Chapter 9: A Promise of Payment

  Kogon always felt wrong when he wasn't wearing his armor. That heavy-handed metal that clung to his arms and legs made it feel like he was about to do something important. He liked cleaning and taking care of the Runic Silver; it was the most expensive thing he had ever been given, so he made sure to take care of it thoroughly. It gave him a sense of importance that not even his position as Vanguard Captain could replicate. He wanted to wear it all the time, walking with thunderous footsteps and carrying Molten on his back, the weight of the maul itself giving him an authority that none could match.

  What he enjoyed most, however, was the attention. You shined like a diamond while wearing Runic Silver, a piece of something more infinite and powerful than the Concepts themselves. When he would walk around the training yard in his plated armor with all his soldiers watching and awing at him, well... it always felt good.

  Right now, however, that was not the case. He was walking into the antechamber of the Paramore family manor, where it stood right before the foyer, where parties were held and soldiers were invited to drink and eat for a job well done. He would like having these feasts more if he could wear the armor, but free food was free food, and it was better than the gruel they served every other day.

  He fixed the color of his bright purple and orange tunic with the Paramore family emblem embroidered within. He hated wearing nice clothes even more, but this was a basic necessity of a Vanguard Captain, as well as having to listen to every petty squabble and boring meeting with Araes.

  "He might be an old bastard, but he throws decent parties." He thought before tapping his only decent pair of dress shoes on the draped carpet section of the hallway, still a little dirty from the last time they had a feast. Soldiers didn't wash their shoes often; no need. By the time they were washed, they got dirty again, and there was no reason that someone should see a soldier all prim and proper like a Creti.

  He had noticed other soldiers walking into the large Youmo wood double door, which swirled in intricate colors of deep purple and soft browns. Two of them waited as they had both opened the door and waited for him to walk through it. He didn't remember their names, perhaps they were too new, but he had nodded his head in appreciation anyway.

  The large foyer was teeming with soldiers dressed in mixes of decent dress clothing, normal wear, or just the simple surcoat of a similar color to his. They had set up large tables full of food of all kinds of sights and smells. All the soldiers, men and women alike, were singing and chanting with laughter and joy.

  Often those who didn't understand soldiers would think this was a rare sight, to see so much joy and laughter on those who have lost limbs or the loss of their loved ones, but what else could you be when you lose someone?

  That kind of thinking weighed you down; it kept you close to the bodies of the dead in the dirt or carved into stone by a carver of your choice. If everyone sat there and grieved like that, then nothing would get done. If Kogon worried about every single death, then he would have had been dead ten lifetimes ago. No. He was old enough to know that you can't care about everyone and everything.

  The first layer was full of other servants and maids that were handing out bottles of decent enough wine. Soldiers didn't much care about anything fancier than the stuff that would get them drunk.

  Kogon walked through, waving and nodding to those who shouted his name. He would be with them shortly, but he had more "important" things to take care of. He walked towards the spiral staircase on the east side of the circular foyer, the same Youmo wood that was layered on some of the furniture and tables on the first floor.

  Calling the Paramore house a manor would probably be correct, but describing it that way wasn't true. It was more of a tower, a large circular home that had splitting rooms and bridges towards private quarters and smaller sections of the place, like a tree and its branches. The main building had four floors, each floor made for certain things.

  The first floor was the kitchen, the main lobby building, and housing for servants and housemaids. The second floor was a public study for their scholars and anyone who visited or stayed in the home. That was where their library and tutor rooms were, for the family. The third floor was the private bedrooms for the family; it was the floor with the most extended rooms outside of the manor.

  The fourth floor was the war room, Araes's own study room, and where the meetings were held for the family. That was where he needed to be. Kogon waved the rest of the soldiers away as he walked up the stairs. He didn't care much about what was going on through the rest of the building; since the same stairs led up to the remainder of the home, he simply walked up to the fourth floor.

  There the stairs continued no more, with only a single Hikoma wood door between him and the old fool. He sighed as he adjusted his collar once more and pushed the simple door open up into the war room.

