Nero Walker, Book 2 Ch.76 (108) (Patreon)

In the Hennings central command center, the king was meeting with his council of war. Consisting of 14 arch-generals, their purpose was to coordinate their response to the various theaters of conflict across the kingdom. Each general worked closely with the nobles who controlled the regions within their assigned area. But while the individual armies were paid for, and supported by, their local support systems, the final say of their deployment was always with the king. Since the founding of Oglivarch, the position of High General was always the king.

Typically, he didn’t really have to do much. Mostly, he just listened to what was happening, and let the various cities within his kingdom go about their business. In fact, he normally didn’t even bother to attend these meetings. One of his sons, Prince Benjamin, usually represents the crown’s interests. But, today he felt like he needed a break from his wife and their consorts.

As he leaned back in his chair, listening to the general from the Bacnaravine province go over their response to the latest centaur incursion, he couldn’t help but feel bad for avoiding the fallout. This morning, he had found out that the Tower of Fate had apparently insulted the trade envoy from Clan Shimmershield, and Lydia, his consort, was stuck dealing with the ornery dwarf. He expected that she was currently smoothing things over, while ensuring that the upcoming visit from the clan heads would proceed without issue.

But that wasn’t what worried him. It was his wife. Marrisa had known him from almost his entire life, and she was more than capable of following the trail of evidence in order to find out what caused the debacle. Considering how she close she and Lydia were, it was only a matter of time until Lydia complained, and then Marrisa’s personality would force her to investigate. He did NOT want to be around for when she found out that the entire thing was his fault.

The king came out of his thoughts, and answered the question he had been only half listening to. “You’re quite right to be concerned, Arch-General Inoch. But, the standard response should be more than enough to reinforce the region. I trust you and the city-lords to handle it. Consider the crown informed, and you may proceed with my full support.”

The arch-general bowed slightly, then returned to her seat. As another arch-general stood up to take her place, the doors to their meeting hall were slammed open, and in strode Queen Marrisa Newling Oglivarch. The very essence hummed with her presence, and the arch-generals along with their aides shrank into their seats, as their station demanded that they be aware of her alternate identity. Everyone in the room knew that she was the current Champion Charity, and a Populator wasn’t someone they wanted to cross. Especially not one of her caliber. As far as they were concerned, if she wanted to storm in and yell at her husband, it was perfectly fine with them.

King Oliver sighed at the cowardly arch-generals. He had hoped the prospect of interrupting a meeting of the kingdom’s elites would prevent her from making a scene, but he should have known it was a long shot.

Before he could say anything, she growled, “This meeting is adjourned. Everyone, please wait outside. You’ll be able to resume shortly.”

There wasn’t even a moment of hesitation, as every arch-general in the room picked up their things and hurried toward the exit. With a small smile of amusement, the king watched the room empty in a surprisingly short amount of time.

When the queen saw the doors shut, she spun to face the sitting king and put her hands on her hips. Nearly snarling, she said, “What idiotic plot of yours required Lydia to get yelled at by that infuriating dwarf?!?”

The king asked lightly, “Whatever do you mean, dear?”

Shaking a finger at him, she said, “I don’t know how exactly, but this whole thing stinks of one of your convoluted games. I traced an emergency signal received by the director of the tower of fate which caused him to run out a meeting with the trade envoy. He was supposed to be demonstrating our predictive capabilities. Do you have any idea how it looks to have our foremost fateweaver surprised during a meeting demonstrating our preparedness?”

Chuckling, the king said, “Yes. I suppose that does look bad. But how is that my fault?”

Smiling cruelly, she said, “It took some digging, and some pointed questions, but I tracked down the issue that caused the director to be called away. Imagine my surprise when I found out that it was about Dorchester again. And then I remembered you having one of those cases of dwarven wine set aside to be shipped to Dorchester. And do you remember what you said when Helen asked you why? You said that Arch-mage Jennings needed to be distracted, and that she should just write it off as a household expense. But you didn’t send it to Jennings, did you?”

The king watched as she started pacing back and forth, outlining her investigative journey.

Putting her hands behind her back as she walked, she continued, “I just checked with Walter, and you DIDN’T have it sent to Jennings. He told me that you, in fact, had it sent to someone named Lord Bevin, along with a note saying it was a goodwill gesture from the Tower of Fate. I don’t know exactly how those two things are connected, but I don’t need to.”

She paused, pointed accusingly at the king, and said, “Then about a week ago, you maneuvered Lord Newbanks and his family into having dinner with us. At the time, I thought you were just interested in their daughter romantically, but do you remember what you spent the meal talking about? Dorchester again. You told the story about their pathetic excuse for a noble war, and about that new noble the mages find so fascinating. But you weren’t trying to get her work at the Tower of Magic, were you? You were highlighting the fact that Dorchester was were the current director of the mage council WANTED to spend his time.”

Amused, the king asked, “So? Don’t you find that interesting?”

