Hell Hath No Fury - Book One

Elox at Last

"Whatever," Ava stood up, "I'm leaving and I won't be back until you learn how to be nice."

Xyra laughed, "Stop. Come back, I will quit it."

"No."

"We need to talk about things," Xyra said.

Ava's eyes lit up at that, finally something to do. She sat back down and put her chin in her hand, staring expectantly at Xyra.

"Are you ready for Elox?" Xyra asked.

"Are you?" Ava raised an eyebrow.

"Aye, why would you ask?"

Ava laughed a bit and then she realized Xyra was seriously asking and not just deflecting. She furrowed her brow and waved her hands in Xyra's general direction, "Because, your whole thing."

"Right," Xyra folded her hands over her stomach, "there will be no interrogations in Elox, none that are planned, at least. Too dangerous, we would be caught."

"So what will we be doing?"

"You're going to be taking Pearl and the both of you will be our ears on the ground,"

"Ears?"

"Both of you can blend into the crowds in Elox and I need you to use that advantage to find out what's running through the streets and Eloxian locals are saying about this whole thing," Xyra informed her.

"Why?"

"Whispers are our friend, they spread. The Center is no stranger to this strategy so if we are to mount an effective campaign against them, we'll need to know how to counter their whispers with ours," Xyra explained and Ava must have looked as lost as she was because Xyra continued to elaborate, "The battle isn't only won with destruction and violence, there are far more effective ways to weaken your enemies."

"I don't really get how anything but violence will take The Center down,"

"They are more vulnerable than you think," Xyra said, "you'll understand in time. You think you can handle it?"

"Aye, it seems easy enough,"

"That's not all," Xyra said, "you and I are still on manifest duty together. The ones we collected in Aeliz will be worthless if we don't have Eloxian ports to compare them with."

"Like I said before, easy enough," Ava shrugged.

Manifests had been a fun, but easy part of their journey. Sometimes, they had even improvised the act they used to get the documents. No one really seemed to care and the people at the port seemed to let a lot of things slide. Xyra had explained it was because most Aelizans had little respect for the Baethan government and since things like port controls were implemented by the government, the non-Eloxians that worked in government-controlled enterprises were either apathetic in their duties or actively working to subvert The Center. They just had to hand over some forged documents claiming they were port inspectors sent to copy the port manifests and it was as easy as that. Ava didn't even know if there was such a thing but either no one cared, they had effectively fooled them, maybe both.

"It is not going to be that easy this time around," Xyra stretched out her arms then hooked her fingers behind her head, "Elox is a whole different arena. One mistake and we wind up on the end of a noose."

"So, why go to Elox at all?"

"Knowing what is going on at the heart of this operation is crucial. With your ear to the ground and my insiders in different government posts the information we get from Elox will be essential to bringing down whatever plan they have against us," Xyra said but she sounded unsure, almost hopeful instead of confident.