>
> I fear no other beast but the one living in the depths,
>
> Far out in the angry seas, or near silent ports
>
> Dark shores with briny shingles covering their lengths
>
> Eyes wide open to dutifully observe
>
> Beyond causes, or musings folk foreknow they deserve
>
> For only those that see the Kraken’s glassy eye up close
>
> Shall realize whither the wind blows
>
>
> -
>
>
>
>
> Ancient verses sung at secret night liturgies and a hymn to Abrakas, the Vile.
>
> Circa unknown.
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Baron Storm Nattas
Abominable Cripple
Part I
-I’ll take the cheapest option-
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[https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOm0Iuwh32t2l8lGvj37jzoc2bqvUBTdXtI38VHEmu7lGHixEYf1Zv39Ad5g6F_yYQfyyUrwITcdGoHcxkcL2HHsb8uQo6AXHMUVs6w3zz0_tDWihxKgQ1w13K4efJuvKi5id2Ah6lMUjQ2M860CerHHMxnntIo7aWEC1NIEqL-12Q2gI7LbWzTIjJ/s2000/NOVESIUM%20City%20plan%20v2.jpg]
Late second month of Winter 193 NC
The rebuilt stone bridge over Emerald River
(Also called Bridge of Silence by the locals)
Near Lesia Gaze Peaks mountain range
Province of Novesium
Petty barony of Moon’s Haven
Early noon
The man supposedly watching the bridge was sound asleep under the cool winter sun. He snorted with occasional spasms that rattled his body and produced funnier sounds than one would expect.
The patrol from the nearby watch-tower nowhere to be seen, probably playing cards, or a game of dices.
Lord Nattas' coin wasted at alarming rates on them.
Fucking great, a worn out from the journey Nattas griped and stopped his horse over the guard.
“That be Bart,” Damian commented from his own horse. Storm eructed loudly as the food had moved about inside him seeing as they were riding since morning. “He guards the bridge approach Milord.”
Yes. And virgin harlots are a thing.
“Outstanding job. Do you rotate him, or does he sleep through the whole shift?” Storm retorted and reached to pick Sudi’s cane to smack the snorting cretin once on his conned helm. The ringing almost as satisfactory as his stunned reaction.
“What?” Bart gasped rolling on the ground and then tried to get up. He looked about for his spear, but he had it used as a coat rack behind him and missed it in his hazy state. “Who you be?”
“Your wayward mother,” Storm replied curtly.
“Me mother’s dead mister,” an affronted Bart murmured.
“Here comes the lip from the culprit caught in the fucking act. The realm is going to shit,” Storm grunted not believing his ears. “You were sleeping on duty you stupid cretin!” He blasted the disheveled guard.
“Captain Damian,” the man protested. “The sun was in me eyes for hours! I passed out!”
“What are you looking at him for?” Nattas hissed. “Do you know who I am?”
Bart squinted his eyes trying to see Storm’s dusty frock’s sigil.
“Ahm,” he mumbled unsure.
“It’s a squid,” Storm helped him and returned the cane to Sudi. “The man is an idiot,” he declared with a sigh seeing no recognition from him and turned to Damian. “Where’s the rest of ‘the unit’?”
“They are probably resting at this hour milord,” Damian replied.
“I’m sure they are,” Storm retorted.
I could have figured that out on my own.
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If Moon’s Haven had one thing going for it was the neatly built small houses and its decent straight streets. Not many of them, or everywhere as the village had been built in the shape of a simple square at its center, but it had grown with huts at the periphery. The expansion abandoning the road system completely.
Which hurt the image of the village as you had to travel through them to reach the better part of it.
Eh. Good luck finding that architect now for a refund.
“I’m still shocked at the chaos I witnessed,” Storm griped at Sudi while Damian and Grin were waking up the men. Apparently several were missing on ‘an expedition’ to the Golden Forest. A euphemism for a hunting trip on Storm’s coin.
“We’ll tear them down, Mayor Apicius has signed the order, but we need the slums for recruitment,” Sudi explained.
“Why?”
“They are cheap?”
“I don’t see it. This elusive cheapness. The budget is ruinous. Aye, a mountain of it,” Storm argued reasonably with a concerned frown, his hands tied behind his back. “I’m considering whoring you out my friend. You need to contribute, I’m sorry.”
