Episode 7: a Change in the Wise Man
31st of Cassus
It was New Year's Eve, but none of the Heroes felt particularly cheery. The roads had been unusually quiet that day, and as they began walking on the path between two fields, they learned why—they were on the grounds of a plantation run on slave labor. No slavers seemed to be in the area, except the Overseer scouting the fields on his horse. The rest of the security was provided by guardsmen from Cortex, which was strange because they were still several days away. "They're here to stop any vigilantes who might try to free the slaves," Laura explained, though her voice shook. It seemed even she was disturbed by the sight—several dozen slaves worked fields of winter plants that had mostly died due to the drought. The Overseer was not gentle, shouting constantly and snapping his whip. Every time the crack reverberated through the air, Aelita visibly flinched. She walked in between Jeremie and Ulrich, her shaking hands holding on Jeremie's coat as if her life depended on it.
A guardsman stopped the Heroes, inquiring about Aelita. She cowered behind the boys, afraid to even meet his eyes. Yumi looked away, disgusted at the man. In the fields, she spotted the Overseer snatching the wrist of a child not much younger than Jeremie or Aelita, though at this distance that was all she could see. The man shouted at the child for a moment, and then began dragging the child towards the manor house. Yumi snarled, her vampire teeth visible under the shadow provided by the embroidered hood Aelita had made so she could walk in the sun. Laura caught Yumi's wrist. "We're outnumbered and outmatched. Don't go looking for fights you can't win." She advised.
Yumi narrowed her eyes. "The Overseer is bringing that child to torment. You suggest that I stand by and do nothing?" She asked.
Laura shook her head. "If we fight, we'll die. I'm not happy standing by either, Yumi, but what good will it do if they kill us? The punishment may be worse."
Yumi was silent, but she did not defy the Fair. She simply yanked her hand away. The guardsman appeared to accept the explanation Jeremie gave, and he let them pass. When they were out of sight of the plantation, Yumi saw Jeremie release a fist she hadn't noticed he'd been holding, his palm red and marked by his nails.
Night had fallen and the Colonist watched the fire. She looked up suddenly, having heard something so quiet that as a human she never would've heard it. She stalked it, finding Jeremie sneaking away from camp in the direction of the plantation. "What are you doing out of bed?" She asked, causing him to yelp before covering his mouth and spinning around. "Don't tell me you plan on sneaking away from the camp to go back to the plantation and free the slaves…" She began, ominously crossing her arms as he grew nervous. She grinned as she added, "…without me?"
Jeremie grinned. "Thank you! This will be much easier with your help." He moved closer to her as he discussed the plan. He asked her to find the slave master, and quietly he asked her to kill him. "I don't care how you do it, so long as you find and destroy any will or document that says who the slaves go to after he dies. If you can't find anything, all the better." He handed her a satchel, and it was heavy in her hands. "Put the contents of this in his office. Don't open it until you get there."
Yumi looked at the bag. "Why all the secrecy?" She asked.
Jeremie simply shook his head and said, "Trust me, it is better this way. Just… try not to get caught? I'm sure that you won't but… still."
She nodded, and as they started walking back towards the plantation, she asked, "So, while I go and murder this man, what will you be doing?"
He smiled. "I'm going to free the slaves."
Yumi smiled back, and they waited in the brush. Patrols had changed, with only a few guards in the fields. Jeremie informed her that if they moved carefully, they shouldn't tip off the patrols. She nodded, using her supernatural speed to dash along the side of the manor house. The Colonist quickly made it to the wall she believed would hold the master bedroom, and she began to scale the building. She shouldn't have been surprised, but she was impressed at how naturally this came to her. Yumi wasn't afraid of heights but she had never attempted to ascend a building in this manner.
She made it to the second floor easily, looking inside the windows until she found what she believed to be the master bedroom. Deftly, the vampire Colonist forced open the window and entered. Inside saw a rather fat man sleeping peacefully, and while at first she thought that this was the slave master's steward and she'd found the wrong room, she changed her mind when she saw the instruments of torture in the corner and on the chest of drawers.
Yumi watched him for a moment, her eyes narrowing as the focused in on his neck, a burning sensation of hunger and need filling her stomach. She forced her eyes away and willed down the sensation with a large measure of disgust. Deciding to focus on her task, she stealthily made her way around the bed, looking for any way to kill him without alerting the guards that it was murder. Silently and carefully she inspected the posts at each corner, finally noticing that one at the foot of the bed wasn't secured fully at either the top or the bottom.
