May 28th, 2038
Hal was walking through the castle halls, he had just gotten the report from Douny and his men. To say it didn’t go well was an understatement, he couldn’t tell why Douny had messed up something that should have been so simple. But it was over now, all they could do was plan for a counter-offensive.
“Oh hello sir, I didn’t hear you come in. Is there anything I can do for you today?” A butler said, noticing Hal coming around the corner of the hall.
“Actually yes you can, can you direct me to where General Backer is, I’ve been looking for him but I can’t find him anywhere?” Hal asked, turning to face the butler, he was a high elf who stood only a few inches shorter than Hal, dressed in an evening coat with a golden chain and pendant that had a strange emblem on it that resembled a cross, not unlike the Knights Templar but it looked slightly off in a few ways hanging from his white waistcoat.
“Right this way sir, the General has just gone into the war room, I shall lead you to it.” The high elf stated, turning around a waving Hal to follow him, Hal though unsure, relented and followed the high elf, he did check the war room, but that had been the first place he had checked, and he has been looking for a hot minute, perhaps he went in there when he wasn’t looking.
As Hal walked he noticed there weren't very many people in the castle today, which was odd because the castle was full of officers, diplomats, politicians, and other types of dignitaries. The more Hal thought about it, he didn’t see the normal guards either, something that Hal was quickly becoming unnerved by and suspicious of, though, Hal was wise enough to keep his suspicions to himself for the time being.
As they kept walking getting only within a few dozen feet of the doors leading to the war room, Hal had a feeling that he and his new high elf shofer were being followed, Hal's suspicions had proven correct, but he did nothing, all he had was a colt single action army that Douny gave him with no combat experience, nor training, no the best course of action as of now was to keep following along until he could either find an escape, or raise an alarm.
The high elf opened the double doors and turned on the lights to it as Hal walked in, in the room was who Hal could only guess was the ringleader of the operation, a high elf that both Hal and Douny knew very well, or at least they thought they did, and a table with a map and a gun on top of the map.
“Welcome Hal, so glad you could make it, I know I’m not exactly who you were expecting am I, but I assure you that what I have to say is no less important” The leader of the high elves teased, leaning his head on his wrist and giving Hal an unnerving smile.
“Well if it isn’t Alrick Fawn, I should have known, only you could execute a plan such as this without raising any alarms. What do you want?” Hal deadpanned, giving off more venom in his tone than he meant to. Something that Alrick was quick to pick up on.
“Ah you know me too well Hal, though I would watch your tone I don’t think you want pretty little Jane to get hurt do you? Would be a shame if something were to happen to her.” Alrick continued to tease, wagging his finger at Hal. “Though I do suppose we can do away with the pleasantries for now and get to the reason why I am here. You see Hal I’ve seen your little relocation plan and I think we can do something better.”
This caught Hal’s attention, the relocation plan was something that only a handful knew about only a few Bailiffs and Generals knew about it, not even someone like Alrick Fawn would know of it, or at least, they shouldn’t.
“Go on,” Hal stated simply still trying to keep his cool after the remark about his future wife.
“You see Hal, moving them out of the Empire is fine and all, but it does not help out in the long term. What I’m proposing is a more… permanent solution to our barbaric friends.” Alrick stated coldly dropping his playful act for the most part
“I can already guess what you're going to say… and that’s genocide,” Hal stated coldly with his head down, unable to look Alrick in the eyes after his proposition.
“You make it sound so cold when you put it like that, I understand your position on it though, genocide isn’t clean in any sense of the word. But what do you expect will happen when you do move them out of the country huh? Do you think they will take that lying down?” Alrick argued, trying to get Hal to see his point of view. ”Plus it’s not like your friend Douny O’Whelan was going to follow through on the plan anyway. Look here, it’s a letter that he sent to the Bailiff of Quebec, it clearly shows his true motives.”
After hearing that, and reading the note that was the last thing Alrick needed to do to win Hal on his side.
Dear Jock Lamar Levesque
I understand your position in the region of Canada is grim, and I do sympathize with the people of Canada, but I can not follow through with such an action,
I believe there is another way to more peacefully solve this problem. I would strongly suggest that you hold out until the new plan is put into place.
Until then you have my sincerest apologies.
