Scheming Against Devotion (Book 2 of The Transition of Pinn)

Giddean:

It’s loud and smells of stale sweat as Pinns press together in the tall narrow hallways of Haringshude City Hall. Senators and Councilmen go from one meeting to another, wading through the masses.

King Munter has threatened another minor town and it seems as though half of the citizenry and all of its journalists have decided to come to city hall to make their opinions known. How people can get so upset about something so far away while ignoring the problems within our own city is beyond me. But I suppose war is sexier than employment regulation.

I feel the heavy decorations of the wall dig into my silk overcoat as I try to slide along the wall. The heat of the hallway is stifling and I am sweating through my layers of clothing, keeping my eyes open for the man I want to speak with.

I smirk at the thought of my father forcing his way through the crowd. He would hate so many people touching him, knocking into him. He prefers the populace at a safe distance,

Suddenly men start pushing forward and yelling. The Mayor has been spotted at the end of the hall and everyone wants to both know his opinion and tell him theirs.

I use it as an excuse to dash the other way. I couldn’t give a shit about what our pompous Lord Mayor thinks about Munter.

Kin is waving wildly for my attention from the far side of the hallway, but I'm on a mission and have no time to talk with my chatty best friend. I mouth 'later' to him and his face falls a little. I need to get lunch with him sometime since we haven't spoken in a while.

I spot wild white hair and I push forward. It’s like swimming upstream, with bodies constantly bumping into me and unnecessary pushing and shoving.

Most annoying however is Apothen. The old bastard is moving in the opposite direction, not even noticing my pursuit.

Fuck. Someone elbowed me in the ribs. I reach up and cover my sore rib with my hand.

“Watch it, man!” Someone yells in my direction. I turn my head in the direction of the voice, but all I see is a mass of Pinns.

I turn back and see that Apothen has disappeared into the crowd. Fuck me. I have always supported allowing the public into the City Hall, it is the people’s building after all, but after today I may be persuaded to change that opinion.

I rush down the corridor, to the extent I can, ignoring complaints. Fuck me if I don’t talk to Apothen today. I look right and left down different hallways for a messy white head of hair.

“Senator!” I feel someone tug on my arm and he is yelling to be heard above the crowd “How about a statement on King Munter’s threat to Erbehude?”

I look to my left in the direction of the tug. It’s Whit, one of the handful of reporters who hang around City Hall looking for shit to report on the various public officials. He’s from a newspaper which generally supports my party.

James would be happy if I gave an appropriate response- He is always lecturing me on the importance of my public image. Constituents eat up pointless quotes in newspapers.

I open my mouth to respond when I see the white tufts just a little way down the hall.

“No comment” I mumble as I pull my arm away from him. I need to get to Apothen.

When I finally reach Apothen, I wrap my hand around his thin frail arm and haul him into a small side room. The old man looks up at me in surprise.

I slam the door shut behind me, and lean against it “Are you avoiding me, Apothen?”

He gives me a funny look before replying, “No, I was talking with my constituents- something you should try”

I narrow my eyes at him. Fuck me, I don’t need a lecture, I need him to do what he promised to do. “Where is the Master Priest? I’ve heard nothing”

Apothen walks further in the small room. It’s littered with chairs, some in the far coroner stacked on top of each other, others scattered around the room randomly. Apothen stops at a chair nearest to where I stand by the door and sits down.

The old man is exhausted from the heat and stress of the crowd. As he sits, he mops his brow of sweat with a pale blue handkerchief.

“It takes time to get the kind of evidence you want. Dunn explained this to you”

“He did, but I want to get this done as soon as possible” I reply.

“What happened? You didn’t seem rushed last time we spoke”

What happened was Ivy. I want to work things out between us- it’s a long life stuck together if we can’t even be friends. It had been going okay up until that fucking religion got involved- but isn’t that always the case? Fuck the fucking goddess and her shithole followers. I know they always say that it is the goddess that kept the whole planet from falling apart without females but fuck it, I feel we managed to not fall apart despite the fanatic religion rather than because of it.

Ivy also made me think. I’m not sure if I agree with her on the sacrifices, but I know that the High Priest is committing crimes against the priestesses. What if that is why they volunteer to become sacrifices? No, I have to do something- anything to prevent this from continuing. I hope it will also convince her that I am not a heartless monster, but a man doing what he can to improve the lives of his people.

Who knows what Ivy is playing at now. Her behavior this morning was so unnatural for her. I can only guess she is going to ask for a favor. She better not be asking to be sent back again, otherwise, I might say something I regret.

Or maybe I’ll just lock her in her room forever. She wouldn’t like it, but she would be safe….

“Hertliz?”

I rub my hand over my face. Fuck this has been a long day.

“Yeah, I’m just ready to go ahead. Tell the Master Priest to just send me everything he has”