(Liliana Vess)
There we sat, in the council room at the Selesnya guild hall, and everyone's yelling at each other. Jace defending me, and his decision to fight Garruk, Ruric-Thar cursing everyone and saying that all the women here would be whores in the Gruul camps. Gideon and Ral-Zarek sat next to Jace and me, while Chandra sat next to Gideon. Apparently everyone came out today. Wonder who it could be for? Sarcasm, one of my strong suits.
"Look, guild representative or not, this is my decision. I'm not asking for you to devote everything to help, but to divulge information to help me," Jace said.
"Teysa and everyone else may be on your coin, but I will not bow to some 'wimp', who was declared Guildpact, and some decision," Eaxav said, the Rakdos representative.
"No one is being paid, you're just too stubborn like Ruric-Thar to realize that this is a matter that I am trying to keep quiet as much as possible. If your stubborn ass would just release the information to me, then we wouldn't have any problems."
"I hope Rakdos maims your soul and uses it to season his food," she said.
I just stopped and looked at her. Did she really just try using a threat, especially one from a demon? Who does this bitch think she is? I'm doing everything I can to not rip her damn head off and feed it to my reaver.
The bickering continued between them all, and it was starting to get on my last damn nerve. Why does no one see his power and recognize his strength? He's the Guildpact and they should respect that. I turn to Ral-Zarek and his face was a dangerous color of red, no, puce. Something they were saying probably struck a nerve and pissing him off surely and steadily. His entire demeanor was changing to a violent disposition.
He shot out of his chair and slammed his fist on the table.
"EVERYONE SIT DOWN AND SHUT THE HELL UP!"
The room turned quiet. Everyone turned to Ral, mouths open and faces pale. Small sparks jumped through his gauntlet and hair, and a storm began to rise in his eyes. Steam was pouring from him, indicating his anger.
"Quit with the damn bickering and squabbling. You sound like street urchins rather than Champions and emissaries. You should be acting your age, no offense Liliana."
I snort. How does he even know?
"None taken."
"Not like a bunch a baboons fighting over the last banana. Now piss off and grow up," he said, taking his seat in an orderly manner.
The room remained silent for a few moments, everyone in their seat, Teysa sipping on wine, and people twiddling their thumbs.
"Lunch break?" someone suggested, and the room half-heartedly agreed.
Everyone milled out of the conference room. And went their separate ways for lunch. Jace, Gideon, Chandra, Ral-Zarek, Tajic, Teysa, myself and a few others went toward a veranda overlooking a garden. We passed several wolf riders, and druids towards the veranda.
I care little for green or white magic for that matter, but the Selensynian members made this place feel peaceful and cozy. It was beautiful, I'll give it that and it made the worries of the storm to come seem very far off.
We take our seats, and a chef from the guild asks us what we care for lunch and we placed our orders.
"My head hurts," Jace says.
I take his hand, smiling. If nothing else, at least we were together. I understand why the man has a headache, if I had to deal with those brutes on a daily basis, I'd be crazy by now. Ral clears his throat.
"There's truly nothing that we can do to make the guild cooperate. Unless Jace wants to assert his authority as Guildpact and start making demands."
"That's not my style. Either we do it with or without them, Ral. They'll learn the hard way that he's coming to destroy this city, unless we offer up Lili."
"That'll get blamed on you as well. But no one will vote you out, of that we can be sure of. Niv and Aurelia would set the other guilds on fire."
The conversation continues, I rest my hand on Jace's knee. He holds my hand and squeezes it, as if to say he knows what he is doing. After lunch, we walk back toward the conference room and sit down, Jace taking the head of the table, Gideon and I beside him. He plants a kiss on my forehead and buries his face in my hair. As the guildmembers file in, he stops. He looks very professional and handsome, like he's going to kick some ass. He feels this in my thoughts and chuckles.
Jace kicks off, saying that he does not expect the guilds to help us with the Garruk situation, as he's said a million times already. He makes it clear that this is going to happen with or without their help, and that Wildspeaker will pillage and wreck the city if they keep on the path they were going. Ruric-Thar, the brute, speaks up.
"At least Wildspeaker is strong. What if my guild chooses to fight with them instead of the weak-minded guildpact and his whore?"
Jace speaks up, angrily. I stop him. I look at Ruric-Thar, menacingly. Many years ago, his grandfather and I got into a tiff, and he would not stop pursuing me. Being that I was much, much meaner then, I sent his grandfather's soul to hell, no regrets. Maybe he knows, maybe he doesn't but he's going to get a strong reminder.
"Are you all blind or just stupid? Can you not see his power? It radiates from his very core! He was not declared Guildpact on a whim, he was chosen because Aurelia, Vorel, Isperia, the Obzedat and Niv-Mizzet are not turning a blind-eye to his power! He is the most powerful planeswalker in the past 250 years, and if you were smart, you'd pay attention to his awe-inspiring intelligence! Why he puts up with you acting like children is beyond me, but you will not disrespect him any longer! If you choose to, I will rip your soul from its binding and cast it into the blackest abyss in the multiverse, just like I did your grandfather," my eyes and runes begin to glow purple. Jace senses the danger and makes to get up, but he allows me to continue on for now. "And this does not apply only to him. ANY of you who treat him with anything but respect will meet this fate. I will not tolerate this anymore!" I send black magic toward Ruric-Thar, but Jace counters it, which was probably a good thing.
One of the Selensynian druids comes in, holding an Artifact, an orb of some time.
"I was told to deliver this to the Guildpact."
Jace stands up and takes the orb, and opens it. Garruk's voice rings out.
"I am challenging you, Beleren. You should hope you succeed, because the fate of your little witch and your beloved city depend on it."