Nend Ardhon Chronicles - Complete

Chapter 24 - Mayor Taldeb Fagoyuth's madness

While Byia was in the Gym, Mayor Taldeb Fagoyuth was in his office, giving a press conference to a bunch of reporters from several newspapers and News Channels. After clearing his throat, he began to speak. “Regarding the events that happened yesterday and that were transmitted last evening on the National News, I must present my deepest apologies for such a deception that my niece dragged me to. I was never expecting that the sweet little baby that I held in my arms so many times could become such a mischievous being. I hope no one thinks that I was after the amazing Calla family, especially their youngest member, who is a classmate of my niece, because of what the reporter, Triri Ventbend, implied.”

One reporter disguised a smile and asked, “Mayor Taldeb Fagoyuth, or should I say, former Mayor Taldeb Fagoyuth, are you really going to deny that you tried to change the name of the street Senpyia Calla to your name? And that you tried to remove the statue of the great Senpyia Calla from the Central Park and replace it with one of you? Like if you could ever shadow such an amazing member of the Calla family, that changed our World and so many others, while you are just a City Mayor? We came here because we all thought you were going to resign your post, and instead, you shamelessly present your lame excuse by saying your niece fooled you? Even the most prominent members of your party condemned your actions, and you lost all their support over these last few hours, and you are still thinking you will remain as the Mayor of this City? What makes you think that? Do you have a hidden plan to make everyone magically forget what happened yesterday? Or do you have some dark secret about the Calla family that will justify your actions, even if no one believes that the Calla family can remotely do something worse than you did?”

The Mayor tried to speak, but all the reporters started to ask similar questions, making him unable to answer any of them. He could only say no or shake his head. Then, his assistant entered, looking worried, and whispered in the Mayor’s left ear, “We need to flee through the back door. This interview is being transmitted live, as I warned you in the beginning, and there is an angry group breaking into the building. They will get here in seconds! We must flee!”

The Mayor glanced at the reporters and whispered back, “What about the bodyguards? It’s just a group; I don’t see why…”

“Mayor, they killed all four bodyguards, and you will be next! We must flee right now!”

The Mayor made a forced smile to the reporters while his assistant pressed a hidden button under the Mayor’s desk. The closet full of books on the left wall moved to the side, and the assistant pushed the Mayor in, closing it afterwards, before the reporters could understand what was happening, and right before a group of angry Water-Dragons entered the office and began to smash everything.

The reporters tried to keep transmitting, only to get their snouts hit and their cameras destroyed, and they had to flee through the front exit to escape the angry mob that was destroying everything.

Along the narrow secret corridor with a few lights on the top every few meters, the Mayor asked in a low voice, “What happened? What was that all about? I didn’t do anything wrong! Why were they so mad?”

“You didn’t do anything wrong? Mayor, I tried to warn you, over and over! Going after the Calla family only to get more attention for yourself was foolish! Why didn’t you listen to me? Reforms, fundraising, inaugurating a few businesses, and visiting Hospitals and Clinics! Some schools! Create a scholarship with your name! But no, you had to do everything against my advice and go after them! Why does the Calla family annoy you so much? Some outstanding females from that family forever changed our World! Your heart disease when you were younger was easily healed by the medicines Senpyia Calla developed ages ago! You, of all people, should be thankful for that!”

The Mayor stopped swimming and squeezed his assistant’s neck while shouting, “Why is it always the Calla family? Why not my family? My grandfather, my father, and everyone before me in my family had to work hard for everything they accomplished! Why are so many females born into that family with so much Magic and Skills? Why not me?”

The assistant rubbed his neck and followed the Mayor to the exit in silence, thinking that he had to get away from that crazy Mayor as soon as possible, or he would be dragged along in all that madness.

At the end of the narrow corridor, the Mayor stopped and pushed a lever on the wall. A round door opened, and he crossed it, followed by his assistant. The corridor led to the office building in front of the City Hall in an old, dusty archive room.

The Mayor pushed the door open of the archive and went straight to the small office after it, with only a desk and a console near a wall. He pressed a few buttons and waited for the wall to turn into a screen. A dark blue Water-Dragon was shown, with a bright light at his back, hiding his features.

He spoke with his voice disguised by a sound mixed in the transmission that made it impossible to distinguish if it was a male or a female and how old that Water-Dragon was. “Mayor Taldeb, I was waiting for your call. It seems your little speech at your unauthorized press conference made things even worse. Why didn’t you do as you were ordered and apologized instead of trying to deny everything? My Consortium supported your election campaign, and we even made sure that you got elected by getting rid of or exploiting the dark secrets of your closest competitors, and this is how you thank us? You still have an enormous debt with us considering how much money we gave you, and you were supposed to be working until the end of this year so that you could pay us back with the contracts for those new buildings and travelling tunnels. Now, what are you going to do, considering that you just lost your position as the City Mayor and a replacement is already being chosen in your political party?”

