《Frays in the Weave》Chapter three, Interrogation, part two
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The meeting had deteriorated over an hour ago with Glarien stomping out of the hall. It dissolved shortly after that and among the last Erwin made his excuses and left together with Harbend. Arthur wasn't entirely happy with that. Harbend's English was excellent only making it that much easier for Erwin to milk him, hungry as he must be for information as well as the mere presence of anyone able to communicate with him. Well, that went both ways, Arthur guessed. Harbend wasn't one to let go of an equal opportunity. Admiral Radovic didn't belong to the exclusive group of traders who were the only Federation citizens normally allowed to travel here. That was changing now, of course. Arthur Wallman had been change incarnate for over twenty years by now, and he'd already seen the signs. Signs he needed to verify now that the three remaining ministers had agreed on a course of action to lessen the disaster brought upon the farmers in Vimarin.
"You've been silent," Tenanrild said.
"You've been confident," Arthur replied.
"Been laying down rails since shortly after you left for Braka."
Definitely not stupid. Minds like greased lightning bolts all of them. Greedy or not, they're anything but stupid. Arthur sighed. Nothing like the toads back home, but this council is running an empire, not bribing voters for another five year term of hiding forgotten promises.
"From Roadbreak?" he asked.
"Should be able to cover most of an eightdays worth of caravan crawling in a day with the new rail coaches."
"No trains?"
"Engines not strong enough. You have better machines." She clipped her sentences in a peculiar way which had Arthur guessing she might not have been born in Keen. That didn't stop her from being to the point.
"The sky ship I saw landing?"
"New schedule. Lands every eightday."
Bloody hell! That explains the extra guests at Two Worlds. "So you've tripled your import?"
"Think so. Would be more, but your ministry of transportation isn't very efficient."
Arthur laughed. You have the guts to complain about our shipping capacity! A miner would need half a year from belt to Gate. We could have racked up shipping to full capacity the moment news of my arrival hit the holos and most of the sun barges would still be on their way here. He didn't say any of it though. Explaining space travel would take too much time, and he suspected someone who relied on horses wouldn't understand it anyway. "Well, I guess building new sky ships any faster would be difficult for us," he said instead.
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"Don't need to build more. Fly more often instead."
Olvar de Saiden barked a laugh. "This is a long way from home, eh?"
Maybe they would understand after all, Arthur admitted glumly. "Yes, we could do that, of course." He studied Tenanrild. Small for an Otherworlder and slightly shrunken from age with a greying haircut distinctly shorter than was the fashion. Definitely not born here, he decided.
"I'm sure ships will arrive more often here in the future."
"Will do so," Tenanrild said. "Admiral of yours promised daily landings in less than a year."
Daily! You poor bastards! Might as well sign the death sentence now rather than wait. Another twenty years and your world is gone forever. "That's a... dramatic... increase from now," Arthur drawled, too stunned to say anything else.
"Change is inevitable," Olvar agreed. "Your limited presence has proved that. We can't stop change, but we may influence the direction it takes."
"What are you talking about? You'll end up with more Federation citizens than you could possibly imagine."
"Maybe, maybe not. Chach will stabilize sooner or later, and with a kingdom embracing the use of battle mages just south of the Narrow Sea we'll need the edge your technology gives us to stave of whatever they might plan after some self appointed king has their aristocracy firmly in his grip."
Arthur stared at Olvar, aghast at what he had just heard.
"He's right, you know," Makarin, who had been silently listening, shot in. "We've always had better crops than they. Mostly a cause of better farming, but they'd never believe that." She looked tired. "Gods, we got rid of titled landowners less than a lifeyear ago. Worthless parasites! Our fields yield almost half again what they do in the protectorates."
"Protectorates?"
"Client states, mostly out of easy reach from the highways," Olvar explained. "They pay taxes and refrain from raising armies. We make sure about that! Otherwise they do as they like. Most kept their counts and dukes."
"But I don't..."
