The Corruption- First Draft

Chapter 5

Highking Gyala rubbed his temples as Cassius cussed out Hyal. Eilis grunted before slamming his hand down and shouting: "Enough!"
The yelling caused Gyala to suddenly collapse back in his seat, but didn't seem to pay any attention to it as it finally got Cassius to shut up. "Thank you, Eilis. Be a dear and hold my head for me please?"
He nodded, gently supporting his head up so he could look at the two grown adults bickering. "How many times do I need to say to keep your indoor voices? Do you have any idea how long it's going to take for the paralysis to wear off? We are in a formal meeting and Highking Gyala expects you all to act like adults," Eilis said for Gyala.
"You took the words right out of my mouth. I made up my mind, Hyal, you are not to be involved in this manner whatsoever. After this meeting you will focus strictly on freeing any leftover slaves, do you understand?" Gyala tried to sound as intimidating as possible, though he seemed like he was going to pass out.
"Yes, my Grand Sire," he lightly bowed his head, through subtly gritted teeth.
"Good. Lord Benoist, I." He closed his eyes. "I'm sorry you and your kin are still struggling with this overt racism. Just don't handle it in a manner that sets off my narcolepsy, please?"
Cassius simply nodded, staring daggers at Hyal. "Yes," was all he could say.
"Good. I call this meeting to a close. Benoists and guests, feel free to stay here as long as you need, dinner will be early tonight as thanks for your help. Eilis, could you take me to my room please? I'm not beating this sleeping spell."
"Yes, my Grand Sire. Shall I light up the candles in your room?" Eilis asked, carefully picking up the paralysed Highking.
"Oh yes please, the scented ones," he said with a smile, nuzzling into his hold as best he could while Eilis left the room.

"What was that all about?" Havre asked Jaryn.
"Hyal called ivierae violent terrorists and accused Cassius as actually being the serial killer."
"Yeah that sounds about right," Garbone murmured, scratching her goatee.
"Are uh.. meetings with the Highking usually this intense?" Jaryn asked.
"When Hyal or Cassius are added to the meeting- yes."
"I can see why Cassius doesn't like him."
"If you ask me, they're two sides of the same coin. I'm surprised they don't get along more," Garbone said.
"That's because we're not "two sides of the same coin"," Hyal hissed, standing up and walking towards them. "Unlike your grandfather, I'm civilised. I grew up in a moon elf village. Cassius was merely raised by barbarians. All he knows how to do is abuse his hypnotism and fight."
"Says the satyr who brainwashes ivierae," Jaryn said.
"Don't get on my bad side, boy," Hyal approached him closely. "I may have lost my business, but I'm still powerful enough to squash you. I'd hate to see such a young boy on the wrong end of my chair. I'm not above disciplining a half-breed," Hyal said, eyeing him as he walked out of the room.
Jaryn looked on in fear and disgust, before turning to the others. "How is the Highking even entertaining him being part of his court?"
"My bet is that he's threatening the Highking. As good as he is, he doesn't have much of a backbone. Today's the only day I've ever seen him snap like that."
"So uh.. now what do we do?" Havre asked.
"We're staying here for a few days before heading back to the embassy. Aside Garbone, you and the other two are free to either help out the Highking with the investigation, or help us out try to capture Lennon to free him," Cassius said.
"Why not Garbone?"
"I'm going to need all the help I can get to free Lennon."
"Then I'll join you both! I uh, I want to make sure Lennon will be alright."
Cassius eyed her suspiciously. "Fine. What about you two?" He asked the brothers.
The two faced each other and talked back and forth about what they're going to do, before Jaryn faced Cassius. "We'll uh, we'll think about it. But we're probably going with you," he said, causing Ryo to hiss in disagreement.
"Alright then. We'll discuss this more the day before we leave," Cassius mentioned before walking out.
'What do you mean we're going with Cassius? Don't you want to investigate the murderer?' Ryo asked, looking up at Jaryn as they walked out of the room and in a separate direction from everyone else.
"Look, I don't know, maybe it's best to let the grown ups with their shit together to deal with it," he shrugged.
'We have our shit together-'
"Do we? Do we really? We're still in exile, I'll never be allowed to grow up because the whole village is dead. I just. I'm tired of this. I want to do something that isn't going to make me feel like nothing, because we're not accomplishing anything in this investigation. We're just two people being dragged along while others work on the case."
'You need to relax, you're overthinking everything. They never had to let us come along after we gave them the info needed. Besides, if it weren't for you, they probably wouldn't have figured out that one elf was being controlled. I don't know when you started acting like this, but you need to pull yourself together. Just focus on this problem and you can be most all you want afterwards.'
Jaryn rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. Suddenly, his ear twitched as he heard something going on. Ryo gave him a knowing look.
The two crept their way over to a nearby room, and peered in.