Chapter 22: Debate

Greta and I left the Bulls to their own devices.

I had a couple of meetings I had promised to attend, and the last town forum was being run that afternoon. It was the candidates’ last chance to convince the locals to vote for them.

Things had been going well for the first half hour then a few people started asking strange questions of the clerks’ that were running for election and Anna and Nat. They wanted to know things like what spells I had put on them and how often they had to fuck me.

The questions and comments started to get more personal. The hecklers asked the candidates about having to fuck the boss to get their jobs originally. They wanted to know if they were they going to do it to their new clerks if they got elected, and if they would take bribes and many more nasty insinuations.

Things went quiet when seventeen androids turned up and stood behind the seated candidates. I know I was relieved as the candidates were when they did. I wasn’t sure what would have happened if I lost my temper.

Rose stepped forward and shone a high-powered narrow beam onto six different people. She then said loud enough for all to hear, “Chief Porter, the instigators have been marked. High Mage Bron, would you put an immobilising spell on them for me please?”

I stepped up beside her, and as soon as one started to run, I dropped a spell on them. All six tried to run. The people near them moved away and let the constables arrest them. Once they had been removed, the androids stepped back but stayed.

I was surprised when Vaughn stood and stepped to the front of the stage. “My name as most of you should know is Vaughn Ells I was the senior clerk for the Councillor of Parks and Gardens. As many of you should be aware, I’m currently acting as Treasurer and Deputy-Mayor.”

“My esteemed boss had been raping me for the two years I had been her clerk. I was not aware of the extent of her use of me until Bron forced her to leave the city or face his wrath.”

“It has taken me months for my mind to reconcile the memories that have come back to me of those two years. I didn’t fuck my boss for the job. None of the clerks that were fucked by their bosses had done it willingly.”

“Only three of the councillors didn’t wear corrupt magical rings. Two are sitting here today. They stayed with their jobs to try to protect you all as best as they could.”

“You many have also noticed we have a new Police Chief. The old one left for the same reasons as the councillors. We are under the protection of an uncorrupted High Mage. While he can’t harm you without cause, he can make your life bloody miserable if you cause harm to others.”

“If any of you are wearing tainted magical items, or use magic to harm others, I suggest you go find another country to go live in. You are not welcome on this Island anymore. The androids can tell if the item you wear is tainted, so I suggest you avoid them as well.”

“You may have noticed that candidates couldn’t just throw their hat into the ring this year. The people you see sitting up here had to go through a rigorous process before they could stand to represent your sector.”

He pointed at me and then looked back at the crowd. He gave them a wry grin, “Would you really like to sit in front of him and tell him lies? I tried when I first met him, but he doesn’t even have to put a spell on you to get you spilling your guts.”

“He gives this quirky little look, and you squirm and have to blurt out the truth. Don’t let his age fool you either. He is no persons fool. He has a way of getting his idea’s across so that people become excited and do as he wishes.”

“I’ve heard many of you comment on the new laws handed down by the Bulls. I know the majority of you honest, hardworking people are delighted with these laws.” He pointed at me again, and I started to feel very self-conscientious.

“He came up with those laws. This boy, as many of you think, when you look at him. Do you honestly think he became a Bull at his age if he didn’t have the smarts to pull it off? Yes, he challenged his grandfather, but he did it to protect others.”

“He has all of the Bulls working together to better their people. They are all in town, and I’m sure they would be happy to answer your questions. They are even staying at his residence because they consider him the source of their new harmony.”

“Many of the people running here for this election did so because Bron had faith in them. When the councillors left, we were rudderless. He told the clerks that since they probably know the departments better than their old bosses did, then he trusted them to help him fix things.”

“We haven’t worked to fix things because he sits on our shoulder directing us. His faith in us is why you can now enjoy the parks again. It is why you aren’t kicking through rubbish as you walk down the street.”

“His faith is why many of you have new jobs and affordable homes; why the buildings don’t look like they are falling down. We, clerks, don’t expect you vote us in because we work with Bron. We do believe in the jobs we are doing and that we can do them.”

“Many of the other candidates also have worthy reasons that you should consider. You must decide which of us represents what you expect your council to do for you and vote with your conscience. Please note, the new councillors will be receiving a very large drop in pay and Bron will expect them to earn every cent of it.”

“Thank you for listing to me. I think I had better go sit down before I embarrass the Mayor anymore,” he said with a big grin directed at me.

