by Jessie Wolf
“Lead the way, my Lady Maiha. I’ll gladly wring the information from his neck.” Commented Raygel.
“Very well, gentlemen. Right this way.” I step back out into the hallway and led them to Kinsley’s room. Once there I stop before heading inside. I need to let Ravenswood know what’s going concerning Elizabeth. “Captain, before we go in I would like for you to know I have ordered that Elizabeth Grant is to be exhumed. Her body will be held over at the Temple morgue until she can be prepared for the correct funeral rights. I hope I have not over stepped my grounds?”
Ravenswood looks at me for a moment, and then bows very deeply from the waist. In his native language “May the blessings of the Moon Goddess and all her Daughters fall upon you Daughter of Death. From this day forward Clan Ravenswood shall forever be in your debt.” Straightening up he gives me a smile. Switching back to Standard, “Lady Maiha, you are truly one in a million. Thank you, I tried to explain the funeral rights for a Sylvan, but Rockwood just over ruled me. Saying suicides don’t deserve a funeral. He wouldn’t listen when I tried to explain that Elves, especially Sylvan Elves, don’t commit suicide. But he had that note and refused to let anyone, but Kinsley investigate.”
“I believe that was done to cover-up the fact she was murdered, and that it was Kinsley who really killed her.” I watch as all the color drains from his face, only to be replaced by rage. “Captain, I need you to keep control over your anger. The same goes for you as well, Taylor.” I said that more for myself than theirs. I was not too worried about my own anger, but these two men was another story. The fact that both of them were walking around free right now had more than a few of the guards on edge. Not that I blame them. Standing with me were two of the biggest and deadliest men in the House troops. Taylor’s sheer size now that he was standing up was enough to make most men think twice. Ravenswood was just as intimidating. No one in their right minds wanted to tangle with a Dark Elf, their combat prowess was well known. “Now, gentlemen we have to get Kinsley to tell us what he knows about Rockwood’s involvement with the rebels. If he should tell us about his criminal activities so much the better. Shall we?” When they nod their heads I open the door and lead them in.
As we step inside I find the two Death Dealers from earlier. The older of the two turns to me. “Lady Maiha, those two are under arrest for complicity in an open revolt against His Majesty the Emperor. The very rebellion you were ordered to put down. Why aren’t they in restraints?”
“Oh, I’m sorry, but I thought that I was the one in charge here. Was I mistaken, Officer?” I let my voice go cold as the arctic winds that blow across Hades northern pole. I think it’s time they remember who they’re dealing with. “You know, I think Lady Allison had the right idea.” Both men turned white as sheets and fled from the room. “Mr. Taylor be so kind as to close the door. Captain Ravenswood please turn off the recorder?”
Once they had done as I had asked, I turned to look at Kinsley. “Now sir, you and I are going to have little chat. You see you have knowledge of the rebellion that I need. Personally I don’t care one way or another how I get it, but I will get it. Do you understand?”
“Go screw yourself, bitch. You’ll be spreading your legs for me or one of the true Heads of House before long. So you can just forget it. You don’t scare me and neither do the two freaks you brought in with you.” Kinsley was as arrogant as they come.
“Prince Raygel, be so kind to break this scums hand for me starting with his fingers.” Raygel at first scowled at my use of his title, but it quickly became a smile. He reached over Kinsley’s shoulder grabbing his right hand. Then proceeded to break each of his fingers one at a time, and then the rest of his hand. Once Kinsley had stopped screaming “You see Mister Kinsley I don’t care if you live or die. All I want is what you have already heard. Give me the information.”
“I’ll tell you nothing. You arrogant cunts of House Nakatoma have stood in the way of House Light for long enough. You and that self-righteous ass that calls himself Emperor. The House of Light is the true Imperial Family. You and your so called ‘Social Duty’ bull shit. Only the strong have the right to rule. Being willing to cut down your enemies no matter who they are. The weak only live to serve the strong. Just like that neutered freak behind you. It doesn’t matter he’ll be going back to the mines where he belongs just as soon as I tell those nice Imperial Death Dealers what he is. And as for this pointy eared shithead behind me, well I’m sure they’ll be more than happy to pack his ass off to High Winds to avoid a war with Fairies. Oh yes, I know how to get around your little laws and regulations.” When he started to laugh I just let him. Taylor was really pissed at this point and so was Ravenswood.
