Garric shrugged. “Sorry to say, she wasn’t careful enough. The Marisheio Empire is one of the largest governments in the galaxy. We eventually stumbled across your transmission. We also had a substantial reward offered for you. Someone recognized you and collected on the reward. When you left with Ratisha, we arrested Patto. Under…” he paused, glancing down uneasily at the computer pad, “…great duress we learned that his wife was taking you to Ryion Sital. We arranged roadblocks to keep you from entering the city. Talenvanc ordered all Rycal eliminated from the city to make sure you had nowhere else to run.”
It took Sedom a moment to let Garric's words sink in. Her first reaction was to lash out. But lash out at who? Garric? Attack her servant? It seemed foolish to take her anger out on a defenseless slave. “And Ratisha?” Sedom mentioned again. “You… force her to talk under duress?” Sedom accused, rising from her seat.
Garric raised his hands to fend off Sedom's anger. “Sortec, I was an investigator. I was never present during an interrogation. They have other men trained in these things. Though I can tell you what I saw after… they were not kind to her. But that was to be expected. She was a traitor to the Empire, of her people. If I were to return, I'd expect the same treatment, if not worse. There were certain expectations--”
“Her only crime was helping a sick child,” Sedom grumbled.
Garric closed his thick eyelids. “I said what was expected, not that it was right.”
Sedom sat and glanced down at the computer screen. “I'm surprised they let her live. I owe her my life. Not only did she risk her life by healing me, she sacrificed herself when you came looking for me outside Ryion Sital.”
“That’s probably why they've allowed her to live so long. They know Narkoy pay back their debts. They probably expected you to rescue her.” He paused, leaning against the counter beside Sedom. “How did you get away? We had your group surrounded on the road? That is if you don’t mind me asking?”
Sedom thought back, her mind in knots. “I guess it doesn’t matter if you know. Two of my caretakers buried me in the snow and ash under one of your transports,” Sedom said, her eyes distant as she recalled the day. So many bad memories and now she shared them with Garric, the cause of many of her memories.
Garric nodded, he too thinking back. He shook his thought aside. “Clever. They hid you right under our noses…” he thought out loud. “Well, they may be using her as bait. The way I came by this information was suspicious. It was as if they wanted you to know her whereabouts. Sortec, I believe they’re desperate.”
“Right, desperate,” Sedom smirked.
Garric chuckled musing over an inside joke that Sedom knew she'd never be privy to understanding. “My people won't stop until they have Gathow under their control and you're dead. They won't settle for only Gathow anymore. You and your kind are an insult to our way of life.”
“And the death of mine,” Sedom scowled. “Here I was planning to offer them Gathow in exchange they leave me alone.”
Garric gave Sedom a long, troublesome gaze. “Right after the Braum invites me to attend his birthday ball next month,” he returned without missing a beat.
Sedom rose from her seat, stretching her back. She never remembered her back aching so much, even after spending several nights sleeping in a tree. “I like your humor. He’s turning twenty, right? I almost forgot. I wonder what he's been doing. I haven't heard from him since he returned to Carmintor.”
Garric took back the computer, flipping to a different report. He handed the computer back, pleased to stay one step ahead of Sedom. “He's building an army.”
“He has an army. A rather impressive one too,” Sedom returned bemused.
“I misspoke. He’s doubling his army. There is a rumor that he's looking for a Narkoy ship called the Oslo. He wants to copy the technology and build a fleet of them. Needless to say, it’s making my people rather nervous,” he mentioned secretly wondering if she'd admit the Narkoy had the ship.
There was a rumor that the Narkoy hid an invincible ship somewhere nearby in case their enemy ever came too close. The most impressive part of the Oslo was its ability to cloak itself and its mobility to break through any planet’s atmosphere and land safely on the surface.
Sedom stared at her office door for a long moment, searching through her thoughts. She hadn’t heard about the Oslo for some time. Last time she heard mention of the ship was at a party she attended when she was nine. She remembered a very heated conversation between her grandmother and the Di-Braum of Carmintor regarding its usage. He wanted the ship, but her grandmother refused.
“The Oslo? I almost forgot. His uncle must have said something about it?” Sedom questioned. She dropped the computer back onto the table, her bottom jaw agape. “Combi am' troll… how do you know about it?”
Garric shrugged, amused that he managed to make Sedom admit to the Oslo’s existence. “I run a highly organized network of spies who don't know I'm working for you. They think I’m under cover for the Empire. It comes in handy.”
Working? Sedom thought. In a way, he was working for her, just not in a traditional sense. “Well, keep up the good work. I want you to keep an eye on Jasper and the Marisheio. Let me know if they get close to my ship.”
His tongue traced over his pale-yellow teeth. “Your ship?”
Sedom returned with a smirk followed by a
