Magum Imperatoria, Part Thirty-Nine

From the records of Father Benedict de Monte
Dated 17 February 2007

Sure enough, there was little else for me to do. The suspects were processed in whatever manner was normal for the estate, and then Michael met with us for a debrief. The essential message of it was that we had done a great service for the Crown that day, and would be compensated accordingly. I don’t know what he paid the others, but the cheque handed to me was significantly more than I expected, and Akshainie’s was similar. She asked me later how one spends a cheque, and we ended up having a long discussion about how to get her a bank account.

Before we had that discussion, however, Michael took Akshainie and I aside and we discussed what was next. He was guarded about what, exactly, was going to happen regarding those we’d arrested, and seemed mostly focused on us. We told him about our recent shift in focus to finding ritual sites that were providing the cult with magical energy, and I expressed my concerns about the cult’s increased activity. He took us to the estate library, and showed us records that they’d been receiving about some serpent-based spiritual activity near the border of France and Spain. He informed us it was beyond his jurisdiction, but not ours. We discussed what few details he had, and it was agreed that we would be flown to the Pyrenees the next morning.

After breakfast, we had a brief period to say our goodbyes to Matteson and Alice before they left for a day in town and we were driven to the plane.

“Do you think he’ll really do it?” Akshainie asked, finally, as we were looking down on the French countryside.

“Do what?” I asked.

“Make things right with Iravati?”

“I don’t know. I take him as a man of his word, however.”

“You almost sound remorseful about that.”

“Well.” I thought for a moment as we flew over a river. “It’s what he wouldn’t say that concerns me.”

“Do we trust him to do what’s right?”

“I think we can trust him to do what works,” I said. “And, I suppose, establishing a better relationship with Iravati does work for him.” Akshainie grunted an agreement, and we both turned our attention back to the view.

---

Previous

Beginning

Next

---