Chapter 96: Dealings
“Why are you so nice?” Ray finally questioned not letting go of Sapphire who looked up at Dakota not sure how to answer that one as they sat behind Tiguan. It had been a while, the time being passed mostly with funny stories and general chit chat.
“People can be arseholes for a lot of reasons, for Tiguan here it’s because of how he looks, for our three friends here and the Flaxens it's because of what they know and did. With You, I’m afraid it's because it’s easy.” Yildiz replied, sounding a tad somber-looking up at Tiguan. “Hell remember when I was assigned to you at first?” He continued, looking up to Tiguan.
“You were so mad… I honestly thought my mother had killed your parents or something” Tiguan replied, reluctantly not taking his eyes of Ray. “She was an arsehole though”
“Yeah the world wasn’t nice to her, so she’s not nice to the world. You're doing well though. I was a little scared I Just got your mother in a scaled-down package”
“Thanks” Tiguan replied disinterestedly as Ray looked up. “What did they do to you?”
“Oh it’s not too bad, I just don’t go out during the day much. I sneak around scavenging what I need and take it back home. I guess I’m an arsehole to actually” Ray tried with the most cautious of smiles.
“You’re a thief?” Tiguan questioned, as if not understanding at all. “But thieves are bad guys?” The dragon went, as Ray scooted back on the ground a bit eye’s going wide again.
“I… I don’t want to. it’s not easy I swear I don’t want to”
“Don’t worry it’s fine we understand” Ylditz replied, interposing himself clearly trying to calm her down before turning to Tiguan. “We talked about this big boy. Not necessarily, okay”
“Sorry... No please don’t cry” The dragon replied looking to Ray.
She did keep it together, just. Coming over and Leaning into Sapphire, Tiguan looking at the ground slightly ashamed. “Sorry”
“Oh, would you two stop apologizing” Victoria added, sounding less than impressed. “Neither of you did anything wrong, nor are you arseholes.”
“They want the three from Bizmati Keep,” a voice called out from behind the big black breathing barrier. It was such an odd feeling to feel safe hiding behind something so damn scary looking.“Sometime today I think.”
‘Yeah, we heard you the first time wanker,’ Sapphire cursed to herself.
“It’s one of the guards,” Tiguan relayed down to them helpfully after taking a look. “Should I try to scare him too?” he tried looking to Ray, as if he wanted her opinion.
“No, don’t bother. This is our fight and he’s not the target” Dakota replied after a second of Ray looking around confused.
“Right, you stay here, Ray. We need to go sort this out,” Sapphire went, giving her a slight slap on the shoulder.
“Good luck,” the timid reply came as Sapphire got to her feet, turning to walk back around Tiguan. “It’s all true, right?” Ray questioned delicately, hope clear in her voice. “What you said earlier”
“Every word of it. He can’t fly and never could,” Sapphire clarified, looking back to the cripple. “Yet his people fly anyway. They just need a little help. Not to mention he’s damn near a hero,” she continued with a wink as she continued to walk. Sapphire had guessed if anything could cheer up a cripple like Ray It had to be stories of someone who could never fly in the first place and it seems she had been right.
“I still don’t get that,” Tiguan added, sounding like he had just given up trying to understand it, a sentiment Sapphire wholeheartedly supported.
That mindset might not have helped her in trying to explain the crazy human’s stories, but that hardly mattered. Ray had looked like she had completely forgotten the shitshow going on around her. It wasn't till Saph was in the middle of the story that she realised the unhappy ending on the horizon. Ray was likely gonna be staying here. There was no place for a cripple at a frontier keep. Saph knew that as well as anyone. She just couldn’t bear to tell Ray that though, she was smiling, and properly smiling at that. Even if it was not going to last, she at least deserved a bit of happiness for what she had done for them. Perhaps she and Tiguan could arrive at a happy ending some day, Sapphire at least hoped so.
As Sapphire cleared Tiguan she saw Balethon who had been doing his best to win a staring contest with some of the Flaxens, the odd insult and accusation thrown in for good measure on both sides.
“Follow on Bale boy, I’m sure their eyes don’t work anyway” Sapphire went as they passed him.
He didn't break eye contact with the current target though he joined up behind Saph and Dakota walking up the stairs to the mansion.
“Follow me please, and do wipe your feet on the mat,” the Flaxen guard went as he turned away to go inside.
“I guess we shouldn’t be surprised they can’t even teach the doorman manners?” Dakota replied, feigning disappointment. “Was it you who escorted the little piece of shit to the warehouse this morning?”
“No ma’am, I do my job, which means making you wipe your feet.”
