LEGEND OF NEVETSECNUAC - ON THE WAY TO THE CAPITAL - SECTION 32

 

 With nothing else left to do, Tizan donned (wore, put on) Captain Duko's attire over the light armor he kept on underneath to protect him from arrows then, as ordered, went back below decks to retrieve (fetch) Disaidun Agripe.

This time quite unexpectedly, Disaidun’s spineless husband, having mustered all his courage, charged at Tizan just as they were headed out the door. 

 

01- CEROS AGRIPE STRIKES BACK

Though Ceroz Agripe was half-crazed, filled with remorse and rage, he was still no match for the Lieutenant of Imperial guards and so, with just one blow from the back of his fist, hardly any effort at all on Tizan's part, Ceroz was hurled right across the room, bloodied and almost cataleptic (almost out cold), to crash onto the floor of the cabin.

 "You dare oppose me, wretch!" Tizan’s rage not assuaged, growling he went over to deliver a couple of vicious kicks to the Ceroz's side; the force of the second kick was such, it lifted the massive body up and slammed (smashed, crashed) it against the far wall of the cabin.

 

02- CEROS AGRIPE KICKED TO FAR END

 Tizan turned his fiery gaze back to the woman Disaidun Agripe and bellowed.  "What have you done to him to bring him to such a state?"

Not condescending to answer, Disaidun Agripe simply shrugged and walked on ahead.

“Quite the vixen, aren't you?” Tizan smirked as he locked and barred the door behind them.  In truth he liked a woman with such spunk but, since Captain Zunrogo had taken special interest in her, she was off-limits to him.  Such was the rule he had always lived by and continued to follow. 

Grabbing Disaidun Agripe’s arm forcefully next, and ignoring her volley of threats, he lugged (toted) her to the barricade.  "This is your post.  The captain forbids you to stray an inch from this point…  Understand?"  Only then Tizan let go of her arm. He was inwardly thrilled at her repressed seething contempt for him, and could not help but provoke her further, "We have only a few hours now before the fog lifts.  If you want to pray for your salvation, go ahead; now may be your only chance."  He smirked.

 

Her retort froze on her lips when her eye just then caught the exceptionally crafted crossbow leaning in the far corner.  Walking over, Disaidun Agripe picked it up, examined it carefully and said, “Where did you find this?  It’s magnificent."

Then, she sedately withdrew an arrow from its quiver.

 

“Show off, as if you can discern a good weapon from a bad one.  Some maven (expert, professional, doyen) you are.” He’d inwardly scoffed, fixing his cold gaze at her; Tzan once more could not resist goading (inciting) her, "You do know how to use it, I trust?".

 

Disaidun Agripe did not answer him but, instead, loaded the arrow in the blink of an eye then aimed it directly at Tizan's heart and asked. “Do you want a demonstration?"

This was too much!  Throwing his head back and trusting his hidden armor, Tizan laughed heartily, "Go ahead, I dare you to."

 

03-TZAN JP

Just then Zunrogo appeared on the scene, his stern looks at once sending Tizan without another word, scurrying off to above deck, to take up his assigned post.

Disaidun Agripe’s (Jepipi's) alluring approach was met with the same icy rebuke.

Not taking it to heart, she behaved as if he bade her, sizing up Zunrogo from the corner of her eye and admiring his heroic countenance.

 

“By the Gods, he is magnificent! “Gearing up for this single, bitter battle, she was positive he would triumph over any foe, however invincible, before the end of the day.

                                                                                         ~

 

For seemingly endless hours now, Disaidun Agripe (Miss Jepipi) had fidgeted at her post.  These times preceding an engagement (battle) had always seemed to drag on forever; furthermore, the angry rants and ravings of her half-crazed husband Ceroz, only two doors down aggravated her soul and ignited her ire, making things far worse.

“Oh, why won't he shut up?” Disaidun Agripe groaned, for her conscience bothered her a little now; after all, it was she who had brought him to this state.

