Lord Daron, having arrived back at Aku'anda the evening of the following day of the funeral, alighted from the hovercoach that had carried him home. His wife was not home, Neither was Dodi. He went into the kitchen and made himself a cup of tea, then went directly to his study, with a purposeful expression on his face.
He rummaged around in his study searching through his papers for the runic representation of the magical essence of a man called Dimar Sustance.
Dimar was a high ranking official in the Seyrulan government. He was, like Lady Akan, a successful business man, who had been elected to position as the chief security official of Seyrule, and Lord Daron had recently become highly disappointed in him. The frown on Lord Daron's face did not fade as soon as he found the runic essence, instead it deepened even further. Lord Daron took the cup of tea on the table and took a sip, the frown turned into a grimace, the tea had gone cold.
He laid the cup back down on the table and brought out a wave spell. He invoked the wave spell by reciting its hook spell and right after that, Dimar's Magical essence.
The heartbeats came into focus, A minute passed, and Dimar's voice came in through the wave, a strong, deep voice that was never the less calm.
"Lord Daron." He said.
"Lord Dimar." Lord Daron replied. "I would have some words with you."
"I'm all ears." Dimar replied.
"As of the past few days, some of our war mages have been in your city." Lord Daron began.
"I'm aware." Dimar responded.
"Then surely you know why they are there?" Lord Daron asked? his brow furrowing even more.
"Yes, indeed. They're looking for Ganz, isn't it?" Dimar responded.
"Yes indeed. And frustratingly, they've just informed me that Saymor's police is extremely lax about this issue." Lord Daron complained. Lord Dimar sighed, Lord Daron could almost hear him rolling his eyes.
"Lord Dimar, this is a matter of great importance. Ganz is a dangerous man, You should have locked down the entire city and declared a state of emergency the moment you caught whiff of him!"
"State of emergency?" Lord Dimar asked, He chuckled softly. "Well I suppose that's something Aku'anda is rich enough to afford, Saymor is a port city, in a kingdom that still remains one of the poorest in the region, We can afford no such thing."
"Lord Dimar!" Lord Daron exclaimed.... He stopped himself and took a deep breath.
"Did your mages not know that he had regularly visited the popular venue known as the Mousetrap?" Lord Daron asked.
"It was... not clear." Dimar responded. "Our mages are busy, spread thin, Ganz did not commit any crimes here, we had no reason to go after him."
"He murdered almost thirty elite mages." Lord Daron said.
"In Sungan, not Saymor" Dimar replied.
"Are they not people too?" Lord Daron asked in exasperation.
"With all due respect, Lord Daron," Dimar began. "Lady Akan told us what transpired between the Sungans from the very first day they interacted with Ganz. He warned them in very clear terms—"
"I will not have you heap blame on our fallen brothers!" Lord Daron interjected.
Dimar remained silent.
"Do you think you will be spared if Ganz succeeds?" Lord Daron continued. "Do you think he will leave your valuable port city alone if he finds use for it? What do you think he will do to your democratic council if he should take Saymor for himself? Think!"
Lord Dimar remained silent for a few seconds, then spoke.
"He will do no such thing." He said.
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
"And how would you know such a thing?" Lord Daron asked.
"How do you think?" Dimar replied,
"What?" Lord Daron asked, but Dimar had cut the link.
---
Binko, Hark and Lakan entered into the Saymor Jail just as the sun was setting, it was a large compound that was surrounded by a long U-shaped building, All the criminals and suspects that war mages caught were held here.
They were directed to the administrative office, where they met Serene, one of the Seyrulan war mages and the woman in charge of Zeron. She led them to his jail cell.
He was not happy to see them again.
"Hello my friend!" Lakan greeted, grinning from ear to ear.
"I already told you everything I know, Why are you here?" Zeron asked?
"That's no way to treat an old friend." Binko joked, grinning.
"Shut up bitch." He snapped. Binko's grin vanished and was replaced with her death stare.
"Why do you keep pissing her off, man?" Lakan sighed as Serene opened the cell door. Binko walked up to him and grabbed his hair. He grabbed her arm and pulled it away. She winced, then she invoked the speed and overpowered him.
"cheater." He spat as Binko pulled his arms behind his back and put cuffs on him. Then she pushed him towards Lakan who held him and guided him outside his block.
