The Street Had No Name

Chapter 44

RHINELAND, Now

The group sat solemnly, the furore of just a few minutes ago completely gone. The old man had not spoken further, waiting, Rudi supposed, for the group to compose. Waiting he thought, using an American expression that would have caused a frown on his grandfather’s face, for the dust to settle.

Klaus Von Triffel was an imposing man at the best of times, right now, in this room he seemed to radiate his emotions. Perhaps it was due to the gravity of the moment, perhaps it was the inherent power contained in this place, whatever the reason, Rudi felt it as he was sure the others did equally.

“It is true gentlemen, we have the token but some accursed magic is protecting it. Those equally accursed Sons of David, descendants of Moses, have found a way to protect it from us.” Von Triffel paused for a moment to let the announcement settle.

“Candre is gone as are two of his highest serving lieutenants. The fool of a man has caused problems beyond consideration for us at this most important time. He had managed to establish the location of The Keeper and forged a pact with those vial monsters from the quarter zone to retrieve it.”

The assembly murmured at this revelation and more than one seemed scared. The quarter zone’s inhabitants were not to be taken lightly. The Kefts were a force to reckon with there was no doubt and, regardless of what The Order could control, these things did not figure in it.

At best the relationship they had with these monsters was tenuous to say the least and a lot of time had been spent in the past trying, initially, to control them, and then, to remove them completely.

The problem was that their place seemed to be immune to The Great Powers although it was the considered opinion that this was due to the fact that The Order could not wield The Great Powers with Containment; with Containment it was believed it would be different.

Over time the Masters of The Other Side had been able to forge a relationship with the Kefts that was tenable but always one misinterpreted action or harsh word away from catastrophe and it seemed that this recent activity had resulted in a lot of misinterpreted actions and harsh words.

“They run amok on the other side and we thank The Maker and The Great Powers that they cannot breach to our side without our help, if it were different it is hard to know the outcome.”

Rudi turned to Wilhelm and whispered “I think we both know the outcome my friend.” To which the other young man just nodded. He, above all others in the room, had had firsthand experience with the Kefts.

When just a very young man he had travelled with his uncle to the other side and then on to the quarter zone with a delegation and had met with a group of the clan nominated by the Kefts to act as the liaison.

It was obvious to Wilhelm at that time that the Kefts considered these people close to what one might consider dog shit on a shoe and would have quite happily killed them all and ripped their bodies to pieces but, as is often the case when unnatural bed-fellows are in bed together, common benefits superseded needs and wants but Wilhelm knew that this state of balance was fragile and would only exist whilst the common benefits were obvious.

The older Von Triffel continued with a gravitas that normally Rudi might have considered part of his grandfather’s showmanship but, this time, he could sense it was real.

“We need to try to take control of this situation and perhaps make something of it that is a credit not a loss. Candre was a fool to act without consultation. He knew the importance of events on our side and I am starting to think his actions were not miscalculated but the complete opposite. He would have been in a very powerful position if he’d been able to wrest control of the token, particularly if he had been able to control the Kefts but, as it is, he is dead; gone; and we now have to clean up the mess.”