by E G Manetti
Relief makes Lilian light-headed. Until her bond proved, Lilian could not seek out and destroy the man who held her dangerous secret. She has known that sooner or later it would be necessary. Once she succeeded in proving her bond, blackmail was a forgone conclusion.
“Lilian, you must hasten,” Helena calls, bringing Lilian back to the present. “It will not serve to be late to the Cartel.”
Sending a silent prayer to Adelaide to bless the murderous decadents dealers, Lilian races to her chamber.
»◊«
“It is a Third Systems’ militia matter now, Monsignor,” Trevelyan says grimly. Arranging the well-deserved death of that guard from Gariten’s Final Draught did not trouble him. The murder of a former Serengeti associate, even a traitorous one, is another matter. Not that Trevelyan would hesitate to arrange Ann Hunter’s death, but only after Lucius and Blooded Dagger had what they needed. “I withdrew my operatives as soon as we received the alert.”
From behind their bondholders’ backs, Lilian and Rebecca exchange a grim glance. They do not need to be told that the Serengeti Group does not want to be discovered interfering in the Third Systems’ murder investigation.
“How long before the Governor’s militia discovers that the woman we knew as Ann Hunter was an imposter? That there never was an ‘Ann Hunter’ from a secondary family in the Seventh System?” Lucius leans back in his conference table chair and steeples his fingers.
Trevelyan discovered Ann Hunter was a false identity several sevendays gone and has been fruitlessly searching for the missing woman. Early this morning, her body was found in a remote chamber of a disused tunnel in the Southern Continent Crevasse, dead less than a day. The manner of her passing was beyond brutal, beyond cruel. The crevasse-wallower who discovered the remains ran screaming in horror.
Regrettably for Serengeti, before their private militia could the seal site for the Third Systems’ militia, the addict alerted someone else. That person captured a blurry, sensational visual before the Serengeti militia locked down the crime scene. Purchased by a media interest, that visual has been running since well before dawn in Crevasse City.
The Crevasse master notified Serengeti Media Management as soon as the body was discovered, knowing it would be a media matter and must be handled by Seigneur Aristides’ department. Simultaneously, the Serengeti militia sergeant in charge of Southern Crevasse security notified Seigneur Thorvald as soon as the body was identified as belonging to a former Serengeti associate. Seigneur Thorvald informed the governing monsignors, prompting Lucius to send for Trevelyan.
“I expect they will know about the false identity within days, Monsignor,” Trevelyan responds. “The sensational nature of the murder requires a speedy resolution. They will not stint on resources, and unlike Serengeti, they have no need for a discreet investigation. It will not be long before Seigneur Damocles receives the governor’s warrant for cooperation.”
“Damocles,” Lucius snorts. “He cannot be trusted to screen Grey Spear associates. How ill will he serve my Cartel when dealing with the lady governor’s militia?”
When Trevelyan discovered that ‘Ann Hunter’ was a false identity, it meant that finding the woman would be much more difficult. It also meant that Damocles failed in a basic task, validating the backgrounds of Grey Spear and Cartel associates. Lucius took distinct pleasure in presenting Sebastian with evidence of Damocles’ incompetence and using it to annihilate Sebastian’s lingering attempts to move the security-privilege of Bright Star and Mercium from Trevelyan to Damocles. It was too much to hope that Sebastian would dismiss Damocles over the matter.
“Very well. We will wait for the militia to catch up,” Lucius decides. “Provide the governor’s militia with reasonable data and nothing they should not have. Particularly as it relates to our traitor investigation.”
“Seigneur Damocles will have his own ideas about cooperating with the militia,” Trevelyan suggests.
“The body was found in the Southern Crevasse,” Lucius corrects. “Blooded Dagger interests take precedence. If Damocles resists, let me know.”
“Aye, Monsignor.” Trevelyan nods with a hint of his free-trader smile. He will enjoy directing the governor’s militia and bedeviling Damocles. “With the aid of the militia, within a few sevendays, we may know who she truly was and how she was introduced to Serengeti. We may even discover where she has been for the past two months.”
