The Kantara was abuzz with commotion. Desk workers and beurcrats flooded any window they could find, clamoring to get a look toward the gates into the city. Advisor Hushtone pushed his way to the front of one such crowd, and looked to see what the hubbub was about. His heart sank.
“Tiso Reignly, Master Reignly!” The plump man said barging through the throne room doors. He found himself before the young leader and the thin bald advisor.
“We know, Hushtone. We know.” Cullo answered without even a glance in the direction of the small man.
“Vaas has already enlightened me on the situation. Admiral of the Guard Hester has luckily already put barricades in place to keep any city folk who haven't seen them from getting too close, and the ones that have are being kept indoors until the Bowdlerizers can spin a story.” Talion Reignly
“What is this? It looks like our soldiers, dozens of them, limping through the streets, carrying corpses of others, it looks like a nightmare!”
“They are being brought here, I will find a leader among them and figure out what is happening.” Cullo said finally laying his piercing eyes on Hushtone.
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A sea of armored and bloody men stood outside the Kantara. A dozen eyes stared down from its windows. Between them was Vaas Cullo and a dozen more armed city guards with sights on the wounded warriors before them.
“We need medical attention, sir!” One cried out from the crowd.
“Not to be wrangled like animals!” Another yelled.
“We have wounded!” The crowd became a muddied mess of begging and hollering. With a wave of Cullo’s hand the crowd silenced.
“Who among you will speak for the lot?”
“I can.” An assured and confident voice came out from the crowd. The wounded parted from each other letting the voice move toward the front. A young soldier stood before the tall advisor. He held his side in pain and his hair was unkempt and covered in dust and cuts that seemed to be trying to scab over, but weren't there just yet. “Sargent Demoine, of Commander Hein’s company.”
“Where is the commander?”
“Maligg has fallen, sir.” Hastily Cullo brought the Sargent inside. This was no conversation the wind should take elsewhere. Cullo ordered the guards to keep the wounded in place as he brought the soldier to Reignly.
“How many are left?” Reignly paced across the throne room in thought. Demoine was only a bag of information to him, a messenger.
“Twenty-Five before we set off, my lord.”
“Twenty-five? So you have about thirty wounded out there?” Hushtone asked. He was baffled at the thought. Prisoners, overtaking a fortress, destroying it, how?
“About twenty-four wounded, and seven dead I believe, sir. I couldn’t even tell you about Himmer’s men though. They have a buggy full.”
“This is madness!” Talion Reignly growled to himself.
“Thank you, Sargent Demoine. We will have the council of health send someone out as soon as we can to your people. In the meantime, keep them where they are.” Cullo said nodding for the guards at the door to open it for the wounded man.
“In the hot sun?” Demoine asked confused.
“Until further notice.” Vaas Cullo answered shooing the man out. Sargent Demoine scoffed at the thought and then raised a hand in salute before leaving.
“The food shortage, the riot, the stolen documents now this!” Reignly slammed his hand against the far wall and turned to the window looking down at the wounded below. “We came up with plans for war.” He said. His voice was hoarse at the thought. “How can I handle a war when I can barely keep it together here?”
“Your idea to invade the west was a brilliant one sir. I simply gave guidance.” Cullo said feigning humbleness. “We won't be able to fend off the mob if we don’t get ahead of this though. Allow me to take command of this, I'll address the public. Hushtone, notify the Council of Health.”
“Sir, maybe we should delay plans until we can get ahold of things here?” Hushtone proposed to the Tiso.
“Nonsense.” Cullo answered. “We cannot halt things in motion, if the west gets any wind of our plans we lose the element of surprise, and possibly much more.” Vaas Cullo smiled a sinister smile and quickly Hushtone leaped to find the council.
“He could be right, Vaas.” Talion said, falling into his beautifully upholstered seat. His body slid into a deep slouch in its crimson colored fabric. “Only strong lands can take on wars, and we are not that.”
Vaas Cullo looked at toward the guards that guarded the door and they looked back at him. He then turned to the Tiso who rubbed his thumb and index finger across his forehead until the skin turned red. He got down onto one knee and positioned himself below the young inexperienced ruler. “Do not speak like that. Do not denounce generations of leaders.”
“No, Mr. Cullo, I denounce myself.” Talion said softly. His own words made him uncomfortable as he squirmed in his chair. “I am failing our people...I can see that.” Cullo raised his head subtilty with curiosity.