“You're doing a shitty job then,” Sapphire added, making a point of going around the doormat, Balethon following her lead. Dakota did at least wipe them half-heartedly. The guard didn’t seem to care though, not even turning to look at them as he led the way down the corridors.
The inside was exactly as Sapphire had expected, precious metals used everywhere, thick luxurious carpets, paintings of people looking stupid decorating the walls and various doubtlessly expensive things on display everywhere. There were a few actually nice paintings though.
It wasn’t much of a walk, and the guard was clearly taking them straight somewhere, rather than leading them around to show off the mansion like Sapphire had anticipated. They ended up at what Saph would describe as a lounge. There was a low set table with sofas around it, on which Victoria and Captain Bruno could be found, sitting opposite Jamila and this Nevera, whom was still in chains.
Jamila looked very serious and more contemplative, unlike the previous angry snarling face she had worn, and Nevera had clearly been crying for whatever reason. Sapphire pulled a slight smile at that. ‘Looks like someone learned about the consequences of one’s actions.’
“You called for us,” Dakota opened, respectfully, standing at attention.
“Yes, take a seat please,” Jamila replied, her tone as serious as her expression, waving away the guard. The trio did as instructed, setting down on the very nice comfy sofa.
“Would you mind repeating your statement?” Victoria then went, her eyes locked on the manacled woman sitting across from her.
“I was tasked with hiring the mercenaries by the Lady herself… I did it.” She replied not looking up from the floor
“And why did you do it?” Jamila snapped, clearly not happy right now.
“She promised to make me next in line if I did.” The woman continued beginning to sob into her hands. Sapphire could hardly feel sorry for her, though it did present an interesting conundrum in regards to the rest of the Flaxen family.
“And yours, Jamila?” Victoria continued, switching her gaze to the older woman.
“I sent Abberline to try and bribe you into dropping the charges. That was decided by the family council… This was not. How could you! You have ruined us! You selfish little brat!”
Sapphire began wondering if this was all a stage show, if so they were doing a good job acting. The bitch had pulled too much shit like this all ready for her to believe this bullshit blindly though.
“So then you're blaming this all on her or what?” Sapphire questioned coldly, glaring at Jamila.
“And our Lady. She is apparently the one who ordered this.”
“Yes, she told me to. I can’t disobey her, we have to obey her,” Nevera pleaded, jumping at the excuse.
“She is in prison, and the family council has been making those decisions since that happened. Which you damn well knew!” Jamila snapped back.
“So you are admitting guilt on behalf of her and the Lady but not the family as a whole?” Dakota questioned, looking at Jamila.
“On the matters of the kidnapping, yes.”
“And on the matters of what your Lady did before that?”
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“That will be decided at the trial. For which I hope we will not be present.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Balethon questioned. Sapphire would like to know that too actually.
“Having these charges leveled against us cannot be allowed. It simply cannot. The matter will have to be placed in the hands of the family council since I am not yet the lady of our family,” Jamila replied, shooting a sharp look at Nevera. “Though there is widespread agreement that, as I said, these charges must not hit our family. And especially so if they are found to be true”
“You didn’t answer the question though?” Balethon tried again, sounding a tad annoyed.
“We are gonna ex-communicate both of them and whoever aided them. We will wash our hands of this mess and be done with it,” Jamila replied, looking to Balethon like he really should have been able to figure that out.
“You do realize that as she is the lady of your family and went to Bizmati Keep representing your family. Not to mention bringing several family members with her. Many of the charges are against you as a family and not her as an individual,” Victoria joined in, receiving an approving nod from Dakota.
“I am acutely aware. That is the situation must be resolved before the trial. Hopefully, we can come to an agreement on that front.”
“Are you gonna try to bribe us again?” Balethon questioned in a joking tone. That set the gears turning in Sapphire’s head.
“Wait, how the fuck could you not know she tried to kill Essy? There were several of your family members present as eyewitnesses!” Sapphire demanded, the realization having clicked. She must have known, yet Abberline had claimed she had no idea. “Abberline said you thought she assaulted Essy, not tried to kill her!? Yet you had to know, you especially,” Sapphire continued, pointing at Nevera. “You were there!”
“I mean, she did assault her,” The woman meekly tried to defend herself.
“With a deadly weapon, intending to kill. Pretty big fucking difference! It’s called attempted murder you dipshit,” Sapphire replied. Jamila snapped her head at the manacled women, clearly expecting an explanation.
“We needed the support of the family,” was all the answer they got from Nevera.
“We?” Victoria questioned, very pointedly.
