The Chaos Of Knowledge

Chapter 13

The iron mask was thrown onto the bed as the man stood staring into the hollow unblinking eyes. "Azeban." The man said looking to the raccoon with a sigh. "How much longer must we hold this front?" Ouroboros asked running a slow hand across the front of the mask.

"I assure you, sire, we are doing what is meant to be done. Was it not Nomas, a shifter, who took your brother's place upon the council in the first place? I see it only fitting to watch him suffer the same fate." The woman said with a reassuring smile as she walked behind him with a large pile of parchment in her arms as she set them beside the mask.

Ouroboros shook his head slightly, "I meant this." He said looking to the mask with a frown. "Once Nomas is gone, and his son killed, we could simply step down? I despise holding myself like this, among these creatures. These... mortals." He said looking with disdain towards the mask and then towards his wife. The raccoon took a moment before her head sunk slightly. "One cannot be a god and a king both." He said before looking at her and frowning as he realized how he had spoken.

He quickly came up on her and squeezed her into his embrace. "Do not worry." He whispered with a frown as he ran a hand through her hair. "You know you are the only thing I have in this world. The only thing I love. I will not let them take you from me, I will bring you with me to higher places."

"You've done what you must so far, and it had been fine." She said holding him close. "And with Solaris out of the way, we are just that much closer to being able to leave. We'll finish our work here, and then we disappear." She spoke as she looked up at the man holding her.

The face she saw was not that of her husband. His eyes looked sunken and he seemed tired. "I should step down, I won't have the power I had before but I won't be bound by the same laws they are." He said dropping onto the bed with a pained grunt. Since taking power he had been different.

Azeban, who had spent nearly her whole life in the service of the gentleman, was beginning to fear that he was not truly meant to be in power, but until Nomas was gone she had sworn that she would keep him going. Working as a partner in this endeavor she knew that he would have cracked under this pressure if she was not there holding up most of his work.

She laughed offering a hand out towards him, "You know we can do this," She assured with a smile. "If we couldn't then we wouldn't be here."

He smiled slightly taking her hand and letting himself be pulled to his feet. He was taller than her by nearly a head so when her body pressed against his, she was held firm in his chest.

"I was forced to kill a bystander." He muttered stroking her hair with sorrow. "Solaris was too close to him, he was prepared to let him walk. Probably just exile him. I could see it in his eyes when we were at the Coliseum." Ouroboros said with a sigh.

She nodded with a frown. She had yet to see such a kind man hurt anyone besides Nomas, it made her hurt seeing how much it pained him to kill the man. Despite how strong he was outwardly she knew he was in pain. "Nomas was manipulating you, you know that it was a mercy to keep him from falling among his kind. The council would have done far more if he had been pardoned by the lion."

The man nodded slightly as he held her close and kissed her forehead. "Thank you, dear." He muttered with a smile. "We'll make sure he pays for Solaris as well."

The moment was stopped short as a loud knock at the chambers forced Ouroboros to let his lover go and grab the mask beside him. "Enter." He said as he gripped it tight upon his face. A young man stood at the other side who entered softly and offered a large piece of parchment from his chained hands.

The snake took it without even looking to the slave and motioned him out. "Go." He demanded grabbing the wax seal and tearing it easily apart. Ouroboros didn't even look up from the page as he read and set it upon the bed. "Ome, dear, they found the body, they are blaming Nomas."

The woman nodded with a frown as she grabbed her own mask, a simple wooden one without features. Her breath was audible beside her partner and he winked from behind the mask. "We're fine. That poison was several dozen mixed together. A cocktail like it will be untraceable." She nodded grabbing his hand as they walked into the hall.

***

"A poison like that is too powerful for a single dose." The mouse said keeping his slender fingers moving across the dead body of the former leader. "This had to be planted on several things to create and effect like this." He elongated fingers cut hard into the man's face. His jaw was too long and narrow for a normal person.

"That doesn't help." The tortoise said watching her from the first chair. With the absence of their leader, he was given the first chair but his silver mask still indicated his connection got the second chair. "What killed him? Not once in two hundred years have we heard of a poison killing an Omnia, let alone a first chair." He said with his sunken eyes and wrinkled skin showing from behind his mask.

"I do not know for sure, not a single poison I know of has these effect on the human form." The creature hissed. "This is the work of a professional."

Azeban Smiled from behind her mask as she looked at Ouroboros sitting tall in the fifth chair. One more step towards the true power they needed to stop Nomas.

She knew perfectly well how it happened. She could easily apply the concoction onto Solaris with her ring's magic and he would have no chance to avoid it. Them blaming Nomas was just a bonus.

"We should send soldiers after him. There are few places he could hide, and fewer that could be concidered safe." The owl in third chair said looking at the other ten hoping to gain favor on his option.

"But another attack on a human settlement would cause more stir than we already have on us." The tortoise said frowning.

"That was not us. Humans attacking humans are not our concern. We had a crew of less than ten there, the rest was a simple well-placed bribe." Ouroboros said with a smile. "I did well with my work before. The humans had what they wanted in mere hours due to my orchestration. And no one even knew we were there outside of the men I paid to destroy the bodies."

"But the boy escaped. Your work was in vain." The rabbit said for her space in the sixth chair.

"That's not quite accurate." The snake shot back with a frown. "We now have the location of another human sympathizer. One that I know is very close to Nomas. I already have a small crew prepared to attack, including my..." He paused a moment as the group looked at him, most with scowls as if this was against their work. "I am sending Azeban." He said motioning to the woman behind him. "She has a spotless record and has yet to fail in her missions."

The tortoise stoked his tin slowly as if this interested him. In truth, Azeban ould easily kill just about anything in Filalith without a struggle. But something about someone who had made it out of the city without dying like that, and without dying in the arena, was someone truly powerful. And the son making it out of the chaos in Destola meant that he was powerful even without training, and being the kin to Nomas made him an enemy by birthright. "Fine." All in favor of the skeleton crew eliminating the sympathizer and Nomas." He said as ten hands raised, Excluding the rabbit and owl.

"The die is cast. The fate is sealed. Success now rests upon you now fifth chair. Ensure our enemies feel out true wrath."

Azeban stood from her place behind her husband and disappeared from the council room. She had a target and a location, there was no need for other soldiers unless she was caught, and she never was.