Honorable Tsalaga Nokubenda was the Minister of Environment in the Republic of Dorben. His title was Honorable, but there was nothing honorable about what he had done — what he and his colleagues had done.

He stepped out of his sleek white Rolls-Royce, clasping his stylish golden cane. He didn’t physically need a cane, but it made him feel rather powerful. People accorded him the necessary respect when they saw him in his expensive kaftan with his golden cane by his side. That was exactly how it should be.

His bodyguards quickly ran out of their black cars and surrounded him in a protective formation as he swaggered toward the front door of the small house.

Tsalaga tightened his grip on his cane when he remembered how the man who lived in this house had summoned him like a mere commoner. He was a minister of state for god’s sake. Who the hell did this white man think he was summoning him like that? Tsalaga exhaled. At least the man was fattening their bank accounts. This was the consolation Tsalaga gave himself when Doctor Hubert Stein requested his presence.

A muscular white man cradling a large gun in his arms came out the front door. An emblem of a crow was strapped to the man’s chest. Tsalaga’s gait faltered. He glanced around nervously. There were armed men perched at every corner of the house. What kind of doctor would hire so much muscle for his so-called research? What exactly had he got himself into?

The man at the front door raised his right hand as if asking Tsalaga and his entourage to stop.

Tsalaga frowned. He spoke in English. “Doctor Stein wants me here.”

“Doctor Stein wants you here. Not them.” He glared at the bodyguards hovering close behind Tsalaga. “They stay behind.”

Knowing that it would be a waste of time arguing with this man, Tsalaga turned to his bodyguards. “Stay here.”

“Honourable, we can’t do that,” his head of security said. “We must protect you at all times.”

“You will stay here. All of you. That’s an order.”

As much as Tsalaga couldn’t stand the doctor’s guts, he would not risk offending the man. Not waiting for his head of security to protest, Tsalaga followed the white man into the house.

Inside, the house was bigger than it actually looked on the outside. They bypassed several armed men wherever they went. Tsalaga had a strong feeling that Doctor Stein was not just a doctor. The man had a serious obsession with the bazwu. Was he an animal doctor? But why will an animal doctor poach endangered species? Weren’t they supposed to protect them? Well, what did Tsalaga care anyway as long as Doctor Stein filled their pockets?

Soon, they came before a black door. The armed man opened the door and asked Tsalaga to enter. He followed his instructions.

Tsalaga had a profound urge to gag as soon as he entered the room. His right hand unconsciously went up to cover his nose as his face paled in shock.

What is that smell?

The stench pervading the room was unholy. Taking one look at the room, Tsalaga knew he was in some kind of a science laboratory. There was a round-bottom flask over a burner. Within the flask, a viscous blue fluid boiled.

The stench must be coming from the fluid, he thought. There were strange black symbols all over the walls, and worn-out brown papers were scattered all over the large table. The papers contained writings Tsalaga could not recognize. What is this place?

Tsalaga could not decide if he was in the laboratory of a scientist or an occultist. Or perhaps, just a plain old lunatic. There had been something strange and sinister about Doctor Stein from the first moment he laid eyes on him, and now that Tsalaga was in the man’s lair, he had a bad feeling about this.

Where was the doctor by the way?

“Minister.”

Tsalaga’s hair stood on end when he heard the familiar deep voice from behind him. It was the voice of a man who got what he wanted. Fixing the most charming smile he could muster, Tsalaga spun around to meet the doctor. There was another door at the other end of the room where Doctor Stein had just emerged from.

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“Doctor Stein.” Tsalaga coughed in reflex as soon as he took his hand off his nose and inhaled the acrid smell. “I was very surprised to receive your call. I hope everything is fine.”

“You tell me, minister.”

The smile on Tsalaga’s face wavered a second. But he was a politician. Keeping a straight face in the face of extreme stress was his specialty. “I don’t understand, doctor.”

The bearded white man sauntered towards Tsalaga like a tiger. His blue eyes darkened with icy malice that sent a chill down his spine. Tsalaga was sure the doctor was his peer, perhaps a few years over fifty, but there was something about the way Doctor Stein moved that said that he could easily send all of Tsalaga’s one hundred and seventy kilograms of flesh flying with one punch. A tiny voice in Tsalaga’s head reminded him to be very careful with his next words.

“Why is there resistance while I’m hunting the four-tusk elephants?” he growled. “I paid you to let it go away.”

