by Jared Ravens
"I didn't read the whole thing.”
“It must not be good, then."
Bern handed the other envelope to Marcus, a private correspondence between Fairfax and Genesee. Marcus glared at Bern suspiciously as he snatched the letter.
"You have your letter, I have mine, Fairfax has his,” Bern explained. “I'm just doing my part by keeping my letter from you."
From the looked on Marcus’s face Bern knew he wouldn’t be offered a ride back. The supplies in Bern’s cart were uncovered by Gim and checked carefully, each sack filled with something Fairfax had requested. Bern pulled the cart to the side of Gim’s wagon and Gim started transferring the load. As he was doing this Marcus handed him a small bag of change to pay for his services.
Bern took his pay, trying to fathom how he had end up here. His new job as go between for the two parties had been gradual and obvious. He was the publisher of both Genesee’s and Celia’s arguments, gaining the temperamental trust of both of them. Now it seemed he was Fairfax's obvious choice of a mouthpiece, too. Another person, such as Theo, might have seen this as a prestigious position. The reality was that any one of these being's had it in their hands to crush me and him at their will.
He gripped the bag of coins. He had earned it.
Marcus announced loudly that he was leaving, glaring back at the two as they moved bags of grain onto Gim’s cart. They watched him fly down the trail before Bern turned to Gim.
"You should get someone that is literate to help Fairfax."
Gim smiled. Bern didn't know if he knew what he understood him at all. He repeated his statement using smaller words. Gim nodded, telling Bern he had heard him.
"You," he said.
"Yes, me."
"No, you."
"You mean I should do that."
He nodded.
"No," Bern sighed quietly. Gim he was insistent, pointing and saying 'you' over and over again and then pointing at his cart. He was serious. Deadly serious.
"No," Bern said sternly. "Not today. Not ever.”
The bags were loaded on the wagon and Bern helped him strap them down.
"How long do you think they'll let you get away with this?" Bern asked.
Gim shrugged.
"This isn't going to go on like this much longer. They aren't going to let there enemies keep getting fed. You can’t blackmail them forever.”
Gim shrugged and Bern looked up at the sky. It was still light enough to get a descent start on the way home.
"Marcus could be up there somewhere," Bern said.
Gim looked at the sky carefully, then back at Bern, smiling his smile of gaps.
"Not today," he said in a heavy accent.
The New Plan
Marcus could feel eyes fall upon him as son as the The Hill appeared. The tall lump on the horizon grew bigger with every swing of his wings. He could see Genesee, a small dot below him, walking casually out to the balcony as if simply taking in the twilight air. Marcus knew that he and every other pair of eyes in the castle were nearly jumping out of their sockets with the desire to see what he carried.
Genesee felt the attention too, and so as soon as he took possession of the envelope he walked slowly back inside and up the twisting stairs to his study in the turret. He had his butler lock the door and stand guard as he examined the dirty yellow envelope. It broke open in his hand like a dry leaf and a fragile piece of paper fell out. The writing on it was scribbled in frantic strokes that leaned towards the right as if falling towards the edge of the page. The writing, at least, had a consistency to its messiness. It was not a conglomerate of styles like the first note.
G-
Talking to you here. I'm still here. I still hurt but in the head more, inside and outside. What is the solution? You say you help me but if you don't know what is wrong then you can't do it. So.
Take my complaint to Goetz he will know. Then I will consider you as a friend.
Did you know what you were doing? I don't think so. Something happened. Different from what you intended.
I need to speak with Goetz if you make this happen I will come back. If not - no.
Also more food, more than last time. Do this and I will stay hidden. But, you know that if I don't defend myself in all these ways you will come after me?'
Maybe. Ok.
Farxaf
Did he know his new name or not know how to write it? Genesee leaned back in his chair. Fairfax's mind might be so scrambled that he didn't know his own name. But his writing was becoming better, clearer, though he certainly showed no indication he used to be a clerk.
He heard commotion from downstairs. He folded the letter and set it to the side. A butler was soon at his door, asking for his assistance.
Atrios was standing tall, three body lengths above Martel. He wore burgundy armor and a full silver helmet that hid his entire face. His hand was on his sword hilt, as if ready to draw. Martel stood with her hands on her hips in a worn tan tunic, looking up at him.
"If you could capture him you wouldn't have to kill him," she said defiantly.
"I will find him and I will kill him,” Atrios yelled, “and if he tries to defy me again…”
Genesee shouted at them to calm down when a larger presence appeared in the hallway. Celia was stomping down the hall towards them, growing to be larger than either of them apparently in an effort to show her dominance.
"I'm through with you both!" she yelled. "Are you arguing over who is more incompetent?"
Genesee yelled over the ensuing noise in an effort to make his voice heard. Angry at her insults, Atrios moved suddenly towards Martel.
"Atrios you're not to hurt Martel," Genesee said, forcing him to pause.
"Someone is tipping off that fiend!" he called back at Genesee.
"And you think it's Martel?'
"She's admitted it!"
"I said that if I knew where he was I wouldn't tell Atrios,” she replied. “I would reason with Fairfax first.”
