Industry & Intrigue (68 page)

You were good at
r
unning the
armaments division. I think it was the only job you truly loved.
Now look where you are, lying here in this bed. And there’s nothing
I can do to get you out of it.” She wiped at her eyes, stopping the
tears before they could start rolling down her face.

There was a
knoc
k on the
door and she looked up. The door opened and Dr. Ashford walked in,
followed by Tessa, her governess and her two children, Janna and
Niall. Both the children ran over and she hugged them.

“
Is Uncle Luthais going to be
alright?” asked Janna, her voice quivering with concern. She was a
sweet girl of fourteen years, with curly brown hair that she wore
flowing out. Her hair and green eyes, she had inherited from her
father. Niall was a short boy of eight years and he took after
Tegan, with darker hair and brown eyes. They were still dressed in
their grey and red school uniforms.

“
Of course
dear
,” she
said in a soothing voice. “He needs to rest is all.” She let go of
them and put a hand on each of their heads. “I need to have a talk
with your aunt and Dr. Ashford, so I want the two of you to wait
outside with Ms. Smythe. As soon as we’re done you can sit with
your uncle as long as you like.”

They both nodded glumly
and left with Ms.
Smythe. Despite her advanced age, Judith Smythe still appeared
regal and matronly. She had served as governess in the Mordain
household for many years, even raising Tegan and her siblings. She
had light grey hair that she kept in a short and tied back with
braids. She nodded at Tegan and took the children out of the
room.

Dr.
Ashford spoke up, “I was bringing
your sister up to date on Luthais’ condition. I plan to start
treatment for his burns tonight and once that’s complete, we’ll see
if his head trauma has improved.” Her midnight black hair stood out
in contrast to her bright, white doctor’s coat.

“
What can be done for his
he
ad injury
doctor?’ asked Tessa.

Tegan had al
ready heard the answer to
this.

“
I’m afraid we can’t do anything
right now, while his
body has so much other damage,” replied the
doctor. “We don’t want to risk him suffering additional trauma
during the healing process. If he wakes up soon then good, we’ll be
out of the woods and can concentrate on his healing. If not,
well…we’ll go ahead with his burn treatment and see what happens
once that has complete.”

Tessa nodded. “I
see
. Thank
you doctor.”

“
Your brother is
lucky,” said Dr.
Ashford to both of them. “I know it looks bad, but considering the
blow he suffered, he’s in good condition. Head trauma can be
dangerous, but I have seen many patients with similar injuries
recover and wake up far sooner than you would expect. He needs time
to heal is all.”

She
bent over the bed and did a series of
checks, making notes on her pad. While she was doing so Tegan sat
back down, folded her arms and stared at her older
sister.

Tessa glanced at her, but
didn’t try to
initiate conversation, she pretended to be interested in
what the doctor was doing. Tegan could tell she was waiting to
unload criticism on her. At least she had the decorum to wait until
Dr. Ashford finished before she started.

Dr. Ashford
stepped back from the bed and
looked at both of them. “I’m done here. I’ll leave your brother to
you. But I do ask that you restrict your visit to no later than
four o’clock. I want to get started on his burn
treatment.”

“
Of course. Thank you
doctor
,”
said Tegan. As the woman left she turned her eyes back to Tessa and
waited for it.
Here it comes
she thought.
Her barrage of how uncaring I am and how I let
this happen. This time she may be right.

Instead Tegan was surprised to
hear her sister say
, “I’m sorry. I couldn’t get here earlier. The war has
everyone busy. I was in the middle of a closed meeting with finance
leaders and the messengers weren’t allowed to interrupt, even for
this.”

Tessa closed her eyes
and fell into the
other chair. “You were right Tegan. There are dangerous people
amongst the socialists. Creator help me, you were right. And now
Luthais is on the edge of death.”

She
had never been more surprised by her
sister in all her life. Luthais’ condition was a shock for Tessa;
just as it had been for her. But she had not been expecting this.
Was it possible that they could reconcile and comfort each other
over this?

She stood up and walked over to
her older sibling. She bent down and took her arms in her hands.
“
I’m sorry
too Tessa. If I had handled them differently, took another course
of action, this wouldn’t have happened.”

Tessa opened her eyes. They
were wet with tears. “Are they certain it was the socialist
radicals? I mean the factory was pumping out materials for
th
e war. It
would have been a choice target for the Galrians.”

Tegan shook her head. She had
already asked questions like this to the Imperial Branch inspector
in charge of the case.
“I don’t know the details, but based on what the
uninjured workers said, the bomber screamed out a socialist slogan.
And yes, I mentioned to the watch that it could have been a Galrian
masquerading as a radical, but they’ve ruled that out. The woman
was Alkon and a member of a splinter faction of the LRC. They’re
doing everything they can to find her accomplices.”

“
If this is what war feels like,
I’m glad I always opposed it
,” said Tessa. “Yet now I find myself in a
position of having to support it after the Galrian treachery. How
can I focus on the finances of an empire at war, when our brother
could pass away at any moment?” Her tears were now running freely
down her face. Tessa felt as guilty as she did, for what happened
to Luthais. Even if didn’t make sense for either of them to do
so.

After all
, neither of them had seen this
coming, nor been in a position to prevent it. Tegan as always would
be the strong and dutiful one. It was what she had been doing her
whole life. “You heard the doctor. He has a good chance of
recovery, it’s only a matter of him waking up. You know what
Luthais is like when he needs his rest. Not even a rampaging
deepone could rouse him.”

Tessa chuckled at her joke.
They were both familiar with Luthais’ mannerisms after a
night
of
heavy drinking. He was a stubborn sleeper on mornings
after.