“It was my duty to serve your father as it is my duty to serve you now. When your father left for war, I served as his voice to the people. When he faltered in his will, I gave his words confidence. Allow me to be your voice now. Regain your confidence, take a moment to think on your next actions, I shall handle what is today.” Vaas’ words were enchanting to the young Tiso. He scrunched his nose holding back a barrel full of emotion and stood from his ornate seat. He straightened his outfit and shook the stress from his shoulders before turning toward the slender advisor.
“I trust you have the words to quell the people, Mr. Cullo?” He said as he cleared his throat.
“I do, sir.”
“Do you need me to prepare anything before hand, Mr. Cullo?”
“No, sir. I will announce when I am ready.”
“Very, good. I will be in my chamber then.” He centered himself and gave a nod to Cullo before motioning the guards to open the door. Cullo nodded back and took one of Kantara official letter papers and a envelope from the Tiso’s deak.
“If I may sir, to jot down my words?” Talion nodded and Cullo left the Tiso to himself. He could feel the chains rattle in pleasure as he hid his grin while he walked down the stone halls. What he said was true to a point. He had tried to speak for his father, he had done so many times, but Talion’s mother kept him at bay the best she could while Wilhiem was away at war. It was only when she passed, and the torch of the leadership moved to Talion that he had any shot of leading the Republic. Yet as always, he had a Reignly in his way. But the whispers of the chained ones said, “Not for long.”
He peaked out from one of the hallway windows as he pulled the paper from his light coat and began scribbling something onto it. Hushtone slowly sauntering his way through the courtyard toward the far end of the Kantara. To the office that held the Council of Health. Vass Cullo always wondered why wherever Hushtone went he moved so slow. He was happy he did though, it favored him. “Advisor Cullo, sir!” A voice called out behind the clanking of fine shoes racing to catch up with him. “A word please!” A man that Cullo could only describe as another face in the crowd of Kantara bureaucracy, the average bureaucrat, a well-dressed man with a clean cut and a cleaner smile. The antithesis to the rabble below. “A word, please, sir! Bren Whorsten, Information Department. I need to know what to send down to our Bowdlerizers? With the passing of Mr. Grumsby us all in the Department also would be curious on how or who the Tiso might want to take his place, and if we should recheck all our records we have to send down?” A barrage of questions spewed from the man's mouth. Vaas had other thoughts on his mind than the drone work of the Information Department, but a badgering tongue had its uses.
“This all sounds like something Advisor Hushtone would have answers to.” Cullo guided his eyes to the courtyard. The man nodded and thanked Vaas Cullo before racing down the stairs toward the round Advisor like a governmental feral animal. Though neither of the men now bickering over the best way to recheck and reorganize files knew that the true predator watched from above. He had completed his writings and cleared his throat before folding the paper properly and sliding it into the envelope. The slender Advisor then headed down the stairs and toward the Council of Health himself.
Advisor Cullo passed by the two unnoticed in their droning debate on if files should be organized by letters or numbers. For his own sake he kept his mind on his plan, and headed toward the far side of the courtyard, through two separate hallways, and up another set of stairs to meet the Council of Health in their space of the Kantara.
It was not as lavish as the Tiso’s chambers or the throne room, but it was quite better than his own office space, though anything was better to him than an office shared with a pesky, bulbous co-advisor. The marble floors were pristine and shined a cloudy image of the Advisor back at him, the area was wide and natural light shined through the large windows on the far end of the room. Many seemed to be moving quickly around, seemingly preparing for the arrival of the soldiers outside.
“Advisor, are you here to approve our action plan?” Cullo saw the curly Amber hair before he saw the woman who asked. He bent his head down to see a smiling short woman with plastic apron covered in different liquids. Cullo knew her as a Health Council Woman Avanda Swilt. The people who presumably use to have those liquids in their bodies knew her as “The curious bitch.” She was known for her “testing” of new ideas in the name of health, most of the time those test resulted in a prisoner dying a day to a day in a half later. Usually wailing before passing.
“That is something Advisor Hushtone should be doing.” Cullo answered with a well-rehearsed smile. “I was just heading this way to speak to the Agricultural department. See if they have developed any more action plans to handle the food shortage and all, but Mr. Hushtone wished me to drop this letter by on my way.” He presented the envelope. Freshly written, freshly packaged and now in Miss Swilt’s hands.
Her eyes skimmed over the words, and her eyebrows furrowed with confusion. She looked up from the letter to Vaas and back to the paper, and back up again to him. “What an odd decision. We shall abide by it of course, just...Very odd.” Vaas Cullo nodded in agreement and left the office with a hand wave. It wasn’t long before he saw the small Advisor trotting his way down the hall. Hushtone had found a way to escape his exhilarating conversation with the man from the Department of Information and tried his best to get to the Office of the Council quickly.
