The Mandate of Heaven (33 page)

“What did you do then?”

“I realised that while they could imprison my body, they couldn’t do the same with my mind.  So I simply willed myself elsewhere.  I spent years in that cell, imagining myself in my study; reading, writing.  I must have re-read every book that I had ever seen.”

“And that sustained you?”

“Almost,” Alex said.

“What else did you do?”

“I plotted what I would do, when I finally got out.  I imagined, in excruciating detail, exactly what I would do and say when I found the person that put me there.  I nursed that need for revenge, for days, weeks and years.  I think that when I despaired of ever being free, that was all that kept me sane.”

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“Don’t be,” he replied in a disembodied voice.  “Pity the person that put me there.”

*****

“You’re going out?” Jessica asked, eyeing Alex curiously over breakfast the following morning.

“Yes,” Alex said.  “It’s been over ten years since I was here last and I’m planning on renewing some old acquaintances.”  He slipped on his worn jacket.

“That’s nice, I don’t suppose any of them are related?  After all, you said that you grew up here, so I assume you must have family?”

“Sort of,” he replied vaguely.

“That’s nice, dear.  You have fun,” she replied dismissively, not even bothering to ask if she might accompany him.  Having been in his company for over a month, she’d become overly familiar with the answer to
that
question.

Alex turned around, surprised, staring at her suspiciously, but he could hardly find fault with her reply.  “Stay here until I return.  Granville has agreed to post a guard outside, if you need anything at all, just ask him.  Okay?”

“Got it.” Jessica nodded her head sincerely.  “
Anything
that I need I’ll be sure to ask him.”

“I’ll be back soon,” he frowned.

Jessica watched from the corner of her eye, as Alex stepped through the door, having a brief word with the guard stationed outside, before turning left, heading down the corridor.  She waited until she could no longer hear his footsteps, then paused for a further ten seconds, just in case he came back, and then she raced for the door.

“Excuse me,” she said apologetically to the guard outside, giving him her most winsome smile.  “But Alex did state, categorically, that I should ask you if I need
anything
.”

“Of course, Lady Hadley.  I’m your personal servant, what can I do for you?”

“Oh, thank you,” she gushed, clapping her hands delightedly.  “Then a bowl of strawberries would be delightful.  You see I always have strawberries for breakfast.”

“Strawberries?” the man said, his eyes going wide.

“Yes please, fresh ones, of course,” she added.  “Oh, and also a bowl of cream.  You can’t have strawberries without cream now, can you?” she cooed.

“I’ll see what I can do my Lady, however—”

“Perfect, I’ll just wait here for you then,” she stepped back into the room.  Giving the guard time to move off, she gathered a cloak to help mask her features, and then swept from the room, heading in the same direction as Alex, hoping that she hadn’t already lost him.

Fresh strawberries and cream?  She couldn’t help but roll her eyes.  She had absolutely no idea where the man was going to find either as they were on a space-station, in deep-space, light-years from the nearest vine or cow.  Likely she would be back from her brief sojourn long before him.

*****

It didn’t take long for Alex to find his intended destination, even after an absence of almost a decade.  The external fixtures hadn’t changed much in the intervening years, a couple more lights had extinguished from the twelve foot tall neon sign,
Angela’s Emporium of Exotic Delights,
and the outside could do with a fresh coat of paint.

He halted in front of the entrance, craning his head to look up at the several storied building.  A couple of passers-by stopped, staring at him, before hurrying on their way.  Located in the middle of brown sector, primarily used by the more transient population passing through
Elysium Fields
, it was mostly occupied by the homeless or dispossessed.  A place where you didn’t ask questions and you most definitely
did
pass by on the other side of the corridor.  He hadn’t been inside for more years than he could count, as within were answers to questions that he’d thought were best left unanswered.  Still, he couldn’t help but feel that he was running out of time and he didn’t want to regret not using the little that he had left to find some answers to his past, no matter how painful they might be.

Stepping inside, he was immediately assaulted by the overpoweringly cloy smell of perfume, and the rich decor, with strong, bold colours, that immediately identified the premises for what it was—a brothel.

“Good morning, my Lord.  How may I help you?”

Momentarily taken aback by the form of address, wondering who here would recognise him, relaxing when he noticed the pretty young redhead who bowed low before him.  He guessed that all visitors were addressed as such, nothing better to give the male ego a boost, prior to parting him from his well-earned cash.  As the girl bowed low again it was hard not to stare at her well-endowed assets that were
clearly
on display.  For she wore a startling provocative, red, baby doll outfit with lace-up front detail, halter neck, garter belt with attached leg garters.  He had to swallow to find his voice, as his throat had suddenly gone quite dry and he found his attention wandering to impolite places, when he hoarsely enquired, “I’m looking for Angela.”

“Normally Angela doesn’t accept walk-ins, but for you she might make an exception,” she winked suggestively at him.  “Let me see if she’s available.” She turned round and sashayed off, putting a sway to her hips.

“My Lord?” a deep, husky voice asked.

Taken by surprise, as he had been deeply engrossed calculating just how many years he’d been celibate, he whirled round.  It was safe to say that what faced him, was most definitely
not
what he’d been expecting.  Not unless the anti-aging cream being advertised in the booth opposite, was truly out of this space-station.  For standing before him, was a six-foot platinum blond, somewhere in her mid-twenties.  Alex was relieved to see that she was showing distinctly less flesh, than the red-head.  That was until he looked closer, and what he’d first mistaken as a cream, full length body slip, was actually mostly transparent.  While blurring the specifics it encouraged the mind to fill in the gaps and Alex could imagine some truly spectacular gaps.

“Angela?” he croaked.  “You’re looking extremely, fit.”

