Industry & Intrigue (24 page)

Tessa walked up behind her and
laid a hand on her shoulder
. “Shooting protesters. Is that the level you’ve
sunk to now Tegan? Even father never went that far.” She spoke to
the guard. “Go back and tell them that we will hear them
out.”

The guard nodded and ran
out,
eager
to get out of the room and away from Tegan’s wrath. All of the
guests attention was on the two sisters. Tegan was furious. “What
are you doing Tessa? This is my business not yours,” she said,
turning her anger on her sister. She always had to be such an
interfering bitch.

“
This is
family business,” stated Tessa.
“Do you want to shoot protestors outside our home? In front of all
these important government officials?”

Tegan tried to control her breathing. She
wanted to lash out at her sister, but that would do no good. Once
she had calmed herself, she said, “Fine, I’ll listen to what they
have to say.”

She turned to the rest of the guests,
“Continue to enjoy yourselves everyone, several employees of mine
have concerns. I’ll address them as quickly as I can and
return.”

Varko extended his
hand
. “May I
accompany you Ms. Mordain?”

This was odd, why would he want
to join her?
“You may, but why?” she asked.

“
Labor protests are illegal in
Enz, I am curious to see how you Alkons
deal with them,” he answered. She
nodded and stormed out of the room, Varko following.

At the gates the
pro
testors
were chanting their various demands.

“
Better work
conditions!
”

“
Safety pay!”

“
Fair wages!”

There was a roughly even mix of
humans and orcs in the crowd, along with a good number of
goblins.
They were dressed in dirty clothes and from here the
unwashed smell of them made her nose twitch.

A large
number of them were carrying
lanterns and they were far more agitated than she had anticipated.
One tall and well-muscled man in a short sleeved, grey shirt stood
out at the front. He looked to be the leader. From his bulk and
muscular frame, she guessed that he worked in a labor-intensive
job. He had the dark-brown skin tone of a Silunder and a shaven
head.

Five of her house guards were
standing on this
side of the gate, their hands on their gun holsters, ready
to draw. “Stand aside,” said Tegan and they stepped back. They kept
their hands on their holsters in case the radicals tried anything
stupid.

“
I am Tegan
Mordain
.
Daughter of Cormac Mordain and managing director of Typhon Trading,
what is it that you want to say?” she said, addressing the man at
the front.

“
I am Victor Shepard,
representative of the Labor
ers Revolution Collective and your company’s
employees. We will not leave here until you agree to meet with the
collective representatives at your company and negotiate with us,”
he said in a loud voice. He raised his hand in a fist, thick scars
on his arm reflecting the lantern lights. This drew a tremendous
cheer from the crowd behind him.

Tegan stared him down and
replied
,
“And what if I refuse? What if I simply call the watch and have you
all arrested for trespassing and disturbing the peace? You’ve
already ruined my father’s wake. Why should I do anything you
say?”

“
You could do that Ms.
Mordain
,” he
replied. “But that won’t solve anything. If you refuse to meet with
us, we’ll call a strike and then where will you be? You factories
will sit idle, your machines and engines quietly rusting, your
company will lose money,” threatened Victor.

“
D
on’t make me laugh,” said Tegan. “You and
your fellow workers can’t afford to stop working. You’ll starve to
death not long after I’ve replaced you all. There are plenty more
people in this city willing to work in my factories. What makes you
so special?” In spite of her confident tone, his threats concerned
Tegan more than she let on. The last thing she needed after her
father’s death was a company strike.

“
This only represents a
small fraction of
our strength. We can cripple your company if we wish to. It would
only take a word from myself or one of my comrades here.” He swept
his hand to gesture at several of the men and women behind
him.

“
I’ve heard enough I
think
,” she
replied and turned to the head guardsman “Charles, fire at their
feet.”

The guard
nodded. “Yes ma’am.”

H
e stepped forward between Tegan and the
gate, the other guards stepping forward with him. “House guards,
ready,” he commanded. The guards all pulled out their revolvers and
cocked the hammers. “Aim.” They pointed through the metal bars
towards the ground and there were shouts of alarm from the
crowd.

The ones at the front
stepped back.
Except for the leader, Victor. He didn’t budge an inch. He stared
at her, his eyes remaining as hard as steel.

“
Fire!” shouted Charles and the
guards let loose. T
he blast of the shots rang out followed by screams and
shouts as many of the protesters bolted away in a panic. The acrid
smell of gunpowder and smoke penetrated Tegan’s nostrils. Her eyes
watered slightly but she ignored it and ordered the guards to open
the gates.

Most of the crowd had dispersed
except for Shepard and a few others.
“Seize them,” said Tegan. Her guards ran
forward, their guns pointing at the remaining radicals. Once they
had been taken, Tegan said, “Hold them until the watch arrives,
they can deal with these criminals.” She noticed that Victor was
grinning at her. She stepped over and eyed him carefully. “What are
you so happy about?”

He laughed.
“You made a grievous error Ms.
Mordain. You will come to regret this. And when you do, the workers
of this city will be set free.”

“
Bah,
” said Tegan, turning around and
walking back to Varko.

The count was watching her
carefully
.
“Interesting,” he said.

“
Not particularly,” replied
Tegan. “Workers protest now and then. It always pops up, we slap
them back down and they learn their place. The trick is to be stern
but not overly so.”

“
I would not be so certain, Ms.
Mordain.” He pointed at Victor, “That one is not someone to be
easily dismissed. He is a man of strong convictions and he is
charismatic. You should be careful in dealing with him.”

