Servitude: The Hydrangea Chapters

Chp 75: Transaction Tarnished by Malice

The next day, at the Varenford Plains Gate:

It's getting late.

If they wait much longer, Adelina will have no choice but to make good on her promise if Ervin doesn't come.

By now, Ervin's guards are allowed to sit more comfortably on the ground than on their knees, with Anton sitting among them, but a dozen Urushian gate guards still keep watch with their weapons in hand. Standing along the top of the Wall are Kanaka and Adelina, with several Ébo wielding clubs standing beside them.

To maintain the illusion that Adelina is working as an enforcer, Aurea and the others are back at the volcano, many miles away. Just as Ervin has his own observers watching the Wall, Adelina has her own vantage points from the volcano, where her people monitor the Colonial lands. The three of them use a large telescope to observe.

By now, the sky is beginning to turn orange as the sun draws closer to the horizon behind them.

"See, my bright blaze? He is too scared of us. Coward," Kanaka says with displeasure, crossing two of his arms at his chest while the other two rest on his hips.

Adelina is silent as her gaze lingers on the path leading to Povari.

"No respectable Mage Head would crumble in such a way. Perhaps I was wrong about him. Still, I will wait until sundown."

After about ten more minutes, an entourage of people appears to be approaching, coming into view in the distance. As they get closer, Ervin's carriage leads the way, followed by a smaller second carriage, both surrounded by many soldiers on horseback. When they draw nearer, Adelina's warriors steady themselves, Kanaka also grabbing his club.

With the entourage stopping about 100 feet away from the Urushians on the ground, they get the guards and Anton to their feet. Ervin's carriage door opens, and Ervin steps out, the cover that Adelina demanded he wear today over his head, being guided by soldiers to the front of the carriage. More soldiers step out of the carriage, and Elek is forced out as well. He isn't blindfolded like before, but he is gagged with his hands tied and walks unsteadily. His Glass Eye isn't much of a threat without his monocle.

Mordecai can see the bruising signs on his pale skin, but can't make out much else because of the distance.

'Damn, he really took a beating, a recent one too...'

"There's Elek," Mordecai states grimly, stepping away from the telescope so Tessa can look, knowing she'll want to see. "Just... don't lose your head."

The moment Tessa sees Elek, she gasps in horror, her breath trembling before she starts to seethe at the sight of him.

"If I get a chance to get my hands on Ervin... he's going to have hell to pay." Tessa threatens under her breath, stepping away so she can't look anymore, and Mordecai keeps watching. Aurea, though she wants to see as well, stands at the back of the perch so her cold doesn't fog the lens.

'Dammit, I'm sorry, Elek... My own threats must have led to you in such a state...' Adelina thinks to herself, though steeling her reaction to his condition.

With Elek stopping just behind Ervin, Ervin raises his hands to lift the bottom of the stone cover slightly.

Immediately, Adelina shouts, "Hands off! That is your only warning, or I will make your face unrecognizable!"

With Ervin lowering his hands and holding them up to be seen, he leans toward one of the soldiers.

"His Lordship cannot address you properly with the cover! He has something to tell you!" the soldier says for him.

Immediately, Anton gets a bad feeling.

Adelina's eyes narrow. "What game is he playing at?" she mutters just loudly enough for Kanaka to hear before she shouts, "There is no need for us to exchange words! Send the man forward, and he will have his own in return!"

"It's an urgent matter!" the soldier responds. "May you come closer so he may speak to you personally?"

"I do not like this," Kanaka states with uncertainty.

"Neither do I. My feathers are still intact, but be ready to unleash hell upon them if you must. Only as a last resort."

Kanaka nods, and Adelina's wings spread as she glides down from the Wall to the ground several feet away from Ervin. While the soldiers stare in shock now that the sun no longer obscures her Colonial features, her wings remain spread in case she needs to unleash a blast of heat towards them as they start aiming their weapons at her defensively.

"What is it, Ervin Sullivan?" Adelina asks with a hint of annoyance in her tone.

"Firstly, pardon my tardiness. Secondly, I just wanted to discuss how these terms have been conducted under false pretenses."

"What false pretenses?" Adelina hisses.

"There is certainly more at play in these recent events than you have let on. I have a suspicion that you are not being entirely honest with me."

Adelina steps closer, her arms crossed as she taps her claws against her arms, knowing he would hear the scrape of them against each other.

"Do tell how I have been dishonest."

"I know you're working with the desert dwellers."

Adelina pauses briefly, then taps her fingers again. "I am here to enforce my laws, and nothing more."

"That is not what my sources say," Ervin states with a sly tone. He then flicks two fingers in a 'bring' gesture toward the soldiers behind him.

Opening the second carriage, two people with their torsos and ankles bound in rope and their hands tied in front of them, with sacks over their heads, are hoisted onto the shoulders of a pair of soldiers. They are then carried over and placed on their knees between Ervin and Adelina.

"What is he doing?" Mordecai mutters.

"What is it?" Aurea asks.

"He just pulled two more people out of the other carriage. All I can tell from here is that they're... Colonial..."

What Adelina immediately notices when she looks down at the two people is that many of their fingernails have been ripped off. Her expression sinks. Upon closer inspection, one of them is missing their pinky finger.

Slowly removing the sack from the one who lost a finger; it's Neterion, bruised as well from a severe beating, barely breathing under the gag. With only one other alternative, the sack is removed from Natalia's head, who has suffered a beating as well, and is hardly clinging to consciousness.

At this point, Mordecai has stepped away from the telescope.

Seeing the two of them, Anton can only suspect they are the warriors who went with Marlina to Povari. "They weren't even in the mansion, so if they were caught..."

Adelina radiates enough heat that the air begins to warp.

"If their purpose was to act as spies, then your plan was foiled. Your assassin was also clearly a poor choice."

Two soldiers lift a large, oddly shaped object covered with a big cloth from the carriage and carry it over. They set it down, remove the fabric, and reveal Marlina.

Frozen like a statue, turned to glass.

Anton's eyes widen.

"MARLINA!"

To be continued in the Begonia Chapters