Monster Party Novella Nosos: But what happens when the gears, get sick of the machine?
Chapter Ten: We've got finest blend of nearly honest men
"Mr. Diamondclaw, do you know who I am?" A voice in the darkness asked.
At first all Alexander did was lazily swing back and forth, but then he finally spoke up.
"Well, given that I seem to have found myself bound hand and foot and hanging upside down from the ceiling again, I'm going to guess that you're that goblyn chieftain come for revenge over what the druids did to your tribe? By the way you speak Balok much better than you ever did Forfarian!" He guessed flippantly.
There was the distinct feeling of someone punching him in the upper solar plexus, (the only part of his chest that would be in reach at the moment) hard enough to get him swimming again.
"Not quite." The cultured voice replied.
"Well you're not Malus Sceleris either, he wouldn't have used a blindfold, it'd deny him a chance to let me see his own gloating face." Alexander pointed out a touch more logically.
"So nice of you to finally take my company seriously Mr. Diamondclaw. I trust we won't have to worry about any more pointless diversions?" The voice inquired.
"My stories are never pointless. They exist to convey a very important message, how awesome I am." Alexander insisted right before he got punched again.
"If you truly were half as 'awesome' as you claim to be it wouldn't have been so easy for my associates to capture you. It was very foolish of you go walking through some streets of Nosos alone. Most wealthy men avoid the Western portions of Nosos, what were you doing there?" The voice demanded to know.
"Looking for a Solstice tree." The silver haired man insisted earning him a third blow.
"You know, I'm almost starting to become impressed. Do I need to tell Crusher to break out the iron knuckles to hold your attention? If that fails, a little work with a stout iron bar could hardly make you any more nonsensical..." The voice insisted.
"What can I say? I tend to get a bit theatrical when I have a captive, or in this case, capturing, audience. Maybe if I knew what you really wanted, I'd be more forthcoming." Alexander replied calmly.
Alexander's blindfold was lifted (lowered?) for just a moment allowing him to see the face of a slightly overweight brown haired man with green eyes gazing right at him. Clenched between his jaws was an ignited roll of brown paper, and he breathed a cloud of noxious gray smoke directly into Alexander's face before setting the blindfold back in place.
"I am the last face you may ever see. Is that enough to make you take me seriously?" The voice demanded.
Alexander swung back and forth for a few moments coughing vigorously until he'd finally managed to clear his lungs.
"Okay, okay, just don't ever do that again, whatever that stuff was, it managed to smell worse that Nosos in general!" He pleaded.
"That's better. Now what do you know about a Mr. Armand Hobert?" The voice wanted to know.
"He's my guest in Chateau Argent. He's going to stay that way also, I have big plans for Amalgamated Diamonds, and they depend on repaying like for like and sticking to our agreements in spirit as well as word." Alexander insisted.
"It takes some real dedication for a man to keep thinking about the future of his business in your situation." The voice noted, once again sounding almost impressed.
"Well what can I say, like I've told my guests I've had a lot of unpleasant experiences in my life. Before you decided to so thoroughly befoul my nostrils this didn't even rank in the top fifteen." Alexander explained.
That earned him yet another punch.
"Armand Hobert had a deal with us. It's not very business like to go back on a deal. Nosos is a city built on making deals and doing business. Since he's holed up in your place, getting in touch with you was the obvious way to get his attention." The voice insisted.
"So you figured that you could convince me, or my fellow Alphas of Amalgamated Diamonds to trade him for me?" Alexander expected.
"Something like that." The voice admitted.
"There's a very simple reason why that isn't going to work." Alexander replied calmly.
"Because you're an honest man?" The voice suspected.
"Not really. The reason it won't work is because you're trying to use force against me. I am utterly incapable of understanding why people keep trying to do that, it never works well for them. Since you seem so knowledgeable of what is going on in Nosos, I have to believe that you have a rough knowledge of the last trial that Armand Hobert took part in. Do you remember the three defendants testimony in regards to how they had been captured?" Alexander inquired right back.
"They claimed to have been grabbed up by a gigantic silver wolf monster. At which point your own fancy lawyer abruptly insisted that the hows and whys of their capture had no relevance to the trail in question, only what they'd been doing before the 'wolf monster' in question arrived, regardless of if it really existed or not." The voice admitted.
Alexander gave an upside down nods of agreement.
"That's right. It was thus never proven if the wolf monster existed or not. Now maybe I'm just lying to you, I did after all just admit that I'm anything but an honest man.
Still, let me get this straight. You think that I, one of the wealthiest, most powerful men in the city, who may very well have a gigantic wolf monster under my control that loves to assault criminals who inconvenience me, am going to go give into blackmail? Good luck." Alexander reflected and casually twisted his body to get himself twisting back and forth a bit air, like the pendulum of a clock.
"Now, I'm an easy going enough sort when there's something to gain from it, if you let me down now I won't make an issue over the subject of who kidnapped whom. I would however like to have this blindfold taken off, my arms free, a chair, a strong drink, you to put out that small smokestack you have in your mouth, and a cat." Alexander suggested.
"Where exactly do you expect us to find a cat?" The voice shot back, strangely choosing to focus on this aspect of Alexander's demands.
