Kingdoms Fall: Book One

by Joseph Pryce

  The seven foot tall gangly looking drug dealer threw Heiro a nasty look when his spied his approach. “Oi! What’s the crank, Heiro?” He started in a nasally scratchy voice. “You want to get served then you have to line up like everybody else!” His gold plated teeth glinted in the mid-afternoon sun.

  Heiro struck Sammy in the neck with his fist without warning. The Degox man doubled over in pain gagging for breath. Three burly bodyguards dressed in shiny black plastic leather jackets each bearing an angry white viper on its sleeve were slouched casually against Sammy’s flashy gold plated hover until the minute they saw Heiro hit the drug pusher. Then the three of them jumped away from the hover and rambled toward Trane and Heiro with much menace.

  Trane instantly recognized Iron Killah, the biggest of the three, a muscular youth with arms the size of tree trunks and long dreadlocks dyed blonde. He whipped out his blaster and aimed it at the dodgy looking bodyguards, who each had yanked out curved swords from behind their backs.

  “Tell your boys to stand down, Iron Killah. This has nothing to do with you”, Trane warned.

  “What do you mean nothing to do with us?” Iron Kilah growled nastily. “I work for the bloke that your mate happens to be smacking around”.

  Heiro ignored the bodyguards and snatched up the blurred eyed Sugar Hill Sammy by the neck.

  “You miserable worm filled drug dealing scum! I warned you before not to sell this shite in my neighbourhood!”

  Heiro punched Sammy viciously in the face a half dozen times bloodying the man’s lip and breaking his nose. Iron Killah and the other two bodyguards moved in to stop the beating but were stopped when Trane pointed his blaster at them. “Stay back the lot of you. Do not make me kill you today”.

  The bodyguard next to Killah, a short hard looking female with diamond encrusted teeth raised her sword in defiance. “I bet you’re all mouth and no trousers, mate. I am going to cut you open real good!”

  Trane fired his blaster at the woman’s sword which instantly vaporized it from sight. “The next shot will be to your face, mate”, Trane said with quiet menace.

  Heiro had finished beating Sammy into unconsciousness and wiped his bloody fists off on the drug dealer’s leather jacket.

  “We have to leave now, Heiro. This bunch is getting restless”, Trane cautioned his friend over his shoulder.

  Heiro reached into Sugar Hill’s pockets and took out all of the capsules filled with the infamous white pills. An elderly woman with frayed grey hair that was dirty and matted screamed at Hiero. “You are nothing but a dirty thief!”

  The mob anxious to retrieve their next high suddenly surged toward the two men.

  Trane grabbed hold of Heiro by the shoulder. “We have to get out of here now!”

  Heiro hastily threw the handful of narcotics at the crowd, setting off a scene of absolute pandaemonium as the swarm of people began to fight each other in order to get at the drugs.

  Killah and the shorter Sharkmoat used the distraction to charge at Trane, who blasted off a shot that burned a hole through Sharkmoat’s right knee. She short woman fell to the ground screaming in agony. Killah managed to get close enough to put his thick arms around Heiro but the young man easily flipped the big bodyguard to the ground and dashed off down the alley. Trane fired off two warning blasts at the encircling crowd and ran after Heiro, who leaped over the roof of Sammy’s hover and slid frantically into the driver’s seat. “Get in!” He shouted at Trane. Iron Killah jumped up from the alley floor and whipped his sword at Trane’s head. The sword had a boomerang function on it and would promptly return to Killah’s hand after cleaving off Trane’s head. The sword barely missed missed his head as Trane ducked down into the gold plated vehicle and instead it struck the alley wall and returned instantly to Killah’s hands.

  “Ignite! Ignite!” Trane ordered Heiro.

  Hiero activated the flight control on the main dashboard and the hover levitated straight up into the air leaving all of the madness in the alleyway down on the ground below.

  DISTRICT INSPECTOR DARR AMIN

  Inspector Amin sat in his tiny office at The Slum Village Central Law Enforcement Division with his head sitting on the desk. After he had given his detailed report on Butana’s death to the officials of the Special Investigations Subdivision who handled all officer fatalities. He and the rest of the surviving officers promptly retired to a nearby bar and got themselves very drunk.

  The glass walls of his office were set to privacy mode so they would be darkened to anybody standing in the outer corridor and not allow anybody to see him slumped over in an unconscious state at his desk.

  The persistent buzzing of the holo-link seated at the edge of his desk stirred him from the drunken slumber. He gingerly lifted up his head from the desk and glared angrily at the buzzing device as if he were contemplating smashing it into tiny plastic bits with his sturdy fist.

  “Accept”, he grumbled gruffly at the machine.

