“And do you have the necessary proof for initiating this hunt?” Auditor Bren asked.

“Yes. As we speak, my assistant is sending the footage over to you now,” Timur replied. He smiled professionally from the screen in front of the Auditor, though no mirth reached his eyes. Auditor Bren was used to seeing this kind of look from hunters, but from one of the Imperial Court – that did raise some suspicions from him.

A moment later, the Auditor’s holo-screen pinged and a file marked “Brusk_footage_IC.V” was sent over to Bren. The file was an hour long, and after reviewing its contents, Bren told Timur he’d have the other Auditors review the files, but that Timur’s request had merit to it.

“We’re going to have a word about your ‘investigators’ after this, and how they managed to acquire Ecreville security footage, but for now, you’ve passed the preliminary assessment. Your file does bring up concerning matters, and for you to request this publicly…I don’t know what you’re thinking, but I hope for your sake, you keep out of hunter matters from hereon. There will be no more warnings,” were Bren’s exact words.

Timur understood and logged off.

It was just a waiting game now, and Timur expected it to end with a public request for all hunters to go after the Trepidor brothers. After all, if word gets out murder occurred on Ecreville’s neutral grounds, there would be no end to the questions facing the Auditors, and to a lesser degree, the Clan itself. Both organizations put at risk, held aloft by the strings of unknown third parties. He thought back to the contents of the box, sent to him by someone, or those, who knew about the Clan’s deepest secrets.

Tor’s damaged head, as well as the head of a Clan member, a message stating that there resides a piece of God in the underground, and a request to the Clan to have the brothers marked by any means, with an implied threat of exposing the Clan’s greatest secret…

Timur had always suspected a mole amongst the Clan. Money from the treasury seemed inconsistently low when compared against the weekly financial records these past few months. He knew the financial department’s members, and vaguely recognized the head in the box at the time to be one of their members, Crea Rollick.

This was concerning. The fact that a Clan member was ousted as a traitor, was a concerning revelation indeed. The Clan had never failed to dissect every facet of their prospective members’ backgrounds and lives during recruitment, especially with the Clan’s vast investigation network and their paranoid levels of scrutiny towards guarding confidential information. The fact that a mole, though one lower of rank, was living amongst the Clan this whole time, and working with an external entity who knew more about the Clan than most council members, signified a bigger conspiracy in the works.

Timur sighed audibly and pinched his temples in frustration. To alleviate the Auditors, who had suspected hunter activity within the Clan because someone leaked information that someone from the Clan was investigating the Brusk warehouse incident and potentially had a hand in the matter, the Imperial Court had to denounce Crea in front the Auditors, stating that he hired hunters and ended up getting himself killed to satiate his own selfish desires, and that he did not represent the Clan and that the Clan had proof of his treachery.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

It was only through this that the Clan managed to slip by the Auditors further inquiry into the matter, though the Clan seemed to be on thin ice with the Auditors now as a result. At worst, the Clan may still be garnering suspicion with the Auditors, and at best, it shows corporate negligence and an inability of one of the three major Clans to keep track of its own people.

Nonetheless, the death of the mole gave the Clan leverage with the Auditors, and though Timur hated to admit it, the unknown entity who delivered the request probably wanted the mole dead, so the Clan could have a basis upon which to present the video evidence of the warehouse events that day, which was recorded in secret by this unknown outside entity. After all, the video’s digital footprints were easily traced back to Crea’s downloaded files, probably an intentional action by Crea’s supposed superior to oust him.

That’s the beauty of public hunt requests. Its purpose is to maintain order within the city, regardless of the personal motivation of the one who provided the information. And the Clan always had a reputation for zealousness against those who disrupted public order, so it was believable that their intentions to want to get rid of the Trepidor brothers came purely from a place of respect for legal order.

Still, things are about to get messy, Timur thought, anxiously fingering his agate ring. The prices for the brothers’ heads are exorbitant, and once word gets out that they’ve been marked, they’ll be no stopping the inevitable chaos which will ensue.

I guess it’s about time to head to the council chamber, Timur reminded himself.

He grabbed a nearby cane, propping himself up, and stepped down the hallway outside of his office quarters. Gold filigree lined the ceiling walls above him. With each marble pillar he passed, a painting hung on the wall, each portrait depicting the previous Daijo-Daijin before him, all the way up to the founder of the Clan of Tributes, and Alyssa Kamakura’s friend, Cain Liu, whose portrait hung right next to the entrance to the chamber of the Imperial Court.

Before he entered, a message popped up on his watch. A small holo-screen notified Timur of a scheduled update with one of his investigators. He rung the investigator up.

“Alokar, I need you to look into something for me after your news.”

“Acknowledged,” Alokar said. “Regarding Phantasma, we lost connection with her a while ago. She headed underground, but didn’t come back up for her scheduled reports. The last message I received from her is that two suspicious hunters, both male, came in contact with her. She’s looking into the matter, but they seem to have a connection with the Valkyries.”

Timur thought about this, but realized he didn’t have much time at the moment. He had to enter the council chamber.

“Alokar, I want you to check in on Phantasma, if possible. No Clan affiliation. Report back only when you’ve made certain of her status, and do so through our informants, not through our private lines. We can’t afford to have you tied back to us. You understand the consequences?” Timur knew the question was a redundant one.

“Of course, Daijo-Daijin. It will be as you command.”

“Good. And one other thing. When you’re done with that, I need you to find out who is this point of contact that Crea Rollick was…exchanging pleasantries with. Normally, I’d have Phantasma do this herself, but I think your particular…skills…suits this kind of operation better.”

“I understand. Will that be all?”

“For now. Report back to me in the next 72 hours.”

“As you say,” Alokar responded. The moniker, Unknowable, suited his nature, and he left without a trace.

Whatever happens next, the dice have been tossed, Timur realized.

Some inconvenience this had all been, and the fragile order that his line of succession sought to maintain seemed to be unraveling before his eyes. Though others of the Court seemed certain of their hold on power, Timur knew better than to underestimate the circumstances. There had to be a connection between all these events. A hunch was all Timur had to work with, but it’ll have to be enough for now. As he thought about the Clan’s future, he sighed and pushed open the double doors of the council chambers, striding into the viper’s den.