Chapter 3

 

The long elegant hallway stretched out before the increasing mass of officials, each making their way laboriously towards the grand inner hall. The building was panelled with paintings and statues of past dignitaries of the city.

A slimly built gentleman with greying jet black hair stood admiring the images in turn. He had seen them almost every week: yet each time he always stood to admire the artworks. He even made a point of arriving early so that he could view these figures from history. It was not as if he wasn’t busy: far from it, as he was in charge of the Caladri military forces as well as being the headmaster for the forces’ academy.

“Sir: the meeting is starting.” A female voice cautiously whispered.

Julius Crane turned towards the woman who stood by his shoulder.

“Well, we had best be going then.” He replied with a smile.

It was compulsorily for him to attend these council meetings: The state and city government of Mecharia Rex. They called it a democracy: but Crane thought differently.

“This is a bastard democracy: not a true democratic union.” He murmured to himself.

Indeed the council itself: although chosen by the people was never brought in through the ballot paper or the party political meetings: but instead through the wallets and credits of the citizens of the state. Even other countries could bring some influence as to the make-up of the council: a unique and purely capitalist failure was all Crane could see it as.

Not that money itself was evil, neither were all the people that wielded it. It was just unbalanced heavily in favour of the select few: and what a select few they were.

Crane knew that he was politically savvy enough to see these defects within the structure of the government, problem was so were all the others who took their seats within the great audience chamber: some willing to fight for an alternative system but many more wishing to keep the status quo. Steadily he sat at the front of his contingent’s balcony, signifying their overall importance and size within the debating chamber: or dictation chamber if you preferred.

“So what is on the agenda today then?” he asked: waiting for his assistant to answer.

She glanced at him before consulting the touchpad before her.

“The Agricultural corporations will be bringing forwards their concerns over the nomad groups.”

“That should not be too much of a problem: the majority of the nomadic clans and tribes are reasonably peaceful. The only worries that might occur, is if there is an increase in feral tribes and Dark elves.”

“They are also explaining their increase in food prices.”

Crane froze at that phrase: food prices. The costs required to feed the academy itself was already astronomical: but that was not his only worry. Since rising to the Caladri council he had become aware of the plight of those lower in the social hierarchy of the city: particularly those from the slums. It had been over nine years since he had first visited an area known as the Warrens: the hellish home to those neglected by much of the Mecharian mercantile class. He had travelled there in order to conduct a favour for a friend: to collect his friend’s daughter to be enrolled in the academy.

 

“What do you mean she is special?” Crane demanded.

“You will know when the time is right: I just wish for two things. Firstly she must be enrolled in the Caladri academy where she is to be trained and educated.”

“That, I can do.”

“Secondly, I want to make sure that Sodius never finds her. If he does then may the Ethereals have mercy on our souls.”

“That would be more difficult my friend.” Crane replied mournfully, “But I will do everything in my power that I can.”

His friend smiled. “I knew I could count on you Julius.”

Crane smiled back before asking “So what is your daughter’s name?”

“It’s Pica.”

“Pica Chirurgus?”

“No. She has her mother’s family name: Pica Pugnaris.”

 

“Sir?”

Julius Crane was snapped out of his wandering thoughts by his assistant.

“Sorry Danielle. I was just remembering something, nothing of importance. Do continue please.”

“As you say; sir.”

Crane leaned back into his chair. He would have to divert funds to the school in the Warrens at some point soon. Already Caladri was pouring manpower and resources into investigating the disappearance of an entire platoon of cadets: an incident steadily growing cold over the three months since it occurred. What worried him more was that their mission was also to find out in regards to the disappearance of an entire town’s population: which had slowly dwindled and vanished within the space of a week. The area itself was relatively safe: a good distance from the borders with neighbouring countries and remote enough from a significant agricultural area to be bothered by the nomads: yet its fortifications, although minimal, made use of its natural location that the defences were almost rendered unnecessary.

He returned to listening to what Danielle had to say in regards to the agenda of the meeting.

“The Medusae group is going to announce its quarterly profits.”

“Yes: continue.” Julius ordered offhand in a slightly bored tone, carefully masking his own feelings. The bastard Medusae group: named after a race of mythical Lunan women known for their outstanding beauty. To the public they are a law abiding entertainment group: supplying a wide range of electrical goods and services as well as having several bars, clubs and casinos where both the wealthy and the poor go to make and lose money. They also boast that they employ many of their staff from the slum areas, as well as taking supplies into the slums. That in itself was partially true, although in reality those were part of their more legally grey areas. I could be said that Medusae and their rivals: the Distyr Family and the Facieas organisation were the three main creators and masterminds behind the city’s underworld, brothels, slave pits and the rumoured supply wars. Crane did not know all that these three shadow groups got up to: but he did not trust them at all. However when they requested students to be supplied at their graduation, he knew it was best for the students to go to the three: they might be bad and run by scum filled supposedly noble families, but they were not the worst.

