Disillusioned, p.20
Disillusioned, page 20
“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” Thameril replied. “Grimble—I mean, Quandrasi—put me up to that. He was subtle about it—so subtle, in fact, that for a while I entertained the thought that KLAMP was my idea. But later on I realized that he’d been manipulating me all along. He wanted KLAMP to get out of control, so that he would have an excuse to let CAGE loose. Don’t you see? He’s been five moves ahead of everyone from the beginning. Whatever he’s planning for tomorrow, I don’t want to be anywhere near it. Goodnight, gentlemen.” He turned and went back inside, waving his hands in front of him. He left the door open, and Vergil could hear him opening windows and cursing to himself.
“It looks like it is just you and I, Handri,” said Vergil. “Although I cannot in good conscience ask you to stay either.”
“You’re stuck with me, sir. But what will we do?”
“I do not know,” admitted Vergil. “But we have until noon tomorrow to figure out how to stop Marko’s execution. Perhaps if we can somehow disrupt Quandrasi’s farce trial, we can stop his evil plan. And then try to repair some of the damage that has been done to this fine city.”
“But what is his evil plan?” asked Handri. “Yurgi interrupted him before he had a chance to tell us.”
“He said something about channeling the crowd’s hatred into physical form, but I cannot for the life of me make sense of that statement. Not in my present condition, anyway. I need sleep, Handri. I can barely stand.”
“Where will we go?” asked Handri. “We aren’t safe at Marko’s apartment. The front door won’t even close.”
“It’s the only option we have,” said Vergil. “We will have to hope that Quandrasi doesn’t think to go back there.”
Handri nodded, and they made their way back across town to the apartment, Vergil shambling like a zombie down the dark streets after Handri. Fortunately, although they still saw fires burning in the distance and the occasional scream or crash of breaking glass, they didn’t run into any more trouble. By the time they arrived at Marko’s building, Vergil was beyond exhausted. If any of the CAGE goons showed up, they were done for. They could only hope that Quandrasi didn’t consider them enough of a threat to send any of his goblins after them.
Handri helped Vergil up the stairs, pausing in the hall before the smashed-in front door.
“What is it, Handri?” asked Vergil. “If I don’t get to a bed soon, I’m going to collapse on the floor.”
“Shh!” Handri hissed. “I think there’s someone in the apartment.”
Vergil resisted the urge to groan in pain and frustration. He was ready to turn himself in if it meant he could lie down for five minutes.
“Wait here,” Handri whispered. Vergil nodded and leaned against the wall while Handri crept into the dark apartment. There was a brief scuffle, followed by a muted yelp from Handri. Vergil forced himself upright and stumbled into the room. He wasn’t sure what he could do if Handri had been attacked by goblins, but Handri deserved better than to be deserted. Besides, Vergil didn’t have the energy to climb back down the stairs.
“Who goes there?” Vergil demanded—or tried to. His words ran together from exhaustion, so it came out as a barely audible “Huguzzah?”
“You came back!” cried a familiar, booming voice, and Vergil gave a sigh of relief. It was Yurgi.
Handri gasped for breath. “Let… me… go!” he croaked.
“Oh, sorry,” said Yurgi. “I get excited sometimes.”
Vergil heard Handri collapse on the floor. “I think you broke a rib,” he moaned.
“I was just happy to see you guys,” said Yurgi. “Did I really hurt you?”
“It’s alright, Yurgi,” Handri said. “You surprised me a little is all. You may be happy to see us, but we can’t see you at all. I’m going to find a light.”
Vergil felt his way through the dark to the couch and sank into it while Handri scrounged in the dark for a lantern. He managed to find one and get it lit, then sat down across from Vergil. Yurgi had sat down on the floor, her bad leg stretched out before her.
“I tried to catch those goblins, but they were too fast for me,” said Yurgi. “I ran after them for a while, but they escaped into the sewers, where I couldn’t follow them. Then I got lost and couldn’t find my way back to that big house. So I came back here.”
“Well, we’re glad you did,” said Handri. If any of those CAGE goons show up here, we at least have a fighting chance now.” Vergil nodded silently, barely able to stay awake.
