Chapter 53

Casualties, a search, a damning discovery…

“Serept, I need to know, how many dead?” Francos was carried into his quarters at the Residence rather than the central hospital. The family believed it was safer.

“Save your strength,” his uncle said. “We have not had a final count. We came close to losing you. Serept and I have things under control. Sera Rita says it will take a few days for the poison to be fully cleared out of your system. Thank the Three in One that she was there. None of our healers had ever encountered that venom.”

“There seems to be more being traded from Utopia than we have records of, Serept. I feel as if I had been loading kilos of root vegetables instead of going to church.”

“Please, rest my friend, please rest.” Serept was shaken as were most of the staff of the Residence. “Sera Rita prepared this drink for you. It will help you sleep so your body can clean itself. She warned me it tastes vile, but you need to drink all of it and sleep.”

“Ugh, I know that nasty stuff! Give it here and I will do as the healer ordered.” Francos took the cup and with a grimace, drank it down. He lay back on the bed, closed his eyes, and was quickly asleep.

Rita checked on him a few minutes later and told Marta who was watching him to get some rest. One of his servants could watch.

“He will sleep soundly, Marta. I made the tincture strong. At least he didn’t fight it. Tony was not cooperative,” Rita hugged the other woman. “Any word on the children?”

“No,” Marta said, “but several people swear the couple just disappeared. I was with Fran.” Marta was frightened at the possibility of what might have happened. “Some who have read old reports from Terra say there was mention of a psy power called translocation, but no one has ever known of it being seen here. The church says some saints were given it as a gift, but what they describe is not what we saw. The power to do such a thing would use so much energy that it might destroy the user. I hope we find them soon.”

***

“Sera Pesch, what happened at the wedding? The house maid came back saying people attacked the Poh and the Overlord is dead.”

Fernanda Malfe Pesch, senior wife of Emiliano, calmed the frightened girl. “There was an attack, and several people are dead, but not the Poh or the Overlord, praise the Three in One. Go now, get me some wine and bring enough for everyone. They all need to know.” The women of the harem who had stayed home gathered in the main patio. Fernanda stood on the stairs to the roof so all could hear her.

“We do not know who attacked us, but just as the Poh was beginning the ceremony, bolts began to strike. They were fired from up around the top of the main church. The Poh was hit and fell, then I saw a bolt hit the bride at the back of her head. The Successor cried out and grabbed her, then, they disappeared. Just like that, they were gone. Many others were hit including some in our family. Carmen, Gabriel, and my sister-in-law Josie have now joined the ancestors. May the Three in One receive their souls.”

“I saw it myself.” Ricky’s wife had been sitting with her mother-in-law. “Megal grabbed the girl and turned as if he was running. Then they were just gone.” Weeping had begun. The older women knew Josie, and Carmen was a well-known child of the harem.

“Josie was a dear friend,” one of the older women said softly through her tears. “At least she died quickly. So many others were hit with those big bolts. We all need to pray. May the Three in One help us all.”

***

Sarita was not sure what had happened, but she felt terrible. Her body felt like she had not eaten or had any water for days. It was worse than the days in the hold of the pirate ship. She felt someone close to her and realized she and Megal were lying on a narrow bed. The room was dark and cold. Megal was deeply asleep, but his skin was cold, almost deadly cold. She realized she was shivering. She felt around and found a covering of some sort at the end of the bed. Pulling it up and over them exhausted her and she fell back asleep with her head resting on his shoulder.

***

“That was not what I directed them to do! I gave them names, three dead, three disabled,” Emiliano was weeping. “Carmen, my pretty Carmen, she was not on the list. Why did they shoot her?”

“What do you mean she was not on the list? Papi, what have you done?” Ricky Pesch had entered his father’s office to discuss funeral plans for three members of the family killed in the attack at the Cathedral. His aunt Josella, his niece and favorite of his father — ten-year-old Carmen — and his father’s manservant had all died in the attack. The last word he had heard over the net was at least four others were killed.

“I wanted it stopped, the wedding,” Emiliano said. “I warned that man that only Francos, my hateful sister, and that snake Antonio were to die. The rest were to be hurt but not killed. I told him no more deaths than that, but he did too much. My pretty baby girl, what a grand alliance I was arranging for her. But now she is dead.” The old man wept as he shakily attempted to pour another glass of wine.

Ricky left the room and called for his uncles and the other senior members of the family to meet him in the main dining room, the largest room in the house. Something must be done and done soon, or Pesch would be cast out of the Council of Houses