CHAPTER 12: "All warfare is based on deception." -- Sun Tzu
* * *
It took most of Kendra's willpower not to tap her foot on the floor or get up and start pacing. She'd been waiting for two whole hours. Falkaan had drilled it into her head for years that you should never let personal ticks in speech or body language give away what you were thinking or feeling. He was right of course, but sometimes she wished she could just be herself and not worry about allowing her mood to show.
Alas, that wasn't possible for someone in her line of work.
She'd already memorized the entire waiting room to the Magistrate's office; every stone, every ludicrously expensive painting, and every ostentatious gold-plated bauble. She idly wondered how the commoners would react if they knew he possessed such wealth.
"Supreme Magistrate Haglath will see you now." A clerk announced, and opened the door leading to his office.
Kendra walked through it as if she was perfectly calm, while hiding the impulse to throw something. That beast might've escaped her last night, but fortunately there was more than one way to skin a dragon.
The Supreme Magistrate's office was even more ostentatious than the waiting room. She resisted the urge to curl her lip in disgust at the obscene display because since she knew exactly how immoral cowards like him obtained great wealth.
The man himself looked like he had been born with a frown on his face. The age lines around his mouth told of a thousand displeased expression that had been etched into his face through countless repetition. His hair was gray and his eyes were cold, ruthless, and calculating.
Right now though, displeasure was a mild way of describing his expression. He looked ready to rip a suit of armor apart with his bare hands. He was pacing so aggressively that Kendra might've felt sorry for the floor, if it wasn't covered in a rug that probably cost more than most people make in their lifetime.
"What do you want?" he snarled without preamble.
"To tell you who really killed your son."
The Magistrate stopped in his tracks and narrowed his eyes at her. He made a thoughtful noise low in his throat and steepled his hands together before indicating an ornate chair for her to sit in. She sat down and he followed suit, sitting in a massive chair that resembled a throne behind a large and ornate desk.
"I'm listening." He said.
Kendra told him about the events of the previous night, the 'man' flying out from his son's bedroom, how she had wounded and tracked him, and where he was now. He listened without interruption and only spoke when she'd finished.
"You're a member -- or former member -- of the emperor's personal guard." He said.
It wasn't a question.
Kendra suppressed a smile and a chuckle. Everyone always -- and incorrectly -- assumed that she'd learned her skills from those incompetent bozos, not that he needed to know the truth. It was always easier to let stupid men on a power trip assume they had figured things out themselves. It was even better to feed an idiot's ego to make him more pliable.
"You're quite perceptive."
"What's the Emperor's interest in this?"
"None, I operate autonomously and without oversight." Kendra replied. "I'm in the problem solving business Magistrate."
"Oh?"
"Perhaps I should say I'm more of a problem eliminator." she let that hang in the air for a moment before continuing. "You have a dragon problem, I have a solution."
"It's easy enough to get him for my son's murder."
"Ah, but there's no evidence, and obviously an agent of the emperor can't go on record to testify. I have a better solution."
Haglath scoffed. "So do I; a few coins in the right hands will make the beast disappear. Permanently."
"Ah, but then you wouldn't have the satisfaction of seeing it personally."
"I'm listening."
"What if I could get that beast to die in front of you with the full cooperation and power of the law, plus the popular support of the people?" Kendra let a subtle, wicked smile creep onto her face. Not too much, but enough that a clever man would notice.
On second thought, she made her smile a little less subtle. "How would you like to see that dragon ripped limp from limb before your own eyes?"
Haglath smiled wickedly.
She let her smile reach her eyes; that damn dragon was as good as dead.
* * *
Ethan awoke to discovered someone had painted the entire world purple. Wait, no that wasn't right. He shook his head and as his sleep-addled brain began functioning properly, he realized he was on the Astral Plane again. He sat up, which felt weird because his physical body remained where it was.
Alana was asleep on the bed next to his body, having finally moved enough that his cock had slipped out of her. The pure, unadulterated joy on her face when she'd told him she was pregnant was just...
There were no words.
Personally, he didn't know what to think. He had always loved children and wanted to jump for joy, but he was also on the run from one of the most powerful and ruthless men in the land. He touched Alana's shoulder with his purple-hued hand and it passed right through her. She seemed to enjoy the touch though, because she snuggled closer to him in her sleep.
"She'll be alright you know." A gentle voice said from behind him.
He whipped around to see a woman sitting on one of the stone benches that had been cut into the wall. Unlike literally everything else, she wasn't hued in purple. She was wearing clothes of the purest white. Her clothes and skin seemed to shine like the sun, but with the warmth of a flickering candle. She had the beautiful face of a young woman untouched by age, but the eyes and presence of someone ancient and full of wisdom.
Her heart-shaped face was the picture of perfect femininity and was beautifully framed by her long hair which was probably blonde, but that might've just been the light. She had a soft smile on her face that went a long way toward allaying his suspicion.
"Who are you?" he crouched low in a defensive stance. You know, just in case; he wasn't taking chances with his wife and child there.
"Don't be afraid; I would never harm you or your lovely wives."
"Wives?"
The bright woman nodded. "Haven't you married three women so far?"
"Only two, and one of them... she didn't make it."
"Ethan, that wasn't your fault." The bright woman looked directly into his eyes for a moment, and he felt something inside of him shift slightly. Suddenly, he didn't
feel
like her death was his fault anymore. All of his guilt about it evaporated on the spot. The sadness remained, but the shame and guilt didn't.
"Who are you?" he wondered aloud.
"My name is Gabriella and I have two messages from my Lord."