“You don’t have to worry about them,” said Yurgi. “I’ll stand watch. I mean, I’ll sit watch. I can’t stand for very long. Did you find anything out about Marko?”
Vergil bit his lip. Yurgi hadn’t heard Quandrasi’s plan to publicly execute her boss. Telling her now would probably send her into hysterics. “We’re going to try to rescue Marko tomorrow,” he said.
“So they still have him? We need to go break him out!”
“There is nothing we can do tonight, Yurgi,” said Vergil. “We would be very grateful to have your help tomorrow, but for now we must sleep.”
“I can’t sleep while Lord Balphry is in prison,” Yurgi said.
“You should try to get some sleep as well,” said Vergil. “We can sleep in shifts.”
Yurgi shook her head. “You sleep. Sometimes ogres stay up for days,” she said.
Vergil frowned. He supposed this was true, but he doubted it was any easier for Yurgi to go without sleep than it was for her to go without food. He intended to object, but found that he couldn’t find the words through the haze of exhaustion that was enveloping him. Vergil drifted off to sleep.
Chapter 17
Vergil was awakened by the sound of bells ringing: first two chimes, then three, then two more. After a few seconds, the sequence repeated itself.
“One hour,” said Handri, standing somewhere behind him. Vergil sat up to see Yurgi still sitting on the floor in front of him. She looked tired, but wide awake.
“Until curfew?” asked Vergil, confused. Daylight streamed through the windows; it seemed far too early for a curfew.
“Until the trial,” said Handri. “I mean, I assume that’s what it’s for. That’s the mandatory public assembly chime.”
Vergil leaped off the couch. “Confound this city’s cryptic communication system,” he growled. “Why did you not wake me earlier?”
“You said you needed sleep to come up with a plan. I figured you’d wake up when you had it. So?”
Vergil stared at him for a moment, not understanding what Handri was asking.
“Trial?” asked Yurgi.
“They’re putting on a show trial for Lord Balphry,” said Handri. “Then they’re going to ex—”
“Plan!” cried Vergil. “Of course! I have a plan!” Clearing away the cobwebs in his brain, he found that in fact, he had no plan.
“I knew it!” said Handri excitedly. “What do we do?” He and Yurgi looked at him expectantly.
“No time to explain all the details now,” said Vergil, thinking quickly. “I’ll explain it on the way to the city square.”
“What’s happening in the city square?” asked Yurgi.
“Oh, you weren’t there,” said Handri. “Quandrasi is planning a—”
“A demonstration,” Vergil interjected. “As I said, I’ll explain it on the way over.” He could only hope he’d be able to think of something on the way over.
Yurgi shrugged, apparently content that they were finally going to be doing something to free her boss. The three of them made their way to the city square, with Vergil and Handri leading the way and Yurgi limping along behind. Twice they ran into gangs of CAGE goblins, and Vergil was certain they recognized him, but after getting a look at Yurgi, the goblins suddenly found themselves with pressing business elsewhere.
The crowd extended well beyond the square itself, spilling into neighboring streets and alleys. Vergil pressed as far forward as he could, but eventually found himself stymied by a near-solid mass of people. They were a good hundred yards away from the Unity statue in the center of the square. Vergil noticed that a raised wooden platform had been set up in front of it. The top of the platform was just above eye-level for the humans. Four black-uniformed goblins, armed with halberds, stood at the corners of the stage, looking menacing.
“We can’t even get close to the stage,” said Handri. “And you still haven’t told us the plan.” He leaned over toward Vergil and said, more quietly, “Do you even have a plan?” Behind them, Yurgi stood silently looking over the crowd, agape at the vast sea of people.
“Of course I have a plan!” Vergil exclaimed, indignant. “Be quiet and I’ll finish working out the details.” As he surveyed the crowed, he noticed that it seemed to be largely segregated by race. Most of the audience were humans, but there were several pockets of goblins, particularly toward the area of the city known as Goblintown. The borders of these pockets seemed to be in flux, as arguments and occasionally physical confrontations broke out between goblins and humans. The tension in the crowd was palpable. Except for Yurgi, there were no monsters present other than goblins.
