by Mark Tufo
“Fools,” she said aloud.
I could only nod in agreement.
“I must prepare.” Bailey left quickly.
“And what of you, Chancellor? How many men did you bring with you?” I leveled my gaze on him.
“Ten. I wouldn’t allow him to bring any more than that,” Lana interjected.
“Do not be fooled by my daughter’s words. I am almost ashamed to admit that I wanted to bring hundreds. I would do anything to protect those within Denarth’s walls.”
“No one will fault you that,” I told him. “Do you know Biddings’ and Alden’s plans?”
“Alas, no. When they realized I was not ‘all in’ they did not share much.”
The meeting broke up after a few more minutes as Gount, Merrings, Azile and Bailey discussed what they would do next as I reviewed what I was going to do next. Talboton had the advantage of being on the defensive and having rifles, although both Bailey and Azile were arguing that perhaps it would be better not to use those weapons. First, in the hopes that by not using them, their enemies would potentially realize we did not have an abundance of them and might stop any further loss of life. Secondly, they were much more effective on werewolves and Lycan rather than the traditional weapons like bows and arrows, spears, and bladed weapons. I wanted to get out of there before I knew who was coming had the chance to corner me.
“How have you been, Michael?” Lana asked, placing her hand on my arm.
“I’m fine, Lana. You do know your father is watching, right? And he’s pretty close to getting his guns and ammo, so this could end badly for me.” I shrugged her hand off. She stroked the side of my cheek. “You are going to get me killed here.”
“Has your lover noticed as well?”
“How did you know?” I asked incredulously. I looked over at Azile, her lips moving slightly. She was doing a spell, I could feel it. She was going to turn me into a newt or something equally as bad, perhaps a cat.
“I did not know. Not until you told me,” Lana laughed.
“Man, I hate teenage girls.” She laughed harder. “I’m not kidding. My daughter broke me.”
“She is pretty enough, I suppose. Do you not think I am prettier?”
“I wouldn’t answer any part of that question for a half dozen different reasons. Are you just trying to make me feel uncomfortable? Because, if so, you are succeeding wonderfully.”
“No, I’m just concerned for Oggie, silly.” She stroked my arm. I shied away.
“This is ridiculous, Lana. I thought you were betrothed or something.”
“I was but the more I thought about him and you the more I decided I wanted something different.”
“Listen, I don’t know what you’ve got rolling around in that adolescent head of yours, but ain’t nothing going to happen.”
“Relax, Michael. I am just playing with you. With my father incoherent with anger he will not be able to think properly. I love him dearly but I do not trust his intentions completely.”
My eyes traveled over to his direction.
“I can see you know little about being coy.”
I brought my gaze back down to her. “Sorry. What do we have to fear from your father?”
“I believe he may have only told me what I wanted to hear. My boyfriend is in the Denarth guard, and he was able to get word to me on the eve before my father and I were to leave that they would be marching out two days after us.”
“Son of a bitch. So those rifles and ammunition are going to be used against us anyway.”
“Is it true that there are so few bullets?” She was giggling and acting demurely. Damn, she was good at this. We were getting glances from those around the room involved in their own talks.
“I do not have a reason to believe that what Gount is saying is anything but the truth. But you see how well and thoroughly I can be lied to and not know. I will check on it. How much longer are you and your father planning on staying in town?”
“Oh, Michael!” she said flirtingly for the benefit of anyone listening. Much softer, she intoned, “He will want to leave as soon as possible and get these weapons disseminated throughout the coalition.”
“No wonder why Biddings burst out of here without the weapons, he was taking a calculated risk that he would get them anyway. What do you propose I do now? I can’t outright confront him and say he was lying. He’ll want to know why and how, neither of which I can explain.”
“We’ll be leaving soon, my love, so you’ll need to figure it out,” she said as she let her hand slide down my arm. She was pulling away just as Azile was walking up. Saltinda and I had both kept staring at each other for as long as we could. At times, he would look over to his daughter. I had a feeling he was suspicious of what had actually been said in our conversation. I was not overly concerned for Lana’s safety though. She was, after all, his daughter.
“We have a problem,” I told Azile.
“We? More like you. What did you tell the girl? I saw her fawning all over you.”
“Come with me.” I grabbed her arm.
She pulled away. “I will not until you tell me what is going on.”
“You cannot be as old as you are and be this naïve.”
“Be careful, Michael. The ground you travel on is shaky and uncertain,” she warned.
“Yeah, unstable, too.” I was looking directly at her. She knew what I meant. This time she came with minimal pulling on my part. We headed back upstairs as Saltinda was heading out with Lana and Gount to get his allotment of rifles.
“Where are you taking me? If you think after the way you were acting with that girl that I would want to be alone with you in your room you are sadly mistaken.”
“I’m surprised you wanted to be in my room alone with me before that. Will you just stop for a second?” I opened my door and pushed her in.
“Do you need help?” Mathieu had opened his door and was looking at us struggling.
“I do very much,” Azile said, poking her head through the door. I pushed her back in by the forehead.
