The Masked Singer of the Red Death

Chapter One - The Count's Quarantine

Count Nicolae Kane didn't take reports of the Red Death seriously at first. No one did. But as news of the plague spread far and wide, so did the disease.

First, they had called it "a petty peasant's sickness". The only real threat to the counts and dukes was the diminishing of their primary workforce. Most felt, as long as taxes to the king could be paid, the world would live and life would go one.

All knew the serfs worked in lowlier conditions than did the nobles or even the soldiers who protected them, but such was the price paid to stabilize the economy and balance the entire kingdom of Vaamtomae.

Then, more news came—news of the gruesome death of Duchess Veronica Kallmeera at the Samthenon Chateau. Her face, speckled in red dots, and blood, streaming from every orifice. Both the tell-tale signs of the red death.

The chateau was burned, but there was no way to know if the disease would continue its advance. Another few days later, almost a hundred soldiers were found dead at their training grounds.

The last Count Nicolae heard, the death toll rose by the day. Suspicious that the messenger could transmit the disease, he barred any outsiders from entering his fief and waited a few more days. With no symptoms from him or any of his staff, servants, or other workers, he knew he needed to make his move.

Count Kane rode deep into the mountains, almost an entire day's journey, until he arrived at his secret castle, Villa Apsconditum.

Only built a few years prior, Villa Apsconditum was made to be Nicolae's escape, during summer or winter, whenever he needed a break from the humdrum world of nobility, politics, and courtly traditions.

But now, it would be his place for escape and salvation. Because his actions and foresight, Count Nicolae would protect those who remained untouched by the Red Death's carnage.

He sent his most trusted messengers and spies to gather news on the other nobles, as well as the royals in the King's palace. In the meantime, his staff would prepare to host guests. By the end of the week, Nicolae had his information.

It turned out, the king was compromised and locked in his palace's tower, infected. Many dukes and counts were already dead or showing symptoms. But from the reports, Count Nicolae compiled a list of all the nobles untouched by and quarantined from the Red Death, one hundred and fifty-seven people in all.

When he sat down to pen his invitation to all these nobles to join him at Villa Apsconditum—which would stand as the kingdom's last bastion against the harrowing plague—his advisor warned him.

"My count, if you reveal the state of this manor and your peers, if the invitation fell into the wrong hands, I fear for you life. What if word got out? Well-meaning peasants who might not even know they're infected will come straight here, and your efforts will be in vain."

And that's when Count Nicolae had the idea. "I will not invite my peers to a quarantine; rather, they will join me in an everlasting masquerade party. Only those untouched by the disease will receive an invitation, and the custom invitation must be presented at the door for admittance. They will travel in their masks and party in their masks so the identities of the party's attendants will remain secret from everybody. Though I will write the invitations, I won't even know who hides behind each mask. This is the safest way to protect the kingdom!"

Five days later, the partiers arrived, all wearing masks, except for the count's four closest friends. And for the first time, they all got to see Villa Apsconditum in its glory, decorated lavishly for the masquerade. And—

"Robert!" yelled Count Nicolae Kane. "Please, stop with your narration, or I might go mad. Will you let me finish the tour for my 'four closest friends'?"