The Broken Land (Book 1 of The Kicasia Chronicles)

Prologue

Katelyn rolled over and turned her alarm clock off. She sighed and rolled back over, knowing that if she fell back asleep today, she'd almost definitely lose her job. Still, she curled up and closed her eyes, ignoring the blinding sunlight from outside. The curtains had opened automatically, her watch beeping rapidly, yelling at her to get up. She rolled out of bed reluctantly and searched on her watch for something to wear.

She only could afford 8 of the dresses. Perks of being poor, she never spent too much time on her dresses. She picked the most practical one, not before checking her calendar to see what was happening today. The day was empty, nothing special. Just another day frantically rushing between 4 jobs to support her dying father. 

It was only 3 more days until he would die, unless she afforded the medicine he needed. It cost 16,000 Puerji. She had 12,000 P. Each day she worked and earned about 400 P per job. Some of it, about 250, she'd use her watch to transfer straight to the virtual safe she'd made so she couldn't spend any on anything else but the treatment.

The other money she'd spend on food and rent and taxes. Her first job was a cleaning maid at one of the bars in the bad part of the city. The next was a restaurant waitress at a popular lunch place. Her third job was in the afternoon, where she would organise several boxes at a small stall. 

Her last job, her highest paying one and also her favourite, was being a personal server to the queen. Her and the queen shared secrets that Katelyn would die before she told anyone. She would be grateful when that would be her only job. People didn't like to overwork in Kicasia. 4 hours a day was ideal, with the high population and the majority of jobs being done by robots. 

Katelyn's dress arrived in less than a minute, as usual. She thanked the bot and it left, beeping a quick reply. She put the simple, black flowing dress on and selected a hairstyle, a pinned up braid. She selected another simple makeup look and the bot did it for her. Then she left without breakfast, knowing she wouldn't be able to get food until after her waitress shift. 

The familiar street outside her small apartment seemed off today. The old people standing outside preaching God were unseen, everyone walking quickly with their heads down. The usual stands of the kids selling useless items were nowhere to be seen. The man selling virtual newspapers, luckily for Katelyn, was still there. 

She bought 2 different articles, the Kicasia Mail and Puerji Publishing. She downloaded them onto her watch and read the Kicasia mail headline first. Kicasia, the utopia country, on the brink of war with Cotui! There was an image of a young man, she recognised as prince Cole, looking unhappy to be there, holding a large gun with mud on his face. Katelyn wished she could help her country, but the only army job for women was archery and she was useless at that. Also, she was annoyed that Cole was in the photo. She'd heard enough from the queen to know that royalty isn't allowed to fight.

She switched to the other newspaper. The headline of this one wasn't any better. Spies from Cotui to be executed today at the palace. She was intrigued, so she began to read the small print, registering the picture of prince Jude holding an ax. Prince Jude, Katelyn knew, was a pacifist. Even him holding a weapon was shocking for her to see. So she read.

All jobs today will be paid for, but are cancelled. Tax for today has also been let off as there is a public royal court trial and possibly an execution of all Cotui spies caught in Kicasia so far. The princes themselves will be responsible for the deaths of those who seek to directly murder the king and the destruction of Kicasia. Trials start at 8:25am. Anyone acting suspiciously will also be trialed.

Katelyn stopped reading there. She knew enough. It explained why nobody showed their face and walked quickly in the same direction. To the palace. She went too as she had nothing to do. Most likely, guards would find anyone still in the street suspicious and arrest them on suspicion of being spies.