I guess it’s time to bust his little bulb. “I hate to tell you this, no I don’t. They aren’t the ones in charge. Oh, far from it, really. You see, you are right now dealing with the First High Lady of the Death Dealers. The final stop on the chain of command of all of the Death Gates system. So ratting them out to the Death Dealers won’t help you out at all; besides both men have a legal standing as contract employees of House Nakatoma. Oh and Corporal Taylor is a member of the Temple, and therefore a full citizen of planet Hades. You on the other hand are a spy in the employ of a known rebel House and therefore not subject to the rules of war or civilian law. In short you’re a man without a home. Corporal be so kind as to break his left foot and don’t miss one bone.”
I wait for Taylor to pull off his boots. Meanwhile he is still running his mouth. “You have no right to do this. I am a citizen of House Light and planet Doreen V. I am…..AAAHHH!” he never got to finish as Taylor begins to break each one of his toes and the bones in his foot. I look over at Taylor, what I see in his eyes tells me that I made the right choice in pardoning him. All the pain and misery that has been part of his life is represented by the man in front of me. The entire time Kinsley is screaming Taylor never stops. When he finishes Kinsley is a quivering mass of misery.
“Are you ready to talk yet, Kinsley?” when he nods his head I continue. “Who is your handler?”
“First Officer Wise of House Light’s Light Infantry. We meet in town at the police station. My brother-in-law is the police chief. Other than that I know nothing.” The man was trying his best not to piss his pants.
“What is Rockwood’s involvement in all of this?” When he doesn’t answer. “Captain Ravenswood, break his left hand, please?”
Before Raygel can start he yells. “Wait! Just wait a minute here.” I nod my head for Raygel to back off. “Jesus, I’ll talk already. Rockwood’s job is to keep control of the House troops and a lid on any intel that comes in. making sure only the info we want you to have is all that you get.” When he stops I look up at Raygel who doesn’t wait this time, he just starts breaking the man’s hand. As he screams in pain I gesture for Taylor to get ready on his other foot. “He also was to help me with any illegal scam I come up with discrediting House Nakatoma!” he screamed. By this time Raygel was done with his hand.
“How many women were raped at his command?” I ask in the coldest voice I have ever used; even Taylor and Raygel flinched at hearing this. As for Kinsley he lost control over his bodily functions, pissing and shitting himself. “Tell me what I want to know, you fuck!”
“N…nine women on his orders.” I could tell there was more to this, than just the women.
“How many men?” When he hesitated. I yelled “How many?!!”
“Seven men, three little girls and two boys. That’s all I swear.” He was damn near having a heart attack.
It takes every ounce of control I have to keep form killing the man then and there. “Who, no when did you approach Rockwood?” when he didn’t answer me Taylor broke the small toe of his right foot. “When?!”
“Six years ago. I swear it was six years ago. Back when High Chancellor Warren was appointed. That was when the Head of House Light ordered me to start corrupting as many as possible of House Nakatoma’s Military. I was to report to Capta
in Rockwood and do whatever he told me.”
“Why, Rockwood?” I screamed.
“His real name is David Robert Daniels.”
“What were you supposed get out of the deal?” I demanded.
“Twenty hectares of land, fifteen thousand gold credits, and pick of the women inside of the Nakatoma compound.”
“Why did you try to cover-up the murder of Elizabeth Grant?”
“It’s not murder to kill vermin.”
I don’t get a chance to stop Raygel. “You sack of shit!” he screams as he reaches over and breaks both of his forearms’. “I’ll show you Vermin!”
“Prince Raygel! Control yourself!” Hearing my voice Raygel stops before he loses control and kills Kinsley.
“Now, listen carefully Kinsley; the only way for you to continue living right now is to tell me who raped Grant and then ordered her death? Oh and if you call her vermin one more time or any other derogatory name, I’ll cut off your dick and shove it down your throat till you choke. Am I perfectly clear?”