“You traitorous little group of rats!” Jamila interrupted before Nevera could muster a reply. “You lied to your own family!? You dared lie to me!”
“And you abandoned your Lady. If anyone is the traitor here it’s you. You’re only doing this because you're next in line. So don’t act so damn righteous, you're just a scheming old skank.”
‘What a fucking shit show,’ Sapphire concluded, as the two of them descended into an enthusiastic shouting match.
After a little over a minute, Victoria interrupted the duel, with a loud “HEY!” which did get their attention, at least somewhat. “You mentioned you wanted the charges against the family as a whole dropped. How do you imagine that happening?”
“I do not know, since it's up to the family council, but my plan is for you to get the Lady and the justice you apparently crave so much and we won’t try to stop it. Make no mistake, we can keep these trials going for years if necessary. I doubt you have the time nor funds for that,” Jamila replied, looking at Dakota.
“No, but we do,” Victoria interjected, coldly. “We will get them anyway even if it takes a little longer. So what are you offering"
“Well then, what do you propose then?” Jamila questioned, clearly not pleased with that response.
“We take you to court, seek compensation for all the strife you have caused us, and get your Lady and Nevera here, as well as anyone who saw fit to help them, locked away for as long as possible, not to mention ruining your family's reputation forever” Dakota stated matter of factly which gave Jamila a very cold hard look as she tried to stare down Dakota.
“In that case I think we can come to an agreement. Though this is not a discussion I have the authority to have with you. Colonel, would you allow us to convene a meeting of our family council to make a proper decision on this subject? In private.”
Victoria looked to Dakota, clearly waiting for her opinion.
“Well, you have admitted guilt. You can’t run from that, and we will slaughter you all if you try something stupid. I can agree to that,” Dakota replied, putting an emphasis on slaughter, which clearly sank in with Jamila. Victoria turned her head back to the solemn-looking woman, giving her a slight nod.
“Very good, I would have Nevera testify before our council too. Though that meeting will be for our family only.”
“In lieu of your confessions, I will allow you to hold this private meeting, though I must reiterate we have you now. So don’t try anything brash, like Dakota said that would cost you very dearly.” Victoria replied, getting to her feet.
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“How's he doing?” someone asked. Tom really didn’t have the mental wherewithal to recognize the voice. He tried opening his eyes just to check whether he could still see something; much to his delight, it didn’t seem to have gotten that much worse. Though he probably would have struggled to notice any small changes anyway.
“He’s in a hell of a lot of pain, but we are doing what we can. We can keep this up for a few hours with two of us switching.”
“It will buy him more time, but we have no clue if it’s enough.”
“I have this, would it help?”
“What even is that? Wait how long have you had this?”
“I don’t know… Uli got it for me. I think we were supposed to share it.”
“Oh my… I mean it’s alcohol, right?”
“As far as I know at least. I never dared drink it alone.”
“You have… actual alcohol?” Tom tried, biting in the pain of speaking.
“I mean… Quin do you think it would be smart? And it was so expensive.”
“Do you really want to put a price on saving his ass after what he did?”
“I didn’t mean it like that. What if it doesn't work, or makes it worse.”
“What is it?” Tom went, trying to get a look at them and failing horribly as the pain of moving shot through him.
“Uhm it’s called wild brew… it’s not for the faint of heart.”
“Is it alcohol? Good stuff, not homebrew?”
“It’s from the capitol.”
“Has it been opened?”
“No never, it’s wax sealed”
“Then pretty please, I really don’t like dying right now?” Tom replied, doing his best not to let the annoyance show.
“What if it makes it worse though?”
“He’s getting worse and worse. and they won’t be back until the middle of the night at best. We are just buying time, not fixing it.”
“It’s only been two hours?!” Tom let out much to his regret as he gasped in pain.
“Let’s try it, sit him up again.” ‘Oh god no,’ Tom cursed to himself as he felt them help him up to sit. The pain was excruciating, and his combination of lightheadedness and the crushing headache definitely didn’t help things. If nothing else, the alcohol might just help with that.
Tom heard a cork being removed, and shortly after a cup of some really strange smelling liquid was held up in front of him. “Here you go. Now, we don’t know how this will affect you, but things might get a little strange.”
“Oh this sounds like a great idea,” Tom tried jokingly, sniffing the cup. There was definitely alcohol in there and not a small amount; he had no idea what the rest of those smells were though. “Here goes nothing.”
__________________________________________________________________________________
“How are they doing out there?” Sapphire questioned Balethon as he returned to the lounge.