“Angelica,” she corrected him, with a smile that promised endless hours of ecstasy.

“I was actually looking for Angela.  Do you know if she still resides here?”

“My mother’s name is Angela, she is the proprietor here, but she no longer entertains guests.  I would be happy to fulfil your every desire instead.”

Alex wondered if it was just him, or if it was hot in here.

“I’m only here for Angela, to
talk
,” he emphasised.  “I appreciate that she doesn’t see guests any more, but I’m hoping that she will make an exception for me.  Would you please tell her that Alex Grey is here, and requests an audience?”

“My mother has spoken to me of Alex, a young boy, who lived here for a short while before I was born…”

“Then she’ll remember me,” he insisted.

Angelica stared at him thoughtfully for several seconds, before she nodded in agreement.  “Please follow me, I’ll take you to her.  But, I must inform you, that my mother is old and her memory isn’t what it used to be.  Please do not upset her.”

“You have my word, my Lady,” Alex bowed deeply to her, offering the same respects that he’d once offered to high-born ladies of the greatest families.

Angelica showed him to a tastefully decorated bedroom, on the top-most floor and, repeating her earlier warnings about not to upset her mother, she closed the door quietly behind her, offering him some privacy. Taken aback by the strange reception room, he was just about to look for a more appropriate place to sit and wait than on the bed, when the covers moved and he realised that he was not alone.

“Help me to sit up, Alex, so that I can see you with my own two eyes.”  The voice was old, worn and tired, but still with the same deep, husky timbre, that he remembered so well.  Hurrying forward he gently helped the old woman sit up, placing a pillow behind her, ensuring that she was comfortable, before taking a step back.

He stared into her deep brown eyes, which hadn’t changed in the slightest.  The rest of her had aged, as what he’d expected, but he could still see the beauty in her that had made her the finest courtesan in several sectors. Men had travelled from light-years away just for the opportunity to gaze upon her…

“Alex, I knew that you would return one day, but I feared that it would not be in my lifetime.”

“I’m sorry,” Alex shrugged.  “I’ve been indisposed.”

At this Angela laughed, a deep rich sound which brought back pleasant memories from his childhood.  “Don’t be disingenuous with me, young man.  Granville still occasionally visits and keeps me abreast of all the latest gossip.”

“The randy old bastard,” Alex muttered.

“You’re looking well,” she commented.  “Considering that you got into a round of fisticuffs with a High-Lord and, even more surprisingly, actually came out on top.  Of course, you spent five years in solitary isolation as a reward, not to mention now being wanted on almost every planet in the Imperium, with a reward on your head that makes even me blush.  So I’ve only got one question for you.”

“Yes?” asked Alex, not surprised in the slightest at how well informed she was.

“How did it feel, to give that bastard Stanton, a right good thrashing?”

Alex laughed, sitting down next to her on the bed, remembering many such similar conversations as a child.  After the death of his own mother, Angela had been the closest that he’d had to a mother.

“But, I take it that you didn’t seek me out just to discuss recent events?”

Alex shook his head.

“You want to know about your mother?”

“I can barely remember her,” Alex admitted, “but then I’ll hear or smell something and all the memories will come flooding back.”

“I’m not surprised,” Angela murmured.  “You were only a little boy when she died.”

“You mean when she was murdered,” Alex stated.

“Yes,” Angela sighed, “when she was murdered.  I remember when she first came here, you were barely a small ball of flesh, but my, even then you could scream the house down.  She came here seeking shelter, it’s an all too common occurrence, unfortunately.  She was adamant at the time that people would come looking for her, dangerous people, but as months turned to years, and you grew up that seemed a more and more distant threat.”

“But they came in the end, didn’t they?”

“Yes,” Angela whispered.  “At first I refused to tell them anything, but then they turned their guns on the other girls.  They would have murdered every last one of them, you don’t survive long in this job, if you don’t develop some sharp instincts.”

“I remember,” Alex sighed, closing his eyes, but unfortunately that didn’t help vanquish the memories.  “She hid me in the closet when she heard them coming, she told me to stay there, to be as quiet as a mouse.  It was to be a game she said.  I must close my eyes for as long as I could and not look.  But I did.”

“We didn’t know where you were at first, we thought that they’d taken you along with her body. There was so much blood…”

“Why my mother?”

“That I don’t know, for she would never tell me about her past, and here we make it a point never to ask.  What you were doesn’t matter, the past is that, the past.  It’s done and finished with.”

“And my father?” Alex exclaimed.  “I guess he could have been any one of her clients.”

“Clients?” Angela replied, confused.

“Well, what do you call your paying customers these days?  Financial benefactors?” he asked angrily.

“Your mother was nothing like that.  She stayed here for the shelter, nothing more.  She paid, certainly, but she never had any visitors, as I know all the comings and goings in my own home.  I have no idea who your mother was, but I can tell you with absolute certainty that she was no working girl, your mother was a real Lady. Which reminds me, when we were going through her things, we found something.  I’ve no idea if it will be of any help, but we kept it for you.  It’s in the box, on my dresser.”

Intrigued, Alex stood up and walked to the dresser, reaching out for the box Angela pointed at.  Opening the jewel case, his mouth dropped open at the contents.

“They’re Al-Keishi pearls,” Angela explained helpfully.

“I know what they are,” Alex said in wonder.  “But I’ve seen Al-Keishi pearls before, they’re off-white in colour.  I’ve never seen blue-sapphire ones before, like these.”

“I made some discrete enquiries on your behalf.  It seems that Al-Keishi pearls do come in blue, but they’re incredibly rare.  The dealers I asked had only ever admitted to seeing one or two in their lifetime.  I’m informed that a single pearl is worth several million credits.”