Industry & Intrigue (22 page)

“
The archmage is
powerful
,
but he knows little of moving through the sky. The sky is where my
people live,” replied Zuri.

There was
a cracking sound and the
elemental moved. It pummeled against Yadra’s wall. Bits of bone
slowly breaking off as its powerful blows wore down the magic. Its
hammer like hands then smashed through the wall.

Before
they could do anything it turned
towards the fallen archmage. It lifted its hand, bringing it down
upon his head and crushing it to bloody pulp. The elemental slowly
disappeared. With the archmage dead, the magic keeping it here was
undone and it returned to whatever deep place in the earth it had
come from.

Zuri walk
ed over to the now, dead
Feyton. “I may not have been able to do it myself, but I’m not
sorry to see you gone.” She spat on his body. Then she looked back
at Reese. “You, what are you doing here? Reese Galius, wasn’t it?”
she asked.

“
Yes mastermage. I was
looking for you to ask a favor but it looks like I don’t have the
best timing.”

Zuri stared at him for a second
and then burst into laughter. She laughed for a long time, unable
to control herself.
His comment was just so absurd in the midst of all this
madness. When she finally stopped she asked, “What
favor?”

“
I need to find the name of a
mage” said Reese
.

“
That’s it?”

“
A mage who threatened me and
stole something from my room. All I have is an accent, but I have
heard that Warded Spirals has the best records in the
empire.”

“
I’ll help you, I’m feeling in a
generous mood right now, but we best hurry. The school’s security
will be on their way and they’ll want answers from all of us. After
tonight, you may not have a chance to check the
records.”

Chapter 19

The party was more impressive
than Luthais
Mordain had expected. When Tegan first proposed having an
extravagant wake for their father, he had not been looking forward
to it. Wakes were tedious and grim affairs, with the guests dressed
in drab greys and blacks, talking about how much they cared for the
deceased or what they liked most about them.

This was different
than he expected,
no one was dressed in the drab colors associated with death. Tegan
had insisted on not following that custom, though everyone still
pandered to him and his siblings, talking about how close they had
been to his father. They raved on about the business relationships
they had with him. It was all terribly sycophantic.

Councilor Olig
Northcote of Baran
province had explained to him in great detail the lengths that
Cormac Mordain had gone to help him get his appointment and how
grateful he was. If Luthais ever needed anything he had only to
ask.

Alrich Kerr, the
aging
,
managing director of Green River Engines, was telling him about the
cutthroat business dealings he and Cormac had engaged in during
their younger days

Luthais tried to drone the old man’s voice
out and stared into his goblet of wine. They were nothing but
parasites. Trying to leach off the death of his father and win
their way into his sister’s good graces by praising the bitter, old
man.

T
hey had twisted the memory of his father
into something other than what it was. His father was no saint and
unlike the rest of these fools, death wasn’t going to make him say
anything good about the man.

The same man who had beaten him as a
teenager whenever he made an accounting error, dressed him down and
humiliated him in front of his older sisters, and had once swooped
in and stolen a Yarali duchess he had been trying to seduce. His
father had taken her to bed himself to teach his him a lesson in
humility. Luthais said no words of praise at his father’s funeral
and he was finding it hard to stomach them from anyone
else.

But his
siste
r did
know how to throw a party. She had the caterers and decorators
transform the entire western wing of the fourth floor. Black and
white roses covered the top of every door, the main room was packed
with tables of food and a dance space was cleared out in the center
with a band playing somber music.

And the guests she
ha
d invited
were prestigious. Not surprising considering their father’s
prominence and the influence of the Mordain name. Councilors,
corporate leaders-allies and rivals alike, mages, generals, and
dukes of the noble houses.

Luthais had even spotted the
Q
ueen of
Estara herself, with vigilant bodyguards of course, but he had no
interest in speaking to her. He could care less about politics. No
doubt his sister would expect him to introduce himself to the
queen, she cared so much about formalities.

Luthais refi
lled his wine and looked
around. Despite the impressive scale of the wake, he wasn’t
enjoying himself. His idea of a party was far different than this.
He would prefer to be with his friends from the other upper-class
families, at one of their country houses with barrels of liquor and
girls willing to do whatever he wanted.

He took a deep
drink
,
hoping that getting drunk would overcome the boredom that was
starting to set in.

“
You have a healthy
t
hirst,”
said someone behind him.

He turned around to see an
older woman, older
than his sister Tessa, but it was hard to tell by how much.
Her raven black hair had a few streaks of grey and there were lines
around her blue eyes, but she had a beautiful face, with
well-applied make-up. She was tall and lithe, her body hugged by a
shimmering blue dress, an elegant ruby necklace graced her neck and
she wore expensive looking leather ankle boots.

“
Either that or
you’re as bored as
I am,” she said.

“
Luthais
Mordain
,” he
said and held out his hand.

“
Alyssa
Huntington
,”
she replied and put her hand in his.

H
e turned it face down and kissed the top.
“It’s an honor to meet the famous CEO of Huntington Mechanics.
Welcome to my father’s wake Mrs. Huntington,” said
Luthais.

“
Thank you
,” she replied. “And it’s my
honor to meet a young man with such good manners. Harder to find in
this day and age. And it’s Ms. Huntington, not Mrs.”

“
But you’re married aren’t
you?”
he
asked.

