DELIBERATION

DANTE

Akbar and Kentrell grunted at being reprimanded and narrowed their eyes at me without saying a word. Ambrose gave me an encouraging nod and I continued. “Thank you, Father. I would admit it, yes, we lost one of our own again in a rather unfortunate manner. I was going to bring it to the council's  attention later on, but since the cat has been let out of the bag, we might as well make it the first priority in our agenda.”

“Go ahead, then,” Dorothea obliged. She was another elder in the Council and the oldest female amongst us. She was a woman of few words, but when she did speak, wisdom flowed out of her mouth like a river. She was calmer and thought about things more rationally than Kentrell and Akbar.

“Sage, one of my guards was murdered in what we suspect to be a ritualistic attack.” I directed Zander to hand the members the files which contained the pictorial evidence of the death. Their reactions were unreadable but a gasp emitted from Dorothe