Daddy Dearest
“She is completely out of control!” Kal shouted, “She’s got mercenaries-mercenaries, not private investigators, not detectives, mercenaries-following Trea and I and harassing anyone who comes into contact with us. One of them even had the gall-the gall!-to break into Trea’s room above the office the other night, in the middle of the night! Honestly, Father, it’s time that you stepped in a did something about this.”
Kalwren Meadowhart II leaned forward on his desk, putting his folded hands underneath his chin and considered his son who was pacing the office like some enraged beast. This was the first time he had complained about Mercy since they were children. Mr. Meadowhart had always known his son felt sympathy for his little sister, Kal was not blind to the way his step-mother, Mercy’s mother, treated her. Their aunts weren’t much better.
Kal’s mother, Mr. Meadowhart’s first wife, died when Kal was only 20 months of an infection in the blood. A year later Mr. Meadowhart married a scheming, conniving woman named Lamia after being persuaded that Kalwren needed a mother. For Mr. Meadowhart, women were only a means to an heir, and he had an heir already. The nurses and maids could do a fine enough job raising the boy in his opinion. After setting his eyes on Lamia at a gathering one night, he decided a wife could be used for much more than just breeding sons. Three years later Mercy was born and Kalwren II lost interest in his new wife, content to let her spend money as frivolously as she wanted. Lamia became cruel when she realised Kalwren wasn’t interested in a baby girl. Kalwren III was all he had needed, so she set her intentions on marrying Mercy young so she’d be rid of the girl. Time and again Kal would defend his sister from her mother. Lamia wouldn’t dare to touch Kal, it would have been like committing a cardinal sin in the Meadowhart house, and Mr. Meadowhart would have had no problem divorcing the woman who injured his son, leaving her in the poor house.
Kal, had stopped pacing and stared at his father, who seemed to be lost in thought. He sighed, “Will you just, please, put her on the board or something? You know she’s better than half the men you have there now. She’s always had a mind for math and she’s as shrewd a businessman as anyone out there.”
This snapped Mr. Meadowhart out of his reverie, “Wh-What? Put Mercy on the board of directors? No. No, it’s unthinkable. There’s never been a woman in a position of power in the company, and I see no reason to change that.”
Kal rolled his eyes, “All she wants is a chance, and, truthfully, she deserves one a lot more than I do. How many times does she have to prove herself to you? Father, we’re the only family in the area without an accountant doing the household budget. Mercy takes care of all of it. When she buys something, she never pays the asking price, she always gets them down by at least ten gold.”
Mr. Meadowhart shook his head, “I’m sorry, I can’t.”
“This isn’t going to end until either she or I are dead. Which of us would you prefer it to be?”
“Hmmm…”
“YOU’RE NOT SUPPOSED TO THINK ABOUT IT! FOR GOD’S SAKE FATHER! You’re supposed to say that you’d rather neither of us were dead.”
“Then don’t ask me which of you I’d like dead. I wouldn’t want either of you dead, but if it’s a choice between my daughter and my heir…”
“FATHER!“
“Well would you rather I were dishonest?”
“In this case, yes.” Kal was flabbergasted at his father’s attitude, he couldn’t comprehend why he couldn’t be more flexible in his thinking. Women owned businesses all over Ralaugh, not just brothels either. Stores, bakeries, restaurants, even some of the suppliers to the family business were owned and run by women. He flopped into a chair on the other side of his father’s desk and slouched down, defeated.
“Why are you so eager to do this for your sister? You’re next in line for the inheritance, if I put her on the board she can challenge that. Everything you said about her is right, don’t you see her as a threat?”
Kal took a deep breath and let it out slowly, “No. I don’t. Because I know she will challenge it, as well she should. Father, allow me to be blunt here: you spoiled me, gave me everything I wanted. I felt no push to actually achieve anything. Mercy, on the other hand, you completely ignored and wrote off. She’s worked her entire life to earn your love as a father and respect as a business person. She started investing her allowance when she was thirteen while I was still piddling it away on nonsense. She studied every move you made in your business dealings and found a way you could have profited more each time, legally. And I’ll let you in on a little secret: your biggest competitor has offered her a high position in their company, just under the vice president. She turned them down. She doesn’t want to work for them, she wants to work with you. They see her value. I don’t understand why you don’t.”
Mr. Meadowhart sat back in his chair, his forehead creased. He clasped his hands over his ample middle and stared off into the distance, as he was known to do when he was giving something serious thought. This gave Kal some hope. Maybe, just maybe, his father would see things his way and give Mercy her well deserved chance. The moment was cut short by the sharp ring of the telephone on Mr. Meadowhart’s desk.
“Crap,” Kal thought, “I was so close.” He got up and began to walk out the office.
