Pepper

by Carol Buhler

  “It will bring us even more wealth—to control all the city-states.” Firth’s voice swelled with pride. “That’s why I’ve had you looking into government holdings these last couple of months. If I rule the world, I’ll control all the money. That’s our new cause.”

  Pepper felt his heart thudding erratically. Firth’s ambitions were getting out of control. When he thought back, Pepper realized he should have noticed how widespread his assignments had become, not to mention the hints of more violence in the future. Firth had had him training four apprentice assassins. Why didn’t I wonder what he was up to?

  Hiding his concern, he asked, “Are you thinking about the other side of the mountains, too? Those city-states in the west?”

  Firth stopped walking toward the nearby warehouse door. “Not until we’ve secured this side of the mountains. I don’t know much about those out there. Aren’t they just a barren spread of small villages?” He tapped his foot impatiently. “I don’t see much wealth pouring out of that area.” He entered the warehouse they’d come to look at after Pepper opened the door and checked for occupants, possible threats.

  “No,” the man continued once they were alone inside. “I don’t think the western city-states are worth worrying about right now. We’ll take over the coastline first. Roark’s job is to bring in the two major interior states—Kavv and Pith—without a fight. Lucy will give me Juel, I already co-own much of it with her.”

  “That leaves Apel, Zron, and Opel.”

  “In time, we’ll undermine those governments, too. Once I know how well Roark succeeds, I’ll make plans for the others.”

  Pepper thought about telling Firth he wanted no part of what he saw as an upcoming war. But, what will I do? He’s not going to let me just quit.

  As he followed his boss in the warehouse inspection, making appropriate comments as necessary, he thought of the four new men he’d been training.

  Better go along for now. See how bad it gets.

  A couple of days later, news came of the Kavv Army setting off overland for Pith. “Artillery,” Firth said with a scowl. “I’d think he would use his planes to bomb. But that’s Roark—so egotistical. I suppose he wants to crush his father-in-law and not damage the city.”

  When he heard of the Kavv Army’s total defeat by Pith defenders, after one single skirmish, he smashed his fist onto his desk, then snatched up a steel ink pot and threw it at Pepper. “Go find out what went wrong!” he shouted at his undamaged aide. “I can’t believe he could be so stupid.”

  At Pepper’s news that the newly recognized species of the planet, don and reeth, had helped Pith defeat Roark’s army, Firth’s temper flared again. “They’re not going to stop me!” he sworn vehemently. His hate-filled tone made even Pepper’s back shiver with dread.

  Firth sent Pepper to learn everything he could about the interfering beings, using whatever means he needed. “Report to me in Kavv, at the mansion,” he said.

  **

  Pepper decided to start in Pith. Every piece of information he’d previously gathered indicated that Pith Palace was where the don had first appeared and kidnapped Metz’ eldest daughter. He combed every news source he could find and puzzled over the fact that the girl herself didn’t appear in any of the stories. Why don’t the newsmen follow up on her? When he tried to learn more, he realized that information about the girl was being firmly suppressed. By whom?

  Firth sent him word that Lord Metz’ wife, Lady Jill, had left Pith and joined her daughter in Kavv. Pepper shrugged. Doesn’t matter to me.

  He took to following Professor Talmadge, the man appointed by Lord Metz to learn more about don and reeth. Whatever the professor learned, Pepper learned as well. And one day, he followed the professor, and several others, to a small town south of Pith City called Palmyra. The small group of men, four in all, entered a cottage and stayed for a couple of hours, which pricked Pepper’s curiosity. When they left, he remained hidden in a group of bushes at the edge of a date palm grove.

  His patience paid off. Towards evening, two young women and an elder one exited the cottage and started work in a side garden. Creeping soundlessly around to get nearer, he began to hear their conversation.

  The dark-haired one addressed the redhead. “Jaym, what do you want to do with these old roots?” Jaym—the name of Lord Metz’ daughter. The one I’ve been looking for.

