Penitent-Chapter 233 Book 4 Ch 14: Payment

Bayle arrived less than an hour later. He had dark circles under his eyes, but seemed to be energetic in spite of his obvious lack of rest.

Without even saying hello, he approached Michael directly. "The rifts here in Stent. Can you confirm for me that they've been closed?"

Michael closed his eyes, extending his senses and reaching out to sense the locations of all of the rifts, the dread each one created allowing him to pinpoint them.

"All but one that seems to be in Tusynian territory." 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

Bayle nodded, drew his notebook from his coat and quickly wrote something in it. His hand was shaking as he put it back.

Michael raised a hand and healed him, finding intense strain in his left hand from writing as well as a migraine, exhaustion, and the remnants of an attempt at poisoning. When he was done Bayle was flexing his healed hand.

"Thank you," he said.

"Who tried to poison you?"

"A local general. I already take a small draught with small doses of poisons daily to build an immunity to them, so it had little effect."

"I'm guessing you already took care of him?" asked Marcus.

"No. He's useful and competent. Better to keep him around for now."

Shreve gestured to the table in the parlour. "Please sit, Bayle. Have some tea."

Bayle hesitated, but he did approach the table and sit down, allowing the diplomat to pour him a cup of tea which he took a long sip of, sitting in silence for nearly a full minute afterward, his eyes closed.

He opened his eyes and nodded to Shreve. "Thank you."

Shreve nodded. "So. Where do things stand?"

"Stent is under control," said Bayle. "It was harrowing, especially with things moving faster than we'd intended, but by the time any of the King's loyalists might've acted, he was already dead and we controlled his successor, the capital, and the army. The prince awoke with all of his father's titles, and the ability to revoke and grant those of the nobility, so it's not as if they could stand against us anyway." He paused to take another sip of tea.

"And the front? Tusynia and the rifts?"

"Once we confirmed to them that the king was dead, the backchannels I'd made with them led to a truce being declared overnight. The peace negotiations will begin within a month, after the coronation and pullback of troops from the border. The larger problem was the rifts; they'd spilled out far more of the creatures than we'd anticipated. If we'd waited one more week for the assasination as we'd originally planned, then there may have been too many for us to be able to handle with the troops in the area."

Michael poured himself some tea and sat down with them, as did the others. To say he was impressed with Bayle would've been an understatement. Even with the amount of time he'd had to plan the coup and the power of his titled notebook, it was still a tremendous accomplishment. Perhaps that was inevitable though. The way succession and kings worked with titles and deeds it made sense. With all that power immediately flowing downward to the chosen successor, how could the nobility stand against them?

Shreve took a long sip of tea. "And when can Hume expect you to begin honoring our agreement?"

Bayle set his own cup down. "Fully meeting the obligation will be difficult. Taker soldiers are on a number of different fronts, and other takers are scattered amongst many different cities and towns. We also…" he hesitated. "We also would need to send soldiers with control brands along with them to make sure that they aren't harmed by them during their transport."

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There was silence for a few moments before Marcus spoke.

"I fucking knew it. You sons of bitches."

"What?" asked Ollie.

"They don't have a way to deactivate the brands themselves," said Pyotr, shaking his head. "All those times they promised us our freedom, they were lying."

Michael let out a hollow laugh. "Gods I'm stupid. I can't believe that actually surprises me."

"You were promised retirement from service here in Stent, and that is real, but the removal of your brand was a lie. Those few Penitents that manage to reach retirement are managed by an administrative group with control brands."

"And how many people actually make it to that point?"

"You were likely told somewhere around thirty percent?"

"Yes," responded Pyotr.

"It's closer to seven or eight. Those numbers are real, but based on an earlier conflict. Your trainer Kline probably didn't even know that they were inaccurate. He may not have known about the control brands either, but he likely did."

Michael shook his head. The man was dead anyway, so it wasn't as if he'd ever know. He thought about how easily he'd bought into the lies he'd been fed. He wasn't in his right mind, but it seemed so obvious, particularly with his friends drawing those conclusions as quickly as they had. He almost laughed; now he was feeling guilty about his guilt controlling him. He stood.

"I'll be removing the control brands myself, and we will begin doing so immediately."

Bayle frowned. "Takers are all across Stent, and we only just brought the nobility into line. This needs to be handled carefully."

"I'm certain that every single taker is tracked and you have all of their exact locations. Give me a map and a list of names. I will run through each and every city and free each and every Taker on the way to the front, then I will run back down along the other side while you send messages to have them prepare for me. Have all the rest of them in the central parts of Stent escorted here for me to heal when I make it back. How many are there?"

"Less than a thousand, but the logistics of what you're asking are-"

"I am not asking Bayle," responded Michael, sparks of golden flame flickering across him. "We have slain a king for this country that has treated both takers and its own people as disposable. I saw how those nobles with female taker servants treat them as well. You do as I say or I will personally bring the gods' judgement down on them, you, and everyone else involved in this system you have created. How will the fragile balance you've created fare after that?"

"You could not stand against all of Stent," replied Bayle.

"You're right, but thanks to you I was at a ball filled with all the highest ranking members of Stent society. How many could I kill before you stopped me?"

Bayle looked at him, anger showing on his normally controlled face, but there was some fear there too. He knew Michael could follow through on his threat.

"Michael," said Ollie standing and placing a hand on his shoulder. "I'm with you if this is what you want to do, but…" he looked at Bayle for a moment, "you have other problems you need to deal with. Personal ones. Are you sure you want to take the time to do this right now?"

Michael clenched his jaw. Gabriel was in the forefront of his mind, he always was, but he couldn't leave things in Stent as they were. Couldn't allow things to continue as they had for a moment longer. Besides, they needed what was promised in Hume, and the sooner they got it, the better.

"I'm sure," he said, nodding at Ollie.

Ollie frowned.

"Could I get a control brand?" he asked.

Bayle turned to him. "Yes. Meera can create them and place them."

"I can fly. I could probably reach the front even quicker than Michael. Or at least the furthest people. If we chart a route for me to fly to them then gather takers in a line back it should speed things up."

"Give Pyotr and I control brands too, and horses. We could at least start the process in closer areas. Maybe the ones to the south at least."

Bayle's expression was brought back under control. "I would not be able to guarantee any of your safety for this. Even if orders from the Prince are with you, there would be no way for me to prevent attacks on you from angered factions. I would hesitate to even assign escorts to you given how hot feeling about takers run."

"I don't think it will. Meera was telling me about the number of men and women who've been having dreams of the gods. If she can help us find those who have been drawn to the gods, then we will have loyal men we'll know we can depend on."

Bayle shook his head. "I will send messages to the Prince, the dukes, and the generals. It may take some time to get responses from all of them with all we have already been dealing with, but I can frame it as moving forward with things we've already planned to do."

"I'd be quick. I intend to start here in the capital, right now."