“Hello?” A pair of eyes looked out through a slot in the gates.
“Well, good morning, sir,” Alexander drawled, giving a charming smile. “I’m here to speak to a man, I believe his name is William.”
“Do you have an appointment?”
“I would, but I didn’t know how to go about making one. I thought I’d see if you take walk-ins.”
“That depends on why you’re here and who you are.”
“My name is Alexander, but I represent the interests of the Kristopher administration. I can only assume that’s a name you’ve heard before.”
The slot in the gate slid shut and the young necromancer was left staring at it. He didn’t think he’d still be alive if Lucian was controlling things and that gave him a little hope. The gates stayed sealed and the voice behind the slot gave no instructions. It hadn’t said anything about leaving so Alexander sat back against the wall and waited. He tried to get comfortable and started picking at the grass, seeing how far he could throw it before the wind picked it up and sent it back to him. He thought about calling up a few undead servants to keep him company in case the man behind the wall went from apathetic to hostile, but then thought better of it. Any kind of summoning in neutral territory would be considered an open act of aggression. Lucian’s men wouldn’t let that go unanswered, especially when Lucian had sent his only undead servant back home days ago. Most of the cult members were looking for any excuse to kill Alexander, they all considered him a traitor. He probably was. Alexander knew he didn’t treat his skills with the same reverence Lucian and the other elders did, but he chalked that up to progress. Anything moving into the future had to change, and it was much more profitable when treated like a trade than a religion. Even Lucian had started charging for his services again to keep the cult alive and well funded, so what if Alexander was the first mercenary of the necromancer world. He was, at least, surviving in this new world Kristopher was creating.
“Alexander?” The voice called and the gate slowly swung open.
Alexander stood up, stretching out as he did, the grass had not been the most comfortable of places to wait.
“Welcome. I am William.” The man gestured for Alexander to come inside.
“Very nice to meet you, William. Your reputation precedes you. Kristopher and I have heard wonderful things. The kind of things that make us think you would be the perfect man for us to start an alliance with.”
William smiled, glowing with pride and oozing false modesty. “We run this place as a group. I’m just one of the founders. We’re not supposed to make decisions like this alone. I’m afraid I can’t help you until our next gathering.”
“Now, William.” Alexander smiled, this was going to be easy, all he had to do was play to William’s ego and the game would be set. “I think we both know you’re not just one of the founders. We know if you make a decision the others will follow. Don’t we?”
“Well now.” William tried to talk through his widening grin. “I’ll admit I have a certain amount of power over the rest of the founders, but only because I’ve done so well following the rules and keeping them informed.”
“And what happens to those founders who disagree with you? I’m sure there’ve been a few.”
“They have a tendency of ending up dead.” William thought back to Madame Perkins. He wasn’t sure exactly how she’d ended up dead. He assumed Lucian had something to do with it. He didn’t need Kristopher’s man to know that. Let the boy assume what he wanted.
“Well then!” Alexander chuckled and slapped him on the back. “Let’s talk business!”
“I guess, as long as you’re alright only discussing this with me. Or Kristopher is alright with it is what I should really be asking.”
“William,” Alexander put an arm around his shoulders, “as far as Kristopher is concerned, you’re the only man we need to talk to. Now, which way to your house?”
“Oh, no!” All of a sudden William started to tense, the blood draining from his face. Alexander saw pure fear fill his eyes as he pulled away. “I, um,” William swallowed several times as he attempted to collect himself. “I never do business at home.”
“Oh?” Alexander raised an eyebrow.
William could tell Alexander wasn’t convinced, but Lucian was still in his house. There was no way he’d survive having both of them there at once. “I just try to keep things away from my wife. Business things, you know, they just worry her.”
Alexander nodded, still suspicious.
“Yes, Elle just hates when I bring these things around our daughter. She wants to protect the child from the world. I guess.”
Alexander cut him off before he could ramble any more. His eyes snapped into focus as he started to think of a plan. “Elle? Your wife’s name is Elle?”
“Yes.” Now it was William’s turn to be suspicious.
“Her real name?”
“As far as I know.”
“Now tell me, William, the reason you don’t want me coming to your house. It’s because Lucian’s there. He got here first?”
“How could you possibly know?”
“Shut up. And Elle knows Lucian’s here? Of course she does. The two of them are probably already planning their big return. And the child is?”
“Mira, uh, my daughter. I don’t see what my family has to do with this.”
Alexander cut him off again. “Is the child really yours, can you prove it?”
“You wouldn’t be able to tell by looking at her, but yes. I know she’s my blood.”
“You’re sure?”
“I am a doctor, of course I’m sure.” Now William was starting to get frustrated.
“Good. We can use the child if she’s not Lucian’s daughter.” Alexander started to grin. “We’ll be able to use this, there’s no way Lucian could come out ahead. Tell me quick, William, are you willing to work with me even if it means going back on your bargain with Lucian?”
