Reunification (6 page)

Whilst I said that, I kept a careful eye
on the she-elf. I could not be certain if or when she was lying to
me, but having worked alongside several other elvish Knights for
some time, I had learned to understand some of the physical clues
elves displayed whenever they lied. A lying elf usually shuffled
their feet unnecessarily and sometimes twitched their ears as
well.

This she-elf, however, displayed none of
the usual signs of a lying elf. That may have meant she was not
going to lie to me, though I kept mine guard up anyway, for I was
unarmed and in an unknown location. Indeed, for all I knew, she was
going to kill me in cold blood and dispose of my body where no one
would ever find it, despite not seeming that psychotic.

“
Where are you?”
Lanresia repeated. She gestured at the room. “You are in a secret
place near Xeeon. I can't disclose its exact location to you just
yet, but rest assured that you are safe here.”

“
I care not for mine own
safety, she-elf, if that is what ye believe my main concern to be,”
I replied. “I want to find mine sister, Kiriah, not hide
underground like a rat.”

“
You don't want to find
your sister,” said Lanresia. “Trust me. It's better that the two of
you stay apart.”

“
Stop speaking in
riddles,” I said. “I have spent six years searching for mine sister
and ye are telling me that I should not see her? She-elf, ye do not
know my sister or I. Kiriah would be overjoyed to see me again.
This I know with the certainty of the sun.”

“
You're right,” said
Lanresia, her speaking snake's eyes glowing. “I don't know you or
your sister very well; however, I do know that trying to get
involved with her is the quickest path to death. As you almost
found out yourself when that assassin bot tried to kill
you.”

“
But why?” I said. I
threw the blankets off my legs and tried to stand up again, but my
legs were still too weak to support me, so I simply stayed where I
was. “Ye have yet to explain that to me. And if ye continue to
speak vaguely, I shall draw upon the power of the Old Gods and
teach ye how to speak plainly, she-elf.”

That threat of mine did not mean much,
because I truly could not draw upon the power of the Old Gods. I
said it only to frighten Lanresia, who probably did not know of my
bluff.

Lanresia held up her hands, as if to calm
me. “Don't get angry. There's a good reason for all of this, I can
assure you. We are not holding you down here for no reason.”

“
'We'?” I repeated. “So
there are more of ye? How many more?”

“
I can't disclose the
exact number to you yet,” said Lanresia without hesitation. “We're
not sure if we can trust you with that information. Still, I will
do my best to answer your questions as honestly as I
can.”

I snorted at that. “Oh? I doubt it. I
imagine if I asked ye what the position of the sun in the sky was
right now, ye would say ye could not trust me with that
information.”

“
We're running a very
delicate operation right here,” said Lanresia, tapping her foot,
which I recognize as an elvish movement that most elves used to
show their frustration. “Very delicate. I'm sorry you can't handle
the fact that we won't just disclose all of our secrets to random
strangers like you, especially strangers who aren't even native
Xeeonites in the first place.”

“
What
can
ye tell
me, then?” I said. “No, wait. Do not answer that. I want to speak
with your leader, whoever he or she is, not with a simple peon like
yourself.”

“
The Head is currently
too busy to talk to you at the moment,” said Lanresia. “Besides,
speaking with guests is my main job in the organization. We have a
very strict hierarchy here; no one ever does anyone else's job for
them except in extreme or unusual circumstances.”

“
'Tis seems like an
unusual circumstance to I,” I replied. “But very well. I know when
I cannot win, so I shall instead ask what organization this
is.”

“
Now that is information
I can share with you,” said Lanresia. She gestured at the tiny room
in which we stood. “You are currently inside the headquarters of
the secret organization known as the Foundation.”

“
The Foundation?” I
repeated. “What kind of foundation is it? And how come I have never
heard of it?”

“
You've probably never
heard of it because very, very few people outside of our circle
have,” said Lanresia. “We've worked hard to keep it that way, for
we answer to a much higher power.”

