Chapter Three - Of Welcomes and Hellos
The two of them looked through the doorway to the young child who was just sitting there, doing absolutely nothing. They were both worried, the lad had barely talked to anyone at all in the last two days, ever since that VKP woman had returned him. No, Joshua Bardorba was definitely a worried young boy and they didn't know what to do about it. If only they could find out what was ailing him so, they could help him through it but he refused to talk to anyone. The last word he had said was "Bye," to the Inquisitor as she left and nothing else since then. He merely nodded or shook his head in response to questions and never spoke back. Even the Duke was getting worried about him and that wasn't a good sign. If the Duke got worried, everyone got worried because they knew his wrath would go unchecked.
"What can we do? What are we to do?" asked one of them in hushed tones.
"The only person he talked to was that woman from VKP... maybe we could get her to come back here?"
"Yeah right, and the VKP are gonna send her here to baby-sit him? I highly doubt it..."
"But the Duke has strong links with the VKP, maybe he can persuade them to do this as a personal favour to him..."
"Maybe, but who's gonna suggest this to the Duke though? I'm not gonna do it and I pity the poor soul who does."
"So that leaves me... great, just what I need."
"Should have kept your thoughts to yourself, you wouldn't be in this mess in the first place."
The young boy merely sat on the bed, thinking about the man who had cared for him in Leá Monde, Jon Hardin. He had died right after they escaped, the energy had just left his body and he couldn't keep going. Left alone with the VKP woman, he had spoken for the first time in the whole excursion and now... he was silent again. No-one here loved him or cared about him, they were looking out for themselves in fear of angering his father, the Duke. A young boy he may be, but he was an astute one at that.
"My lord?" came a voice, snapping him out of his reverie.
Silence.
"Would you like to see Inquisitor Merlose again?"
Silence.
Eyes staring up at him.
"Would you speak if she came to see you?"
Silence.
Eyes staring up at him.
A small inclination of
the head.
"Good. We'll make sure she comes to see you again. Is that alright with you?"
Silence.
Eyes staring up at him.
A small inclination of
the head.
A small smile played across his lips.
Whirling on his heel, the aide walked out of the room, practically bursting at the seams knowing that there was indeed a way out of their predicament. Beckoning to his companion, he made his way down the stairs, hope fluttering in his heart.
Searching for someone is always a tedious job at the best of times and this was hardly ideal for Callo Merlose. The bloodbath that had been Leá Monde was still playing on her mind. While she had missed most of it, it was still a horrific incident. Almost all of the Crimson Blades had been wiped out, Müllenkamp was leaderless and Leá Monde itself was merely rubble. She and the boy had barely escaped and she needed time to gather up her thoughts, not to be sent off after Riot straight away. She wasn't even sure he was alive... it wasn't like Sydney's body had been found. Couldn't it have been him who had assumed her form? Unless the board had already known what had happened... if they'd planned the whole thing from start to finish. Yes... she could see it happening. The manipulation of Müllenkamp and Duke Bardorba, Riot being sent especially on this mission to take the power... And f it had failed? They would have lost one man but the power of Leá Monde, the single greatest threat to their plans, would be gone forever...
Walking through the streets of Valein, the capital city of Valendia, she stared downwards at the cobblestones, people giving her a wide berth as they recognised someone in a VKP uniform. All military or law services thrive off of one thing: fear in the people and in its enemies. When they lose that image of fear, all they can expect is brutal and bloody war and so the VKP kept their fearsome appearance as best they could and hence, they protected themselves and Valendia.
She could smell the grime of the streets she walked through, the back alleys packed so closely together with no sewer system; the streets served that purpose instead and thus disease was rife in the area. Valein's population was steadily increasing, it was merely a matter of time until some vast disease hit the capital and then the population would shrink as the poor takes the brunt of it. That was how it always went, the cycle of life and death... always death... that was all that Callo Merlose thought of these days. Damn Leá Monde... it was going to stick with her all of her life.
The sun was dwindling in the sky as it drew closer and closer towards night. There were few birds left in the sky, hardly any calls being cried out over the breeze-filled air. In front of her, she saw a guard step around the corner, his sheet metal armour clanking loudly as each step brought him closer to her.
"Officer Morgan?"
"Who wants to know?" the guard lazily drawled back.
Raising an eyebrow in annoyance, she replied, "VKP Inquisitor Merlose does."
Stiffening, he threw himself to attention, his gauntleted hand flying to his head in a rather sloppy salute, a small ding sounding out as his fingers tapped his helmet. "Sorry sah! Didn't recognise you in this 'ere light sah!"
"Indeed, I guess you didn't... so you remember our meeting last night?"
"Yes sah, indeed I do sah. I stopped you and asked for identification sah, and you showed me your warrant card sah!"
"... and then what did I do?"
"Sah?" a look of bewilderment spreading across his face.
"You heard me, what did I do after you continued on with your rounds?"
"B... bu... but surely you remember sah!"
"One last time Officer Morgan, what did I do after you continued on your rounds!" the hint of violence, carrying across in her voice.
Flinching, he replied, "I... I don't rightly know sah. You walked off in that direction sah." He signalled down one of the side alleys leading off of Cambrose Street. "And I continued walking up here sah."
"Didn't you ask me where I was going?"
"N... no sah! You're VKP! None of us Policia would dare ask that sort of thing sah!" he said, all sorts of thoughts running through his head as the strange questions kept being asked of him.
"That will be all Officer Morgan. Dismissed."
"Yes sah!" He saluted once more and marched off down the alley.
Merlose swore under her breath, no help having come from the retreating form of the guardsman. And then she saw him... the tall figure clad in a long black trenchcoat. In itself it didn't look all that odd but it was the hair she recognised; the brown zigzags wafting through the air.
"Agent Riot!" she cried out, but to no heed. He turned into an alley and disappeared from her view. She sprinted as fast as her legs could carry her, her thighs pistoning as she tore along the cobbles. As she skidded around the corner of the alley he had turned into, ex-VKP member Ashley Riot was nowhere to be seen. Bending over, she rested her hands on her knees as she struggled to get her breath back when she felt a hand on her back. Whirling around, she found herself staring deeply into a pair of deep azure eyes that seemed so alive... she didn't notice as he took her hand in his.
"Inquisitor Merlose, come with me please." And with that, he walked off, Callo Merlose in tow...
