Seven Witches

twenty-eight

Vladimir;

"No, I don't want it blue, make them red," the Tsar pointed to one bouquet of flowers. "And make sure you serve sake at the beginning of the celebration to welcome the Japanese State Prince of the Second Order, then Champagne is served but not too much, only enough for a toast. And don't make it heavy, we don't want our guests drunk before the ceremony."

His minister nodded, noting down everything. Vladimir blew a cloud of smoke, patting down his pipe. "I don't want any white banners, you can use the Russian flag but not white alone understood? We don't want to send any wrong messages to our international friends."

He nodded, "And what about the entertainment?"

Vladimir shrugged. "Whatever you find suitable, as long as it does not offend any of our guests. Did you receive a reply from Sultan Mahmud II?"

"Yes, the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire made a public announcement that he agreed to attend the celebration of your birthday moy Tsar. However, we cannot serve him wine or champagne due to his religion, should we offer him water to toast with?"

"No," the Tsar set his pipe aside. Toasting with water meant wishing for death, and he did not want any mistakes in the celebration, especially for his birthday. "Give him sparkling lemonade, or sparkling grape juice."

Another nod, and then some more writing. He wanted to call his birthday off and be done with it, but then Iskra had already invited the British and threatened him that if he did not plan the party, she will cancel the invitation and potentially jeopardise his position with Britain.

His sister had a wicked mind, and a will as hard as steel. He only wished her mind was not always so focused on him. His minister began to leave when Vladimir stopped him, "On the day of the celebration, I want you to hand all the servants a golden coin, a big one for that matter."

A headache began at his temples that he dismissed as nothing. He put the empty bottle of wine up and asked him to bring another. When the minister came back, Vladimir stood up, but as soon as he did, his head began circling.

"Moy Tsar? Is everything alright?" he asked.

"Yes," Vladimir replied. "I just stood up too quickly."

But then the dizziness did not fade and soon he stopped seeing colour. Before he could understand what happened, his ears began ringing and he was falling.

There was the sound of boots, lots of them, and then several voices calling him by his title and not his name. He could hear them but it was almost like a hand was put on his ears, the voice muffled and too loud. It felt like he was dying, and then it was nothing at all.

...

Vladimir woke up in his bed, with sweat gleaming down his forehead and a doctor to his bedside. On the end of the bed, he saw his sister and mother, the latter standing tall and strong even with her cane. "Mother?" he says, voice hoarse. He must be dreaming.

She knocked her cane on the floor once and all the servants left. "You have fallen ill and I have come to see you." She said and it was all the explanation she had to say

He turned around to the doctor, a man whom age had carved him well even with the greying hair. Adjusting his lens, he finally spoke. "Sugar sickness," he gave Iskra a concerned look. "In less common words, sugar urine disease. As its name suggests, it's when there is excess sugar in your urine. This means your body is not making use of that sugar, which made you faint this morning."

He drummed his fingers on his knees, watching the Tsar weak and pale on his bed with pity. Vladimir nodded, "So what's the cure?"

He cleared his throat. "There is no known cure moy Tsar," he said. "We have still not discovered the reason for this... phenomena, and the only thing we can do is keep the symptoms at a minimum."