“But it was necessary,” she told herself to ease the guilt.  “I had to do what I did to survive.  Why couldn't he be a bit more like his half-brother?  Insipid fool brought this misfortune down upon himself because he's less of a man, he’s so weak! “Her face contorted in disgust.

 

                                                                             ~

 

Yesterday, upon her return from her blissful experience with Zunrogo, she had hesitated for a few moments outside the cabin door, just long enough to dishevel her hair, loosen her belt, scratch her shoulders, and rip her bodice slightly, altering her appearance and assuming a tragic countenance.

 Let inside and, finally free (away) from Tizan's prying eyes, Disaidun had then given an incredible performance of a woman who had been both physically and mentally abused.

 

Ceroz Agripe already looked haggard, his face unusually gaunt and pale, and his eyes sunken and bloodshot.  It tore at his heart and ripped his bowels to shreds, nearly driving him to the brink of insanity to hear Disaidun’s embellished accounts of the shameful mauling (pawing, battering) that she had supposedly endured at the hands of that vile, lecherous old official, Luvet. That’s right; not Zunrogo but Luvet, her husband was led to believe, was the supposed sole perpetrator of this grievous sexual assault on his beloved wife Disaidun.

 

04- LUVET

Luvet’d spared her face but not her body, under her garments, she’d claimed, was all black and blue as testament of his ill treatment. She had brazenly offered to show it to him but Ceroz, the fool, trusting in her implicitly, simply taken her at her word.

Ceroz Agripe was further led to believe that, behind Luvet's seemingly benign, quiet disposition lay a calculating, sinister, greedy, licentious, and vindictive villain who had, from the moment he’d laid eyes on Disaidun, lusted after her and from then on shamelessly had striven (endeavored) to possess her.

The convincing story Disaidun fed her husband was wretched enough in itself but her quiet tears, her unspoken insinuations just compounded Ceroz’s already intolerable existence, his unbearable misery. Highly incensed, Ceroz Agripe’d gnashed his teeth, shaken his fist in the air and vowed to exact vengeance on that dog's spawn. 

“He'd make him pay dearly for his vile deeds, enlist the help of his half-brother, Zohuj Kez and his influential friends, if needs be.”

"And how do you propose to survive this present danger?  You know you're powerless to stop him or them."  Disaidun had rebuked him, then relayed to him the information she’d overheard, when they thought she’d passed out, in Luvet’s cabin.

Luvet the mastermind, Ceroz Agripe came to believe, had conspired from the start with Captain Doku, the two assassins, the Imperial guard Tizan and Captain Zunrogo, and the seemingly upright scholar, to intercept in mid-stream a tribute vessel bound for the Capital with its cargo of gold bullion.

The details of this grand larceny had been worked out months in advance, down to the minutest point and, the specific measures needed for smooth transition and the eventual execution, now had been finalized.  Many more were involved in a scheme of this magnitude, including some subversives planted on the targeted vessel. The few expendable passengers/witnesses, like them, were all imprisoned in their cabins, to be dealt with later; their predictable demise, however, would eliminate (eradicate) any possibility of trouble later-on.

Then she reminded her husband how she had wanted to disembark along with the other, lucky passengers when the opportunity had availed itself, when there was still time.

She blamed him, on his short-sightedness, his eagerness to reach his new post, and consequently, for this terrible predicament.

Her ill luck had also been the contributor. She then softening, had exclaimed, looking as though she desperately sought to exonerate at least in part, his guilt, which further endeared her to him, “How wonderful she was; how so very naïve to believe in nonsensical superstition.” Fool that he was, she could read him like a book.

 

05-CEROS AND DISAIDUN AGRIPE

 “Oh, darling husband, what can we do, what can you do to save me?” Once more she had wept unconsolably, heart wrenchingly.  After which, when she, feeling terribly parched, dried her eyes, and asked her husband to fetch her some water from the jug.