He looked at his tall bald associate with suspicion. Cullo feigned a smile and bent down to the small man “I noticed that man blindside you with questions, I thought I would help you and speak to the Council myself.” Cullo said with the tongue of a snake.
“Oh...Well very good! Thank you, Vaas. Maybe I should see if they need any help gathering the supplies though, It is quite a crowd of wounded down there of course.”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
“Of course! No worries though, my friend they are getting some of the off duty guards to help them, what I need help with is a speech!” He wrapped an arm around the small round man and guided him back toward their office space.
“A speech?” Hushtone asked curiously.
“Yes, Master Talion asked me to quell the public for him, try to gather some good will, give us breathing room so we will be ready for the war when it comes. Have you heard word from that ship you sent?”
“Nothing yet, no. Are we certain we are in a state of readiness for a war? We are in the middle of a food shortage, we have lost a fortress along our border, soldiers bleeding out on our staircase and may soon not have the element of surprise for the first attack of this war.” Cullo could feel his blood begin to boil as Hushtone spoke. He kept in his mind that soon, soon he wouldn’t have to listen to his whines any longer.
“Maybe you are right Mr. Hushtone.” Cullo said. The words stung his tongue. “We shouldn’t push forward into a territory that's crops don’t grow rotten. We should leave an open wound of a destroyed fortress on our borders. We shouldn’t attack with the men we have to prove to our people and there's that we are strong and resilient. You are very right, my chubby friend!”
“You mock me...” Hushtone replied. His lips cautiously trembling in indecision on whether to show teeth or not.
“I do, Gilly. I do.” It had been a long while since Vaas had used his pet name to Hushtone. Gilly...He refused to speak his proper name of Gilfred, and whenever Gilly was used by the slender stalker of the Kantara halls, Hushtone knew trouble was coming.
“Gilfred...” Hushtone corrected under his breath.
“Do you wish to speak semantics, or do you wish to work on my speech? Master Talion I'm sure would be most pleased with rushed words as long as we had a good talk.” The cold Advisor said with a scolding tongue as he turned away from the small man and headed down the halls toward their office. Like a pig to a carrot, Gilfred Hushtone followed hoping to make his leader happy.
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The ink dried on the tan paper as Vaas Cullo flicked his pen across the final page marking its end. The spindly man tugged at his coat and adjusted himself with a sigh of relief. “Quite a beautiful line of words, I'd say.” He turned to his co-writer, the plump little advisor in an ill-fitting waistcoat. His cheerful grin was enough to sicken Cullo.
“It’s been sometime since we worked like this, Vaas. I can’t lie that it’s felt good working together for the good of the Arkin people!” He knew nothing. He was always naive. It was the only thing Vaas liked about him.
“I’m glad.” Cullo answered as he folded the pages into his coat. He gave a nod to one of the guards at the door. “Let the broadcaster know to gather the people.” The guard nodded and left the room. “Hushtone, you will join me on the steps, won’t you?” the co-writer took a step back startled by the sudden gestures of goodwill his co-advisor had given him.
“I would very much like that, Vaas...” He built up the small reserve of courage he had and asked the question that lingered on his mind. “Why though?”
“What?”
“You are quite generous today. Why?”
Cullo’s eyes narrowed like an owl watching its prey. “Talion is hurting, he’s confused and clueless how to proceed. He needs time, time to heal, to clear his mind. Advisor Hushtone, we raised that child after the passing of his parents. We together are here to help him when he faulters. I’d like you to be by my side out there as I give my speech, because we are a team. We are parents of this nation, we look upon its people when its leader cannot, together.” He rested his hand upon Hushtone’s shoulder trying his best to keep the disgust he felt from showing. He could not wait for it all to be over. All he had to do was endure for another hour.
The long hour moved by. It was filled with tailors and the patting of makeup against his cheeks. He could hear the stirring crowd, outside. He watched as engineers rushed around with machines and cogs. He heard the hissing of steam and the clunking of copper as the microphones hummed to life. They were ready for him. He felt the chatter of the three and the clanking of their chains behind him. They were excited. Was he? The world was changing, and he was about to play his part. All he needed to do was move air across his vocal cords and a nation would change for him.
“I know you’ve been speaker a thousand times for a thousand different reasons, but it’s always good to say, you’ll do great out there.” Hushtone said as they marched toward the stairs to the Kantara. The stairs led down to the city from the hill the Kantara sat upon. In moments like this when the city had to be addressed, they were used as a type of stage for all of the city to see the Tiso from. Though in this case they were seeing the two Advisors, and something felt off. Just as it began to for Hushtone.
