Mount Holly Cemetery - Little Rock, Arkansas
It was a grey blustery day, although what day wasn't in these times, the party of five stood in front of the small plot, four of them a respectful distance behind the tall blonde man standing silently before the grave.
They had been standing solemnly for at least half an hour, the blonde man motionless, one of the others an older man in his late forties quietly sighed and looked at the woman in the group, he caught her eye and she nodded a sadness written across her face.
Quietly she approached the big man laying a hand upon his shoulder, waiting a moment to see if he responded he didn't so she moved to beside him noting the wet tears streaking his cheeks.
"Krutz, I am sorry we have to go"
His face tensed, eyes closing and more tears ran silently
The woman was a pretty thing with flowing dark brown hair, the smooth angular features of an Eldren and hard black eyes, she took a deep breath looking down at the simple rough stone headstone.
"We wouldn't have ever come for you had we not heard" she said softly
He took a long faltering breath which caught in his throat and nodded
"A man shouldn't have to bury his wife and child Krutz" his teeth gritted
"There's nothing here for you now, save their resting place, come with us, we need your help"
He looked at the floor and half shook his head, she looked back at the others, the older man just nodded
"Krutz, they'll still be here when you get back, and the things that did this are still out there and worse, the Major's in a mighty pickle and needs our help,......your help" she said then went silent just keeping her hand on his shoulder
They stood for several more minutes, Dotty looked out over the wooded landscape before them, her senses seeing what lay beneath the apparent calm of the lush green woodlands, she saw the spectral flecks of black embers that swirled about the towns boundary markers and guardian totem poles, the twisting of the trees all of which marked the start of the Desolate Lands
'What a mess!" she thought, the big man sniffed, exhaled loudly, put his hat on his head, looked at her and nodded.
With that the assembled tipped their hats to the grave and started to head down the slope towards the town.
Circle of Fire
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arcanus
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Circle of Fire
The City of Golden Fire - City Hall, San Fransisco - 1879
The Mayors office occupied the uppermost chamber at the top of City Halls tower, positioned in its vantage point amongst the more affluent and structured North East Corner of the burgeoning city, the high vantage point served to look southward down the entire midtown and eastern port side and conveniently made assassoination attempts more difficult.
The newly elected Mayor Isaac Kalloch looked up from his his police commisioners report, looking up at the Commissioner Crowley "This dosen't make good reading, any way you look at it Pat" he said sitting back in his leather chair.
"It dosen't" replied the heavily bearded officer "We're outnumbered and outgunned, even with the Tong Deputies!"
"Tong Deputies" spat Kalloch
The Commissioner took a breath looking down at his fingers "It makes sense they're rivals of the warlords people, better to have them on the payroll than fighting their own war and I lose even more of my own men"
"And if a few orientals kill each each, no harm done, plenty more where they came from!" interjected a man sat in a shadowy spot towards the rear of the large rectangular room, the mayor and commissioner exchanged unpleasant looks
"Gentlemen time is ticking, my organisation has considerable investment in this city and region, you are at risk of losing the entire East Bay Ports and fishing villages, the warlord controls the territory for the most part"
Crowley snarled "We don't need your damned investment, the city and Bear Flags got plenty of cash"
'True but thats not how investment works is it, your city took considerable advantage of our services due to your lack of ability and skilled manpower, terms are terms"
The Commissioner shot to his feet, turning on his heel angrily but stopped short, the man stood right in front of him, he hadn't even heard him move, completely black eyes like those of a shark looked at him dispassionately.
His skin was deathly pale, his features almost chiselled from stone framed by thick black hair streaked with grey, his breath was ice cold and had an unpleasant odour
"You were saying Commissioner Crowley!"
"Don't like the sun do you Mr Thomas!" he hissed in response
"A quirk of birth in these strange times Crowley, but lets stick to the subject, if you haven't the men or your men aren't up to the job, we'll bring in people who are!"
"Mercenaries and gunslingers, you mean, replace murder and lawlessness with more of the same or worse!"
"If needs be, Omelettes need eggs broken" the man Thomas looked at both men with cold deathly eyes "You have a day to get the cities affairs in order, if not I will resolve matters myself, do I make myself clear"
Commissioner Crowley turned to look angrily at the Mayor, who merely nodded at Thomas, who then turned and left
The Mayors office occupied the uppermost chamber at the top of City Halls tower, positioned in its vantage point amongst the more affluent and structured North East Corner of the burgeoning city, the high vantage point served to look southward down the entire midtown and eastern port side and conveniently made assassoination attempts more difficult.
The newly elected Mayor Isaac Kalloch looked up from his his police commisioners report, looking up at the Commissioner Crowley "This dosen't make good reading, any way you look at it Pat" he said sitting back in his leather chair.
"It dosen't" replied the heavily bearded officer "We're outnumbered and outgunned, even with the Tong Deputies!"
"Tong Deputies" spat Kalloch
The Commissioner took a breath looking down at his fingers "It makes sense they're rivals of the warlords people, better to have them on the payroll than fighting their own war and I lose even more of my own men"
"And if a few orientals kill each each, no harm done, plenty more where they came from!" interjected a man sat in a shadowy spot towards the rear of the large rectangular room, the mayor and commissioner exchanged unpleasant looks
"Gentlemen time is ticking, my organisation has considerable investment in this city and region, you are at risk of losing the entire East Bay Ports and fishing villages, the warlord controls the territory for the most part"
Crowley snarled "We don't need your damned investment, the city and Bear Flags got plenty of cash"
'True but thats not how investment works is it, your city took considerable advantage of our services due to your lack of ability and skilled manpower, terms are terms"
The Commissioner shot to his feet, turning on his heel angrily but stopped short, the man stood right in front of him, he hadn't even heard him move, completely black eyes like those of a shark looked at him dispassionately.
His skin was deathly pale, his features almost chiselled from stone framed by thick black hair streaked with grey, his breath was ice cold and had an unpleasant odour
"You were saying Commissioner Crowley!"
"Don't like the sun do you Mr Thomas!" he hissed in response
"A quirk of birth in these strange times Crowley, but lets stick to the subject, if you haven't the men or your men aren't up to the job, we'll bring in people who are!"
"Mercenaries and gunslingers, you mean, replace murder and lawlessness with more of the same or worse!"
"If needs be, Omelettes need eggs broken" the man Thomas looked at both men with cold deathly eyes "You have a day to get the cities affairs in order, if not I will resolve matters myself, do I make myself clear"
Commissioner Crowley turned to look angrily at the Mayor, who merely nodded at Thomas, who then turned and left