Then anger reared up to dry Daina's eyes. She walked beside Fran, neither of them speaking, Vaan somewhere behind them, Balthier and Basch bringing up the rear.
Fran's ear flicked.
"So you were carrying it all along," Basch said wearily. "The Fates jest."
"Tell these Fates of yours to leave me out," Balthier groused.
"Keep quiet!" barked one of the rear soldiers.
Basch ignored him. "There was nothing else that I could do. You know that."
"Oh, I understand." Balthier heaved a sigh; Fran's ear, rising tall from her filigreed, black iron headdress, flicked again. "Honor, duty, and all that. I still can't believe that was the princess."
"I said keep quiet!"
The soldier attempted to force Balthier's silence by jabbing at the sky pirate with his spear from behind. As he did, Balthier and Basch took one step apart. The younger man grabbed the shaft of the spear and yanked the soldier off his feet. Then, when the soldier stumbled forward between them, Basch brought his iron cuffs down on his unprotected neck. Swiftly, Fran lashed out with her long leg, sending another soldier to the floor with a tremendous crash. The third soldier, however, was incapacitated by the final Imperial, who then removed his helm.
"Vossler!" Daina cried, and he grinned.
Basch raised his eyebrows at his one-time friend. "The marquis has been busy."
"Not lightly did I beg his aid," Vossler said, his grin fading. He reached for Basch's cuffs, speaking low and quick. "Listen, it has been a full two years. I alone have kept Her Majesty safely hidden. I doubted friend and foe alike. I could trust nobody."
"You did your duty. And mine for me."
"I'm getting her out," Vossler said, moving on to Balthier. "I need your help."
"Of course," Basch said.
Daina said nothing.
I alone have kept Her Majesty safely hidden . . . I could trust nobody.
Had he honestly said that? Right in front of her? The more the words repeated in her head, the angrier Daina became. Freed of the cuffs, she walked through the Leviathan's corridors with the others, avoiding the intruder alarm light webs and the patrolling Imperials. Once, she jerked Vaan backward before he could blunder through a one-way trip alarm, having seen the black lenses of the motion sensor nodes peering from the ceiling when he had not. But her mind, it buzzed like a trapped antares mantis.
Vossler. I alone have kept Her Majesty safely hidden . . . But he hadn't done it alone. Daina had worked together with him, taking care of the things for her lady that a man simply couldn't do. The three of them, in complete confidence.
. . . I could trust nobody.
Was that why he had sent her with Basch? Had made zero attempts to contact her since? Because, in truth, he didn't trust her?
The burn of her temper kept her blade sharp. When they entered the central brig access and six Imperials accosted them, she cut down the magus and whirled on one of the minor judges, sending him to his death without either of them laying spell or weapon on her. The fight didn't take long after that.
Vaan dropped into a crouch at the end of the battle, searching the bodies. "One of them should have a brig key," he explained. He held it up in triumph.
"Good lad," Balthier said approvingly, clapping Vaan on the shoulder, and Vaan grinned.
"Let's go," Daina said in a monotone, sheathing the osafune. She missed the questioning looks they sent her way.
And then, at long, long last, they invaded the brig, opened a cell door, and discovered Ashe, sitting pensively on the bench.
She looked up.
Daina fell upon her, all knightly honor and dignity flung to the four winds. After a moment, Ashe's slender arms circled Daina's shoulders, and the two women held each other tightly.
"You weren't supposed to come," Ashe said, sounding resigned. "I meant you to be safe."
Daina wanted to laugh, to cry, to sing. So that was why. All the coldness, the stranger's eyes – it had been an act.
"You aren't allowed to worry about me," she said in what she meant to be a stern tone, but her relief made it wobble. "You have all of Dalmasca to protect. Permit me to do my duty and protect you."
Vossler's clipped voice broke in on them, separating Daina from her lady. "You are unharmed."
"Vossler!" Ashe shot to her feet. "I –"
She stopped, eyelids fluttering, and then pitched forward. Vossler caught her. "Majesty!"
"It's nothing," Ashe said faintly, righting herself. She stood alone, gathering her imperiousness about her like a coat. In a stronger voice, she added, "I'll be fine."
Daina hovered behind her lady. After all that Ashe had been through, it was no wonder if she was overwhelmed. Daina purposely didn't look at Vossler, but in avoiding his eye, she caught Basch's.
So did Ashe. Her eyes narrowed to slits of stormy gray. "You."
"Come on, come on!" Vaan called from the hallway. Daina caught a glimpse of him fairly dancing with impatience. "Let's go! What are you waiting for? Penelo's still out there!"
No one paid him any attention. Basch and Ashe remained locked in a stare-down, she projecting an aura of venom, he as impervious and immovable as a rock. Anxiety flooded Daina. She wished they would stop. She didn't want – what? Her lady to hate Basch?
Why did it matter so much?
"We should hurry." Balthier, calm and sardonic. "They won't be long."
Vossler got between the ex-princess and the ex-knight. "We will talk later," he said, his flinty eyes brooking no argument.
No sooner had they exited the brig, however, than a wail that pierced Daina's eardrums began. The lights went off and plunged them into red-lit twilight. Armed Imperials flooded the corridors, some leading giant, slavering mastiffs, and blocked their way.
"Majesty," Basch said, gentle as always. "We will cut you a path."
Ashe glared at him. "I will not place my trust in the sword of a traitor!"
"Yet trust his sword we must," Vossler argued, "traitor or no. I see no other way. We track back, commandeer a ship and make our escape."
He met all of their gazes as he said this, reverting to his old role as a captain and leader of the Resistance. Smoldering, Daina looked away. Did he trust her, or not?
The others ran off, Balthier and Vaan leading the pack. Daina prepared to follow her lady, but when Vossler spoke to Basch in a low voice, curiosity got the better of her. She lingered to listen.
"Her Majesty cannot abide weakness, least of all in herself," Vossler said. "We must make her confront the reality of our plight."
Daina clenched her fists and stalked off, pretending she hadn't heard. What Vossler had said of Ashe was true, the first part, but Daina didn't believe for one second that Ashe didn't understand their situation. Of all of them, Lady Ashe probably understood the most.
It was Vossler who had lost sight of reality.