"Makarin's still right, though. For all their archaic practices the protectorates still grow more food than any fief in Chach. Raise more cattle as well," Olvar continued as if Arthur hadn't been there. In a way he might as well not have been. The faces around him told a story of long arguments and hard won experiences. They must have mulled over the situation countless times, and with raiders sinking their ships a difficult situation had turned into a dangerous and bleak future indeed.
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"But you control the highways?"
"Idiot!" Tenanrild barked. "Merchant fleet lies on the bottom of the sea. Wharfs in Hasselden destroyed. Expect us to swim?"
Arthur blanched at the remainder that for all his education he still didn't fully grasp the differences between the Terran Federation and Keen.
"Not the most polished way to express the truth, but the truth nonetheless," Makarin said. "Now, this is where you come in."
"Me?"
"Yes, you're a taleweaver."
"Darkness, what's that got to do with anything?"
"You misunderstand. You're an outworlder taleweaver. We'll need more than metal. With your words luring your own people here we'll have a strong outworlder presence deterring any would be invader, or at least exterminating them, should need be."
Arthur stared at her. Pretty face and ugly mind, he thought. "And that's Olvar speaking with a female voice, I take it," he said.
"No, that's me speaking. I'm no one's proxy, thank you very much! I make sure our crops end up where it's needed. Olvar," she smiled at the huge man, "merely takes care of the vermin."
Olvar raised his glass of wine in salute. "She has a way with words, don't you agree?"
"I won't do it," Arthur protested. He hadn't come here to become a tool in a political game.
"But you already have. Mairild confirms that Admiral Radovic has already admitted as much. Called you a gherin spawned nuisance he did." Olvar emptied his glass and winked at Arthur.
Bloody hell! He would at that, Arthur admitted. No lost love between me and the military. Never been, never will be. "What did I do this time?" he probed.
"What did you..." Olvar shoved his empty glass out of reach of his bear paws and roared with laughter slamming the table hard enough with both hands that bowls and glasses bounced and were overturned, spilling wine, bread and fruit in an unholy mess that reached the edge and splashed onto the floor. "Darkness man, what haven't you done?"
Arthur stared at Olvar in bewilderment. "I left Verd with the caravan, but that hardly warrants..."
"Not so fast," Olvar interrupted, still shaking with near hysterical laughter. "Should we start with when you arrived here with your credentials falsified, or when you and Master de Garak turned a hundred years of merchant traditions on ends?"
Arthur nodded acceptance. Those subterfuges had been vital means enabling him to vanish from the capital before he was forced to return back home.
Olvar quenched his laugh and the grin was replaced by a grim expression he shared with both Makarin and Tenanrild. "But you know that, so maybe I should start with the renegade outworlders who landed here bent on a manhunt, burning and killing everything on their way to the Roadhouse, or maybe you'd prefer the tale of the official outworlder extraction team in walking armour we fooled. At least they only inflicted burning and killing on raiders, good riddance."
As Olvar finally started describing what had happened during Arthur's absence he could only listen in horror to tales of mindless destruction following in his wake.
It was close to midnight when Arthur, drained of any emotion, finished listening to and telling in return what had happened since autumn. When he left the imperial castle what had once been a fragmented puzzle was now a clear and horrible picture of events since his arrival here. And a nagging suspicion haunting him the last five years finally turned into knowledge. Somewhere, close to Belgera, Christina Ulfsdotir led her thugs on a murdering rampage, just as she had murdered his family. Strangely enough he felt no hatred, no despair, not even a dark longing. There would be a time for reckoning. He could hate then. Now he needed to sleep.
