Paul Kater - Bactine

The senator nodded. “Make everyone know this. They will know you for it. And fear you for it.” Then, fully unexpected, Sygra reached out and heavily leaned on Daniel’s arm.

Daniel felt the man falter and grabbed him under the arm. “Sir, are you okay?”

It took Sygra a while before he could respond. “I must go back inside, if you would be so kind, Mr. Zacharias.” Leaning on Daniel, he made it back to the door. Kernak was lying near to it and watched interestedly as Daniel supported her boss into the house. Sygra lay down on a couch and seemed to pass out immediately. He looked the same way as when Daniel had seen him lying on the couch at Clelem’s, during the soirée.

Sygra’s servant seemed to sense what was going on, he came almost running and checked on his employer. “He will be fine, sir, thank you for assisting him inside. The senator suffers from a serious blood illness that at times makes him faint. Lying down will make him well again soon.”

Daniel looked at the thin man who lay there with eyes closed and lips slightly apart. Weaknesses, he thought. “I think I should leave now,” he said to the servant. “Please, would you thank the senator for his time and for introducing me to Kernak.”

The servant nodded. “I will, sir. And it is a good sign that the beastie likes you.”

“How do you know Kernak likes me?” Daniel asked. He was surprised by the certainty in the servant’s words.

The servant smiled. “If Kernak did not like you, sir, you would not have been strolling through the garden with the senator. Please allow me to show you out.”

Daniel sat in the carriage that was rolling towards Skarak. He was thinking about the remarkable visit that had ended so abruptly. A blood disease would make for a good cover if the man was using drugs. Perhaps Daniel had intruded on the man after he had taken something and had he witnessed- but no, that would be strange. And his talk about that religion. The Litany of Nahmyo. That sounded a bit simple also. Maybe it was a diversion of sorts. There were frauds in many religions.

The sign announcing that the carriage was now entering Skarak moved past the window of the carriage. Not long now, Daniel knew, before he’d be home. Lunch at the “Solid Rooster”, which was a good place, was already on his mind when suddenly the carriage stopped.

“What’s this?” he muttered. He had never been in a carriage that broke down. These things just didn’t do that. They’d at best stop for something that was blocking their path. Daniel opened the door, stepped out of the carriage and was hit in the back by something. Or someone.

Daniel staggered away from the carriage. A blow had not been what he had expected. Before he really heard it, he already reacted to a sound that happened behind him. The combat training he’d had worked. He dropped himself to the ground, rolled to the side and as he was on his back he kicked at whatever would be coming up on him. His shoes connected with the legs of a heavy-set man. The kick did not throw the man over, but got him out of balance long enough for Daniel to get up and prepare for the next attack.

The man charged at Daniel. In his hand was something that looked like a knife, and he was waving it in a very skilled way. He was fast. He slashed the sleeve of Daniel’s jacket and almost managed to slit part of his body too. Daniel got hold of the man’s arm and yanked it hard. His arms were longer than those of the attacker, so he had the advantage of reach.

The man with the knife stumbled. Daniel kicked at one of the passing ankles, something cracked and the man went down. The pointy rocks that were placed along the side of the road became fatal for the man… he fell face down on one of them and lay still.

“Oh crap,” Daniel said, watching the silent figure on the ground.

“Sir, are you unharmed?” Two gentlemen had jumped from their own carriage that had halted and had tried to come to Daniel’s assistance. That had proven not to be necessary.

“Yes, I am fine,” Daniel replied, looking at the sleeve. The knife had not even scraped his skin.

One of the other men took his hydger and was busy with it.

“He is informing the police,” the other man said. “We are your witnesses, sir, we saw that you were attacked by this person. Do you have any idea what this ambush was for?”

Daniel shook his head. He now looked at his carriage and saw a thick branch stick from between the spokes of one of the wheels. The reason why the carriage had stopped was obvious.

About a quarter of an hour later, two black and yellow carriages had arrived. Policemen assessed the situation, and a medical examiner was kneeling on the ground next to the body of the assailant. The pointy rock that the unfortunate man had landed on, and the ground around it, had turned red. A nasty smelly kind of red.

Daniel made his statement to the police, and the two other men added theirs to that. One of the officers held the knife in a hand. “Do you have serious enemies, sir?”

“I am not certain,” Daniel said.

“Well, it looks like it. This kind of knife,” the policeman said, “is usually carried by murderers. Do you see this little tube?” He pointed at what looked like a slit in the blade. “If you get stabbed with this knife, pressing a little switch will inject a lethal dose of poison into your body which goes through this tube.” The man showed Daniel where the switch was, conveniently located at the far end of the handle. It could be operated by the pinky.

“This is one of Dogom ko Tzuy’s men,” the medical examiner said, from his kneeling position. “You’d better be careful, sir, Seigner Dogom ko Tzuy is a powerful person. If he is indeed after you, then you are in trouble.”

Daniel wondered how the examiner knew the killer had been with Huajo. The medical examiner showed him a tattoo of a ship, with the word ‘Tzuy’ beneath it. “Do you think I should file charges against Seigner Dogom ko Tzuy?” he asked one of the police officers.

The man shook his head. “I would advise against that, sir. There is no evidence. You do not know on whose orders this man really acted. And he won’t tell us anymore.”

The policemen then asked for Daniel’s hydger identification, so they could get in touch in case they needed more information from him.

The two gentlemen who had witnessed the battle also presented their hydger information to one of the police officers. After waving away Daniel’s gratitude, they boarded their carriage and went on their way.

The medical examiner was done with what he could do out in the street. Together with one of the officers he packed the body in a large sheet and hoisted that into one of the police carriages.

The number of people who had stopped their carriages and were observing the proceedings had grown to such an amount that a proper traffic jam was starting on the road. Once once of the policemen had left with the medical examiner and the corpse, the other officer start directing the people to move on, while Daniel worked on removing the branch from the wheel of his carriage.

“Will you be alright sir?” the policeman asked.

“I think I’ll be fine, thank you.” Daniel got into his carriage.

“Sir,” the policeman said, leaning inside, “I do recommend that you do not take matters into your own hands. Someone has committed a serious crime against you. We do not want to come after you, the victim, for making the same mistake. I wish you a good day, sir.” The policeman touched his hat and stepped back as Daniel told the carriage to take him home. And this time for real.

At home, Daniel showered and put on different clothes. The fight and the encounter with the knife had left more marks than he had originally thought. He frowned at the sleeve of the jacket. That probably was damaged beyond repair, but he would take it to a tailor anyway. These people here were amazing with repairs.