“He was talking to me,” I told her, “and yes, I could use you down here,” I told him.
“What? What is going on?” Azile had her arms folded in front of her chest, in the familiar ‘I am so pissed’ pose.
“Saltinda is playing us. His men are a day or two behind at the most.”
“How do you know this?” Her arms were slowly coming uncrossed.
“While you were busy being mad at me for some proposed infidelity, Lana was telling me what was truly happening.”
“Infidelity?” Mathieu asked. “That would imply that you two are together.”
As Azile was pleading her case that this was in fact not true, I was nodding to let him know that indeed it was.
“Azile, I can understand your willingness to not openly express your, umm, relationship.”
“I would thank you for your candor in this matter,” she said to him.
“Is there any chance we could get back to what is truly important here and not whether Azile should let people know just how lucky she is?”
Azile harrumphed. “You believe the girl?”
“Shit, everybody keeps asking me if I believe the other. I guess I’ve been taking what everybody says at face value.”
“Not everyone is as forthcoming with their feelings and thoughts as you are, Michael,” Azile said. The tone in which it was delivered did not lead me to believe it was a complimentary remark. “For God’s sake, Michael, you told a summit set-up to prevent a war that you had just made a bowel movement.”
Mathieu busted out laughing. “Sorry, sorry,” he said, bending over. He had one arm up in the air. His face had turned a healthy shade of red as he kept on laughing. It was infectious, and I joined him as well.
Azile didn’t bother to chastise us, I think she knew it would have been futile and would only fan the flames even more. She waited until the uncontrollable bouts finally petered out.
“I don’t think I’ve
laughed like that in years,” Mathieu said as he wiped the tears from the side of his face.
“Done?” Azile asked.
“For now,” I told her.
“What are the Chancellor’s motives?”
“I imagine he is going to throw his lot in with New Georgia and Fort Lufkin and get the rounds he believes we are stashing.”
“We?” she asked, her eyebrows raised up.
“You know what I mean.”
“What will the chairperson give this Saltinda?” Mathieu asked.
“A bunch of rifles and three hundred rounds. Not enough to wage a war but it’s three hundred more bullets than I would want coming my way. And with the advantage they have of more men they could overwhelm Talboton.”
“It seems easy enough. We just tell the chairperson to not do the transfer,” Mathieu said.
“It is not that easy.” Azile was pacing the room. “An accord has been made and although his own daughter has exposed his secret we cannot prove it.”
We stood in silence for a minute. “I have an idea. If we can delay the handing over of the guns I think I can solve this little problem.” I told them what I had in mind.
“That could work. It’s good to know you’re not just a pretty face.” Azile was smiling at me. “I will tell Gount that we should have a drink or two to celebrate our new alliance. Chancellor Saltinda will protest at first, saying he needs to get back to his home, but this will be something he cannot diplomatically refuse.”
“I like the way you think.”
“What would you like me to do?” Mathieu asked.
“Come with me, I’m going to need some help doing this.”
We all went down the stairs and then our separate ways. Azile went to find Gount and have a couple of shots poured. Mathieu and I quickly tracked down Bailey. It wasn’t too hard as she was still sitting at the table we were all just at, drinking something that looked horrible tasting and contained alcohol.
“Crisis averted.” Bailey looked up to me. Well, sort of looked up at me. She was about even with me while she sat.
“Not quite. I need a little help.”
She looked at me with a questioning stare until I told her everything I knew and what I wanted to do to rectify the situation. She moved faster than I expected and about dragged me out of the hotel lobby, Mathieu in tow.
“Leave,” she told the two men in the armory who were grabbing the rifles. They knew better than to question Bailey, even if they gave her two guests some questioning stares. They were both out the door in the span of a couple of heartbeats.
“Fifteen rifles with three hundred rounds, seems a little excessive for hardware,” I said, looking at the rack of guns that was being set up for Saltinda.
“What now?” Mathieu asked.
“Watch and learn, grasshopper.”
“Grasshopper?” he asked Bailey.
“He is old and perhaps senile.”
“Okay, just push this retaining pin here down by the butt stock, and the rifle will split nicely in half. Then grab the charging handle and bolt assembly, slide them out nice and easy like so. When they are out, you pull out this little cotter pin and the firing pin falls out like so. Now you have a paper weight.” I handed the silver pin to Mathieu.
“Taking this little piece out ruins the gun?” he asked.
“Not ruins, just makes ineffectual. Without it, there is nothing to strike the primer and fire off the projectile.”
With the three of us it took less than five minutes to dismantle, alter and reassemble the guns.
“Will not this chancellor realize the guns have been tampered with?” Mathieu asked.
“Doubtful, his exposure to firearms is practically none. He will not be able to tell a rifle that is whole from one that is not,” Bailey told him as she demonstrated between one that had a firing pin and gave a satisfying click as she pulled back the charging handle and then the trigger to the firus interruptus one that we had worked on. The sound could be equated to the first rifle sounding like a hammer lightly hitting an anvil to the second one as a rubber mallet lightly striking an anvil. Subtle, but enough for someone who knew what to listen for to know.