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R.E.N/D
In the 22nd Century the world has become a technological dystopia. Mankind has never been closer to godhood, but it has come at the cost of nature and its very humanity. Giant megapolis supercities cover the globe where countries once were, and the United Nations fights an ever-losing battle to regulate giant corporations too wealthy and powerful to be controlled. Aiden King, a young man from the megapolis known as England, has scored 100% on every exam he's ever taken. When he applies to join the United Nations Intelligence Service, they jump at the chance to recruit him - but they have far loftier ambitions for him than making him a simple Analyst. They invite him to join R.E.N/D: the Research, Engage and Neutralize Division - a secret anti-terrorism and intelligence organization founded to foster closer relations between the U.N and rival megacorps. Jumping at the chance to be part of something so great, Aiden accepts their offer. He had no idea the pain and misfortune that awaited him. Sometime later, Aiden wakes up. He has no memory of how he got there or what happened to him - all he knows is that now he's a monster, and R.E.N/D's special operatives will stop at nothing to kill him. (Cover art by Maciej Kuciara and edited by me under the Creative Commons CC BY-NC 4.0 licence, found here. The original artwork can be found here.) If you like my work, please consider rating, following and leaving a review. :)
8 150Chocolate Obsessed Genius Mage
"Why is everyone else so stupid? Why can't they understand easy things such as control over space and time?" "And why can't YOU understand common sense or feelings of others? And which mad god made you treat chocolate as your best friend, more important than money and your own health?!" Meet the best friend of Alexander - his name is Chocolate. Whoever offends HIM, suffers the wrath of sir Thorn'rose. Questions you might want to ask: *Is Q really so interesting? *What's weird about MC's wife? *What happened to Lucy who Alex left behind? *Will moving eggs and/or talking tentacles appear? *What is Sir Thorn'rose scared of? *Who's Mist Sprinkled Rose? Find out this and more in the next chapters :-) Follow the journey of "The Youngest Genius" - Sir Alexander Thorn'rose - secret author of 366 known books of "Magic Knowledge", famous as the best magic encyclopedia all over the world. The first volume, under the alias William Wardock, was released when the author was only 4 years old and amazed every wizard who read it. The real identity of William is the most coveted knowledge in the whole world. ...things are just starting...beware of sudden plot twists...everything is obvious and as expected? Oh, I don't think so...
8 206White Fur || Chat Blanc
Heart broken Chat Noir becomes akumatized and forms a rather unusual obsession with Marinette rather than her as his beloved Ladybug, consequently, making it hard for her to transform. With the frequent absent of Ladybug, the new Chat Blanc is able to meddle in whatever it is that he pleases. What hardships will they go through together in this difficult situation?More importantly, how did Chat resist the control of Hawkmoth as Chat Blanc? **Disclaimer- this does not follow events with the actual cannon Chat Blanc**
8 282one || eddie kaspbrak [1]
Believe it or not, Rylee Tozier, a quick witted, creative, and self confident girl, has some secrets. Rylee and Richie are thirteen year old twins, they're basically the same person, aside from height. Both wear glasses, both have short black hair, both have a quick wit, both are very stubborn, both have the same dark brown eyes, both have the same friends, point is, almost everything about them is the same, but not their height. Richie is about 5'6" while Rylee stands at 5'0"Rylee and Richie are part of the 'losers club' which are Bill Denbrough, Eddie Kaspbrak, Stan Uris, Richie Tozier, and Rylee Tozier. The Tozier twins have known them since they were five, but Rylee became best friends with Eddie when they were three. The biggest similarity between the twins; their fear. Clowns. [ BOOK 1/2 ]eddie kaspbrak x fem!oc #1 kindascary march 2020#1 kindascary april 2020#1 kindascary may 2020 #2 kindascary june 2020#4 billdenbrough july 2020
8 146Say You'll Stay
I met him the first chance at freedom I had. He was the boy from the rival team, and I was the coach's daughter. And like the naive child I was, I followed him to the backseat of his car.An hour later, he kicked me out and left me in the driveway of a stranger's house.Five years later, he came back.(A/N: A spicy second chance romance set in a small town with a touch of humor. Editing will commence after the writing is completed.)
8 91Hualian (READ THE DAMN DESCRIPTION PLS)
This is before they met. So I'm doing the whole story. Hehehe There WILL be smut in this. Smut is Hualian and maybe a little NanYao
8 134