A small figure began to ascend to the platform from a ramp: even from this distance, Vergil could tell by his arrogant swagger and his ever-present staff that it was Grimble. That is, it was Quandrasi in the form of Grimble. Grimble-Quandrasi stepped toward a small podium in the middle of the stage, and spent a few seconds fiddling with some sort of device that was affixed to it. Then he cleared his throat, and the sound was suddenly all around them, followed by a terrible high-pitched squeal.
Vergil cringed, raising his arms in front of his face. “What devilry is this?” he cried, and several people around him turned to look at him. They too had been startled by the sudden sound, but no more than they might be by an unexpected peal of thunder.
“It’s the sound system, sir,” explained Handri.
“Sound system?” asked Vergil.
“Amplified speakers,” said Handri. “New technology. I think it uses zelaznium.”
Grimble-Quandrasi began to speak, and his voice seemed to come from everywhere at once. Vergil shuddered at the sound. He understood the rationale for the technology, but it seemed unnatural for someone to be able to speak audibly to several thousand people at a time.
“Greetings, fine citizens of Avaressa!” Grimble-Quandrasi said. Many in the crowd cheered, and a few whistled. “For those who do not know me, my name is Grimble, and I am the acting mayor of Avaressa. I’m afraid Mayor Thameril is currently unavailable, for reasons that I will explain in a moment.”
Disapproving mutters and boos arose from the crowd.
“Fortunately I, Grimble, am more than qualified to conduct these proceedings, and I thank you for coming out today to witness this historical event. I imagine you are wondering why I have summoned you here, so please allow me to explain. As I’m sure you all know, there has been some unrest in the city of late, and I have been working tirelessly to get to the bottom of it.”
“You’re at the bottom of it!” somebody not far from Vergil shouted. “Your CAGE goons are riling up the whole city!” Murmurs of assent went up around the man.
It was very unlikely that Grimble-Quandrasi could hear the man, but he went on, “Now I know some of you probably blame the Committee for Advancement of Goblin Equality for the recent troubles, and I will acknowledge that some excesses have occurred.”
Grumbling and muttering went up from the crowd, and a few distant people yelled epithets that Vergil couldn’t make out.
“Yes, yes, I quite understand your agitation,” Grimble-Quandrasi went on. “I have heard your complaints, and I am pleased to announce that I am immediately disbanding CAGE. The organization has served its purpose and is no longer needed.”
There were surprised and mostly approving murmurs from the crowd. Vergil was too far from any of the goblin enclaves to judge the reaction there, but he supposed it was somewhat more muted.
“But although CAGE has contributed somewhat to the discord in the city,” Grimble-Quandrasi went on, “it is not the root cause of the troubles.”
Shouts went up from several goblins. They were too far away for Vergil to make out their words, but he could guess what they were saying—as could Quandrasi, no doubt.
“Indeed,” Grimble-Quandrasi continued, “the vigilante group known as KLAMP has also stirred up its share of trouble. In fact, it was largely this group’s lawless actions that made CAGE necessary. KLAMP too has been disbanded and its leaders have been imprisoned.”
There were cheers from the goblin sections. The reaction from the humans was more ambivalent. When the cheers died down, Grimble-Quandrasi continued:
“But KLAMP was also only a symptom of the root problem. In fact, to some degree I can sympathize with KLAMP’s goals. Their members are mostly good men, who thought they were doing what they needed to do in order to save their city. They were misguided and their tactics were unacceptable, but I believe they meant well. You see, fine citizens, you are not the problem here. None of you, neither goblins nor humans. You only want the best for yourself and your own kind, as all living creatures do. Occasionally our two races have our differences, but generally we can work out our differences without resorting to violence, which of course none of us wants.”
Murmurs of agreement went up from the crowd. Vergil didn’t like the way this was going at all. He had expected Quandrasi to launch into an angry tirade in an attempt to rile up the crowd, but he was taking a much more subtle tack, depicting himself as the voice of reason. By disbanding CAGE and expressing sympathy toward KLAMP’s members, he was fooling the crowd into believing he had no agenda other than justice and reconciliation.
“What is he up to?” Handri asked. “I thought he said he needed the crowd to be angry.”
