The Mullinix Book 1: Ascension

by Rodney Mountain

  Chapter 28 - Crisis of Conscience

  Medoferro woke up early in the morning, feeling the two warm bodies on either side of him. It took him a moment to remember what had happened the night before as the events of the previous day were still weighing heavily on his mind. He sat up and looked at the women sleeping next to him. Sascha slept evenly, but moved over easily and curled up into a ball when he got up. Marina slept her usual fitful sleep, but didn’t seem to notice when Medo slipped out of the bed.

  He slipped on a robe that had been left by another member of the staff, still wondering how they managed to do that without him noticing their entrance or exit. It was as if they came in by some form of magic, something he knew couldn’t be. He shook his head and went out to the balcony, sitting on the comfortable chair that was out there. It was turning into one of his favored places, as he could easily see most of Mullinix Centre from there.

  It was still dark in the city, the early morning lights coming on and flickering as people moved around. The street lamps were also illuminating the streets, showing the people start moving around. Medoferro still felt utterly incapable of having to rule them, especially after how he’d performed the day before. He was still moping out there when Marina woke up and noticed he was gone.

  She sighed and realized what he was probably doing, so she put on a robe herself and walked out on to the balcony, finding him exactly where she thought he would be. She walked out quietly and sat down lightly in a chair right next to Medoferro, watching the younger man as he looked out over the city.

  "You’re beating yourself up over it again, aren’t you?" Marina asked him finally after watching his face, "Why are you doing this to yourself?"

  "I just feel helpless," Medo said, "People can try to do things to me and my friends and there’s nothing I can do to prevent it."

  "Well," Marina said, thinking about it, "Since you’re obviously replaying it again and again in your mind, let’s go over it rationally."

  "Ok," Medo said, waiting for the recriminations he thought he deserved.

  "So what happened yesterday?" Marina asked him, "Think it through step by step?"

  "Well," Medo said, thinking about it, "The five of us were on the beach. You, me, Simon, Miranda and Stacy."

  "Right," Marina said, "We were sitting there relaxing on the beach."

  "Suddenly they came out," Medo continued, his eyes glazing a little as the memories flooded back in, "Two of them with swords and murder in their eyes."

  "A little overdramatic," Marina chuckled, "But accurate so far."

  "So when they charged us, I stood up," Medo said.

  "Like we all did," Marina added, letting him continue.

  "And all I could think about was getting out of the way," Medo said, "I knew for some reason that they were after me."

  "You’re a Mullinix," Marina nodded, "Logical assumption."

  "Then I did something and tried to get out of the way while you and Stacy went at them," Medo said, "Even Simon stood up and tried to do something."

  "They were after you, Medo," Marina said, "But you don’t remember what you did do, did you?"

  "No," Medo admitted.

  "You pushed Miranda out of the blade path and got out of our way," Marina said, "You’ve never been trained for anything like this. Stacy is a guard and reacted as she was trained. I was given rudimentary protection training when I came here because as house staff part of our job is to defend you."

  "But Simon…" Medo started and trailed off.

  "Simon did the only thing he could think of," Marina told him, "He slowed them down and caught a nasty gash because of it. You pushed Miranda out of the way, which is more than we expected out of you in this situation."

  "I guess I just don’t like feeling this helpless," Medo sighed, "I didn’t know what to do."

  "So what would you do differently?" Marina asked him, "Now that you’ve had time to think about it."

  "I guess I would…" Medo stopped, realizing that he hadn’t actually thought about that part.

  "Exactly," Marina told him, a smile forming on her face, "You did the best you could do under the circumstances. I don’t think this will happen as bad again, because I’m betting you’ll be starting self defense training before the end of the week."

  "It still feels like I could have done more," Medo sighed.

  "You had three seconds to think about it," Marina reminded him, "We’ve been talking about it here for at least five minutes, quite a bit longer. You did what you had to do then and you’ll do it again."

  "I guess you’re right," Medo nodded, "It just gets to you."

  "Come on inside," Marina invited, smiling wickedly as she stood up and offered a hand, "No need for poor Sascha to wake up alone."

  "Even after this conversation, huh?" Medo chuckled.

  "Especially after," Marina grinned, "What better way to gain back confidence? Especially if you think you can handle it…"

  "I think we can work something out…" Medo grinned as he followed her back into the room.