“This is the cheapest option chief,” Sudi assured him with a scowl and Nattas stared at the shifty looking armed thugs gathering outside their barracks. While nicely armed with swords and dressed in second-hand refurbished mail and leather armour –Nattas had gotten a fine deal in the black market for old weaponry- they didn’t look like soldiers.
A mercenary gang more like.
Put them in dark robes and you can even mistake them for cultists.
By the young harlot’s perky tits!
“Will they do the job?” He grunted.
“If you keep it simple.”
“I can’t make it simple, or complicated,” Storm grumbled even more frustrated. “What am I the Wish Fairy? It is what it is! They need to fight on command, is that too much to ask?”
“Oh, they’ll fight chief,” Sudi replied sucking at his sunken cheek. “It’s stopping them after they do that worries me, especially inside a city. You remember Alden.”
“Those were thugs!” Storm protested, then paused and grimaced his face distorting. “I walked right into this one,” he admitted.
“Ayup,” Sudi agreed with a toothless smile. Good grief! “Enough Damian, just give us the report later,” he yelled at the half-breed. “We’ll be at Sandbay Manor with Lord Nattas.”
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Maja who was watching Silvio playing at the top of the grand shaded entrance to the Manor’s main building, the encased in pink alabaster with the sculpted leaf details main columns appearing a brilliant white under the light, turned her head to look at them approach.
The little boy stood up on two small legs and walked to the edge of it much to Storm’s surprise.
“Look at him,” he told Sudi proudly.
“He’s quite clever chief,” Sudi agreed stopping his horse next to Storm’s. Silvio seeing them and the animals took a shaky wide stride forward, but missed the step and went plummeting down under Lord Nattas shocked eyes. He bounced off the third step with his head, landed on his bottom and kept tumbling the length of the twelve steps stairway like a ball of hay. Maja caught him in her arms near the half of it, the woman taking two tumbles of her own afore stopping with Silvio resting on her chest.
Abrakas oily brows!
“Eh,” a stunned Sudi managed to say and Storm glanced at him frustrated before climbing down the saddle to rush to the former leader of ‘Silent Servants Guild’.
“How is he?” Storm asked Maja worried and she used a large silver coin she had produced to softly touch a spot on the quiet boy’s head.
“Buk,” Silvio said ineligibly and Storm feared severe brain damage, afore remembering Silvio didn’t actually talk.
“He’s fine, just a bump on the head,” she said and sighed. “I think I dislocated my shoulder.”
Who cares?
“You’ll get over it,” Storm grunted and stooped to take the small boy in his arms. “Why in all hells did you do that hmm?” he asked him and Silvio raised his arm almost poking Lord Nattas’ right eye out chuckling. “Allgods no. He’s an idiot too,” Storm groaned in frustration. “Or blind, it could be that.”
“He’s happy to see you, so he’s not,” Maja explained and reached for him. “I’ll use some spirit to disinfect the cut.”
“What happened Maja?” Miranda asked, the glorious sun highlighting her richly tanned body through the thin tunic. The winter had never touched this part of Regia’s shores.
“Nothing. I’ll clean him up inside,” she replied quickly and got up with a wince. “I missed a step.”
“You shouldn’t hold him coming down,” Miranda admonished her and glanced at Storm. “Lord Nattas we haven’t received word from you in a month.”
“I was busy with manor business,” Storm replied and climbed after the limping former assassin to reach her. Miranda gave him a nice smelling hand to kiss and Storm worked on it up to the inner dip of her elbow.
“Sweet Storm,” Miranda gasped, his ministrations affecting her and the tips of her breasts poking at the yellow cloth prominently. “It’s quite early. Let’s discuss your absence.”
“Let’s do that later and no, for me it isn’t,” Storm replied hoarsely. He had a surge of adrenalin from the earlier scare and didn’t want to waste it talking. “As you said dear, it has been a month.”
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Two hours later Storm came down from the bedrooms and crossed the main hall to his office. Sudi was there with Damian treating themselves to a bottle of his wine. Since it was from the local vintage, Storm didn’t mind it so much for two reasons. They needed to get rid of the stuff somehow to make room for a better batch and he had just finished a fantastic erotic session with Miranda.
The last round inside a large bronze bathtub had left quite the soggy mess behind.
Storm took his place behind the office, pushed the chair back to have room for his spread legs and air his genitals, his long green robes covering him hanging loosely and stared at a wall-painting of a Ticu getting plowed by a sailor whilst eating the man’s face. The scene equally lewd and gory, the colors vivid.
