Chapter 175

Calca sat alone with Kelart in the private council chamber. The rectangular table had enough room for ten, but holding only the two of them, they sat close by each other, with Calca at the head and Kelart at her right hand. 'It's things like this that make people think we're having an affair.' Kelart thought, but didn't really care. 'Perverts see sex everywhere, even where it isn't.' She idly twirled a brown lock of hair around her finger as she tried to stay focused.

The radiant Holy Queen smiled encouragingly and sat with her back straight and regal. "Go on, you were saying, Kelart?" Her lilting voice like a soft caress between them.

Kelart cleared her throat, coughing into her hand, "Yes, yes of course. Your Majesty, we've prosecuted fourteen judges for corruption, and seventy-five guards for extortion. And that is just this week alone, but 'most' of the accused are acquitted. Not all, but most."

The Holy Queen's smiling face became deeply unhappy, "So many… how can the corruption be so thick as that?"

"It's worse." Kelart said, "You asked for the good news first, My Queen, that was the good news. The bad news is that a meteor shower hit the city of Wenmark, most of the city's important people were killed, roughly two thirds of the city collapsed or burned, and the prison and slave population have escaped. According to this, they're marauding all over the region, destroying mining communities and more. The Southern Nobles are withholding taxes to pay to put them down, and we can't pay for everything we need in the North without their support."

Calca's frown became deeply saddened, "So many people… and now bandits on top of it all? Dispatch food aid and some of the reserve raw materials south, but do it with an escort of a thousand Paladins. They're to send the taxes back, but also to help hunt down the prisoners that have gone so wild. We cannot have a perfect kingdom with bandits and corruption!" She declared with a small fist slamming on the stone table at which they sat.

Kelart bit her lower lip for a moment, "I know, Majesty, I know. But we also can't have one while we're short of funds, and we can augment those funds if we take a… harder stance, here in the North."

"A harder stance?" Calca asked, her brow furrowed and her little fist relaxed, she took a deep breath, "You're talking about Emperor Jircniv's methods, aren't you?"

"A purge, yes." Kelart answered, "We know who is guilty, but they buy their way out of guilt with money they got in bribes, theft, or worse. We've had a dozen murders in Hoburns itself, each of those arrested said some form of, and I quote one of them completely, "There's no justice for me unless I take it."

Calca's body shuddered. "Anarchy, that way lies anarchy. A-Alright. Send soldiers south and recall Remedios to Hoburns. I will let her carry it out."

Kelart went very quiet. "My Queen, I love my sister, but she is… well she's stupid."

"Kelart!" Calca exclaimed, her eyes flew wide at the blunt insult.

Kelart hung her head for a moment, her hands fell in her lap, "She is. I'm sorry, Your Majesty, but while she is zealous, strong, and incorruptible... She has the brain of a hamster that has taken one too many blows to the head. If you set her to this, she'll do it. All she needs to know is that it is your justice, and she'll carry it out, that is how much she believes in you."

"Are you saying it's foolish to believe in me?" Calca asked, unsure if she should feel hurt, insulted, or outraged.

Kelart leaned forward and slid her hands over the table to touch the fingers of her Queen. She said in an almost desperate urgent voice, "No, never. I wouldn't be here if that were the case, but she'll go too far and never realize it. She can't be trusted to act on her own."

Calca closed her vibrant blue eyes, let out a snort and gave an affirming nod as she came to a conclusion.

"She won't be. You can control her, can't you?" Calca asked rhetorically, it wasn't really a question.

"Yes." Kelart answered the question regardless of whether it needed to be or not. "I will… I will go personally."

"Then go, and may the gods favor you." Calca said, and Kelart stood up to bow with deep reverence for her treasured Queen.

"Till my return." She said, and departed, leaving Calca alone with her hopes.

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Olasird'arc lay in one of the many low valleys of the hill region, well out of sight of any paladins. The orcs were serving as his eyes and ears in the south.

Presently, an orc youth knelt before him, barely above child age, some of the young adults were volunteers in waiting and watching the distant wall. Many had a first hand experience with the Mad Eyed Archer, and the dragon suspected some volunteered just to get a glimpse of a memory in the present.

"My Lord," the orc said, "Seen nothing on the wall, but the human outriders who come outta the stone to trade, we speak to them. They tell things they know."

"What do they say?" Olasird'arc asked, his tail undulating behind him while he listened to the little green creature, his head moving ever closer so that his eye was near its body.

"They trade lil stories, gossip an stuff but the trials' 'morrow." The young orc explained, but this left the frost dragon with questions.

"They are your enemies, but you… speak with them?" He asked, unable to keep the sliver of doubt from his voice in the form of a low growl.

"Sorta." The orc scratched its butt and tried to think of how to answer, "They got outriders, come check things b'yond the wall, little trade, stuff hard to get, see what's goin on out'ere. They not friends but… we trade stories. Learn a bit, us close to the wall try an warn em about anythin real big happen'n here an in eschange they don't come out'n 'ttack us."

It made a sort of sense. Humans, as near as he could tell, had no history of invading the Abelion Hills, but the reverse wasn't the case. It stood to reason that the humans would have a group that goes out past the walls if they would keep scouts in the wildlands as a precaution against small groups.

"Do you know how long their trials last?" Olasird'arc asked.

The little orc frowned and shook his head, "Nosir. No idea."

"Then watch the wall, orc." Olasird'arc gave the order, and the orc stood up.

"Yessir, ah, also, the stone spitter chief wants to seeya, 'kay?" The orc asked, and Olasird'arc nodded, "Send them to me."