“Also the city Lord will make an address regarding the country’s foreign policy.”

“Indeed. I would like to see what he has to say on that.” Crane mused darkly.

 

The woman leaned back in her chair and passed her gaze around the gathering representatives of the city. Crane had arrived, meaning that her negotiations for acquiring staff could begin upon the close of the meeting. She shifted her legs, uncrossing and re-crossing them in a single fluid motion. She knew that Crane disapproved of the seedier and less legal side to the Entertainment triumvirate, although she had begun to clean that up within the organisation. Despite this disparity in their ages, Sophia Saguis found the sharply dressed militarian Crane highly alluring. From her superior perch Sophia could look out across almost the entire chamber, each alcove housing different businesses and sectors within both the city and the country of Mecharia Rex. She looked upwards, towards the only place that was truly above all the others, the seat belonging to the city lord: Sodius, along with his entourage of administrators, bodyguards and scientific staff. She wondered whether her sister would be there today, or the strange man known as Ashkar. Unfortunately both appeared to be absent from the box.

“I wonder, what, they are doing?” Sophia mused to herself.

 

The masses of gelatinous flesh snored noisily in their alcove. The meeting had been scheduled for the afternoon, a time in which they could be eating rather than listening to the day’s debates. All of them were missing their extended midday meal, but they had had enough to eat to allow them to become dormant.

The obese monstrosities were not the only ones perched in the consular seating area: hiding around them; were a small number of servants and playthings: everything that they would need once the meeting had ended.

Amongst them was a young woman: her name was once Noelle, but was stripped of that name once she submitted herself to working in a Distyr Brothel, initially on the wings: assisting the other working girls and patching them up should things get out of hand. Then: after a couple of years, two before she legally came of responsibility, seven if you counted full coming of age, she was transferred to another brothel run by the Distyr Family. This time she was not there to assist the other working girls: this time she would be the one working. Every night they came to violate her young body: when she refused or did not comply she was beaten. She would often end up eating a nauseating mix of blood, snot, tears and puss which dripped into her food from her eyes and nose. It continued for several years: along with the painful weekly scouring, a barbaric technique for abortion. Her life of pain and abuse had not ended there, as she was now nothing more than a sex toy to the monstrosities that had purchased her. Horrible sweating things, only interested in greed in all forms. She was just a status symbol, a plaything.

But a plaything, that could kill. All she had to do; was wait for her moment, as her fingers ran along the edge of the shiv that she had concealed under a wristband. It was surprising how lax the security had been, almost as if someone wanted her to conduct an assassination upon her masters.

 

Crane glanced anxiously around the council chamber: for some reason Sodius was late, something that rarely happened.
“If you are wondering where he is, I have preliminary reports that an incident has occurred in one of his research laboratories, but whether he knows yet or not is another matter.” Advised a voice over the cross-chamber intercom.

Crane glanced around briefly until his eyes met with his security counterpart, Ector Aquillius.
“What do you know?” He responded quietly.

“Very little at the moment: only that someone or something escaped during a test. Who or what I do not know”

“What are you two whispering about?”
“Saguis.” Growled Aquillius under his breath, yet clear enough over the intercom for them both to hear.

“Curse me all you want Ector, we all have a role to play in his plan, one to protect from the threats beyond our borders, one to keep the lower orders submissive and one to keep order within the city itself.”

“as you say Sophia. Yet I do not feel that I can trust those who treat others as slaves.”

“Don’t look at me Aquillius! I am trying my best to reduce that part of my operations as best as I can. Anyway I wanted to arrange a meeting with Julius. After the council: of course.”

Feeling partially left out in their conversation and disliking being treated as a kicking ball, Julius decided to intervene in the discussion “I will be glad to conduct discussions with you both: Ector, keep me posted on the situation and possibly reduce what gets to Sodius, or at least slow it down. Sophia I will see you after the meeting.”
“Of course I will Crane.”

“Look forwards to seeing you later Julius.”

He glanced up to Sophia, to see her overtly blowing him a kiss from across the chamber.

 

“I cannot delay this Council meeting any longer! No matter how urgent the message is from doctor Saguis, it will have to wait!” Snarled Sodius to his aide holding onto the communication device.

“But my Lord! This is the fifth time she has tried to call you!” He responded in a panic.

“She can wait! As can you. These people expect me out there to address them.” He snapped before adding “And turn that device off as soon as you have got rid of her off the line.”

“Yes sir.” Was the response from the aide, abruptly cutting the line connection and deactivating the device.

Satisfied that he would not be interrupted he strode out into the audience chamber.

 

‘So now it begins’ thought Crane to himself as Sodius appeared to address the chamber. He looked across towards where the representatives of the Artemia group lay in their chairs, monstrous perversions of excess in every way, now unable to move themselves without support for their dangerously oversized bodies. Movement close to them caught his attention, as a girl moved close to one from near the rim of the alcove.

