“Milicent you odious coward!” Rex roared as he grabbed the squirming noble by the scruff of his neck, lifting him off the ground. “Your fucking guards tried to arrest us on the way in. What kind of bullshit are you trying to pull here?”

“Now, now Rex,” the gnome leader said in a calm and squeaky voice, “we’re here now, no harm no foul. Let him go.”

Rex turned towards the tiny gnome, his muzzle looked tense as he snarled and hot steams of breath left his mouth. He looked tentatively back at Fredrick Milicent before dropping him and marching towards me, grunting under his breath.

“What a brute!” Milicent cried, “this is an outrage, Director, surely you can see why we refused negotiations until now. These… these rapscallions know no bounds!”

Rex turned back and growled at the man who let out a short squeal before hurriedly moving behind Freja who clasped her face in her hands, looking like she was nursing a migraine.

“Kaleb!” Rex said, grasping my entire arm with his paw as he pulled me in for a hug. It was surprisingly warm and fluffy being wrapped in his fur, like being held by an animated teddy bear. “Thank you for coming, it’s good to have you here. We need all the help we can get if we’re to deal with these backstabbing sissies.” He said, muttering the last part in my ear.

“It’s good to see you too mate,” I replied, failing to recall when we had become such good friends, not that I minded. “Just to be clear though, my team and I aren’t here to support a side, we’re just here to make sure no one dies.”

“And to ensure that there is no foul play,” Freja said, striding towards me with the gnome on one side of her and a trembling Milicent on the other. “Well, no more foul play,” she added, shooting a poignant look at Fredrick.

“Quite so,” Ernest Regina said, stepping in front of the chair at the head of the table. “As chairman of the council I believe it is my duty to lead this negotiation today on behalf of-”

“Actually,” Freja interrupted, appearing behind him suddenly and placing a firm hand on his shoulder. “I came here today expressly so that I, a neutral party, could chair these talks for you. I assume no one opposes this?”

Ernest looked deeply offended as frown lines cut his lower mouth like trenches, but he didn’t speak against the formidable director, instead choosing to move to the seat next to her.

“Good,” she continued, taking the seat and leaning back in it like she owned the room, placing her feet up on the table and crossing them. “In that case, if you’ll all please take your seats, we shall begin.”

The conference table was long enough to accommodate the entire council on a single side. There were twelve of them overall, though I’d only had the chance to meet three of them.

That meant that Sally, Bell, Panda, Asmodeus and I had to sit on the same side as the communists, since there were only the three of them in attendance: the gnome, Rex and the small catonid woman complete with the same green beret and army fatigues she’d worn the last time I’d seen her. I still didn’t know her name.

“Alright gnome,” Regina said with an air of hostility, “spit it out, what is it that you dirty slum dwellers want from us?”

“Mr Regina,” Freja sighed, “might I ask that you at least try to show a modicum of respect to the participants of this discussion. You could at least call the man by his name… what is your name?”

“We are all gnomes,” the gnome leader replied with a shrug, “we do not have individual names, this vessel has been chosen to represent the species in political matters but we are all of one mind, a shared consciousness.”

Freja rolled her eyes and lifted her palms in defeat as Ernest gave a satisfied smile. A small victory for a small man.

“Well then gnome-” Fredrick began again but was promptly cut off by a growl from Rex.

“That’s Mr Gnome to you, Trust Fund.”

“Mr Gnome,” he corrected, “what is it that you want from us?”

“It is quite simple,” the gnome replied curtly, “we represent the people working across Cali Port in your factories. The people who are underpaid, underappreciated and many of whom can’t even afford to feed their families whilst you sit in your… well, ivory towers, if you’ll excuse the pun, hording more wealth than you could possibly ever need.

“All that we ask is for fairer wages for the workers, a recognised union system so that we may renegotiate these terms as the economy fluctuates, and shares for employees in the businesses that they work for so that they might one day sell them back to you for a small retirement sum.”

