A Storm in the Desert: Dragonlinked Chronicles Voume 3 (74 page)

Aeron stood. “Nesch Takatin was the one who instigated all those events. It was not the Corpus Order, as a whole, who did so.”

“That is correct.”

Why was Master Gella’s expression so sad?

“And he will be punished for those actions. Unfortunately, even without all the rest, it was his and his allies’ involvement with National Transportation’s work in Ghost Flats that dictated the result of my findings.”

That didn’t sound good. Aeron looked at Capu Cirtis. The man’s face was ashen and his shoulders were slumped.

“The Corpus Order will have to be shut down.”

Umeri were on their feet again, protesting, shouting, their voices desperate.

Aeron stared at Master Gella. “No.”

Aeron, what is wrong?

“You can’t do this!” Aeron had to shout to be heard over the others.

“I’m sorry,” Master Gella said. “It is beyond my control.”

A few umeri were leaving. Rats fleeing a sinking ship?

He took a step. “You cannot do this! Do you fully understand what will happen if the Corpus Order is forced into dissolution?” He gestured to the people in the room. “The Order is more than just them. Bataan-Mok is the lifeblood of this entire region. The villages, the people, the families, they’re all dependent on the Order.”

“Aeron,” Capu Cirtis looked at him. “Perhaps it is for the bes—”

“No!” He shook his head. “She has to understand what she does by this.”

The remaining umeri had stopped talking and were watching him.

He looked back at Master Gella. “People will lose their livelihoods. They’ll be forced to move away or die. This region will revert to how it was when the Corpus Order was formed over a century ago. Is that what you want? We asked you to help us, but instead, you’re bringing about exactly what Nesch Takatin was hoping for.”

Aeron, what is happening?

Something terrible.

“I’m sorry, Aeron. Even had there only been sixteen involved and fully aware of what they did . . . . but with Nesch Takatin there were eighteen. That’s well over a third of management. The law is quite clear on this.”

“Then the law is stupid!”

“Aeron.” Guildmaster Millinith stared at him. Her expression was as bleak as Capu Cirtis’s.

“The law is not stupid.” Master Gella looked angry. “Laws are there to protect people.”

Aeron couldn’t help the laugh that escaped his lips. “Protect? Are you serious? How is this law protecting the hundreds of members of the Order who will be left homeless and without any source of income? Members who had nothing to do with helping National Transportation. How is it helping them? How is it helping the villagers who will be forced to leave homes their families have lived in for generations?”

“It isn’t as simple as all that, Aeron.” Master Gella sighed.

How could she say that? He stared at her. “Isn’t it?”

“I really am sorry.”

Aeron clenched his jaws.
It’s over. And everything we did was for nothing.

What?

You. Me. Us nearly dying, again and again. The nahual hunts down here. All of us coming down for the talks. It was all for nothing.

I do not understand.

Aeron turned and walked out of the room. What a waste of effort. What a waste of hope. He sat in the hallway, back against the wall, arms wrapped around his knees. How was he going to tell everyone? He closed his eyes and tried to think of a way.

Aeron? What happened?

How long had he been sitting here?
Master Gella
—he tried not to think hateful things about her—
is going to shut down the Order.

Why?

She says it isn’t in her control. The law says they have to be shut down because so many were involved with whatever it was National Transportation was doing in the flats.

Sadness came through the link.
I am sorry.

Me too, dear-heart. Me too.

“Do you all feel that way?”

Aeron opened his eyes.

Umeron Yiska stood a few feet to the right. “About the Order? Do you all think we do good things?”

Aeron shrugged. “Yeah. I mean, we did want you to stop killing dragons and change how the pesani are recruited and treated, but most of what the Order does is good. We wanted to help change it a bit, not destroy it.”

Yiska nodded. He stared at Aeron a moment more, then turned and left.

+ + + + +

Fillion sat with Gregor in the investigation office. Guildmaster Millinith had called a meeting the moment she and Aeron returned from dropping off Master Gella in Delcimaar.

She will not tell me anything.
Coatl felt a little wounded, but also concerned.

No matter. The meeting’ll start soon, anyway.
It didn’t look like Anaya was telling any of the dragons anything of what happened in the south. All the dragonlinked had sour expressions on their faces. Well, except Aeron. He looked sad, angry, and resigned. Willem was sitting next to him, holding his hand.

Fillion began to worry. If Master Gella’s findings had turned out the way they’d hoped, surely Aeron would look happy.

Anaya won’t tell you anything, but how does she feel?

Sad.

Barbs and pissing blades. Something must have gone wrong.

“Apologies for delaying you.” Master Doronal walked in and quickly took a seat on the other side of the Guildmaster from Master Canneth.

“With everyone here,” Guildmaster Millinith said, “we may begin.” She looked down at a sheet of paper before her. “Special Investigator Gella and her team have control of the mine in Ghost Flats. Its ownership, including that of some of the surrounding land, has been transferred to the Nation under dominium eminens, and Continental Transportation Company, which is in the process of purchasing most of National Transportation’s real estate assets, will be paid fair market value for the land, plus a percentage, in exchange.”

Fillion glanced at Gregor. Lord Eldin would likely be happy about that. But, where was the bad news?

“As you all know,” Guildmaster Millinith said, “Master Gella arrived in Bataan-Mok on the day of our talks. Since then, she’s been investigating ties between National Transportation and the Corpus Order. After being confronted with a great deal of evidence against him, Nesch Takatin told her everything concerning his plans. He’s to be put on trial for numerous crimes. Whatever his punishment, it will be reduced, somewhat, because of the assistance he provided Master Gella with her investigation.”

Fillion grunted. That
was
bad news. The bastard deserved to get severely punished for everything he did and was involved with.