She pushed on it with her newfound strength and with more noise than she'd have liked it fell into the bed, the posts and canopy collapsing onto the man's chest with a sickening crunch that forced the air from his lungs and presumably shattered his ribs. With a longing look at the trickle of blood from his mouth she retreated to the window just in time to get through and close it before two guards scrambled though the bedroom door with lit lanterns. The guard captain lifted his lantern and swung it slowly, illuminating the every corner of the room. Standing still as a statue, Yumi merely squinted against the yellow glow of the candle as the guard looked straight through her, knowing that because of her vampirism he would see only the vaguest hint of a shadow if he noticed anything at all. She watched them as best she could through the window while they investigated, noting that they were speaking quietly to themselves as they declared him dead. They left, presumably to tell the other guards, and she moved on to the second part of her assignment.
She climbed down and snuck across the elaborate halls, opening every door until she could find the office. Several times she came across a dark, empty room with heavy locks and no windows, and it made her shiver. Eventually she found the study and entered, taking a few small jewels that the Heroes could sell later and wouldn't be missed. She opened the satchel Jeremie had given her, and she discovered a small sack of gold and a letter written in Elvish. At the bottom was Xana's Eye.
This surprised her immensely. Jeremie had wanted the slave master dead so the slaves would be freed, but why would he want to frame the man for conspiring with Xana? Wasn't it enough that he was dead; why smear his name? Apprehensive, she placed the letter and the gold in a place that looked natural, and she closed her eyes to listen for the Wise Man.
Jeremie forced open a window after freeing as many of the slaves outside as he could. He, too, had seen the child dragged into the manner house, and he was determined to find them and any other slaves trapped within. He moved as quietly as he could through the basement, and when he saw the chains and irons clasps, he had flashbacks of his time in the vampire's lair. The Wise Man shook it off, reminding himself of the more important issue.
He moved to leave the first part of the basement, though he spotted a guard and hid behind a wall. He looked at Aelita's dagger, which he had taken from her tent before he left as a reminder of why he was doing what he was, and his fingers tightened around it. He rushed out and threw it, startling the guard and, sadly, missing him entirely. Jeremie sighed and hit his forehead with his hand. The guard drew his sword and Jeremie summoned the retractable blade on his elvish gauntlet, ducking under the swing of the sword and stabbing the guard in the gut.
He huffed, looking for other guards. He turned and saw Yumi, startling him for the second time that night. Angrily, he demanded, "Do you ever make noise when you walk?"
Yumi shook her head. "I planted the false evidence. You and I need to talk." She spat.
"Can it wait? I'm positive that there are more slaves somewhere in here." Jeremie said. He and the Colonist moved through the basement, finding a trap door to the subbasement. Yumi held it open while Jeremie climbed down, and she closed it quietly as she followed him. The subbasement was lit only by a few candles, and they found four elven slaves chained to the wall. The youngest, the child the Heroes had seen dragged off, sobbed quietly. "Yumi, help me with these chains." Jeremie ordered, and together they broke the iron chains.
The oldest woman, at most twenty-five, hugged two of the other elves, who appeared to be her twin daughters. The youngest approached Yumi and Jeremie. "What are you doing here?" She asked, snorting unattractively. She was far too thin, and her face was caked in too much makeup to be flattering. She didn't wait for them to answer, and recognizing Jeremie as the leader, she approached him. "Are you my master now?"
Jeremie jumped. "No!" He shouted.
She seemed very confused. "But I can cook. I can clean! What else am I supposed to do?"
Yumi stepped in. "You're free now. You can do whatever you want."
"I'm… free? I don't understand. A slave is all I've ever been." She said quietly.
"I'm sorry. This must've been terrible for you," Jeremie said.
The young slave looked almost shocked by his comment, and she moved out of the way as the other three women fled. "Everything was fine until today!" She argued.
Yumi took her shoulders. "It wasn't. You just didn't know any better."
The girl looked into Yumi's orange eyes. She seemed apprehensive, but she grabbed the bottom of her tunic and fiddled with it. "I… suppose I could follow the others." She whispered, climbing out of the subbasement.
Jeremie motioned to the ladder. "We should go too, before morning comes and the guards learn what we've done."
Now away from the plantation, Yumi caught Jeremie's shoulder. "Why did you frame the slave master of working with Xana?" She demanded. "Wasn't it enough that you had me murder him? Why did he have to be working with Xana?"
Jeremie sighed. "I knew I should've told you not to open the letter," He mumbled. "Listen, even if Replika is an enemy of Lyoko now, they have to know that Xana is the larger problem. If they thought that the slave master was working with her, they would take away all his assets, and in Replika, slaves are set free if property is confiscated. It was just a precaution in the event that the will was off-location or if we couldn't free all of the slaves. This way, at least they won't be given to family."
Yumi folded her arms. "Yes, but you've not only made it impossible for the slaves to be given to his next of kin but also made it impossible to give his family anything, even if they had nothing to do with his use of slaves. Not to mention you had me smear the name of a dead man. Where's the fairness in that?"
"He's dead. What does he care about fairness?" Jeremie asked.