“
Yes
,” she replied. “But my name is worth
far more than my husband’s. Hells, my name and influence is the
reason he married me. So I did not take his name or change my
title. He didn’t care so long as he could use my inventions and
company to get in bed with the ministers and transport corporations
of Enz.”

Luthai
s nodded. “Like my sister, Tegan.
Father would only let her marry on the condition that she was able
to keep the Mordain name. Never mind that he was getting a
son-in-law in the banking sector.” Alyssa laughed, it was deep and
full throated.

“
So, why is a handsome
and
rich man
like you standing alone at a party like this?” she asked. “I know
it’s your father’s wake and all, but as I see it death is all the
more reason to celebrate life don’t you?” She winked at
him.

Luth
ais smiled at her. Was she flirting
with him? He had to admit that in spite of her age over him, he
found her attractive. He took another sip of wine. “Did you know my
father?” he asked.

“
Only as a professional
rival
,”
replied Alyssa. “He didn’t think too kindly of me. At my first
imperial banquet, he called me an upstart little girl who had
merely been lucky. He said he would do his best to ensure I never
was again.”

Luthais laughed.
“That sounds like
my father. What a bastard.” He paused, watching her reaction to his
words. “I know that sounds out of place seeing as we’re at his
wake. But it’s what he was and always will be. His death doesn’t
change that.”

“
One reason I never had
children, they would only have resented me,” said Alyssa in an
understanding tone. “I dedicated my life to my inventions and my
company. My husband dedicated his to making as many friends in high
places as he could. We never would have been able to raise them the
way children should be raised.”

“
Where is your good
husband anyway?” asked Luthais.

“
Try
ing to charm your eldest sister,”
replied Alyssa. “She holds the purse strings of the empire after
all.”

Luthai
s decided to change the subject away
from his family. “So have you been cooking up anything new in that
brilliant mind of yours? An ingenious device that will awe everyone
and pour more crowns into your accounts?” he asked.

“
Oh goodness no,” replied
Alyssa. “I’m retired from all of that. I have plenty of capable
people to do that for me now. I want to live out the rest of my
days in comfort and pass my knowledge onto the next generation. I
teach mechanics at the university.”

He was skeptical that she had
given up inventing entirely.
“Oh? I find that hard to believe. The famous
Alyssa Huntington has no more ideas left in her. Inventor of the
world’s first steam engine and the repeater rifle. The gun that’s
winning us all that wonderful flare-rock in Naikos province and of
course the much more recent hand held electro-weapons the imperial
army has put into service,” he said teasingly.

Alyssa smiled back and this time she was
definitely flirting. It was a smile that held the promise of all
sorts of nasty thoughts running through her head. “Well, one or
two,” she replied. “Since you aren’t too amused with this party why
don’t we go somewhere more private and I could let you in on the
details of the more…interesting projects that I have on my mind.”
She stepped closer to him, her eyes giving him a look of
invitation.

Luthais
grinned
.
“What an excellent idea. I know just the place.” They slipped away
from the main hall of the party and out past the servers at the
door. Luthais took her hand and led her upstairs.

She marveled at the intricate
marble work and statues that lined the wide
stairs
. “I
knew your family was one of the richest in the empire, but I had no
idea that the Mordain mansion was so…” she said, searching for the
right word.

“
Extravagant?” suggested
Luthais. “Decadent would be the better word. My ancestors were not
known for their humbleness.” He led her down a lighted hallway on
the fifth floor. At the end he opened the door to a lounge room
with deep red carpeting and paintings covering most of the
walls.

“
This looks perfect,” said
Alyssa, as Luthais closed the door and switched on the
lights.

“
The pai
ntings in this room are worth more
than the value of one of your company’s military contracts,”
boasted Luthais. Personally he had no interest in art, it was
nothing but an ugly waste of money.

Alyssa smiled at him then grabbed him and
pulled him close. “If I were to guess, would I be correct in saying
that this room is right above the wake?” she asked.

“
You would
,” replied Luthais. “Where the
empire’s elite are having a prim and proper ceremony for my
father.” He pulled her to him and kissed her long and
deep.

She sighed as he pulled
off
. “So the
rumors I’ve heard about you are true Luthais. You are a devious and
naughty young man.”

“
Is that what they say?” he said
as his hand crept down her dress. He pulled it up to her waist and
then slid one hand underneath slipping past her underwear. She
uttered a small moan as he moved his fingers into her.

“
I believe you said something
about giving me details on something you had on your mind” he said,
continuing to tease her with his fingers. “Why don’t you show me
exactly what dirty thoughts you meant?” She moaned much louder this
time and grabbed his head and kissed him passionately.

Luthais was still sprawled comfortably
couch as Alyssa slipped her clothes back on. He leisurely watched
until she was finished. “You never did get round to telling me
about your ideas,” he said.

“
Didn’t I
just demonstrate what I had on
my mind?” she replied, grinning.

“
Yes,
but I thought you might give your
lowly competitor a hint as to what I have to live up to. I do run
Typhon’s armaments division you know.”

She pulled the top of her dress
over her shoulders.
“Oh yes I know. Quite a responsibility, are you up to
it?”

“
We’ll see. So how about
it?” he asked, trying to get her to say something.

“
Luth
ais, you must know I can’t spill my
ideas, especially to someone in your position,” she said, her tone
becoming more serious. “But I tell you what, in two weeks I’ll be
giving a demonstration of a prototype to the emperor and several
ministers. Something that may well revolutionize warfare. I’ll get
you an invitation for the official demonstration. Give you an idea
of what you’re up against.”