Chapter 76: Party Time

Brad was standing at the front of the room holding forth to the assembled crowd. Since I knew most of them the effusive introduction was unnecessary but none the less welcome.

It was good to see them again. The Trade Minister had Cora Argyll in tow, literally. Cora was hardly recognisable. Wearing a long, full skirt but naked from the waist up, her entire torso, arms, face and shaven head were covered with elaborate tattoos. The Trade Minister was leading her by a chain that ran to a ring set in the septum of her nose. It was only as she came alongside that I saw that the piercing had itself been set with a silver grommet to prevent the ring causing damage. I asked the Minister about the designs on her body.

"Do you know about the Pythork?" he asked.

I searched my memory and eventually remembered the incident at the Castle. "The ritual snake dance?"

"Yes. For us it is a potent symbol. A symbol of life and regeneration. In the eastern countryside the barren nature of the land means there are few snakes. They tattoo their women this way to summon their spirit. These are their traditional designs."

I looked more closely at the swirling patterns that curled around Cora's body. There were indeed stylised snakes, intricately wound about each other like the patterns on some Saxon illuminated manuscript. Forked tongues twined around each of her cheeks. The head of a cobra was pictured on her forehead, its tongue reaching down to the tip of her nose.

Cora knelt, docile, beside the Minister. "Did you discover her reasons for conspiring to abduct you?" he asked. I nodded but felt unwilling to share them. There was little pointing washing the Clegg Organisation's dirty linen with its customers. "Yes," I said. "It is all resolved now."

The Minister smiled respecting my discretion.

"Is this the sort of thing you're looking to develop with your cultural transfer programme?" I asked.

The Minister chuckled. "Nothing so extreme, my friend," he said, "or at least as far as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation is concerned. We are hopeful of getting funding for our programme. They are beginning to understand the importance of protecting endangered cultures, just as World Wildlife Fund seeks to protect endangered species. Let's say we are hopeful."

The Kalinin's son was there as well but with Emma and Ginger instead of Victoria as I had expected. "Most extraordinary," he confided in me. "There has been some scandal about my wife, Victoria. It is rumoured she has been involved in most exceptional activities. That some members of the council have indulged in the most shameful acts with her. We thought it best if she stayed out of the public eye for a while." He winked. "But I am sure that all will be shown to have been above board."

"You think she will be shown to be innocent?"

"Innocent is not a word I would use about Victoria," he laughed. "Let us say she will be shown merely to have indulged the perverse demands of a few corrupt individuals, fearful that failing to accommodate her husband's colleagues would jeopardise his position. After all no woman would initiate such actions."