Industry & Intrigue (12 page)

Tessa thoug
ht it was a nice speech, but
like many in the room she was divided on the issue. The aggressive
alliance of the nations of Trusha and Kalgorad had resulted in the
Kingdom of Galria. Since then, it had absorbed all of the smaller
Galrian states, swelling it to three times its original size and
putting it on equal footing with Alkos.

While no one wanted to
see a war with
Galria, they couldn’t stand by and let it grow further. Especially
when the position of the Galrian government was so expansionist.
Galria had already fought three border skirmishes with Alkos, a
short war with West Maceon and a much longer war with Tal Feros,
which had resulted in the Talfey entering into a defensive alliance
with Alkos.

This had set off
political reactions
across the entire continent, as every nation could clearly see
there were two competing blocs of power and each of them wanted to
side with the one that could benefit them the most. Fortunately,
much of the Galrian military focus was on its northern borders,
aimed at the agorid tribes, but that would not always be the
case.

Tessa looked
down the table to
see the Minister of Security, Austin Blake, the oldest and longest
serving minister, scowling slightly. His lined face evident with
disagreement to what Sanya was saying.

He
was the most hawkish minister and he
had a small but loyal group of councilors backing him, particularly
the members from provinces that sat on the border with Galria. He
had not been able to convince the emperor of taking a hard-line
however and Sanya’s invitation of the Galrian foreign minister
looked to be a strong step in the direction of peace. Tessa
personally hoped it would remain that way, Alkos had not been
involved in a full scale war in her lifetime and she had no desire
to experience one.

Chapter
11

The Alkos University library
had
the
largest collection of books and scrolls in the entire country.
People even claimed it was the largest in the world. Others argued
that the House of Enlightenment in Weicarus was larger.

But being in here now, Reese
could understand the claim. He was
standing on the ground floor looking
upwards, above him the circular tower stretched incredibly high. He
could see each floor with oak banisters running along the sides and
countless shelves of books. It went too high for him to count, but
he had read that it was fifteen floors high.

There were many people on the
ground floor,
which held the catalogue guide-all of them determining
where in the library someone had to go to find what they were
looking for. There were dozens of file cabinets, indicating the
wide extent of material that the library contained.

He was still looking up in awe
when C
assandra nudged him in his arm. “C’mon stop gawking. We
need to get to the eighth floor,” she said.

“
We have to walk up eight
floors?
” he
complained. “Times like this I wish I was a skylord, it would make
life simpler.” He was not looking forward to walking up stairs
after a long day of classes.

“
We don’t have to walk, they
have an elevator, over here,” she said and walked towards a set of
wooden doors where a few others were gathered. There was the ding
of a bell and the doors opened to reveal a small, square room,
everyone piled in and the doors closed.

Reese looked around in
wonder
as
they moved upwards and Cassandra asked, “Never been in one
before?”

“
No, we don’t have buildings
tall enough to justify an elevator in Airdlagh,” he said,
chuckling.

“
How does it work?” he
asked.

“
It’s advanced pulley mechanics,
powered by a steam engine, nothing too complex,” she replied. “You
push a button here for your floor.” She reached out to push the
button with the number eight on it. The elevator stopped several
times before it reached the eighth floor, people exiting on their
desired floors. When the elevator dinged and the eighth button
buzzed, Reese and Cassandra stepped out.

“
U
seful device,” said Reese.

Cassandra
nodded
.
“There’s predictions that it’s going to allow for much taller
construction in the future. It could change the entire landscape of
the city. Another money-making invention for the ingenious Alyssa
Huntington.”

“
I can imagine,” said Reese. “So
it was invented by Huntington.”

Cassandra had a gleam in her
eyes.
“Yes,
I was here during the opening ceremony last year during my visit to
the campus. She said she wanted to her students to have efficient
access to the materials they needed.”

“
You were able to
see Alyssa
Huntington herself?” asked Reese, noticeably impressed. Everyone in
Alkos knew the name of the famous inventor. She had created the
first steam engine in her late-teen years, and its implementation
for trains and ships and had made her incredibly wealthy and
famous.

“
Of course
,” said Cassandra. “You do know
she teaches mechanics part-time, here at the university, don’t
you?”

“
She does?”
aske
d
Reese.

“
Yes
,” replied Cassandra. “She doesn’t
spend all of her time inventing anymore. She has an entire company
to do that for her.”

The two of them made their way
through the book cases until they arrived at the zoology
section.
“Ok, we need to find
Historical Fossil Excavations
by Harris Reddington,” said
Cassandra. “According to the file it should be about halfway down
this row.” She pointed down one particular row of book cases. They
moved down the shelves searching for the book. Reese found the
right category and alphabetical section but he couldn’t see the
book anywhere.

“
So do you have
much planned for
the weekend?” asked Cassandra as they rifled through the books
carefully.

“
No,” he replied. “I thought I’d
explore more of the city. You?”

“
I was thinking of checking out
the new Night Circus out at Surrin, it’s been travelling north and
meant to be good. Would you be interested in coming? It’s about an
hour on the train to get out there,” she asked.

“
Sounds like it could be fun,”
said Reese. “You’re going with some friends?” Reese thought he saw
her flinch, but it could have been the poor lighting

“
No
,” she said. “My other friends have
already been to see it.”