Sniffing harshly, she returned to her pacing, while making it clear that she was ignoring him. “For the past month, that backwater has been popping up in conversations with alarming regularity. First Lord Cranston’s failed plot, then an exploit worthy of being classified as category 5, and that’s not even mentioning the density shift which was inadvertently caused by MY presence during the noble war, which was at YOUR request. And were you aware that Lord Newbanks’ daughter recently fought an arena battle in order to take over the position as Dorchester’s court mage? Don’t YOU find that interesting? Perhaps you’ve been in contact with her?”

Shrugging easily, he replied, “I may have congratulated her on her new position. And I might have asked her to see to some matters while she was there. But these are all coincidences.”

Holding her finger in the air, she shouted, “This is another one of your hells be-damned plots, isn’t it!?! And now Lydia is being dragged into it. What do you have to say for yourself?”

King Oliver looked lovingly at his wife. The woman was amazing. Several offhanded comments overheard weeks ago, along with a few hours of investigation, and she had figured out who it all led back to. She could have blamed Jennings, or the new Lord Walker, or even the vagaries of chance, but she knew it was him.

Quietly, he asked, “Has anyone else put it together?”

Sniffing with derision, she raised her chin with pride and replied, “Not likely. I kept my inquiries vague. And unless someone someone asks the matrix directly, I doubt it would even notice what you were up to. But seriously Oliver, what’s the point? And did you really have to involve the dwarves?”

Shrugging, he said, “They were too worried about our strength. This gave them something to feel superior about, while putting in motion some plans I had for the reorganization of the Tower of Fate. I just guided events, I didn’t cause them. Just make sure you don’t tell anyone, I would prefer for Arch-mage Jennings to be blaming the Tower of Fate. As for Lydia, I promise I’ll make it up to her.”

Narrowing her eyes, she said, “Helen has been planning a little excursion for us. How about you join your consorts on a trip into the ‘Howling Chasm’? It’s been a while since we’ve fought together.”

Although he had numerous other things he’d rather be doing, he knew when he was beaten. Sighing with a small smile, he nodded. “Of course dear. Just clear it with Walter, then inform Benjamin. As long as we are back before Eighth-month, that will be fine. We need to be here to receive the Shimmershield delegation. And don’t worry, I’ll personally go deal with the trade envoy. How does that sound?”

Marrisa’s smile blossomed like a flower, and she replied, “Fine. But don’t think we’ll let you off without you explaining what this is all about. Now go back to running your kingdom. But, be sure to back before 19:00, we’re having dinner with the Lancasters.”

With that, she turned lightly, then glided out the doors.

The king sat in chair, watching the arch-generals returning to their seats. After everyone was ready, he said, “I’d apologize for the interruption, but I don’t want to. Now, where were we?”

-----

The doors closed behind Nero, and he shook himself like a dog after being caught in the rain. His heart-rate was elevated, and he couldn’t stop his hands from shaking. He couldn’t believe what had just happened.

One minute, he was heading into the bathroom, the next, he was forcibly kidnapped by an arch-mage and presented to Dorchester’s nobility. All he could do was act on instinct. He lashed out with his words, threatened dire retribution from the most capable person he knew, then ran for the door. ‘Did I really ask for pancakes?’ he asked himself with some disbelief.

Seeing a blue robed servant walking down the hall, he held up a hand in greeting, then walked up to him. He quietly asked the man, “Where is the closest restroom?”

Surprised at the question, the man responded, “Just down the hall, on the left, m’lord.”

Nodding with thanks, Nero handed the man the coffee Jennings had given him, then walked off hurriedly. As he headed down the hall, he used the link in his pocket to try and open a connection to Vera.

Moments later, he felt her presence appear in a corner of his mind, and he heard her ask, “Are you almost done? Nick has been regaling me with tales of your adventures. But we really need to sp-”

Nero interrupted her. “Vera, hold that thought. I was just kidnapped!”

Vera’s psyche turned cold, and Nero shivered. “Who? Where? And Status?”

Confused, Nero asked, “You mean ‘who’ kidnapped me? Why are you talking like that?”

A frustrated Vera responded, “It’s to save time. But it defeats the purpose if you have to ask what I’m talking about. Just tell me what happened.”

Nero found the bathroom, and looked up and down the hall, checking to see if anyone was watching him. He realized that there wasn’t any reason to care if someone watched him go in, but he was feeling exposed, and it seemed like the right thing to do. He frowned at the stupidity of his actions, then went in, letting the door swing shut behind him.

After taking a moment to appreciate the large bathroom, which was obviously intended to serve the entire floor, Nero locked the door. He then went about his business.

Vera interrupted his thoughts by saying, “Nero! Are you alright?”

“Huh? Oh, right. Listen, you remember that arch-mage? He teleported me from your bathroom and plopped me down in front of a bunch of nobles. I don’t remember exactly what I said, but I kind of freaked out and ran out of the room. I’m pretty sure I threatened them with your wrath, and then I demanded a bathroom and pancakes,” he said.

Confused, she asked, “What the hell are you talking about? You’re not making any sense.”