From HRH Douny Kornely O’Whelan.
“Well I can’t deny that this is damning evidence against King O’Whelan, but what are we going to do? We can’t just take the throne as is, he would rally an army against us, and if we assassinated him people would find the body.” Hal pointed out, trying to come up with a plan of his own on how to best remove Douny from the throne.
“You don’t have to worry about a thing Hal, just leave that to me. Now get ready for Douny’s return, he should be here within a day or two, me and my men will keep the guards and such out of the castle until then.” Alrick reassured, as he got up from his seat and grabbed his revolver from the table, and put it in it's his holster in his jacket.
“Alright I will, I shall see you then Alrick Fawn,” Hal said, feeling a bit calmer than he had been earlier. Now the only thing he had to worry about is getting in position for their plan. But that was for later right now Hal needed some rest and something to drink.
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May, 29th, 2038, The Castile
Douny walked up to the front stairs of his castle, he knew that there was planning to do, and he didn’t want to hold it off any longer. Though Douny did have a strange feeling about today. Just in case he checked his M1911 to see how much ammo he had left in his mag. Only 2 rounds, well that wasn’t optimal, if something was to happen he would be in trouble, but he could make do he guessed.
When Douny entered the castle, he was surprised to see Hal waiting for him next to his throne.
“Morning Hal, I wasn’t expecting you to be here, can I do something for you?” Douny asked in a friendly manner, feeling a bit more at ease than he had a moment ago.
“No sir, though General Backer would like to meet you in the war room if you don’t mind?” Hal asked in his usual professional voice.
“Not at all, but I do have to ask, where is everyone, there are usually guards and other delegates around here. I don't think it’s a holiday today is it?” Douny asked, looking around the throne room expecting some kind of joke was being played on him.
“No sir I sent them home today, I wanted to make sure that no one could spy on us when you both have the meeting,” Hal said feeling a bit nervous about Douny’s questions, though Douny seemed not to notice.
“I guess that’s a pretty smart move, though I can’t say I fully agree with it though. But they will be back tomorrow so there is no need to fret over it I suppose.” Douny shrugged as he started walking to the war room. “Come Hal, I want you with me and General Backer, you are going to be in charge of logistics and I want your input on the matter.”
“Of course, I shall be as much help as I can sir,” Hal replied, giving Douny a half-hearted salute.
As they got close to the war room doors Hal went ahead of Douny to open the double doors for him. Douny walked in and tried to find the light switch; he eventually found it and flipped it on.
“Well I General Backer isn’t here, I guess we'll just have to wait for him. That man could learn to be a bit more punctual if he wants to stay a General.” Douny shrugged as he rubbed at his forehead.
“I don’t think General Backer is going to be making it, sir,” Hal stated as he pulled his revolver out. Before Douny could ask why Hal fired at him with the bullet going through his shoulder putting Douny to the ground.
Douny yelled in pain as he tried to stop the blood from coming out.
“You bastard, why did you do this huh to take my spot on the throne, I thought we were brothers you motherfucker!” Douny bellowed with anger, pain, and sadness.
“Because you wouldn’t see reason, you backed out of the plan because you care more about those dark elves and orcs than you care about your countrymen! Alrick, do what you have to do. I'm done here.” Hal replied, turning away from Douny as Alrick Fawn came out of the shadows of the bookcases
As Alrick prepared his teleportation spell Douny up.
“I am truly sorry then, for what’s going to happen to them if Alrick gets his way, and I’m sorry for what I have to do now,” Douny said solemnly, as he pulled out his 1911 and fired both rounds into Hal's chest killing him on the spot.
Douny pulled out his knife to attack Alrick but he was shot with a lightning bolt putting him back on the ground with a jolt of pain, before Douny could attempt to get back up Douny saw white and felt himself being launched in random directions.
Douny eventually hit solid ground, when he opened his eyes again he noticed he was outside, with sand under him and around him for as far as the eye could see. He didn’t know where on Earth he was, but he couldn’t stay here, not if he wanted to live.
So Douny got up and tried his best to turn his clothes into a makeshift bandage to wrap around his chest and shoulder. Once he was satisfied with his handy work he set off to find somewhere to get help.
Little did he know he was much farther away than he thought. But he would find that out soon enough.