"I don't know why you guys are here, But If you think there's information I'm hiding, there isn't."
"You seem overly conscious there, Zeron." Hark said. "How do you know that's what we're here for?"
"Why else would you be here, genius?" Zeron asked as they pushed him into the hovercoach, to transfer him to Lufa Arabambi's house, where they intended to interrogate him again.
He kept asking them why they had come for him and where they were taking him, but they deflected, until they got to Lufa's house. Then they tied him back to the chair, and Binko crouched in front of him and looked him in the eye.
"Listen here pipsqueak." She said at him. "You see, unlike my colleagues here, I don't actually believe a single word out of your lying mouth."
"Oh for fuck's sake!" Zeron whined
"Yes," Binko said. "You're hiding something and you're going to tell me..."
She was interrupted by Lord Daron's wave link, She paused and left him, walking outside to accept the connection.
"Lord Daron," She said once the wave link had connected.
"Do you know Lord Sustance?"
"Who?" Binko asked.
"Dimar Sustance." Lord Daron said. "He is an elected councilor and official of security at Saymor. He is working for Ganz."
"What?!" Binko exclaimed. She had no idea who that was, but an elected councilor of an entire city working for Ganz was never a good thing to hear.
"Yes, I am sure of it. Your lives are in danger, you must leave Saymor immediately."
"Lord Daron, We are about to interrogate Zeron again." Binko said.
"Leave him and exit Saymor now. Your safety is more important to us, Seyrule has betrayed us."
Binko's shock remained on her face as she entered. Even Zeron noticed.
"Got dumped over a wave link?" Zeron joked.
"Shut up." She barked at him, "Lakan, Hark, join me outside, please."
They joined her outside and she told them what Lord Daron had told her. They were shocked.
"Besides the Dimar guy, did he mention anyone else?" Lakan asked.
"No, but it could be anybody. Probably not Keri though." Binko said.
"Do we return Zeron then?" Hark asked.
"Lucky bastard." Binko spat. "yes, let's return him to the prison, and then we leave, by the way, nobody mention this to him, let him think we're messing with him for no reason."
"Fine by me. I'll tell Keri we're taking him back, I think we can trust her." Lakan said. Hark nodded.
Five minutes later they were in another hovercoach going back to the prison. Zeron was confused and speechless.
The Hovercraft was cruised across the streets as the first lights in the shops were beginning to light up for the coming night, it took a turn and then stopped abruptly.
The driver invoked a spell or two but the craft remained stuck. the Aku'andan mages looked at each other in concern. They invoked their speeds and defense spells.
The driver who was apologizing profusely was quieted by Binko. They looked through the windshield at the front, as well as the rearview glass but didn't see anything. Binko slowly opened the door and got out, looking up... She immediately gasped and invoked up a conical shield spell as a sharp energy blade flew at her. It ricocheted off her shield and she screamed.
"we're under fire!"
---
"I've gotten a job as an enterprise strategist." General Makon told Roe as he entered the room they were lodged in at the Redpuff inn. "I will work remotely, and the compensation will be enough for us both to survive for now. We can also finance rent, and move from this inn."
"What?" Roe laughed. "I thought you were a war mage? where did you learn to become an 'strategist'? Whatever that means?"
"What that means, is I get to collect information about the status of various ventures, and offer logical plans that they may follow to become more successful." Makon replied. "I used to have a similar job while I studied at the Odan warfare academy."
"Are there any other cool things you can do that I don't know about?" Roe asked, laughing.
"You know almost nothing about me, Roe." Makon said, then he went silent.
"What's wrong?" Roe asked.
"I saw my obituary today." Makon said. Roe gasped.
"I decided to stake out my cousin's house. they had my obituary pasted out." Makon said. "It was humbling."
"Did they write nice things about you?" Roe asked soberly.
"They said I was a great warrior, who gave his life for the ideals I believed in." Makon said.
"That's nice." Roe said. "No one even knows about me. No one probably cares if I'm dead or not."
"Not even your landlord?" Makon asked. Roe laughed.
"I'd been living in my coach for half a year until you found me." She said. "I'm a hovercoach driver, General. We are poor, and invisible. Barely human to most people, almost a part of the coaches that we drive."
General Makon sighed.
"Well, Count your lucky stars, Roe." He said. "You're with me now, From now on, everything will be different."