Utterly Mad

King sat as he usually did at the head of a large and expensive mahogany table recovered from an antique store in Phoenix. The endeavor had cost King a pretty penny, but the people he hired we're professionals at this late date of the cataclysm. They'd brought it back along with a box truck load of guns, ammo, medical supplies, and enough high tension crank to keep Pricetown's junky population going for the next hundred years. At the other end of the table, sat Minx.

"A dark lady come Samhain." King mused, pronouncing Samhain phonetically. Minx had delivered the word the way cousin had said it, "sah-wen," but King was the kind of man who believed words should be pronounced as they are spelled. "What do you think Minx? I haven't seen a person darker than yourself in years, personally." As Minx had predicted, King was taking the horoscope literally. He was, also as predicted, latching on to a single aspect. The one that mattered to him. Acquisition. Or so he probably believed.

"Or you could just like, be destined to meet her or-" she began.

"Hush now, the men are thinking." King said with a sharp raising of his index finger. "A dark lady, and just in time for Halloween. Just in time for the fall cotillion."

Minx didn't let her discomfort show. The exhibition politely known as the "fall cotillion" was no more a cotillion than the unfortunate people on display were debutantes. More rudely (and correctly) known as the "slavers ball," the fall cotillion was a chance to display the very best the cities slavers had to offer. Men and women like King would put on parties where the great and good were invited to come and have a good time, celebrating the closing of the year. The cities debt offices put their share of indentured slaves out to be interviewed. Minx enjoyed the other more innocent activities, but the cotillion could be grueling for some. She was glad she was under Kings roof. At least he had a good party and wouldn't put the "staff" under too harsh a hand during the festivities. It was an important occasion for people in Kings position though. More than displaying and buying, it was a chance to cement ones place in the Pricetown hierarchy. King had been the most influential for several years, and he wasn't about to let that go.

Minx reclined a little. He was working through it, making the horoscope work for him, when there came a heavy knock at the double doors of Kings private room.

"Sir, uh, King. We have an issue."