  A moment passed while the sender’s holo-link advised the caller, that the receiver was ready to accept the call. A three foot tall holographic projection of Darr’s wife Candace, an attractive forty year old with long black box braids projected from the holo-link. She was dressed only in a short red bathrobe.

  “I just heard about what happened today. Are you alright, Darr?” She asked him with a concerned look in her eyes.

  Darr nodded. He pulled out out an After-Effects pill from his desk drawer and swallowed it dry. The yellow pill would only require mere minutes to remove the waves of nausea from his head and the need to vomit from consuming too much alcohol on an empty stomach.

  “I am fine, my wife”, he replied after the pill went down.

  “I was sorry to hear about, Butana. I know how close the two of you were. Have you spoken to his wife yet?”

  “Ahmose took it very hard. She had to be sedated”, Darr’s mind drifted back a few hours ago when he gave Butana’s young wife the news of her husband’s demise. The velocity of the woman’s screams shook him to the very core.

  Would Candace carry on like that if someone brought her the news of my death? Or would she rejoice?

  “Will you be coming home for supper tonight, my husband?” Candace asked him.

  The inspector took note of his wife’s red robe. “Are you heading into the shower?”

  Candace glanced down furtively at her robe and tightened its belt. “Our maintenance droid is down again, so I had to prepare dinner by hand. I need to wash the smell of food out of my hair”.

  Amin was not even sure why he had asked her that but something about his wife dressed in a robe in the middle of the afternoon had irked him. “Put my dinner away for me. I won’t be home until much later. There is too much going on here today”.

  Candace threw him a look that made him realize that she had already knew he was going to say that. “As you wish. I will see you later then?”

  “Yes. Later”, Darr heard a soft knock at his office door. “I have to go. Somebody is at the door”, he abruptly cut the connection and Candace’s image faded from view.

  “Come in”, he said in the direction of the door.

  Assistant Inspector Lexxxa Obateru, a very tall half-Yanide woman with dark skin and curly green hair stepped into the office. She was a formidable looking officer with emerald eyes that matched the colour of her hair. “Do you have a moment to spare, D.I?”

  Darr waved her in and took a sip from the bottle of water sitting on his desk. Damn pill is stuck in my throat.

  “Have a sit, Lexxxa. What can I do for you?”

  “Sorry to hear about, Butana, sir. He was a good man. A great officer”, she offered her condolences.

  “He was the best”, was Amin’s reply. He let a pause sit for a moment as he could feel that the assistant inspector had something important on her mind.

  “You asked me to look into that old theft case? The one involving the two suspects you were looking for today? Mudd and Thothe?”

  Amin stayed
silent and waited for Obateru to speak her mind.

  The assistant inspector noisily cleared her throat before continuing. “I have been skimming through all of the digital footage downloaded from the warehouse security scanners”, she started.

  “And?” Darr prodded.

  “I cannot find any images of Mudd or Thothe anywhere”.

  This damn After-Effects pill is not having any effect. I still feel like throwing up my bloody breakfast!

  He snatched another pill from his desk drawer and swallowed it with a gulp of water from his bottle.

  “Those two degenerates are the cleverest thieves you will ever encounter, Assistant Inspector Obatueru. Believe me when I say that they would have found a way to fool the scanners”, he told the young woman with authority.

  “I understand, governor but without visual evidence that these two miscreants were at the warehouse at the time of the theft. How were you able to get a warrant to raid the Negril Tavern?”

  Darr finished his water before answering and chose his words carefully as he was unsure yet if the rookie inspector could be trusted. “You are still fresh to this job, Obateru. In your young mind, they are certain protocols, a certain set of rules that need to followed in order to complete a case. But a few years from now you will start to realize that there are times when those rules and protocols that were taught to you in the Law Enforcement Academy sometimes must be circumvented in order for justice to be served”.

  Lexxa was a smart woman. She graduated with the second highest marks from the academy and had been promoted from cadet to assistant inspector in less than five years based on her case clearance record. So she knew when to ask questions and when to keep her mouth shut.

  This is one of those moments when I have to keep my mouth shut. She thought carefully to herself.

  “Do understand what I am saying to you, Assistant Inspector?” Amin asked her evenly.

  “I absolutely understand, District Inspector Amin”.

  She is bright. That is very good. She will go far in her career. The older man thought silently. Nice thick legs too. I wonder who is climbing on top of her at night?

  He glanced at the silver chronometer planted into his office wall. He was eager to finish up his work at the Division and head over to the officer’s tavern for a few more pints of black ale. The second after-effects pill finally had him feeling much better.

  “Did you find anything in the warehouse footage that could give us any clues as to what Mudd and Thothe might have stolen from the premises?” He asked.

  “Nothing sir. I guess it would help if I knew just what we were trying to locate?”

