Tarry Bennett

It was dark by the time Tarry finished his workday. He rubbed his eyes with a tired sigh. There had been no time to do anything but remain chained to his desk. Meeting after meeting had jammed his calendar. Ironically, he had been unable to connect with Eli since the urgent briefing with Abigail took place, despite that being the biggest bombshell of the day. He didn't know where Eli had disappeared to but knew he needed to reach him before he did something rash.

With renewed energy, he exited his office and found his assistant still seated at his desk, working furiously. He scarcely noticed Tarry which both made him feel badly and momentarily distracted him from his mission.

“What are you still doing here at this hour? Go home son, spend time with your family,” he chided gently.

It was well-meaning advice but he felt the bitter irony of him dispensing it to anybody. He hadn't been home before dinner for much longer than he cared to admit. Long enough that Francine had stopped commenting on it.

His assistant looked up. “Of course sir, just wrapping a few things up. It’s been a busy month.”

Tarry nodded sympathetically. It had been a busy month. And one that showed no sign of stopping at that.

“I’m sorry. Let’s discuss your workload in the morning and see what we can do,” he said kindly, “Are you the last one here?”

He shook his head. “No, I haven’t seen Mr. Briggs leave yet. Would you like me to page him?”

“Thank you but that won’t be necessary. Please don’t stay longer than you need to tonight.”

The fact that Eli remained onsite brought no end of relief. But after bidding his assistant good night and strolling around the office his anxiety once again began to grow. None of the boardrooms were occupied and neither was the office that held Eli’s name plate, despite never being used.

Frowning, he made his way to the stairs.

Tarry found him in the last place left to check, chain smoking on the rooftop. Eli was staring over Occaigh at night; one hand was bearing most of his weight as he loomed over the skyline while the other held a lit cigarette that he occasionally brought up to his lips. His eyes did not appear to focus on anything in particular and his lips were slightly parted in a deep pout. He was too deep in thought to notice Tarry.

“This is my favourite time of day to be up here,” Tarry said gently as he walked up beside him and leaned his arms casually on the railing.

Eli didn't react. He didn't even blink at Tarry's presence.

“I shouldn’t have said those things earlier,” was all he responded.

The words were empty though. They both knew he meant it all.

“No, you shouldn’t have,” Tarry agreed with a shrug, “If my counsel had heard it first hand they would’ve had a field day.”

He plucked the cigarette from Eli and brought it to his mouth to take a drag.

“What did they say when you told them?” Eli asked with a sidelong glance.

“I haven’t told them anything yet,” Tarry said simply.

Eli turned to look back over the city. “That’s wise I suppose. Needless to say, I’ll tender my resignation immediately.”

Tarry shook his head. “You’ll do no such thing.”

Eli’s eyebrows rose. “I can’t operate out of your office. Not for this. Not the way I want to.”

“I’ll allow myself to be judged for your methods after the fact but even I have to admit that taking down the Shadow Fellowship would be a win for public safety. I promised the world that I would get to the bottom of this mess when I rejected the initial inquest findings. I’ve gotten nowhere on that. Just like I’ve gotten nowhere on the potential threats against my life. It’s all connected, Eli, and we both know it.”

“You know that keeping him safe is my priority right now. What if I can’t do it all?” Eli asked pointedly and turned to face him.

Tarry leaned onto his elbow as he mirrored Eli. “If something happens to him I know your devastation would be endless. I don’t have children, nor anyone under my guardianship, but I’ve known you a long time. I’ve known him a long time. He’s the last piece of your brother that exists, right?”

Eli set his jaw slightly. “I believe what you’re getting at is that it’s better to keep me around on my terms than not at all.”

“My point is that, selfishly, I would, at the risk of public criticism, let you use my office and its resources for this if it makes you happy and helps you reach your goals. I think your goal is fundamentally selfless and if I can help you in keeping Olly safe I think we can in turn improve the safety of the general population. As such, I’ll let you create a task force from my staff but in return I expect you to make and keep the same promise that you demanded of Olly. Stay alive.”

Eli’s expression was unreadable. He reached for the cigarette back. “I will try,” he promised.

Tarry shrugged. “I suppose that will have to be enough.”

They fell silent.

“So how do you intend to unmask the Shadow Fellowship? I’d like to think that you haven’t been sitting on ideas for apprehending them this whole time,” Tarry asked lightly.

An unexpected laugh escaped Eli. “Starting with the easy questions. That’s the thing, I don’t have any ideas. In my intelligence gathering they’re scarcely mentioned. I had hoped that I might learn something passively about them through my normal channels but there has been absolutely nothing of note.”

Tarry frowned in confusion. “People aren’t concerned about them?” he asked.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“There’s growing discontent but what happens at the Guilds is hardly the concern of the middle to lower boroughs of Occaigh. It’s also possible that the Fellowship isn’t overly interested in Occaigh with their focus being on the Guilds,” Eli shrugged, “Or they’re largely operating outside of Occaigh.”

“Well, even if they’re outside of Occaigh I do have a duty to protect the other cities. I can’t sit on my hands and do nothing,” Tarry said as he considered this, “There’s nobody I trust more than you to handle Occaigh but do you think we need people in other areas? I could contact the other Mayors’ offices discreetly.”

“Let me see what I can find first. If we can narrow it down and then solicit help from fewer sources I think we’ll have a better chance of having the upper hand,” Eli said thoughtfully, “I’ll have to start probing my network, for starters. The other option to consider is that it’s possible that they’re lying in wait until someone starts to ask about them.”

