| The Burgher sat in his high, oak chair and smoked his pipe contentedly.
He had just received a message that he had been hoping for all day. He
took the note and passed it over his face again; the perfume wafting off
of it was heavenly. 'Magda,' the Burgher thought, 'tonight we
shall make sweet looooove.' The door to his office suddenly opened
and the Burgher's attendant glided in.
"What do you want, Pip?" the Burgher asked irritably. Pip flopped down a file on the desk and stared up at the Burgher, "I think I found something, boss. You might want to take a look at it." The Burgher looked down at the folder and saw that it was labeled "W.Rift". "What's his problem now?" he asked without bothering to pick up the file. Pip folded his hands behind his back and began, "About a week ago a couple of suspicious strangers came to town. They were demifoxes and claimed to be spice merchants. They tried to bribe the Gate Attendant and were thrown into jail. Master Rift was assigned as their defense lawyer. The next day he and the two prisoners left town. Today, Master Rift filed a complaint against Master Notch. According to him he was in the act of recovering property that had been stolen from him when Notch intervened and attacked him." The Burgher looked down at his attendant. "I know about the complaint Pip, I took it myself. And if it's true then Notch will be reprimanded, I'll personally see to that. Members of the BMC don't attack one another. But why do you bring me Rift's file? This should all be in Notch's." "Because," Pip replied, "according to Rift's complaint the property stolen from him were two slaves. One was from the Great Kingdom and the other from Aqualaria. And then I discovered that the two demifoxes he had taken into personal custody also claimed to be from the Great Kingdom and Aqualaria. Coincidence?" The Burgher frowned. If it was a coincidence, it was a strange one. When Rift had made his complaint, the Burgher had almost laughed. How could someone like him enslave an Aqualarian? The Burgher just assumed Rift was lying about the woman or she had lied to him. But just to be on the safe side, he had sent out an order to the town guards to be on the lookout for the tall redhead. If Rift really did have an Aqualarian then the game he was playing must have one hell of a prize. And when it came to prizes, the Burgher loved taking his share. But how did the two demifoxes fit in? If the reports on his desk were true, Rift had left town with one Allarian and Aqualarian and had come back for another Allarian and Aqualarian. The first pair demifox, the second pair human. But who were these demifoxes? They couldn't be who they claimed to be. For one thing, everyone knew there were no demifoxes living in the Great Kingdom. The people there thought they were were-creatures and killed them on sight. As for Aqualaria, no one really knew what that country was like. No one from MalBoncton traveled there and the amazons rarely came to Walants. And when they did, they were left alone. They were too dangerous. And how was Notch involved in all this? The Burgher had been angered at Rift's claim that he had been attacked by another member of the BMC. Such behavior was absolutely forbidden. But perhaps Notch had discovered something that was just too good to pass up. Obviously, the Burgher needed to further investigate this. He pulled out a sheaf of paper and jotted down what he had so far. He had a possible rogue Cult member, a pair of mysterious demifoxes who bribed their way into the city and then lied about where they came from, a pair of slaves one of whom might be from Aqualaria and a barrister who had disappeared for a week during which he had lost a pair of demifoxes and gained a pair of slaves. The Burgher shook his head, something seemed afoot. Something that had a strange smell to it. Then the Burgher mentally went over all the steps he would have to take; alerting the town guard to be on the look out for Rift and Notch; locating, detaining and questioning the two lawyers; interrogating the two prisoners once they were found; bringing in any and all parties involved with the matter as well as any witnesses or relevant bystanders. It would take hours to do all this and once the process was underway it would probably tie the Burgher up for at least a couple of days. Ofcourse, if Rift or Notch were actually hiding something of importance, who knew how much of the Burgher's time this would take? "Pip..." the Burgher began, picking up the folder. "Put the file away for now. It is the weekend after all." And the Burgher didn't want to be late for his date with Magda. For tonight at least, she was the best prize he could hope of taking. Go Back |