Greta started clapping. I had to squeeze one eye shut due to the pain to my eardrums from the raucous clapping and cheering of the crowd and the candidates. I shook my head slightly at Vaughn and gave him a wry grin.

I believed he just got himself voted in as the Deputy-Mayor. To be honest, he was my pick. The guy had thrown himself into every task I set him. He took the job bloody seriously and made sure he knew what the other departments were doing at any given time.

He didn’t pry, he just asked as I did. I was beginning to suspect he had studied how I handled people and had started mirroring me. Half the time I didn’t know how I got people to do things for me.

My mother had told me to treat people how I wanted to be treated. So that was how I tried to behave. If you asked me nicely to do something, then, I was just as likely to do it for you.

I’d also learnt from my grandfather that if you stood up for what you believed in, and told it from the heart, then you might be able to convince others to believe in those things as well.

When I was younger, I had a lot of respect for my grandfather, until my mother died. That was when I stopped believing in him. It was when I started to see that the things my grandfather preached, he didn’t believe in anymore.

I don’t know when he became self-obsessed. Edith hinted that he truly loved my mother and he felt her having me was a betrayal of his love. I think the fact that she didn’t love him as a partner and truly loved my father was the real problem.

Fran had hinted that my mother did everything in her power to protect me. She knew something about my grandfather that could have destroyed him. However, whatever she knew she took to the grave, and it really didn’t matter anymore.

My grandfather took his revenge out on me once she couldn’t protect me anymore. I still felt that I had got the last laugh, though. My grandfather had unwittingly given me Sable.

It pleased me that he didn’t know I had my son back. If he had known that I loved the child, he would have kept him just to keep me in line as he did to my mother. My fate would have been similar to hers. Selling me was his next big mistake.

I looked at my beloved Greta. She smiled back at me. She was delighted by Vaughn’s praise of me even though I don’t believe I deserved it. Many of the things he attributed to me I could attribute to others like the androids.

I must do something really nice for Iren. Without her asking about Silver, I wouldn’t have known about the androids. I think a lot of the success we have had wouldn’t have been as easy to achieve without their help.

I looked out over the crowd. They had decided that Vaughn’s speech concluded the gathering and they had broken into groups to discuss whatever it was that had excited them. The candidates all looked relieved that the grilling was over. They just had to turn up to their sectors polling both in the morning and then wait until counting was done.

The androids had set up screens in several booths. The voter just had to press their thumb on the screen. The system recognised them and then put up the voting card. The voter selected the picture of the candidate beside their name for each sector.

Each sector also had a different colour to identify it. The pictures allowed for those who couldn’t read very well. It the voter changed their mind and pressed on another picture the system would highlight the new picture.

Once they had selected a candidate for each sector, a red button appeared near the bottom of the screen. When they were done, they pushed the red button. Then they moved off so the next person could enter the booth. The system recorded each vote as it was entered. The voters had until the seventh hour to vote.

On a screen in my entertainment room, we would see the votes as they happened. At half past seventh hour, a second screen on the platform we had been standing on would display the results, and the party would start.

That gave us time to get down to the platform to thank the people. I knew I had upset a few of the local business people by not inviting them to my private party while we waited for the votes, but they were welcome to party with the population. We intended to do so once the result was in.

I planned to shake as many hands as I could. I wanted the people to know that I was pleased with them coming out to vote. It was their right to select their council. I’d tried to ensure they had the best to select from.

Some may consider I had interfered with of the voter’s rights to choose, but the old system let just anyone put up their hand, make a shit load of promises and have no way to meet them. My system had made the people going for selection to address what they would bring to the job and what issues they cared about most.

The candidates had to state how they thought it should be fixed and how they could achieve this. They had to deal with real issues and provide real solutions. Pie-in-the-sky rhetoric was not going to cut it. The voters had picked up on this when the candidates had to first answer a list of questions that Greta had prepared at their public forums.

The voters ran with similar type questions, and we got some great feedback from those forums. I got the impression that the savvy voters did too. I was probably naughty of me, but the androids have given me a lot of feedback of what the person on the street was really thinking.

When all met up back at my place, I had quite a crowd. We opened the doors to the balcony to let people spread out. They even ended up in the dining room. I noticed a lot of the candidates that were running against my clerks in many seats were a bit down.

I mentioned to Vaughn a little loudly that the guy who had also campaigned with controlling spending would probably make a great clerk. He was running in Anna’s sector and to honest, I didn’t think he had a hope, but I had liked a lot of his ideas.

