The night grew old. The silent study was still but Patzau Mellen Minoc sat at his desk unable to sleep. The bells had stopped only an hour prior and the city descended into an eerie silence. On the far side of the room, a pair of spirits glimmered with an ephemeral shine under the soft candle light. One glowed with a flaming orange hue while its partner echoed the shape and colour of the waxy white candle. Patzau Minoc sat alone, lost in his own thoughts and fixated on the two spirits as they danced together across the room. It had been a long time since he last sat still long enough to have spirits appear before him. He hadn’t noticed when it had happened, but now he sat transfixed on their strange beauty. A light knock sounded on the door. The spirits vanished. Only the flickering light of the candle remained.
The knock sounded again, harder this time and Mellen said, “Come in.” Kuta, his Aginjigaade, entered the room. She wore her white robes. Her dark hair matched her dark eyes and the dark room. But even in the dim light, Mellen could recognize her weariness. Weariness, he realized, that matched his own. Spirits, its late, he thought to himself, stretching. An ache lingered in his back. Stretching seemed only to invigorate its presence. The young Aginjigaade closed the door behind her with a soft click and turned to face him.
“Come with me” Kuta said. Mellen furrowed his brow, surprised.
“I’ve been locked in this office for the past few hours,” Patzau Minoc said, “and you can’t even do me the courtesy of telling me what has happened?”
“I’ll tell you on the way” Kuta said with conviction.
Who is this girl and what has she done with my timid Aginjigaade? Mellen thought, perplexed. “You’ve never once ordered me to do much of anything, Kuta.” Mellen said, “What has happened?”
“This is true. Thus, I expect you understand that the need is great. Grab what you need.”
Patzau Minoc lifted himself from his chair and followed Kuta out of the room. Several soldiers were already waiting and fell in step as they descended into the guild lobby. Crossing the marble floors, they exited into the streets where another group of soldiers and messengers lingered with antsy dispositions.
A captain intercepted them. “Patzau, we haven’t been given clearance to let you go yet. Until its safe, please stay inside the guild hall.”
“No” Kuta challenged “The Patzau is needed elsewhere. If he is in need of protection, assign a squad to guard us.”
The captain turned to face Patzau Minoc, unsure how to proceed. Minoc gave the man a shrug in response and the captain appeared unsure which orders to follow. “Fine. Where is it you wish to go?”
Mellen looked to Kuta for the answer. “We’re going to Mudtown” Kuta answered. Both the captain and Patzau Minoc stood, dumbfounded by her answer.
“I… I am not sure I can permit that right now” the captain said.
“And I am sure that you can” Kuta jabbed back. “Assign your soldiers. We leave at once.” The captain looked to Patzau Minoc for support. Minoc seemed just as confused as he did.
Their company walked briskly through the dark city streets. Minoc huffed uncomfortably from their quick pace. He was a walker, not a running man. Two dozen soldiers led the escort. Patzau Minoc noticed that the soldiers were on edge; extra vigilant. They carried spears and swords in hand, not in sheaths. None carried the ghata used for patrol work. War weapons. What has happened?
“Talk” Patzau Minoc hissed.
“There was an attempt on Patzau Yohati’s life” Kuta replied.
Patzau Minoc whispered a curse under his breath. “Then why are we going to Mudtown?” he asked through ragged breaths.
“To deescalate.” Kuta said. “Yohati’s bent on a war path. He’s taken control of Ashill’s soldiers and is sending them into Mudtown in retaliation.”
“Why are we trying to stop him?” Mellen asked.
“What?” Kuta asked, incredulous.
“Why are we doing this?” he repeated. “You and me?”
“Spirits, for a man I consider to be exceptionally smart, that is an incredibly stupid question.” Kuta spat. Anger flashed across Mellen’s face.
Patzau Minoc grabbed her by the arm and she spun, facing him. The soldiers came to a halt, some fixated on their unexpected stop, others fixated on the shadows they now feared. He looked at her, angry with her tone and she looked back at him, furious at his apathy. Mellen bit his tongue and swallowed that anger. She’s upset, Mellen grasped. It was plain across her face. She’s scared and angry. And because I am opposing her, it is being redirected at me. But it is not for me.
