by C.L. Mozena
Chapter 18
An enraged Boss sat at the head of the small, square table in the dimly lit room. His followers were too afraid to even breathe too loudly, lest they force his anger upon them. Natalie knew the reason for his bad mood. His plan to eliminate Prince Orion had failed again. He wasn’t going to rely on them since they had already failed. This time, the boss was going to take matters into his own hands. He had explained his plan in detail to them three days before he executed it. He was going to sneak down into the palace kitchens disguised as a waiter, enslave the chef’s mind, and make the chef poison Prince Orion’s food. It had taken Natalie hours to help him with his disguise, perfect timing, and plenty of patience to do it, but even he, the Boss himself, had failed. He had even made sure to wipe the chef’s memory clean, so that he wouldn’t remember what he had just done. Enslaving someone’s mind was no easy task, either. In order to do it, he had to touch the person, even for just a moment, and concentrate on exactly what the slave was doing at all times. Any distraction, and it would fail. He had learned mind control some years ago, and practiced very hard until he mastered it. Natalie wondered what the boss was going to do now, after this plan had failed, but didn’t dare voice her question. She watched him as he sat there, his hands folded under his nose, brooding. She wished she could cheer him up. She didn’t like to see him upset.
“What about the ATA?” Bryan asked timidly, breaking the silence. All eyes turned on him.
“What about it?” Boss asked, fuming.
“Well, there are zealots there who might be able to help us.” He looked down at his hands.
“Yes,” Boss thought about it, “you may be right, but if we used them, we’d have to fight an open battle, which means that we’d run into palace guards and warriors before we even got a glimpse of the prince. I’d rather avoid that kind of confrontation.”
“Well, why don’t we wait until the prince goes back to Olhoe?” Bryan asked, more boldly this time, “I mean, Prince Orion grew up on Olhoe, right? That means that Olhoe is his home, and he’s gonna feel homesick sooner or later, and want to return.”
“Yea! That way,” Mac joined in, “we can not only do away with Prince Orion, but several telblecs at the same time.”
“Hmm,” Boss leaned back in his chair, gazing up at the ceiling, “you two may have a point. We have the entire ATA backing us,” he leaned forward, brining his elbows to the table and lowering his head towards his followers, “and it’s time they did their job.”