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Transference

by Silverr

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Lord Viren, deep in thought, was crossing the main courtyard of the castle when a clatter of hoof-beats made him look up.

Four soldiers on horseback approached, though only the lead rider was of any interest. He stopped and waited.

"General Amaya," he said as she dismounted and walked towards him. "I wasn't expecting you back from the border so soon."

Amaya's expression was grim. She signed emphatically as she strode towards Viren, and the soldier accompanying her, a young woman who looked enough like Amaya's pet tracker Corvus to be his twin, interpreted. "Has Commander Gren found the princes?"

Viren considered the implications of this statement. It sounded as though General Amaya had left the front because Gren hadn't communicated with her. "I take it you you haven't heard the news about Commander Gren?" Viren asked delicately.

Amaya's expression became grimmer. There was little need for translation of her curt "What news?"

"I'll take you to him," Viren replied, beginning to walk towards the entrance to his tower.

Behind him, Amaya's interpreter said, "That's not the way to the barracks. Or the infirmary."

Viren turned. "True. Just… follow me. I'll explain as we go."

Amaya rushed forward and gripped his shoulder. With her free hand she angrily tapped her lips, then her chest.

"Tell me," the interpreter said. "Now."

"If you insist." Viren turned to face Amaya fully. "After you left for the Breach, I assumed Commander Gren would leave immediately in search of your nephews. However, he told me that he had an idea he wanted to try out first, and sent Claudia and Soren ahead to wait for him at Banther Lodge."

Amaya raised an eyebrow and folded her arms.

"He asked if it was true that we had the leader of the Moonshadow assassins in the dungeon," Viren continued. "When I told him that we did, he told me he wanted to be imprisoned near the elf."

"Why?" Amaya signed.

"Commander Gren thought that by letting the elf think he was my enemy—since it would appear to the elf as though it was I who had imprisoned him—he might gain the elf's trust. He hoped to gather some clues about where the princes could have been taken."

Amaya signed, "That never would have worked."

"I didn't think so either," Viren reassured her. "I told him that elves were vicious, deceitful, and unpredictable, but he pleaded with me to let him try. To give him a one day." Viren leaned on his staff and looked down at the cobbles of the courtyard. "And… I blame myself for what happened next."

"Which was?"

"I went down just after sunset the following day with a basket of food for Gren, to see what progress he might have made overnight. And—" Viren pressed his fist against his mouth for a moment, as if overcome with emotion. "He was… violent, his mind in complete disarray. He went from babbling about monsters, to screaming about faces trapped in coins, to insisting that he was King Harrow."

Amaya looked horrified. "What happened to him?"

"I do not yet understand it myself," Viren said. "At first I tried taking a mirror down, thinking that if I only showed Gren his reflection the spell would be broken, but it was to no avail." Viren shook his head. "I have come to believe that the elf worked some foul moon magic on him. Perhaps drinking King Harrow's blood gave the elf some sort of power, allowing him to twist the guilt Gren must have felt at not being here to defend the king from the assassins."

"Where is Gren now?" Amaya signed.

"I've been tending to him in a room near my own chambers," Viren said. "Sadly, for his own protection, we have had to keep him sedated."

Amaya narrowed her eyes.

"You don't believe me?" Viren asked mildly. "Ask anyone. Half the castle heard Gren screaming that he had switched bodies with the king."

"Where is this elf?"

Viren sighed. "I admit, I was so angered by what he had done to Commander Gren that I struck him down."

Expressions flickered across Amaya's face. "I want to see him."

"Of course."

They climbed the stairs to Viren's tower in silence.

As they passed the royal chambers—still empty—Amaya stopped and pointed to the cage that held Harrow's pet Pip. The bird, whose green and black feathers had once been resplendent, now huddled forlornly in the bottom of its cage. Its wings had been clipped, and a leather rufter covered its head.

"Why is Pip caged?" Amaya signed.

"The poor creature has been inconsolable and self-destructive ever since Harrow died," Viren said. "I know it would probably be a mercy to put it out of its misery, but I don't have the heart."

Amaya nodded, and they continued down the hallway.

At last they arrived at a closed door guarded by two soldiers.

Viren unlocked it, then stood aside.

Inside, restrained by padded manacles, Gren slept on a low bed. His hair, lank and damp with sweat, framed a face made gaunt by misery.

Amaya's eyes filled with tears, but she blinked them away as she reached down and briefly touched the back of her hand to Gren's cheek. "Is there no hope?" she signed.

"There is always hope," Viren said. "But I give you my word, I will not stop looking for a cure until I discover what was done to him."

Amaya nodded.

"Go get some rest," Viren urged. "We can look over the scouting reports this evening."

After Amaya and her shadow left, Viren looked down at Gren, who was now beginning to toss restlessly. "Now, now," Viren murmured, "We can't have you waking up, your majesty. You need your rest." Viren went to a small cabinet and took out a vial of dark liquid, then went to the bed, forced open Gren's mouth, and tipped in a few drops. He held the redhead's mouth closed until he saw him swallow a few times. "Good boy."

Viren left the chamber, re-locking it behind him, then walked back to the royal chamber.

Pip jerked awake as he approached, and scuttled to the far side of the cage.

"There there," Viren said to the bird. "Is that any way to treat someone who's done you a favor?" He opened the cage, and gripped the bird, bringing it close so that he could whisper in its ear. "I'd think your throat must have been sore, talking for her all day long. Aren't you glad I freed you from that?"

And then, none too gently, Viren put the bird back into its cage, and, whistling softly, went downstairs for dinner.

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The End

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This story is based on the fan theory (which I fully embrace as headcanon) that Viren used the soulfang to swap Harrow and Pip right before the Moonshadow elf attack in episode 3.