The Great War: Chapter 20
The underworld is looking for new healers
“Cas.”
Cassie folds her legs under her desk and looks up from her papers with a scowl. “I asked not to be disturbed.”
Mitch’s face remains stony, but the slight shift of his weight betrays his unease. “I know, but this being wouldn’t leave without seeing you.”
Cassie taps one of her long nails on her desk. She’s a cautious wizard. She doesn’t do much business in person, nor does she have Mitch make many public appearances. The fact that this being could not only meet with Mitch but request an audience with her makes her, admittedly, uneasy. Especially in times like this.
“What’s the proposition?” she asks.
“She wouldn’t say,” Mitch replies. “Not to me.”
“This isn’t a debtor, is it?”
“No. I don’t recognize her.”
Cassie stops her tapping and presses her fingers together. If it isn’t some poor sod looking to beg for their freedom from her thumb, then who is it? Why are they here? And what sort of strings do they have at their fingertips?
“Can I bring her in?” Mitch asks.
Cassie closes her eyes and hums. Should she let in this stranger? Spirits only know of their motives. Usually she’d jump at the chance for conducting this sort of business, but with the war going on she has to still be careful. Now is the perfect time to eliminate some being like her, as the power vacuum she’d leave behind would be vast and ripe for the taking.
But does a queen not fight to protect her crown? A smile begins to creep across her face at the thought of battle. What was her time on the street for if she remains cooped up in her luxurious office? Maybe she should start stepping outside, just to see what will happen.
“Yes,” she replies smoothly.
With a nod, her right hand turns to the door of her office and opens it, speaking to whatever being waits in the hallway just outside. Then he steps aside, waving the being in, and Cassie comes face-to-face with a female Feni in a short green dress and white apron stained with dark red splotches.
Blood stains? She likes this Feni already.
The Feni carries herself with an air of authority, and as she stares at Cassie she gazes with clear, cold hatred.
“Well, hello there, sweetheart,” Cassie greets the Feni. “It’s not every cycle I get to see a being other than my helper. What’s your name?”
“Yumi,” the Feni replies, bitterness to her tone.
“There’s no need for hostility!” Yet maybe her murderous grin isn’t helping her case, either. “That doesn’t do well for business negotiations. Please,” Cassie gestures to a nearby chair pushed to the side of the room, “pull up a chair and have a seat.”
In heavy silence, the Feni does as she is told, placing the simple chair in front of Cassie’s large desk and taking her place in front of the crime lord with folded arms and a scowl.
“I hope you don’t mind me asking, dear, about how you got here?”
“I cared for some of your subordinates in the past,” Yumi replies curtly.
“A healer?”
"Yes.”
Cassie lets out a small chuckle. Most of the healers on Korodon live in Eros, near the castle. Probably some of the most virtuous wizards around. No wonder neither she nor Mitch know of her. They’re not the type to get involved with the underworld, or live anywhere near it for that matter.
“What’s a healer doing in my office, then?” Cassie laughs.
The stiff-sitting Yumi presses her lips together and doesn’t reply. At least, not right away. Right now she’s thinking, but of what Cassie can only guess. Whether or not she should go through with her plan, whatever it may be, perhaps. If she decides to leave now, then Cassie will have to give her the parting gift of what happens to those who waste her time. After all, the underworld isn’t a place for second-guessers.
“Well?” she presses. “It might be early but I don’t have all cycle to sit here and wait for you to speak. And after all the effort you put in to getting to my desk, I’d hate for you to waste this precious opportunity.”
The Feni clenches her jaw, her eyes turning sharp, and yet she inhales and speaks, “You own most of the buildings by the pier. Storerooms, workshops, housing. And I’m looking for space along the pier to set up a temporary infirmary for any returning injured.”
Cassie’s eyebrows rise in an instant. So that is why this healer is here! She’s after her property.
“So you’ve come to make a deal with the devil to help those in need!” she laughs. “How bold! How noble!”
