The Ring Bearer
Authors: Felicia Jedlicka
Copyright © 2014 by Felicia Jedlicka
All rights reserved.
Cover design by Felicia Jedlicka
Book design by Felicia Jedlicka
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Felicia Jedlicka
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The
Warden
The Ring Bearer
Felicia Jedlicka
Successors
Rivals
Lovers and Liars
Bad Blood
Tenants and Tyrants
The Ring Bearer
Gods and Monsters
Beasts and Burdens
Magic and Mayhem
…More to Come…
Corn, Cows, and the Apocalypse
Cow Tipping After the Apocalypse
Corn Husking After the Apocalypse
Table of Contents
1
Danato let the door to his office slam into the wall. The seemingly indestructible glass rattled loudly. Ethan unloaded his firearm into the bin beside the door as he always did. The three men who accompanied General Clark to the late night—or rather early morning—meeting, made no attempts to offer up their weapons.
“Put your guns in the bin,” Danato instructed impatiently midway to his desk.
General Clark smirked innocently. “Really, Danato, I don’t think all that is necessary. We are all gentlemen here. I think we can keep our tempers in check enough not to shoot each other.”
Danato had never had much cause to associate with General Clark, but the little he knew of him, he didn’t like. Clark was a typical high ranking military officer who assumed that he owned every situation simply by wearing a uniform. Conversely, Clark knew little of Danato, and even less about the importance of his rules. “Given what I’ve heard this evening, I’m not so sure about that, but suit yourself.” Danato gave Ethan a hard glance that would hopefully make him stand down without a verbal order. He didn’t want to appear at odds with his successor in front of Clark. Ethan was no doubt struggling with his decision to let Cori be arrested and detained, but so far he was still obeying him.
Danato headed to his chair and Ethan took position against the wall like a stone statue. One of Clark’s soldier drones entered the room with his gun still firmly holstered. He looked as smug as his commander, no doubt pleased that he could keep his weapon in hand. Men like that had the skill to use a firearm, but they lacked deference for its power. To them it was just an extension of their cock. They didn’t have any intimate understanding of its consequences.
Danato was certainly not anti-gun. Every guard in his prison was well armed. He just no longer saw any reason for a man of his stature and temperament to be holding a device that could kill with the flick of his finger. Most of his staff already quaked in their boots at his presence. He didn’t want them pissing themselves as well.
Danato felt the air cool instantly in the room. He couldn’t suppress a smile at the change in the soldier’s demeanor. His prideful gleam melted into befuddled concern. He let out a solemn yelp before his body hurdled backward disrupting his compatriots who were entering behind him. His impromptu flight landed on the General, flattening him to the floor.
Ethan was doing his best to maintain his stern soldier-like exterior, especially with real soldiers present, but Danato knew he was shocked by the event. He had never explained to Ethan or Cori why they couldn’t bring weapons into the office. He didn’t believe in long verbose explanations to his orders, either you follow them or you don’t, it doesn’t matter whether you understand them or not.
Clark offered Danato a glower as he got back to his feet combing down his nonexistent hair before returning his beret. “You might have clarified the reasoning behind your request?”
“I don’t make requests. I give orders, and I
don’t
…repeat…myself.”
Clark clearly didn’t want to offer any concessions to Danato, but the soldiers begrudgingly deposited their weapons in the door side bin without any further instruction. Clark was the last to remove his. After doing so he offered a nod to Danto like he was bestowing the action on him in good faith, instead of just bending to his authority.
As Danato situated himself in his chair, he noticed the bottom drawer on his desk was pushed out more than he remembered it being. He reached to pull on the drawer, but found it locked despite the slight protrusion. It was a stiff drawer, difficult to open and difficult to close, especially since he hadn’t opened it in a good number of years.
A thought crossed his mind that he hoped to disprove. He pulled open his center drawer and searched the tiny compartments holding paper clips, tacks, pencils, and his drawer key. When it was not there, he searched the far back of the drawer, just in case. The key was gone. He shoved the center drawer closed wondering and at the same time knowing how much Cori now knew.
“Something wrong?” Clark said patiently waiting for Danato to speak.
