Cleo's Game

28. Procedure

One day later, at the ceremony...

Orange and Drew had faded away from the crowd, talking privately to each other as if they were a pair of spies infiltrating. "This is seriously bad. I heard she blew up at Tranquility yesterday. Who knows what'll happen once she gets some serious authority?" whispered Drew over to Orange. "Tranquility? But aren't they... Never mind, not important. She's up to something, and I don't know what. Why would she care about a promotion?" replied Orange. "I don't think we can rule out that she's with the north."

"Drew, that's crazy, she's been here since we found her as an awkward teenager, I don't think that's possible." Drew sighed. "Maybe not. She might just want the extra authority to boss people around with." "She did kill Eereva, right? I guess the promotion's kinda just fallen on her, right?" asked Orange. It may have been either the the tone of their voice or the content of the sentence, but Orange's sentence hit Drew like an ice-cold water balloon. "She definitely wanted the promotion. She wouldn't have been so insistent about having Scream and I act as witnesses else." "And she did kill Eereva, yes?" "I don't know, I doubt it. Sure, she could have just combusted, and that's the reason she left nothing behind. I can't think of any plausible reason that Eereva would just up and leave. Her strength makes even a brute like Blake look tiny."

Orange took a quick glance over at Blake while she was talking to a crowd, but darted their eyes away in anticipation of her noticing. She was too immersed in trying to fit in to possibly notice; she was doing a pretty good job at it too. She fed their egos with pleasantries such as "That's impressive." and "Nice job!" while idly listening to them talk about themselves. She kept a closed-mouthed smile and contained her usually wild laugh, playing into the 'lady-like' persona she had spent her life as the antithesis of.

When it felt like nothing was going to happen at all, the stage was taken. The rarely seen, borderline mythical leader of the South Exdritch Army took the stage central to the room. He stood eleven feet tall, with hard, scaly skin that was a faded green at the top of of his shoulders that faded to a light dirt colour down towards his core. His red eyes were piercing, with intensity that suggested he had never blinked in his life. His suit was tailor made to create room for his steely, fully-functional wings to poke out of the back. His horns were trimmed short and sharp for the occasion. Blewrythe cleared his throat before beginning to speak in his trademark booming voice that needed no support from a microphone.

"Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention? You have all been working very hard to further our goals. I look at your motivation and I truly hope that one day we can do more than just crush the Northern Army, but reunite all of Exdritch and restore balance for good. The war was not started by us, but it will be finished by us. Endt, the dictator of the Northern Army, has a power obsession. He wants to use the supernatural powers of those born in this land to pillage and colonise the globe, and we, as decent people, will never accept that. With that, I feel it's appropriate to move on to our recent promotions to recognise the work you have done to fight against everything they stand for. This is the time where trust is bestowed on new blood, and I feel it's only appropriate to handle the new faces here first; those rank 5 soldiers that are getting huge responsibilities for the first time."

The start of Blewrythe's speech was met by enthusiastic applause by the many that have completely bought into the shared goals of the South Exdritch Army. None were caught with their hands cold, fearing to be seen as a traitor or a spy. First to be called up was Francis; his sheepish expression was completely telling, non-verbally expressing his self awareness that his promotion may not have been completely up to the merit he's shown.

"I nearly forgot how much I loathe these people," Drew whispered to Orange. His voice was too muffled and minute to be heard by anyone else, but it still managed to irritate the now-frowning Blake, as it reminded her of the closeness she had with the two of them that she waived away. She sat there intensely stewing for most of an hour until she was finally called up to the stage.

"Now, for her consistent hard work as an officer and leader—and of course her incredibly crucial contributions in the field by taking out one of our strongest enemies—I believe that Blake has more than earned her promotion and newfound responsibilities. She is known for the way that she commands respect from her subordinates, her honesty, and her integrity..." "What a fucking joke," Drew whispered minutely, even too quiet for Orange to hear.

"You got some shit to say Drew? Why are you whispering?" Blake yelled across the room. "Because if you, or anyone here, has a good reason as to why I don't deserve this, then why don't you FUCKING SPEAK UP BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE?!" Blake shouted, punctuating it by slamming her fist against the stand.

The room went silent as the others in the audience were wondering how they felt about Blake. "Erm, well put. Now, if I could just finish this up... She's known for her honesty and integrity, so she will be promoted to rank 3 and take on co-leadership of the Northeast Glades. Thank you." The room was moved to applause.

She could barely sit still once she got back to her seat. With all this newfound power, she didn't want to do any waiting at all. Forget listening to the promotions of people she didn't know; she wanted to down some champagne. It would be a mistake to draw negative attention to herself. If she just sat down, fit in, and made polite conversation, surely she wouldn't have any enemies.