"You're missing the point!" She hissed. "It isn't about being fair to him! Listen, in my life, I've murdered a lot of people. Mostly those who have threatened my friends or family, but that was as far as it went. I've never framed anyone."
"Well, now you have. Add it to your résumé." He said flatly.
Yumi shook. "What is wrong with you?! You hate killing people and yet here you are, colder than the snow we're walking on! Find your humanity!"
He stopped. "Funny words, coming from a vampire." He hissed as he turned. "You want me to find my humanity? That was the most humane thing to do for those poor people! Do you think we could have diplomatically asked for the man to just let the slaves go? What do you think he would have said?"
"You didn't have to frame him for treason!" Yumi argued, her heart hurting when he called her a vampire.
"So, you think that way, do you?" He asked. "You saw what happened there! There's always going to be some reason, some excuse why people will need to subjugate someone else! Money, power, I can't even imagine how far the list goes!" He stared her down. "But you've seen what happens when that desire gets the better of them, and you've heard what happened to Aelita. But I've seen more! I've seen, touched even, her physical scars and there are more that I can't do anything about! You saw how she reacted to the sound of the whip. You saw how afraid she was when the guard stopped us. What we've done here has helped these people, even if they don't yet know it. But it won't change what happened or what will happen, so we have to do whatever it takes to prevent it, and if that means framing the lowest of pond scum of treason then gods be my witness, that's what I'll do!"
Yumi would've cried, had she been able to. "So this is all because you feel guilty? You couldn't have done anything about what happened to Aelita, but that's no reason to—"
"I KNOW I COULDN'T HELP HER!" Jeremie shouted. "You think that I don't? But I can help her and hundreds more like her now, and I will do anything—anything—to keep it from happening again!" He shrugged as he started to walk away. "I guess you don't want to help her like I do. What can you expect from a vampire?"
Yumi broke in that moment. "Jeremie!" She called out to him. She crossed her arms to hold her shoulders, following him back to camp, an ugly emotion growing heavy in her stomach. Did she still feel badly for framing a dead man of treason, or had Jeremie's words filled her with guilt? Or was this something else entirely?
Had her vampirism changed her? Was she cold to the plight of others? It couldn't be. She was stronger now, but was it worth it if her heart cooled to the point of being frozen? She rubbed her hands together. They were cold. Yumi reminded herself this was because technically she was dead, and she had no way of warming the walking corpse she'd become. Even now as she warmed her hands near the fire she was still cold. How fearful she'd been when the others told her she was a vampire, how worried she had been that she would become a monster.
She was still afraid, she realized, so much so that her very hands trembled. But was she afraid of becoming the monster that the loss of her humanity implied? Yes. Yumi decided that if she was to be a vampire, she would still be human on the inside. No matter what Jeremie said, she told herself as the sun rose and she pulled her hood over her head, she would retain her humanity.
1st of Verimensis, 5:09 Guardian
"Happy New Year!" Odd shouted cheerfully as he climbed out of his tent. "New year, new me, am I right?" He said, nudging the others with his elbow.
Laura rolled her eyes. "I'm more interested in taking down Xana. New year, old enemy?" She suggested.
Yumi smiled. "I don't care who our enemy is, so long as we can get our normal lives back after this is all over."
Jeremie shook his head, obviously still upset about the night before. "Things won't ever be the same. Even if we go home after this, it won't feel like home." He hissed.
Aelita sensed the tension and took one of both Heroes' hands. "Just promise me that no matter what happens in the future, we'll all still be friends!" She smiled. The two night assassins seemed unwilling to make peace, but Yumi offered the first smile, and reluctantly but honestly, Jeremie returned it.
Laura folded her arms as Ulrich and Odd took the free hands of Jeremie and Yumi. "I'm not sure that 'being friends once this is over' is exactly, how you say, 'in the cards'." She said.
Ulrich furrowed his brows and offered his hand to her. "Shut up and just hold hands!" He shouted. Laura looked away, but she took his hand.
Yumi took shelter in the aravel as the group stopped for the midday meal. She pushed back the cloak that shielded her head and face from the damaging rays of the sun and sighed. Her tireless body, abnormal strength and vision and for the ability to walk freely in the sun again, she'd give it up without hesitation. Or maybe she would do it for less, just not to be so different. Aelita hadn't grimaced when she took the lifeless appendage into her smaller, warmer hand. But Odd had, and it seemed he couldn't wait to let go. Or perhaps it only seemed that way because he had to grind his hands together for warmth after they'd released their grip.
She felt something hot against her skin, the beginnings of a burning sensation that she knew all too well. She had strayed too close to the covered window and the sunlight that filtered through was having a small effect. She'd have to feed as she learned that the longer she went without blood the more dangerous sunlight would become to her. The thought of drinking the blood of her friends turned her stomach. The idea of draining the corpse of an enemy was only slightly better. She could wait though. She wasn't ready to ask.