Industry & Intrigue (62 page)

That much was true at least.
Tessa had seen the recruiting s
tations popping up all over the city. She
didn’t like it, or the anti-Galrian stance the media had taken, but
it was necessary. Alkos may have the greatest economy and
technology in the world, but Galria had double the population and a
larger army. If the nation stood a chance of holding them back,
they needed more soldiers.

“
Minister
Blake has also begun arranging
for the Custodian Service to organize the imperial militias in all
of the cities and provinces,” said Sanya. “He will now discuss
that, so you are aware of the defensive plans we have in
place.”

Before Sanya could step back
and give the floor over to Aus
tin, the security minister asked a question,
“Before I start Minister-General, I would like to know if there is
news as regards to the other foreign powers?”

Sa
nya nodded, his face serious. “You
may have heard rumors about Ze Feros and Silund, so let me quell
those now. Both of their ambassadors are still here in the capital
and neither of them have asked to meet with me.”

“
What about Tal Feros? They are
duty bound to declare war on Galria as per the terms of our
defensive alliance
,” said Minister of War, Coll Riach. He didn’t look like
much of a military leader. He had a mild-mannered personality and a
pudgy face and body. His hair had receded half-way back and he wore
a set of thick glasses.

But he was the man who had
successfully expanded the Naikos f
rontier during his command. He had a
brilliant mind for strategy. Tessa wished he was still in charge of
the army instead of Airic Marnoch. Coll was better as a general
than a politician. His years as the minister of war had aged him
terribly, showing in the excessive wrinkles on his face and
whitened hair.

“
The Talfey have assured me that
they will ho
ld to the terms of our alliance,” replied Sanya. “They are
already moving their armies to their northern border.” Once Tal
Feros declared war on Galria, it would be the end of Zefey
neutrality.

“
And Estara?
” asked Coll. “They would love
to take this chance to get back at us.”

“
I believe I can answer that,”
said Austin. “Before he left for the negotiations, Emperor Lawrence
authorized imperial funds to be paid to the Red Knights for a
contract with the Estaran exiles. Queen Clara and her loyalists
will keep Estara too busy for them to take action. And I’m sure we
all wish her success in reclaiming her rightful throne.”

Tessa already knew about that.
She was in charge of the imperial treasury after all. She folded
her fingers togeth
er as Austin continued speaking. There was far too much
relish in his voice for her liking.

“
Ladies and gentlemen. The
urgency of war is upon us and since I know you are all eager to get
ba
ck to your
respective governances so I will make this brief. Each city, county
and province has militia plans in place. When you return to your
stations, the local custodian officers will be meeting with you to
implement these plans. The militias are a defensive measure for
anywhere the Galrian armies may penetrate past the imperial
army.”

He c
ontinued explaining the plans and how
they would coordinate with the Imperial Army for several more
minutes and took a few questions before sitting down
again.

Sanya
looked at Tessa. “Minister Mordain.
How are the imperial finances looking?” Tessa had a folder of
documents and numbers with her, though she had it all
memorized.

“
We’ve been running at a surplus
for several years and have substantial reserves to draw upon in
addition to the imperial funds, presuming
the new emperor releases them,” she
replied.

No one thought for a moment
that he wouldn’t. The McRath family had been ruling Alkos for over
four hundred years and Lawrence was the first monarch to die at the
hands of a foreign power. His uncle would be as eager to
aveng
e him
as the rest of the nation. “I have already met with the directors
of the Alkos Gold Bank and the Arketh Commerce Bank and both of
them have agreed to buy a substantial amount of imperial bonds to
aid the war effort. Nine million crowns in total.”

“
Excellent,” replied Sanya. ‘I’m
glad to hear that our most prosperous citizens are doing their
part.”

Tessa cont
inued, “In addition the full
payment for a one year contract as authorized by the late emperor
has been released to the Red Knights. Hector Cicero was most
grateful and he has a garrison gathered with the Estaran exiles in
Caer Anvos. They intend on setting sail for the Versium Peninsula
within a week.”

“
Thank you Minister
Mordain
,”
said Sanya. “I believe that concludes this session. Those of you
who wish to remain in the capital to await the crowning of our new
emperor may do so. But if you wish to return to your governances I
understand. Lochlan McRath has already indicated to me that he
considers the war to be far more important than his crowning. He
will not hold it against you, if you are unable to
attend.”

Tessa remained seated
while the various
officials left the hall. The organic buzz of conversation vibrated
through the air. They were in a better mood than when they had
arrived. She noticed Austin was talking and laughing with several
from his war hawk faction. She tried to prevent herself from
scowling at them. They hadn’t started this war, but did they have
to take so much pleasure from it?

With the room empty Tessa stood
up and walked over to Nolan Talmach, who was picking up his own
folder of documents.
“Director Talmach.”

“
Ah, Minister Mordain. How can I
help you?” he asked.

“
Minister-G
eneral Kodiak did not mention
anything of survivors from Rampart I was wondering if…”

He nodded. “You want to enquire about
Minister Mason. I know the two of you are close friends.

Of course h
e did. Tessa suspected there
was little information that the man did not know.

“
I would like to be able to tell
you she is alive
and in Galrian custody, but I am afraid I cannot. My
operative in Rampart escaped but she could only confirm that the
emperor and his guards had been killed. She did see the Galrians
taking prisoners, but with the dust and smoke she couldn’t tell one
from the other. Minister Mason may indeed be a captive, but I
cannot give you a definitive answer.”

