Chapter 90 - A Belated Homecoming
Paulus Tally rode the tired horse into the Palace Gates at nearly four in the morning. The guard who was on duty didn’t even recognize the Mullinix Representative. He looked so shabby and weather beaten that it was doubtful that his mother would have recognized him in that condition. The guard approached carefully, as it was unusual for anyone to approach at this time of night.
"Halt!" the guard exclaimed, "State your business."
"I’m here to see the Mullinix," Paulus said, wearily, "They’ve probably been looking for me."
"Identify yourself…" the guard said, trailing off, "Paulus? Is that you?"
"Yeah," Paulus nodded, "Help me down and get me to the chambers."
"Sure thing," the guard said, "Tie off the horse there. I’ll send Seregan over to take care of it."
Paulus nodded and let himself get some help in getting down. The hours of constant motion and lack of decent food were getting to him. The fact that he was pushing nearly fifty years of age wasn’t much of a help in his predicament. They started walking in to the palace slowly as the guard started talking.
"You’ve got good timing," the guard said, "Insegniferro is already awake. He and the house staff have been together for a couple hours now."
"That’s odd," Paulus said, "Whole house staff?"
"Yeah," the guard said, "Every one of them. I heard that the lines have been burning up between here and the border villages."
"Well they’re about to start burning up to the south too," Paulus grunted, "Looks like LaPorte is going rogue."
"Just what they need, I’m sure," the guard grunted, "We’re almost there."
Paulus noticed that a lot of lights were coming out of the central chamber, something that was not normal for the hour of the morning it was. There was a bit of female sobbing coming from the chamber, something that both of them found odd.
"I can make it from here," Paulus said, "Thank you Sergeant… I forget your name right now."
"Sergeant Barnes, sir," the guard said, "Good to have you back."
"Thank you, Barnes," Paulus said, "See me again when this calms down, I’ll see that you get a good mark on your record."
"Thank you, sir," Barnes said, "I should return to my post anyway."
Paulus nodded as the guard walked away. He then walked slowly towards the central chamber where he entered a room where a lot of the women were crying. Insegniferro was sitting quietly in the middle, not looking any better than the rest of them. It was, however, Insegniferro that saw him first.
"Paulus!" Insegniferro exclaimed, "Where the hell have you been?"
"Trying to get home," Paulus said, "LaPorte has gone rogue on us. I spent a few days in his jail after trying to get a line up here."
"I figured that LaPorte was shining us on where that was concerned," Iggy said, "If it wasn’t for the other trouble, I would have sent a team down there long ago."
"I heard from a guard down south that there were rumors about Massy being sick," Paulus said, "Medo has actually been taking session?"
Marina and Marianna, two who had been pretty close to Massy, both broke down into full fledged tears again, perplexing Paulus even more. Paulus looked at Insegniferro who was trying hard to keep his own composure.
"He’s badly sick isn’t he?" Paulus said, "What the hell is going on, Iggy?"
"It’s more than that now," Insegniferro sighed, "He started going downhill a few days ago. That’s why Medo took session. He went into delirium about two days ago now."
"Massy has never been sick like that before," Paulus said, "I mean… What could have…"
"They made it to the border village about this time yesterday morning," Iggy said, "They’ve got a good medico up there. She figured out that Ari Coblein was dosing Massy with mellemaic."
"What the hell was that fool thinking?" Paulus said, "Who uses mellemaic in this day and age?"
"It was intentional," Iggy said, "I don’t know why yet. Coblein ran when they figured it out. They had just found him when I last talked to Medo a couple hours ago."
"Well how is he then?" Paulus demanded, "I mean I need to get up there if he’s really sick…"
"It’s too late, Paulus," Insegniferro said quietly, "Toria, the medico up there, fought like hell to keep him alive. His heart gave out earlier this evening."
"Massy is dead?" Paulus said, not quite believing it, "Oh my god… But he’s been Mullinix for only six months… Medo…"
"Medo is now the Mullinix," Iggy said, "And he’s not particularly happy about it."
"I can bet," Paulus said, letting his weary body sit down, "I can’t believe he’s gone."
"Me either," Iggy sighed, sitting down with Paulus, "I know that this isn’t what you needed to hear after the hell you’ve been through."
"First Tolando," Paulus said, not believing it, "Now Massimaferro."
"LaPorte’s people killed Tolando?" Iggy asked him.
"Yes," Paulus said simply, "LaPorte was keeping me as a housewarming gift for King Facie."
"So that’s what this is all about," Iggy said, "He’s going to hand Cirrus back, lock stock and barrel, isn’t he?"
"So Tony Stack told me," Paulus said, "They’re even planning the reeducation camps already."
"Stack?" Iggy said, "He’s working for LaPorte?"
"Was," Paulus confirmed, "That’s how LaPorte has kept it quiet for so long."
"Stack got out just ahead of the guard," Iggy grunted, "He set the assassination squads on Medo. Luckily they all failed. At least now I know who he is working for."
"Was working for," Paulus said again, "He got a last minute change of heart once he saw how depraved his bosses were. That’s how I got out of the jail. Stack let me out."
"Still doesn’t excuse what he’s done," Iggy said, "We’ll take care of him later though."
"He took care of himself," Paulus said, "He committed suicide off the top of the Cirrus jail to take the heat off me while I escaped."
"When is he planning on doing the transfer?" Iggy asked him, "Or do you know?"
"Within the week," Paulus told him, "They were counting on the conference to keep you busy."
"We’re plenty busy," Iggy said, "We need to confer with Medoferro on what to do next and he’s probably getting a little bit of sleep. I suggest that we do the same. There’s nothing we can do yet and we may not have the chance for sleep later."
"I can’t believe I’m thinking of this," Paulus said, "But what about succession? Has any work gone into that yet?"
"That part was taken care of quick," Iggy explained, "Back when we chose Medo there were two close choices."
"Medo and that girl that he still hangs out with," Paulus said, "You brought Miranda in to it?"
"Trinaferro," Iggy confirmed, "She’s got a good head on her shoulders and has a tight bond with Medoferro already. She should work out well."
"Yeah," Paulus said, clenching a little, "I can’t believe any of this."
"Nothing we can do," Iggy said, "We have to rest now. Tomorrow we’ll figure out whose ass to kick and how hard."
"I just hope we are in time," Paulus said, "We can’t let LaPorte get away with this."
"We won’t," Insegniferro promised, "He will pay."
The Mullinix Book 1: Ascension Page 94