What the fuck? “Who commissioned this atrocity?”
“I did chief. It’s the theme of the Manor.”
“Cannibalism?”
“The sea and its creatures’ chief.”
Skirting around depictions of Abrakas so as not to be blatant to an unannounced visitor, or ruffian, had taken a whole other meaning for the artist.
“What disturbed mind thought of this?” Storm hissed, not liking his witty retorts.
“A local artist chief. Old friend of Titus from his sailing days,” Sudi replied. “He has skill.”
“As a pornographer?” Storm scoffed.
“Some gut stuff ayup,” Grin agreed, the Lorian was sitting near a library section on the other side of the room and Storm had missed him.
“I want you both to start reading lessons so you can speak passable Common,” Storm grunted and glared at Sudi. “Else you are not stepping near my son again. I fear he might catch your stupidity. Why, I’m feeling dumber already!”
Damian went to say something, but decided not to and sipped from his cup thoughtfully.
“We have the numbers for the Reformed,” Sudi said after a moment of silence and Storm turned to look at him. “Four hundred and twenty…”
“Three,” Grin helped.
“Well armed… folk, the majority good with the short blade—” Sudi continued afore he got interrupted by Storm this time.
“How short?”
“A dagger,” Sudi replied readily. “But with the help of Sir Barnard Rottas they have improved and can utilize the long one decently.”
“Uhm,” Nattas urged him along impatiently.
“Around forty of them can use a Harpoon, or spear.”
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“Where did we get those?”
“Fishing crews, deserters from the fleet.”
“Excellent,” Storm taunted.
“How do you want to use them?”
“Bring me that map of the city,” Storm ordered the pensive Grin. “Yes you. Get up, reach at that library shelve and pick it up. Slowly walk towards us and unfurl it on the desk. You mess it up I’ll have you flogged.”
“Right,” Sudi said cleaning his throat and then scratched the underside of his decrepit cheek. “Now with Mayor Darius in charge our objective should to be take over his villa at the center, neutralize the City Guards building, before turning our attention to the army barracks and the Palace in the North sector.”
“Give me numbers for the army,” Storm murmured.
“Most have left with the Duke.”
“But for a couple of guards at the gates?” Nattas retorted mockingly.
“Fifty.”
“The City Guards?” Storm asked and watched Grin opening the fancy painted vellum map. “When you finish open that cupboard. On the lower shelve there is a bottle of Flauegran. Bring it here as well with a clean goblet.”
“Eh, that bottle is gone chief,” Sudi said.
“On vacation?”
“The Queen found it.”
Thirsty girl with an expensive gullet.
“How can you possibly know this?”
“She left it in the garden returning from the beach,” Sudi explained. “The costly gardener we brought from Novesium habitually observed her from afar… for security reasons I suppose. I had him watching the Manor as a side job to justify his pay.”
“Can I talk with him?”
“He drowned,” Sudi replied without batting an eyelash. “It was his last report.”
“In the sea?”
“In the garden’s fountain. He clumsily fell asleep with his head under the water. I have it marked in the ledger as a work accident.”
Storm stood back on his comfortable armchair and smacked his lips.
“Was he a clumsy man?” He chanced. “A maladroit?”
Sudi blinked unsure.
“It’s the same thing, what we call a synonym,” Storm explained patiently.
“Not to my recollection, but I suspect he might have observed the wrong woman bathing and he was caught. It is not a big loss,” Sudi replied, while the two much cheaper thugs and Captains of the Reformed were watching their exchange being equal parts mesmerized and apprehensive.
“The bottom line here is,” Storm continued looking at them with distrust. “There is no more good wine.”
“There’s a barrel of black Whiskey from Castalor,” Sudi told him and waved for Grin to bring it from a case hidden behind the cupboard. The several bottles there reused wine bottles. “I had it transferred to bottles… we first cleaned thoroughly.”
“Hmm,” Nattas murmured not thoroughly convinced of the latter.
“Pour Lord Nattas a cup,” Sudi ordered Grin and he did spilling some on his desk. He wiped the stain with his sleeve carefully. Storm had a sip, then another.
“There’s a coal aftertaste in it,” he commented.
“They use smoked barrels, it’s almost as expensive as the wine.”
“Leave the bottle,” Storm told Grin. “Go back to your seat. Next time take a bath afore coming to the manor.”
