Chapter 36 Chapter 34

Chapter 36 Chapter 34
”Materials, Methods, Men and Money, are all you need”

Marina

The smell of sweat, malt and barley struck my nose so heavily because I was unprepared. Subconsciously, my left hand flew to my nostrils to act as a filter.

It did nothing to help by the way.

Millions of conversations were taking place at the same time. The boisterous crowd was  early deafening. Sometimes I wondered if they even heard themselves speak or if it was just a display where someone’s mouth moved and the rest laughed in unison just to get another bottle of beer paid for.

I clutched the sack of coins in my right hand tighter, lest anyone dragged it away after noticing what it contained and I went straight for the bar.

Usually, the stools directly in front of the bar were occupied by lone rangers. People who came to drink away their sorrows and soliloquize in semi-solitude.

Colliding with a few half drunk men was normal when walking through Eclaris. I just had to make sure I did not trip and fall over from the momentum of their weights against mine.

At the bar, I rang the bell to call the attention of the waiter.

Eclaris had four waiters. Two females who moved around the vast room taking and bringing orders to the customers and the two men who stayed behind the counter serving the lone drinkers and whisking up the orders their female counterparts brought in.

A guy I recognized as Jarich turned at the sound of the bell. After he handed over a mug of beer to one of the men seated by the extreme end of the table. He approached.

“Well… look who came by” Jarich said with a wry smile that let me know he was also half as drunk as the rest of the guys.

“I want to speak with Segei” there was no need for pleasantries. He was not my friend and he was known for harassing quite a number of girls on server and dishwashing duties.

“I’m afraid he’s not available” he turned back to see if any new customers had arrived and at the same time, picked up another empty glass mug and a napkin and began wiping it inside out.

“That’s a lie. Segei would never leave his business in your hands” which was true. Every hour, Segei made sure to take financial stock of money inflow because he did not trust even his shadows to not steal from him.

“Ahh… you remember him quite well.” Followed by a chuckle.

“We have unfinished business. I owe him” one thing the manager never joked about was his money. If he found out that any of his staff warded off his debtor, they were sure to lose their job.

I did not owe him, but such statement was the only way to get this particular server to bring Segei to me.

“He’s out back. Give me a second to go fetch him”

I climbed unto one of the stools as Jarich walked out the door that led to the back room. In my time of waiting, I looked back just in time to see the King and Master Anthonier walk into the room.

They had their helmets on now. A metal mask that left only room for eyes and mouth.

When they hoped to be inconspicuous, they lied to themselves. They certainly had a different aura from the rest of the persons who were whiling their time away here.  

Hopefully, everyone would be too drunk to notice.

The King was scanning the room for something or someone. Most likely me. 

When his eyes met mine, he tugged at his high adviser’s arm and they proceeded to have a seat at the far end where I could sight them if I turned around and where they could monitor me without stress.

One of the servers walked to their table to take their order and I wanted to know if they would actually consume alcohol. 

I was unable to catch if the waitress wrote down something because Segei’s voice interjected.

“If it isn’t the King’s plaything? To whom do I owe this visit” 

Segei, a moderately plump man that should have celebrated his golden jubilee by now. Slightly taller than most men with a bald head and ginger colored beards he loved to braid at its tip.

He wore an apron that was stained with grease and what looked like blood. So I assumed he was in the kitchen making his special pub side dish. Honey glazed beef and sauce.

For him to dignify my request with his presence, meant that he had cooking staff now. Segei would not have left the kitchen empty.

“It has been a long time. How are you?” I forcibly asked. A little useless conversation before getting to the point.

“As you can see, business is booming” he was interrupted by the sound of a glass landing on the floor with a thud and shattering “make sure you add that to their bill” he whispered to Jarich and stared across the room. Then looked back to me “what about you? You look all washed up. The King is treating ya good eh? Definitely doing the do far better than anything I could have offered”

I saw him staring across the room once again but it was for a fleeting moment. When I did not say anything to his last statement, he apparently got irritated. “What did ya come looking for me for? I got business to do”

Straight to the point.

After much thinking, I realized that bribe was the only way I could get the information out of Segei.

“I need some information”

He was taken aback and dare I say, insulted by my request. “What I look like to ya? The library? A goddamned papyrus?”

“I have twenty bronze coins to offer for the information I seek”

He laughed, a very hearty one “You would need to do better than that if you want me to pay you any attention”

“Thirty bronze coins”

“Go home kid”

“Forty”

“I said…”

“A silver coin and forty bronze coins”

Now he looked interested “What information did you say you sought again?”

“About the King”

And one more time, he stared into the crowd and back at me “give me a second” then he walked into the back room.

In a minute he was out and I wondered what he had gone in there to do because he still looked the same “come with me, I cannot say whatever it is you wish here” 

Just as I had suspected. 

I hopped down from my stool and waited for him to lead the way. In the little time before he walked around the counter, he pulled Jarich aside and whispered something briefly in his ear.

“Come with me” he said, as he led the way through the pub to a door that sat beside the stage.

He had really made an upgrade to his enterprise since my last visit. Before, that stage held ornamental plants and served as a decorative display.

Now, a band was setting up their instruments to play.

“New hires?” I asked, particularly looking at the young boy and his twin brother pulling out their banjo and maracas respectively.

“Free gigs. Looking for how to show their talent” he pulled open the door “after you” and nudged his head into the dark hallway the door revealed.

I went in and then the door was shut.

