It was getting so hard to stay awake that Ted strongly considered asking around whether anyone had anything stronger than coffee, but regarding his health, that was an awful idea, and besides, Ted did not know which mercenaries he could trust anymore.
One eyed him, another avoided him altogether, and a third one would sharpen his blades loudly on the deck. He should not have done such things with a high cor present. He should have sharpened the knives and the swords while alone. No one wanted to see his silent bragging.
Ted was wordlessly raging against the situation he had created. Perhaps it was his own paranoia speaking, but he felt like any of the mercenaries could have been paid by his competitors to take him out of the equation.
He always stood with his back to the wall. On days, the terrible rays drilled into his head, making him clutch his temples all the time, and on nights, his eyesight was simply not good enough to make out every possible threat. This was enough to give him frighteningly rapid bursts of irregular heartbeat. Every nasty feeling between his ribs reminded him of the theory that he was forming in his mind.
There were multiple people who wanted to take the Fin, that was the first premise. Many of those people were Sennite, but a few were from the East, too, and the position would have allowed the winner of the competition to take some precious natural resources that were – well, the resources had to be in the water, if the people were so poor and miserable that they had to kill widows for a tea. Eventually, someone would find a way to extract them out of the waves and then there would be no arguing about the owner, they would belong to whoever would be able to raise them and by then, it would be way too late.
Ted didn't want to let that happen. He fully intended to continue his shenanigans before and after the sacrifice.
The Bridge of Eroch was now near, and the beautiful wilderness gave way to buildings, of stone, and of wood as well, fitting the current aesthetic with their elegant lines and carefully curated asymmetry. When the high and the mighty had noticed that the Bridge might have some strategical significance – this had been after the Purple War – it had been decided by those with resources that a city should sprout up around the fortress to facilitate trade between the majestic nations. Of course, there was a hidden military agenda in this, but if the relations cultivated towards the East were ones of trade and not bloodshed, there might be no use for the weapons that were buried in the sand around the city, or the heavy artillery, or for the disguised supersoldiers with training in different kinds of combat. These things were not common knowledge. Ted had found out everything on his own.
He did not intend to say anything to the Diamond King, as his kingdom was not aware of the fear and the hatred that many Sennites still had for his people. The war had been such a transformative event.
The clear blue on the walls of the buildings suggested that someone had just painted them.
In Sennas, blue was always in fashion. It was the color of death and mourning, and a morbid trend had arisen during the last two decades – everything that could be blue was painted blue. There were tales of brides getting married in blue. While it had been scandalous in the beginning, to say the least, people were now getting used to the thought of death reminding everyone of its presence in the age of mourning ribbons tied to fences and the dainty wrists of those females who were lucky enough that they could pull it off with their hourglass bodies and slender arms.
Ted liked black more, though, as it was a serious color, but one without the obvious connection to sorrow and death. It was the color of businessmen and, incidentally, occultists. White had once been popular among the witches and those who just happened to like the dark arts. Something had happened in the field of fringe fashion, though, or maybe the world had merely become a dirtier place. In any case, Ted preferred to wear black, and match it with yellow in order to stay noticeable in a crowd.
His fashionable thoughts turned to the city below them. They were now crossing the new border, put in place due to the trade arrangements that had been calculated to benefit Sennas as well. There was a city right on the eastern side of Erochport, with a definite western touch. The architecture was much like that of the capital, but the displays of wealth were numerous, and different, too. There were small details made out of something that looked a lot like mother of pearl.
This was a scenery that supported a ripe community of smugglers and other criminals. Everything looked sleek and beautiful on the surface. Ted knew, however, that beyond the gates and the fences corna moved from hand to hand and blood money was paid. It was a nice place, just what Ted wanted his first stop to be. Here, he could exchange the gold for rare gems and then drive a car from Xerette to the capital of the Diamond Kingdom.
He also wanted to pay the mercenaries handsomely enough that no one would grumble about having to watch over a few madmen. He was still feeling uneasy about the dead hag. Ted knew that some of the mercenaries might follow him on the highways, and he had to deal with that possibility. He stepped into the city with Eknie and Madorn, and the first thing he did was an evil deed.
He paid a couple of truly competent hitmen to arrange the murders of all the mercenaries while he got a good night's sleep. By now, he had found out everything about the men he had hired. He knew which ones had relatives that would expect corpse money or more.