“Hay, clear as a bell, just get these freaks away from me. Rockwood ordered her rape. I had my brother-in-law send a few of his peace-keepers to do the job. When she wouldn’t give up on her request for an investigation Captain Rockwood ordered her death. I was told to make it look like a suicide. I left orders for her to get the old Centurion up and running before she knocked off. When she was alone in the hanger I went in and strangled her then tied a rope around her neck then threw her off the top off the gantry to make it look like she hung herself. Captain Rockwood made me the investigating officer and I ruled it a suicide. Just like he wanted.”
“Why? What was his reason for all of this?”
“It was to keep her from going to the Embassy in Haifa or Star Port. He said something about keeping the Fa…um Elves out of this for now.”
“That explains why you had her buried like that. To disgrace her Clan and bring the Elves in on the side of House Light in some Holy war against House Nakatoma.” Raygel quickly understood the consequences of what they had done, or hoped to do. “You stupid son-of-a-bitch. Don’t you understand that if my people find out that a Sylvan was buried like that they would go to war with everyone on Hades, not just House Nakatoma?”
Kinsley looked up at him in disbelief. “He said they would only go after Nakatoma and will leave everyone else alone. He said it was some kind of honor thing with them.”
“No, that is where you and he are wrong. If it had been any other Elf then yes, but not with a Sylvan. Sylvan’s are held in the highest regard, above all others including the Royal Family. They are divine beings. You don’t just bury one in the ground; it is also why I knew she didn’t commit suicide. It goes against their very nature and all of their teachings. Sure she was a run away, but every Elf on High Winds knew where she was, including those of us outside of High Winds. It was our duty to protect her until she returned home. Don’t you understand what you’ve done?” Kinsley shock his head no. “Well you just brought down the entire Elven Military on the House of Light and all its allies. They will leave nothing but ash and dust when they’re done. It will be a war of extinction.” Looking back up at me. “Lady Maiha, we have to end this before the Council of Elders find out. They will kill or enslave everyone on Doreen V. men, women, and children alike. No one will be spared.”
“I agree, Captain Ravenswood, I agree whole heartily. There are too many innocents on Doreen V. Well gentlemen I do believe we have learned all we can out of this rat. Shall we go?” I stand up and head for the door. When, Raygel stops me with a question.
“Lady Maiha, may I ask what will become of Kinsley?” he truly wanted to tear this man apart.
“Taylor, you said that he was blackmailing Combs with the knowledge of his whereabouts?” they both look at me strangely, but Taylor nods his head yes. “Good, we’ll turn him over to the Freedoms Landing Embassy in Haifa as a replacement for Combs.” Taylor turns white as a sheet, while Raygel just looks on in confusion. “Captain Ravenswood, Combs was to be a High Priest on his home planet.”
“I don’t see how handing over this piece of shit to become a High Priest is a punishment?”
Kinsley hearing this begins to beg. “No, dear god, no. Not that, anything else, but not that. Send me to the Temple hospital to become like the old Head Captain’s sons. Please anything, but becoming a Freedom’s Landing High Priest.” The poor man was crying by this time. It seems he knows what it means to be a High Priest on Freedoms Landing.
“Sorry, but I have already passed judgment on you. Can’t go back on it now. It’ll set a bad precedent.” And with that I left the room. Ravenswood and Taylor rushed to catch up to me. As I pass the two Death Dealer interrogators. “Gentlemen, mister Kinsley is an escaped High Priest from Freedoms Landing, from what I have gathered he has been on the run for the last fifteen years, and hiding here on Hades. I do not wish to cause problems with their planetary Government. Would you be so kind as to make sure he is delivered to their Embassy?”
“At once Lady Maiha. I wish I had known of this beforehand.” The older one said.
“And why is that, sir?”
“Ma’am, I’m from Freedoms Landing. I do not hold with the practice, nor do I support it. However I will up hold their freedom of religion. If I may suggest a way to smooth over some of the tensions with them.”
“Go ahead, I am all ears.”