Her husband eager to please and to console her had rushed to do her bidding.

 It was at that point in time, when she looking even more dismal (gloomy), robbed him of least hope, by telling him that before she was sent back, she had been told, but was afraid to tell him till then, how the villain Luvet intended to murder Ceroz and the baby and if she did not agree to be his concubine in future, he threatened to sell her into slavery (bondage).

As for the reasons why, she had been sent back, it was simply to allow her to say her final farewells, while they finalized their plan and corrected prior overlooked areas of incongruity (conflict ).

"Oh, dear husband our bliss has been so cruelly cut short; as doomed individuals we are, robbed of ecstasy of growing old together. You’ll never see your son grow up. He’ll never grow up! “Disaidun Agripe had looked at him with hurtful, resigned eyes then burst into loud sobs to once more, wrench his heart.

She’d watched (seen) from the corner of her eye how self-loathing and reproach gnawed at his entrails, how flustered, how sickened at heart he’d suddenly felt, in his dire predicament.

For a brief second, seeing how she had broken him with her words, she had felt the stirring of remorse tugging at her conscience; but she had already resolved in Zunrogo's cabin to carry this ploy through to the bitter end.

"Don't worry, husband," her heart again hardened, she had seized this opportunity to add salt to his open wounds.

 "I will not blame you for what will happen to me in future. As I said earlier, I was born under an unlucky star; it has been my curse my entire life.  I don't see why it should change now.  I'm grateful for this one brief period of happiness you have given me.  It will be one fond memory I will carry with me to my grave."

Then once again Disaidun Agripe had recounted in detail, the shameful episodes with Luvet; at the end of which, she’d thrown herself at her husband’s feet, imploring him to have mercy and, by killing her right there and then, put an end to her torment.

 Of course, Disaidun knew Ceroz was totally incapable of such an act.  It was just one more pummel of guilt, another whack of disgrace, all, fostering chagrin, to further constrict the loop (strap, noose, snare, rope) around her husband’s neck, to sap his honor, his manhood and ultimately, push him over the edge.

Egged on by her pleading the fool had tried, given it his best shot too; to predictably in the end, when, she had started to turn ashen, when her eyes had bulged out only a little and, she had started to emit slight gurgling sounds, he had suddenly broken off his grip on her neck and then, with a horrified look on his face, fallen back.

"I can't go through with it! I'm no murderer." He’d cried out.

 “What did I almost do?” Traumatized Ceroz Agripe had glared hatefully at those still partially clenched, despicable hands that had almost taken the life of his beloved wife.

He had next, burying his face and fallen on his knees, had sobbed hysterically, uncontrollably, like a child.

 

06- DISRAUGHT CEROS AGRIPE

Disaidun Agripe, her senses restored to norm, though inwardly sullen, going over, had murmured her encouragement. "It’s all right, dear.  You did nothing wrong. I asked you to; I made you do it. You are not to be blamed. You are a good man; you always were.  We’ll be all right."  She'd then sobbed inconsolably as she cradled him and rocked his head soothingly in her arms.  "Please don't cry.”

 Drying her tears, she’d then to further shame him, promised resolutely, “You need not try, dear; I’ll find the strength somehow for us both and, avenge this wrong. This time I'll find it in myself too..."  She did not have to complete her sentence, for he had understood (grasped) her meaning. 

Disaidun would rather end her own life by throwing herself into the cold river and perishing in the watery grave, than suffer further shame. 

Her strong determination only belittled him further, robbing what little bit of humanity was left within him.  He felt smaller than a maggot, slime, a piece of offal.