  He didn’t move a muscle as he listened to their conversation. It was inane, but still, he didn’t want to miss a possible clue as to the whereabouts of the don and reeth. That objective failed, but he learned that Jaym, the missing Soer of Pith, was pregnant. Is that information of use? He didn’t know how it could be—just confirmation of the reason the girl had been disinherited by Lord Metz.

  He knew better than to stay in the area. Small towns like Palmyra would instantly notice a stranger. If they were helping the wayward Soer, they’d tell her he was present. So, he went to Kavv to report.

  As expected, Firth didn’t care about the girl. “Just keep her in sight. Sooner or later, she might let something slip as to where those creatures are hiding.”

  Pepper wondered what Firth thought he’d do about them if he did find them. He didn’t ask, however, feeling Firth was already angry enough. He returned to Pith and took up following the professor again.

  The alarm went off in his tiny rented room and Pepper came instantly awake and alert. Someone had contacted the professor, whom Pepper had bugged even though the man was staying inside the palace. He reached the side door of the immense building just as a helicopter landed in front. The professor, and the man Pepper had learned was Metz’ majordomo, raced out and jumped into the machine and only seconds later it lifted and shot south. They’re going to Palmyra, Pepper guessed. He raced back to his apartment and gunned the Peters out of town.

  Something was up. He couldn’t reach the cottage at the same time as the helicopter, but it was, perhaps, the right time for Soer Jaym’s child to be born. Why else would the professor and the majordomo race out of the palace and head south? Pepper had kept an eye on the small home, noticed the arrival of equipment that seemed to be able to facilitate a birth. Maybe that’s what’s happened. Not knowing if being there would help him find don and reeth or not, he wasn’t going to miss the opportunity for everyone to be less than diligent.

  He’d been right! He’d hidden the car in a place he’d previously scouted and raced through the palm trees toward the back of cottage. Something just ahead was making a lot of noise—sounded like a horse whinnying. He dropped to the ground and slithered silently like a snake until he could see the back porch.

  Sure enough, a white reeth cavorted there—the same one that had been front and center during the Exchange video he’d watched at least a hundred times—when Lord Metz had exchanged his don prisoner for his kidnapped daughter.

  Every light in the house was lit; he saw at least ten people milling around inside. Then, someone opened the door and let the white reeth in.

  He was contemplating trying to get closer to the house, weighing the possibilities of being heard by that white one, when the sound of wings stopped him from moving. He ducked his head, planting his face into the dirt. After sounds of flying died, he heard something heavy thud on wood. He lifted his eyes. A palomino reeth, looking just like the other one but yellow, stood on the porch staring at the door.

  Lord, I’d like to know what’s going on in there! he was thinking when what felt like an emotional wave of love swept over him. “Lillity, Lillity,” he heard, in his head, not with his ears, in a very young-sounding voice. He shook at the sensation, then heard, “Welcome, Joeledon. I’m so pleased to meet you.” The words carried so much love, he burst into tears with loneliness.

  What just happened?

  Frightened out of his mind for the first time in his life, he slithered quickly away. When he felt far enough from the cottage, he jumped up and ran, shaking like a sick, old man. Firth thinks he can tangle with that, and win? No way.
/>   **

  Pepper couldn’t get the sounds of the voices out of his head. When he reached home, he opened and consumed enough alcohol to render him unconscious, trying to get away from the love he’d heard in that simple exchange.

  When he finally emerged after four days of stupor, he found a message awaiting him at the post office: “Roark’s wife gave birth to a boy. The inheritance is secure. Come back for new assignment. Firth.”

  He entered Firth’s office in Kavv knowing he looked like hell. Putting on the best face he could, he stood silently in front of the massive desk.

  Firth finally looked up. “What happened to you?”

  “Nothing that will interfere with your job,” Pepper said bluntly. “What is it?”

  Firth shrugged. “I’ve been looking into financials of some people rumor says have more jewels than they can account for. I want you to check this out.” He handed a list of eight names and addresses to Pepper. A quick look showed him they were jewelers scattered all over the eastern half of the continent.

