Author: Liz Luthor
Disclaimer: Do you really need me to TELL you that I don't own this? I mean, come on- I'm sure all of you know by now that I have absolutely NO life whatsoever. To have rights to a video game publication would require the possession of a life! Don't sue me. I'll go on like this in court for at least three days straight.
Author's Notes: Yeah, it's been a long time again... ^_^;; But I'm back on! Again! I've been so busy lately, and (...) sick! I've been sick! Yeah, that's it! ...Why, no, of COURSE I'm not trying to guilt-trip you into reviewing! ...coughreviewcough...
The crowd let out a collective roar as the flames from their torches danced furiously into the hollow night sky. A man stood in front of the assemblage and shouted vigorously, "We'll show him not to mess with Nasrad!" Another group shout. "He'll have to jump off an island before he can get away with this!! Let's tear this place apart!!" And the mob became ferocious. Windows were smashed, posters, papers, and maps were scattered, rugs caught flame, glass was shattered, and various items were hurled across the room. All the while, the man stood cheering them on: "Go ahead, break everything!! He deserves it!"
Finally, a woman approached the scene slowly, and everyone settled down as she entered the shop. "What in Arcadia are you doing??" the woman asked.
"We're punishing a criminal!" replied a random crowd-member. The leader held his hand up, signaling the others to stay quiet.
The woman looked up at him and asked incredulously, "Dremond?" The leader nodded justly. "You have no proof," she scowled.
"He murdered my father!" the man bellowed. "I know it!!"
"Destroying his shop isn't going to help, even if he did kill your father," she reasoned.
The man sneered, "There's no reason for you to get involved, Ms. Marion. That is, unless you're helping him! I'll bet you were in on it!!" The assembly hollered in agreement. "Tell us, Lynda, where's the boy hiding?"
"Sean," Ms. Marion snapped, "listen to yourself. You know I had nothing to do with this. You know Talis wouldn't do anything like this."
King Enrique had insisted that Vyse and his friends stay at the Grand Palace until his men could track down this "Captain Xaer". Vyse couldn't help but wonder why Talis wanted information on him, though. 'We left him on a burning island in the middle of nowhere. How could he possibly have survived?' He took another small bite of his roll and chewed it slowly in thought. A loud 'thud' against the large wooden table wrenched him back to reality. Vyse blinked a couple of times as he looked up at Raine, who stared at him questioningly and leaned over the table and snickered.
"...What?" Vyse asked innocently.
Raine stood back up and replied, "In the two or three days I've known you, I've not once seen you eat that slowly. Plus, you just had the most lost expression, I couldn't help but interrupt your thoughts." She gave another laugh.
"Oh." Vyse laughed dryly and bit another piece off of his roll, then asked uneasily, "Um, how long have you known Talis?"
Raine's expression immediately sank to a harsh one as she replied, "About a year and a half. Why?"
"...It's just so hard...to trust someone, unconditionally, when you know they've already been lying to you. And I want to believe him, you know? It's just... I don't know. Normally, it's easy for me to get to know people, and I really thought I knew him. Even though we haven't spoken much, I really thought I knew him..." Vyse looked down at his food. He felt guilty; he knew Talis was a good kid, but an innocent person had been killed in Nasrad. How did he know Talis wasn't involved? Raine sat down in the chair across from him and measured him with her eyes.
"I think I know what you're expecting me to say," she began. "You expect me to say something about having faith in people and that Talis is a good person." She paused and waited for Vyse to nod in agreement. He did so, and she moved on, "But I think what you really want is for someone to tell you what to do. If that's what you're looking for, then my advice to you is this: I think you should talk to Talis about it. He really admires you. He wants you to know the truth, even if he doesn't show it."
I had tried to sleep, but I was too nervous. How could I possibly rest within the very walls of my greatest threat? I eventually gave up on that and crept out of my guest room to find some sort of alternative purpose. This, of course, eventually lead to my sneaking out of the Grand Palace (I suppose I was ultimately too uncomfortable there). It wasn't easy either: Enrique had guards stationed just about every five feet down every hall, not to mention the fact that the palace was a flat-out maze. Fortunately for me, the sentinels were a bit dim-witted and I had a lot of free time on my hands with which I could explore. It was about an hour later when I thought I'd finally breeched the last of the security guards. On my way through the main gate, I found one more of the clone-ish sentries (or rather, he found me), and he quickly drew his sword on me. "State your name!" he shouted.
"Talis Dremond," I replied steadily. "I'm one of Vyse's party." He didn't lower his sword. I supposed he was the more advanced among the guards. He questioned me for another minute, and I told him I was just going for a walk.
He maintained his glare as he brought down his sword and said coldly, "I don't believe you. I am going to inform King Enrique that you left the palace, and if he does not agree with your actions, then you will be under great speculation upon your return." He granted me this heart-warming sermon before turning around and heading back toward the palace. I watched him walk away until he was out of view, then turned back toward the city.