 

 

                                                                              ~

 

 

(END OF SECTION 32)

 LEGEND OF NEVETSECNUAC - ON THE WAY TO THE CAPITAL - SECTION 29

Disaidun Agripe was brought before Zunrogo in a distraught state, crying bitterly and trembling like a leaf; but as soon as she was released from Tizan's iron grip, she turned to,  with fire burning in her eyes, unflinching, meet Zunrogo’s icy, stone gaze, then in resounding (evocative, ringing, decisive) voice  beseeched Zunrogo to be merciful, to spare her and not inflict this disgrace upon her family.

01-DISAIDUN AGRIPE 4 JP

Tizan, missing this entirely, looked at the captain expecting him to be furious but, with a cruel half-smile on his lips, Zunrogo was shamelessly sizing her up from head to toe, mentally undressing her with his eyes.

Turning his attention to Tizan momentarily, Zunrogo snapped, "What are you standing there for?  You are dismissed!"

"Yes sir." Tizan responded sharply, “Sorry, sir." 

As he whirled about on his heels to face the door he stole a brief, sly look at the quivering, terrified, distraught woman.  Outside the cabin he shrugged dispassionately, a broad smile on his lips, “Why not?  She is a looker.  Some savory dish…Bon appetite, Captain.”  

Then his face darkened, and a sinister grin painted his face, “Very interesting…  I guess he's not infallible after all.”

Still sobbing, Disaidun Agripe contemptuously watched out of the corner of her eye as Tizan closed the door tightly behind him.

Zunrogo, not in any great hurry, strolled to the cabin's porthole and stared out at the dense veil of congealed mist and fog.  He felt like he was floating in a cloud that obscured everything.  He reflected on how the tasks he had assigned to Tizan would take him at least a couple of hours to conclude, ample time for what he craved.

“Perhaps,” he thought, “it might relieve this oppressive boredom. It might even be entertaining in the slight, to toy with this captive mouse for a time.”

                                                                                  ~

 

Few moments after Tizan had left the room and she was certain that he was long gone, Disaidun Agripe abruptly ceased her dramatics, straightened her posture and then with a callous (uncaring) hand brushed the imagined dust off her skirt, as she waited patiently for Zunrogo to speak.  When no sound came forth, she briefly glanced at the door then asked, "Don't you trust him?"

"Why should he know everything?" Zunrogo answered truthfully, continuing to stare out the porthole as if distracted.

“Not a trace of fear in her voice,” he noted his back still to her.

“We'll see about that.”  His eyes narrowed.

"I suppose," Disaidun shrugged.  Surveying the room with avid interest her eyes rested on Zunrogo's magnificent sword with its jeweled hilt.  She rubbed her arm, the arm she could use if needed to effectively wield that sword in her own defense.

02- DISAIDUN AGRIPE JP 5

"He needn't have been so rough," Disaidun Agripe let out a plaintive grunt as she contemplated how best to edge closer to the weapon.

"He wasn't."  His back still to her, Zunrogo knew instinctively where her gaze rested, and he grimaced coldly.

 "Sit down," he ordered in a stern voice.

"Don't mind if I do."  Disaidun abandoned the risky plan and, swaying her hips, she sauntered in the opposite direction and sat herself boldly in the most comfortable chair, his chair, and rested her hands demurely on her lap.

"Now suppose you tell me why I was summoned here then," she indignantly demanded, a faint, seductive intonation hiding under her arrogance.

To try to get some emotion from this hardened, unsentimental warrior would be a real challenge.  Oh, but she loved challenges.  All men, no matter what kind, sooner or later had always succumbed to her charms.

She remembered her latest triumph (challenge), just before she came on board, and a fleeting smile crossed her lips as she thought of him.  “Yes, it had done a lot to boost her confidence even further and, what's more, it had been done right under her unsuspecting husband's nose.”  She shivered slightly as a special thrill coursed up her spine.

“But hadn't that clenched the deal, made the conquest of her prey even sweeter?  He coveted her affections despite the absence of his manhood.  He coveted her because he knew, as the half-brother of her husband; he could never openly claim her.  He craved her because, though many despised his kind, she did not.”