"There's not going to be any talking to that cow," Celia exclaimed.
"He's to be found and dealt with without excess harm," Genesee replied sternly. “This is Goetz’s orders. The more you two say things like that the less I can trust you."
"Trust!" Atrios said, his eyes widening inside his helmet. "I can't trust her! She would interfere with my search."
"As well as that's going," muttered Celia.
"We found him multiple times," Genesee said. "Atrios is perfectly capable of doing his job. But our friends in the east do not like us and they hide him again. Do you know why they would be so hostile to us, Celia?"
"You're implying that I'm a problem?"
"I'm implying that your printed rantings are not a help."
"They disliked us long before any of this happened," Celia replied.
"Maybe if we didn't mow over their people on the way to finding one man they would be happier," Martel said.
"They fought back!" Atrios protested.
A crowd had gathered to see the show, forming a circle around the participants. Genesee became uncomfortable and ordered everyone to shrink small enough to move into a private room. He shooed Celia away much to her discontent.
He pulled Martel and Atrios into a large cupboard in the kitchen, the nearest private area he could find, lecturing them away from prying ears.
“They speak of our disorganization down in Sigma. Where to you think these rumors of discontent come from?" he asked.
"Reality," Martel quipped.
"The help talk among themselves and then it drips down the mountain and off into the distance,” Genesee grumbled. “Soon everyone is treating us like fools that only concern themselves with fighting among themselves."
"We shouldn't care," Atrios grumbled in his deep voice. "We are here to rule them."
Genesee couldn't see Atrio's face through the war helmet he wore. He became flustered talking to a tin can.
"What are you wearing that for? Isn't it too hot in that shit? You smell
like a waste bin."
Atrios explained that he was readying himself to go out again and search for Fairfax.
"No wonder people are scared of you,”Gensee said. "Everyone thinks they're going to die when you come close to them."
"They should fear me."
"You need their help," Martel said.
"She's right," Genesee said reluctantly. He leaned against the shelf and shook his head. “All you talk about is killing him, and if that is what rids us of him then so be it. I’ll take the punishment from Goetz. But Atrios, you can’t even manage that.”
“I can!”
“Experience says you can’t,” Genesee replied. “And we just appear weaker and weaker. I’m sorry, Atrios, but we have to change how we do this.”
Atrios pressed his case desperately but Genesee shook his head. “Its time for a different tactic.”
“What did you want to do?” Martel asked him, finally.
Genesee looked at both of them, wondering what he should say.
“I haven’t decided yet,” he said, dismissing himself and walking quickly to Celia’s room. He was relieved that she was of appropriate height, sitting at her desk piled high with papers. He pulled a chair up next to her, watching her as she wrote on them.
"I can find him,” she said, her eyes still focusing on the paper.
"I don't doubt you. Vivian hasn’t been helping him?”
“Most likely. But she’s very decrees about it. I think she wears a vail when she visits him so I can’t see what she is seeing. She learned her lesson from the last time she visited him.”
“Good to know we are all on the same side,” Genesee sighed.
She looked at him from the corner of her eye. “Do we want to end this problem or keep fighting over it?”
"Goetz says no. I say no."
"Goetz..." She said, biting her lip.
"You think he likes the boy?"
"All evidence points to yes."
“He wants our search to quit disturbing the populace. And my two best finders are you and Atrios, and you would each burn down everything in your paths."
"Atrios is doing a fine job of find him. The only difference is I would have the problem taken care of by now."
"We need another approach. I'm putting Atrios under lock and key with regards to the mission and sending out others."
“Who?"
"Martel and one other," he replied.
She glanced at him with surprise.
"Martel?"
"You trust her and I trust her, she will not lie, and she won't cause a ruckus. She can calm people and ask discreetly where to find him. And after this mess where Atrios torched a village...." He shook his head. "Which brings me to my point. These papers you publish, they make us all look like fools.
"These papers that were stolen…” she said, setting down her pen. “But tell me, are they true?"
"You blamed everything about Fairfax on me. There were so may half truths and lies..."
"Lies, where? Show me these lies."
"I can circle every one and have it sent to your room for night reading if I thought you would review them. But it's too late. Everyone already knows your side and they're learning Fairfax's side now too."
"My journal was stolen," she replied, turning to him. "I would not publish that willingly. But being held prisoner here I cannot say I regret that people know my feelings."
"Of course you don't. But I have to ask, sincerely, is there any more of this coming?"
Her eyes eased a little and a touch fo a smile appeared on her lips.
"I think everything is out there," She replied. "But then again, I don't remember everything I wrote.”
“Funny that this stolen document seems to be speaking directly to a reader, almost as if it was written for publication.”
“You’re accusing me of lying?” She replied indignantly. “Whomever sole this book has taken upon themselves to distort my words to make it readable to the masses. You yourself know that these people that serve us steal all the time. I wrote what I wrote in frustration at your frequent failings and put downs. If I were you I’d spend less time rooting out disunity among your family and more time looking in the mirror.”
