Chapter 3
1406 Words
Chapter 3
Alyna walked into a small natural medicine clinic that Pukak managed and used as his office on the North Side of the city. She knocked on the crooked office door, but there was no answer, so she pushed her way in.
Pukak was the leader of the clan, a powerful mage with ultra-sensitive ears that could hear faint sounds even a mile away, and his light energy could burn the entire block of compartments.
Well, that had been during his heyday. He was nearly retired now. Or if Alyna understood him right, he could retire if he found a rightful successor for the clan.
But he cared too much to let go.
Pukak startled and jerked up from his chair. “Don’t you know how to knock, Alyna?”
“I did, but you seemed to be too busy sniffing your piles of paper to hear me.”
He rubbed at his temples and leaned back in his chair. She noted the bags under his eyes. He looked ten years older than when she had seen him yesterday.
“Is everything okay…apart from the two dead bodies?”
He shook his head and sighed.
“I have friends in the investigation business uptown,” she said. “They can help.”
“What’s the point, Alyna? Ethesus wants to ruin us. If they don’t do it in one way, they’ll find another.”
“Pukak, we are the best in the business. There is nothing a bunch of scumbags on wheels like Ethesus could do to threaten us.”
“We are the best in the private security business, but not in natural medicine. Ethesus is the second best at everything in the outskirt territories.”
“I thought medicine was just a small business…”
Pukak shook his head. His eyes drooped, and with that, the skin on his face sagged even more. “It’s small because I failed. With today’s technology, people don’t appreciate natural medicine anymore.”
She approached the table. She wanted to do something to comfort him, but she always felt awkward when it came to showing compassion. She could help with a fight. She could physically protect him. But she didn’t know how to help when it came to his sentimental attachment to Amaraq.
“Have you given the successor role some more thought?” he asked.
“No, I’m sorry.” She shoved her hands in her pockets. “I’m not a mage.”
Pukak chuckled. “As if I didn’t know that! Thank you for the reminder. I’ve been taking care of you since you were sixteen. You’re my protege. Nobody says the successor has to be a mage. We elect by competition. And you are the best, Alyna.”
“I’m only good at combat, Pukak. As you said, the business is more complicated than that. I don’t think I’m fit for the role.”
He nodded. “If that’s the only reason.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re not an ordinary human. You know that, Alyna.”
“I don’t know that.”
“No human could have survived that car crash. Your parents died. When I pulled you out of the wreck, I swear to you I saw your light go out for a moment and then return.”
“You told me that, and I don’t have an explanation for you. Maybe it was a near death experience. But it still doesn’t make me anything different from how I was created.”
“You’re absolutely right. But I am an old mage. I have seen a lot of things you couldn’t imagine. And I can see the dark energy in you. Something returned with you during that experience.”
“Yes, Pukak, you’ve said that several times. But I don’t have any supernatural power. That much I know. The blow I took from the Ethesus thug the other week injured my right shoulder. I didn’t get away unscathed. And if I’m ever in another car crash, I’m pretty sure you won’t pull me out alive.”
“All right, all right, I won’t push you. Anything new about the dead body?”
She shook her head. “If the death toll rises, it will set the private security business on fire, Pukak. And it’s not just the business…we can’t let them kill our people. We have to stop Ethesus. We have the manpower.”
“We can’t go to war with them for no reason. We have no evidence they have killed our men.”
“I can—”
“No, Alyna. We can’t afford to lose you. I don’t approve of you going anywhere near Ethesus territories by yourself. If we fight them, we must be better prepared. They have the wheels, but we will have weapons.”
“It’s about damn time.”
“Excuse me?”
“I mean, it’s only fair if we get more guns. Fist fighting against a motorbike gang won’t do us any good.”
Pukak nodded. “I understand. We’re skilled fighters, but yes, weapons help. But they cost money.” He looked at her with eyes that told her she was about to hear something she didn’t want to. “I’ve sold Amaraq’s business.”
She didn’t know what to say, so she remained silent.
“Our spiritual practice will stay the same. We’ll still operate the same way. It’s just that the financial matters and business practices will be handled by the LeBlanc Group.”
“The LeBlancs? The super uptown, living-in-the-cloud-with-the-gods LeBlancs?”
Pukak chuckled. “They’re not that elusive. In fact, one of the LeBlancs handled the business purchase himself—he didn’t even send his minions. He’s coming here to do a site visitation.”
“You’re kidding!”
“No, I’m not. The contract is still in the cooling-off period, so we’d better behave, Alyna. We need the money for the business. And I promise you, Amaraq’s spirit will stay the same. Nothing’s going to change that. The LeBlancs aren’t interested in our spiritual practice anyway. They vetted us carefully. I’ve done my homework, too.”
“I’m sure you know what you’re doing.”
“I can’t do it without you. Now I need you to host the visit for me.”
“Host? Me? What do you mean?”
“Well, we have dirty laundry to hide, don’t we? I’m not asking you to lie. All I’m asking is that you get them to see the negative aspects of the business in perspective.”
“Got it.”
They heard a knock on the door.
“And here he is,” Pukak muttered and stood up. “The door is open.”
Alyna turned around, and in front of her was a face that left her speechless.
She had seen him before.
For a week, she had seen his face repeatedly in her dreams, dreams that woke her up in the middle of the night. Longish dark hair, strikingly haunting gray eyes, and a beautiful God-given face that didn’t bear any mark of a hard life.
He straightened his posture after bending over to get through the low doorway. “Hello,” he said.
She swiveled to his right side, reached her hand up, and stopped his head an inch before it hit the broken low-hanging ceiling lamp.
As she moved, the photos of the dead bodies she had just taken slid out of the folder in her hand and landed on the dirty floor in front of him.
He glanced at the photos and looked at her, smiling, “Thank you. Caedmon LeBlanc.” He reached his hand out to shake hers.
She shook his hand quickly and bent down to pick up the photos. Pukak wanted to walk around the table for a handshake, but there was no room, so he reached over and across it.
Caedmon advanced to the table to shake his hand. Pukak’s elbow hit the pile of papers on his table, scattering them all over the floor. Photos, unpaid bills, an eviction notice from the building owner, complaint letters about water leakage from citizens living around a clinic in midtown drifted all over the room.
Alayna scrambled on all fours to pick up as many pieces of paper as possible.
Caedmon crouched. “Let me help,” he said.
Pukak pushed his way to the front. “Oh no, no, it’s okay. I’ll handle this. Alyna,” he said. “Please take Mr. LeBlanc to visit the clinic in midtown. The one that’s open today.”
That means the one that doesn’t have water leakage, she thought and winked at Pukak.
Caedmon stood up.
“Go, both of you. You’re crowding my office.” Pukak was all but pushing Caedmon and Alayna out of his office.
“All right,” Caedmon said and turned to the door. Then he sneezed because of the dust, lost his balance, and hit his head on the low doorway on his way out.
“Are you okay?” Alayna asked.
He rubbed his head and grinned.
What a smile! she thought.
“My father always told me I have a hard head.”
“You might, but still…competing with a doorframe isn’t a good idea.”
“Totally agree.”
Before she could react, he slid his arm around her waist and guided her out. She felt like a true lady.
“Now, is someone killing your men? Those dead men in the photos were Amaraq fighters, right?”
- Writer