"Why aren't you afraid?" Zunrogo asked dryly, suddenly breaking the deliberately prolonged silence.

"Why?  Should I have a reason to be afraid?  Are you not just going to maul me or something?" Disaidun answered alluringly, suggestive in her coquettish shyness.

"Don't be so impertinent," he barked then half-turned.

His fiery gaze burrowed through her, making her flesh crawl.  "Only fools have no fear."

The awful threat implicit in his icy tone instantly sapped all the courage, the confidence, the arrogance from her.

As if mesmerized, Disaidun Agripe in that instant came to believe him capable of most horrific, vile acts.  Moreover, he had no weaknesses; he was immune to it all.

 A sudden, potent fear gripped her chest and made her heart palpitate wildly.  Yet, strangely enough, at that same moment she felt irresistibly drawn to him.  He awakened in her a strange set of conflicting emotions. “No, she'll never succumb to the likes of him; not ever again!” 

Summoning up all her courage and will to withstand the overwhelming pressure, she bit her lip and looked angrily away.  She will remain defiant to the end.  

“He did not scare her, not one bit!”

“Good,” Zunrogo allowed himself an inward smile. “I hate easy conquests.” 

Softening the expression on his face, he allowed a warm smile to reach his lips as he walked across and eased himself into the next (less comfortable) chair.  His tone as he subsequently addressed some non-committal issues should have disarmed her, but he could see that she was wary of him now and was fighting with all the resistance she could muster to remain vigilant.

03- ZUNROGO TUGO- JP  17

 Unknown to Disaidun, this pleased him more.  His voice was superficially polite, but stern he asked, "First tell me, is he for real?"  He kept the question purposefully vague to test her wit.

"Yes, he's legally my husband (spouse)."  Disaidun understood and responded truthfully.

“Stupid woman,” he scoffed. “You needn't have gone to such lengths.  You were set up to succeed with that despicable eunuch Zohuj Kez whether you had married his half-brother or not.”

Though Disaidun was studying him astutely she could not tell in the least what was playing through his mind, and this unnerved her once more.

Zunrogo’s demeanor unchanged, he tested her with another seemingly innocuous question,

 "What about the child?”  He knew the answer already.

“Tait is not mine.  Ceroz, my husband, lost his precious former wife in birthing it."

"And you stepped in, seizing the opportunity to fill the vacuum in his destitute heart and home." Zunrogo curtly cut her story short.

Then, grimacing wryly, he asked, "How did she die, again?"

She looked him straight in the eye.  "It was heart failure, I believe."

"That's how the coroner's official report read.  How did she really die of?"

Before she could indignantly demand what, it was, he was insinuating, he cut her short.

"Tell me, do you care at all what happens to either of them now?"  His voice was cold.

Disaidun shrugged, seeing no point to her denials, "Not particularly."

Smiling tightly, she then reached for the tea, "May I?'

"Help yourself.  And don't worry; it's not been tainted with the deadly ‘Sschrofik’ blossom."  Zunrogo studied how she struggled to keep her composure and failed, as her face turned ghostly white, and fear enlarged her pupils.

 "Only a slight touch of ‘Yourek” has been added." He indifferently, intoned.

 When she threw him a questioning look, freezing in her gesture, he added, "The truth drug.  You're not afraid of the truth, are you?"

Settling back in his chair, Zunrogo gave a short laugh and noted how she debated with herself whether to respond with a witty, convincing feint or a curt remark to put him in his place.

By then she had come to detest him. Disaidun would have wrung his neck if she could.  He was not there to arrest her, though, because of that she was certain.  What's more, she knew a squeeze play when she saw one.  Unfortunately, she could not figure out his angle.  What was it that he was after?

"You may serve me one as well."  Zunrogo decided to let her off the hook.

“So, he was just bluffing,” inwardly she heaved a deep sigh, “The nerve of him, asking me to serve him!” 

