SIDEKICK

Chapter Nineteen: Entering the Dragon's Den

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Entering the Dragon’s Den

The room is smaller than I thought.

There are at least eleven people sitting at an arched desk that lies beside the back wall. A large mural of a landscape, half of it dark, the other half light. Before I could a good look at it, the man shows me to a small circle on the ground.

“Please place yourself here,” he instructs.

I follow his instruction and wheel to a strange circle on the ground. It’s written in red chalk against the wooden ground and I wheel myself into place, I notice the detail in the line.

I try and hide my horror.

It looks like a spell of some sort.

I look up and pretended to stay awkward. “So is this okay like this?” I ask, glancing at the symbols on the ground.

“That is fine Mr. Kingsley,” a red haired woman in a brown pantsuit answers. She looks up at me and I shrink back when I make eye contact. Her white eyes stare at me whilst she signs some paperwork.

I sit there in awkward silence as they continue sorting through papers. It’s so bizarre. I’m sitting in a room full of Casuists who are rumoured to be the best of the best. I look at the one in a blue suit and sleek black hair Joseph told me about, nicknamed ‘Shin’ from the Water Clan Creek branch who on the battlefield ripped apart three hundred people and wore their shin bones as his armour nearly five hundred years ago. To his right is a young blonde woman known as Olivia the Harsh from the Light Clan’s Radiance branch who was famous for her insane torturing on during a war within World War I. All these Casuists who can rip me apart with a single thought. All of them in one room.

Doing paperwork.

It is so weird.

The man in the middle places his pen down and looks up at me. He’s older looking than the rest, his thick greying beard attached to his frizzy grey hair twitches as he clears his throat.

“John Kingsley,” when he speaks, it’s so high pitched I nearly burst into laughter. He gives me a strange look before continuing. “Before we continue, please note that everything that is said during this meeting is pre-recorded for security and filing purposes. This information may or may not be used for future meetings or discussions regarding your case. Do you understand and accept the conditions?”

“Uh,” I process the words through my head.

The whole thing sounds suspicious.

“So everything that happens today will be recorded and eventually can be used against me, is that what you’re saying?” I ask.

“We may choose whether not to use the information on the recording,” the grizzly man answers.

“But the purposes of being practical, that’s a yes then?” I reply.

He frowns; his beard twitches at my response. “In lament terms, yes.”

“Right, so technically I can self-incriminate myself with your permission and you guys would have all the evidence,” I point out, a frown on my lips. “And I am powerless to stop the impending doom which I may set upon myself, yes?”

“Y…yes –“

“Huh,” I lean back in my seat and cross my arms. “Seems a bit risky considering the fact you guys are all war heroes and super powerful and you can totally kill me and,” I gesture to my wheelchair. “I can’t exactly run away from you guys when things go sour, can I?”