“You are being unfair to me, Kuta.” Mellen said sternly between panted breaths. “I do not know the details of what has happened—of what is happening. You do. I need you to tell me what you know for me to make informed decisions. I trust your intentions, but clearly there is a risk being taken. For spirits sake, there’s fear in these men’s eyes. Armed soldiers looking like they might be set upon by ghosts.”
“Innocent people are being slaughtered” Kuta nearly shouted. Tears began to well in her eyes. “There are so many damned reasons, Mellen. Mudtown is burning. The city will suffer for it. Yohati now controls an army that shouldn’t answer to him and seeks to unleash it on innocents. On regular people who didn’t do anything. Its fucking wrong. Once he crosses this line, the course will be irreversible. Punishing the people outside the walls for this heinous act voices what they’ve always feared; that by living outside the walls they are not seen as equals. As true Casoyans. That they will always be outsiders. That Casoyan justice is weak and corruptible by individuals who hold power. That they are enemies in the eyes of the Patzau.”
Mellen let go of her white robes as she cried in the middle of the street. He looked at her and for the first time in their time together, she looked the child she still was. She was barely older than his own daughter. And where are her parents? He wondered. In Mudtown, he guessed. Outside the city’s walls. In Yohati’s crosshairs, that much is certain. He reached out and wrapped her in his arms. She was tiny thing compared to him. She wept in his arms in the middle of the dark street. The soldiers waited awkwardly, pretending not to pay attention to the little girl crying in the street. Her tears made it easy to forget the power she wielded. She broke away from him, and he let her. She wiper her eyes with her sleeves.
“Let’s move” Patzau Minoc ordered. “We head for The Lake Gate.” She was right, of course. Blood begets blood. “Now, Kuta” he continued. “Tell me all you know in full detail.”
Despite the haste, they arrived too late. By the time Patzau Minoc reached the Lake Gate, Mudtown was already ablaze. Black smoke pillared skyward under the early glow of dawn. As they approached the gate, they were intercepted and lead to the command center. They climbed the narrow staircase inside the Lake Gate and stood atop the city’s dark walls overlooking the mess below. Patzau Ashill was there barking orders at different soldiers.
“Patzau Minoc” Patzau Ashill said in surprised greeting. “What are you doing here?”
He glanced at Kuta. She only stared out over Mudtown. “Was this your doing?” He asked.
“Was what my doing?” Ashill asked, accusatory.
“This” he said, gesturing towards the wooden hovels that burned.
“I’m cleaning up” she said plainly. “Now is not the time to find out what or why or how. Now’s the time to fix it and if you’re not here to help, I would like you to leave.”
“Tell me this, did Yohati order this?” Mellen asked.
“Now’s not the time” she insisted.
“Did Yohati do this?” Mellen repeated sternly.
Patzau Ashill let out a hard sigh, “Yes.”
“Spirits have mercy on us” Mellen said. He let out a sigh that matched hers. “I never knew the old man had this in him.”
Kuta spoke, but remained fixed on the burning village, “The lure of evil can be found in both the wickedest and noblest of intentions.”
Patzau Minoc stared down at her, his little assistant. His young Aginjigaade. How does one so young come upon such wise words? He turned back to Patzau Ashill again. “As you understand it now, what has happened since the first bell tolled and now?” Mellen asked.
“Too many things to count, Mellen.”
“Such as?”
“I don’t have time for this right now” she said as several officers lined up to share their information.
“I can help you, but not if you won’t let me. We’re on the same side” Mellen argued.
She rubbed her eyes with her fingers. “Spirits, Mellen, you make it fucking difficult–”
“Fine, I’ll let you be, Yanata” Mellen growled. “Where’s Elvi? I’ll talk to somebody actually willing to help.”
“She’s fighting the fires” Yanata snapped. “Don’t go down there.”
“Or what?” Mellen challenged.