“Yes milord,” Grin agreed sadly.
“Go.”
Sudi took the chance to continue their conversation.
“The City Guards have a strength of three hundred normally, but the Duke took most of them with him. Based on patrols we observe in the port, I’d say…” Sudi stooped on the scroll to calculate the numbers. “Ten men patrols, rotating three times a day, plus those guarding the three major roads and the building itself.”
“Around two hundred,” Storm said with a deep sigh.
“How did you…? Ehm,” Sudi replied unsure, still counting.
“Ursus took a hundred guards with him, a whore told me. She heard from their Captain,” Storm explained. “So I went at it from an easier route. Captain Caster is in charge of the Guard in the Duke’s absence along the Mayor.”
Sudi nodded.
“Can we buy him off?” Storm probed to speed this along as he was feeling hungry and the whiskey burned his stomach, which was a pleasant thing at start, but now it was getting annoying.
“He’s friends with Sir Gilmor the Duke’s son,” Sudi replied.
“Very expensive then,” Storm agreed and nodded with his head. “Damian? Have you got anything to contribute to our discussion?”
“I… eh,” Damian cleaned his throat, more a nervous cough, afore standing up straighter on his chair. “Nothing of notice milord.”
“Note,” Storm hissed.
“That too,” Damian agreed with the unnerving smile of an idiot.
Nattas stooped over the desk and rested his head in his hands. Rubbed his face next and stared at Sudi. “What did the reports say?”
“Sula had his cousin Baron Drusus ambush them near the Dry Mashes,” Sudi replied and found another scroll to read from. He’d several in a small leather bag.
“That the Lord of the Mines?”
“Aye, the same. He was stationed with troops to strike at Aegium, but he redirected him towards Novesium when word of the approaching army reached him.”
“How do you get ambushed marching on an open road?”
“They found the bridge over the Salty River unguarded and assumed Sula had retreated to defend against Sextus-Brakis.”
“Do we have a report of the battle?”
“No, but we know Duke Ursus returned to defend over Salty River and is staying at Nova Sium with his brother.”
“That’s a day away from the front.”
“Aye.”
“Our opponent’s mounting failures bring him closer to us and messes up with our own plans,” Storm hissed infuriated. “Stupid cunt merchant couldn’t even stay away for a bit longer fuck’s sake!” He sighed ruggedly, all his good mood ruined.
“Will Drusus Sula attack over the river with Demames in trouble?” Nattas asked after a moment of silent seething.
“The assault on Knuckle Tower was surprising, but it still stands,” Sudi replied. “Illirium needs help to take the city. They don’t have the numbers.”
“They never did,” Storm grunted and got up. “Imbeciles, cunt and clothes merchants, alongside young lords playing war games! Fucking buffoons that meddle with stuff they know little about thinking what came out of their mouths was a great idea and not a foul smelling fart! Arrgh!”
“You don’t have to be so vexed chief,” Sudi said worryingly. “Dottore said you need to avoid excitement for some time.”
“I’m fine,” Storm grunted. He’d collapsed from the heat in the summer, but it wasn’t medical. He just had too much to drink.
“They need to bring Ligur back for that,” Sudi continued carefully. “They have the numbers then.”
“Where’s Lucius?”
“Not at Oras Navel yet,” Sudi replied.
Storm grimaced and walked to the window to look at his garden. The other matter now, great. “Where is he?” He finally asked tiredly.
Lord Brakis son was his meaning.
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Peter Brakis seemed in good health, considering he was held for some months in Apicius’ small basement. He got up seeing him enter the Mayor’s office where they had brought him earlier, his thin frame a stark contrast to his father’s famous larger figure.
“Lord Nattas?” the younger Brakis growled. “Your man has me held here under false pretenses! For months’ sir! This is a disgrace.”
“I can see your point. I came as soon as I found out,” Nattas assured him. “Your story was difficult to palate Captain Brakis. You have to give the mayor that. The man just didn’t believe you.”
“What story? It was the truth! Does my father know of this?” Brakis snapped. He was wearing a clean tunic that was loose on his body and a tad short.
“Nobody knows about your whereabouts,” Nattas told him patiently. “Cartagen is under siege.”
“I feared that,” Peter Brakis said and frowned.
“Please be seated Peter,” Nattas said in a friendly manner. “I’ll have the Mayor reprimanded for this. I hope he at least was careful.”
“He kept me locked up in a basement!” Brakis growled.