“He provided her the names of all who worked with him both in the Order and out. Including himself and umeri, there were eighteen of the Corpus Order’s management knowingly involved in the scheme with National Transportation.”

Sharrah took a quick breath. “No.”

Fillion looked at her. What was she surprised about?

“Indeed,” Guildmaster Millinith said. “Because of that, the Corpus Order will have to be forced into dissolution.”

Fillion was on his feet. “No! She can’t do that!”

Renata and Polandra were both protesting as well.

“How could she?” Jessip said as Zolin trumpeted his own incredulity.

“Dragonlinked,” Guildmaster Millinith said, “get control of yourselves and your dragons. There was nothing Master Gella
could
do. Over a third of them were involved. The law is the law. She doesn’t have the authority to overrule it. No one does.”

Fillion turned to the Guildmaster. “What about . . . Ana? Could she do something?”

Millinith shook her head. “She can’t ignore the laws. If anything, she’s even more bound by them than anyone else.”

He sat. This was a dream, a terrible, horrible nightmare. It had to be.

“So what happens now?” Liara clasped Polandra’s hand. “Where will all the members of the Order go? What will they do?”

“I don’t know.” The Guildmaster looked down at the paper. “The Order will be shut down over the course of the next several weeks. That should give them time to figure something out.”

“At the very least,” Willem said, voice quiet, “we don’t have to worry about the manisi anymore.”

“And that jackass Takatin will be sent to gaol.” Sharrah looked at Aeron. “It’s not a punch in the stomach, but it’s something.”

Fillion shook his head. All their work, for naught. “I can’t believe this
shit
!” He slammed his fist on the table.

“Fillion,” Master Doronal said. “I understand your frustration, but please—”

“I’m with him,” Aeron told Master Doronal. “I can’t believe it either. We worked so hard to save the Order, to change it for the better, and now it’s being forced into dissolution.”

“Exactly!” Fillion said. “After all our efforts, the only one who’ll benefit is Lord Eldin.”

“You make it sound as if my father was colluding with Takatin.” Gregor looked confused, but also a little defensive. “He’s taking advantage of the situation, yes, but he didn’t cause it.”

“I didn’t mean it like that,” Fillion said. “It’s just that with National Transportation being shut down due to the investigation that
we
helped with,
he
gets to acquire all their land for mere mills on the pale, and meanwhile, Master Gella goes and shuts down—” An idea sprang into being and, eyes wide, he gasped.

Coatl roared.
That might work!

“Fillion?” Gregor stared at him. “What is it?”

Heart beating a thousand times a second, he murmured, “What if we could remake the Order precisely as we wanted it?”

“I don’t understand,” Guildmaster Millinith said.

Fillion looked at her. “If I let her ride Coatl as much as she wanted for the rest of her life, how cheaply do you think Ana would let the guild buy the assets of the Corpus Order?”

Master Doronal’s eyes grew large and Guildmaster Millinith leaned back in her chair.

Master Canneth started chuckling. “Now that’s as bold a move as I’ve ever heard of.”

Cheddar had a large smile on his face. “With us only being a few months old, would opening a Dragon Craft Hall in the south so soon be considered impudent?”

“Fillion.” Aeron stared at him, eyes wide with incredulity and wonder. “You are a certified genius!”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Guildmaster Millinith said. “If, and I stress
if
, we do this, I’d have to be in charge there, too. There are no masters to helm the place. Hells, we haven’t even defined how to determine if someone
is
a master in Dragon Craft.”

“You’d not have to be both places all the time,” Polandra said. “I’d be more than happy to help in the South as much as needed until a master is placed there.”

“Me, too,” Renata said. “Besides which, we could hire Capu Cirtis and Isandath and any former Order members who are willing to join Dragon Craft to help as well.”

“And I can keep an eye on things here,” Adept Liflin said, “when you are in the South.”

“Don’t forget that most of what went on in the Order could continue in the same fashion,” Willem said. “Maintenance, dining, laundry, community services, farming, and such. Those you rehire will already know how to do all that already, so they won’t need to be taught.”

“Certain former positions could be eliminated, too,” Master Doronal said, “like the manisi. There’d be no need for them with dragonlinked doing pretty much everything they did. That being said, I would imagine that any former manis that wanted to apply to be dragonlinked, and was approved by a dragon, would be welcome.”

“This could work,” Master Canneth said. “As Renata said, the infrastructure positions are already there. All you’d need do is hire the few that are not.”

“And train them,” Guildmaster Millinith pointed out. She didn’t look argumentative, though, she looked thoughtful, if a little nervous.

Master Canneth nodded. “And train them, yes. But we’ve got a nice group of candidates here ready to be presented for bonding, and we’ve got instructors enough to handle them, so there isn’t as much of a rush. You’ve got time to get everything sorted down there.”

“After all your work getting the Guildhall staffed and ready,” Master Doronal said, smiling, “you know what’s needed to run a guildhall and, by extension, a guild branch. Meet with Capu Cirtis and discuss the details of what positions could be—converted?—to the guild, which could be eliminated completely, and you’ll then know which remain to be filled.”

Guildmaster Millinith played with a lock of her hair, twining her finger around it again and again. “Alandra’s merciful heart, Fillion. You may end up putting me in an early grave, but I do like this idea, indeed I do.” She chuckled. “Just when I thought I was close to having a little time for breathing and sleeping.”

She took a slow deep breath and then let it out. “Masters? I think we need to meet with Lord Baronel, immediately. We don’t want life to be disrupted down there for very long. Fillion, you should get yourself and Coatl ready. Once the meeting with Lord Baronel is complete, you and I will need to return to Delcimaar to talk with Master Gella, and possibly with Ana. In fact,” she pulled over the ‘writer, “I’m going to send Master Gella a request for a meeting, right now.”