Beyond the Shadows

Thirty-five

Talia gave a small gasp when she heard her father's displeased voice outside Bane's door. She called out, "I'm with Bane, Papa. He's come back."

Abruptly the door slid open, but Rā's did not advance from the threshold, nor did he appear particularly pleased to see his daughter sitting close beside Bane on the bed. Talia seemed to sense this, standing, anxiously turning the ivory elephant over and over in her hands. Bane stood as well, Melisande's blanket falling away. Then Rā's noticed the tears streaking Talia's face, and he started toward her.

"What's the matter, child? Why are you crying?"

"Oh, Papa," Talia suddenly burst out in fresh tears and rushed to him. "Jin's dead."

Rā's embraced her, his gaze seeking Bane's in confusion and disbelief. There was a dark flash of sadness in his gray eyes, but a wall of self-control quickly doused it before he asked, "When did you arrive?"

"Just a few minutes ago. I was on my way to report to you, but Talia came in."

Rā's frowned and tried to console his daughter, murmuring reassurances into her ear. Then, keeping his voice low, he asked Bane, "Why has Chase not reported to me? Did you not return together?"

Pain from his injuries surged over Bane, and he ached to replenish the mask, but instead he squared his shoulders and spoke without emotion. "Chase is dead, sir."

Both Talia and her father stared incredulously at him, silence dropping over the room except for the crackle of the blossoming fire.

Talia was the first to find her voice, looking from her father to Bane and back. "No… No…not both of them."

Rā's took her face in his hands, kissed her forehead, and pressed her to him again, closing his own eyes against the grief that this time he could neither deny nor conceal. Bane stood in uncomfortable solitude and dutifully waited.

When Talia's sobs had lessened, Rā's quietly asked, "Where are their bodies?"

"I buried Jin beside his wife."

"And Damien?"

Bane shifted his weight. "I left him in Shanghai."

Outrage flared in Rā's' gray eyes. "And if Damien and Temujin are dead and you are here, then where is Bruce Wayne?"

"He was arrested."

A muscle in Rā's' tight jaw twitched. Gently he drew Talia away from him, tipped her chin upward, and forced a small smile. "Sweetheart, I must speak with Bane alone. Go to my room, and I will be there in a couple of minutes."

"With your permission," Bane interceded, "I'd like her to stay. She deserves to know the truth of what happened."

"Please, Papa. Let me stay. I don't want to be alone right now."

Rā's considered for a moment as his thumb wiped the tears from her cheeks. Then he kissed the top of her head. "Very well, my pet. Why don't you sit by the fire and warm yourself?"

He guided her to the chair at Bane's desk near the hearth. She did her best to dry her face and sniff back the remainder of her tears. Rā's' expression remained solicitous until she was settled, then he stood like a rock beside her, one hand on the chair back, his gaze now hard upon Bane.

As Bane began his narrative, he tried to master the growing pain from his old wounds, desperately wanting those crystals, but his pride would not allow him to seek solace in front of Rā's. He focused all his energy on what he was saying, telling them about Temujin's last visit to the tenement and what he had said about Bruce Wayne. Rā's listened without interruption, his senses as sharp as an eagle's, his hands gripping the lapels of his tunic in the old familiar way but now with tension, crinkling the fabric. When Bane spoke of how he had found Temujin dead in the street, Talia's tears flowed again, but she made no sound now, her whole body bowed beneath her grief.

"He didn't deserve to die that way," Bane said as if to himself, staring into the fire. "He didn't deserve to die at all. We could have protected him. I should have been there. If not for the motorcycle…if not for Chase…"

Rā's bristled. "You are questioning his command decisions?"

Bane could not restrain his bitterness. "Yes, as I questioned them then. In fact, after what Chase said to me afterwards and after I thought everything over time and time again these past days, I believe Chase sabotaged my motorcycle so I wouldn't be…so I couldn't be there for Jin."

Rā's' hands fell to his sides, one fist clenching. "And what, pray tell, would make Chase do such a thing? Bane, I believe your grief has clouded your judgment—"

"You weren't there," Bane protested loudly, too loudly, the physical pain making his voice hoarse and uncontrollable. "When Chase came back to the tenement afterwards, he told me it had all been his decision to let Wayne be arrested. He planned it after hearing what Jin had said about Wayne. But he knew there was no way I'd agree to a plan that would put Jin at such risk, so he kept me in the dark."

Skeptical, Rā's scowled. "And why would Chase want Wayne arrested?"

"He said prison would be the last stop for Wayne, that it would shake him out of his apathy toward his criminal life, that it would keep him from slipping away before you could recruit him."

"He believed there was no other recourse?"

"That's what he told me."

"Then that is what you should have believed. Chase was in command of the operation. It was not your place to question him."

Bane's fingers twitched. "Jin is dead because I did not question enough."

"Temujin would understand Chase's decision. He knew how to follow orders. You, on the other hand—"

Talia stirred. "Papa," she began to remonstrate, but her father's pointed stare cowed her.

Bane took advantage of the distraction. "If Jin would have understood, then why didn't Chase share his plan with him?"