Tarry frowned. “You think they want to be found?”

Eli shrugged. “It’s a theory. One I haven’t had a chance to test yet. I’ll have to handle the situation delicately regardless. People will want to avoid the trouble the Fellowship could bring.”

“Just like they don’t want to get involved with the Guilds’ troubles?” Tarry confirmed.

“Yes, unless it starts impacting their day to day life they generally don’t need to care. I have to be careful to avoid introducing new problems for them to worry about. Nothing shuts down a source faster than making them feel like you’re adding new troubles onto their plate.”

“Do I need to reiterate that I’d like you to be careful?”

“No but I suspect you will several more times.”

“Be careful, Eli.”

They stood shoulder to shoulder and looked over the skyline of Occaigh in a companionable silence. They were high up enough that the curvature of the spheroid on which Occaigh stood was observable. Tall buildings stood all around them with their lights illuminating the horizon.

Not for the first time, Tarry wondered what the sixteenth looked like at night these days.

“It’s late. Do you need a place to stay for the night? The guest room is free.”

Eli shook his head. “I appreciate it but no, I’m okay. I need to get back for some early morning reconnaissance. On that note,” he trailed off as he looked towards the door to the rooftop.

“Right, well, have an uneventful trip home,” he said carefully.

If Eli wasn’t worried, Tarry would try not to be either. But he silently vowed to pay more attention, and if he were made aware of things regressing then the offer would be accompanied with more pressure.

Eli gave him a small, slightly strained smile and with a parting nod left Tarry alone on the rooftop.

He stood alone and in silence for awhile before beginning his own, slow journey home.

—

The apartment, despite being occupied, was silent to the point that it may as well have been empty. He shrugged his overcoat off and hung it up. As he knelt down to put his shoes away in the closet he stopped for a moment to stare at them, and the other pairs alongside them. Francine’s shiny pumps and sharp stilettos were placed in rows that seemed more like an expensive sentry than footwear. He shook his head and realized he was just stalling.

With Eli declining the invitation to stay over he knew there was nothing standing between him and what he knew in his heart he needed to do.

He got up and wandered around, trying to ignore the anxiety that cramped in his stomach. In what felt like bitter moment of déjà vu he searched around the apartment; the kitchen, living room, dining room, and offices were all vacant. Heaving a sigh, he pushed open the bedroom door to find Francine reading in bed.

She looked at him and he could see the puzzled disappointment in her eyes regarding his late return. But nonetheless she said nothing. She had stopped saying anything for awhile now.

“Hey,” he said gently.

“Hey,” she said back and placed the book to her side.

She looked expectantly up at him. She knew. They both knew.

“It’s not getting better. I don’t think it ever will,” he began.

She looked away for a moment before turning back. “I’ve come to terms with that.”

“What if I told you it was going to get much worse?” he pressed, "My job is about to become much harder. I can't keep pretending like this is working."

“I can handle it. I had my chance to leave and I came back,” anger was edging into her voice, “We worked it out.”

He shook his head. “We didn’t work anything out. We stopped fighting and instead started treating each other with indifference.”

She swung her legs to the side and padded out of bed. She gathered a nightgown around her shoulders and walked out of the bedroom.

He steeled himself but followed her out to his office where she poured herself a snifter of his finest whiskey with shaking hands. He noted it was the one Eli had gifted him.

“I am sorry,” he offered weakly.

She threw it back. “You’re not. You’ve done this too many times before to know how to be sorry,” she said icily.

He sighed and moved to pour himself his own glass. “I mean it all the same. You deserved better.”

She laughed bitterly and tilted her glass back towards him. He refilled hers.

“To divorce number three, then. May the next one be different,” she said as she raised a glass to him.

He grimaced but met her glass with his. “I’ll take the guest room.”

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Eli Briggs

Back in his home and seated at his desk, Eli wrote with a feverish intensity well into the night. It was nearly three in the morning before he finished and he grimly realized he was due to be up in a few short hours.

“Witching hour,” he grimly thought to himself.

Eli had once implored Tarry to use Olly as a poster child for educational reform. He had to snort about how derisively stupid that had been. That was well before the Shadow Fellowship was known to the world but there was no hope for educational reform even before them. Not then and certainly not now. The Guilds enjoyed a shallow existence and had no intention of changing. They lived for the prestige, for the exclusivity.

The Shadow Fellowship… What made them tick? Constantine had told him that he had to find out what they wanted. They had already been on his radar but he had, admittedly, placed limited effort into finding out much about them. His work with the Mayor's office had distracted him and his own goals had been waylaid with Alzira’s death.

What he did know is that they didn’t appear to push any betterment of the world. They had publicly made very few demands. He would pour over the reports for any hint of a motive but all they had really demanded was the Guilds take accountability for the tunnel collapses.

That did little to explain why they wanted the Guilds to take accountability. Or better yet, why they felt the Guilds should take accountability.

He couldn’t afford to be passive any longer. Not with Olly taking the spotlight. He twisted his mouth in distaste. Olly was now effectively being used as his bait to lure them out into the open.

However, if he could lure them into the open first, he could find out what they wanted.

If he somehow managed to neutralize the threat, then perhaps he could bargain a new deal for Constantine.

And then…

Well…

His hope was dwindling but there was a chance he could still make it to the other side of that long locked door.

He ran a hand through his hair. But first, he had to protect the kid. After all, everything still hinged on him.