He was watching her closely and noted with some amusement her momentary outrage, followed by sound reasoning, subsequently, how she vacillated on whether to do as he bid her.

“She could accidentally knock the pot off of the table.”  In her defiance she had, for a spell, entertained an apt rebuff; but relenting, quickly aborted that snub also.  Besides, her throat was parched, and she had been craving some hot liquid ever since she had ceased all that emotional outburst, crying and pleading, in short, splendid performance. 

In the end she gave in and poured herself a cupful then, after a brief hesitation, poured one for him as well.  Her inbred (ingrained) manners took root as she offered it to him with a courtly flourish, "I can take the truth if you can."

His stone gaze deliberately pierced her to the quick and he inwardly savored how her hand trembled slightly as she stubbornly held the cup out to him when he did not move, right away, to take it from her.  She could have given up and placed the cup back onto the table, but she had a point to make.

"Thank you," he finally accepted it.

Seething in anger, she lowered her head and drunk the tea in quick repetitive sips to hide her irate thoughts.

In contrast, he took several prolonged sips then, with deliberate slowness put the cup down, his eyes glued to her all the while.

Her thirst sated, she looked up, unflinchingly meeting his stone gaze.  "There is no such thing as the truth drug, is there?" she asked.

His response was delayed.  His face showed nothing as he disregarded her question altogether, "I called you here because you may be of some use to me."  He lied, "And because I believe you are quite capable.  After all, you have succeeded, where others have failed, have you not?"

"Capable of what?" Disaidun’s coy laughter registered her nervousness.  She swallowed hard and lowered her eyes away from Zunrogo's stern gaze.  Then, raising them again she narrowed them instinctively as she studied him boldly, looking for any trace of deceit or lechery in those cold, gray pupils. 

What did he want from her?  But the wall he set up was impenetrable.

Zunrogo, surmising this, smiled again with a strange glint in his eyes.

For now, his sole requirement of her was to learn who dispatched her on this assignment, even though he suspected she would be ignorant of this, having been covertly approached by someone acting as an agent.  He was confident, none the less, of his ability to deduce who this mystery man might be from the gleaned bits and pieces of information from her.

Still, he was in no great hurry.  He rested his intense scrutiny on her briefly then, disinterestedly, looked away.

This put Disaidun Agripe more at her unease.  She hung her head.  “He's toying with me.”  

She decided to push, to get some answers.  "You say I may be of some use to you?" she investigated his face and demanded.  "But, if I were to do your bidding, what would I get out of it in return?  Will you release me unharmed to go on with my way?  Or am I destined to perish like the rest on board when it’s all over?"

So, she understands more than she lets on.  

Gripping the edges of the small table Zunrogo menacingly leaned across, his breath brushing her face and his expression suddenly hard, uncompromising.  "You are hardly in a position to bargain, Missy."

His cold, gray eyes again burrowed into Disaidun, eroding in an instant all the confidence she had fought so hard to maintain since that first episode when she had come into the room. But then unexpectedly, his expression softened once more and, with a broad grin, he leaned back.

"Certainly, you will be spared.  You have my word on that, Miss Jepipi.  I would not dream of obstructing you further."  He answered her with a cold voice that belied his warm, disarming smile.

Disaidun Agripe’s (Jepipi’s) surprise was clearly marked on her face.  "How do you know my code name?" she asked.

"I have my resources.  I trust you have completed your recent assignment with due expedience and satisfaction?"

Even though she knew that the attempt was futile, she met his gaze unflinchingly and flatly denied it, "I don't know what you're talking about.  I'm through with all that now I'm a happily married woman.  I lead a simple life, the kind I've always wanted."

"Oh, come now!" Zunrogo threw his head back and laughed, "A simple life?  That's hardly your style.  You're contradicting yourself; happily married indeed!"