“There are worse things,” Nattas found a chair to sit as well and gestured for the younger man to do the same. “Please take a seat.”
“Am I being released?”
Nattas stared at him for a long moment, his face a blank mask. Brakis stared at the door of the office.
“You’ll never make it,” Storm warned him. “Everyone here works for me Peter. Everyone. Even the kids selling cakes in the market. It’s an expensive endeavor.”
Brakis grimaced. He’d a tanned skin, sea weathered, but handsome.
“So you are working for the rebels,” he finally said and took a seat across from him in front of the Mayor’s desk.
“I work for myself,” Nattas replied tapping his fingers on the cheap wood’s surface. “And the realm. The wrong king is on the throne.”
“Not for you to decide Lord Nattas.”
“Can the king help Cartagen?” Storm asked him not taking the bait.
“We must prepare an answer for certain.”
“The fleet, what’s left of it, is supporting Sextus-Brakis against Sula,” Storm told him. “The Legion is near Asturia, or thereabouts and the King is in Alden.”
Brakis stood back on his seat and stretched his legs. “What are you saying?”
“The capital will fall eventually. Lesia will control the Gulf and then it would be difficult to take it back. An attack over land against an elongated distant naval country that can strike all along the coast. There is a reason the first King paused and made friends with Davenius. They might be less war inclined, but they are practical, rich and righteous. The latter mostly in their heads with exceptions.”
“Their Legion is fresh.”
“Our Legion is packed with rather fresh troops as well but for a Cohort.”
“Ligur has them in shape.”
“Ligur is half a continent away,” Storm snapped. “He can’t help. The best generals are with him trying to find a way to hurt Lord Holt, but again… there is a reason the first king avoided fighting with Hortolanus as well. You can’t win a war against a strong opponent without hurting yourself in the process. Can the young King take a hit and survive it?”
“What are you proposing?”
“If Cartagen is lost, then a win against Sula would be useless. King Jeremy won’t survive it,” Storm elucidated. “He’ll have not much of an army left with Ligur locked up in Asturia and he’ll be dragged to the negotiating table with King Davenport without any leverage. That is if he wins. If Sula survives, then what do you have? Novesium? Lesia will come here a month after Cartagen falls. Two at the most. Waltz right in. Why, there are no walls facing east. Ursus never finished the project. His father not this Ursus. This one is even dumber than him.”
Brakis smacked his lips and stared at a wall painting depicting a vase with red flowers. If they were roses, the artist was either unskilled, or too cheap to bother with realism.
“Sula should have obeyed the king. He raided Aegium that’s criminal behavior. Illirium was obligated to assist its neighboring city,” the young captain murmured.
“Peter that’s not how you take a throne,” Storm explained stooping towards him. “It is how you start it, but you need to make certain of some crucial details afore you finish. You kill the legitimate heir. His wife, kids and friends within a week, a couple of months tops. That very day would have been ideal. Put everyone faithful under the knife to protect yourself from reprisals. That’s a lot of knifing you need to do Peter. If you don’t and you allow it to fester, then it will slip out of your fingers. Grow and then consume you whole.”
“That’s not… What are you talking about?”
“You want me to repeat it?”
“Lucius wasn’t there. A decision needed to be made.”
“He wasn’t and panic set in,” Storm agreed. “Which is why we needed to buy time.”
“The Queen could have chosen to stay on the throne,” Brakis argued.
“They didn’t let her. Circumstances,” Storm grimaced. “Even so, it could have been avoided with some cooperation. You’ve let a couple of greedy men drag you into a stupid affair Peter. Your father as well.”
“If Sula loses then my father will come up the shores and reinforce the city.”
“If… but unfortunately… Ursus lost and is returning to Novesium.”
“You’re lying.”
“Sula licked him outside the Dry Marshes. He retreated over the Salty River,” Storm elucidated. “Even if Sula stays put, Ursus would never try again. He doesn’t have what it takes Peter. What he wanted all along, he now has. Fighting isn’t in his blood. I bet he’s scheming for a way out already.”
Peter Brakis puffed his cheeks out and grimaced his face dark.
“We’re going to lose the capital.”
“We will. Within the year, a couple of months more,” Storm agreed. “The Barons will defend well enough, but Lesia will bring more troops in, land behind Mabindon, or even here. Sever the lines of supply and move inlands from both sides. If they cut the road at Elysium Fort, then all they have to do is creep up to Tworivers Castle and the city would be cut off completely. No population fights well when supplies stop coming in. They have time and all they need is another naval win to completely dominate the Scalding Sea.”