  “How long do you want me to spend on this task? I’ve been making progress on the don-reeth thing.”

  “Tell me.” Firth’s eyes gleamed with craving. Pepper related the tale of following Metz’ professor and seeing the white reeth at the cottage in Palmyra. He didn’t mention the conversation he’d accidentally overheard.

  “I knew that girl would lead you in the right direction. Handle these jewelers as quickly as you can, then get back to following your professor. Take planes, not the car. Good work.”

  Something must be going well, Pepper thought sardonically. Firth rarely praised him.

  The first jeweler on the list was located in Bonn. Pepper had dealt with him in the past so he took a plane and landed there the next day. After checking the business’s financial reports, obtained from the city, he scratched the man off the list. Nothing suspicious going on there.

  Next, he flew to Fell and found two sellers of raw gems with funny-looking books. He nosed around the first shop for a couple of days and considered himself lucky when, from his surveillance spot in a bakery across the street, he witnessed a very tall man enter the shop. He crept to the window and peeped in. The tall man had a bag of something that looked rather heavy; the gemologist had a stone he was studying close to his eyeglass. Both hurriedly hid their items when Pepper strolled into the stop. That night Pepper broke in and after a thorough search found a bag of twenty rubies stuffed between two bricks in the back room. He was sure those rubies wouldn’t show up on the inventory of the shop any time soon.

  Leaving the gems apparently undisturbed, he broke into the other gemologist business on his list and found a hidden bag of twelve diamonds. From the height of the supposed seller, he assumed it was a don peddling raw stones. Where they got them, he had no idea, but really didn’t need to know. When he found where they were living, he’d know where the gems came from.

  Firth’s response to Pepper’s phoned-in report: “Don’t touch them. Check out the others. If I can figure a way to hurt the don through those businesses, I’ll let you handle it.”

  Pepper found four others that appeared to be buying gems from the don: three in Apel and one in Zron. Then, he went back to following the professor.

  **

  A few months later, Pepper answered his phone to a frantically shouting Firth. “Have you been watching the television?” the man hollered. Pepper pictured him pacing angrily around in his office even though he could have been anywhere.

  “No.”

  “Turn it on!” Firth screamed. “Right now.”

  The first thing Pepper saw was footage of a bunch of reeth and, perhaps don children, playing soccer with what had to be human teenagers. “I’m on it,” he said tersely and hung up. For three days he watched every channel, every minute showing the three species interacting with each other. But the most interesting was the one where the self-proclaimed leader, Joedon, explained about their existence and how their families worked.

  He studied the boy called Joeledon and the golden reeth that stood with him. That’s the birth I heard. Maybe that was the meld created between them that I experienced that night. He still felt the loving wave that had washed over him and thought it might already be influencing his thoughts if not his actions.

  The bunch of them were presented as harmless and ordinary. I doubt that’s true. From what I heard about the kidnapping, that Joedon is anything but ordinary. Pepper knew he didn’t want to confront the don in a fight.

  He finally called Firth back. “How’s this going to affect us?” the man asked as soon as he heard Pepper’s voice.

  “I have no idea.” Keeping his voice as bland as usual, he continued, “I suggest you figure these don and reeth into your plan since they’ve already helped Pith repel Kavv. They may be inclined to help the other city-states during your attempted takeover.”

  “I agree.” Firth slammed his phone down, causing a loud screech to attack Pepper’s ears.

  Several days later, Pepper watched from a shadowed nook as Lord Metz hosted a huge party to introduce his daughter and her family to his people. He’d speculated about the don boy being the true heir since he’d been born before Roark’s brat, but it seemed this well-publicized party was being held to dispel that particular conjecture on every reporter’s part. Lord Metz formally announced that his heir would still be Sor Roalt, Roark’s son, since the don boy was heir to the leader of the don civilization.

  That should make Firth a bit happier, Pepper thought as he watched the fake friendship between Roark and Metz, as well as between Roark and Joedon, that was so heavily promoted during the party.

