Royals Through Time 3: The Russians

Part Three- The Lord Zakhar

The first order of business, as decided by the five girls, was to go to where Valeria was last seen. They raided Myah's closet before they left, of course. Russian court dresses were harder than English ones to ride in. Or any other dresses for that matter. The giant hoops and heavy jewels were slightly contradictory to riding. And so the five girls had to select a lighter outfit to journey to Volgograd Estate. Myah's, of course, was tailored to her and bejeweled as much as could fit on the fabric. The others were simpler, with silver, blue, pink, and bright green with Averia, Sarah, Lunden and Gracina respectively. They made quite the procession riding out in their colorful array on foreign horses of magnificent breeding. All along to the road to Volgograd, people turned and stared as their Czarina came among them. Even more shocked than the villagers was Myah herself. "These people, they're in rags!" And it was true. It was as if they had crossed a line into a different country. At last Myah was done with it. She pulled Winter to a halt and spoke in a loud voice to a group of villagers in the fields. "Can you tell me who owns this land?" The nearest villager, a man that looked to be a leader though he was poor, replied. "It belongs to Lord Zakhar, my Empress." Myah sighed. No rest from these nobles. "Where is his house?" The man pointed to the east, and Myah turned her horse it that direction. Something must be done. As much as she hated it, Valeriya could wait. These people were Myah's, and no lord could mistreat them. They were headed to meet this man, and Myah didn't intend to go easy on him. At all.
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The estate of Lord Zakhar was almost dingy, and it would have been had not the serfs been scrubbing the windows. They bowed to the royal group as Myah strode to the door and pushed it open. Numerous servants stared in shock at the visitors, and they answered Myah's demands quickly. "Where is Zakhar?" "Upstairs in his office, your majesty." "Tell him I must speak to him." "Yes, your majesty." The servant hurried off, and the nobleman appeared shortly. Myah recognized him as the man who had asked for the Countess Kristina's freedom. This was about to get interesting...
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"So you simply did not know your people were in that state?" Lord Zakhar shook his head sadly, but there was no emotion in his eyes. That made Myah madder than before: "Well, they are! And quite frankly, Lord Zakhar, if it does not improve, you may find yourself exiled to Siberia with Countess Kristina!" That got something out of him. The strange thing was, it wasn't exactly fear. Hmm...was it...hope? Was this crazy man actually hoping to be exiled?!? Unless...nevermind. As the visit was going nowhere fast, Myah rose and stalked out. She would deal with Zakhar later. Now she had to go back to her original mission, finding Valeriya.

This is a picture of the estate of Lord Zakhar of Russia.