Lucius pauses to consider this latest complication in an already charged situation. “You are certain her confederate is not among Grey Spear?”
“Investigation of the Grey Spear seigneurs and master associates found no trace of Monsignor Angus’ payments,” Trevelyan confirms. “It seems unlikely her confederate was at a lower level. She must have felt protected to dare breaching Monsignor’s private files.”
“Agreed.” Lucius nods as he considers these latest developments. “As much as I would have liked to tie Sebastian to the traitor, having a Serengeti governor implicated in such a barbarous murder would not serve the Cartel.”
“Even if were we able to tie Monsignor Sebastian to the traitor, tying the traitor to the Hunter woman’s murder is another matter,” Trevelyan interjects. At Lucius’ raised eyebrows, Trevelyan continues, “The assault on Monsignor’s files was a very clean operation. Subtle and difficult to trace. A murder this gruesome is completely out of character.”
“Perhaps the violence was an attempt to divert suspicion?” Lucius suggests. “Make us believe it was someone other than Ann’s confederate?”
“A street robbery gone wrong would be as effective in turning suspicion,” Trevelyan points out. “Or something decadents related.”
“True enough,” Lucius concludes, well aware that no hint of the militia corporal’s demise can be traced to him or Serengeti. “If Sebastian were involved, he would have found a cleaner means to dispose of Ann if she became a problem.”
Tapping the tips of his fingers together, Lucius lightly shakes his head, uneasy with these latest developments. “Nonetheless, it is hard to imagine her murder is unrelated to her corruption.”
Trevelyan is as disquieted by the matter as Lucius. “Once we have her confederate, mayhap it will become clear. Regrettably, we will need to suspend our investigations into the potential confederate within the Serengeti Group. It would be difficult to explain our interest should our investigation cross paths with the governor’s investigation.”
»◊«
“I doubt Douglas will join us,” Lilian remarks to Chrys, Rebecca, and Clarice as they claim a fountain table in the café.
“I doubt he will have the opportunity for much sleep, let alone meals, for the next few days,” Chrys agrees. “The media reports become more sensational with each bell.”
“The latest has a secret Servants of Anarchy cult operating out of lost passages in the Crevasse,” Clarice puts in. “That one is so openly slanderous of the Serengeti Crevasse militia that Seigneur Herman had the halt demand filed before the report was completed.”
“Cult?” Rebecca questions. “The murder was grisly, but a secret society?
“According to the media, whoever murdered Ann Hunter used the practices of the original Servants of Anarchy, the cult the Five Warriors exterminated at the end of the Anarchy,” Clarice confirms.
Swallowing hard, Chrys drops his fork. “Ritual sacrifice? After torture and rape?”
Grimly, Rebecca nods. “The sacrifice part has only been known for a bell or so. How did the media get hold of it?”
“I am not sorry we got rid of Ann Hunter, but none should die in that manner,” Clarice shivers.
“The media would serve the Twelve Systems better with less lurid coverage and more assistance to the militia,” Chrys inserts impatiently.
It is a sentiment they all share. Although both Clarice and Lilian suffered from Ann’s maliciousness, neither apprentice wished such an end on the disliked associate.
“Seigneur Aristides has commenced countermeasures,�
�� Lilian contributes. “They include an expert discussion on how other supposed Servants of Anarchy killings have proven to be perverted inventions of otherwise unexceptional killers.”
Spearing a roasted vegetable, Rebecca comments, “It’s amazing how the media uses a baseless legend to create hysteria.”
“Not baseless. The Servants were real enough,” Lilian contradicts. “I would have thought as a Second Warrior devoted, Rebecca, you would be more aware than anyone. Although given the historic support of Rimon’s Canon, they are most certainly naught but legend now.”
“Lilian, my education included archiving and communications protocols, not the classics. What know you of Rimon Ben Claude and the Servants of Anarchy?” Rebecca is fascinated, as are Chrys and Clarice.
Finding it pleasant to be the one providing the education rather than receiving it, Lilian readily expounds on the history of the Servants of Anarchy.