“Very well,” Genesee sighed, standing up. “I see I’ve gotten all the help I can from you.”
“Wait,” she asked quickly, “who is the other one? The one that is going with Martel?"
"Someone you don't know," he said, “Well, not very well. He stood up and walked out the door, deliberately avoiding answering her question. He was still hesitant about it, and he wanted to let it ruminate in his head before he announced it.
As soon as he was out the door Celia sent for Martel. She paced her room impatiently, ideas running through her head. As soon as her sister came in the room she went directly to her.
"He's going to send you" she said. Martel took a moment to consider this and found it made her quite excited.
"How? When?" she asked.
"I don't know but I assume with a caravan and some soldiers. He wants things to be less disruptive. I only want to ask, are you sincere that you don't want him killed?"
"I know him" Martel said. “I nursed him. I don't want to kill him."
Celia nodded, hiding her disappointed. “If that is how you feel about him, please do me one favor."
"What is that?"
“If you find him and things do not turn out well, send word to me rather that Genesee. At least at first. Tell me where he is so I can come to your aide. Use Marcus or another messenger if need be. I won't reveal that you did so."
Martel considered this.
"If things don't turn out well? Meaning he..."
"He's not well," she said. "You can't tell me that you don't think he is dangerous."
Martel nodded, pausing for a moment before bringing up the next subject.
“We helped do this to him, Celia. What we did with Wilcox’s help really did not give him a chance.”
Celia looked away from her sister.
“What you did with Genesee’s help was dangerous. That’s why I tried to stop it.”
"He woke up too late, after his surgery, and he was angry and fully functional by then."
Celia looked at her sister sideways.
“Do not blame me for Wilcox’s incompetence,” Celia said sternly.
Martel breathed in heavily, steaming.
“We never gave him a chance,” She replied. “Now you hope to kill him.”
“I hope save all of us another disaster. Isn’t that the very basic thing we are supposed to do to support our human friends?”
“That’s what I’m trying to do,” Martel said, walking away. “At least I can admit my mistakes.”
She stopped in the hallway, clenching her fists as she waited for her anger to subside. She always knew she could not entirely trust her sister, but she didn’t know where the distrust could safely end. The surgery had been long and difficult but Felix was entirely patched up secured by the time he had woken up. The metal and bone they had implanted into every part of his body had been sealed securely and the muscle sewn into place.
She had expected him to wake up before the extensive stitching had begun. When he stays fast asleep she had pressed Genesee to hurry, not wanting the patient to rise at an inopportune time. In fact, he had waited to wake until well after the surgery was done. She had assumed that Wilcox’s potion had not worked and, changing her tact, had put everything she could into the body to protect Fairfax from what was knew was coming.
No one known how well he would respond. Such techniques as this had not been used before. People considered Martel more of a sorceress than a doctor, but in truth she considered everything she and Genesee had done to be scientific. When she laid a hand to heal a wound others would say it was mysterious but to her it was only speaking to the cells. She had put every so-called mystical effort into the process but her work had been too good. And then, because she had gone along with her sister’s plan,
what Martel and Genesee had accomplished was now considered to be too radical.
The door flew open and Celia was there, her face now soft and comforting, her eyes wide and accepting.
“I’m sorry Martel. Let’s not quarrel. Can you do what I ask?" Celia asked her. "It is only a simple favor.”
Martel unclenched her jaw. There was no use in fighting right now.
"If he is out of control? Only then?" Martel asked.
"Only then. I do not as you to do this if he is receptive to going with you. I only want to protect you, and Genesee is not interested in that.”
She was not wrong. If Fairfax could defeat Atrios, what could Genesee and an army do to protect her? Nothing. Only Celia could match him.
"I will do that, then.”
"I'm sorry to barge in like this. I needed to ask."
The room around him frigid looking, a cave of ice that slowly melted into streams of water that passed by him. Goetz brightened the cave as if the light of day was seeping in.
"I consider it a better plan," it said. "The current one has not been effective."
"I know we have not done this task to the standards you expect but I have to ask you if we may be allowed to eliminate him if necessary..."
"That is not allowed…" Goetz quickly responded.
"It may be unavoidable. Trust me, I wish Fairfax to live but he is violent."
"Then it will be on you,” Goetz replied.
"I don't know that that is fair. After all, I can only hold Celia still for so long. This situation has been a boon for her. It benefits her to watch me fail. Not to mention that it embarrasses you."
"She will keep her place or I will bind her more. I have the ability to make new creatures better than her."
"I don’t think the outcome is in our hands," Genesee replied. "If Fairfax is unstable then it is only a matter of time before he does something truly dangerous and the populous turns against him. She's is only waiting for that time."
"The populous does not control me."
"They do control us, though, more than I previously thought.”
“You can contain them,” Goetz replied. “You are their chief administrator. You have power over them.”
“Much power comes from them,” Genesee muttered. “I’ve thought about this. I’ve thought about getting rid of them altogether. But if we can’t find a way to live harmoniously when the things we created then we have failed, and if I don’t have them to govern I fail to see a reason for even existing.”