“It’s simple really. We hand him over already prepped for integration. I’m sure that the hospital can perform the needed modifications.”
I think about it for one point two seconds. “I’ll have the Temple medics deliver him to the surgeons. Can you tell them what must be done?”
“Sure ma’am. As a matter of fact I’ll deliver him myself.” I can see a small grin form on his face. Why do I feel this man knew what I was doing?
“Lieutenant, tell me something why are you so happy to deliver this man into hell?”
My question stops him in his tracks. He knows he’s busted. “It was a piece of scum like that in there that sent my sister to the Temple of Eternal Bless. If I’m not mistaken he is a member of House Light. They have a nasty habit of turning over women who don’t want to be their little ‘toys’. This is just my way of getting a little payback.”
“Well, in that case. Stick around because I’m going to send another sorry excuse for a human being to that ‘reward’.”
“Thank you, my Lady. I just might do that. If you have any more who rate the same treatment just let me know. I’ll act as your rep. to the Embassy.”
“As a matter of fact there just might be a few more.” The feral grin that crosses my face lets him know that I’m not playing. I watch as they step back into Kinsley room. Before the door closes we hear. “So mister Kinsley, I understand you’re a wanted man on Freedoms Landing. Didn’t you know we don’t harbor High Priests?” The closing of the door cuts off the rest of their conversation.
Ravenswood stops me before we go any further down the hallway. “Lady Maiha, can you please explain to me why you’re rewarding these men by making them become a High Priest on Freedoms Landing?”
“I think it is better I show you. We’ll use the com-set in your old holding room.” We head back to Ravenswood’s old holding cell. Once there I boot up the com-set and start a search on Freedoms Landing’s High Priests. A few minutes later a series of pictures appear. They’re in the order of what is done to them. I watch as the horror of what is about to happen to Kinsley and then Rockwood is shown to the two men with me.
Ravenswood was the first to speak. “May the Goddess have mercy. You’re sending them into a living hell. It would be better to have killed them out right. To be forced to live in total isolation, no contact with the outer world. They’ll go mad in days. Lady Maiha, you have a very fine sense of justice.”
“You told me what they did, but it does not prepare someone for the reality of what is done. I can’t imagine going through it. I would have to kill myself, before goi
ng through that.” Taylor said from where he was watching the screen.
“Truly, that is the most horrible thing I have ever seen. How can they get away with that?” Raygel wants to know.
“It was origenially a form of punishment for criminals, but when the Free Peoples Rights movement pushed for it to be banned they made it a Religious Order. That was the birth of the Temple of Eternal Bless. Ever since then they look for certain people who they figure will become problems in the future. One of the problems with this is the fact that most of their so called High Priests go insane and sooner or later dies from suicide by over load. What they do is push the systems they’re connected to, to over-load their brains. This in turn destroys the brain killing them. Only problem is it takes ten to fifteen years to do that.”
As they listen to me as I describe the futures for Kinsley and Rockwood; they become sickened at how they will sooner or later die. With no relief from the constant sensory deprivation. For them there will be no time, or space, just emptiness. Of all the punishments that I could hand out, this one while the most humane in appearance was the most ghastly. For some reason I could not bring myself to feel sorry for the fate that awaited Kinsley and Rockwood. This was what they had held over the head of one young man and possibly others. It was time for their comeuppance.
“Gentlemen, now that you have seen what their fate is I have to ask, do you find my actions excessive?”
The two share a look that I can’t read. Finally Raygel answers my question. “To most, Lady Maiha, yes they would be extreme, even barbaric. Unfortunately they would be wrong. Here on Hades the only way to fight this corruption is with brute force and questionable tactics.” Looking down at his hands “My own ancestors fought such a war with the Human race centuries ago. They did not use the same tactics and lost. They went underground for eons, when the chance to leave the Home Planet came, we took it. If you remember the Elves were the first to colonize a new planet. We built up our armies and navies to become the strongest force in the known universe. You are now faced with the same choices that my ancestors were. This is not a war of politics’, but survival. The survival of not just House Nakatoma, but I feel the Empire.”