CLAMBER! I SHALL TOIL NO MORE!
by Kevin McCray
1
Messiah Tideswell was born and bred for a single purpose: restore his family to the prominence they had squandered.
It was not easy. Even with the finest education and resources few would dare dream of having, Tideswell spent his adult life consumed with rebuilding his family’s business.
His dedication and pedigree paid off. Not overnight, and not nearly to the degree demanded of him. Competition was steep, and there was little room for a failing company to squeeze its way back in. But piece by piece, money returned. Invitations followed. Before long, Tideswell was again a name worth knowing.
But there was a difference between being worth knowing and being important. Tideswell had dragged his family far, but taking them any farther would require money on a scale even he did not possess.
There were always affairs requiring his attention. People to cultivate. Opportunities to pursue. Problems to solve. The work never stopped simply because he had come this far.
His competitors cheated with the best of them. But none to the degree Tideswell employed.
A student of the occult, he used supernatural means to nudge agreements and get contracts signed. Magic did not make him all-powerful. It gave him an edge—a means of whittling down another man’s will until it bent toward his own.
But even magic could not spare him the work itself.
All that work had not humbled Tideswell. It had convinced him he deserved better.
All he wanted was the life of Penn Hugh.
Penn Hugh had no such burden.
The Hughs had managed to preserve what the Tideswells had lost. Penn inherited a fortune large enough to ensure that earning more would always be optional, along with a family name requiring no restoration from him.
Penn traveled when he wanted to travel. He drank when he wanted to drink. He spent long stretches aboard boats belonging either to himself or to friends rich enough that ownership hardly mattered. He married a woman he loved and otherwise devoted himself to whatever happened to interest him at the moment.
Penn made no apologies for any of it.
And neither did Tideswell for his envy.
He came to despise Penn Hugh.
Not because Penn had done anything to him.
Because Penn had never had to.
And Tideswell had worked long enough.
Penn Hugh possessed enough money to finish what Tideswell had started. The fact that Penn had done nothing to earn it only made the solution easier to justify.
2
Sentence.