“
King Waran-Una?” I
asked. “The Old Gods? Who?”

“
That is another thing
you don't need to know,” said Lanresia. “At least not yet. All I
can tell you is that we are working hard at uncovering the lies and
deception of Xacron-Ah, although that we do many other things as
well.”

“
Xacron-Ah? I remember
that name,” I said. I patted my body quickly and was relieved to
feel the envelope with three pictures were still in my pockets.
“That is the name of the man who was in that picture with my
sister.”

“
We know,” said
Lanresia. “We've been keeping a careful eye on your sister ever
since she first appeared in this city. And we think she is working
with him, though what their ultimate end game for this city is,
even we don't know for sure.”

“
Hold on,” I said,
holding up a hand. “I confess to being greatly confused. Why would
my sister be working with the Mayor? How do you even know he's
corrupt? My understanding of this situation is as opaque as the
polluted oceans of your world.”

“
Xeeo's oceans aren't
that
polluted,” said Lanresia, rolling her eyes. “But you're
right. I should probably start at the beginning. I can't tell you
everything—I'm not allowed to tell you all of it—but I can tell you
enough that you can be confident that you know what's going
on.”

Lanresia gestured at the chair next to my
bed. Wheels, as round as the sun, popped out of the chair's legs,
allowing it to roll over to her across the smooth floor. Whilst
that might have shocked me under ordinary circumstances, I was not
quite so surprised to see that her chair could move; after all,
Xeeonite technology could do almost anything. 'Twould not be
surprised if at some point I ran into a robot that could cast
magic, though to my knowledge, such a feat was beyond the current
limits of their technology.

The chair stopped behind Lanresia,
allowing her to sit down on it. When she did, the wheels popped
back into the legs, thus assuring that she would not go sliding
across the floor unnecessarily.

“
Where should I start?”
said Lanresia, putting the tips of her fingers together. “Ah, I
know. I will start with Mayor Xacron-Ah himself. He's at the center
of all of this, so he's the best place to begin.”

“
I was told he came from
Dela,” I said. “Is that correct?”

“
All our sources say
so,” said Lanresia, her speaking snake nodding along with her.
“More importantly, though, is the reason why he moved from Dela. Do
you know?”

“
No, I do not,” I said,
shaking mine head. “The merchant I spoke with did not tell me
why.”

“
He has told very few
people why,” said Lanresia. “It's pretty obvious, of course, why
he's keeping it a secret, but that still doesn't make it any less
scummy on his part.”

“
For what reason did he
move to Xeeo?” I asked. “I am tired of you going on like this;
please just get to the point.”

“
All right,” said
Lanresia. “Xacron-Ah used to be a super speed drug dealer. He would
arrange huge shipments of the drug to be illegally distributed from
Dela's Lower Panhandle to Xeeon and the surrounding countryside. He
says he's reformed, but considering how corrupt he is, we tend to
doubt it.”

“
If he says he has
reformed, why did you say he has kept it a secret?” I said, folding
my arms over my chest.

“
I didn't say that was
what he kept a secret,” said Lanresia. “Xacron-Ah ran a successful
campaign six years back on the premise of absolute honesty, so he
didn't deny the allegations that he had once illegally distributed
super speed drugs to the general population. He apologized for it,
and as a result, everyone thinks he's an honest man, which is how
he won the election despite not being a native Xeeonian. What he
kept a secret was why he came here in the first place, which has
nothing to do with honesty or truth.”

“
What was his reason for
doing so?” I asked. “Was he escaping the law?”

“
We believe so,” said
Lanresia. “He left Dela because his former drug dealing friends
turned on him. We think he sold out his gang to the authorities,
which is why he moved to Xeeo, where he thought he would be
safe.”

“
That seems an odd thing
to keep a secret,” I remarked. “I am no expert in Xeeonite
elections—for I find democracy an ill substitute for a good
monarchy—but I would think the people would be more attracted to
the criminal who turned in his comrades, not less.”