"I've seen more than a few strays in Nosos, just go check outside the closest door leading out of this place and see if you can find one." Alexander suggested.
"You're doing this just to prove a point..." The voice reflected.
"Yes I am." The silver haired man admitted in a blase fashion.
Not so long later, Alexander Diamondclaw was seated in a comfortable chair, with his hands free, the blindfold gone, and a red furred cat seated attentively on his lap.
"I noticed you're still puffing away on that... whatever it is. You're doing that just to prove a point, aren't you?" Alexander asked the man who was seated opposite him.
"Yes I am." He agreed before blowing another cloud of smoke his way, causing the cat to cough and hiss in irritation.
"Let me make a second point of my own then..." Alexander insisted, before making a few quick hand motions.
Strands of white mist began to rise up from around his feet, and the curled forward, wrapping around the burning piece of parchment. They managed to cling to it so tightly that the flame sputtered out.
Once this had been accomplish they quickly dispersed, leaving Alexander reclining back in his chair with his arms crossed playfully.
"Impressive." His host admitted.
"I've learned a few tricks here and there in my life. One of the most important ones is that so many things will come down to the simple question of who are your friends, and who are your enemies." Alexander pointed out.
"Yes, lets talk about enemies. Do you really think that you're going to survive long in Nosos if you make an enemy of Malus?" The other man asked.
"Before we discuss my plans for Malus... I'd prefer to know the name of the man I'm talking with." Alexander insisted.
"Anonymity is like a warm blanket. But you can call me Father." Replied the other man.
"Not going to happen, I respect my own father too much. I did have an uncle that I wasn't particularly fond of though..." The silver haired man offered.
"It'll have to do." "Uncle" accepted.
"As for Malus... let him try. If an entire tribe of Goblyns weren't able to do the job what chance does he have?" Alexander declared bluntly.
"Most men aren't as hard to kill as you are, most men are a lot easier to frighten." Uncle insisted.
"Be that as it may, why are we even having this conversation? I'd have thought the fact that you worked hand in glove with Armand Hobert, who worked for Malus in turn. Shouldn't that place you firmly in his corner?" The silver haired man asked eagerly.
"That's your first mistake, nobody in Nosos, not even his inner circle likes Malus Sceleris. He just knows all the right strings to pull to keep people dancing to his tune, or at least he did till you and your friends came along. Do you have any idea what Malus thinks of puppets who lack strings?" Uncle asked.
"Probably no more fond of them than I am, and if you think I dislike goblyns, you haven't heard the story of what puppets without strings did to me once. Granted 'he' probably wasn't too fond of me either given by the end of it given how the story's ending involves a one severely upset dryad and termite mound.
Now that we've both proven we can dance around unpleasant subjects equally well, what are you really interested in? Keep in mind I am still am a bit miffed about what your boys tried to do to Timothy Jackson." Alexander warned.
"Look at the matter logically Mr. Diamondclaw. When me and members of my organization steal from the poor they are left with so little that it is impossible to steal from them again. When we steal from the rich, well it is in the nature of the rich to have more money than they know what to deal with.
We can keep stealing from them again, and again, and again, in moderation of course, rather like shearing a sheep when you get right down to it.
Except that Malus looks very unforgivably upon any theft in Nosos, any theft he isn't behind at least. Not only that, but he doesn't like anyone upsetting his Owners in anyway, unless once again he's the one behind it.
Malus Sceleris has clamped down on this city so firmly that we simply don't have any choice but to steal from those who have next to nothing, because those who have more are too well protected." Uncle explained.
"Interesting theory, any particular reason why I should I believe it?" Alexander replied with a slight cocking of his head to the side.
"Well it seems the time for dancing and storytelling isn't quite over Mr. Diamondclaw. Once a not so long time ago, Nosos was almost exactly as it was today.
It was ruled by a cruel king and his equally cruel nobles who thought nothing of oppressing the peasants and cared nothing at all for their suffering. The only real difference was that the peasants were breaking their backs laboring in the fields rather than in the factories.
There weren't any police back then, just knights, and they existed only to enforce the king's will, not that our current 'lawmen' are any better. So, a group of peasants banded together, knowing that they had no chance to change the system, but if they were cunning and shrewd might at least be able to protect their own families from the worst of the suffering.
Protecting your family.
That's something I've always been a firm believer in, just like my father, just like my grandfather was. Just like... well I'm sure you grasp the concept. It's a rough pitiless world out there, dog eat dog, cat eat cat, there's nothing fair about it in the slightest. So you make the best of it, and, you, protect, your, family." Uncle insisted vigorously.
Alexander would have been lying to say that his interest wasn't piqued at this point.
"So, you're interested in an alliance between my pack and you... family? To what end?" Alexander asked cautiously.
"To the end of Malus Sceleris. I and my family have some big ideas for Nosos, but they require the city to be something more than a playground for an overgrown boy to amuse himself with.
"Interesting, well given that Nosos is a city built on business... lets see if we can't do some business together?" The silver haired man offered.
AN: So, organized crime...
Well look at the time, I think I'm gonna end this chapter commentary right here and now!
Oh, well some good news, don't think that something horrible has happened to me if you don't hear from me/see me post anything for a while, going on vacation this Friday and will not be back for a week and a weekend.