Chapter 524 Diversions (1/2)

”How was I supposed to know he was going to escape?” Granin said. ”You think he was likely to admit such a thing right before he attempted it?”

”I've had reports that much of the mental communication between yourself and the ant were s.h.i.+elded from prying. Why would that be?” Gravus rumbled, uncharacteristically keeping his temper in check.

Granin's eyes widened.

”Because, as my charge, and as a reincarnated individual, Anthony had those rights within the cult. I swear by the Worm, you boneheads don't even remember what he is!”

”He was a monster under the control of the cult,” Gravus growled.

”He was an individual under the care of the cult,” Granin ground out.

The two old Shapers glared at each other, openly indulging in their mutual dislike. Granin felt his knuckles itch with the desire to punch this sorry sack of a stone right in the face again, just to prove a point, but he restrained himself. He was being interrogated and didn't particularly want to drag the rest of his triad down with him.

”And I suppose the frequent meetings with the other reincarnated individuals under our care, leading to the escape of one of them, had nothing to do with your machinations?”

”Machinations?” Granin snorted. ”The only plotting here has been going on in the vast s.p.a.ce between your ears. It's natural for them to want to communicate with each other, given their shared history. Each of those meetings was approved, by your triad, and, just maybe, James was eager to escape because he feared being forced into combat to the death. You know, like you did to Anthony, and then to Sarah.”

Gravus puffed up with indignation.

”You know very well that the specimen known as Sarah volunteered for the role. She has relied on the Shapers for many years, it's little surprise that she wants to give back.”

Silence hung in the air for a few long seconds as Granin stared his adversary in the eyes coolly. It was hard to believe the old blowhard would be able to spit those lines with a straight face. If it were Granin, he expected the shame would be enough to melt him down to slag.

”There's a few rumours going around the outpost,” Granin said, ”ugly rumours. People are talking about Sarah, about how scared she was of returning to the Dungeon. There's even speculation …”

He leaned forward conspiratorially.

”… that some disgusting piece of trash, threatened to send her to the third strata and leave her there if she didn't agree to partic.i.p.ate in the Dungeon and murder one of her own kind.”

”Terrible,” Gravus said through gritted teeth.

”Shocking,” Granin forced through his own rictus grin. ”It's this kind of disgusting conduct that gives Shapers across the empire a bad name.”

The two returned to their silent, hate filled staring contest whilst behind them Torrina and Corun rolled their eyes. He couldn't help himself, this leader of theirs. If he wasn't so busy sticking his nose into messes and stirring the pot, he'd have been inducted to the leaders.h.i.+p decades ago. But, if he was able to practice that kind of restraint, he wouldn't be Granin, and they wouldn't respect him nearly so much.

Behind Gravus, his own triad members sat, equally frustrated, though they were more disciplined and didn't show it on their faces. It had been a long, tiring night for them as they tried to organise the pursuit of the escapees and manage the increasingly shrill demands of the city, and of the Warriors network who supported them. When word came back a few hours ago that the majority of the triads sent out had been destroyed by an overwhelming force of ants, the entire city had exploded. A few things had begun to happen at once. Officials scrambled to put together a suppression force. Warriors scrambled to insert themselves into that force in order to reap glory and rewards. Shapers rushed to get out of that force in order to avoid having their study routines disturbed, not to mention all that nasty danger that would be involved. But the most fierce and determined compet.i.tion was surely the intense round of blame s.h.i.+fting that occurred amongst the leaders.h.i.+p circles all over the city.

Warriors and Shapers were dead. An ant colony was on the city's doorstep and n.o.body knew about it. The citizens were in an uproar, every Circle in the city from the Merchants to the Crafters was up in arms. The n.o.ble circle had, to this point, been mercifully silent, but for how long n.o.body could guess. Yet another reason to find someone to point the finger at when things got grim. Naturally the leading triad in the outpost had come to the most logical conclusion in regards to their own scapegoat. Granin and his triad had been working closely with the specimen in question and had agitated on its behalf most aggressively. It was very plausible that they knew the extent of its plans.

Plamine leaned forward, her elbows on her desk and her hands laced beneath her chin.

”It's going to be difficult to convince the city that you had no knowledge of what was going to take place, Granin,” she managed to sound regretful. ”If or when they come here asking questions then we are going to need to have some answers for them. What should we tell them?”