ArHi FF:13: The BEASTS and the BLEEDING ROSES - Page 47

Chapter 310: The Uninvited

Both the Lords were occupied in work at the Industry for there was plenty to be done if they were to, as the First Lord had insisted often, leave Arhasia in a year or two.

That very same morning, they were sitting at the desk in the First Lord's office and sorting through the files.

Just then, Adil knocked on the door, his muffled voice impassively mentioning, "Sire, there is a man here who wishes to have a word with you."

"Who is it?" asked Lord Arnav inattentively, glancing over another parchment that his brother had just slid across the table.

"He didn't mention his name, sire," informed Adil, which drew the attention of both the Lords, "But he asked to see you on a matter requiring great confidentiality."

"Confidentiality?" Lord Arnav sat up with a slight dip in his thoughtful eyebrows, "Is he alone?"

"He has an escort who appears to be a manservant," answered Adil, then added after a pause, "And a cat."

"A cat?!" The Second Lord asked in amusement, "Well, we don't want cats in here, do we? Not in a place where we have bundles of silk and moths." He turned to his brother who remained in sombre thought.

Gradually, the First Lord gave a nod of affirmation, "Send him in, whoever it is. Without the cat and the escort." He shared an amused grin, fleetingly, with his brother before assuming his solemn visage.

Adil withdrew momentarily, and when he returned, he let into his Master's office, a late middle-aged man who appeared in the doorway, huge and serious, apparelled in a dark suit.

This man importantly handed his walking stick and black top hat onto Adil's hands, and stepped into the room.

It was not just the stature, but something in the demeanour of the man set him off with Lord Arnav and the latter despised him from the first second he saw him.

The man's smooth hair was long and pitch black, with irregular strands of grey in its curious length a little below his shoulders. The hair was combed in a fashion that permitted one side of his face to be covered, exposing to the vision of others only a part of his face that broadcast a green, calculative eye which saw and knew everything. There was a certain power that emanated from this cool being that unsettled even the First Lord who kept his eyes unblinkingly trained on him.

The Second Lord looked in his brother's direction wondering why he was not offering their visitor the armchair before the table. Taking the matter into his hands, Lord Akash was about to ask the man to sit when his brother's voice intruded the air.

"May I know who you are and what business you seek here?" asked Lord Arnav, stepping around his desk and approaching the man, seemingly not inhibited by the supreme offender.

"You can call me Perses," said the man in a low, sonorous voice, "That is how I am known among my business associates. But as you can see, I am an Indian like you."

Lord Arnav frowned in suspicion, "I have never seen you in these parts before. Where do you come from? And why did you not alert us to this visit through a letter? I don't see people without prior appointment."

"Forgive me," the man replied unapologetically, "I was not aware of the stringent customs of this land. But I will gladly explain my presence, sir, if you will contain yourself, and permit me to first take a seat."

The recklessness of the man's remark struck the First Lord's impatient nerve and he offered flatly, "Uninvited guests are not allowed the chairs in my territory."

The man only smirked.

"My servant says you arrived with another," pointed out Lord Arnav.

"You are not the only one who can have personal servants," replied the man in sarcastic coolness.

Lord Arnav was enraged, "I do not keep servants to my fancy! It is their choice too." He glared at the man, "Where is yours?"

"He is outside," said the man coolly, "Minding my carriage."

Lord Arnav caught Adil's eye and nodded in the direction of the window, "Keep an eye on him."

Adil bowed and left to comply with his Master's order.

Lord Akash shut the door and sat on the chair closest to it as he watched his brother settle down in the armchair behind his desk.

Both men looked up at the towering man, who stood like he owned the world.

"What intentions have you here?" began Lord Arnav, "You are not an Arhasian, that is quite certain."

"You have deduced true," said the man in his light voice, "I arrived a few days ago."

Realization lit in his mind, and the Second Lord stared in his brother's direction. The First Lord's features were calm but determined, and it was obvious that he had realized the truth the moment the man stepped into the room. He was only playing around with his questions to try to keep the offending intruder at bay.

"By what ship did you arrive?" Lord Arnav asked, neither blinking nor taking his eyes off the man and knowing well the answer the other was to utter.

"The Dinistr," the man said unabashedly.