“They were not known as the Servants of Anarchy at the time. The Anarchy itself was not called such at the time. Those are modern terms.
“During the period we recognize as the Anarchy, most true faith deteriorated into superstition. In many instances, harmless if not useful. By the time of the Five Warriors, one group—they called themselves the Servants of the Eldest—had developed a strong following.
“They were brutal even by the standards of those uncivilized times. They did not make a personal blood offering to show their faith. They tortured and sacrificed enemies and captives for the pleasure of their gods. They believed the greater the humiliation, the longer the pain and bloodletting lasted, the more power and advantage they would gain from the Eldest.” At her friends’ shocked exclamations, Lilian halts briefly to take a bite of her meal.
Waving her fork for emphasis, Lilian continues, “To their enemies and those who feared them, they were known as the Despoilers. They had their strongest enclaves in the Second System. As Rimon Ben Claude established his territory, he systematically eradicated the Despoilers. As a result, the Despoilers ceased their expansion and attacks in the other systems to battle Rimon.
“Each of the Five Warrior Canons contain references about embracing Rimon’s ‘condemnation of the Servants.’ Until the last few decades, scholars thought these passages were references to the other Four Warriors accepting Rimon’s governing protocols as part of the Code of Engagement. Now it is believed they refer to the other Four Warriors uniting with the Second to eradicate the Servants of the Eldest.”
Pausing to gauge the reaction of her friends, Lilian finds them riveted. With a nod she completes, “So, even though the media may be sensationalizing the legend of the Servants of Anarchy, long ago they did exist. We can be certain that they do no longer. Both the historic record and canon agree that Rimon Ben Claude was thorough and ruthless. The Servants were annihilated a millennium ago. This is not the first occasion of deluded killers copying aspects of that ancient evil. There have been a number over the centuries. Although depraved, their practices were clumsy imitations of the Servants’ rituals, and none of them began to equate to the well-organized marauders of the Anarchy. As with those others, I am sure it will not take Seigneur Aristides’ experts long to prove these so-called Servants of Anarchy are naught but another set of common murderers seeking notoriety.”
“From your tale, Lilian, are we to believe that much of that within the canons is historically accurate?” Clarice asks.
“ ‘Much’ is an overstatement,” Lilian carefully corrects. “For centuries, historians have searched Mulan’s Archives for corroboration of the canons. They have met with mixed success. The keepers of the Temple were desperate to retain the Ancients’ knowledge. They were less concerned about documenting events of their time. The most interesting information has surfaced in the past century with the development of archeology.”
“Arch of what?” Rebecca questions to echoing nods from Clarice and Chrys.
“Archeology,” Lilian carefully enunciates. “It is an esoteric historical discipline based on the practice of carefully disinterring ruins to find clues to the past. Archaeologists are Ancients hunters searching for artifacts that predate the Anarchy.”
“How does Ancients hunting help with the truth of the canons?” Chrys demands.
“In digging for two-thousand-year-old artifacts, one must first dig past those that are but a millennium old,” Lilian explains. “The archaeologists are all historians. Anything they find from the time of the Five Warriors is sent to Mulan’s Archives.
“The theologians and Five Warrior historians have made great strides in connecting the physical debris to the canons and the historic record. That is the source of this new scholarship. There is even a gruesome collection of Despoiler artifacts kept in a locked subterranean chamber at the Temple.”
“That sounds nasty. Why would Mulan’s Temple store such things?” wonders Rebecca.
“They are the physical records of the Five Warriors’ time and thus too precious to discard,” Lilian replies. “Also, they serve a practical purpose. I expect that the experts Seigneur Aristides will use to discredit these so-called Servant murders are of Mulan’s Temple.”
17. Settlements and Signets
Signet license fees are paid to the Governing Council in return for significant commerce advantages, the right to a household militia, and the potential for a Governing Council seat. By custom, all the offspring of the cartouche preeminence are awarded gold signets in their twenty-fourth year upon completion of the warrior consecration ritual. The greater the number of gold signets a cartouche or cartel supports, the greater the total advantage for both cartouche and cartel.