About fifteen minutes later, I walked aimlessly down the empty streets of a night-cloaked Valua. Another image rushed through my sleep-deprived brain of Xaer's intensely cold eyes piercing into me from above like raging, unholy serpents. Every time I pictured it, the feeling I got became worse. It was to the point where I stopped right in my tracks and let out a loud gasp in the middle of a lonely road. I gave myself a moment to recover before sitting down on the curb and rubbing my face, laughing softly at myself to sound as though I wasn't scared.
"You're losin' it," I said aloud, still chuckling. I didn't believe this in the least, but it made me feel more normal to pretend this behavior was unnatural for me. "He's dead," I forced myself to say. My thoughts, however, were opposing that statement: 'I need to get away from all of this, all of these people... Valua's been destroyed once before, I don't want it to happen again because of me. What if he thinks I'm still at the Grand Palace? What if he attacks them while I'm still here?' I decided to get up and return to the palace. When I turned back toward the bulky edifice, however, I found a litter of the dense guards from before standing across the street from me. I opened my mouth to ask why they had followed me, but I was struck in the back of the head sooner than I could say anything.
After his conversation with Raine, Vyse had made his way to Talis's room, only to find that he wasn't there. Rather than turning back and forgetting the whole thing, he had strayed through decorative halls, out onto balconies, and through several parlors in search of his target. Nearly half an hour later, he had headed for King Enrique's royal quarters, then back to his own room.
Upon his return, Vyse found Raine and Aika waiting for him. "Oh! Um, hi," he stammered, surprised.
"Hey," answered Aika and Raine simultaneously. Raine asked, "Did you talk to Talis?"
"...No. I wanted to talk to you about that, actually."
Aika glanced from Raine back to Vyse nervously. "What happened?"
"Well..." Vyse paused a moment to choose his words carefully. "I couldn't find him... So I went to Enrique's room to ask if he knew where he was... And as soon as I got there, one of his guards came in to report that Talis had left the premises. They don't know why, and they said he was acting- 'suspicious'. Enrique ordered him to escort Talis back peacefully."
"Is he back yet?" Raine asked hopefully. Vyse shrugged.
"That's why I wanted to talk to you. Enrique told me we could wait in his conference room. That's where he told the guard to bring Talis."
"UGH-!" I immediately turned around to find the guard that had questioned me on my way out of the palace. "What-" Before I could say anything, he had me in a headlock. "W-what's-going on-?!" I managed to cough out.
"Orders from the king: we are to bring you back to his palace. Cooperate, and we won't have to hurt you," he warned.
I scoffed and whispered, "You could have mentioned that before you assaulted me... OW!" One of his recruits had approached us and slapped me across the face.
"Do not oppose us!" he shouted indignantly. 'Righteous bunch of morons, aren't they?' I judged bitterly. They dragged me back to the fortress in such a manner of abuse that I wondered if they thought I really was a murderer. Had King Enrique ordered this violent little arrest, or was I just not trusted by these men?
Aika and Raine had followed Vyse back to the conference room to find Enrique sitting at the far end of the long table in the room. Raine was the first to speak. "What's going on??" she asked quickly.
"There's no need to worry," King Enrique replied calmly. "I just don't think Talis will be safe outside the gates of the palace. That's why I asked to have him brought back peacefully."
Raine peered at him suspiciously. "You aren't lying?" she asked.
"Of course not," the king replied. As soon as these words escaped his tired mouth, a large number of his guards entered the room raucously and moved aside to let their superior haul a bloody and disgruntled Talis into the scene.
By the time we reached the destination of the king's conference room, I had blood trickling from my mouth and a growing bruise on the left side of my face. They shoved me along until I stood in front of Enrique, at which point I thrust myself out of their grip to rub the wound on the back of my neck. I shot a glare back at them, then noticed Vyse, Aika, and Raine standing across the table from me. Vyse and Aika were astonished; Raine was furious.
I stalked over to Enrique's chair, wiping the blood from my mouth, and exploded. "Did you arrange this?!" The king looked cross. The single-minded guard behind me gave me a swift knock in my mid-back to remind me not to speak to the king in such a manner. I cried out in pain; he had hit the wound from the other day when I'd fallen on my ship. I dropped to my knees on the ground, trying to regain my breath after he'd knocked the wind out of me. The guard started to yell, "Do not-"
"CEASE!" Enrique boomed. I hadn't expected him to wield such an overpowering bark. He stood up and called out, "All of you, leave! Turner- you stay here." The sentries cleared out quickly, with the exception of the superior one- Turner, I supposed. "I specifically ordered you to avoid violence!" the king's voice roared through the room.