“That would depend on the terms of the agreement.” William was dazed by the turn the conversation had taken, but as he still seemed to be on top he wasn’t about to give up.
“We’ll talk, we’ll talk.” Alexander’s mind was racing, miles away. “And your family, how attached to them are you?”
“What? I really don’t see what Elle and my daughter have to do with this.” William hated how his wife always seemed to be the reason he did so well, everyone was more interested in her than him recently. It was getting ridiculous.
“Miriel has everything to do with this, but I’ll tell you everything. Please, let’s sit down and talk.” Alexander brought his head back to the present and focused on William again, which did wonders in improving his attitude.
“Come this way.” William led him to the small gatehouse.
Alexander took his place across from William at the table normally reserved for founders meetings. “Tell me exactly what you know about your wife. And I promise you it’s important.” He added as he saw hesitation flash across William’s face as the man decided whether or not it was worth telling the truth.
“Well.” William hesitated, leaning back in his chair and taking several deep breaths. Finally, he came back and focused on Alexander, taking one more deep breath before he started. “When Elle came here I knew something about her past already. That’s why I saved her life. Normally if someone came to me in that condition I’d let them die and add it to my count. I knew Elle was an assassin outside, and a good one according to her reputation. I used her to help boost my count and secure my position on top here. Not that I couldn’t have done it myself,” he added quickly. “Having the extra help just gave me time.”
Alexander nodded. “And that’s all you know?”
“What else was there to know?”
“Her real name is Miriel, last name unknown. I don’t think she’s even shared it with Lucian. She was found half dead outside your gates because Kristopher ordered her to be killed. I was one of the men who was supposed to kill her.” Alex
ander chuckled. “Of all the people who can’t die, Miriel simply won’t.”
“Why would Kristopher have wanted her dead, he wasn’t even on the radar then.”
“Because Miriel didn’t always work alone. She had a partnership with Lucian. As long as she’s alive our chief necromancer isn’t as dedicated to his work as we’d like him to be. She’s a distraction and a liability. Now the two of them are together again, probably planning an attack on Kristopher from your once neutral oasis. If that happens we’ll be forced to wipe you out whether you’re a part of it or not.”
William’s eyes darkened, Alexander had pushed all the right buttons. “And what are you offering me. I won’t lie and claim to be a family man, but Lucian is offering perks. What do you have to make this worth my time and effort?”
“What’s Lucian really offering you? A glorified body dump? Supervision? Once Miriel’s gone he and his men won’t be back. She’s all he cares about now. But Kristopher? Kristopher cares about you. If you agree to join us you won’t have to stay behind walls. We’ll let you expand, put you in control of every remaining compound, give you free reign to control them however you want. We’ll give you the recognition you deserve, make you a public figure. You’ll become the man who saved the savage societies. The one who brought civilization out of chaos. Your game can continue too, but think of the range you’d have. How much more fun you could have.”
“Yes, well, it all sounds very ideal.” William was battling to keep the stars from his eyes. It was more than he’d ever hoped to be offered. “But I really should discuss it with Kristopher himself.”
“What?”
“There doesn’t seem to be much you’re asking me to do. Lucian had terms. What exactly do you want from me other than not side with Lucian and his cult?”
“You’re smarter than you look.” Alexander’s smile wavered. “We need you to help us get Lucian on the right path. Keep him here for just a few more days, don’t tell him or your wife that I’ve been here, and do what you can to track when he kills every day. I’ll be back with Kristopher to let you know exactly what the plan is and in a matter of hours after that it’ll be over.”
“That seems fair.”
“I promise it is, William. You’ll get everything you deserve once Lucian’s back with us.” Alexander winked as he stood up, then held out his hand. “I look forward to working with you.”
“Me too.” William shook Alexander’s hand and walked him back to the gate. Just a few more days before Elle and the brat would be out of his life forever. All he had to do was give them Lucian. It was a more than fair trade.
***
“They’re together again.” Alexander breezed into Kristopher’s office without as much as a phone call to say he was back outside the walls.
Kristopher looked up from a stack of papers, visibly annoyed. “Of course they are. We knew they would be unless one of them was dead. Did you bring me any useful information or did you come back early for the sole purpose of jumping on my last nerve?” Kristopher pushed the papers over to the side, causing them to cascade from their neat pile into a jumble stretching from one side of the desk to the other. “Just wonderful,” Kristopher muttered under his breath. “All these interns and I’m stuck doing budget reports myself.”
“Maybe if you didn’t kill so many of them you’d have more to spread the work to.”
“I haven’t killed that many.” Kristopher pouted and continued to mutter under his breath as he swept the papers back into a poor resemblance of the pile he’d had before.
