I Am The Seeker

A short, firm knock rang out around my office, reverberating off the dust-covered walls and echoing down an adjoining corridor.

I sighed- carefully closing the book in front of me- and glanced up at the man who had entered.

He was stocky and balding, with a squashed nose and possible D’warf heritage. His worn attire was plain, dirty and unremarkable, carrying a whiff of something that made me grimace. A dull glint of apprehension in his ever-moving eyes announced clearly to me that this stout man possessed the collective brainpower of around three aging newts.

His shifty features seemed slightly taken aback by the intensity of my sharp blue gaze, and the man's mouth opened, preparing to speak, but I cut him off in a bored tone.

“No, don’t bother talking.” I sighed again, stood from my high-backed chair and slowly made my way around a large desk. Coming to a halt before the man, I eyed him down- my tall, lean frame towered over his small one imposingly.

“I already know why you are here-” I continued, shooing him back a few paces into the hallway. “But my Business is closed. Goodbye.”

With that, I shut the door in his red- stupid- face.

Turning back to my desk, I strolled efficiently over to a neat set of filing cabinets.

The office wasn’t very large, but it was exceptionally well organised; Nothing was ever found out of place. I prided myself on a neat workspace, and that’s exactly what I had.

Sliding open the middle drawer, I shuffled through identical folders.

The second knock was so sudden, that it almost caused my spleen to exit through my mouth.

Straightening up, I furrowed my brow, smoothed out my suit jacket and swung the door open wide.

“Please, Sir.”

I frowned down at the straggly haired D’warf before me. Why was he still here? I had already told him that I was closed.

“Please,” He said again, voice raspy and hollow, “It’s my son.”

“Yes, I’m sure it is.” I replied sarcastically, “And last week it was probably your Mother, the week before, your Step-Sister and you are probably planning on portraying your Father-in-law’s Cousin's Neighbour as the victim next time. I don’t have time for people like you.”

The last sentence was snarled, and the man’s look of shock quickly morphed to anger.

“Listen here, Buddy,” His beady eyes were fire, burning through my cold exterior, “I’m not one to play games, and I assure you I would not be here if I hadn’t been told by multiple people that you are the best at what you do. Your behaviour is already causing me to seriously doubt that, but I’m here now and I am not leaving until I get what I came for! Which is, the answer to my question.”

He roughly snatched the edge of my creased collar and yanked my alarmed face down level with his.

“WHAT HAPPENED, TO MY SON?” Every word was accented by an angry spit globule splattering onto my pale cheeks.

Exceptionally slowly and calmly, I removed his stubby fingers from around my neck and stood upright once more.

“Well,” I said in a professional tone, restraining from running fingers through my sleek dark hair, which- after that ordeal- was probably greying prematurely. “Let’s find out, shall we?”

The middle-aged D’warf was still visibly fuming- a nasty habit of theirs, emitting actual steam through their nostrils and ears whenever anger reached the overload point. Still, I supposed it was better than smashing things.

Just then, my number one assistant flew into my office, in a flurry of crinkled clothes and excessive sweat, waving the evening paper wildly above his scruffy blonde head. I had had multiple words with Blaidley about his presentation, but they seemed to have been to no effect.

“Sir! Sir!” He puffed, skidding to a stop inside the door, completely oblivious to the short steaming man before him, “It’s all over the news, Sir!”

“What is, Blaidley?” I silently thanked him for being a welcome disruption to this heated session- and possibly delaying the event of my throat from being ripped to pieces by an enraged midget.

“A Human, Sir!” Blaidley exclaimed, face red with excitement, “There’s a Human in the Realm!”

Inwardly, shock stirred, and a small bubble of exhilaration inflated deep in my stomach, but my stone-like features remained untouched by emotion.

“Well,” I announced, turning back to the wide-eyed D’warf, “Looks like we have just received our first lead in tracking down your Son.”