  Darr shrugged. “I have no idea”. He was telling the truth. Three mornings ago he had received a holo-link from an old colleague at the mayor of Ebonskale’s office asking him to find Mudd and Thothe and retrieve from them what they stole.

  I wonder if it was the mayor’s office who sent the Viper agents here.

  Amin vaguely recalled reading a police report that a group of Viper agent had killed some citizens in a downtown pub several weeks ago.

  A pub I hear that is frequented occasionally by Mudd and Thothe…..I will have to look into that….

  Amin stood up and glanced again at the chronometer. “Let us call it a night, Lexxa. What say I buy you a pint at the tavern?”

  The assistant inspector stood up as well and grinned at her superior officer. “That sounds good to me, guv”, she replied.

  The two of them left the office and the interior lights automatically shut themselves off.

  ********************************************************************************************

  Meanwhile back at Inspector Amin’s upper-middle class abode. Heiro made love to Candace slow and steady like a man that had all the time in the world to please a woman. Candace was a fit and agile woman with full breasts that had barely sagged despite her age and a pretty face to look upon. Heiro thrust at her from behind and cupped the older woman’s breasts in his hands.

  “Harder, lover! Harder!” She cried as she ripped off her red bathrobe and dashed it onto the bedroom floor.

  Heiro increased his speed and pushed himself deeper into Candace. It took all of his willpower not to climax when the older woman timed his thrusts with her own pelvic squeezing.

  She climaxed with a mighty scream and continuous shuddering of her body and collapsed face first into the pillows on the bed.

  “Oh my Creator!” She gasped while her juices shot out from between her legs.

  Heiro flopped onto his back and smiled at Candace. It gave him much pleasure to see her so pleasured. He had not climaxed yet and was still fully erect.

  “My handsome boy is still not satisfied”, Candace smiled as she finished him with her mouth.

  Heiro grunted gratefully as he spilled himself into her mouth.

  “Nobody does that as good as you do, Candace!” He licked her nipples at pecked her cheek in gratitude.

  Candace affectionately ran her fingers across the ebony heart shaped gem that hung from a necklace around her neck. “Where did you find this beautiful stone from, Heiro? Whenever I remove it, I feel as if I am missing a part of myself.”

  Heiro glanced at the chronometer on the bedroom wall with a tinge of impatience. As much as he enjoyed Candace’s company, he knew that his time was limited. He had no intention of being caught in the bedroom of a district inspector “It is just some bauble that I picked up somewhere, my sweet. I instantly thought of you when I saw it”, he answered perfunctorily.

  “I love it”, was Candace’s reply. She touched the heart shaped stone once more before kissing Heiro deeply on the lips.

  “Does your husband know about us? He came looking for me and Trane earlier today at the tavern”.

  Candace’s dark brown eyes widened in surprise. “I did not tell him a thing, Heiro. You must believe me. If Darr knew about our affair, he would kill us both. Whatever he came looking for you and Trane about today had nothing to do with us”.

  She touched the jewel around her neck once more and a warm light pulsated from it. “So pretty”, she whispered to herself.

  Heiro pecked her on the forehead and climbed out of the bed. “I am glad you like it, my sweet”. The young man climbed into the sonic shower stall located at the other side of the large bedroom and shut the door.

  Candace’s body had cooled down some from her raucous lovemaking and she began to catch a chill. She covered her nakedness with the bed sheet. A bright blue light emanated from the shower signalling the end of its cleansing cycle. Heiro stepped out and walked back over to the bed.

  “Do you have to leave so soon?” Amin’s wife asked him sadly.

  Heiro picked up a bottle of coconut moisturizing lotion and passed it to her. Candace squeezed some out into her hand and began rubbing it into his back.

  “Just because the District Inspector told you he will not be home for supper. Does not mean he will not be coming home at some point. It is best I take my leave while it is still safe to do so”.

  Candace finished creaming Heiro’s back and set the bottle back down on the night stand. “When will I see you again?”

  “Soon, my sweet. Soon”, he planted a lengthy kiss on her thick brown lips. She moaned in pleasure and grabbed hold of him around the waist.

  “Please do not leave yet, Heiro. Stay one more hour”, she begged.

  Heiro gently pulled her arms away and tenderly kissed her fingertips with a devilish grin on his mouth. Trane’s mother taught him a long time ago, that the best time to leave a woman is when she is wanting more. “I will see you soon, Candace. I promise”, he said. Candace kissed him one last time and unhappily watched Heiro walk out of her bedroom. Heiro was careful to activate the micro-screener he had hidden in his coat pocket before exiting through the back door of the Amin’s fashionable town home. The tiny bullet shaped mechanism made him “invisible” to any digi-cams that may have been located in the immediate area. He climbed into Sugarhill S
ammy’s hover which he had still been in possession of and ignited its engine.