The Mayor quickly cleaned the cold sweat that was appearing on his forehead and made his best smile. “I… just did what I thought was best to maintain my position; that was why you chose me among all the other politicians in this City because you knew that I would do a good job, and…”

“No, my Consortium chose to support you because you were so easy to convince. We just had to show you two suitcases full of pearls, and you waved your tail like a little cute pet. For now, you must lie low, stop appearing in public, and let my people handle things from now on. If everything goes well, you will be allowed to apply for the next elections by the end of this Tide. I have instructed my guys to increase the criminality in the City to make the people worried about that, so when the time comes, you can be seen as the City’s savior. Your niece will also get a little pinch in her reputation to depict her as a mean and rude Water-Dragon, and a few stories about your philanthropic work will be spread around. If we find something to taint the Calla family reputation, we will also use that, but it will be difficult because, unlike you, none of their members that live in this City have ever done anything suspicious.”

Mayor Taldeb tried to speak but was again interrupted: “I didn’t ask for your opinion on this! You have your instructions. A transport is already at the front of the office building from where you are calling to take you home. Remain there, and don’t leave for anything unless I instruct you to go somewhere. As for your assistant next to you, I hope he wasn’t thinking about abandoning you because we can’t have loose ends swimming around, can we? We will be in touch.”

The connection was suddenly cut off, and the Mayor stared blankly at the white, dusty wall and mumbled, “How did he…?”

He then turned to face his assistant with a frown and asked, “Did you tell him anything? How did he know we were here? Did he send a car for us already? How?”

The assistant was completely pale. He even felt his heart stop when he heard that direct threat from that unknown figure. He quickly shook his head and answered in a trembling voice, “No… I don’t even know how to contact him… It’s better if we do as he said and go to that transport he sent.”

The Mayor stared at his assistant for a while, and he then nodded, swimming straight to the door that led to the large, decorated hall with a receptionist and a security guard, who made a slight bow as he swam by.

They both entered the dark transport, covered in dark windows that hid the interior but let the passengers see through them from the inside.

As soon as the assistant closed the door, the driver sent a mental order to the four Rodhocetus that were pulling the transport, and they began to swim slowly and carefully to not attract the angry mob that was protesting in front of the City Hall on the other side of the street.

As the transport took them to the Mayor’s house, he saw from the one-way see-through windows many groups shouting his name and with boards with angry sayings at the corners of every street, making him realize how much damage his recent actions did to his already dubious reputation.

He couldn’t understand why everyone seemed to be siding with the Calla family and going so angry at him. He even considered the possibility that Teera Calla could be thinking of running for Mayor, making it impossible for him to be re-elected even with his mysterious supporters.

Near the far-right side of the City where his house was located, right in the center of a set of terraced houses, an immense crowd was at the front gate, blocking the path of his transport. The Mayor tried to give instructions to the driver, but without saying a single word, the driver guided the transport to the left upper side and ordered the group of Rodhocetus to hold.

With a head signal, he indicated to the Mayor that he was expecting the special opening of the security dome that surrounded the group of houses. By pressing a small remote the Mayor had in the briefcase that he always carried, a large round opening appeared, and the transport quickly went through it, with the Mayor closing it again to prevent anyone from swimming through it.

When the transport stopped in front of his house, the Mayor exited, followed by his assistant, while glancing at the driver and wondering how he knew where that passage in the dome was located.

The assistant opened the door for him, and a strange light grey Water-Dragon was expecting them with a smile. He signaled them to enter and greeted the Mayor without even bothering to look at the assistant: “Mayor Taldeb Fagoyuth, welcome home. I am your new Security Chief and designated bodyguard. I am here to make sure you comply with my employer’s orders and remain in this house, letting him do all the work to improve your reputation amongst our fine citizens. I will do everything possible to make sure you are not bothered, threatened, or injured by any sudden visitor.”

The Mayor gulped and asked in a trembling voice, “This means… I am under home arrest? What gives you the right to…”

The stranger made a threatening smile with his sharp eyes, following the Mayor’s movements. “Oh, no, nothing like that! I am here just as insurance. You can see me as any other piece of furniture in this house. You won’t even notice me if you do as you were told. Now, please, sit in your office and relax. I took the liberty of telling your new servant to prepare some drinks for you and your… assistant. Yes, assistant or future deceased, if he tries to abandon you. I must also warn you that you have a new servant, a new cook, and a new driver that you already met. My employer took care of that, considering that your previous staff couldn’t be trusted after these last events.”

The Mayor glanced at his assistant and saw his blank and scared face. With a small nod of his head, the Mayor went to his office, pushing his assistant ahead of him.

As soon as he closed the door, the Mayor began to shake uncontrollably. Things were going from bad to worse very, very quickly, and he couldn’t figure out a way to escape from the clutches that were slowly closing upon him and everything that he always took for granted.