Tsalaga remained still for a moment. In collaboration with some members of parliament, they had illegally given Doctor Stein access to hunt bazwu in Dorben.

But Stein needed more.

The doctor soon found out that Kirriba Plains was overflowing with bazwu, however, Dorben protected the borders of Kirriba Plains. The doctor wanted his men to be given entry into the plains.

Tsalaga and his colleagues warned Stein that he couldn’t hunt there because it was a natural reserve protected by the Kirriba.

But Stein was stubborn. He bribed them with a huge sum of money to get the Dorbenese border patrol away from the borders. Stein said his men would handle the rest, but Tsalaga knew that clearing the border patrol would still not help.

The Kirriba protected their borders and there was no way they would let poachers anywhere near their wildlife. But what kind of fool would Tsalaga and his colleagues be if they rejected so much money? This idiot doctor had too much to spend. They would happily take it from his hands.

“Doctor Stein,” Tsalaga said, “my colleagues and I warned you it won’t be easy hunting on Kirriba Plains.” He stood tall facing the man. “You were the one who insisted on going through with it. We have already done what you asked. My colleagues and I took a big risk withdrawing our border patrol.”

This was exactly what Tsalaga and his colleagues had hoped for. They expected that even after they let the poachers into Kirriba Plains, the WPU would stop them. Stein would get frustrated and forget about the whole thing.

Then, of course, Tsalaga and his friends could keep the money since they kept their end of the bargain. The Kirriba would assume those poachers were rogue hunters and never suspect Dorben. After all, Dorben’s border patrol could only do so much. Tsalaga had it all figured out.

Despite the fiery storm brewing in Stein’s eyes, Tsalaga continued, “I suggest you forget about the bazwu because I can’t help you anymore. If the president, or worse, Sharmandi, finds out about this little arrangement, things would not be pretty.”

With each word that came out of Tsalaga’s mouth, Stein’s face grew redder by the second. Tsalaga dropped his golden cane and yelped in shock when Stein suddenly grabbed him by the throat. Tsalaga’s back slammed against something hard knocking the air out of his lungs. Furious blue eyes bore into his soul.

“Do you know what will not be pretty, minister?” The doctor asked in a dangerously calm voice. “Your ugly black head on a pike.”

Tsalaga gulped, his heart racing. He managed to whisper out a sentence despite the pressure against his throat. “What do you want from me?”

Doctor Stein finally released Tsalaga. He sucked in the air greedily. Had it taken another second longer, he might have passed out. He panted heavily.

Stein, obviously not caring about Tsalaga’s disarrayed state said, “I want you to ensure that those savages keep their guns to themselves when my men come to hunt the four-tusk elephants. If not, minister, I will do your useless little country a favor by purging you and your corrupt insignificant friends from existence. Then, I will find your families, your pets, and the fucking pests in your homes, and I will unleash literal hell on every one of them.”

Staring into the doctor’s eyes was like staring into the face of evil itself. Tsalaga knew beyond reasonable doubt that this man would follow through with his promise if he didn’t get what he wanted. Tsalaga rubbed his sore neck. This was going to hurt for a while.

What have I got myself into?

How was he supposed to make Sharmandi surrender their revered bazwu? As a Kirriba himself on his father’s side, Tsalaga knew how much those animals meant to the Kirriba. He couldn’t possibly convince Sharmandi’s governor to turn a blind eye as poachers ravaged their sacred bazwu. Andaga would crucify him if he found out about this.

Beads of sweat trickled down his face. He was the one who had convinced his fellow politicians to let Doctor Stein hunt their bazwu. As if he wasn’t satisfied with the depth of the grave he had dug for himself, he had promised the doctor he could get more bazwu from Kirriba Plains. Things were not going as he had planned.

He had to do something before the doctor harmed his family. Tsalaga’s thoughts raced. He may not be able to sway Andaga, but maybe he would have better luck with the Shar descendant. She was young and inexperienced in the ways of the world.

It would be easier to manipulate her to do his bidding. Everyone’s got a price, some bigger than others. But everyone’s got a price. And with the Shar descendant no stranger to money, Tsalaga knew he would have to suggest one hell of a price. That was no problem. With government money, anything was possible.

Tsalaga straightened his ruffled clothes. “I know someone in Sharmandi who can help you.”

“I don’t care if you burn down that whole fucking village. Just get me my four-tusk elephants.”

Tsalaga gulped. “You will get your four-tusk elephants.”