Vaughn frowned at me and at seeing my cheeky grin; he grinned back. He then wandered off to find the candidate I had mentioned. A few of my other clerks that thought they had a good chance of winning mulled over what I had said.

I watched them go in search of people who had also shared issues that related to their department. Satisfied and preoccupied, I jumped when Phil said, “You must be the craftiest, most devious young man I have ever met.”

I turned and looked at him as innocently as I could. Then we both started laughing. He shook his head at me, “You not only hand-picked your candidates, but you also picked their damn clerks as well.”

“What, you don’t think the candidates won’t work hard to prove themselves? I changed the elections to every five years and a maximum of three terms per candidate,” I said.

“Yes, I had picked up on that fact. Did you know Leigh and I have in fact been in town for a week to see just what you were up to?” he said. He watched me as he took a sip of his drink.

I grinned and winked at him. He burst out laughing. “Bloody androids,” he said and chuckled some more.

“I have spies everywhere, you should know that by now,” I said.

“Edith, I should have guessed. I’m sure you hoodwinked me into marrying her. She is the most infuriatingly wonderful woman I have ever met,” he said in exasperation.

“Yeah, she is easy to love. You must remember she was more or less my mother after my mother died,” I reminded him.

“Yes, and her faith in you is as movable as a mountain. She told me one night that she couldn’t pinpoint when she knew that you would have a major impact on the island. Only that when you did, the lives of everyone here would change for the better,” he told me.

“It wasn’t intentional, I can assure you. I was thinking on a lot smaller scale when I decided my grandfather had to go. Cavil forced my hand sooner than I expected it to happen but I don’t regret making that decision,” I told him.

I felt an arm go around my waist. When I looked, I was surprised that it was Cavil in female form. He wasn’t a bad looking broad for his age either. I hugged him to me and kissed his forehead. “Hi sexy,” I said and grinned as he squeezed me.

“I’m going to kill you,” Cavil said. “It is going to be a slow and torturous death. But I’m not going to do it until after you hold my hand during childbirth. I have two very reliable sources that you are very good at the job.”

I think both Phil and I blinked at the shocking news at the same time. “Oh dear, two pregnant Bulls at the same time,” Phil said in shock.

Cavil shook his head, “No, three.” He nodded over at Dick.

I took me a moment to even recognise Dick. I’d never seen his other form. “Damn, he’s a hotty. How does he manage to produce those udders?” I said in awe.

Phil and Calvin both cackled. “You should have seen him when he was younger. He was a damn hot babe back then. Though I must admit he wears his maturity well,” Phil replied as his eyes also drifted up and down Dick. “He hates being called Dick in his female form and insists we call him, Ricky.”

“We called him Tricky Ricky because he was the biggest flirt you had ever met. He comes up to you, lifts those udders up into your eyes and mesmerises you. I don’t think I have ever met anyone that could say no after that.”

“They didn’t say no after he fucked them stupid either,” Cavil added.

Phil grinned at Cavil, “You too, huh!”

“Up until recently, I don’t think there was a Bull that hadn’t appreciated his charms. Get a few drinks in him and,” Cavil stopped, and then blushed bright red.

“Now I get the reference to the orgies,” I chuckled.

“Yes, well, we had better not corrupt the calves,” Phil stated with a cough.

“Huh! Old man, I think that clucker has flown,” Dale replied as he and Gary joined us. Dale was looking radiant. Pregnancy suited him and his happiness at both being pregnant and having Gary in his arms was obvious.

“So do we know who did the deeds?” I asked.

“Beth,” Cavil said resigned. “After you left this morning she pulled me back to our room and demanded I changed for her. It wasn’t until too late that I realised I had even come into season. She must have got me on the first hit.”

“Gary had to try a couple of times, but we had a lot of fun trying,” Dale volunteered with a chuckle.

Dick joined us. He was looking a little forlorn until he realised both Dale and Cavil were in female form. “Crap, not you too Cavy! Damn spouses, Helen was as randy as,” he informed us.

“Afraid so, Ricky. Looks like Bron triggered us. I remembered too late that his grandfather did it many years ago, when my father was still the Bull,” Cavil replied.

“Oh shit! I had totally forgotten about that. We all came into season within days of him,” Phil exclaimed in horror.

“Damn! Now you tell us. Bron we could have had the best orgy ever if we had known,” Dale retorted as if he was put-out by missing out on some fun.