The Fire and The Storm - The Nexus of Kellaran #2 novel Chapter 92

Part 15

“By my vow of justice, I will bring an end to this evil among us! Let it stay in Serminak, and let any who want to play The Game of Status go there and leave the rest of us alone! And they can damn well sign over their homes and businesses to their wives before they go! A divorce might be in order as well!”

“I want a list of every non-player who’s suffered a loss of property or wealth to a player of the game, directly or indirectly.” Mark growled as the Revealing ended. “And one of everyone who’s been killed in an unsolved murder or suspicious death.”

“Certainly.” Visinniria smiled. “Would you like that on paper, or can I just give it to you psionicly? There are several thousand names on the lists, after all.”

“I’ll take it psionicly.”

“What will you do?” Falgaroth asked.

“I’m going to form a task force of the finest investigators and psionicists on Kellaran, and we’re going to catch those responsible for causing dissension, diminishing production, and reducing the effectiveness of the military.” Mark growled, becoming visibly angrier. “And we are indeed going to administer some monumental beatings, and get those people’s property back!

“All this is happening under my authority as Lord of Serminak, so I’m entitled to fix it wherever it’s happening, though I’ll be co-operating with local authorities as well.

“This crap isn’t the almost-undetectable playing of the game that Zwak told me about when he proposed it, and it’s going to end!”

“Good.” Visinniria declared with a smile of satisfaction. “For psionicists, you can’t do much better than those you have right here, though you might want to ask Somonik and Grakonexikaldoron if they can spare the time to help.”

“Agreed.” Mark nodded, and looked around at the group. “I hope you’ll all agree to join me in this.”

After receiving their assent, their eager assent in the children’s case, he turned to Sheramiv. “I’ll ask Somonik and Gran myself. Can I get you to invite everyone who was in The Anti-conspiracy Brigade before the war? That should do us for investigators.”

“Certainly, my Prince.”

Mark thought for a moment, shook his head, and turned to Povon. “Look, I’m being an idiot. I don’t even know how you or Zarkog managed to police billions of Sylvan and dragons and so on before all this happened. You’re Dragon Lord Regent of Serminak and referee of the game, and as far as I’ve seen you do a damn good job of it. I don’t think we could have foreseen all this, and you wouldn’t have been in the time-bubble anyway if we hadn’t asked you.

“We’re your team in this, and that’s only if you really think you need our help anyway. I realize that you could probably fix all this without having us interfering in your systems.”

“Thank you, and you’re right.” Povon nodded with a proud smile. “While I could definitely fix this with the resources I already have available to me, it would probably take weeks to get it finished. With all of your help and the Anti-conspiracy Brigade, we should be done in a day or two.”

Somonik and Grakonexikaldoron appeared flying, and settled gracefully to the stone beside the patio.

“Hello!” Somonik called in greeting. “We heard you were back, and we couldn’t help noticing when you mentioned us a few times.”

“Good to see you again, both of you!” Mark returned with a grin. “We were just informed that the Game of Status has gotten a little messy, so we’re going to help Povon clean it up quickly.”

“We’d be glad to have you if you’d care to join us.” Povon added.