Immediately, he flicked on a light that made the environment less eery “There’s another room down the hall. That’s where we would talk”

The door was not so far. So we walked into it and this time, he locked it with a key.

The room was well lit, with a bed, a table and a soft chair to the side.

“For privacy purposes” he said and slipped the key into the pocket of his apron.

I stood at least ten feet from him and stared him face to face.

Now that we were locked in together, the thought of his offer to sleep with me crossed my mind. Internally, I prayed to the gods that he did not plan to take his desires by force tonight.

“Now…” he began, arms crossed over his chest “what about the King did you want to know?”

“Before I ask, why do you have a room in your pub?”

“Some people like to release when they are as high as the clouds. They pay extra and have the privacy. Now back to the main thing that brought us here”

“What do you know about the King? More importantly about the attacks that took place at the castle”

His face made a tight lipped expression before he spoke “A very specific request. Drop the money first”

I raised the little sack to my face and counted out a silver coin and forty bronze. Then held them in my palm. “Speech for wager” I said

He laughed gently “you did not bet your entire sack. Wise move. Word on the street is, there’s a legend or better still a prophecy that is coming to pass”

I dropped five bronze coins on the bed. “Word on which street?”

“There are a group of rebels. Most from the Hecate’s wheel lineage and some other Townsend”

I dropped five more bronze coins.

“What is the prophecy?”

“That I do not know. I only hear bits and pieces but it certainly has to do with a Hecate taking over the throne”

Five more bronze coins.

“How did this word on the street get to you?”

“They have recruited some commoners into their cause. So there are little gossips I pick up here and there while working”

Some commoners? How foolish could they be?

Ten bronze coins.

“Should the King be worried?”

He hesitated but replied eventually “He should be scared for his life”

Ten more.

“Do you know when these said rebels plan to attack?”

“No, I do not”

Five coins.

“Do you know why this plan was ever set in motion in the first place?”

“The King took what belonged to them”

“King Xanthanius?”

“No. King Flutheria, his father and you did not wager any coins for this speech”

“Last question. What else do you know of this attempt on the King’s life?”

“Nothing.”

I dropped the last silver coin.

“It was nice doing business with you. We may part ways now”

A devilish smile graced his lips as he slipped his hands under his apron and pulled out a kitchen knife that glinted under the room’s light. “Now it is my turn to ask questions” he took a step towards me to which I responded with a step back.

“Who are those men in armor at my pub?”

That’s what he was staring at.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about”

He chuckled like my response was funny. “Okay, next question, who sent you?”

“No one. I came by myself”

“And you expect me to believe that because?”

“Because if I am at the castle, my life is at danger too. So I need to fully know what I am getting myself into”

Two more steps forward from him. One backward for me because I had hit the wall.

“Your fake story would have had someone else considering but not me. I ask again, who sent you?”

“No one”

He took three more steps forward and his hand came up to my throat. I released the remaining bag of coins to land on the floor and I reached for my neck to reduce his grip.

“Where did you get the money you used to wager? Last I remember, you were stricken with lack that you begged for a copper coin per service. Now you’re happily offering silver coins in a game?”

“It’s… it’s…” I tried to speak as he tightened his grip, causing me to struggle to breathe in or out.

“The King sent you didn’t he? Well… here is one part of the information you did not ask. Am I among the commoners who think the King should be stripped of his crown and life? Yes. Yes I am” 

The knife he held was lifted up to the neckline of my dress “maybe I can finally get what I want now and be rid of your body. Your guards may be too drunk to have noticed your absence for long if Jarich put the right mix in their orders”

That was what he had whispered to Jarich. To intoxicate them.

My vision was slowly fading I was getting too weak to struggle when the door to the room was busted open by a kick. Revealing the Anthonier with an unconscious Jarich in his hands, the third guard and the King who had taken off his helmet to reveal his face and drawn his sword.

Fifteen minutes. He promised to come find me in fifteen minutes and he did.

“Release her or I impale you without a second thought” King Xanthanius ordered.

And for a man who was so confident that the King deserved death, he trembled at his presence. It looked like he would wet his pants.

Not taking his eye off Segei, the King reached for me and took me by the hand. Gently dragging me out of the room. 

The third guard picked up the sack of coins that had been on the floor and Anthonier tossed the passed out Jarich next to the manager’s feet.

Before emerging in the pub once again, Xanthanius put on his helmet to hide his identity and kept moving till we were outside in the cool breeze.

When the air made contact with my skin, was when I saw that Segei had torn the neckline of my dress into two, revealing way too much cleavage that I had to use my free hand which the King was not holding to cover up.

No words were said as we got to the carriage and it took off.

Xanthanius 

I watched as she used her both hands to cover her chest as the carriage buckled when it struck some stones or uneven ground.

Her face was still pale, like she was not getting enough oxygen after being strangled.

We would have been there way earlier had it not been to stupid server that blocked our way. He planned to kill her.

Something glistened on her face under the moonlight and I saw it trickle down her eyes to her chin.

She was crying.

Deep down, I knew we should have never sent her on this mission.

When we got to the castle, she was the first to get down from the ride and into the building.

Anthonier had taken off his helmet and given me a look that showed he also felt bad for her.

Saliel also watched her move with a look of regret in his eyes.

“We should go to bed and allow her sleep. Tomorrow if she is ready, she may share what she has with us” my high adviser said and went into the castle next.

I turned to Saliel.

“I do not know if that server is still alive but make sure he and the manager of that pub do not see the end of the night”

Saliel looked delighted to fulfill that instruction.