TRAILING SHADOWS 29 Anticipated

The Moon Dust Alliance House stood, a monument of contractual deals, dwarfing over other buildings around. The usual hustle-bustle a.s.sociated with the House was missing on this day. The front desk attendants were noticeably halved. The reception hall seemed a ghost of itself with its quiet and eerie calmness. Even the guards on duty were not left out.

It seemed the Alliance House was closed as portrayed. But for those who understood the inner workings of the Moon dust Alliance House knew that this was the time of the month where the house collected all bounty details and forwarded to the Council House of Ilu Obatala as was their custom.

This was to keep a lid on whatever happened in the alliance houses, thus keeping them at bay. It also became glaring important that the council house of Ilu obatala be informed of their monthly transactions for actions to be taken properly, peradventure a mishap was detected.

But even at that, not all Alliance Houses gave a true report of what went down within their courts. Some transactions were completely illegal, frowned on by the Council System in Orun. But still, the alliance house would not readily want to say no to sources those jobs came from as the reward system was much higher than usual.

Hence, roundtable meeting was conducted at the time before the monthly report was sent to The Council Meeting. The purpose was to a.n.a.lyze their report, erase some transactions and provide loopholes to cover their tampering with it.

And as of present, one of such meeting held within the inner house of the building. A meeting where stakeholders and invited staff attended to sort various issues aside from Monthly report.

Several people sat around a long white enameled table with chairs with elongated head rest. The edge of the table was occupied by no other but General Folarin, a grim face that spoke of power and might while the other end of the table was empty.

Seated at either sides of Folarin were his most trusted aides, a female and male with grey hairs and large chests. They each had deep blue eyes that seemed to be searching everything and everyone. Fate based Irunmoles. Following them were the other high ranking Irunmole in the Alliance House stakeholder meeting, most with grim faces and taut muscles focused on Folarin who was in the middle of a speech

"…Rach.e.l.le, today of all days is when you decide to notify that a hunting bounty came from a council house?" Folarin spoke, displeasure evident from his tone.

He wore just a long sleeveless coat with waist cloth and trouser on a bare chest. In contrast, the Rach.e.l.le in question wore a wine dress with red spots, long unrestrained hair and a look of perfection as some would dare describe her.

Rather than the agitated, annoyed look the General had on, Rach.e.l.le had a cool reserved look. "The blame is not on me, General. I was threatened and I am bringing this now, despite the threat because of my loyalty to this organization."

Folarin cleared his throat briefly before opening his mouth. Soon as he did, he closed it back having oted the mocking gaze from Afolabi who sat a little opposite Rach.e.l.le.

As the son of the General, he was allowed to be in attendance of the monthly summit. However, Ibiyemi was absent because she was yet to prove her worth to the entire house, due to her very youthful age. Just then, Afolabi stirred and was about to speak only to be rudely cut short by his father.
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"And how are we sure that you're bringing this up now isn't that you are leading us into a trap?" Folarin pressed on. There was actually no need to go on the attack on Rach.e.l.le but he did, knowing that the errant son of his would want to use this meeting as an avenue to disgrace him out of office and he was never going to allow that.

Rach.e.l.le flushed, embarra.s.sment settling on her face. "I don't understand you, General. What is your point now? Are you accusing me of treason?"

"Well, if…" Afolabi was interrupted sharply again. This time, he fumed; finally understanding the game his father had been putting up since.

"Rach.e.l.le, why exactly are you seeking to appeal to pity? And is that anger on your face, Afolabi?" Folarin spoke, adjusting his gaze to his son.

As the custom of the meeting was, no one had the right to fume at the presiding officer. Doing so was credited as insubordination and such a person was excused from the meeting.

Folarin smiled lightly. He was sure going to capitalize on that.

"Get out of this place." He thundered, his aura firing up.

Immediately, heads turned over to Afolabi. A general whispering began as some who didn't see Afolabi falter began to ask the others. Grunting lowly, Afolabi stood up, the rage still visible on his face. He pushed back his chair and walked towards the door. On getting there, he took a look at his father and swore silently. "Enjoy humiliating me today. But when my time comes, I would make sure you grovel in dirt."

After Afolabi left, Folarin composed himself, smiling lightly. "Well, we would enlist the council house of Orunmila to enlist their help in covering up that transaction in our submission. "Now, in the other matters concerning the unofficial bounty hunters, it is a slap to our face and as the head of this Alliance House, I would send my most trusted Aides, Elias and Elisa along with Tobias, the Omega Cla.s.sed Fate Agbara user to ring them back. And in their place, those three would proceed on the bounty."

"That's not right. We are supposed to bid for the bounty." A vice shot out from the far end.

Folarin peered closer. "The mission has been compromised; Elias and Elisa are core members of our Ethics and Disciplinary board and it is most suitable that they are drafted for this." He replied coolly, looking from face to face.

Outside the meeting room, an entire scene was going down. Ibiyemi paced left to right, remembering what her father had told her.

They had a plan; Or rather, they antic.i.p.ated the move Afolabi would pull. That he would most likely want to make his move during the meeting today. Her father had panicked but after some brainstorming, they devised that Afolabi would not be given any chance to speak at all.

And as expected, he would grow annoyed, a violation of the rule of meetings as that as that was taken as disrespect to the presiding officer. Afolabi punishment was to be excused from the meeting for as long as he could regain his calm. Once he had, he would b allowed to return.

And that was what she was banking on. She was not going to allow him a chance to return to ruin her father forever. She would stall him in a duel.

She was ready but again, she was scared. Ashe was merely an Elite Cla.s.s. She had just ascended recently, while her brother, Afolabi, was a late Omni Cla.s.sed Expert.

'Cla.s.s does not necessarily mean strength.'

'True heroes are not those who shy from those in higher cla.s.s. They are daring, fearless and brave to the end.' Those were Olukoni Mayowa's words when she had voiced the plan over to her some time ago.

She caught the outline of Afolabi, stamping his foot in rage outside the meeting hall. She swallowed, dread of her brother was.h.i.+ng over her. Clenching her teeth, she pulled the silver emotionless mask over and fastened the hood. Now was the time and she was not going to let fear envelop her.

She dashed, her feet cascading lightly over the floor, a signification that she had trained really hard in the past days. Chanting the name of Abefele Iruju, she clenched her hands, feeling the warmness of energy flowing through them.

Now, she could use two illusion blades technique which made her even deadlier an Elite. Mentally, she tugged at her ring artifact on her hand, unleas.h.i.+ng several strands of energy that wrapped her here and there, turning her invisible immediately.

Then, she leapt, gliding through the air to her target. She cast the base techniques 'Seamless flow' from the principles of movement that allowed her to move noiselessly through the air while holding to the illusion blade technique, a derivative from the principle of Chance and luck.

With her grasp on two of the principles of Agbara Esu, she was now someone who could hold her own, a confident mid-cla.s.s elite.