“You don’t leave the office much do you. The hallways are totally deserted. The people you haven’t killed yet are leaving in herds and you can bet no one wants to take their place. You can’t run everything by yourself. Eventually things here will start to collapse, just like every one of those compounds that thought they could do society better. The people are going to stop believing in your message and your ability if things don’t turn around soon.”
“I know that! Why do you think I’m working so hard to get Lucian back!” Kristopher slammed his fist down on the desk in frustration. The papers slipped out of their pile to a mess on the desk again.
“It won’t be enough.”
“And what would you suggest? Every promise I made to get here depends on Lucian’s help. I can’t do anything else these people want and I have to stay alive to keep things running as smoothly as they are!”
“You need to stop killing the people who work for you. Make it an incentive. Anyone who works for our government gets to be protected from the undead patrols.”
“We can’t do anything about that. You’re the only one of my men who can control them and even you can’t take control away from Lucian’s men and their zombies.”
“Lucian can do it when he comes back. Once that happens, with Lucian to backup the promise, you’ll have more applicants than you can imagine. You’ll have waiting lists, people standing outside just begging for a job.”
“That sounds too good to be true, and that means it isn’t. In theory its perfect, Alexander, but you’re naïve. You can’t change the world as quickly as that. Even if Lucian agrees to stop our civil war and come back we can’t be sure he’ll cooperate.”
“But he will. I know he will.”
“What’s going on behind those gates? I can’t imagine any force strong enough to get Lucian to see sense,” Kristopher chucked.
“Miriel has a daughter.”
“With Lucian? I can’t believe that.”
“No. With William. Her husband. She got into the society because he needed her to kill for him. And now she’s playing some demented game of house.”
“And how does this help us get back Lucian?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Alexander pulled a chair across from Kristopher and sat down, leaning across the desk. “All we have to do is get Lucian to do something to the child. Miriel will never forgive him and with Miriel gone for good and Lucian feeling miserable he’ll have no choice but to come back to you.”
“You really think Lucian could do something that terrible? What if our assassin friend doesn’t care about her daughter? She might think Lucian’s doing her a favor. That will bring them closer together and keep Lucian just out of reach. I can’t even think about it! Can you imagine what kind of damage he could do with his armies and his assassin? Those unholy abominations killing my soldiers and eating my citizens while Miriel picks off every high-powered connection I have one by one. I should have just killed her when I had the chance.”
“It won’t happen. The way William talks about them it’s obvious Miriel and her daughter are close. She won’t forgive Lucian if he kills her daughter. We just need to find a way to keep him from being able to bring her back.”
“And you’re sure that’ll work?”
“It will.”
“Wouldn’t it be easier to have him kill Miriel? Or have one of ours kill her?”
“But that would leave the child without a mother.” Alexander surprised himself with the argument. It had been a long time since he’d done something out of kindness.
“So?” Kristopher wanted Miriel dead. It was a mistake she’d gotten away and he wanted that mistake rubbed out as quickly as possible now that he knew where it was. Having a child involved didn’t matter. Especially if it belonged to Miriel.
“Why don’t we let Lucian decide? Make him play the one or the other game.” It was a perfect compromise. Alexander was sure Lucian would never choose the child over Miriel, but Kristopher could think whatever he wanted.
“Fine. How do we discuss this with the soon to be deceased William of the wall?” Thinking about a dead Miriel had put Kristopher in a giddy mood.
“We need to make an appointment as quickly as possible. For tomorrow if we can.”
“An appointment? You’re kidding me. Who does William think he is exactly? I am Kristopher the Great, Savior of the people! He should be willing to see me whenever I damn well please to show up.”
For once it was Alexander’s turn to keep himself in check and not reach out and slap Kristopher. “They do things very formally over there. It would show well if you sent someone to make an appointment with him. We have to at least make him think you respect his authority and his territory until this is all over.”
“I do enjoy deception. Fine, we’ll do it your way.” Kristopher pressed the intercom button. “Intern!”
Kristopher and Alexander sat in an awkward silence for at least ten minutes before two very tired and wary interns pushed open the door. Ever since Mary’s murder they decided to go everywhere in pairs, not willing to risk one minute alone where Kristopher could get to them. Even with the comfort of company these two were looking scared to death, and they hovered at the edge of the doorway, prepared to make a quick escape. Kristopher didn’t seem to care.
“Angela, I need you to go to the gates and make an appointment for me to meet with a man named William this time tomorrow.”
“Don’t they have a number I could call, sir?” She gave a half nod-half bow.
“Probably, but I want you to walk.”
“Sir?”
“Go.” Kristopher stood up, a hand on either side of his desk, and glared until the girl was tripping over herself to get out the door.
“Ryan,” Kristopher turned his gaze to the second intern. “Go with her and keep her from doing something stupid. Oh, and take this paper work. Have someone get these budgets done by the end of the day.”
The Price of Life Page 28