Chapter 9

It was around ten-o’clock in the morning that Governor Duarte’s speech to the citizens of Cormalen City began.

The central plaza of the city received only minimal damage in the chaos of the previous day’s battle. However, it was not unscathed as here and there were buildings with their sides burned and an overturned carriage sat to its east. Worse, one of the figures in the fountain at the center of the plaza was missing its head which authorities believed was the work of pirates.  Still, the governor chose the plaza as the best place to make his speech to the common people, to address their troubles and put their worries aside for the moment. It was good as any, one could suppose, what with most of Cormalen having already been gutted by fire.

The political representatives, foreign ambassadors and other dignitaries who were supposed to attend the execution were here now, including Councilor Sage the baboon and Ambassadors Bao the panda, Saito the tanuki and Carlos the donkey. Prince Gaius chose to attend too, with a select number of his staff that included Zane the cobra, Sienna the owl and Josef the centipede. A large crowd of people had already gathered at the plaza around seven o’clock in the morning in anticipation of what the governor of Pyril had to say. Protecting everyone in case of another attack was the Pyrilian Constabulary and the Confederal Navy, all of whom were armed to the teeth and most rode atop vicious kiloraptors. There were even a pair of armored carriagees, two cannons and one rotary gun in case there were any more pirates or cultists hiding amongst the ruins of the city. Admiral Condo stood atop the rotary gun mount, Captain Torelli perched on one of the armored carriagees and Commander O’Keefe rode a kiloraptor with musket and bayonet in hand, ready for anything. Emperor Pu the bear attended too, much to the dismay of a lot of people, who was surrounded by his bodyguards and flanked by two Xenjese war golems, mechanical man-shaped monsters that stared menacingly at those who came too close.

At around nine-o’clock, an armored carriage, painted in the white and gold scheme of the Golden Church arrived and out stepped Cardinal Aquinas the toad, the spiritual leader of Pyril, onto the cobbles of the plaza. The supporters of Governor Duarte scowled at this new development, but became even more troubled when another carriage, this one blue and green in the colors of the Zorali Magocracy, arrived on the scene. To make matters even worse for the Duarte supporters, the carriage was followed by five battle chimeras, alchemical beasts of war which possessed reptilian and insectoid features that hissed and snapped at frightened onlookers. When Biomage Hilaria the wolf, representative of Zoral in Pyril, emerged from the carriage people gasped and stood back, giving the biomancer and her living engines of battle a wide berth.

Governor Duarte the gorilla stood proudly on the stage at the center of the plaza, flanked by his two staff members, General Rosalia the pig and Attorney Parnell the gecko right behind him.

“Ladies ang gentlemen,” Duarte began and a particularly large cockroach landed on his shoulder. Parnell the gecko and Rock the pig moved in to shoo the little vermin away but it held on tightly to the governor. Finally, Rock struck the governor’s shoulder with a dossier he held but the cockroach then jumped to Duarte’s chest. Parnell then attacked the insect with his umbrella but instead hit the governor when the cockroach darted onto the governor’s face. Then both Parnell with his umbrella and Rock with his dossier clobbered the governor’s face at the same time but the cockroach then flew up and away from the governor and his lackeys.

Parnell and Rock then went back to their seats as the governor resumed his stance on the podium.

“Citizens of Cormalen,” Duarte began again. “This is a sad day indeed for all of us. Much has been destroyed and many lives have been lost. Pirates, cultists and scalawags have openly attacked this fair city, the very heart of Pyril, and have laid waste to it. I cannot even begin to tell you how much this saddens me. It goes to show how helpless we are in the face of adversity and disaster.”

Many felt that this was true, especially for Prince Gaius who had lost most of his crew, Edgar and Kathleen who had lost a dear friend in Jules the pig and Vic whose sister was taken away but probably still alive.

“This man, this abomination, Donato Sebastian has destroyed much of our great nation,” the governor went on. “He has destroyed our youth through the procurement of lambanog or coconut vodka and noted weed, substances that are strongly addictive as they are dangerous to the mind and soul.”

The governor went on to say expletives against Admiral Sebastian to which many laughed and cheered.

“And yet he has nothing to say about the opium that comes in from Xenji,” Captain Torelli said beside a dog sailor who only smiled and continued to stand guard. “Despite the fact that opium is not just more addictive it also causes more damage to the brain.”

“And now, after the he was brought here to Cormalen instead of Blackborough or Arlington in Ormland or even Whitecoast in Calhorn,” Governor Duarte said with clear distaste. “By a privateer woman, no less.”

“Wait,” Beryl said as she stood with her crew. “Is he blaming all this on me?”

Then the governor turned his simian eyes to the woman in question and Beryl returned his gaze.

“But she is quite the lovely woman though,” Duarte said, unheedful of his own cronies who were whispering to him to focus on other things. “A woman I’d just love to take as my wife! A woman whom I could impress with my manhood! I just want to grab her now and take her for myself!”

That was when Parnell the gecko grabbed him by the shoulder and whispered something in his ear.

“But had this pirate never been taken to our Cormalen, none of this would’ve happened!” Duarte said, now going back to his topic. “Had the Confederate Islands not dumped this responsibility on us, perhaps this tragedy would never have occurred! But lucky for us, we are not alone in this struggle! We have a friend, ladies and gentlemen! A friend in Xenji!”

This caused some people to look at one another in surprise, confusion and disgust.

“Yes, citizens of Cormalen,” Duarte said, even as people began to turn away in dismay, including and especially Beryl Meralco. “Our dear friends the Xenjese understand our situation, unlike those in the Confederate Islands or the Zorali Magocracy!”

At that, Bao the panda scowled and Saito the tanuki decided to leave altogether. Carlos the donkey, classy and suave in a new suit, only shook his head. Only Otis Sage the baboon remained unperturbed, listening to the rest of the governor’s speech with a neutral expression.

“Emperor Pu has stated that he is willing to dedicate troops and some of his warships in the pursuit and capture of Admiral Donato Sebastian!” Duarte said, spittle flying from his mouth. “The Xenjese Commonwealth will commit their mighty ironclads to see to it that Admiral Sebastian and the Grim Sail pirate fleet is destroyed for good!”

“But how will we rebuild?” a lemming cried out from among the crowd.

“What about our homes and businesses?” cried another.

“There is already a solution for that!” Duarte said. “The wealthy of Cormalen can surely provide funds for the repair of the city.”

That was when Beryl Meralco and her crew left the plaza.

The governor babbled a while longer with expletives that the crowd cheered for before Edgar and Kathleen decided to go back to the Intoxicated Whaler, perhaps one of the few remaining intact buildings in Cormalen. Kathleen pulled behind her a still devastated Brianna whose eyes were still quite red from weeping. Vic followed shortly afterward; his mind still focused on getting his sister back. Zenaida decided to leave too but she wouldn’t go back to the tavern until much later.

Prince Gaius stayed until the end of the whole affair. He really wanted to leave then and even allowed his staff to leave first and get lunch. He stayed however as it might cast a negative light on Delmaron should he shirk his duties as his island-country’s representative.

When the event was almost over, Gaius saw that there was a cockroach at his feet. With nary a word, he raised his foot, clad in a thick, metal-plated boot, and crushed the insect under his heel. He paid no mind to what was around him and just focused on keeping his mind off whatever the governor was saying.