Nero took a breath, and started over. “I was at your place. Nick dropped me off at a guest room so I could clean up before we regrouped. When I was about to do my business, Arch-mage Jennings teleported me somewhere. I appeared in a huge conference room. I think I’m at the keep. When -”

Vera interrupted him. “Try and access the local hub, it should at least tell you where you are.”

Nero blinked a few times, surprised at the suggestion. After doing what she asked, he said, “OK. I’m at the central keep. And I have a lot of missed pings, along with a ton of messages waiting for me to read. But that doesn’t matter right now. Getting back to what I was saying, Jennings teleported me to a big conference room. I didn’t recognize everyone, but I saw the general guy, that lawyer lady, the city-lord, and some other people in fancy robes along with a bunch of extras. I’m thinking that it was the ruling council, or whatever it’s called.”

Vera was furious, but she asked calmly, “Then what happened?”

Nero chuckled, and said, “Well, then I freaked out. I said something about what you’re going to do to them when you found out, then I complained about them interrupting my bathroom activities. I stormed toward the door, then went looking for a bathroom. And…. I kind of demanded pancakes. I’m not really sure where that last thing came from. But now I’m hiding in the bathroom, sitting on a toilet, and I called you as soon as I could.”

Coldly Vera asked, “Are you using the toilet while you’re talking to me?”

A few seconds of silence passed, then Nero said, “No. Of course not. That would be rude?”

Vera responded angrily, “I don’t care about that! Just don’t tell people when you are. Now, how does this alter your plan?”

Ignoring the awkwardness, he said, “The extent of my plan was to drop the assassin off at the Tower of Law, and then threaten to make a public fuss. Everything else I ‘planned’ to leave up to you. I mean, come on! I’ve only been here a few weeks, I don’t even know what to ask for. How soon can you get here?”

Vera replied, “I’ve been coordinating our response while we were talking. Nick, Cathleen, and I are already on our way. We should be there in twenty minutes, we’re teleporting directly to the keep’s astra-platform. Nick is still technically your advisor, so he can walk us right to you, and they have no right to keep your proxy away from you. Don’t worry, we’ll be there soon.”

Nero’s shoulders released some tension, and he said both out loud and over the link, “Thanks Vera. Just between you and me, I’m not really sure what I’m doing. Don’t tell Nick.” Realizing what he just said out loud, he looked up at the ceiling and panicked a little. “Crap. You think that bastard is watching me right now? Do you think he heard that?” Offended at the thought, he continued, “What kind of a sicko watches someone in the bathroom? I ought to -”

“Nero! Calm down. Everything is going to be fine. I’ll be there soon. But you can’t wait in the bathroom the whole time. Get back in there and stall. Don’t agree to anything, but feel free to hint that you are pissed and willing to formally request royal intercession. Lord Bennings will realize what that means,” she said soothingly.

Nero nodded. “Royal intercession. Got it,” he said.

Continuing, she said, “I looked into what might happen, and it’s not good for them. If Lord Blackwood’s involvement is confirmed by the Tower of Law, then as a consort to the city-lord, House Cosgrave is implicated. They could be all be executed, and a war for the city-seat would immediately follow. Even worse, the army would have to retreat behind the walls and take over the city. The entire government would essentially be shut down. With what’s going on in the wilds right now, that would be a disaster. Unless the nobles want to abandon the city, they’ll be eager to bargain. This can all go away if you agree to arbitration.”

Nero asked, “Doesn’t that just mean someone will mediate the dispute? How would that affect the charges?”

Vera replied, “It means that you would agree to NOT formally file charges. Even though, technically, you aren’t required too. Even if there is a record of an investigation, the file would be put aside. It’s common practice because if all parties agree to arbitration then the law allows for some flexibility with its application. They would offer some concessions, and you would agree to forget about the whole plot.”

Nero took a few seconds to think through what she had just said. Shaking his head in confusion, he replied, “I don’t understand. But, I don’t really need to. I’ll let you handle it. By the way, should I be paying you or something?”

Amused, she said, “You are paying me. As the proxy to the head of House Walker, I get 10% of your personal income. I could have negotiated for more, but that is the standard, and I didn’t feel it was necessary to quibble.”

Nero had finished his business, and was currently washing his hands in the sink. Staring at his dirty clothes, he cast a quick cleaning spell. It wouldn’t make him spring-time fresh, but it would at least make him presentable.

Hearing Vera’s answer, he said, “Oh, good. Considering that you are currently running everything, I appreciate you giving me a good deal. Well, I better get in there. I’ll make sure to stall, so take your time. I got this.”

Vera said, “Nero, I appreciate your trust. You’ve already made me a great deal of money, and don’t feel like you owe me anything. Like you said, we’re partners. You just keep causing issues, and I’ll keep making sure we profit off them.”

Snorting in amusement, Nero replied, “No problem. I’m good at that. I’ll see you soon.”

Closing the connection, he stared at his face the mirror. He looked tired, and he needed a haircut. Ruffling his hand through his hair, he huffed at his reflection. After squaring his shoulders, he turned and headed back toward the conference room.