Tegan looked back
a
t the tall
Silunder. The man hadn’t flinched during the shots and wasn’t
paying attention to the guards surrounding him. He continued to
watch her with his steel eyes. Varko could be right. “So what would
you suggest?” she asked.

“
There are other
ways to handle it.
Though I do not think the methods we use against protestors in Enz
would be seen as proper here. Tell you what, in the interest of
pursuing a new business relationship with you, how about I have
someone deal with this revolution collective for you? Call it a
gesture of good faith from your future business
partner.”

Tegan blinked. “We haven’t even discussed
what business arrangement we would be conducting yet.”

“
Well I am hoping that my
gesture will be the be
ginning of our business together,” he said,
smiling.

Tegan thought for a few
seconds, the LRC had be
en growing in strength recently. If Varko could do
something to curb them for her, then she was open to it. She nodded
“Whatever you can do to suppress these radicals, I would greatly
appreciate.”

“
Wonderful
,” he said. “Now, we should
return to the party and forget about this nonsense.”

Chapter 21

“
Are you ready, Your
Imperial
Majesty?” asked the emperor’s personal servant.

Lawrence
McRath, the young emperor, took
one at himself look in the mirror then replied, “Yes, I believe I
am Jornas. They’ll be waiting for me so they can start.” Lawrence
was dressed in his finest imperial clothes. Yellow and red, the
colors of Alkos.

His servant, Jornas Glas,
nodded
and
held open the door. He made his way through the corridors of the
Imperial Palace, the servant keeping pace with him. He passed the
many palatial guards in their chainmail and bright red coats, until
he reached a set of open doors. He stepped through and into the
imperial throne room. The thrones was made of gold-coated steel and
an elaborate lion’s head sat on top.

He sat
down and looked around the room. Five
individuals stood in a line in the middle of the room. To either
side there were crowds of people, the majority of whom were Estaran
exiles. Several of his ministers were present, lined up to the his
right, Minister-General Kodiak at the front. On the left, stood the
representatives of the Royal Estaran Government-in-Exile. The most
prominent of which was Clara Vicinus, Queen of Estara.

The young beauty was the
last
remaining member of her family. The rest of her family had
been killed in the civil war. Her father, the king, executed before
a cheering mob in the capital of Haltoria. Her older brothers had
died on the battlefield and her mother and younger sisters had been
killed by assassins.

Lawren
ce took his time looking at her. She
was without a doubt one of the most beautiful women he had ever
known. Long honey-blonde hair, a perfectly sculpted face and a tall
body that she held with a regal bearing. She was in her royal
attire, her green and silver crown sparkling in the light and her
pure white dress was without crinkles or creases.

Lawrence spoke, projecting his
voice as loud as he could across the large room
. “Ladies and gentlemen,
honored guests of Estara and esteemed representatives. It is my
pleasure to hold this ceremony here. Five of our own countrymen
have done a great service for our Estaran guests.” He then looked
at Clara and smiled brightly at her. “Your Highness, if you would
be so good as to begin?”

She bowed her head at
him and turned to
face the individuals in the middle of the room. “Thank you, Your
Imperial Majesty. Your nation has done so much for me and my people
already and now once again we are in your debt. As everyone is
aware Estara tore itself apart years ago.

The war took much
fro
m my
people and my nation…,” she paused, gathering herself before
continuing. Lawrence expected that talking about the war was
emotional. “Of all those who took advantage of the turmoil, none
was worse than General Acteon Calidius. The atrocities that he
committed during the war cannot be uttered in detail in here, but
they are well documented. Even President Praellis and his
republican government saw fit to arrest the man. Unfortunately the
chaos of war allowed this criminal to make his escape from justice.
You five have set right this terrible wrong and on behalf of my
nation, the people of Estara and the royal House of Vicinus, I
thank you.”

Cheers and clapping rose up in
the
room,
only stopping when Clara raised her hand. “By rights this ceremony
should be carried out in the Hall of Heroes in the royal castle at
Haltoria, but as that is not possible, His Imperial Majesty, kindly
offered the use of his throne room.” Another round of clapping went
off.

The queen turned to
the tall and
watchful woman in armor standing behind her. Lawrence had met her
several times. Her name was Ursa Opherus, commander-in-chief of
what remained of the Royal Estaran Army. Most of her time was spent
at her queen’s side, functioning as an advisor and
bodyguard.

She handed Clara a pouch. Clara
then turned back to the individuals and said
, “Brenna Moreland, step
forward.” The Justice Branch watch sergeant walked up to the queen,
bowed and then bent down on one knee. “By the House of Vicinus, I,
Queen Clara, proclaim you a Royal Hero of Estara and award you with
the Most Exalted Order of Honor of the Kingdom of Estara.” She
pulled a star-shaped silver medal out of the pouch and placed it
around Brenna’s neck.

Brenna smiled and leaned
forward to kiss the queen’s hand. Then she stood up and walked
back, still facing
the queen, standing next to her agorid partner again. Clara
spoke the next name, “Snar Bruce, step forward.”

As the giant bear agorid
stepped toward the queen, Lawrence saw Ursa’s eyes narrow and her
fingers curled, one of her hands resting next to her gun
holster.
He
couldn’t blame her. His own guards would have the same reaction to
an agorid getting that close to him.

Lawrence was
amused at seeing
the large bear kneel in front of the queen, even kneeling, his head
reached Clara’s shoulders. She said the words and placed the medal
around his neck. Snar didn’t kiss her hand, he simply touched it
with his black nose. That had been the agorid’s own suggestion. He
had not wanted the queen to feel too uncomfortable by having his
large jaws near her hand.