He’d laid it thick there perhaps, but Storm needed Brakis to understand.
“So what’s your play?”
“Sula can reinforce the capital.”
“Ursus would never agree,” Brakis argued. “Assuming you get an agreement out of Sula and the King.”
“Sula would do it and Ursus can be persuaded.”
“I don’t think so,” Brakis grimaced. “His force may not be enough again.”
“It will be if Lucius comes down from Oras Navel,” Storm said and got up as well.
“Lucius is at the Navel?”
“He’s the reason we still have a chance,” Storm explained walking near him. “Why Lesia is moving so slow. They had to deal with him all along. But they can’t. Just like in the games. He’ll make fools of them all. No one had ever won while he competed. When he is committed, you can’t beat him. He is committed, trust me.”
“What do you want from me?” Brakis asked standing back from him.
“I’m not the devil Peter,” Storm replied. “I’m a patriot really. Lucius is the one they fear. Put him on the throne and Lesia will back away.”
“This is treason Nattas.”
“What you guys did was treason Peter,” Storm corrected him. “You’ll find no clemency for that my young friend, unless you help now. Then I can have Lucius see reason. Keep you out of trouble. Think of your young sisters selling themselves for coin!”
The thought surprisingly erotic.
Hmm.
“Lord Nattas!” Brakis growled.
“You and your father get your head chopped off for treason. It could happen and you know it,” Storm told him with a shrug. “Tell me you see another future for them.”
“Am I free to go?” Brakis hissed pursing his mouth.
“Of course,” Nattas said and walked back to his seat. “I told you this was done without my knowledge.”
“I could have you ousted to the king,” Peter said and Storm tapped the squid on his sigil once drawing his eyes there.
“I fear no other beast but the one living in the depths,” he recited and Brakis narrowed his eyes. “For I’ve my eyes open and observe. See, what needs to be done and where the wind blows.”
“You’ve changed the words,” Brakis hissed through his teeth and Storm chuckled shaking his head.
“Only an Abrakas follower would have noticed it Peter,” he told the young seadog. “I have no quarrel with the ‘young kraken’ or his father. Never had,” he added in a rare truthful statement.
“I don’t have a ship,” Brakis told him, after a moment of deep thought.
“You do,” Storm replied and turned as Sudi who was listening in, opened the door whilst sheathing his trusty dagger behind his back. “It’s not a big ship, but I’m poor petty Baron.”
“Say we find common ground,” Brakis said looking at the scarred face of the half-breed. “What do you want in exchange for this agreement? We were not part of the whole ordeal as you said.”
“Eh, let’s keep lies out of it,” Storm cautioned him. “You may have to sacrifice something, or someone for this to work.”
“I see.”
“As I said. I’m poor and modest. You agree to give me ownership of Turtle Isles and I’ll speak of a brave fight we both gave against the conspirators three years back now. Or keep silent, if this doesn’t work for both our good.”
“It’s a whale fishing port,” Brakis frowned. “I get the oil is enticing though. Novesium and Aegium have to agree, they are equal partners on the title.”
“No they won’t be,” Storm assured him. “Illirium’s would be the sole available vote when the matter is brought up in the distant future. As you remember one must be present on these matters.”
“How do you know?” Peter Brakis asked him and Storm shrugged his shoulders indifferently.
“I can see the future,” he admitted and to his credit the young captain nodded cracking a small smile. Whether because Peter could see the future as well through the Kraken’s visions, or thought him a delusional braggart Storm didn’t know.
But he also couldn’t back away at that point.
With Jeremy on the throne and his allies winning, Storm was a dead man walking. With Lucius in power, then there was a lot of goodwill coming his way, especially if he appeared un-greedy and modest.
All he needed to do was be the only one from that council meeting still breathing when the official account was going to be written.
“You could discuss it with the others as well,” Sudi reminded him later that evening as they watched Peter Brakis climbing up the small transport in Manor’s port.
He had to travel at night to slip through Lesia’s fleet patrolling ships.
“I’ll take the cheapest option at this junction,” Storm had replied readily and his loyal right hand man had nodded in agreement as they were hard-pressed for time.
But also really deep in the hole financially.
So between another bribe and the knife, Storm had chosen the knife.
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