“
That's because it's not
as simple as it seems,” said Lanresia, shaking her head. “He didn't
have a simple change of heart, from ruthless drug dealer to noble
statesmen. He sold out his fellows because he made a deal with the
International Delanian Alliance of Law Enforcers to get some good
money out of his deeds.”

“
I see,” I said,
stroking my chin. “So this Xacron-Ah fellow betrayed his friends
because he saw more green in the words of the law than in the
spoils of crime.”

“
More or less,” said
Lanresia, her speaking snake nodding as it spoke. “All of the guys
he sold out to your government are currently behind bars, but they
have friends on the outside who have been hounding Xacron-Ah for a
while now, which is why he moved here.”

“
How come I have never
heard of Xacron-Ah, if what you say is true?” I interrupted. “I
used to be a member of the Red Ring Smugglers before joining the
Knights about a year ago. I don't recall ever hearing about this
Xacron-Ah fellow.”

“
Wait,” said Lanresia,
looking at me in surprise (which I could read easily, as she still
had normal facial expressions despite being mute). “You were a
member of the Red Ring Smugglers?”

I hesitated to answer that. That
information had slipped from mine tongue like quicksilver; 'twas
knowledge I usually kept to myself. I had thought this she-elf had
already known about my past, but perhaps these Foundation people
were not quite as knowledgeable as they appeared.

In any case, I could not see any reason to
deny it, for I was an honest man who believed in the virtue of
truth, no matter the consequences. Though I made a note to be less
frank about my past from now on, for such information could be used
against me quite easily, a tactic I knew from mine Smuggler days
quite well, for I had seen the Smugglers' leader use it to
blackmail many individuals into aiding us.

Thus, I nodded and said, “Yes, I was. 'Tis
a time I now so deeply regret with mine deepest heart and soul, but
it was true for a time.”

“
Interesting,” said
Lanresia. “Well, I'm not going to ask why you were a member of the
Smugglers. Mostly because I don't care.”

Her ears twitched when she said that,
though it was a subtle movement that she no doubt believed I had
failed to notice. But notice it I did, which told me she was lying,
though why she would lie to me, I did not know. Likely she truly
did care about my past; if so, I would have to be more careful than
ever with what I shared with her, or anyone else who was a member
of this 'Foundation,' as she called it.

“
Anyway, Xacron-Ah
wasn't a very big-time dealer, even at his prime, so that's
probably why,” said Lanresia. She snapped her fingers and a
holographic screen shot out of the speaking snake's eyes and
hovered before her, glowing blue as the ocean. “Let's see … yes.
According to this, the Red Ring Smugglers are active mostly in
Northern Se-Dela, whereas Xacron-Ah's gang was on the tip of the
Lower Panhandle. That explains it.”

“
This makes no sense to
me,” said I. “Why would Xacron-Ah become the Mayor of a major
Xeeonite city if he was trying to escape his former comrades? 'Tis
similar to painting a red target on one's back in the middle of a
war zone and hoping that it will deter a sniper's aim.”

“
True, but it's not
quite as vulnerable position as you think,” said
Lanresia.

She waved at her holograph, causing it to
spin around and show me an image of Mayor Xacron-Ah. The image
closely resembled the one that the merchant showed me before, with
the Mayor standing at a podium delivering a speech to an unseen
crowd like a priest of the Old Gods, but I noticed several armed J
bots standing 'round him like the walls of a fortress, whilst a
vaguely glowing red energy field seemed to cover him like a
dome.

“
The Mayor of Xeeon
always receives an entire squadron of J bots whose sole purpose is
to protect the Mayor from enemies and assassins who would like to
kill him,” said Lanresia. “And those are just the visible ones.
Often, before Xacron-Ah appears in public, he will have his men
scout out the area for any possible hiding assassins or enemies
that he cannot see, such as hidden snipers on top of nearby
buildings, for example.”