To establish a cartouche and acquire a platinum signet requires tenfold the license fees of a gold signet and the support of at least two other cartouches and one of the Five Warrior sects. Historically, a new cartouche is formed no more than once every score of years, while two are dissolved each century. In recent history, the notorious Grey Gyre cartouche was eradicated with the destruction of its originator, Remus Gariten. ~excerpt from The Signet, an academy primer.
Sevenday 70, Day 6
The public transport slows to a halt in front of the ancient fortress of Jonathan Metricelli, now the Museum of the Fourth Warrior. As soon as the doors open, Katleen leaps out, gracefully dodging puddles. Following at a more sedate pace, Lilian casts a wary glance at the heavy but rainless sky. Behind her, Rebecca and Chrys emerge to stand on the wide pavement, looking up the two score stone steps to the entrance of the forbidding crevasse-stone structure. Its smooth face rises twenty feet, broken only by a few high, narrow windows. Since Jonathan’s time, the upper levels have been updated with larger windows set back from stone balustrades that once served as ramparts.
“Master Chrys! You must see the view from up here,” Katleen calls from the top of the staircase.
With a laugh and a shrug, Chrys starts the climb, followed by Lilian and Rebecca, who dryly observes, “Only Chrys needs to see the view?”
Ignoring Rebecca’s teasing, Lilian scans the entrance rapidly. As she hoped, the sudden break in the rain, coupled with Settlement Day, has the museum sparsely attended and the potential for insult correspondingly low.
“Impressive,” Chrys whistles. Located at the base of the Garden Center, the imposing structure is set on a rise that a thousand years gone commanded an unimpeded view of the Great Crevasse and surrounding plains. With the rise of the Commerce District towers, the plains are no longer visible, only the gap created by the Great Crevasse slicing through the tall structures of the Commerce District and the warehouses and factories of the Refinery District.
“Lilian, they have restored the Fourth Warrior’s living quarters.” Katleen skips over. “If there is time, I would like to see them.”
“Armory first,” Lilian asserts, following Katleen through the entrance. “Chrys particularly wishes to see the early fireburst rifles.”
“If there is time, I would like to see the Fourth Warrior’s quarters,” Rebecca
puts in. Lilian’s recent dissertation on the classics piqued her friends’ interest in the origins of modern society. While interested in the engineering of the first Vistrite rifles, Rebecca is fascinated by the idea of entering what was once the Fourth Warrior’s home.
“This way, then.” Katleen pushes through the entrance. “The armory is at the back and to the right.”
The exhibits have expanded significantly in the decade since Lilian last ventured into the museum that contains the ancient relics of the genetic forbearers of her disgraced sire. Katleen regularly visited before the ruin, a pampered warrior child of Jonathan Metricelli’s descent brought on instructional visits by her tutors from the warrior primary school.
“These are fragments of pre-Vistrite rifles.” Katleen points to a case holding several gleaming rods and darkened objects of what may have been firing devices. “Before the Vistrite fireburst rifles, the Five Warriors used rifles that threw molten metal.
“See how the barrels shine?” The young redhead is bubbling with delight at her role as a guide. “They are made from Ancients’ metal.”
“That explains their survival,” Chrys nods. “It’s a pity the secret of forging Ancients’ metal has been lost. I can imagine many uses for a metal that does not tarnish or decay.”
“And never loses an edge,” Katleen agrees.
“Molten metal sounds deadly,” Rebecca interjects. “Why change to Vistrite fireburst rifles?”
“The ancient rifles were destructive,” Lilian acknowledges, “but inaccurate beyond thirty paces. Also, the firing mechanisms were merely forged steel, which could corrode and jam.”
“Although there are legends that once, such weapons could kill at three hundred paces,” Katleen adds.
“Legend indeed, Mistress Katleen,” Chrys returns with a laugh. “I find the idea of molten metal daunting. A range of three hundred paces is ludicrous.”
“Truly, Master Chrys, the scholars agree with you,” Katleen smiles. “The ancient records are sadly confused. It is difficult to sift fact from fable.”