His countenance suddenly became stern as he added in an icy tone, "But your secret is safe with me, Miss Jepipi, so long as you cooperate.  Now tell me, how much longer do you intend on keeping up with this farcical charade?"

His cold insinuation visibly startled her.

Clearly, she was done with her husband, but why hadn't she discarded him yet, why this ambivalence?

"Are you infatuated with him?" Zunrogo's question echoed in her mind.  "Granted he is good looking and rather well off."

04-DISAIDUN AGRIPE JP

“How much does he know?  He knows an awful lot already, as if he can see right through me.  Unnervingly, he seems most capable of deciphering my innate feelings, my innermost thoughts, even before I, myself, become aware of them.”  Disaidun Agripe took a shuddering breath and, after studying Zunrogo from the corner of her eye, turned her head away.

“He’s really beginning to terrify me; I must stand firm, must defy this overwhelming sense of panic.” 

Disaidun did not even notice the first effects of the ‘Yourek drug’ as it infiltrated her brain, causing the emotions to act with that small bit of control missing.  Such were its subtle effects that, as one sunk deeper under its spell, one was not even aware of one's loss of inhibition, or of its inevitable suppression of all normal censors.

Just then a thought, an idea flashed across her mind and, turning her curious gaze back to him she wondered, “Was he the same covert figure who had mysteriously appeared in my bed chamber in the dead of night and approached me with this unusual assignment?”

“No,” she quickly answered herself. “His voice, his manners, even his gestures are all so different, so wrong and Zunrogo is far leaner and taller than he.  Could he then be my anticipated contact?”  Again, the answer was negative.  “He didn't use the secret password for identification, and he hadn't responded when I posed the coded inquiry earlier.  This is proof positive of a leak.  When I do meet the contact, I must warn him of this infiltration and of the dire repercussions that are possible from this Zunrogo.”

Just as she, eyeing Zunrogo suspiciously with her guard up, was about to put a question to him, his abrupt, pointed inquiry startled her anew, "I trust that you have the letter, from…well we won't mention any names or titles, in your safekeeping?"

Disaidun Agripe threw him a furious, forbidden look as if to say, “No!  You can't have it!”

But strangely, he seemed not to be anxious about it at all, nor did he press his inquiry about its exact whereabouts or make the least attempt to seize it by force.

Having directed (turned) her concentration to the letter, Zunrogo, subsequently (in short shrift), through his artful manipulation, guided her into revealing to him all the pertinent information about the covert contact, to determine who it was that had dispatched her on this assignment.

When after a spell he had pieced it all together in his mind, the unexpected result took him totally by surprise, for his calculations had revealed the most unlikely candidate, one with an obvious conflict of interest and the one farthest from his mind.

While Zunrogo kept on the outward pretense of a grueling exchange to conceal his surprise, he quietly contemplated on the side, how best to confront this culprit in the future.

“Yes, armed with further proof, he would first humble him, grinding his nose into the dirt where he would squirm like a pig.”

Zunrogo looked away, suddenly delighted at all the prospects that had availed themselves, to him.

“This assignment,” he inwardly gloated, “has thus far provided me more advantages over my most ardent foes than I could have ever dreamed of.”

"Tell me", he abruptly asked Disaidun, "have you read the contents?"

"You know it’s sealed," she let out without thinking.

 Then, lowering her head she pursed her lips and grumbled, "Besides, it has been made perfectly clear to me that if I tampered with it in any way, it would mean my death."

 Coyly inclined her head, Disaidun Agripe looked away.

In fact, this had been a bone of contention with her.  Sensing the letter's grave importance, she had fought hard against her nature not to sneak a peek inside and see what all the fuss was about.

"Oh, come now, surely a resourceful girl such as you would not rest until your curiosity is satiated?  You mean to tell me that you made no attempt at all?"  Zunrogo could not resist his desire to further beleaguer (needle, pester) her.

