Chapter 16: Taxi! Part 4

“You were escorted to the city in a stellar use of your Lord’s limited manpower resources and were involved in an incident at the western gate. The city wards were deemed in danger of being breached, and you were involved. Grandmaster Beckle did not kill you, somehow. Somebody at the guardhouse did debrief you, but the certification of that debriefing was not passed onto your party, and you were rerouted here instead of being checked in at Military District One.”

Jenkins waited for a moment to ensure the man was done speaking. When Devlin nodded, it was time for questions. He started with a statement instead,

“That wasn’t our fault, the ward breach, I mean. Well, none of this was our fault.”

Devlin grimaced,

“Now it is time for an uncomfortable truth, Novice Jenkins. If this paperwork is accurate, you are in your thirties, and I apologize for the rude introduction to city and military life.”

“It is always your fault. You are, to be blunt, the fucking new guys. Granted, many of you are running around in the capital right now, but that will make your treatment worse, not better. Anything that goes wrong will be blamed on you.”

“Military, isn’t this whole mess for the guild to get recruits? And what about those dungeon breakouts you mentioned? I thought the only one that was a regular problem was in the capital.”

“The guild is part of the military. As much as some members disagree with that, it’s the truth. Or at least, they contribute so much to countering threats the regular military can’t handle, so they should be considered such. Some would even consider the guild the cream of the crop.”

Devlin eyed the man and boy before him. He put heavy emphasis on his following words.

“Guild membership could be considered the highest detachment one can be assigned to with all the prestige and privileges tied to it. Honorable nobles and the well-connected have shed blood and fortunes to attain this position. You should feel something about being so generously offered a place.”

“As for the breakouts, your Lord was being generous to the guild members who sacrifice to keep us all safe. The truth is a ragged edge of chaos from the dungeons is always a few weeks away from descending on all of us at any time.”

“The external dungeons scattered throughout the country are easier to clear out, but they are numerous, and we never have enough manpower to deal with all of them. It’s contradictory, but the shortage is political at the higher levels. It takes a lot to train someone to deal with those dangers, and the people in charge see training peasants as a wombat unless it is for those smaller dungeons.”

Jenkins’s heart sank as Devlin started withdrawing papers from drawers in the desk and filling them out quickly.

“Fuck.”

Robby looked less confused than Jenkins expected him to be and much less startled at the strong language Jenkins had used to express his dismay. The boy still voiced the question he expected a young boy to ask in a conversation like this.

“What? Isn’t that good? Won’t we be well-connected now, too?”

“No, Robby. It means that we have a different target on our backs than just being the new guys. We’re the new guys taking spots where we don’t belong. Everybody is going to be hunting us, even if they need more people to fight the dungeons.”

Robby shrugged in a way only possible for little boys who didn’t understand or maniacs unconcerned with the opinions of their lesser competition.

“S’not that different from Red Adder then.”

Jenkins frowned at the boy.

What was going on at the Miller house? Why is he so odd lately?

Jenkins was about to say something to the boy about his attitude not being typical for a little boy when Devlin cut in.

“As delightful as that exciting insight into a disturbing view of one of our counties is…questions, Novice Jenkins. Do you have any more for me?”

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Devlin was finishing his scribbling and shuffled the papers into a pile he carefully squared up against the desk’s surface.

“Why are you doing this? I know what you said, but this doesn’t add up. The guy in charge doesn’t come down to handle stuff like this. I managed my farm for years, and the workers best do smaller tasks. Maybe with a little peaking over the shoulder by the boss to ensure things are done right. The boss doesn’t weed while the next field needs plowing.”

Devilinidiah smiled ruefully.

“Some free advice for you, Novice Jenkins. Most people you meet in this city will have an agenda. Don’t be too blunt in calling it out, or you may be viewed as threatening their goals.”

“The short answer, and not to be mentioned outside this room, is nepotism. Nepotism works, but if I point it out too blatantly, it will stop working when someone thinks it shouldn’t be occurring. So I’ll tell you in broad strokes. You have a history with someone I know. You could be useful to them in the future.”

“So this is a favor I’ll need to pay back? For who?”

Jenkins was not thrilled with owing an unknown favor for speeding along a sentence he didn’t want to be carried out, to begin with. Devlin’s smile had gained a sharper edge to it.

“You could consider it a favor. To whom? Me. When you hear someone with my family name ask for a favor, you help them.”

“The favor is to speed them to a fate they want no part of? Cause that’s what you’re doing for me and Robby right now.”

Robby looked at Jenkins,

“If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather be getting on with what we came here to do.”

Jenkins frowned at the boy. He was about to address the idea of proper manners when speaking to an adult and undermining someone on his side when Devlin interrupted his thoughts.

“The favor makes it smoother for you to carry out your assigned tasks. Alternatively, I can fetch the fellow you seemed to be getting along with so well earlier, and you can start over with him.”

Jenkins scowled,

“No need to get nasty. We’ll play along. If someone with the name Idiah asks, we’ll help.”

Robby chimed in.

“If it gets us moving on with the day, I’m in too.”

Jenkins rolled his eyes at the boy being redundant. Devlin held up a hand in protest before Jenkins could speak again.

“That’s not my surname, it’s Tozer.”

“Tozer, then. Anything else?”

Devlin signed one more paper with a satisfied flourish and handed the stack of papers across the desk to Jenkins. He stood behind the desk and gestured the pair toward the door.

“Welcome to Purpolis. If you run into Master Nixen again, tell him to give my regards to my cousin.”

Jenkins frowned at the statement. The farmer had no idea who the man was blathering about but stood and exited the room with Robby trailing behind him.

After the pair left, Devlin took his leave of the room without cleaning any of the debris from Jenkins smashing the chair to pieces. The servants of the building would straighten the room up before it was needed again.

He stopped into receipts and filing to drop off the copies of the debriefing authorization he had filled out for Jenkins and Robby. The clerk manning the desk protested the unexpected filing before he looked up and saw it was his boss’s boss’s boss making the addition to the workload. The man quickly shut up and was all smiles as he stamped and filed the paperwork. Devlin smiled kindly at the lower-ranked administrator and then left.

He went back to his office on the top floor of the building, only stopping with his secretary sitting sentinel outside it to order a late dinner brought in for him. He strode to an alcove behind his massive monster wood desk and picked up a black conch on a pedestal. Tapping a pattern onto the shell, he held the opening to his ear and waited for the high-pitched ringing to end as someone answered the other end.

“The last batch should be checking in today. I just forced the last bits of paperwork through. You still need to tell me why you’re in such a rush, Zed.”

He paused as a loud voice shouted at him over the conch.

“Yes, I heard about the breach. That’s not enough. I have the king breathing down my neck, and now you’re forcing me to deal with problems that could have been handled more subtly.”

Less violent shouting could be faintly heard.

“Yes, I heard about what happened with Nixen and the novices. I pay to keep track of them, after all. That’s one of the reasons I agreed to do this in the first place.”

“And don’t give me nonsense about the balance being precarious. That’s been the case for decades, and I’m not some newbie who doesn’t know how this all works. I’m in your department, Zed, talk to me. Why the rush for the conscripts?”

Devlin listened attentively to the now much more calm voice.

“Huh. That’s all you needed to say. The switchover is happening again so fast? The last one was only a few months ago. What does that do to our timetable? How will this affect my family? Oh, shut up. This is a necessary conversation, and you know better than I do that it won’t be noticed.”

Devlin and Zed talked for hours after that, doing what admins do best…planning every last detail with no knowledge or care that their plans could be so shortsighted.