty expensive...” He continued “Yeah, you would have to be a genius to figure that out” She murmured sarcastically still looking down at the precious gem.

Though Antonio disliked his younger sisters sarcasm he was still glad that he got a response.

Antonio and Aleera looked very alike both with slightly tanned skin blue eyes and good posture. Antonio had long black straight hair that touched just past his shoulders, he usually had it pined up behind his ears. He was commonly seen wearing a white and green robe reaching exactly at his ankles. All in that family looked as if they were far more then worthless peasants, though that’s all they were. Somehow they were familiar too the royal house hold.

Antonio sighed and sat down next to Aleera, she moved away, she really hated being boxed in or cramped.

“May I see the sapphire?” Antonio inquired, Aleera carefully handed it over. After a couple of seconds of him staring at the gem,  he began to murmur “These inscriptions... they...” Aleera glared at him “You know what they mean then?” She urged, he looked up and his face went blank “No... I... I just... thought I had.” He stuttered un-surely. Aleera was still very suspicious of her brother. He quickly got up off her bed and went to see their father.

As he entered the largest room in the house which happened to be their fathers sleeping chamber he heard a sickly voice whisper. “How is Aleera?” Antonio was unsure how his father knew that he had just visited Aleera but he always seemed to know this sort of thing, he always seemed to know what people thought.

“She is ok...  but have you noticed how she has changed recently?” His father took a moment to respond  “Can you not expect a change in one after the death of another in relation?”  Antonio knew this was a rhetorical question but still he gave a reply “Of coarse you can but in my opinion the change my sister has gone through is the change of one who has lost a part of themselves.” With a smile the astute father replied “If you loose your mother is it not like losing a part of yourself?”

It was common for Antonio to try and outwit his father but he never succeeded, it would always happen the other way round.

Antonio quickly changed the topic to hide the fact he had nothing to say, “Father, about the amulet Aleera inherited...” His father did not even seem bothered that Antonio was asking about it.

Antonio at least expected his father to pretend he had no idea what he was talking about. Antonio continued “Well I am curious about the inscriptions on it.”

It was now that his father reacted “You must not tell Aleera what the inscriptions say! Don’t tell her what they mean!” He shouted as loud as he could, he began to cough and gasp for air. “Father! Please do not get worked up, I will not tell her.” Antonio reassured his father.

Meanwhile Aleera was still inspecting the small gem, suddenly a searing pain burnt through her mind and she saw the young girl with tears of blood as she had seen in her last dream. The girl opened her eyes, she still seemed to be crying.

She had long, black, silky hair reaching further then her waist, she wore a lengthy, pure, white dress with floral patterned lace around the top and bottom, but it was stained with her deep crimson tears.

The area was cold and blank, it was covered with white sand, the sky was dark blue with no stars in sight.

Aleera heard the girl murmur something but could not quite make out what she said. Aleera never before seemed to show any emotion, but now it was obvious that she felt at least a slight amount of sorrow towards the girls suffering.

“Aleera please help me, please help...” the child’s arms raised from her sides and behind her hundreds of others with the fatal disease suddenly appeared, again she began to speak “please help us.. please Aleera please!”

The girl looked like she was about 8 years old. Her face showed a look of pain and desperation, her skin was pale almost a grey colour. She still had the deep red tears streaming down her soft cheek.

“Who are you, how can I help you?” Aleera asked in a fearless tone. “I am suffering, I am dying as are all the others behind me, if you wish to know why it is only you that can help me find out what the amulet means.”

A single tear splashed onto the pure white sand and Aleera found herself in her sleeping chamber with the sapphire in her hands. Her mind still rang with the girls words,she could remember the wind and the sand that had been around. It had to have been real, her legs were still itching from the sand that had brushed past.