His men were stationed behind and on either side of him. It was all a nice show of dominance, but Danato only sucked up to paper pushing bureaucrats that intended to give him money. General Clark would get nowhere flaunting his authority here, because he had none. Not in this country, not in this prison, and certainly not in this room.
Danato looked at Ethan. “My key,” he murmured to see if his face would change. Ethan’s brow dipped indiscernibly as if he were trying to interpret the meaning of the secret code word.
“Shall I get you a screwdriver?” Clark offered with more than a spoonful of amusement in his eyes.
“That won’t be necessary.” Danato reached down and ripped open the lower drawer. The metal tab that was designed to prevent invasion pinged against the bottom of the drawer along with the lock that held it.
He stared at the files lying before him. He felt a thousand memories, trampling over his
here and now
with muddy footprints from the past. He pulled out the ones he needed, leaving the red marked one in the drawer. His leg hurt just looking at the dreaded thing. He slammed the drawer shut, and hoped this time the action would still his thoughts and cease his pain. Unfortunately, the drawer was still just a drawer, and had no magical powers to induce amnesia.
Belus arrived late, mercifully breaking him from his unwelcome revelry.
Danato had called him shortly after Cori had been taken, to give him the rough draft by phone. It only took the mention of Cori being in trouble to prompt a long sigh from him. Danato could hear him shuffling in search of pants even before he began to explain the situation. After the overview of the night, he didn’t say much. Belus was always more level headed than him, but Danato got the distinct impression that he was just as disappointed by Cori’s lack of protocol as he was.
Instead of his usual position on the file cabinet, where he would be mostly obscure, Belus took position on the opposite side of the desk across from Ethan. It offered a nice balance of power to counter Clark’s triad of strength.
“Gentlemen,” Belus nodded to the men respectfully. Danato couldn’t bring himself to offer anything but a cold stare. Belus reached across the desk for the elemental files. He yawned before beginning his cursory read. Danato was impressed that he managed to stay calm even with the elementals out of their cages and Cori in one. Impressed not because he thought for one second that Belus was actually unruffled by the incident, but because he was such a good actor when it really counted.
“What exactly are we waiting for, Danato?” Clark rolled his eyes at Belus’s studies. “Aren’t you going to send your collectors to get my prisoners back?”
“I will when I’m satisfied that our documentation is up to my standards.” Danato leaned back in his chair tenting his fingers over his chest. He wasn’t going to mention that the second phone call he made after Cori left was to release the collectors.
He was certain the only reason Cori released the elementals was because she honestly felt their lives were in danger. Her previous encounter with Efrat, albeit still confusing to him, revolved around one basic principle. She didn’t want anyone to get shot, and that included Efrat.
Danato never quite understood why she had so much sympathy for a man who had tried to kill her, but Cori’s natural instincts were to preserve life. He imagined the death of her mother, and her aunt in such close proximity, she had no desire to see anyone else in her life die, friend or not. It wasn’t a bad trait per se, but her reverence for life was apparently starting to interfere with the basic purpose of his prison: to contain prisoners.
Danato may not have agreed with her method of protection, but if she was willing to violate cardinal rules to save them, then the least he could do was not put them right back into the lion’s mouth.
“The documentation was up to your standards when you signed it six years ago,” Clark pointed out, mimicking his tranquil behavior by leaning back in his own chair. Neither of them looked as composed as Belus, but they did their best between volleyed cold stares.
“I may have missed something,” Danato pointed out.
“You still signed it,” Clark snapped.
“And you signed our contracts,” Belus interrupted. “Why don’t you tell us what happened with Cori? Did she assault you and your men? How did a woman dressed in a full length evening gown and high heels get the drop on you?” Belus said it with utter platitude, but Danato knew he was just taking his shots as he could get them. Danato was glad for it. Belus always knew the best ways to get under people’s skin without outright insulting them.
“She released some kind of weather device on us.” Danato caught the glance that Belus gave him. They were both thinking the same thing.
What weather device?
“From the description on the container,” Clark continued, “It appears to be the spirit of Pamola.” Danato did his best not to show his grievance to this, but he couldn’t help but grind his teeth. Belus offered him a glance that hinted at the irritation he had thus far been hiding.
“How did she break it?” Belus turned back to Clark, abruptly losing his muted ire in exchange for curiosity.
