Origins (Book 4 of Alfireán age)

The Folly of Riches

Orobas T. Bracket watched as his fellow blood oath hauled back and swung out his arm in a powerful backslap. A wave of force raced out and slammed into the wall in front of them.

"Crash!" The earthen wall shattered, and a metal shelf behind it screeched as it bent and tossed its contents all over the floor of the secret room. "Ha! I knew it! There's a room on the other side of the wall," Orobas' cohort cackled.

Orobas turned to the doctor who had insisted it was an exterior wall. The skinny fellow's eyes filled with terror, and he turned to run. Orobas flicked his hand, and an invisible wall slammed into the man, sending him tumbling across the floor. The other blood oath sauntered over to the fallen head doctor and pressed his foot on his chest. "Thought you could hide something from Vackzilian, did ya?" he sneered, putting his full weight on the wiry doctor.

The fellow tried to answer, but only managed to wheeze. "Humph," the blood oath huffed and turned to Orobas. "See if the guy we're looking for is in there."

Orobas nodded and strolled through the mess into the hidden room. Freezing cold air nipped at his skin while small boxes and gems littered the floor. More of the same filled the shelves lining the walls.

"Naw," he called back. "It's just a bunch of medicine and medical gems."

"Bah," the other blood oath spat, kicking the doctor in the side. The man flew into the wall with a grunt and slid to the floor, unmoving.

Orobas stepped over the debris and back into the other room. "Should we report him to Vackzilian?" he asked as he eyed the doctor.

"Naw," his cohort grunted. "Let the soldiers deal with him."

"Yeah, you're right. It's not worth his time," Orobas said and headed for the door. "This place is a bust, let's go."

The other blood oath grunted and followed Orobas out of the medical center. "Where to next?" he asked as they strolled out onto the busy streets of Stillden.

People on the paved streets of the ancient city quickly noticed Orobas and his companion. Avoiding eye contact, they either steered clear of them or reversed their direction entirely, which suited Orobas just fine.

"We have a few more clinics to check here in Stillden," Orobas said. "Then we need to head to Brockovich. They've got a famous hospital there."

The other blood oath's face twisted in a scowl. "Brockovich? The old folks' town? Didn't someone say the teleportation stone there doesn't work anymore?"

"Yeah, we're on foot for this one," Orobas replied. "And we should also check any huts or hamlets along the way in case this Dylan fellow is hiding there."

"Perfect, just perfect," the other blood oath grumbled. "Why does your brother get the glory of retrieving dragon era war machines, while we're stuck trekking through forests searching for some half-dead guy?"

Orobas formed a scrying of the city, highlighted the next medical center on the map, and set off down the road. "Hey," he said, "they have to lug a teleportation stone with them and then back again after they're done. That's the last thing I'd ever want to do."

"Ugh, fine," his cohort muttered and followed after him. "I guess you're right. That doesn't sound like fun either."

***

Drakovian didn't find the bodies as disturbing as the others did. He had witnessed worse crime scenes, especially in the DMD reports. Nonetheless, he kept his gaze down as they made their way through the laboratory section of the factory.

Row after row of cubicles stretched out before them until, at last, they reached the far wall where two steel sliding doors appeared. A red screen above the elevator flashed 'SECURITY LOCKDOWN' in progress.