Enzo Maynard sat at his desk, scowling at a blank computer screen, glaring at his phone. Scowling at his scrying mirror. Scowling at his assistant. Scowling at the door. Scowling at pretty much everything, that was present for him to scowl at.
Seconds ticked by, and time marched forwards as it always had. Infuriatingly indifferent. He felt a pressure building behind his eyes, a fire that was slowly smouldering while he waited for someone, anyone to get back to him.
He waited, ten minutes, fifteen minutes, thirty minutes, an hour. Once three hour passed he jumped up from his seat and walked out of the room. If he stayed any longer he knew he was liable to hurl his desk and everything on it, out the window.
He was more than strong enough to do it. Which meant he had to get away before he gave into the impulse. It would be too unseemly and expensive as far as tantrums went.
Enzo marched out of his office and into his assistant Darlene’s. He paced in and then he paced out and then he paced in again, slamming the door multiple times before finally pulling it closed.
“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck these fucking fuckers! Fucking with me!? Tell you what if I make it through this we’ll just have to see who bends over takes it in the end, yeah?! FUCK!” he bellowed as loud as he could.
Assured that his outburst wouldn’t be heard since he’d long ago gone to the trouble of making sure that his office and Darlene’s were magically and architecturally soundproofed.
“Any ideas?” said Enzo looking to his assistant.
The long suffering octogenarian just sat sat her desk, copying her hand written records with a typewriter. Copying her work over because Digital record keeping couldn’t be completely trusted but good typeface was deemed preferable to even the tidiest scrawl.
“I have several, Mayor Maynard.” said Darlene. Her answer prim, and her tone dispassionate.
“Oh?”said Enzo, seeing what could possibly be a light at the end of the tunnel.
“None that will help you in your present situation though...”
“Oh,….Shit.” said Enzo, feeling his little balloon of hope violently pop.
“Really? You have nothing?” Absolutely nothing?”
Darlene looked up from what she was doing, frowning at him from behind her glasses. He tensed, aware he was probably about to get a scolding. She was wearing a displeased expression that said he was being bother, but damn it, he couldn’t help it. Besides, he was her was boss.
Actually she used to work for his father. She was originally a slave, a pleasure slave no less. For all that he current incarnation and style of dress made her look like some hybrid of nun, librarian and vampire bat.
Enzo had always had a hard time believing that part of her story. In his mind his father wasn’t a sexual being and if he’d ever had a single erection in his adult life it was almost definitely caused by a particular hefty looking bank balance.
As for Darlene, she’d been a ex-princess, one of countless princesses won as treasure from countless fallen kingdoms. If there were any fools out there having her waste time on her back instead of in an office then that was a travesty of the highest order.
Darlene possessed a mind for business and politics that rivaled the old monster that Enzo used to call Grandfather. A man so shrewd that he was almost definitely working as an accountant in hell right now.
If Enzo hadn’t been drummed out of the Meallan military for ‘insubordination’ and his idiot brother was standing where he was at the moment than Enzo had no doubt that any actions his younger brother Giovani made, would have had her fingerprints on them.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
The young fop was the sort to be easily led if one could make them think that any idea was their own. Besides he suspected that the two’s entanglement would quickly grow carnal if the situation required it.
Giovani was just that much of a hound and Darlene was just that cutthroat when it came to doing things. He generally didn’t think too deeply on it because she was also the closest thing Enzo had ever had to a parent. He didn’t like to imagine a future where she turned that sharp wit of hers against the Maynards.
The octogenarian, looked barely forty, cultivating and practicing the sword on her free time. Enzo knew that somewhere out there lay her real enemy and she was plotting a revenge that would fall on just the right time. However many decades that took to arrive.
“Sir...What can I say? We’ve been thoroughly outmaneuvered.” said Darlene. Speaking slowly and patiently as one would speak to a child.
Though there was bit of gloomy light in her gaze, a fire in her eyes that hinted that the usually unflappable secretary wasn’t exactly happy about the situation either. Her look promising that if she survived there’d be yet another name added to the list of those who’d she’d seek satisfaction from.
“I still say that we should go into hiding. Regroup and then think things over. If we can’t justice then we’ll just get even.” said Darlene. As brutal and decisive as ever.
