Chapter 168: Forcing The Issue
The Warden struggled to hide his frown as he left the council meeting. The contents had been fairly standard, and he really didn’t have much to say beyond his usual advice and some extra tidbits of information his position gave him. Still, what he had heard had been concerning enough.
That the city of Caleb was still in one piece was hard to believe. Especially after hearing not only Harold’s report, but the hundreds of eyewitnesses he had brought back as well. However, the messages from Arthur had been quite hopeful. Either he had been captured and subverted enough to give up all code phrases, or things were better than they could hope.
His strange references to the horrible demon that had shown up made the Warden lean towards the first option though. Specifically that it wasn’t described as a horrible demon, but as something else. Sure, the only message they received was right after the decisive battle, so things were murky, but it was still concerning.
All of that was concerning but not new. The thing that had the Warden frowning was the timing. This was the first council meeting in over a week. That was far less frequent than usual.
At first, he thought that maybe a rival had been trying to make a move on him. A foolish endeavor.Given his advantages and sheer longevity in the kingdom’s inner circles, most didn’t try him. But after a simple investigation, he found that there just hadn’t been any meetings at all.
The Warden didn’t entirely mind the break. To be honest, he had always felt that there were too many of the dang meetings anyway. But the idea that king was so untethered and able to free himself from them was odd. There hadn’t been any signs of bad health or anything, just a small break in the normal routine.
It was a bad time to have the ruler distracted. The Warden was already regretting sending Harold to investigate the other Lieutenants' sites for a few reasons. Despite his recent record, Harold was a savvy political mind and held the ear of the king as well as many other important bureaucrats.
But also, recent reports had ticked the danger up in Harold’s target areas even more. The Warden could have used a more combat-capable asset at his disposal here, and he was leery of trusting Harold on his own at the moment.
At least he wasn’t alone this time. One of the Infiltrators was with him, and that should keep him safe and keep him on track. That was the reasoning the Warden had given Harold, at least, but as with many of his actions, it served a dual purpose. He just didn’t have enough time to tackle his problems one at a time.
The Infiltrator would also be watching Harold closely. Sudden bouts of incompetence or a series of failures weren’t completely impossible, but if Harold had been compromised, they would find out soon.
Once the Warden made it back to his rooms, he completed the circle around the room and the shield popped up. Sitting down, he was finally able to relax and let his true emotions come forth. There was so much more to do.
—-
I left the completely fixed gate on the ground for now as I went in search of pulleys. The humans watched as I moved back into the city, but no one said anything, so I mostly ignored them as I scanned for my target.
The mechanical advantage was something that I had learned about recently. The library had some books on physics, but reading them was one thing. Understanding them was another thing entirely. Even beyond that, using that understanding was even more difficult, in my opinion.
“I’m sorry Lord Void. I didn’t see you there.”
“Yes, uh-”
“-our apologies-”
The two of them stuttered out half sentences. They were clearly having trouble stringing words together. They stepped out of line and tapped the people in front of them, then pointed me out. With a few more startled reactions and a short moment, the entire line had moved out of the way.
That was awfully nice of them. Not wanting to reject their kindness, I rolled up to the entrance of the tent.
Before anything else, a man walked out of the tent followed by an impatient voice roaring, “Next!”
The man who had just emerged was carrying a shiny new sword. He also jumped as he saw me, but I didn’t want to make the angry man inside wait any longer than I had to, so I rolled past the rest of the way into the tent.
“What der ya need?” Came the gruff voice from a head buried in a stack of papers. Before I could respond, I heard more mutterings. “I should have a whole bleeding staff, not just me. This is what I get for being even mildly competent at my god’s cursed job. Need ta handle t’all meself.”
It was whispered at such a low volume that I didn’t think that anyone else would have been able to hear it, but I certainly didn’t have any problems with that. Still, I waited for him to finish his mumbling before replying. Strangely, he just kept going until he looked up with a frustrated expression. “Well! Don’t waste m-”
The Quartermaster cut off when he saw me and jumped to his feet. “Lord Void! What are you doing here?”
I tried explaining, but I didn’t have much hope for him understanding me. Adults never seemed to be able to, especially not on the first try. Sure enough, the man shook his head after I finished explaining. “I’m sorry my Lord, but I didn’t get that. But I assume that you are coming to me because you need something. People always do.”
He turned away and pulled up a bound book from a side table before laying it out on the desk. “Why don’t ye point to what ye need and we can work from there?”
I liked this human; he was very organized and good at thinking. I boosted myself up to the desktop, cleaning my wheels as I was in the air. Dirtying his desk would be poor thanks for his help.
Taking my arm, I turned the pages quickly, reading what was an inventory with detailed notes. Eventually, I found a heavy rope description that sounded like it would serve my purpose. After I pointed it out, we spent a few minutes narrowing down the length I needed.
Soon enough, we left the tent and went to another one nearby, where I got a spool of rope. Though I was politely, yet firmly, asked to bring it back when I was finished with it. Before I left, the Quartermaster asked if I would sign for the equipment. I popped out my arm once more and waited for him to hand me a pen. We looked at each other for a few seconds before he sighed. “Ya know what, don’t worry about it. I’ll just make a note. Good luck with whatever yer planning, m’lord.”
I waved goodbye as I carried the spool on my back. It was just small enough that I could balance it on my chassis, even though it did hang out a few feet past me on each side. While quite heavy, I didn’t have many problems moving it.
With my pulleys refurbished and my new rope, I had everything I needed to get the gate into place.