Ignoring Sodius’s welcome and the order of service of the meeting, he decided to observe the events before him: what was this girl going to do?

 

Sodius had arrived and her masters had yet to wake from their slumber. If they were going to live then they needed to wake soon, especially as they would be the third organisation making their arguments during the meeting. She slid slowly and carefully up towards the first of the two masses of flesh, withdrawing her shiv and holding it tightly in both hands. She pressed the tip gently towards the floor of their mouth, pushing until it was close to breaking through. She smiled to herself as she pierced the skin, causing her victim to open its eyes in shock as blood flooded its mouth. Now was the difficult part as she put her entire weight onto the small blade and dragged it down, hitting the cartilage of the throat before another tug dragged the blade further down, ripping out their larynx. The mass of flesh began flailing at her in silent panic, its limbs now useless against the lithe movements of the plaything and living sex toy before it. She finished the job by withdrawing the shiv before slashing both jugular vein and artery in one swift movement. Satisfied with her task, she moved to the second, not entirely sure if it knew of its fate to come. She decided to allow this one a swift end, slashing the blade across both of the jugulars before making to leave. The door to the box opened revealing a small group of sharply dressed security guards, their black suits clear against the ornate background of the hallways behind them. The lead guard motioned to the girl to go through, with the rest standing back to allow her to pass. She hesitated, fearing some form of trap, before continuing onwards out of the building.

 

Crane watched the assassination with interest: it was definitely a gruesome scene, with the other broken husks still cowering from their now deceased masters. He admired the girl’s will to carry out the deed, although it would not take much to want to kill those who starved an entire city and abused those around them. A thought came to him, who was on security today? Each council meeting had a different security team in place to reduce the likelihood of something like this happening- harder to bribe someone if you do not know who is going to be guarding the door. He opened a com channel to Sophia. “I do not want to bother Ector just yet, but do you know who is on security duty today?”
He glanced across to see that the cat had got the cream, as she replied in one clear distinct word “Guess.”
“So you do have something to do with what has just happened in the alcove belonging to the Artemia group.”
“There is one interest of mine that they began meddling in. That and it would only be a matter of time until they made a bid for the top spot, starving the city out so that they could replace Sodius.”
Crane reclined listening to the background noise of the chamber before replying, “I hope your gamble pays off then. Or at least delays the inevitable further.”
Crane settled back into his seat as the chamber fell silent, hundreds of pairs of eyes slowly looking towards the noxious corpses that lay silently in their alcove, expected to speak at any moment yet devoid of all life.

 

“After the security report from Aquillius we will go on to listen to the…” continued Sodius, suddenly noticing the hush that had fallen over the chamber. He leaned forwards to get a better look at the situation. Two corpses sat exsanguinating steadily at their hearts pulsed them closer to their demises. He looked crossly at them, annoyed at their deaths. He pressed the comm device at his side.
“Aquillius, find out what has happened in the Artemia alcove.” He snarled.
A curt “Sir” Was the only reply, but enough for him to know that the incident was being dealt with. He turned back to the chamber amplifier before continuing.
“It seems that someone has died. Whether it was their own fault or not we will not know. However I feel it prudent to suspend the request for an increase in overall food prices and investigation regarding nomad tribes raiding agricultural land.” He paused to examine the rest of the schedule. “I believe that was the last major discussion. After the security report the meeting will be concluded.”
He sat back down into his chair, ready to see what the others in the chamber had to say.

 

The meeting began to wind down after an hour. The corpses had already been removed and security officers had secured the area until forensics could be found, not that they would reveal much, murders happened in the city of Mecharia Rex on an hourly rate: that was before including the frequent supply wars. Crane sighed to himself as he stretched his weary body, sitting often stiffened his muscles up no end, possibly from spending too much time sitting behind a desk. He wondered if he would ever see action again, then again, having a second hole to join the other on near his kidneys did not seem so appealing. He thought back again, realising that was when he had met the girl’s father. Her mother had served in the same unit as him; both women were sharp in their minds, able to see the changes in a battle on an instinctual level and know where to strike with troops.

He continued to try and shift the pain and discomfort he had but was interrupted by the comm device.

“Julius, I hope you don’t forget about our meeting today.” Purred the voice on the other end of the link.

“I have not Sophia.” He replied, checking the chamber. Already half of the alcoves had begun to empty. He sighed, deciding now would be a good time to begin leaving the meeting as well. “How about meeting me in room twelve? I believe that is likely to be empty.”

“I will see you there.”

Crane breathed another sigh of exhaustion as he collapsed, back into the large chair before forcing himself back up onto his feet.
“Harmony, we are leaving, I have just scheduled a meeting in ten minutes.”

“Very well sir.” his aide confirmed; as they set off out of the chamber and into the halls of power.