“And I’ve already said it’s not as easy as that.” said Enzo. Though he was aware that she’d already set up such plans for them to act in line with that if the worst came to the worst.
Not that he’d be able to actually make use of any of those measures. Besides the loss of face and esteem that would be involved, there were other concerns.
If Jelani fell there were records that had been doctored to make it look like it had been his doing. Thus if he ran the onus would be on his family’s shoulders. While his kin weren’t exactly good people they certainly didn’t deserve to go down that way.
They likely thought the same which meant they’d probably have counter measures for all the obvious escape attempts. For example, He expected the guards in the mayoral office would become a subjugation force if it looked like he was trying to flee.
Enzo sighed, sinking into the seat in front of Darlene’s desk. Head in his hands. He wanted to scream, he wanted to cry. This was the fall of the second, or possibly even the first most major city in Meallan and there wasn’t a thing that he could do to stop it. He’d have options had he known what was coming but there’d been forces who hadn’t wanted him to know.
The Church of the Unified Pantheon was known for three things. The first, was being a ubiquitous power throughout all of Argus. The second, was being the power that finally brought order to the world.
The third was, possessing a massive amount of Oracles and Precognitive Practitioners, that allowed them to quietly maneuver in the background of history. Wielding their knowledge of the future as a weapon. This time that weapon was pointed at Enzo.
You couldn’t climb as high as he’d climbed without making a few enemies. This wasn’t even a grudge that lay between him and the church. If that had been the case then he likely would have been quietly, mercifully, crushed before he could even think to react.
No, this was a grudge between him and someone else. Someone with enough influence to get the church to forestall its warnings. Holding off till the last possible moment. Holding his city and his people ransom so that Enzo would be unable to fight back.
Now here he was, up the creak without a paddle. Waiting for a thoroughly unsatisfying end, where he had no choice but to heroically die lest he bring the ire of the kingdom onto his family and cause the dissolution of the Maynard line.
There was a knock. It startled Enzo from his reveries. He sat up straight and hid the desolateness that lay in his expression. Affecting a look of self-important, benevolence. Staring at the door looking as professional as he’d ever been.
Darlene got up without a word and opened the door on his cue. In walked in a man, one of the contractors from earlier in the day.
“Yes? Disregarding the late hour, Is there anything we can do to help you?” he said. Speaking in a tone that made clear that his meaning was more along the lines of ‘what the hell do you want?’.
“Ah...sorry, I was wondering if you could tell me where the staging ground will be?”
“Might I ask why?” said Enzo, not really needing to feign his irritation this time.
“I have some things I need to set up ahead of time.” said the stranger.
Enzo frowned and then he crossed his arms.
“Well, sure, but hold on one second...I know the traditions and I know it’s a bit out of the usual, but I like to see a man’s face before I trust him with sensitive information so if you wouldn’t mind…?”
Enzo expected the man to argue, generally speaking anyone wearing a caster’s mask was free to do so. Only the highest authorities in a land could require they do otherwise.
Kings, Popes, Guild Heads, Heads of Powerful Sects. Enzo was just a mayor. Important but not so important that any true elites would necessarily heed his somewhat unreasonable request.
Enzo was a bit disappointed when he saw the man acquiescing, it would have a been a great excuse to dismiss him or at least to get some satisfaction by throwing some weight around.
The Nine-Eyed Mask was removed and been it a lay face that was a bit dark, and a bit on the feminine side but apart from that it was absolutely ordinary. Like any face you’d see in a crowd.
The only difference was that there was something gloomy and slightly off about the young man’s gaze. It reminded Enzo a bit of Darlene’s look actually. So sharp you could cut yourself. Piercing and exceedingly deep.
“Mhm...I don’t really have the details Mister….”
“Maddoc, William Maddoc. The Nine-Eyed Asphodel.” said Billy.
“Yes, Mister Maddoc. I don’t really have the details but you can ask Darlene here if you really want to know.”
“Nh...Thank you, Mister Mayor.”
The man nodded and Enzo felt himself being discounted, his presence discarded and dismissed from memory as the man turned those eerie eyes of his to Darlene. Inclining his head in a slight bow before turning and leaving the room.