"I still think there is something not right. Most of the staff evacuated before the Archne compound exploded." Gregor dodged an open palmed swipe from Vaughn's left arm.
"And yet all the staff we've located and questioned truly have no idea what happened." Vaughn replied with an equally fluid jab of his right fist.
Both men wore short white, un-pleated kilts of tightly woven linen but were otherwise sparring in the nude. Vaughn bei'thal, easily the bigger, and hairier man of the two continued his assault on his inferior until he finally made contact with the fairer man's chest. Gregor reacted quickly, but not quickly enough and he wobbled off balance. It would take very little time for him to recover, but he didn't have a moment and in the blink of an eye, Vaughn had him pinned on the ground.
"I concede." he readily offered to his mentor. Vaughn offered his hand to the prone man which Gregor readily accepted. Both men were panting heavily with sweat pouring from their temples and gleaming on their bodies. The sparring room was one of the cooler areas these days, being in the basement of the Augur. But high summer spared no one, not even the subterranean. "Are we sure we questioned them enough? Was that bei enough to explore their minds?"
"We've been through this Gregor. Believe me, Bei'Caudra is one of the most talented of the pnum'bei. I was present at his compromise and he was forged by the Silent Scholar himself. I have full faith in his abilities."
"Be that as it may," Gregor wiped his brow "Vaughn'Rduap, I'd like to talk to Bei'Caudra again. Just to see if he's missed anything." He touched his forehead in respect to the bei'thal and assumed a defensive position once again.
Vaughn mirrored Gregor before making the first move. Gregor had to rely purely on instinct to avoid a two handed shove coming his way. The younger bei'thal spun around, thinking to incapacitate his foe by collecting the man's outstretched arms, but Vaughn had seen this attack well before Gregor had thought of it. He dropped his arms down to stabilize himself as he landed a devastating kick to Gregor's abdomen.
"That is fine. They've begun work on rebuilding the Archne estate. Ketrae finally has a Receiving Room and I am ready to interview her as well. Caudra will be joining us again. You can talk to him then."
Prone once again, Vaughn fell on top of Gregor pinning him down to the extent that he could not even wriggle around and his arms and legs were immobilized. One massive hand clasped firmly around the young man's throat and Gregor felt the constriction on his breathing passages.
"Gregor, I am not going to say you are wrong on this intuition, but we must tread carefully. Dissent is growing among the local nobles. Conspiracies of Pho-Boteth dance along side conspiracies of each other. They will say we planted Zaexyl Archne to take out the houses one by one. They will insinuate that we blew up the estate and we are coming for others next."
"That would be unfortunate," coughed Gregor, and Vaughn released his grip. "but perhaps better than if they figured out the truth."
A light chuckle escaped the lips of Vaughn as he rose up and once again offered a helping hand to his sparring partner. "We do not want war. That much we must remember and strive for. A war would be a loss for the empire, regardless of the outcome. All those resources and people would die for what? So that some impudent children get to wave their fists around and have their tantrums?
"You've seen these people. They don't love each other anymore than they love us. They'd lose a war, but what if they could somehow win? What sort of country would rise?" He answered his own question well before Gregor could get a word in. " A self destructive one. And as the saying goes, the only way to prevent a fight is to start another (translate to Yibouhese when I get the chance). They'd turn on what they could get easily. Lithen. Maybe Sandor. And with that, we'd have a collapse of the greatest maritime port on the World's Shell.
"And in the meantime, Yibouh would be pumping needed time and energy into the basic security needs of this part of the world, when this part of the world has the capacity to contribute scientifically, academically and technologically. Exploration would take a back seat to petty infighting. Progress, Dagleth-inspired progress would come to a halt and we can expect to see civilization suffer for it.
"So ask your questions, follow your instincts, but be exceedingly careful. Err on the side of deference. We visit Lady Ketrae Archne after she has a Receiving Room because such insignificant formalities are important to the gentry here. We play by their rules with them, and maybe we get peace in return."
Gregor nodded. Every child of Lithen was drilled of their historic connection with Eirdren. The Eir peoples thought only in terms of resources and material wealth, and at one point, that included people. Of course, the Chosen Empire was now merely a memory in the minds of the descendants, over 300 years later, but he recalled the clarity with which the brutal slave labor camps had been described. The Eir, at that point, were fantastic record keepers and they spared no detail in recording each family broken apart and sent away. The cruelty they visited upon the Lithenese was seen as animal husbandry and the occasional worked to death fellow was a blip in accounting. No Gregor had decided very early in his life That must never be permitted to happen again.
