Chapter 41

"Anything for you Leba! Anything!" A plump short man with one too many rings adorning his fingers said. He wore a gold colored jerkin with its lace fully opened revealing a white shirt, a yellow knee high hose encased his barrel like lower half and was complimented by red stockings held up by garters. It was typical nobleman attire and Leba found it distasteful but his face didn't show it, instead he reached out and shook hands vigorously with the plump man until either wine in their cups sloshed over the brim.

"Excellent! Excellent!" Leba replied. "Your generosity will not go unnoticed. A thousand gold vigons for the very much needed orphanage is truly a superb gesture on your part my good man." The plump man laughed and shook Leba's hand with enthusiasm. Soft music from the lutes of professionals weaved through the mansion of one of the senior most noblemen in the realm and created a serene environment that was occasionally punctuated by the hearty laugh of one of the hundred noblemen in attendance at the ball.

Leba's eyes turned away from the nobleman before him and swept around the ball room until finally settling on the dance floor at the center of the massive white walled chamber they were congregated in. He took in the posh women with powdered noses and elegant dresses swaying to the tune of the music with the hands of their lovers or potential lovers pressed close to the small of their backs. Despite the fact that every woman had a partner on the dance floor their eyes did not stray far from Leba. He didn't blame them, he was a Vigon and everyone wanted a piece of a Vigon.

"Why do you do it if I may ask?" The nobleman asked, breaking Leba's attention away from the women who were the pinnacle of Binorian beauty and standards with their pale skin and mostly blond hair.

"Pardon?" Leba inquired.

"The charity, Leba." The man said with a smile running across his face. "You have built more than two dozen orphanages, you offer relief food to the outer ring of Binoria and you are quite known to hire as many of the peasants as is possible to work within the palace. Why do you do it?" Leba's eyes met the steady brown of the nobleman's stare before him and the nobleman saw it as cue to press on. "Is it because of the Jojoh Meena? Do you see it as a valid means to acquire it instead of the usual route of battlefield glory?"

Leba's hand tightened on the glass cup with yellow wine. His eyes left the man before him and swept the room once more. Leba was a patient man but of late his patience had been running thin with every encounter he'd had with Highlord Kemi. The man is rarely punctual. He thought. It's always a power play with him. He sighed and turned his eyes back to the dance floor and took in a woman swaying her hips in accordance to the music, the slit of her dress parted occasionally with the rhythm she kept up, showing a shapely pale thigh. Gods! When was the last time I fucked? Leba wondered.

"Uhmm, Prince Leba?" Inquired his companion.

Leba turned back to the nobleman and smiled widely. "Of course my motivation is the Jojoh Meena! But the route of battlefield glory carries with it the price of blood and I cherish life too much. I'd rather nurture life than put an end to it." At that the nobleman nodded, seemingly satisfied with Leba's answer and the Prince once more turned his attention back to the chamber and that's when he spotted him. Highlord Kemi stood on a balcony overlooking the entire chamber with a throng of men dressed in red leather surrounding him. Kemi, ever so cautious.

Leba placed his cup of wine in the nobleman's empty hand, excused himself and started making his way to the staircase leading up to the balcony. As he walked two men dressed in black leather joined him on either flank. They'd been standing in the shadows of some of the overlapping walls with their eyes fixed on and around Leba. The Royal Black Guard were rarely absent when a Royal vacated the palace grounds. Perhaps I am also cautious. Leba thought as he started ascending the stairs. The guards remained at the bottom of the steps with their ever vigilant eyes surveying the ball room.

When the Highlord of the West Local saw Leba Vigon he smiled broadly without the smile touching his eyes and leaned forward to embraced the Prince who was just as young as him. "Prince Leba, an honor to meet you." Highlord Kemi muttered, his voice not leaving the circle of their embrace.

"Cut the bullshit and clear the men." Leba replied with a similar smile on his face while pulling away from the embrace with his hands still on Kemi's shoulders. Kemi's smile faltered for a fraction of a second, he turned his attention to the dozen or so guards around him and motioned with his fingers. The guards departed the balcony leaving the Prince and the Highlord in the privacy of an almost empty balcony.

"Do you have them?" Leba asked while letting go of the Highlord's black jerkin with gold laces.

Kemi brushed his silky black hair back as his smile vanished. "Cebru is getting suspicious, he is charging me twice as much for them."

"Do you have them?" Leba repeated.

"I don't even see why you have such a keen interest in them, they are just aged ornaments and are only available in bits and pieces provided how your ancestors played a huge role in destroying the civilization responsible for them." Kemi said.

"I won't repeat myself thrice Kemi."

"Don't start acting tough, you hold less power than I do and chances are high you will never become King so don't for one second think yourself capable of threatening me." Kemi said. "I have them, but you know what I want, you've dodged me long enough despite our arrangements that I've never failed to come through on."

Leba sighed and moved away from Kemi. He went and leaned over the balcony railings, his eyes were fixed on the ballroom below but his mind roamed elsewhere. Was Kemi to be trusted? Leba shook his head from side to side. But I need those strings of beads, I'm so close, so very close. I can feel it. "Three questions, I will answer three of your questions honestly."

"How are you able to translate the inscriptions?" Kemi asked.

"What inscriptions?" Leba asked.

"I'm not a fool Leba, I did not become the youngest Highlord in the history of Binoria by not asking myself questions. These beads have symbols curved into each of them and most of everyone just sees them as decorations but I believe the symbols have meaning and are practically a language."

"There's an aged Kolotian in the dungeons beneath the Inquisition, he transcribes them for me in exchange for certain favors." Leba replied.

"What favors?"

"Is that your second question?"

Kemi paused. "Why are they so important to you? Cebru sees them as junk and you've made him giddy with thoughts of earning gold from junk."

"They contain information that is more than a thousand years old and despite my ancestors attempts to curb the realm from accessing such information, I find myself quite interested in it. Is knowledge not power? Why judge power as junk?" Leba answered. Leba wondered if he'd shared more than necessary, he wondered in which way Highlord Kemi would stab him in the back with the knife he was offering him by sharing said information regarding the beads. The Kolotian in the dungeons will have to be moved.

"What is the information contained in the beads?" Kemi asked while opening the lace of his jerkin and taking out an object wrapped in thin reeds and offering it to Leba in an outstretched hand. A string with several dark brown beads stuck out of the reed casing

Leba turned his body to face Kemi, he reached out to take the beads while his blue eyes observed Kemi's face. "Gods, it is all about Gods." He said.

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