“They are doing good. Ray was actually petting him, if you would believe it. She didn’t want to come inside though… Are they still at it?”
Sapphire didn’t need to reply, as another series of loud shouts rang out from the room.
“Honestly they could just as well have invited us to take part if they are gonna shout like that,” Dakota went, shaking her head.
“Do any of you also think it’s all just for show? I mean, they had to know the Lady did it.” Sapphire tired again. She just couldn't believe it would be this easy.
“It might be, but what do we want? Aside from the Lady’s head on a pike or getting her locked up forever of course.”
“What about their house? I wouldn't mind living here,” Balethon replied.
“They need to stop coming after us, that's for sure,” Sapphire added. “And money is always nice.”
“We just want them humiliated, though they seem to have fixed that on their own. Additionally, we want some very public apologies, but that would likely follow the ex-communication anyway,” Victoria added, seeming quite pleased.
Sapphire couldn’t help but feel burning this place to the ground would be nice. But bleeding them dry would be good too. “How about having all of the Lady’s entourage thrown in prison? That would be good.”
“They didn’t do much apart from lie to us and their family. Hardly prison worthy, almost a shame they didn’t get a chance to spout those lies to the court,” Victoria replied.
“Food’s here,” one of the Hashaw family guards went as he and another guard came walking over with a variety of packages.
“Oh yes. Thank you, I'm starving. What time is it even?” Balethon questioned, sitting up on the sofa.
“Early afternoon,” one of the guards replied.
“And we still haven't heard from home,” Sapphire added, looking to Dakota.
“No, we have not,” Dakota replied, giving a polite nod to the guard as she took her package.
As Sapphire took her package, she could honestly not figure out what to make of all this. Things weren’t right back home, and she couldn’t help but feel things were going too smoothly here. Sure it had been a night from hell. But they had found the kidnappers, gotten confessions, and now had the Flaxen family taking turns screaming at each other next door while they ate a delicious, if very late, breakfast.
“I take it that means Jarix hasn’t returned from his scouting run?” Victoria questioned, looking at Dakota.
“No, and they should have been back yesterday at the very latest.”
“I don’t know what kind of threat could hit a frontier keep that could bring down a dragon, not to mention your little demon.” The guard, handing out the food, added.
“Tom,” Victoria clarified, looking at her. “He’s quite insistent on that front. Still, this is concerning, You are sure your little earpiece is working?”
“I talked with my mother only last night, it was working beautifully”
“Troubling… We might have to send that messenger anyway then.”
__________________________________________________________________________________
“So... how are you doing, Tom?”
“I… I saee preewty… pweety pink uwnycorn dacing ooon rainwose”
“He’s not getting better, is he?”
“Nope, but he’s a lot more lively now, and he’s certainly seeing something. Do we give him more?”
“Let’s hold off till he starts complaining again. I think we might have already overdone it.”
“I think I would drink heavy draughts if my life depended on it too.”
“No, I no complain I ciritimezise.”
“Well he can still hear us, can you see us too?”
A hand came waving in front of Tom's face, it was going so fast, wait no that’s not a hand, it’s white... that’s Jacky! “Hehe. Jacky go neeowwwn, race race reace.”
“I guess that’s a yes. Do you think he snapped or something?”
“I mean, if he snapped it’s like a branch, not a twig, that’s for sure.”
“Fly fly little Jacky… where did she go weeeee to?”
“I would say shattered like a glass window on stone floors.”
“Do we need to start with the liver again? I mean it’s been a while, but there’s still a long time till anyone gets here even in the best case scenario.”
“Hours long, time short. Jacky Jacky wuuhoo.”
“That hurts like hell for him though. Do you think he might try to kill us if we did that?”
“He’s unarmed and weak; he's not even slightly scary right now.”
“Yeah, but he's crazy or something. Can we fix that somehow?”
“Look at pwretty colours, oohh not knowy that onee whoaaa.”
“How the hell do you fix that? Oh shit, Nunuk is gonna kill me if he survives like this.”
“Relax, it’s the drink. It will wear off soon enough.”
“Ye yeah dum læge, du en dumpap.”
“I have no idea what that means, but we are gonna have to do something… Should we try putting him to sleep? It might keep him from going more crazy.”
“Or he might not wake up again.”
“Would you please stop saying things like that? Jacky did it I’m sure, and he will be fine too.”
“He He Jacjky prewty no bad Tom, bonk horny Jailsy.”
“Let’s just not give him any more for a bit and see what happens, okay?”
But he said he needed a small dose every now and again.”
“Then we down the dosage a little. If it gets worse then we hibernate his liver again and pray for the best okay?”