  The room smelled of the past, like something still lingered in the room itself that shouldn't have. It was a large circular room made up of strong stone blocks and draped with intricate tapestries of various important people, at least Kogon assumed. In the middle of the room, on top of carefully crafted carpet, was the war table. It was almost glossy with a dark brown wood he couldn't remember the name of and was rounded around it.

  In the middle was the entire map of Fala'Mor, with intricate details and markings upon it that were small notes of what he assumed were made by Araes. Figures and figurines of detailed make sat upon the map as he saw them get moved by an old tan hand.

  There, Araes Paramore stood around the table, moving the pieces one by one around the map itself. He also had a small stack of papers next to him, in which he would carefully look towards the pieces of paper and move the figure around. The one he held was a sculpted figure of the Paramore family symbol, as he glided it across the map towards Kursoon City.

  His face was scrunched in tiredness, the dark circles around his eyes. Kogon simply sighed as he walked closer to the circle. He hadn't even noticed him yet.

  "C'mon old man, don't tell me your hearing is going this soon." He kept that thought in the back of his mind as he went up to the Hikoma chairs as he sat down before throwing his legs on top of the table as that force made some of the figures jump and knock down aside. Araes simply sighed as he looked over to see him, as Kogon kept this sly grin plastered on his face.

  "You didn't even notice me coming. Are you going deaf or something?" He snickered towards him as Araes had simply adjusted the pieces back together on the map.

  "No, I just tune you out since anything you say isn't very important anyway." The old man's voice was harsh but soft, like he was trying to speak as quietly as he could before you couldn't hear him anymore.

  "Oh, so harsh. And I assumed you and I were friends." He said playfully. Araes scoffed as he went over to a small cupboard towards the west side of the room that was being illuminated by the soft dusk. It wasn't dark yet; not many people on this side of Fala'Mor had parties at night. Bad omen, they say.

  "Friends? I wouldn't even want to be within twenty feet of you if I didn't have to." He made a horizontal wave in front of his face to make the point more clear. Kogon simply laughed as Araes held up two bottles in one hand.

  "Sweet or sour?" Areas had said before he had put one bottle down; even in the darkness of the room, you could tell it was Blot. Kogon leaned back in the chair, staring up at the ceiling.

  "You know what, hit me with something sweet. Wash down this nasty feeling I have whenever I'm with you." Araes had simply placed one of the bottles back into the cupboard as he took out a pink bottle. He grabbed one glass from the same shelf as he walked over to a close chair near Kogon and sat down. The Blot bottle, he took out a small key and opened it up quickly as he poured it into a wine glass.

  Kogon simply grabbed the other bottle of the pink wine, probably some Indigonar brand, and twisted the small lid off and drank it straight from the bottle. A verbal sigh could be heard from Araes. Kogon preferred alcohol to Blot; he didn't like the way it made his skin shimmer and shine, plus the best part of wine was after all the fun was had, giving him a reason to sleep in and relax into the morning.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  "Do you have to sip it like that? We have glasses, you animal." He said as he took a small sip of the liquid magic. His tan skin glowed faintly, and those dark circles under his eyes seemed to disappear into nothingness. The vitality it gave must have been nice, but it just seemed like a fluke to Kogon.

  "What? A man can't just take a moment to drink with his good friend?" He sipped more of the sweet wine. It must have been peach; he liked peaches.

  "You know that's not what I mean." He said nothing more as he downed most of the glass, and he began to pour some more into the glass. Kogon noticed how even with the Blot's effects, there was still a permanent scowl across his face.

  "I just prefer to have the most of what I like. It seems you think similarly; you've already been here hardly a minute, and you're guzzling that thing as much as I am." Kogon said with a small chuckle. Araes had finished pouring as he set the drink down and placed his head in his left hand.

  "Too much going on, with too little time." Kogon figured that this was going to be the bulk of the conversation. Knowing that, he had begun to drink more of the sweet wine faster and faster. He didn't see how Araes reacted as he almost polished off the bottle and set it down as Araes had a small smile creep onto his face.

  "Really preparing yourself, aren't you?" Araes said while taking a small sip of Blot.

