by Jeff Inlo
Chapter 17
Sazar eyed the human before him with a great deal of puzzlement. Normally, the serp gained a keen insight simply by looking at a person. He could judge their character, their honesty or lack thereof, and their personality within the first few moments, and he would usually be fairly accurate in his assessment. He already knew a bit about this man, however, and what he knew didn’t fit with what he saw.
He knew that Edward Consprite gained the favor of a powerful vampire. He also knew that at one time this man was the mayor of the city the serp now occupied. This should indicate the human had guile, savvy, as well as strong leadership qualities. Further, Consprite’s association with the vampire would have made Sazar bet most of his goblin army that the man was gifted with a great deal of charisma; that Consprite would have filled any room he entered with a great presence of personality. Sazar would have lost that bet.
Consprite had made his appearance known by simply walking out into the open. He had moved directly to a goblin in the streets as if walking up to a town guard to ask for directions. This particular goblin was under orders to assess the human occupation of an undamaged dwelling close to the city’s western border. The ex-mayor stepped in front of the diminutive monster and grumbled that he was Edward Consprite and wanted to see Sazar. The goblin almost made the dreadful mistake of plunging a short sword into the man’s belly. That would have certainly caused unnecessary conflict with Janindise. Luckily, however, Sazar caught the exchange in his mind and commanded the goblin to send the human forward before any damage was done.
Consprite had walked through the streets with a determined pace, but his legs appeared stiff and his feet shuffled across the ground. With clothes that appeared far too large for his frame and a slouch in his shoulders, he appeared more of a transient hobo than a man that once held the position of leadership in the city. And though his appearance would seem to indicate a severe lack of self-confidence, in absolute opposition to this, he walked by shags and packs of goblins with utter disregard.
Sazar had kept an active mental link to the minions that watched Consprite pass through the streets. The images he captured contrasted greatly with what he anticipated. When Consprite had reached his final destination, a large merchant’s home that the serp now called home, he saw the man enter without fanfare or grace, but with all the dignity of a pauper entering a soup kitchen. Sazar could not fathom how this man gained the favor of a vampire, and with Consprite now standing right before him, the concept was even more bizarre.
Consprite appeared more of an empty shell than a vibrant living being. The skin around his eyes and cheeks hung heavy with many wrinkles as it did around his neck and hands. This loose skin along with a gray pallor made the human look like a man that had been lost at sea for days on end. What was left of his hair hung long and loose about his head as if long ago he decided not to bother cutting or combing it.
Truly, this was not what Sazar expected, and the serp gained another surprise when he looked in the man’s eyes. He did not see the bubbling spark of life there, or charisma of any type. This was not a man that could hypnotize you with his eyes and thus didn’t worry about the rest of his appearance. What Sazar saw in the eyes of this man was a single-minded focus, a disregard for everything else that went on around him. Consprite was here to talk to Sazar and everything else was simply irrelevant. Sazar acknowledged the man before him with caution as well as curiosity.
“Good day, Mr. Consprite. As you must already know, I am Sazar. As I am also sure you already know I have met your friend. She told me you have the idea that you might be of some assistance to me. I must be brutally honest, I’m not quite sure of what someone like you can do for me.”
“What I can do for you all depends on what you want,” Consprite spewed his words with gruffness.
“What I want I am well on my way to achieving. The city is mine.”
“Yes, it seems to be,” Consprite replied with almost a tone of sarcasm. “You have them surrounded, you have taken the outer limits, but you have not yet moved into the inner portions of the city. Why not?”
Sazar seemed a bit taken aback by Consprite’s question. First, when the ex-mayor spoke of ‘them’, he clearly differentiated himself from the rest of the citizens of Connel. Second, he appeared to be questioning Sazar almost as if the serp was a subordinate. That, the serp did not like.
“Are you in some rush?” Sazar asked.
“How long it takes is irrelevant to me, but when you say the city is yours, you need to be a bit more specific. You said you weren’t sure what I could do for you. I am quite sure I can offer you something. The problem is I don’t know what you really want. I know the people of this city. I know how they will react.”
“Then you know if I simply rush my army into the center of the city, it will only create panic. I’m not looking to do that, panic is messy, and it lacks control.”
Consprite squinted at the serp, mumbled something incoherently and then began to pace around the room.
“So you don’t want to just kill them all,” Consprite said as he continued to move about. “If you did, you wouldn’t care how messy it was. Actually, I’m guessing the goblins you have at your beck and call would enjoy it more if it was very messy.”
“That’s very perceptive of you,” the serp hummed.
“And don’t bother trying to compliment me. I really don’t care what you think of me.”