“They are,” said Vergil. As someone who had gone to sleep angry and woke up angry a hundred years later, he knew something about the resilience of anger. “He just needs to redirect their anger. Listen.”
Grimble-Quandrasi continued, “Sadly, during the course of my exhaustive investigation of the causes of the recent troubles, I have found that there are those who do not share the goal of living together in peaceful coexistence. Yes, as difficult as it may be for decent citizens like yourselves to believe, there are those among us who actively desire to provoke discord between our races.” He paused a moment to allow this remark to settle on the audience. The crowd buzzed and murmured in anticipation. “My investigation led me to one individual in particular,” Grimble-Quandrasi went on. “A man who has become obscenely wealthy on the backs of Avaressa’s most vulnerable citizens. A man whose quest for wealth and power has left a trail of dead and maimed workers in and around this city. A man who is not even above burning down his own mill to intimidate those demanding better working conditions.”
The murmurs of the crowd became louder and more agitated, and Vergil cringed. It had to be clear to most of the crowd that Grimble-Quandrasi was talking about Marko. Marko hadn’t been to blame for the fire—not directly, anyway—but Quandrasi obviously had no qualms about twisting the facts to fit his narrative. Vergil wanted to object, but even if Quandrasi heard him—which was unlikely—his protests would accomplish nothing. Vergil would be arrested and either used as a witness against Quandrasi or made to take the blame in Marko’s place. His chivalrous instincts told him this would be a noble sacrifice, but the more sensible part of his brain told him it would be pointless: implicating himself wouldn’t save Marko; it would only result in Vergil being beheaded alongside him.
A rumbling voice above Vergil startled him; at first he thought it was another glitch in the ‘sound system.’ It turned out to be Yurgi, bending over to bring her mouth within a few inches of his head. “Who is he talking about?” she asked. “Where is Lord Balphry?”
Vergil had a sickening feeling that they were going to find out where Marko was soon enough, and he still didn’t have even the faintest inkling of a plan. Somehow he had to rescue Marko and put an end to this circus before something very bad happened. The situation was troubling enough when he thought the goblins and humans were going to turn on each other en masse, but Quandrasi’s rhetoric hinted at something far worse. He was going to try to focus their anger on a single person in order to… how did he put it? “Channel the crowd’s hatred into physical form.” But what did that mean? How could hatred be channeled into physical form?”
Grimble-Quandrasi continued, “And I have learned that while exploiting the working poor, this man has been bribing city officials—including several members of the city council—to look the other way. It appears that even our respected mayor, Thameril, has received such bribes.”
Gasps and murmurs went up from the crowd.
Grimble-Quandrasi held up his hands to silence the crowd. “The city guard attempted to bring Thameril in for questioning, but he left town under the cover of darkness. I have in my possession, however, records documenting these improper payments as well as evidence that Thameril was involved in coordinating the Knights for the Limitation of the Advancement of Monstrous Populations.”
More gasps and murmurs.
“Yes, it is a sad day when even our most respected politicians cannot be trusted. But Mayor Thameril too is only a minor figure in this scandal. The true villain in this story is the man who paid those bribes to conceal his illicit activities. And that man’s crimes go far beyond the corrupting of city officials and exploiting the poor. I also have in my possession incontrovertible evidence that the man in question has been plotting for some time against the people of this city. I believe his goal was to turn the humans and goblins of Avaressa against each other—to provoke violence and riots in the city, perhaps even to destroy the city itself. He has done this through a wide range of underhanded deals, blackmail, bribes, threats, deception and manipulation. Why did he do this? What was his endgame? To be honest, fellow citizens, I find it difficult to comprehend the motives of such a perverse, malevolent mind. In the end, I believe this man sought nothing more than mayhem and destruction. And he very nearly succeeded in causing this city to turn on itself, destroying it from the inside out as not even the most voracious horde of barbarians could. Fortunately, I was able to uncover this dastardly plot before it got to that point. The culprit has been apprehended, and will now stand trial for his wicked deeds before you. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you this scheming malefactor, this oozing pustule on the body politic of this fine city, the foul villain himself—”