“Absolutely not!” Callum said, slamming his fist on the table and standing up abruptly. “Hell will freeze over before I give away shares in my company to peasants. They should be thanking me for the opportunity to work for such a well-loved and trusted business!”

“That’s right,” another council member joined in.

“Paupers are workers, not owners,” someone else said, “they fronted none of the risk to create the businesses they work for and now they wish to reap the rewards?”

“Greedy,” a man in a green blazer added, “the whole lot of them.”

“Ahem,” Freja coughed into her hand loudly and the buzz quieted down. She nodded at Ernest Regina and he leaned forward, placing his hands under his chin as he considered the gnome.

“I told you,” Rex said flippantly, “they were never going to listen. These silly nobles look at the stars reflected on the sea at night and mistake it for the stars. They will never understand the plight of the working man.”

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

“I’m pretty sure he stole that line for The Witcher,” Bell said, leaning in and whispering in my ear.

“I am a reasonable man,” Ernest said, completely ignoring Rex’s comments, “we are reasonable people. I’m sure we can come to some kind of agreement that doesn’t spit in the faces of the hard-working entrepreneurs sitting before you. Perhaps a wage increase, say… one gold more per month?”

“One gold?” Rex yelled. It was now his turn to slam his fist on the table in outrage, except he was much stronger than the council members and he broke off a chunk of the table in his rage, causing a few of them to go wide eyed and lean back in a startled manner.

The gnome put a calming hand on the lycanids arm and he sat back down, mumbling to himself.

“I’m glad to see that the council is in fact willing to negotiate,” the gnome said calmly, “however, you must understand that a single gold will make little difference in the workers lives. Why, rent alone is five gold a month for a single room. Even with the increase you’d need three workers to a room for them to be able to afford that, when you factor in utilities and food. Why Mr Millicent’s workers only earn one gold per week at the moment. Surely you can see why we have such an issue with this treatment?

“I believe the only way to live in a truly fair society is to share the wealth. Public ownership of business is the pinnacle of social development. There’s no room for greed if we are all sharing, all working for the greater good. Though of course, currently we’re only asking that you give your employees shares so that they might use them to retire one day. Doing so would align your interests with theirs as they’d have stakes in the company and so wish to see it do well.”

“So you wish to take what’s ours?” Milicent said in an icy tone, “you demand shared ownership in the businesses that we built from the ground up? In a civilised society, gnome, we call that theft.”

“Didn’t his dad do the building and he just inherited it?” Bell said in a purposefully loud whisper which earned her a slight laugh from Rex, a smile from the catonid in the beret, and a scathing glance from every member of the council.

“No,” Milicent said, standing up and pacing behind his colleagues. “I simply won’t stand for it. You can’t seriously expect to come in here and bend us over a barrel like this. What do you take us for, common trollops?”

“You’ve got a big enough mouth for one,” Rex sneered, “you could fit at least three cock-”

“Rex!” The gnome hissed, cutting off the lycanid who shrank down in his chair slightly.

“If you’re not willing to make any concessions Mr Millicent,” Freja interjected, “then why agree to these talks at all?”

“So that we can finally put an end to this silly public dissonance,” he replied, a half-smile appearing on his face. “In fact, Adventure Society has done us a huge favour in bringing the communist leadership here, all in one room… Arrest them!”

On command the elevator appeared in the centre of the room and a group of mean-looking mercenaries in fancy armour stormed in.

“Coward!” Rex roared as the sell swords swooped towards him.

However, before Rex could act, the catonid in the green beret, who had been silent so far, leaped across the table dagger in hand.

Fredrick screamed as she drove the point of her blade through his solar plexus and the room turned to chaos as council members dived from their chairs and moved back to the wall.

I jumped from my own chair, drawing my bow from my inventory and turning it towards the advancing mercenaries. However, before I could nock an arrow I felt something hard punch me in the face.