“Is that so? It is you that came to me,” the serp pointed out. “You are the one that said you can help me. If I don’t think highly of you, why would I trust you to help me?”
“Because I know I can help you,” Consprite replied brusquely. “It’s just a matter of figuring out how. If you did want to kill everyone here, I’m sure you can handle that on your own, but if you want to know where they keep their most valuable supplies, wouldn’t it be easier if I simply told you rather than have your goblins waste time searching for it?”
“Yes I suppose it would.”
“Is that what you want? Do you want to claim this town’s most valuable possessions?”
“That is certainly part of it,” Sazar confirmed, “and perhaps you can help me with that. There is, however, more to it than simply taking the material items of value.”
“What else are you looking for?”
Sazar saw no true danger in making it very clear what he wanted, and so he spoke without hesitation.
“I am going to take everything this city has to offer me, both substantial and insubstantial. I will not be leaving it in the foreseeable future. It will become the center of my operations as I focus on growing my army. When my forces become stronger, which they certainly will, I will begin to move eastward. I do not limit my ambitions to the borders of Connel.”
“I see, and what do you plan to do with the humans that live here now?”
“I plan to have them serve me. They will grow my food, mine my metals, and fashion my weapons.”
“If they resist?” Consprite asked but showed no true concern.
“They will die most unpleasantly. I have already made an example of one of them, their mayor, a human named Flisher. Do you know of her?”
“I do,” Consprite grunted. “She’s dead?”
“Most painfully, I assure you.”
In truth, Consprite hated Flisher, though there were others he hated more. Still, he wondered aloud if it was such a good idea to remove her so quickly. “If you plan to keep the inhabitants of the city under your control was it such a good idea to kill their leader? She wasn’t a real threat to you and she could have been used to keep order.”
“I did not like her,” Sazar admitted. “While she appeared to understand the situation, I don’t think she would have effectively conveyed the seriousness of the situation to her followers. By dying as she did, she served my purposes much more efficiently.”
“So who’s going to keep the people in line now that she’s gone?”
“Are you volunteering?” Sazar asked with
an almost challenging tone.
“Absolutely not,” Consprite replied resolutely. “While I still believe I can help you, I’m sure it wouldn’t be in that way. These people mean nothing to me any more and they know it. They wouldn’t listen to me any more than they would listen to one of your goblins.”
“Very good,” the serp nodded. “At the very least, I can see you have a grasp of the situation and do not waste my time in making promises you obviously couldn’t keep. As it stands, I have someone that I will use to keep the people in line, as you put it. I already have utilized your Captain Tevor to carry my message to the humans. He will be much more convincing when he explains to them what they face and what they must do. He will also keep his men in check, at least for a while until he realizes there really is no hope left for them. Then I will probably have to throw him to the bloat spiders as well. By then, I will have taken full control of the city and it will no longer matter.”
It was Sazar’s turn to pace across the floor, and as he did his tail swayed back and forth with his own thoughts. He considered what he just learned of Consprite. Here was a human that did not like the people of Connel, and they probably shared no love for him. Consprite developed a close relationship with a vampire and showed no reservations in dealing with shags, goblins, or even a serp. In every way, this human appeared to be acting in a very non-human way. This consideration brought to mind one of Sazar’s more immediate problems.
While Sazar needed Captain Tevor to keep the humans in check, at least for the immediate future, he also needed someone to help him in another area. For Captain Tevor to remain useful to Sazar he needed to be respected and, even more so, trusted by the humans that the serp wished to control. This other role that Sazar required necessitated characteristics of just the opposite. Sazar believed that Consprite offered him exactly what he needed, and he offered up his considerations freely in order to judge if his estimation was correct.
“Actually, Edward Consprite, there is something that you might be able to do for me. I have one problem that I am somewhat concerned about. You see, some of the people of this town must be—oh how shall I put it—perhaps sacrificed is the proper word. I made an agreement with a sorceress in the Lacobian Desert. My part of the agreement requires that I supply her with subjects so that she may test her spells. I clearly plan to send some of these humans to her, but I have not yet figured out the best way to do this. I wish to maintain control here, and I want the humans to believe that they will ultimately be allowed to live even if it is under my rule. As long as they believe the life I offer them is better than being thrown to a bloat spider, I believe they will remain useful to me. If, however, they realize that many of them will be sent to their deaths at the hands of an experimenting sorceress, they might get other ideas. They might actually rebel, and that is my problem.”
“So you need to select humans that you can send out into the desert without alarming the entire population?” Consprite asked with little regard to the implications of such a dilemma.
“You understand very well,” Sazar said.