“Or I’ll be paying my condolences to your wife and daughter when I attend your funeral. Worse, I’ll have to contend with supressing my smugness with regret for not convincing you against your own stubborn stupidity.” Mellen opened his mouth to speak but she cut him off. “Stay here” she ordered. “I’ve got things under control. I’ll get you caught up to speed and involved after the fires are doused and tensions are low. You’re an arrogant son-of-a-bitch Mellen and I can’t fucking stand you.”
“But?” he quipped.
“But nothing.” Yanata said, almost losing her frown. “How much do you already know?”
“Absolutely nothing” he said, “I arrived back at my office and the alarm bells sounded.”
“Sprits.” Yanata said, “Well the short of it is that Yohati and those foreign princes of his were attacked after leaving the auction. Ambushed. By thieves or soldiers. I don’t know. What I do know is that the attackers were gang affiliated. From the mountains.” she added, quickly glancing over at Kuta once. The glance didn’t go unnoticed. “I’ve heard a few versions of the story now, but to me it seems like an assassination attempt meant to look like a robbery. Thugs appeared from the alleyways and raided the carts for valuables, killing all in their way.”
“What makes you suspect an assassination?” Mellen asked.
“Multiple recollections include an archer on the rooftop. Highly skilled. Killed several. Something happened at the auction and those foreigners with Yohati were up in arms about it. I actually sent my daughters over to learn more about it…” Yanata realized she had forgotten that detail until now. She felt guilty for forgetting them again. She added, “I don’t know what came of that yet.”
“I don’t understand. Why is this important?” Mellen asked.
“Whatever caused the stir with those princes kept the lot of them at the Auction House late” she explained. “Yohati got tired of waiting and swapped to the lead cart where the princes were supposed to sit. That archer put two shots right into the seat where Yohati was supposed to be. The older prince died in his place. The uncle.”
“How do we know it wasn’t just an assassination against the princes?” Kuta asked.
“We don’t. Nor does it matter” Yanata answered. “Yohati insists he was the intended target. It no longer matters if he was or wasn’t.”
A fat raindrop fell from the sky. It exploded on the back of Kuta’s hand and she looked skyward, feeling her prayers may yet be answered.
“Then how did we get here?” Mellen asked, looking out over the burning slums. “To this?”
“Yohati ordered the capture of the perpetrators. He sent his own men alongside the city’s soldiers. Their numbers grew as the bells tolled and the chase led to Mudtown. He ordered an assault against all of the crime dens we’ve been monitoring. As you can guess, all hell broke loose. When I arrived, fires were already spreading. I seized control from Yohati—who had been dictating orders from his estate—and I’ve been working to cease hostilities and get the fires out ever since.”
“
“This is a severe overreach of power” Mellen said. “He can’t get away with this.”
The rain began to fall in earnest. Both Patzau looked up, welcoming the cool early morning rain. An aide of Patzau Ashills appeared with an umbrella. Yanata waved the girl away. Minoc waved her back his way instead. The poor girl flinched under Yanata’s undeserved scowl.
“The man is attacked in the streets and you want him to lose his seat on the council for it?”
“The man seized control of the military and launched an unsanctioned campaign against civilians” Mellen countered. “Don’t play dumb with me and pretend more innocent people will have died this day than guilty ones. We cannot abide by this sort of vigilante justice!”
“It’s not that simple, Mellen” Yanata said.
“Well, it should be” Patzau Minoc said flatly. “If there are no consequences for his actions, they are given legitimacy. And if they are legitimate, then we have given all Patzau to the right to seize control from you when we deem it necessary. And if his right to your powers was lawful, then the damage caused becomes just in the eyes of the eight guilds. If we wish for Casoyans to trust in us, their governors, then these things can not be true. We are supposed to be better than the tyrant kings of old. If we permit this, we become just like them.” Kuta stood in front of the gate. Most of the soldiers apart of Patzau Ashill’s administration team had retreated into the gate’s large archway as the rain began to fall. Dousing the fires would be much easier under the rain. She stayed out open air, letting the rain envelop her. It washed over her, slowly soaking her to her core. And within the rain, she felt the blessings of the spirits. She felt their justice and mercy with every shiver. Never before had smoke been so bitter and rain been so sweet.
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