“Hang on son,” his father called out after him, “wait a second. I’ll be off in a minute.” Mr. Meadowhart finished his conversation and looked at Kal. “Come back and talk to me in two days, son. You’ve given me quite a bit to think about.” He paused and thought for a moment longer, “Mercenaries you say? Uh huh. Well,” he said letting out a deep breath with it, “make sure you bring Mercy with you when you come back. Two days. Understand?”
“What time?”
This question shocked Mr. Meadowhart. Kal was known for ignoring appointment times and sauntering whenever he so felt like it. Mr. Meadowhart stumbled for an answer before reaching for a small calendar in his desk drawer, “Uh…How about, uh, three-fifteen P. M.?”
“We’ll be here at three.” Kal walked out, leaving Mr. Meadowhart convinced that either his son was dead serious or had been replaced with a look-alike by Mercy. After hearing she hired mercenaries, he now believed she was capable of anything.
Revelations
Trea stepped out of the tub and wrapped a towel around her. It was the first time in weeks that she could, in some small way, relax. Two weeks had passed since the filthy man at the dock-house, named Paren, had started investigating what Mercy was up to. As far as anyone could tell, Mercy was simply looking for ways to discredit Kalwren with his clients. However, when your clients were made up of people like Paren, discrediting Kalwren would be something of a feat.
Trea extinguished the flame in the bathroom gas lamp, and then cut off the gas to the room. She entered the door to her bedroom, and reached to turn up the dim flame in a lamp when a voice rasped from the corner.
“Clumsy girl. Walking around unarmed at night.”
Trea reached for her knife, but found only the bare skin of her thigh where her weapon usually was. “Dammit,” she thought.
On the other side of the room, one of the gas lamps was turned up, dousing the area in light. There sat a woman, grey and hunched, with oil-black eyes. Trea took a step back and glanced at a table near the door.
“Looking for this?” The woman asked, flashing one of Trea’s knives. “Do you really leave your weapons lying around so carelessly where anyone can get them?”
“Who are you? What are you doing here?”
The woman smiled; it was a cruel, twisted smile. “How bold of you to question me when I obviously have the upper hand.”
The mixture of water and sweat was drying on Trea’s skin, tightening it and making her itch. She didn’t move to scratch though, the grey woman had yet to state her purpose, Trea couldn’t risk making a sudden move and ending up with her own knife lodged in her chest. “How embarrassing would that be?” She thought, “To be found nude and dead by my own knife. By Kalwren no less.” She stared at the woman, who seemed to be thoroughly amused by the situation. “Who are you? Are you working for Mercy? Why are you in my room?”
The woman chuckled, “While I am certainly under the employ of Miss. Meadowhart, this little visit is purely personal. As for who I am,” the woman stood, and as she stood she seemed to grow, her joints and bones creaking and popping along the way. When she was finished she was a good three inches taller than Trea, her skin had taken on a hint of color, and her eyes went from oily black to pale grey, “I am not much different than you.”
Trea gasped, “You-You’re an At’Trean.”
The woman rolled her eyes, “You call one of your own by that name? Even your name is a derivative of it, isn’t it? Don’t you know your true name?” The woman moved toward Trea, “You don’t, do you? Poor, lost child.”
“Who are you?” Trea took a step back and stopped, her back against the door jamb.
“You’re annoying me with that question.” The woman snarled.
“Then answer it.”
Again, a gruesome smile spread across her face, “Nereza.”
“That’s not your name.”
“You’re correct. It is the name that these slow tongued idiots can pronounce. We all have chosen names so these fools can address us properly.”
“All? There are more?”
“Hundreds, just in this city alone. We are over a thousand strong throughout the world.”
“So what then? Why are you here? To kill me?”
Nereza shook her head as she laughed, “I can not kill you, foolish girl. The Grand Elder won’t allow for it.”
“Who is the Grand Elder?”
“Poor, lost child.” The Nereza’s smile waned a bit, “You’ll know everything when the time comes.” She walked towards the windows and looked out of them.
Trea was unsure about what to do. Knowing the woman couldn’t kill her was something of a relief, but she still didn’t say why she had come? Certainly no one would go through all this trouble just to see her and deliver cryptic messages. Trea began walking towards the woman; when she was just a few feet away, the woman, Nereza, spun around and looked her dead in the eye.
“The Grand Elder will be happy to know you are in good health, but I suggest you leave the Meadowharts alone. We fed false information to that twit you hired to follow us, just to put you two at ease. However, Mercy is no one to toy with. She is determined to bring her brother’s world crashing down upon him, and if that means taking you out with him than so be it. If you continue to involve yourself with them, I can not guarantee your safety. Mercy has many hired guns in her employ, I am just one. The next one to visit you may not be so nice.” And with that, she stabbed Trea’s knife into the window sill, opened a window and jumped out it. Her landing was almost inaudible. In the dim streetlight, Trea watched the strange woman run into a dark alley and disappear, leaving Trea unable rest for the remainder of the night.
