A Gargantuan Burden

A long sigh echoed through the room as Lord Marshack Almed flicked his cape back over the large chair in which he sat, leaning forward and resting his chin on his fist as he tried to figure out exactly how he should deal with the situation with which he was presented.  As a former knight of the now de-established French Monarchy, Marshack had a vested interest in the nation, which left him particularly concerned by the path with which it seemed to be taking.

What also bothered him considerably was that he also had two channelers in custody, neither of whom had any useful information for him.  Technically, they had committed a trivial crime which usually would have simply resulted in their incarceration, but the problem lay in the fact that this would have gotten him no where.  Marshack sighed again, realising that the best course of action would simply be to release the prisoners as their incarceration did little to help the Xelots or the nation of France, and instead would just be turned against him in the form of propaganda.

As he leaned back in his chair, he telekinetically summoned his communication link system, docking it into the slot in his desk before activating it.

“Deacon DeSaint.”  He sounded, causing the device to search the Registry For Channelers before sending a request to his comm. link.  As expected, Deacon wasted no time in accepting the link, more than flattered that his faction leader would be contacting him.

“Yes Lord Paladin?” Deacon answered now as he accepted the link.

“I have an issue which I would like you to look into for me Deacon.” Marshack now stated, drawing absolute compliance from his subordinate.

“Yes, Lord Almed.  What would you have me do?” He inquired, simply awaiting his orders.

“The current situation in France is unsettling… it would be a shame to lose the peace that we had so heavily fought for during the rebellion.  Ms. Real seems to be a part of some kind of upheaval, and cannot be trusted in this matter either.  Given this, I would like you to look into the situation personally.  Gain any information you can on the situation, and report back to me… do not engage anyone unless absolutely necessary… we wouldn’t want to scare them off before we have a chance to capture them.”  Marshack explained, causing Deacon to nod.

“I will not fail you Lord Almed.”  Deacon replied, waiting respectfully until Marshack ended the link before leaving the area, and heading off on his new assignment.

With this taken care of, Marshack now turned his attention to the issue of Drago Enterprises, and more importantly their affiliation with the unscrupulous Order of Demai.  It seemed that this would be another issue which he would need to look into.  Unfortunately, Marshack had learned long ago that dealing directly with his arch nemesis, Rayad Demar, was not only pointless, but tended to be frustrating, as the Demai leader, who he considered to be excessively childish, seemed to take great pleasure annoying him, making it impossible to reason with him.  With this in mind, he decided it best to contact the head of Drago Enterprises directly, once again turning to his comm. link and uttering the name of his target.  As the link attempted to connect, he waited patiently, watching as the image slowly sharpened into focus before his eyes widened and his eyebrow raised high.

“I don’t believe I know who this is; may I ask why you are contacting me?”  The woman inquired, drawing the sheets of her bed to cover her partially exposed body.  Marshack’s excellent vision allowed him to easily identify the man laying unconscious next to her, Alexander Drago, forcing him to conclude that the woman to whom he was speaking was the infamous wife of the young CEO.

“Mrs. Drago I presume?”  Marshack inquired calmly, doing his best to not let the woman’s nakedness faze him.

“That’s correct, may I ask to whom I’m speaking?”  The woman inquired politely.  Though her manners seemed to be on par with any of the ladies that frequented the circles in which Marshack was forced to socialise, her lack of modesty and the deviance that laced her eyes left Marshack quite cautious of the woman to whom he was speaking.

“I am Lord Marshack Almed III, founder and leader of the Council of Xelots.”  He explained, causing the woman’s eyes to glint in the dimly lit room.  Marshack’s face unnoticeably twitched as he noticed the look, one that he had seen before, and that which he related to the look of Rayad Demar, one which he adopted when he encountered women whom he considered to be prime candidates for mating.

“Oh Mr. Almed, what can I do for you?” She now inquired.

“I called with regard to your recent negotiations with the Order of Demai, myself, and the council, have grown very concerned with these negotiations… I took it upon myself to voice these concerns.  I would hate to be accused of taking excessive actions to correct any… misdeeds, which occur from this arrangement.”  Marshack explained.

“You are quite bold.”  She smiled rather broadly, looking into the comm. link.  “I must admit that your words have left me rather concerned about the status of our relationship with Mr. Demar and his associates… tell me Marshack.”  She paused, deviously glancing at the link.  “You don’t mind if I call you Marshack, do you?”  She inquired, causing Marshack to shrug it off, as she continued to smile.  “Good then, Marshack, tell me why do you foresee misdeeds in the future of this arrangement?”  Her words only caused Marshack to regard her with even more caution, raising an eyebrow slowly as he chose his words carefully.

“You’re an intelligent business woman, I am sure that you are aware of Mr. Demar’s motives and his modus operandi.  Do not waste my time by feigning oblivion Mrs. Drago, I am a busy man afterall.”  He asserted.

“I don’t believe I know what you are getting at…” She continued, causing Marshack to realise that she could not be dealt with.

“Very well then.  I would appreciate if you were to pass on my warnings to your husband.  I would feel far more justified in my actions, if I knew that your choices were not made in ignorance.”  Marshack finally stated, ending the link. 

As the link ended, Mrs. Drago looked to her husband.  “Alexander.”  She started, only to be cut off.

“Yes, I heard.  Now turn off the lights and come back to bed.”  Were her husband’s only replies as he deactivated the lights and drew his wife closer.

“As you wish.”