“That is a problem I can solve for you without hesitation,” Consprite answered with almost a note of glee in his voice. “I know exactly where to get your first group of subjects, and the rest of this town will not care one bit. They may even be pleased to see them go.”
“Really?”
“There is a Church of Godson in this city,” Consprite now noted with more disgust than cheer. “I suggest you start with them.”
The serp showed a sign of amazement at such a suggestion.
“You think I should base the selection of people on some religious segmentation? Do you really think that is wise? I like to believe I understand humans, at least to a degree. Their beliefs in religious matters tend to stir some rather interesting passions. To me, that seems very dangerous.”
“Don’t kid yourself. This is not some established, respected church. They are nothing but a bunch of loons. They will not be missed. And it certainly will not stir any kind of concern in the rest of the people here.”
“I would imagine the Church of Godson might have gained new respect,” Sazar wondered aloud. “After all, their beliefs contain such creatures as goblins, and shags, and even serps. Now that the people face such creatures in reality, I would have guessed that more humans might have sought out this church.”
“Oh yes, they have grown in number,” Consprite admitted, “but not so drastically that they outnumber those that mistrust them. Many in this city even blame them. Not many here are happy with what has happened since the sphere was destroyed. I’m sure that now you’re here, they’re even more unhappy. But the followers of that church, they were ready to accept all of this before it even happened. A lot of people think they even welcomed it. How do you think people that are surrounded by goblins are going to feel about a church that welcomed the return of dark creatures?”
“You have a point. Still, I believe care is required. I don’t want it made known exactly what is going on. I would like to see these people removed from the city without alarming the rest of the population.”
“That’s the beauty of it,” Consprite said. “They keep to themselves as it is. All you have to do is go to their church and you can probably find several dozen there right now. Keep them isolated and send them out to the desert in small groups. No one else has to know or will even care what’s going on.”
Sazar placed a finger to his chin and tapped a long nail against his cheek and began to pace once more.
“It’s certainly an easy way to start,” Sazar hummed to himself. “The first few days will pose the most challenges in maintaining control. I doubt Tabris will be patient enough to give me more time. No, I have to prove to her that I will maintain my part of the bargain, so I must begin sending her something immediately.”
Sazar turned about and faced Consprite directly. “Ahhh well, it seems the best alternative I have. I stand corrected; you have proved to be of assistance to me. I also wish to make further use of you. I will send you to this Church of Godson with a small party of goblins and two shags. You will see to it that a number of humans, let us say ten to begin with, are removed from this church and sent to the western outskirts of the city. I will instruct my goblins to transport the humans from there to the desert.”
“I have no problem with that.”
“That might be, but I’m not quite finished just yet. If I’m going to fully trust you with this endeavor, however, there are things I must know about you.”
“Such as?”
“How is it that you have fallen under the protection of this vampire, Janindise?” Sazar asked.
“I have no problem telling you that, either. No problem at all. I was the mayor of this city when the sphere of Ingar freed itself from Sanctum. I learned a great deal about things at that time. I learned there is power far greater than political power, that being mayor of a city really meant nothing—as Ms. Flisher apparently found out. The magic the sphere contained was power, but only if you have the skill to use it. Unfortunately, I do not have such a skill.”
“Does this story have a point, and if so, will it answer my question?” the serp interrupted.
“Fine, you want the short version. There was a delver named Ryson Acumen that was hired to find out about the sphere. I had this delver followed. My first tracker died, but I never give up easily. After an encounter with this delver right here in Connel, things spiraled downhill quickly. I was removed as mayor. I decided to hire additional trackers to pick up the trail of Acumen to find out every place he had traveled. With nothing else to do, I followed along, learning as much as I could. During these travels, we happened upon Janindise. She would not attack us, so I was able to speak with her. She asked what brought me to her, and I told her the truth, that I had been retracing the steps of Ryson Acumen. It seems she hates the delver as much as I do. In this, we found common ground, and I make no effort to hide that fact. I was out of money and unable to convince the tra
ckers to work with a vampire that could only move at night. The trackers left me. I, however, understood that Janindise could be a great asset. I stayed with her, even convinced her to return with me to Connel.”
“And why does Janindise hate this delver?” the serp inquired.
“That is her business, and I do not speak of it. One of the reasons she graces me with her companionship is that I respect her wishes. She has no problem with me revealing our mutual hate for Ryson Acumen, but she has made it clear she does not like to speak of her experience with the delver.”
“I see. I do have one last question before you leave. Why do you wish to be of assistance to me in the first place?”
“When you cut me off before, I tried to tell you I have a new understanding of power. I see such power in you. I do not fear you because Janindise protects me. When I prove my worth to you, I will gain yet another ally. Power is in the friends you keep, even if you might not be able to trust them.”