The Enchantments: Book 4 - The Key of Mulastef

Chapter 20: Mogat

Mogat hovered above the sleeping child frustrated and angry that the world he now inhabited would have so many rules that went against what he knew and what he wanted to tell her. The council was adamant nothing of the future told to the ones living it. The bureaucratic dissidents had no clue what these people were doing. Since the days he and his attaché had heard of the treachery that had started a generation-wide countdown. They had done everything in their power to fix the future, and it now came down to the bureaucrats to screw up everything.

It all began.

Mogat sat at his desk writing his thoughts of the past week's events when a thunder ripped through the hallways just outside his office. He always loved writing down his thoughts it kept him organized and he felt at the end of the day it was a great way to come down from the stresses of the day. It was all going as usual when he looked over at the quills placed in inkwells on the corner of his desk. Usually, the moved only when a breeze would drift from an open door through the hall and to his windowless room. Today he saw them flicker from vibrations that were now hitting his ears.

He stood moved his tired bones across the room and looked out the door into the hall. A group of people ran by their robes billowing behind them, and he nervously watched as they passed and when he caught sight of one of his aides he reached out and grabbed him by the arm. The boy yelped, but Mogat paid little attention.

"Marcus, what is going on out there?" He asked gruffly.

"You have not heard?" The young man with jet black hair and usually a warm smile asked him nervously.

Mogat moved his head back and forth.

"The Brotherhood of the Realm as they call themselves have killed the emperor and his daughter!" He said his voice fluctuating with the strain from the tears that were starting to roll down his face.

Mogat staggered backward not believing what he had just heard. The Council was no more, and they had done what they had said they would do! He thought with terror. He moved his bulk backward until he felt for the chair then sat down harder than he had intended. The chair squealed in protest but he was somewhere else, and he hadn't heard it.

He felt the first pangs of emotion move up to the surface from the vault he had secured for his emotions deep inside. Tears began to flow as the realization of his indecision tore through him. If he hadn't told the council about the others the emperor and his innocent daughter would still be alive.

He allowed himself five minutes of grief before the fury he knew was spreading through his body would envelop him. He sat back and could hold on no longer. A fire roared through him, and the once tranquil face took on a savagery he had never seen before. He stood grabbed a lamp on the side of his desk and threw it across the room where it exploded against the wall. Shards of thin glass cascaded across the room along with lamp oil that sloshed and snaked down the wall onto the intricate carpet he had bought so many years ago. His fury was so intense he could not imagine how much it had cost, but where and when he could get his hands on the idiots who had made this trouble would follow and follow hard.

His anger would not allow him to sit for very long and soon enough he found himself standing and walking to the door again. As he stepped through the frame, another small figure tried to rush past him. He reached out stopped them and brought them to face him. He knew the individual as an aide for the council, and by looking at the boy's face, he knew he was scared.

Before the boy lost all sense of recognition, he spoke. "Where have they taken the accused?" Mogat snapped.

The boy stood transfixed as if in shock.