“
Ok then,” he said. “Mind if I
invite Michael as well?” It was something his friend would be eager
to see.

“
That’s
fine too,” she said. “So long as he
behaves himself.” Reese had told her about their little adventure
at the magic center.

Reese gave up his search for
the book.
“Not on this side,” he said. “Any luck?”

Cassandra stood up from the
lower shelf she had been searc
hing and shook her head. “Not here either, guess
we’re too late.”

Reese
grinned. “I have something better we
can use.”

“
You do? What would that be?”
she asked, curious.

“
Well my father spent his life
doing similar wo
rk to Reddington. I have all of his notes and books in my
room. Some of which they don’t even have here. He collected a lot
of documents on paleontology.”

Cassandra’s face brightened. “Let’s see if
we can grab the other books we need and go check out your
collection then.”

***

As the sun was
setting
,
Brenna and Snar approached the tojitsu academy operated by the
kitsune, Mikono, the true mastermind behind the drug empire run by
Barus Asulius.

“
Best if I go in alone for now,”
said Brenna. “We don’t want to attract too much attention. I need
you to watch the entrance from across the street. If you see anyone
that doesn’t look like a martial arts student, I want you to
memorize their face.”

Snar nodded
. “As you command sergeant, I
will do my best to keep track of any visitors.” He walked off the
road and into an alley opposite the academy.

Brenna walked up to the doors of the
academy and narrowly avoided being bowled over by two teenagers.
They were still full of energy from their class and dressed in blue
training uniforms. She watched them run towards an extravagant
carriage and climb inside.

She then turned back to the doors and
pushed her way in. A pretty receptionist was seated at a small
desk. She looked up at Brenna and smiled. To the right of the desk,
the room opened up into a large area where dozens of students were
training with wooden daggers. There was a circular raised platform
with a roped ring around it where two students were hand-to-hand
sparring.

“
Can I help you?” asked
the girl.

Brenna looked at
her and in a flat
and serious voice said, “I need to speak to the owner,
Mikono.”

“
Do you ha
ve an appointment?”

“
No I don’t
,” said Brenna. “Sergeant
Brenna Moreland, Justice Branch,” and she showed her badge to the
girl, who now stared at her with wide and fearful eyes. “You can
tell her that I’d like to speak to her.”

The girl nodded, stood up and walked
around the side of the training area, past the sparring ring and
into a separate office. She came out a few minutes later and walked
back to the desk. “She’ll see you in her office,” she
said.

Brenna walked past the training area and
admired the fighting discipline of the students. She had never
trained in the Minakayan martial arts. She had studied Yarali and
Wei techniques alongside her basic watch physical training. She
knocked on the already open door of the office and peered
inside.

“
Enter
,” said a high-pitched voice from
inside. Mikono was sitting in comfort chair, her desk to the side
of her and a set of drawers behind it. “Please sit,” said Mikono
and gestured at the other chair in the room. Brenna sat down and
took a measure of the kitsune.

She had the
distinctive pale-white skin
shade of her kind and a black serpent tattoo on her right cheek.
She was dressed in the same blue outfit as the students of her
academy, although hers had a black sash running across it,
indicating her mastery of the tojitsu.

‘
What can I do for the
city watch?” asked Mikono.

“
I’m Sergeant Brenna Moreland,
Justice Branch
,” replied Brenna “Do the names Connor Wallace and Barus
Asulius mean anything to you?”

The kitsune
shrugged. “Barus is a friend
and one of my tojitsu instructors, the other name doesn’t mean
anything to me at all.”

“
I see
,” said Brenna. She had expected an
answer like this. “And you wouldn’t know anything about the
tarcaine business that they are involved in together?”

“
No I wouldn’t,” replied Mikono.
“I run a martial arts school for youngsters, that’s the only
business I’m involved in. It takes up a great deal of my time, I
have many students. What makes you think I have anything to do with
illicit substances?”

“
Well Mr. Asulius is your
employee; I would think that such a well-organized woman such as
yourself would be aware of her employee’s background and actions,”
replied Brenna. Now she was purposely goading the kitsune. She
wanted to see how she reacted.

“
Barus has a checkered
past
, but
whatever you think he is involved in, I don’t believe it.” She was
good, Brenna had to admit. If she didn’t know better, she would
have said the kitsune was innocent of any crime and was exactly
what she appeared to be. “He has proven himself to me and is not
involved in anything I am unaware of.”

“
I see
,” replied Brenna. This was quickly
going nowhere. “Well, when you next see him, please tell him to
come to our station. We have questions for him.”

“
Of course sergeant.
A
nything I
can do to help the city watch.” Brenna nodded, stood up and exited
the office. She had known she wouldn’t get any real information out
Mikono, but she hadn’t expected her lies to be so
smooth.

She walked back to the doors of
the academy, but before she exited she took another look
and saw an agitated
man approach Mikono’s office. He wasn’t wearing a tojitsu uniform.
After he went in the door shut firmly. Less than a minute later, he
walked out and down the hall that ran past the office to a back
exit.

She
exited through the main doors and
followed the side of the building as fast as she could. She came
out the other side and saw the man walking in an easterly
direction. She maintained a distance so that he wouldn’t notice her
and followed him into Delkirk district.