Death and the Emperor

Book 1 Chapter I: Mistaken Identity

'I could tell you my adventures—beginning from this morning,' said Alice a little timidly: 'but it's no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.' -- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland 

The dukedom of Rethli, the province of Zjurkyu, in the year 2518

It began when Kilan hugged Death.

No, wait. It began before that, with a case of mistaken identity. Or maybe it began before that, when Kilan fell from the statue of Empress Sorőwe. Or perhaps it began before that, when Kilan heard Aunt Biënth was coming. You see, a story can have many beginnings, and the author's job is to determine which one to choose. The beginning you choose decides the story. Everything else is in the end unimportant. All that matters is where you begin, when you begin, and with whom you begin.

This time, let's begin several hours before the hug, when Kilan and his family were at dinner. Who is Kilan, you ask? He is the third child of Her Imperial Highness, the Grand Duchess Arásy. 

Despite her elaborate title, and despite her brother being the Emperor, Arásy lived in relative obscurity. It was whispered that she should have been Empress; that it had been the greatest hope of her parents that she would marry her brother; but Arásy had instead married an aristocrat from Zjurkyu, one of the Empire's subject kingdoms. Duke Særnor of Rethli was little more than a barbarian in the eyes of her family, and it had been a shocking scandal when Arásy married him and retired to raise her children in her husband's home country.

Kilan, being all of eight years old, knew very little and cared less about his parents' history. He cared much more, at present, that his sister Varan had just stolen his plate of ice cream.

"Mother!" he wailed, in the high-pitched, grating tone that could only be managed by a child who had lost their dessert.

Arásy and Særnor halted their whispered conversation at the head of the table and turned to see what was happening.

"Varan, you've had your dessert," Arásy said in the weary tone of a mother who was sick of interceding in her children's disagreements.

"But I want more!" Varan said around a mouthful of ice cream.

Marin, Kilan's older brother, leaned over and snatched the bowl from Varan. "Do that again and I'll throw you in the lake."

"Threats will not get you what you want," Særnor said in a warning tone.

Marin shrugged and pushed the bowl towards Kilan. The younger boy eyed it in disgust, then folded his arms and pouted.

"Don't want it now," he grumbled. "She's got her girl germs all over it."

"Do you ever think, dear," Særnor said to his wife, "that our children will drive us mad before they grow up?"

"I think that every day." Arásy rubbed her forehead as if nursing a headache. "Children, you had better be on your best behaviour when Aunt Biënth arrives."

"Aunt Biënth's coming?" Kilan forgot his bad mood in light of this revelation. Aunt Biënth was his mother's cousin, and when she visited she always brought toys or sweets for Kilan and his siblings. Her visits were far too rare for Kilan's taste; she lived in the kingdom of Heikushi, far to the south of Zjurkyu; so when she did visit it was always a special treat.

"She's arriving this evening. All of you will behave, or else!"

~~~~

The statue garden was Kilan's favourite part of his home's grounds. One of his mother's hobbies was sculpting. She had made a collection of statues representing various ancestors or relatives, then put them all in this part of the grounds. The statue garden wasn't its proper name, but that was what he called it.