It was not
what Tessa had been hoping to
hear.

He must have seen the pained
expression on her face. “Hold onto your hope Minister Mordain. It’s
all
we can
do in times like this. If she is in Galrian custody, you can be
certain we will know soon enough. They will make no secret of
having a hostage as valuable as our foreign minister. If you will
excuse me, I have a thousand tasks to tend to. War does bring about
a far greater demand for information than in peace
time.”

“
Of course. Thank
you director,” she
said. She picked up her crumpled folder of documents and left the
cold air of the council hall. Her siblings would no doubt be
pleased.

Typhon was
about to get a boost in sales
from government contracts. Although, not if that new gun of
Huntington’s proved to be as good in practice as it had in
demonstration. She was unsure it was ready to be supplied to the
Imperial Army. She smiled as she imagined Tegan’s anger at Alyssa
Huntington taking the center stage as the supplier of weapons to
the Imperial Army.

Chapter
61

The thin s
cars on Isaac’s belly still
itched. He had been told by the doctors that once the skin had
healed the itchiness would disappear, but it had remained. It was a
constant throbbing that no amount of scratching could fix. He gave
them a slight rub through the woolen material of his
cloak.

It
improved, allowing him to ignore the
itch for now. He pushed through a set of intricate wood and stained
glass rotating doors. This was the Justice Branch station of the
city watch. It was an impressive building. If he had to guess it
was less than five years old, based on the design and the still
unstained floors and walls.

“
Cleric Isaac Gall. I’m looking
for Officer Snar Bruce,” he said to the desk clerk. The woman gave
him an odd look. Perhaps she wasn’t keen on Varonites, it was
something he was familiar with.

She
opened the door for him. “Down the
hall, first door on the right,” she said.

When he went through
he was in a large
room with a multitude of desks and offices. He saw Snar and made
his way over. The bear agorid was sitting in what had to be a chair
brought in especially for him since it was larger and sturdier than
the others in the room.

Isaac could imagine the other chairs would
snap into kindling if the agorid tried to sit in them. He was
talking with an elven officer seated across from him. Next to him
was an empty desk, Isaac assumed it belonged to the deceased
Sergeant Brenna Moreland.

“
Officer
Bruce
,” said
Isaac, getting the agorid’s attention.

Sn
ar looked over. “Ah, Cleric…Gall was
it?” he asked. The agorid stood up, at full height he was
intimidating, but his manner was so calm and respectful that Isaac
did not feel uncomfortable.

“
Yes
,” replied Isaac. “I’m sorry to
interrupt you.”

“
Nonsense
. We were not in the middle of
anything of important. May I introduce Officer Selim en’Vornos.”
The elf walked around from his desk and looked at the Isaac, but
made no move to shake his hand. His face was stained with anger and
pain.

Grief for
Sergeant Moreland
thought Isaac. He
ignored the elf’s rudeness. He could be forgiven in his
sorrow.

Snar appeared
perturbed by the
elf’s lack of manners, but didn’t say anything to him. “What brings
you here?” asked the agorid.

“
I was released from
hospital two days
ago. I wanted to thank Sergeant Moreland personally for her efforts
in catching Ms. Renoch. But I was saddened to read about her death
in the Alkos City Chronicle. I would like to offer my sincerest
condolences for her loss. I’m sure she was a valued comrade and
friend. I will pray for her and all of you.”

“
Save your fucking prayers
cleric. We’re not interested in them,” snarled the elf. “You, your
cock-sucking Varos and his Creator can go and fuck themselves up
the arse. Brenna Moreland is dead, she’s gone and dead. Not in the
stupid fake paradise you fuckwit priests tell yourselves to make
your piece of shit lives feel better!”

Isaac blink
ed in shock. He had never heard
such a vile stream of blasphemy. Clearly the elf was far more upset
about Brenna Moreland’s death than he had guessed. Tears were
forming in the elf’s eyes.

“
Officer en’Vornos!
As a member of the
Alkos City Watch, you will conduct yourself in a respectful manner
to all citizens, regardless of race or religion,” a voice
shouted.

All three of them
looked over. A tall
man with several days of stubble and tired, brown eyes was standing
there.

This m
ust be their commanding
officer
he
thought.

“
Take yourself down to the
filing room and organize these for me
,” the man said. He handed the elf a sheaf
of papers.

Selim
straightened and recomposed himself.
He took the papers. “Yes, sir.” He left to do as his commander
ordered.

The man who had
interrupte
d
held out his hand to Isaac. He shook it and the man said, “Captain
Niko Tolov. I’m sorry about that Cleric Gall. Selim is a good man
and officer, but he was particularly close to Sergeant Moreland. He
hasn’t been doing so well.”

“
I understand
captain
,”
replied Isaac. “I have seen many hit with the emotional turmoil of
grief. My members often come to me for counsel and I have seen the
same anguish on their faces as Officer en’Vornos. As I was saying,
I was saddened to hear about the death of Sergeant Moreland. She
helped me a great deal.”

Niko nodde
d. “Thank you for coming
cleric. It means a lot and I’m sure it would have to Brenna as
well.”

“
Not that we
do not appreciate it,” said
Snar. “But I suspect you did not brave the remembrance crowds in
the city merely for your condolences.” The agorid put one of his
paws to rest on the wooden table and Isaac heard it creak. If the
huge bear agorid wanted, he could break the table effortlessly. He
had to remind himself that Snar had been raised as an Alkon and not
in the wilds of Kangur like the rest of his kind.