"Think what you will," first was her initial curt retort then, realizing she had been manipulated; Disaidun expelled her breath and vehemently protested her innocence.

Inwardly Zunrogo was laughing up a storm, scorning her naiveté, her utter stupidity.

As it were, Disaidun Agripe had sealed her fate from the very moment she had accepted this assignment of securing the letter within her safekeeping.  It made no difference whether she had tampered with it. 

“Fool, you are just an unwitting, doomed courier, like so many others who preceded you.”  He almost pitied her.

Zunrogo’s ardent investigation thus far had uncovered that, within last two years at odd unspecified intervals, the task of safekeeping the letter had fallen on varied (diverse) individuals with covert sponsorships (backing, patronage).

Zunrogo had only recently identified, with some measure of certainty, the patron from the lethal sorority that had masterminded it all.

The secret organization (club) was none other than the most feared covenant fraternity, The Black Molochs.

The carefully procured couriers, the moment they’d outlived their usefulness, methodically perished/disappeared without a trace, severing the only weak link outside of this clandestine brotherhood. That is how The Black Molochs, had until then, avoided detection (exposure).

05-LANCE DIOSTIN JP  7

But once Zunrogo had discerned that Lance Diostin was the member of Black Molochs, that’s what had clued him in from the start; that, and the indisputable proof that the expandable courier was on board this vessel.  After that connection had been established, it made perfect sense why Lance Diostin was in such hot pursuit, to intercept them.

Zunrogo had never bought the advocated perception that, Egil Viggoaries, albeit furtively, gave any credence to superstition. Nothing, nothing at all (disconcerted) fazed that villain.  Typically, contrary to the fostered, erroneous belief, Fradel Rurik Korvald was not the bulls-eye target here, though it had no doubt served the Eunuch's purpose, as well as Lance Diostin’s, to on the sly, advance that cause.

 “Yes,” Zunrogo congratulated himself. “I’ve had had a significant breakthrough in these last few months.

 But even though the letter was as good as in his keeping, few details still needed to be ironed out. For one thing he did not entirely trust Disaidun’s husband, the Official Caroz Agripe, a supposed official on the way to taking up new post. Of course, Caroz had been thoroughly checked out and reports cleared him of all suspicion; however, Zunrogo still had his qualms about him. For one thing he was way too soft and cowardly despite his superb physique; it could all be a ruse, a good cover-up, to throw off suspicion. Zunrogo would devise an effective plan later to properly test him (flush him out); if he proved otherwise, he’d be then quickly disposed of. His wife Disaidun Agripe could be manipulated into playing a big part, a kind of borrowed knife; in setting him up and affecting his eventual demise. Meanwhile Zunrogo, not being privy to the covert identities of the rest of the Black Molochs, his next course of action could be placed in jeopardy; given that for all he knew, a Black Moloch affiliate, could have already infiltrated this vassal, going about all this time, totally undetected, keeping an eye on things while working to undermine him (Zunrogo). Once this impediment was flushed out and eradicated, his next course of action would then be, is to defeat Lance Diostin and take him alive so as to extract the desired information from him before his sure demise.

Competent as Zunrogo was, he was not entirely certain he could manage this daunting objective alone and so, considered enlisting Tizan’s help. That might be the key ingredient for his eventual success.  Afterwards he would decide on what to do with Tizan.

Zunrogo had been informed that the letter had always been kept in an airtight pouch of waxed leather.  The seal itself was indistinct but bore unique properties, not the least of which was the fact that it was laced with a deadly poison and a trick pin embedded cleverly within it, all to discourage unwarranted tampering.

“You have no inkling at all of what it is that you're carrying, do you?” he threw Disaidun (Jepipi) another cursory look.  “It’s just as well that you curbed your curiosity out of fear of reprisals, at least it has prolonged your life this little bit, long enough for me to...,” Zunrogo smirked and eyed her wantonly.

                                                                                              ~

 

 

(END OF SECTION 29)