  Chapter 17

  Pepper returned to Kavv and was immediately surprised by his boss. The man actually seemed happier. At least he wasn’t scowling as he had been since Tatia died. He soon found out why.

  “First, I want you to eliminate those gem merchants you caught dealing with the don,” Firth said. “Spread it out so people don’t connect their deaths to one another. Then, you need to go to Whay and check on our warehouse build-out. Make sure the manufacturing section is ready to start at a moment’s notice.” He paused and drew himself up as if trying to impress his aide.

  “By the way, I’ve decided to remarry.”

  Pepper raised his eyebrows at that. “Who is the lucky lady?”

  “This time, I think she really is going to be lucky. Lady Jill—Lord Metz’ ex-wife and Lord Roark’s mother-in-law has evidently decided that being married to an extremely wealthy man will make her happier than her experiences living in palaces.” He smirked. “She’s naive about business and the non-royal world. You’re going to teach her what she needs to know.”

  For once, Pepper protested. “Why don’t you teach her? She’ll be your wife.”

  “Come, Pepper. You have infinitely more patience than I do. I think you’ll need it.” He held up hands at Pepper’s frown. “Not that I think she’s stupid. In fact, I think she’s a great intelligence stifled under all those noble manners she thought were so important. She’s going to be quite the feather in my cap among the Lords and Ladies, and, yes, the Presidents I’m going to have to deal with from now on. That’s not something you have to instruct her on. But evaluating property, research, and negotiating are right for you.”

  Pepper sighed. “When is the wedding and do I have to be there?”

  “We haven’t set the date. To be truthful, I haven’t yet presented the proposal. We’re going to Opal next week to tour the Children’s Museum. I’ll ask her there.”

  “You’re pretty sure she’ll accept?”

  “Of course. Didn’t I tell you—she started out to woo me!”

  Firth had been right about Lady Jill. She was intelligent, after she put away the nonsense she’d learned as a Lady. Pepper first met her after the wedding when Firth brought her to stay in her new home: a two-story red brick home located in Juel. White stone columns supported a second-floor balcony at the front and the back was built int
o the side of a hill. She was absolutely surprised to learn that Firth had gifted the house to her as a wedding present. But the portrait he’d commissioned and Pepper had to threaten the artist to have finished on time—Lady Jill in her gold lamé wedding gown—blew her away.

  Her assignment for the week was learning everything she could about Lucy Shef, President of Juel, and Pepper wasn’t to lead her investigation. Firth directed him to answer any question she came up with, and to locate the information if he didn’t already know it. He knew Firth wanted to test her, to find out if she could truly be a partner or just an extravagant bauble on his arm. Either way, she would be staying, barring drunk drivers or cancer.

  Pepper soon realized that Lady Jill—in his mind he remembered she was no longer Lady Jill but Mrs. Remé Firth, but he always thought of her as Lady Jill—loved learning. At first, she’d been nervous of him. He couldn’t blame her. He’d spent a lifetime making people nervous. And if he were honest with himself, he’d been nervous of her. She made him mentally fly back to days spent with Bonami teaching him and Byron how to be gentlemen. He often caught himself speaking to her as if she was Bonami and not someone associated with Firth.

  Then, she treated him like he was a superior servant, addressing him as Mr. Pepper. By the end of the first week, however, after several intense days of questions and answers, a lesson on using a computer, and a trip to inspect and purchase a small mining company in her name, he felt like a crutch for her to lean on as she struggled to learn a skill she'd never needed. Controlling people through personality rather than birthright became easier to her every day. He never volunteered information but couldn’t stop himself from giving answers hinting at directions for her to pursue next.

  The morning of President Lucy Shef’s dinner party, for which Lady Jill had been preparing all week, Firth sent Pepper to Whay to buy a textile and woman’s fashion factory at whatever price he could force upon the owner. Then, he was to fly to Mont and do the same with a plastic furniture manufacturer. Firth’s sudden interest in those specific companies baffled Pepper until he learned that each had recently signed massive contracts with don designers to produce clothing in one case, and furniture in the other, both items to be sold to humans.