  "Can't be good if you're like this already. Got to prepare myself." He didn't like meetings, ones filled with stuffy-nosed people and those who think they are better than those who exact their plans. Araes simply sighed as he raised his glass, almost as if he was cheering to his words.

  "Can't even sip my earnings in peace. We've been doing this for how many months? Four?" Araes said swirling the Blot in his glass, its supple liquid form changing colors each time it swirled around.

  "Ever since Litana, I think. Do you know how many men I lost last time?"

  "At least over half of the squad you picked. I didn't think they would start bringing more and more Luong than usual. They have been increasing their armed forces steadily; I should have known."

  It has been four months since their plan started. Stealing and taking Blot on their trade routes to Kursoon.

  "I can't put the blame entirely on you. We should have spied better; I assumed that we could handle them." Kogon didn't like to think about those failures; you couldn't. He remembered that night: the blood on those Draconic creatures weapons, the ones who had their bodies crushed from the carts...the lightning.

  "We shouldn't have brought her. She's too reckless." Kogon had said harshly. Maybe the wine was already starting to talk, but that emotion from within was starting to bubble up and surface.

  "She has been spending too many days with soldiers, but she isn't there yet. She is powerful, even more so than an entire squad of spearmen. But without any of the discipline."

  "I know, I know too well, Kogon." Araes had said, sipping more of the Blot. Maybe it was some of the ones they stole; he didn't know.

  "Why...why did you insist on bringing her with us?" Kogon had asked before, staring at Araes with a harsh stare. She killed some of his men, regardless of whether or not she was his daughter, and what she had done to save some of them. She was too dangerous.

  "I assumed she would finally learn something being out there. She has had better control over the years...I didn't think it was this bad." Kogon couldn't tell how serious Araes was saying that. An Engrave was a dangerous tool in an army; setting up their own squads was fairly common as those with power could kill easier with that magic. She could be powerful, but something was inside of her...he didn't know what, though.

  "We had to clean up the wreckage of all the bodies and the remainder of the stuff before we got late-night trades. Thank god for The Book." The only time he ever wanted to thank that forbidden Concept book. Nothing should have that many rules and morals.

  "Can't say it wasn't just luck factored in too...but yes, I am glad that you were able to pick up the pieces." Araes replied with a subtle nod of gratitude.

  "Don't thank me... I wanted to leave her back there as much as my men." He would have done it too. However, Araes being mad at him for leaving his daughter behind, that wouldn't bode well. Too many questions anyway; he wouldn't accept that she just died outright. She was an Engrave; she wouldn't have died so easily. He didn't say anything past that as Araes had just sighed.

  "I can't blame you...she has been problematic..."

  "Problematic? She is trying to kill you!" That seemed to snap Araes out of the small stupor he was in. Kogon had raised his voice to say it, but anyone who would hear him would agree. Melinda wore her anger, her rage on her sleeve; even a dragon couldn't match her own ferocity.

  Kogon remembered when she first got to the training grounds. Her stained tears from crying and that angry scowl and gritted teeth that she wore that day were more than any soldier he had seen in a while. That small knife she carried in her hand as she stared back at Araes, trying to calm her down. She was a furious little thing, only eleven at the time. Had it really been almost twelve years since then?

  Melinda and them have always had a bad work history. She was a strong Engrave, always has been, but she was no soldier. A soldier is a warrior, a person meant to carry weapons and armor alike, but Melinda was no warrior. She lived in the comforts of the family manor, born with special powers and one of the most dangerous Elements of the Embodies.

  An Engrave was already a fairly uncommon ability within humans, and they were split up between three groups and four subdivisions. A soldier must know these things; it was not uncommon when large Midland battles would use Engraves, so the tactics had to change for the soldiers to accommodate. Every human had an Embody, a sign of what you were born to do, but not every human had an Engrave: an element within the body powered by the Embody.

  Kogon looked towards Araes, a sign on his face that he couldn't recognize. Almost a mix between humiliation and worry. Kogon finished off the pink wine before scoffing it away.

