The Xatos

Keetra Glyns

~The Present~

I’m Keetra Glyns, the daughter of King Vulwin, King of the Sunao Empire. Also the daughter of Edea, Queen of the Sunao Empire. Sadly, there was an outbreak of a massive virus called the Zobia virus. My mother was one of the poor souls who died from it. She died several days after the first signs of it showed up.

My father blamed me for her death, even though no one could control what happened to her. All of the victims became more ‘powerful’ as some people called it. I was a virus victim too, making me one of ‘them’. Anyone who had been a victim got strange markings on their legs that looked like black veins. And there was no way to get rid of them. My father always called me a ‘Xato’ meaning ‘mistake’ in Uzbek, our native language. The language I was taught to speak from the beginning, but now we’ve forgotten to speak it.

Every night, right after the guards were released of their duties for the night, my father would beat me. Throwing things at me, hitting and slapping me. But, right after he finished, he would always bandage the wounds and beg for forgiveness, which I never dared to say no. I never got mad enough to attack father, but after a while of the abuse, I got tired of it. That’s how I became the leader of the ‘Xatos’. Let’s begin my story of the 'Xato' Princess.

~The Past~

I watched in horror as the Elf doctors told my father there was nothing they could do for my poor mother, who was silent. She had fallen into a coma. “It’s all your fault you ‘Xato’!” Father yelled at me, slapping me across the face. I was only twelve at the time. Mother soon left, into the world of the dead. Father and I were all alone in the castle now, we never got butlers or maids. Mother always did everything. Now she was gone. Father made me do most of the cooking, once in awhile he would feel generous and cook instead. But, that was rare.

Every day it was the same thing, wake up, cook, be beaten, sleep, wake up, cook, be beaten, sleep. Everything changed when Mother died, Father changed, the world changed for me. I couldn’t take it anymore. One night, I left. I let Father beat me one last time, before grabbing some things I could sell, like silverware and other things, then I left through my bedroom window into the outside world.

It was raining, but I didn’t care, I was finally free. I held a bag of silverware in my left hand and held a small flashlight in my right, wasn’t very much help though. I ran towards the stables, I found my horse, Anthonio. His silver mane was drenched before we even made it ten feet away from the stables. I rode into town, looking for a small place to rest for the night. I had a hood over my head so no one would recognize me, the princess.

If Father knew I left on my own free will, he would surely kill me. I thought as I found a small alley with some cloth shielding those below from the rain. I laid down with my horse beside me, he warmed me, making me feel at home again. The next day, I woke up to the sound of lots of foot steps. I looked around the corner and saw lots of merchants and townspeople. I made sure no one could recognize me, I put my golden blond hair in front of my left eye, so no one would accuse me of being the princess.

I walked around the market, until I found an empty stand, since there was nothing there except the stand, I thought I could begin selling things. I sat all of the things I grabbed before I left the castle on the stand and began calling out what price I would bargain for. I went cheap at first, but after more and more people came, I began raising my prices. One guy stood out from the rest, it was as if I knew him from somewhere. “I would like that ladle, my lady.” He said, pointing to the shiny silver ladle to my right. I passed it to him, “That’ll be twenty-five lunes.” I said, holding my hand out.

The guy looked shocked, “Oh, I only have twenty-four Lunes, is that okay?” He asked, I nodded, but sighed. “It’s fine, it’s close enough, that’ll be all of my things sold.” Everyone else waiting in line sighed. I went to find Anthonio. Which when I walked around the corner, I saw guards guarding the horse, one looked in my direction, but didn’t see me. I slightly gasped, Anthonio was my only way away from here. If I was to be found out, I may be sent to my death. As I turned around to run back towards the market, I ran straight into a guard.