"We heard him say 'He's dead,' your majesty. We thought it highly suspicious," Turner reported skeptically, sending me a glare. I sneered back at him and waited for Enrique to react to this piece of information.
The king turned to me and questioned, "Is this true?"
I hesitated briefly before replying, "Yes. But I was referring to Captain Xaer."
"...I'll interrogate you momentarily. Turner, what did your men do to him and how did he earn such a beating?" King Enrique asked incredulously.
Turner replied that I had been uncooperative in the escort back to the castle. I snapped back at him, "You didn't even give me a chance to speak!"
"You appeared aggressive," he said harshly.
"Talis, Turner-!!" Enrique attempted to interrupt us.
I screamed, "YOU FLOGGED ME IN THE BACK OF THE HEAD THE SECOND I STOOD UP!"
Turner was defeated. King Enrique finally ordered, "Turner, you are no longer under my employment! I will deal with this young man as I see fit! Be off!!" The aggravated soldier turned and strode out of the room, no doubt muttering irately to himself along the way.
Raine finally walked over from the other side of the table. "What happened?" she asked, brushing my hair away from the bruise on my face.
"I just wanted to get some air," I ranted, "so I left. And that guy almost killed me on my way out, too. He said he'd let me go, but that I'd be in trouble if the king didn't want me out there."
King Enrique approached me and said slowly, "Why did you say 'He's dead'?"
I looked around at the curious expressions on their faces. "I told you, I was talking about Xaer."
"But why?" Vyse stepped in. I was taken aback by his sudden decision to add to this conversation so warily.
"I just-..." I attempted to think of a way to word this to make myself sound a little more sane. "I keep seeing this vision of him, and I'm just starting to get- a little paranoid. I sat down for a second to calm myself down, and I guess I was telling myself 'he's dead'. I didn't know anyone was there, I didn't mean to say it out loud."
Raine gave me that searching look she always gave; it made me feel like I was under a microscope. "What is it about him that still haunts you?" she asked evenly.
"I don't know... This look he gave me. It was like... It was like he was promising me he'd kill me. I mean, we don't really know if he's dead or not. Not until we find his body, anyway. And he found me last time, he can probably find me again. I mean- h-he... he found Vyse, that is," I corrected myself, looking anxiously at King Enrique. 'Bad move,' I thought. 'I can't let him know why Xaer's looking for me...'
"Why are you so keen on defending the boy??"
Ms. Marion retorted, "I've lived with him for almost four years. I think it's safe for me to say I know him well enough to tell you he didn't kill anybody."
"He's the most likely suspect!" shouted Sean. "His shop has been competing with my father's since he opened it! Then suddenly he goes missing, and my father turns up dead. If you can explain that, go right ahead." He glowered at Ms. Marion from above. She looked down and turned to leave the shop.
"...He wouldn't kill anybody," she replied boldly before walking out the door.
"Very well," King Enrique sighed resignedly. "Everyone, please return to your rooms and get some sleep. Talis, I would like you to stay and talk to me for a moment." The others left (even Raine, though reluctantly so), and I found myself alone in a room with the king. 'I'm a dead man,' I thought to myself uneasily. "Take a seat," Enrique requested after everyone else had left. I did so stiffly. "I know you have some connection to the man who wants to murder Vyse. I just don't understand why you fear him so much if Vyse is really the one he's after. Could you explain this to me, Talis? And why did you leave Nasrad?"
I took a minute to think about how to respond. "It just- it scares me, that's all. I knew Vyse when we were little and... I dunno, I guess I always looked up to him."
"So it scares you that someone is planning to kill him?"
"...Yeah, I guess so." It wasn't completely truthful, but it wasn't an absolute lie, either. "And then there was that glare he gave me. It was probably aimed toward Vyse- I was standing right next to him- but it really freaked me out. The reason we left Nasrad was to talk to Vyse about the assassination. Raine and me. We... We felt threatened, and we wanted to do what we could to help."
Enrique replied, "Well, I suppose that's it, then. Go get some rest, Talis. You need it."
"Do you believe him?" Fina entered the conference room silently and stood across the long table from the king.
"...Not much," Enrique answered. "He's too nervous. It could just be the fact that he's never been mixed up in anything like this, but I think he's hiding something."
Fina hesitated before suggesting, "You might want to give him another chance."
"What makes you say that?" Enrique lifted his head.
"It's just a feeling," Fina replied. "Well, here are the reports from the team who went to investigate Pirate Isle." She handed him the file folder before saying good night and leaving the room.
"... 'The flames were extinguished when we arrived'? 'The cellar below the windmill was the only area unharmed by the flames... The doors were welded shut. We have yet to penetrate them'... What's going on??"
I started writing this chapter almost two months ago. It took me awhile, but I've been re-reading what I wrote before, and I finally remembered what I had planned to happen! ^^ So send me some feedback while I try and get back into my Black Merchant groove. :) Peace!