Slowly an uncomfortable feeling simmered within him that something wasn’t completely right. Slowly, as the slim advisor took center and wielded his mouth like a sword, the feeling came to a rupturing boil. “People of our fair city, people of our fair territory. I hear your whispers, the chatter in the streets and the fear in your hearts.” The words were not what they had written in their office. The paper never left his coat pocket, the small Advisor watched as the giant spoke from with confidence from his own mind. “We suffered a massacre on our own streets, fueled by lies. Your stomachs ache and your crops wilt. We have suffered. I deny that no longer.” His voice echoed through the crowd, the only voice. Masses were silent, their ears given willingly. This man, this tall slim bald man who wore an elegant crimson longcoat, and bore the symbol of the Arkins proudly, who stood proper spoke as if he was one in the crowd; as if he was suffering too. His words cut through any doubts. He was a master, a wordsmith, a liar. “I sit and I hear the quabbling, the empty gestures of those who swore an oath to you. Those who promised you safety, shelter, comfort. I want action! I want something finally done!” The crowd roared in admiration as he spat with anger.
Hushtone quivered in worry. What was he doing? Where was this going? And why was he still standing there watching it? He was beginning to build up the courage to slip away, waiting for the perfect moment. Cullo’s back turned or his head, a long look at the crowd. He did not get that chance. “You want proof of the inaction? Of the infestation here?” Cullo’s eyes locked onto Hushtone. The smaller of the two advisors heart pumped rapidly and his blood grew hot. “Tell them what happened to the very soldiers that waited here for help...” Hushtone looked confused. His eyes darted back and forth and his tongue tripped over and over again.
“Y-you...I, t-they were treated, recovering!” Hushtone stuttered into the tinny microphone as it echoed out to the crowd.
“More lies. Tell the truth!” Vaas roared and the crowd roared with him.
“T-that is the truth! Y-you-”
“Euthanasian. You sent them to die, Gilfred Hushtone. Wounded soldiers, put down like dogs.” Hushtone could see Vaas Cullo for what he was now. He knew him as an intimidating, silver tongued speaker, but now...Now he saw the ghoul inside. His eyes wide, and behind them Hushtone saw the fiendish smiles of three. He began to hear the rattle of chains and backed away from his old partner with his chest beating hard.
“What are you?” Gilfred asked through croaked words.
“The Revelator. The one who speaks for them.” Vaas answered plainly. “And you are the enemy of us! A traitor, hidden in the crowd!” Vaas Cullo turned to the chattering crowd. “We do not abide your sins to this great territory any longer!” Vaas motioned with his hands and in an instant Hushtone was in the guards grips. “We hunt traitors, we brutalize traitors, we kill traitors! And this man is not above our law, simply for being in the Tiso’s court!” Another motion and Gilfred was inches away from the large Advisor’s face, who bent down to be eye to eye with him. “You were my closest friend. We worked hand in hand to bring prosperity to this territory.” Lies seeped out like a sieve.
“You’re a fucking monster...” Hushtone growled. “You’ll ruin us! You’ll ruin bring us lower than we are!” The guards dragged the doomed advisor away, into the bowels of the Kantara. The stonework and towering building that once seemed beautiful, and a symbol of pride now looked deadly and a looming power dangling over his head about to drop the blade atop him.
Vaas smiled wide and looked across the cheering crowd. “The pleading of a damned man. That is the sound of our prosperity. Our hope in a better tomorrow, our pride in our people. Today is the day we decide not to go to war with the west for petty squabbles of the past, not for greed or hate, but to go as messengers, teachers of justice and civility. You have seen here today how we oust even members of our government, and we hunt to the ends of the earth the liars who started the riot. We are the Justiciars of the land, and we shall bring our justice to the west!” It was nonsense, yet the crowd roared anyways, their minds twisting his words to make their own sense of it, their own creed crafted by his silver tongue. They loved him, they trusted him. His voice was the only one now.
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Talion Reignly stood in the middle of the throne room. His chin up and his hands fidgeting behind his back. Feet firm on the crimson carpet and a small twitch along his right brow. The pattern of the carpet encircled him, as if it was a ring of salt. The silver-tongued monster approached.
“Advisor Cullo.” The young Tiso said with stoic monotone. His eyes did not meet the tall man’s. “Quite a show you put on.”
“There was no show.” Vaas answered with a toothy grin. “I told the people the truth.”
“Half truths.” Talion quickly interjected.
“Truths are truths. Half, whole, quartered. All truths, nothing less.”
The stoic facade disappeared, yet it still faced the floor, fearing the owl-like gaze of the bald advisor. “I care for my people, Vaas! Are you claiming that I do not? That I sit around all day making empty promises? I don’t believe you’ve seen my dick in my hand, Advisor!”