I flew across the room, landing besides Freja as a smiling, scarred sell sword looked at me, licking his lips. Another one held a long sabre to Bell’s throat and began frog marching her and Panda towards us.

I felt rumbling in my shoulder as Asmodeus tensed up and growled. I considered letting him lose on the mercenaries but thought better of it as I saw my other companions’ actions.

Sally didn’t make any attempt to draw her oversized blade, which sat on her back and joined, us without resistance. I felt my insides boil as I watched her compliance. I knew we were supposed to be neutral but this farce was anything but that.

The air besides me felt heavy and I turned in time to see Freja conjure a portal around the dagger wielding catonid’s neck. Her head disappeared as the magic dispersed and her body dropped to the floor with a wet clunk as blood gushed from her neck.

“No!” Rex growled, throwing a guard off him as three more piled onto his back, successfully forcing his hands into huge metal cuffs.

The gnome sat silently in his seat the entire time. Watching the debacle with sad eyes.

I stood up, raising my bow but Freja put a steady hand out in front of me, preventing me from aiming at anyone.

“Kaleb don’t,” she said, looking at me with tired eyes. “This isn’t our fight.”

Like hell it’s not! You got involved. I thought, but the words wouldn’t come.

As I looked into her beautiful face I could see the hidden rage. Yet she controlled it so gracefully. Surely she must have something else up her sleeve, or was she just as corrupt as the rest? I honestly didn’t know, but if there was one thing above all else that I could read in her expression, it was the knowledge that to defy her would mean my death.

“That is quite right director,” Fredrick said, standing up, downing a healing potion and brushing off his suit as the fighting subsided. “And I’ll see to it that your guild is amply compensated for maintaining its neutrality in all this. As for you gnome, it seems that you have been well and truly bested.”

He took his seat back at the table and a few other council members joined him. Ernest Regina had gone as pale as a ghost, but he recovered quickly, if silently.

Rex was dragged into the elevator by a group of burly mercenaries, he fought them all the way but even he was no match for their strength.

Two more stood behind the gnome threateningly and my team, Sally and Freja were left standing near the window, well and truly out of the fight.

“You see gnome,” Fredrick continued, “money is power and I used my power to hire the famous Everett Company. No doubt you’ve heard of them?”

I looked around blankly, and the gnome stayed silent.

“They’re a famous group of mercenaries, jade soul and above only. We’d have never beaten them.” Sally said through gritted teeth and I felt my anger at her dissipate as I saw her contorted face.

“Exactly,” Millicent said gleefully, “so now, gnome, you’re going to tell your people to get back to work and then you’re going to rot in a jail cell until we decide what to do with you.”

The gnome looked deeply into Fredrick’s eyes for a long moment and then began to smile.

His demeanour changed drastically as he tipped his head back and belly laughed in a high pitched, squeaky voice. Millicent’s face reddened as he stared at the hysterical little man.

“How foolish you are to think that you’ve won, why, because you hired a few famous mercs?” The gnome began, regaining his composure as the nasty smile split his face. “We have an army of workers that vastly outnumber you and your sell swords. Though, I must admit Kaleb,” he turned towards me and I saw his eyes had turned completely black. “You have done me a service as well, by placing the entire council in one room. Like fish in a barrel.”

He shot a meaningful look at Callum who frowned.

“Cease this nonsense,” Ernest said, speaking up for the first time since the fighting began. “Your threats are cheap gnome; how do you plan to hurt us when you’re flanked by armed men with no allies anywhere near here?”

“How easily you all forget,” he said in a chuckle, “I’ve said it plenty of times. Gnomes are a hive mind species, losing one vessel is akin to shedding some hair. Deadly… explosive… hair.”

Jumping up onto his seat the gnome’s body began to glow with a bright orange light which only intensified with the voracity of his mad cackling.

“What the hell is going on?” Fredrick shouted, “kill him, kill him now!”

The mercenaries flanking the gnome raised their swords, and then he exploded.

BOOM!