  "You treat her too well." Kogon had said it without any remorse.

  "I treat her as much as I treat you and the others." Kogon would probably have had to agree, but part of him didn't want to. How many times had he failed?

  "You need to be harder on her. How do you think she feels about all this? The idea that she can just try and kill you, she's like a Kurona, nasty vile creatures." Kogon squeezed his fist. He didn't like Melinda, but he could tolerate her; however, when she made threats like that against Araes...he could not tolerate that.

  "And yet she hasn't tried for the last year. She even joined the army two years ago; maybe something is changing."

  "She still doesn't talk to you and spends most of her days training. I think that last interaction with her as more than showed that she is still on that path." Kogon barely remembered that day; he had never seen Araes so mad, not even at him...but his own daughter? He couldn't make out what that meant that day and hasn't yet still.

  Araes said nothing more; it was clear he was done speaking about her, and Kogon also wanted nothing more than that. He had pulled out a small piece of paper with a broken stamp of silver and cyan broken by force. It was a letter, and Araes held it up for Kogon to see as he passed it over. It was clearly a letter, but the stamp wasn't a royal stamp, and there was no clear indication of using silver or gold in the wax.

  "Kursoon, I assume?" Araes sighed; that meant yes. Kogon plucked the letter from his fingers and opened it up quickly to read it.

  "Araes, we need to talk.

  Things are getting much worse here, so much so that she is beginning to worry more and more about the loss of Blot from the Luong. Starting to blame them more and more, and it won't be long until something bigger happens. You said it would be done soon; it has been soon, and it won't be that much longer until that soon becomes too late. I need you here in Kursoon to let Her Majesty know about "The Project.". Unless you want this deal to end, I need you to do this for me.

  Sincerely, J"

  "So even Queen Eledrid is noticing." Kogon didn't know the entire details, but he knew enough that this wasn't going to be good.

  "I just need more time on with it. We have been this close to an outbreak with Blot, and with the Medium, it was going to be a new breakthrough." He held up his fingers close to each other for emphasis as he leaned back into his chair.

  "At least we would have...:" Kogon said as he gritted his teeth. Araes simply sipped the little bit of the Blot in the glass as he rubbed his temples in frustration.

  "That Medium was to see how much I could get out of Fullon. I figured that his blunder was inevitable; I just didn't think it would be that fast." Kogon remembered that day, only two weeks ago. Had he been more aware that day, faster, without any hesitation...things would have been different. He should have figured two Dull would do something like that.

  "So what's the plan?" Kogon rubbed his finger over the empty bottle.

  "I will have to take Melinda to Kursoon again, get that meeting set up, and see what we can do to "assure" them that we are trying to deal with the problem." He sat up as he grabbed a small leather bag of jingling enamel and threw it towards Kogon, who caught it with no problem.

  "Let me come. Having Melinda with you only is a bad omen."

  "You know why I can't." He knew; he knew well enough why, but it never made sense every time he said it. Why wouldn't he just accept that Melinda wants him dead, that someone needs to be there?

  "We do this every time." Kogon reminded him, with little remorse in his voice.

  "And I have to remind you every time." He didn't want to hear it right now. Araes looked towards him, those pleading eyes like his father used to have. What he wouldn't do to have that man back here... but he was stuck with the man that didn't want to admit it.

  Kogon sighed heavily before grabbing the leather bag of money and standing and walking towards the door. He needed to burn off this anger, and he wasn't feeling very hungry right now.

  "Kogon!"

  Kogon waited just a second before turning around and looking towards Araes. He had an actual smile on his face, not a stoic face or a scowl. A smile.

  "Thank you. For taking care of her and...being here."

  Kogon simply rolled his eyes in a half smile as he waved him away as he walked out of the door. Perhaps in some other life he would have that father back, but not yet. He didn't see it yet, the man that inspired him to fight all those years ago.

  "Let's hope the princess doesn't see it too." He said to himself, an almost hushed whisper, before he shut the door tight. He walked past the rest of the floors and out the door on the first floor, walking towards the training yard.

  He would do what he did best.