“I was told you’re more of a businesswoman. This isn’t for profit. I have nothing to give you.”
Cassie laces her fingers together and sits back in her chair, small flames curling around her hands eagerly. While she continues to smile, she is already disliking where this conversation is going. “Then why should I give you any of my space? Come now, you should know how striking deals work if you’ve come all the way here.”
“You and any being you wish would be given first priority if ill or injured,” Yumi offers. “I just ask for space and resources to operate.”
If this were any other being on any other cycle, Cassie would decline in an instant. After all, she gets nothing material and yet this healer is asking to use her resources? How absurd!
But this isn’t just any other cycle, and this isn’t just any other being. To drag a healer into the underworld is tantalizing. Not only that, but she’d have a healer at her very fingertips to use nearly however she wishes. What’s a couple pieces of cloth and handfuls of herbs to Cassie? Nothing, really.
An infirmary is a perfect front. The best way to smuggle. The best way to keep out competition and threats. Even with it being a small loss materially, there’s all sorts of new avenues for her to explore.
“Do you have a place in mind already?” Cassie inquires.
Yumi’s brow furrows momentarily as she shakes her head. “Any storeroom we can repurpose will work.”
“Well, then, you’re in luck! I have a storeroom near the main pier that might work just fine!” Cassie leans forward once again, placing her elbows on her desk and placing her hands underneath her chin. “I’ll give it to you on a few conditions.”
“Name them.”
“I accept your proposition over who can and cannot be healed-”
“Hang on,” Yumi interrupts immediately, “I only said that you and-”
“Any being I wish were your exact words,” Cassie points out, her smile widening at Yumi’s panic. “Don’t worry, darling, I don’t have a vendetta against every being. If they were to all die then who would I have left to conduct my business with? For the most part, you’ll be able to operate however you wish. However, if I say a being doesn’t deserve healing, I expect the request to be honored.
“I would also have you be my personal healer. If I call for you then I expect you to come. And collateral… Unless I am the one to request your presence or make an exception, you are not allowed to leave the storeroom, or else I will rescind your right to use the space.” Fear flashes across Yumi’s tense face. Cassie raises a hand to wave away her concern. “Food, water, and any other needs for living you wish I will provide. I just don’t want you to suddenly disappear.”
“And what about you?” Yumi finally speaks again. “What’s stopping you from ceasing your care of me?”
“Well, you, naturally,” Cassie replies. “Your influence is necessary to keep your little operation going and to carry out my will. So long as you prove yourself and cooperate, what good would it be to me if I replace you with some random oaf who isn’t even a healer?
“Understand, dear Yumi, that healers in the criminal underworld are sparse to the point of near non-existence. They can only contribute so much and usually don’t last very long. Depending how useful you prove yourself to be, you simply being a healer in my inner circle is not a being I’d let go of so easily.
“That is the true price of this deal. You get my blessing and my resources, and I get you.”
Yumi shifts in her chair at Cassie’s ultimate conclusion, her gaze shifting away from the crime lord. Cassie isn’t going to let Yumi leave this room without coming to some sort of agreement. She’d hate to force her into submission.
“I figure you didn’t know of this,” Cassie hums lightly. “Don’t make me have to sweeten the deal.”
“If I were to agree?” Yumi just asks.
“Then I’d have Mitch retrieve a written contract and that’d be that.”
“And if I don’t?”
Cassie only laughs at the mere suggestion. That seems to convince the healer.
“Send for the contract, then,” Yumi states.
Cassie claps her hands eagerly. “The right choice! Mitch!” Her right hand stiffens at her bark, still standing by the door to her office. “Go get whoeveritis that does the writing. Now.”
“Of course,” he nods, instantly stepping out of sight.
Cassie turns backs to a dismayed Yumi, motioning towards her half-full wine rack with a sweeping gesture. “Now, can I get you something to drink while we wait?”