"No ship of that name has been entered in our log book," pointed out Lord Arnav.

"That's because we didn't sign ours into your schedule," replied the man relentlessly.

Lord Arnav shot up from the infuriated chair, "You have made an unauthorized entry into Arhasia and you dare to make yourself accounted in my presence."

The man only looked straight at him, his green eye strangely amused by his outburst, "As I already mentioned, I am not familiar to the systems of this land. But let me enlighten you: if I had destructive intentions, would I be presenting myself to you after that ignorance to document my entry?"

"Ignorance?" Lord Arnav repeated fumingly, "You don't appear to be a man, foolish enough to not know that he is to ensure his entry is quilled at the coastal posts."

"Where my Dinistr was docked, I saw no coastal posts."

"Where did you find harbour?" Lord Arnav probed, knowing already where it was.

"A more remote coast to the South," answered the man matter-of-factly, "It's a three days ride from here."

Something in the man's shrewd eyes made Lord Arnav realize that he knew the First Lord was only playing around with queries on the answers to which he was already aware of.

This realization infuriated the First Lord even more, "Why are you here? What business do you seek in Arhasia?"

"I am a traveller and explorer of sorts," said the man casually, "I do business discovering new lands that are prospective."

Lord Arnav sensed something foreboding, and he stated flatly, "You cannot do business here. No one can do business here without authorization from me."

"Oh, no, I do not want to do business here," said the man calmly, his green eye glinting, "I want to do business with this land."

Lord Akash stood in astonishment and Lord Arnav glared at the man, "This land is not yours to make a business of it,"

"Which is why I came to you," said the man, lifting his head prominently, "I heard you were transplanting yourself to India and I was hoping to get this land in exchange for a good sum of money. That is all."

In different circumstances, Lord Arnav would have traded with this man so he could return to India knowing his land legally belonged to another. But the thought of this man, for whom he had not even the slightest liking, taking over his beautiful Arhasia didn't bode well with Lord Arnav.

This was why Lord Akash wasn't surprised to acknowledge his brother's curt reply, "No."

"No?" The man almost did a double take, a confused light in his dubious gaze. He had been certain Lord Arnav was determined to give away his land to the first man who was a willing buyer.

"No," repeated Lord Arnav.

The other negotiated, "I will pay you double the price you paid to establish yourself as Lord of the land."

"Even if you give ten times the gold, I will not sell this land to you," Lord Arnav sat down, finalizing his proposition.

"You will not change your answer?" the man asked testily, his face obscured in the shadow of his long hair.

"I will not sell Arhasia to you," said Lord Arnav irrevocably, his stern gaze on the towering man.

"Very well," said the man, his head lifted decisively, "There are other lands I can buy and then, perhaps, three or four years later, I will come back and buy this land from the man to whom you will sell it."

"I don't care what you do, but you won't get anything that belongs to me," said Lord Arnav in icy triumph.

"We will see about that," mumbled the man thinly, his last words inaudible to Lord Arnav who watched with contempt as the stranger made towards the door, put his top hat on, picked up his walking stick that had the handle of a golden falcon and then departed from the office.

Lord Akash stared after him.

"Tell Adil to keep a close watch on that man," Lord Arnav said.

Lord Akash nodded and then paused to suggest, "Don't you think we should alert the mayor about this man and have him banished immediately?"

"I am certain he has nothing to do here now that the land won't be sold to him," asserted Lord Arnav, "But we better keep an eye on him and his servant just the same."

"I will see to it," said Lord Akash and he was leaving for the door when Lord Arnav said, "I am certain of it, Akash, now more than ever."

The Second Lord looked over his shoulder, "About him being aided?"

Lord Arnav nodded, "He is being helped by someone in Arhasia. The timing, the explanations...it all points to it."

Lord Akash frowned, "It must be him, like you said: The General. I realized this the moment that man mentioned that he knew we're planning to leave for India..."

Lord Arnav's hand fisted on the table, "And to think that that filthy General was playing hard at acting acquitted by suggesting himself that we keep an eye on our coasts."

"Well, he may think he's got us fooled," assured Lord Akash, "But we'll get to him this time."

"And I will personally see to it that he suffers for all that he is destroying," swore Lord Arnav.

Will post the next chapter before the 24th February 2015.