"Who is to say he did not?" Rā's challenged.

"Chase told me."

"And no doubt he gave you a reason."

"He said he was afraid Jin's knowledge could compromise the plan. But he was lying. He's never liked Jin; he never thought he should have been allowed to rejoin the League. Jin's death was no sacrifice for the mission; it was murder. Maybe it wasn't Chase's bullet, but it might as well have been; he wanted Jin dead."

Rā's' eyes glowed with rage as he took a step forward. "How dare you make such an accusation?"

"It's the truth," Bane snapped. "I have no doubt."

"As I have no doubt that Chase is dead because of you, because of mere speculation on your part."

"Papa!" Talia cried.

"Tell my daughter that I am correct," Rā's said, now standing close in front of Bane. "Tell her that you murdered Chase and left him to rot in Shanghai."

"No…" Talia stepped beside her father, gripped his arm, her gaze flashing between the two men.

"You left Bruce Wayne in the dangerous hands of Chinese authorities; you abandoned your post of your own volition; and you left your comrade behind, the League's second in command, no less. All because of your own bloody impulses, impulses you were warned to guard against since your training days."

"I was also taught to listen to my instincts," Bane countered. "Jin taught me that."

"So you took it upon yourself to murder your commander and jeopardize a mission of the highest priority—"

"Bruce Wayne? The highest priority? A despot you wish to enslave your daughter to for the sake of your own gain."

Rā's grabbed Bane by the collar, his nose up against the mask, face flushed, eyes ablaze. Somehow Bane kept from physically responding to the threat as Talia, crying again, tried to pull her father back.

"Papa, stop! Bane…please…" Fear had replaced her sorrow as she tried to force herself between the two men.

"Talia," Rā's growled, "leave us. Now!"

"No, Papa…stop… Please stop…"

"Let her stay," Bane said with a hint of sarcasm. "She's old enough to understand what you have planned for her. Tell her how she will become Bruce Wayne's whore."

Rā's drove him back against the wall. Still Bane allowed it, for he knew if he did not maintain tight control over himself, he would kill Rā's just as he had killed Chase, and no matter his own will at the moment, he would not orphan Talia.

"Papa, stop!" Talia, behind him now, pulled at her father's shoulders, sobbing, terrified. "Let him go."

"You defend this monster," Rā's said. "Don't you understand what he has done?"

"Please," she begged. "Stop… Both of you…"

"You will leave here, Bane," Rā's said, measured and cold, his grip loosening but not falling away.

"No, Papa!" Talia snatched one of his hands away from Bane, pressed it fervently between hers near her heart.

Bane stared condescendingly at him, impassive, trying to hide all signs of the agony that signaled the final gasps of medicinal supply from the canisters.

"You will leave," Rā's repeated. "You are no longer welcome here. You have proven yourself unworthy of the League and of my protection and favor. And of my daughter."

Now anger burst through Talia's fear and sorrow. "Papa, no! You can't send him away. Have you forgotten all he's done for us? I won't allow it—"

Rā's turned upon her, startling her back a step. "Leave us, Talia; this instant."

"I will not." Her jaw tightened. "If you send Bane away, I'm going with him."

Rā's pointed toward the door. "The only place you are going, young lady, is to your room…now!"

Talia reached for Bane's hand, but her father captured her wrist.

"You will obey me, Talia."

Before she could respond, Bane calmly said, "Do as he says, habibati."

"No." She tried to break her father's grip as Rā's dragged her toward the door. "You can't send him away, Papa. I will go with him."

On the threshold, Rā's freed her, stabbed a finger over her shoulder. "Go to your room, Talia."

"I'm not a child!"

"You are behaving like one. Now do as you're told."

Rā's remained between them, Talia's pleading gaze reaching to Bane who now stood near the foot of his bed. The pain of his injuries was not the only reason behind the moisture in his eyes.

"Go," Bane urged her with a nod of assurance, the word gravelly and strained.

"Don't leave me, habibi. Take me with you."

"Go," Rā's ordered. "He will be allowed to stay the night, and you can say your good-byes in the morning. But if you do not obey me now, I will send him out this very minute and you won't be allowed to say another word to him."

Again she looked to Bane, and again he nodded, this time more emphatically.

With a final glare at her father, one filled with emotions Bane had not witnessed in her since her mother's murder, Talia wheeled, her hair swirling about her like a cape, her hands balled into fists. Her footsteps echoed on the wooden catwalk as she stormed away.

Rā's turned back to Bane but remained near the door. He had regained control of his temper, though his anger still dominated his expression. "You will leave in the morning unless, of course, you choose to leave now. Consider yourself fortunate that you are even allowed to leave this place alive. As with Temujin, there will be those in the League who may deem it unwise to let someone with such knowledge of our organization walk away. But regardless of your recent mistakes, the fact will always remain that you saved my daughter's life. Only for that do I show you mercy." He paused, half turned to leave, then paused. "You may take your sidearm and whatever personal belongings that you can carry on your back." His glance stabbed toward Bane's bed. "My wife's blanket, however, will remain here."