Tegan brushed back the strands
of hair that had fallen in front of her face. “You do your job like
you’ve always done, whether it’s in peace or war. I’ve never
seen
anyone
better at managing the imperial treasury. I truly do mean that
Tessa, even if I’ve never said it before.” She stood back up at
looked down at her sister.

At least the
tears had subsided.
“Thank you Tegan” replied Tessa and she took a few moments to
compose herself and clean her face. “Why don’t you get the children
back in?” she asked. “I’m sure they’re eager to see their
uncle.”

“
Ha. Knowing them they’ll
want to start writing on his casts.” She glanced back at their
brother. “If he takes too long to wake up, he’ll find himself with
a mural protecting his broken bones.”

Chapter
68

The sight of Snar
sittin
g in
the pews in his church was a surprise. Isaac was in the middle of
cleaning when he walked out of the storage room to find the hulking
agorid sitting at the front of the room. He took up a full quarter
of the pew. Isaac winced as he heard the wood creak under the
agorid’s bulk. He wasn’t sure if the seating could stand up to the
weight.

“
Officer Snar
,” he said. “It’s good to see
you here.” Isaac put down the empty box he was carrying next to the
altar and approached the agorid. “May I ask what it is that brought
you here?” he asked. “Did you have anything in particular you
wanted to discuss with me, or you were merely curious about
Varos?”

Snar looked up at him with his
big black eyes. Isaac could see a depth of soul and feeling there
that
he
hadn’t known an agorid could express.

“
The truth is cleric I am
troubled” said Snar. “I have questions, but I have no one to
discuss them with. If Sergeant Moreland were still here I would
have talked with her, but…and I cannot talk with my father. He is
part of the problem.”

Isaac sat down next to Snar.
“Well I can’t promise you that I have all the answers, but I am a
good listener.
As is Varos. He’ll always listen when you have no one else
to turn to.”

Snar
folded his paws in his lap. “I have
never been one for religion. I have studied them all of course.
They are part of our history and culture but I never truly believed
it. My father taught me to trust in facts and reason.”

Isaac sighed. “So many do now.
Alkos turned its back on the worship of Varos and the Creator four
hundred years ago. The few of us that still follow his
shape, struggle
here against the vastness of the atheist secularism that has become
the norm.”

“
And you think that is bad?”
asked Snar.

“
Sidcairn the First was right to
do as he did. The brutal religious war of the Azure Blades tore
apart the country and his own family. The church of those days had
become corrupt with sinners and false clerics. They brought
destruction down upon themselves. I regret that it led to the
results of today. The church is forced to pay heavy taxes for the
right to operate and so many refuse to hear the message of
Varos.”

“
I do admit, there is a certain
romanticism to your holy book’s tales
,” said Snar. “But as an adolescent I
always viewed it in the same light as the fairytales of the Harken
Sisters or the legends of ancient dragon empires of
Xenish.

Another one
thought Isaac morosely.
Caught up in the
tide of rational secularism. It was too much to hope that he would
be open-minded enough to consider it.

He smiled at the agorid in
spite of his thoughts. “Whether you believe or not, matters little.
My church is always a sanctuary to those in need and I am always
willing to be there for them.
Such does Varos teach us. What is it that troubles
you Snar?”

Snar shrugged. “How do I begin?
I feel so lost. Growing up I always felt dif
ferent, being the only agorid.
But I had my studies to enjoy and my father encouraged my academic
interests. Despite enjoying it, I always felt a need for something
different, something that would make my blood run hot. When I
joined the city watch I finally felt that I had found this. I could
make my place in Alkos and satisfy my innate desire for physical
activity.”

“
Innate desire?’ queried
Isaac.

“
Yes. My father believes
it
is part
of my biology. Agorids have adapted to life on the steppes and my
body’s yearnings stem from that; to run and fight to the point of
exhaustion. The watch allowed me to have both worlds, the physical
and the intellectual. I am unsure if the other officers even want
me there.

Serge
ant Moreland accepted me readily
enough, but I can feel the glances of the others; the whispers when
they think I am out of hearing. And now Captain Tolov is gone and
Selim has been suspended.”

“
What are you talking about?
Selim
is
deep in grief but that is understandable. What happened to your
captain?” he asked.

The agorid looked up at the
idol of Varos
standing atop the altar. He stared for several long
seconds, as if trying to determine a hidden meaning. Then he
finally replied, “Captain Tolov was transferred. He is in command a
different branch now, I do not know which.”

“
Why would they do
that
?” asked
Isaac. “He appeared a capable leader.”

“
Officially it is
a bureaucratic
change-up, but everyone at the station knows the real reason. It is
because he is Galrian. The government is implementing new policies
throughout its branches out of fear of spies. He has been an Alkon
citizen for over twenty years, but that doesn’t mean anything to
them. It is happening throughout the watch. They did not feel
comfortable with the elite Justice Branch being in the hands of a
potential enemy.”

“
I see,” said Isaac. Had fear
and paranoia truly gripped the nation to this extent? The war had
infected the populace with madness if they had resorted to such
heavy-handed measures. “And without your captain to overlook
Selim’s lapses…”

“
Yes. You guessed correctly.
Selim was caught drunk while on duty. The new captain was not
pleased. Selim was sent home and suspended, pending a formal
review. I tried to see him at his home, but he did not want to
talk. Then I went to see my father, he asked me to consider leaving
the watch and signing up for the war. He cares for me, but he is
patriotic. He was willing to use his connections to get me a role
in training fresh recruits. Show them how agorids do
it.”