“No...I have not.” Cullo answered calmly, inches from Reignly’s face. “What I have seen is incompetence. Lack of leadership. I leader who couldn’t even face his people, who fell apart at the moment of struggle. A child on the throne of men.”
“You watch your rodent tongue.” Talion growled as he aimed his finger and tightened his lips.
“Touch me, call for your men, harm me, and your people will believe you an enemy just like Hushtone.” The Tiso took a startled step back. One of the men who raised him, speaking to him like an enemy, like he was below him somehow. “You are a pompous arrogant child from a tainted bloodline. The third in a lineage of horror, brought on by your great grandfather.” Vaas moved closer to Talion. “The Reignly’s are a sickness on the Arkin soil. Murders, who ruined everything Tilavina Lestare and the Lestare name created!”
“My great grandfather brought us out of the dark ages!” The young Tiso swore.
“He brought us into it! He raped the poor woman, and his followers forced her to birth a lineage of hate! Your lineage!” The tall man was bent over the Tiso looking down upon the small leader. Talion never noticed until now how darker the world was when he towered over him. How his shadow blackened his own and how it almost seemed morph and shudder as if others moved around in it.
“You have been like a father to me, you and Hushtone. Ever since father’s death. Why?”
“I hate you...I hate the Reignly’s. I hated your father the most, until you came along.” Cullo growled and the Tiso’s lips quivered. “All of them hotheaded, but at least they had weight to them, you, you are an angry child. Flailing your arms around hoping someone will fix your problems for you. An angry idiot in a big chair.”
“Fuck you.” Talion answered back.
“There it is. The toothless bark.” Vaas Cullo smiled. He kept his composure even after the young man's hand cracked against his cheek. He gave a soft chuckle. “That one we can call free. Another one and I’ll make sure the guards toss you out of the tallest window, just like Tilavina did with your pervert of a great grandfather.” He gave a smile and nod before bowing to the Tiso and backing himself out of the throne room. “Be ready for Hushtone’s hearing in the morning, and keep your right ear clean, my lord.”
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The square outside the Kantara was filled with screams of anger and disgust. “Kill him!” “You’ll burn for this!” “Traitor!” The words cut the disgraced advisor like a hot knife. He was watching his beloved city fall and the people turn savage. He knew it was in them, he saw it in the way the Rels were treated and the way the guards treated ones they saw beneath them, but he hoped that he raised the Talion to be better, even with the anger that sat inside him, he wanted him to be purer then his father, his lineage. Now he worried, as he looked across from the executioner's platform to the buggy that carried the throne and the Tiso on top of it, that maybe the curse of the Reignly’s was not broken.
“Kill, Kill, Kill!” The people chanted as the Tiso arrived. He stood up from the throne and the buggy it was carried upon hissed as the steam of its engine plumed around him. Vaas stood beside him and whispered in his ear.
“Gilfred Hushtone, disgraced and deplatformed advisor to my leadership. You are charged with mass murder of innocent and wounded soldiers of our nation. Your actions have led to investigations led by Advisor Vaas Cullo which has found evidence of conspiracy and other counts of treason, weighing your crimes heavier. What say you?” The Tiso spoke loud letting his words echo across the chattering crowd.
“I have not done a damned thing! You look at me when the fugitive is right beside you!” Hushtone wailed tugging at the rope that bound him and choking himself with the noose as he flung himself forward with tears wetting the wooden platform.
“You aim your finger, but that is not evidence enough to save you from the rope!” Talion called out across the crowd. It was silent in the sea of faces.
“I loved you, Talion. I wanted better for you than this, better than all of this, yet I was silenced the whole way to this end. Shadowed by a silver-tongued demon! I may not have been the smartest in that tower, but I was appointed by your father for loyalty, for honesty! But I should have recognized that honesty dies at the door and its remains fertilize lies!”
“Kill, kill, kill!” The crowd raged again. Talion looked down to the ground as Cullo whispered into his ear once more. Gilfred whimpered at the sight. Talion looked up to the man across the crowd. Bound and with a noose along his neck. Gilfred Hushtone released a soft sigh and gave a quivering smile and a gentle nod. Talion nodded back with his eyes glistening and red and mouthed four words to the dead man before motioning to the executioner.
The crowd roared with joy. They rushed to loot the shoes and pants and whatever was inside the pockets of the swinging legs. The guards kept the stampede at bay, though by the end the disgraced body of the old advisor was bare and the only truth in the city swung in the night and was plucked by beaks at dawn.