The King's Knights

Chapter Thirty-Five: The Mastermind

The mind that Kiyora felt now was... slippery.

Also, nasty. Like keeping a grip on some wet filthy, wriggling thing. As you grasped it, you had a real sense of being turned over, analyzed, and looked through. She got a sick feeling just near it and shifted as quickly to another mind.

The other was... empty. Kiyora felt as though she were passing through it, unjudged and unobserved. Like it wasn't there at all and she was filling before.

The other will kept tearing at her, and she drew back. Finally, she and Imogen stood outside it, looking at two figures within a metal cockpit. One was a tan-skinned man wearing a green trenchcoat and hat. He had sunglasses over weathered features. The other was a beautiful, expressionless blonde woman clad in a blue vest over a striped shirt. Her jeans clung to her hips tightly, and she had a necklace over her bosom.

What was odd was that Kiyora could sense her power within her. No, it was...

Belora's power.

What was Belora's power doing here? Or was it Kiyora's power?

Her power was coursing through this woman even now. Those blue eyes radiated a similar light. She was less voluptuous than most women in Erian, with features that were almost elven. Yet her ears were rounded like those of a human.

And she was watching right now. Yet her thoughts remained empty and difficult to read. It was like looking at gears working steadily.

This could be a major problem.

Dakan was there to observe the situation and ensure everything continued running. He had ensured it all did so for decades, slowly tweaking events toward one thing or another. And he would have been well rewarded for it.

And then Narcissa killed him.

And everything went to heaven.

The process of gradually reforming in hell was agonizing. Slowly piecing together the broken fragments of his psyche. Little by little, Dakan had experienced horrors beyond imagining to regain himself. The cloning experiments had let him return much faster than normal. Unhappily, it hurt.

A lot.

And now Dakan owed the Sorcerer's Guild a favor. A favor which Janice had cashed by demanding he look the other way to a major shipment.

This can still be salvaged,' thought Dakan.

Garus could be brought into line, and the Antion situation was well in hand. Prince Bor and his associates had left Antion as soon as they were freed, so a civil war was probably brewing. Relma and her associates were too distracted by the chaos of the raids. And really, did they think they could shut down organized crime?

The Demoration hadn't tried such a strategy in centuries.

You couldn't cut down supply, only demand. And there was always a demand for vice and self-destruction. Relma would soon have no choice but to turn to a powerful outside power for help.

Bretus was the real problem. Schezar had caused them severe problems and now he was working to break their hold. If Bretus managed to turn Harlenor into a colony, the Demoration would not be able to reign them in. With an alternative source of natural resources and cheap manpower...

One of the primary factors keeping Bretus in check would be gone.

Dakan could not allow that to occur.

"What is it?" asked Lazula in her usual monotone.

"Quite a well-maintained vessel, is it not, Lazula?" asked Dakan. "Artulkan spared no expense." He took a moment to observe the clean and well-maintained ship before them. It was very well-armed for a pleasure cruiser. Only the best for Artulkan and his VIPs.