"I suppose we'd better get ready and put on our dancing shoes then." he quipped.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"And yet all the staff we've located and questioned truly have no idea what happened." Vaughn replied with an equally fluid jab of his right fist.
Both men wore short white, un-pleated kilts of tightly woven linen but were otherwise sparring in the nude. Vaughn bei'thal, easily the bigger, and hairier man of the two continued his assault on his inferior until he finally made contact with the fairer man's chest. Gregor reacted quickly, but not quickly enough and he wobbled off balance. It would take very little time for him to recover, but he didn't have a moment and in the blink of an eye, Vaughn had him pinned on the ground.
"I concede." he readily offered to his mentor. Vaughn offered his hand to the prone man which Gregor readily accepted. Both men were panting heavily with sweat pouring from their temples and gleaming on their bodies. The sparring room was one of the cooler areas these days, being in the basement of the Augur. But high summer spared no one, not even the subterranean. "Are we sure we questioned them enough? Was that bei enough to explore their minds?"
"We've been through this Gregor. Believe me, Bei'Caudra is one of the most talented of the pnum'bei. I was present at his compromise and he was forged by the Silent Scholar himself. I have full faith in his abilities."
"Be that as it may," Gregor wiped his brow "Vaughn'Rduap, I'd like to talk to Bei'Caudra again. Just to see if he's missed anything." He touched his forehead in respect to the bei'thal and assumed a defensive position once again.
Vaughn mirrored Gregor before making the first move. Gregor had to rely purely on instinct to avoid a two handed shove coming his way. The younger bei'thal spun around, thinking to incapacitate his foe by collecting the man's outstretched arms, but Vaughn had seen this attack well before Gregor had thought of it. He dropped his arms down to stabilize himself as he landed a devastating kick to Gregor's abdomen.
"That is fine. They've begun work on rebuilding the Archne estate. Ketrae finally has a Receiving Room and I am ready to interview her as well. Caudra will be joining us again. You can talk to him then."
Prone once again, Vaughn fell on top of Gregor pinning him down to the extent that he could not even wriggle around and his arms and legs were immobilized. One massive hand clasped firmly around the young man's throat and Gregor felt the constriction on his breathing passages.
"Gregor, I am not going to say you are wrong on this intuition, but we must tread carefully. Dissent is growing among the local nobles. Conspiracies of Pho-Boteth dance along side conspiracies of each other. They will say we planted Zaexyl Archne to take out the houses one by one. They will insinuate that we blew up the estate and we are coming for others next."
"That would be unfortunate," coughed Gregor, and Vaughn released his grip. "but perhaps better than if they figured out the truth."
A light chuckle escaped the lips of Vaughn as he rose up and once again offered a helping hand to his sparring partner. "We do not want war. That much we must remember and strive for. A war would be a loss for the empire, regardless of the outcome. All those resources and people would die for what? So that some impudent children get to wave their fists around and have their tantrums?
"You've seen these people. They don't love each other anymore than they love us. They'd lose a war, but what if they could somehow win? What sort of country would rise?" He answered his own question well before Gregor could get a word in. " A self destructive one. And as the saying goes, the only way to prevent a fight is to start another (translate to Yibouhese when I get the chance). They'd turn on what they could get easily. Lithen. Maybe Sandor. And with that, we'd have a collapse of the greatest maritime port on the World's Shell.
"And in the meantime, Yibouh would be pumping needed time and energy into the basic security needs of this part of the world, when this part of the world has the capacity to contribute scientifically, academically and technologically. Exploration would take a back seat to petty infighting. Progress, Dagleth-inspired progress would come to a halt and we can expect to see civilization suffer for it.
"So ask your questions, follow your instincts, but be exceedingly careful. Err on the side of deference. We visit Lady Ketrae Archne after she has a Receiving Room because such insignificant formalities are important to the gentry here. We play by their rules with them, and maybe we get peace in return."
Gregor nodded. Every child of Lithen was drilled of their historic connection with Eirdren. The Eir peoples thought only in terms of resources and material wealth, and at one point, that included people. Of course, the Chosen Empire was now merely a memory in the minds of the descendants, over 300 years later, but he recalled the clarity with which the brutal slave labor camps had been described. The Eir, at that point, were fantastic record keepers and they spared no detail in recording each family broken apart and sent away. The cruelty they visited upon the Lithenese was seen as animal husbandry and the occasional worked to death fellow was a blip in accounting. No Gregor had decided very early in his life That must never be permitted to happen again.
"I suppose we'd better get ready and put on our dancing shoes then." he quipped.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
No comments:
Post a Comment