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Kivis and the Overlord
Posted by: altquark on Thursday, March 30, 2006 - 01:00 PM
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  nother knock at the door- this time clearer and full of meaning. Kivis sat up from his work and sighed - "Coming, coming" he muttered under his breath as he approached the door "keep your boots on will ya ?". Kivis removed his reading glasses - and as he reached the door, he went through the ritual of affixing more suitable glasses atop his nose, squinted at the door, and slowly opened it enough to see who it was that was knocking at this time of night.
"Are you Kivis Wintershinn ?" asked a gruff voice from the other side
"Yes - its late you know" started Kivis - peering through the open crack to try and see who it was who disturbed his work. Through the ajar door he saw a number men - obviously of some military detachment - but hard to distinguish the badges of office through the dim light and the rain now coming down steadily on the visitors
"May we come in ?" asked the man at the door after a moment of unsteady silence
Kivis sighed again, and opened the door further, retreating back into the warmth and safety of his office. Three men walked into his shop - large men, with weapons - though Kivis noted that they were sheathed. As he looked closer at the men shaking the rain off their leather tunics, Kivis immediately recognized the badges of the Overlords Special Forces that the men wore. Indeed this worried the scribe more than the sheathed weapons, and as was his lent, Kivis started imagining the worst of the visiting officials.
"Mister Kivis Wintershinn the scribe?" asked the well built man who was obviously leading the other two - peering through soaked hair that seemed to droop over his eyes
"Yes - is this about the incident with Mr Dibblers lease? I was positive that the rooms he was leasing were in pertintia and although I was unsure of the precendent, Messrs Davis and Fitch..." started Kivis.
"No" started the leader again, raising his hand to stop Kivis mid sentence. All of the watch knew of Kivis’ “leases” and official documents, in fact Kivis was expert in all types of official paperwork – and if a stranger lacked the proper documentation, a visit to the “Ferret Hole” with enough gold would always somehow produce the correct credentials. "The Overlord would care for your presence for, ahem, another matter"
Now Kivis was fully alert - and stood fidgetting. "Um ? At this time of night - I might not um be able to fully service the patrician, umm without the correct documentation and umm tools umm to mind" Kivis bumbled.
"Mr Wintershinn" the guard, now lowering his voice, leaned in for a greater effect "The overlord would care for your presence tonight if possible, and his instructions were explicit in asking for solely you and as soon as possible. There was no mention of books, scrolls, documentation or writing implements. We’ll also let those passport-looking documents that you attempted to hide in the top drawer of your desk lie there for this evening as well.” The guard finished this last remark with an evil grin, thoroughly enjoying the now completely flappable Kivis in front of him.
The guards let Kivis out of his shop - allowing him time to grab extra sets of spectacles, and waited patiently while Kivis locked up behind them. The time was close to midnight, the rain was now starting to let up and the four moved through the city steadily.
It took some time to navigate from the edge of the Tenderloin District, where Kivis’ shop was located through the Noble District, following Wall Street up to the main gates of the Overlords castle. However, instead of approaching the gates, the guards turned off Royal Road and took an alternative route towards the Citadel.
Soon, a nervous Kivis was sat in a plain room, awaiting a meeting with the overlord of the city. Now, this was no usual occurrence and Kivis was acutely aware that something must be on the Overlords mind to pull a lowly scribe out of the depths of the Tenderloin District at night into the most powerful location of the city. Kivis looked around the waiting area that he had been placed by the detachment – and noticed how bare the room was, without ornaments or even a welcome rug. This made Kivis even more nervous than before.
Eventually after an eon of waiting in the plain room, an attendant opened a double set of doors opposite where Kivis was sitting and motioned wordlessly that Kivis should enter.
Kivis slowly rose, crossed the room and entered the Rotunda Office. This was the room of power, the ultimate view, the office from which the Overlord could overlook the city, examining as a child might in a sandbox the busying of the people across the City. Indeed with the sky clearing to allow the moon of Luna to shine its light across the dampened city, the city sparkled as if it were a childs plaything. From one view to the East of the Rainbow Palace, the walls of color reflecting strangely monochromatically in the moons light through to the Noble District and out back toward the Temples and the Tenderloin District, barely visible under a cloud of soot that seemed to blacken everything from the viewer. Thousands of lights flickered their strange glow from windows out amongt the thousands of windows that stretched far to the south.
A cough took Kivis out of his reverie, and he turned to see the Overlord watching him from the corner of the room, where he had just entered. The Overlord was a thin man. He had just been awakened, it seemed to Kivis, since he was still dressed in a Night robe. In his arm, he held the “First Canine” – a small terrier known by the thousands across the city as “fluffy”.
“Thankyou for coming at such notice” the voice had a strange papery feel to it – parched of moisture and the words seemed to hang clearly as if it were for inspection. “We have had word from the Eastern Borders that the council of thirty have approved our accession to the Turmish Empire”. The overlord walked carefully around to his desk, the eyes of Fluffy staring at the soaked Kivis in the center of the oval room. “We have a slight issue though” sniffed the overlord “and we would like you to help us.” The Overlord paused eyeing Kivis from foot to head. “Please, take a seat. My. Was it raining today? Would you care for some tea ?” the Overlord asked reaching across the desk for a small white ceramic cup – filling the vessel with steaming liquid from a small silver canteen – “one lump or two”
“I um beg your pardon your honor?” spluttered Kivis “Um yes, yes and four please” he answered to the Overlords questions. Kivis stepped over to the wonderfully ornate desk that the Overlord was now sitting behind – and lowered himself into one of the several chairs that graced the front of the desk.
“excellent, excellent” remarked the Overlord – handing to Kivis his sweet tea – “well I’m sure your, um, special skills will help us completely”. At this comment, Kivis started shaking slightly the tea in the cup generating small waves that threatened to splash outside the rim. Kivis sipped carefully, ensuring that the level dropped below the rim enough to prevent any mishap.
“Umm, I’d be glad to, umm help you, your Honor, umm would this be a legal binding, umm notice or perhaps a mimeograph of something that umm you might desire a copy of. Unfortunately my scribing um tools were left back in my shop” Kivis indicated toward the southerly window.
The Overlord laughed. This unnerved Kivis even further – having the supreme ruler of an entire country laugh in such away almost made the scribe drop his tea. “What I need is a ‘Special’ job – using your hidden talents to help us acquire the Turmish lands through the correct channels”
Kivis suddenly realized what the Overlord was asking of him.
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