Bailey was about to wheel the weapons out.
“Hold on, maybe get those two original guys back. This could look a little suspicious.” I poked my head through the door and motioned for the two Bailey had kicked out to come back. “We did the necessary count so you two can deliver them now.”
“I think between the two of us we could have counted to fifteen,” the closest one approaching said.
“Just bureaucratic bullshit. Thanks,” I told him as I walked out, Mathieu close behind. Bailey waited a minute or two so that she could talk to her men.
“Bureau what?” The man was still looking my way when he entered back inside the armory.
I had to admit, I was feeling pretty smug about what I’d done. Pulling one over on one who was trying to pull one over on you was doubly as good. As we approached the hotel, Chairperson Gount, the chancellor, Lana, and Azile were all coming out. They were all smiles, pats on the backs, and handshakes. It looked like any backstabbing peace accord since I’d been old enough to realize what I was watching.
“Ah, Michael. Walk with me.” Gount motioned to me after he said his parting words to the chancellor and Lana. He left no room for doubt that Azile and Mathieu were not invited. “What was that all about, my boy?” His breath was laced with the sour smell of whiskey.
“I just think that peace is more binding when some alcohol is involved.”
“I do not think that you and I got off on the right foot.”
“Still better than most of my initial meetings. Is this the alcohol talking? Because you basically called me a fraud and I believe wanted to have me jailed or possibly hung upside down by my genitalia.”
“I love this town, Michael.” His arm was now draped over my shoulder.
“Just how much did you drink, Chairperson?” I asked, looking at his arm and then back at Azile, who could only shrug at me as we moved further away.
“I love everything about the founder of this town. BT was an incredible man, damn near a legend.”
“I’ll agree with that.” I was thinking of my best friend.
“What I’m getting at is that at first I did believe you to be an impostor. Vampires are the stuff of folklore. It was not possible that you could survive as long as you had. Yet, here you are.”
“Yet, here I am. Does this conversation have a point?”
“I’m getting there. I would say don’t let the folly of youth make you impatient, but you are almost triple my age.”
“How many of me do you see?”
“I am not inebriated if that is what you mean. I have re-read all of BT’s journals while you were gone and the man loved you. When I first read the books, I had a difficult time separating what I believed to be embellishment and hyperbole from what I perceived as the truth. Now, having seen you and talked to you, and understanding that our founding father was not creating a story to teach us certain principles, but rather relating events as he saw them, I, in turn, saw you in another light. If BT loved you how could I not as well?”
“Is this going to end in a marriage proposal? Because I don’t see a ring.”
“This is not a comedic event.”
“You’re freaking me out a little. I use sarcasm and humor when I’m in an awkward situation.”
“Mr. Talbot, I am trying to tell you that I am honored to have you in our midst.”
I almost asked him if this was a trick, but he seemed so damn sincere, I answered the only way I could.
“Thank you.” And I meant it.
“I would like to show you something.” He reached down toward the front of his pants, and yes, I thought he was going to pull out a certain helmeted individual. I was happy when I saw the silver of a key head removed from his front pocket instead. “You alright? You look a little pale.”
“Fine now, thanks, it p
assed.”
“Do you know why BT picked this particular location?”
“I don’t know, was there a Dunkin’ Donuts here once upon a time?”
We had completely circled the hotel and were in the back, thick vegetation making walking difficult. I noticed a path that was doing its best to not look like a path. We came upon a door that looked very much out of place, or I guess looked more out of time. Honestly, it looked more like something that should have been in Mathieu’s now vacated home. My interest was suddenly piqued.
“Hold on, this was no coffee shop.” I placed my hand against the heavy steel door.
“Coffee would have been nice, but no, he chose this spot because of the New Cumberland Army Depot.” He stuck the key in a hidden hole that he had to move a shutter to get to. Once he turned the key he began to spin an oversized vault lock. He pulled the door open to reveal a staircase.
“You guys really love your underground lairs, don’t you?” I asked him as he started down the stairs. He flipped a switch. I was the most amazed I’d been in ages when light bulbs actually flickered on.
“I heard Azile talk about where she had found you.” He stressed “you.”
“I guess you’re right. I was in my brother’s basement. Well, there’s something I thought I’d never see again. Yup, still hot!” I stuck my fingers in my mouth after touching the bulb. Gount could only look back and shake his head. I think I was giving him reason to doubt me.
At the bottom of the staircase was another door and another combination to spin in. The door opened noiselessly. “Go on.”
“Are you going to lock me in?”
“See, again I thought BT was exaggerating when he discussed your rampant paranoia. I guess I was wrong about that as well.” Gount went in first.
“Wonderful. I love the fact that all my issues can still be referenced a hundred and fifty years later.” I would have said more, however, when I stepped in to where Gount was, I fell silent. A dead cricket could have made more noise. “What is this place?”
“It is one of the United States old depot facilities.”
I was looking at crates and crates of ammunition and weaponry that had as of yet never seen the light of day. “There’s got to be hundreds of thousands of rounds here.”
