Tomyn, a nineteen year-old peacekeeper trainee, lay on the bed, trying to get some rest. His face looked very weary. Two hours ago, a bolt of iron about a foot long, protruded from his left upper thigh. It had to be extracted without the use of any medical tool. The pain was excruciating. Jennina Stromsburg advised against going to any hospital or clinic. They had no choice but to dress the wound themselves--Mr. Clive Omil and Jennina.
Tomyn had lost a lot of blood, but not enough to place him in critical condition. He was lucky that the general missed her mark. He thought about the incident. He only wanted to kill Mr. Marrow. The manager of the explosives factory knew secrets about him that would place him in danger with higher authorities. He would've been successful, too, if it hadn't been for the general of the army.
"You have a lot of explaining to do!" Stromsburg yelled angrily as she burst back in the room. She was in tears. Stromsburg grabbed him by the collar and started to hit him across the face. Tomyn reacted like a scared child.
"Please! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" he cried.
"Sorry?!" Stromsburg shouted in exasperation without ceasing to hit the young man. "What did you think you were doing? I did not raise you to be this stupid! I took pride in all of you, and this is how you repay me?"
Tomyn continued to cry. He didn't even pay attention to Stromsburg's halfhearted thrashing. It was her words of rebuke that hurt him the most.
"I did not raise a criminal! I worked hard to get you off the bad side of the streets! Each and every one of you... where have I gone wrong?!" Jennina staggered back, hands over her face, weeping. She leaned against the closest wall and slid down the floor, crouched and sobbing uncontrollably. It was a mother's cry. One who had been betrayed by her own son. "What did I do wrong?"
Tomyn couldn't answer. He wanted to tear his own heart out as punishment. Above all, he never wanted to hurt the only family he'd ever known. He, too, was a child of the Marigolds.
"I... panicked," he replied lamely. "I'm sorry."
"What am I going to do with you now? If they find out-- the General will find out--"
"Turn me in!" Tomyn volunteered, suddenly stopping his sobs. It was as if he had just found an answer for redemption. "T-tell them t-that you caught m-me. I'll confess-s everything!"
Jennina wailed louder. The thought was too unbearable for her to even imagine.
"Matron! Please don't cry! It wasn't your f-fault."
"I can't turn you in!" she blurted out in-between sobs. "Gods! Please don't let them find you!"
Tomyn tried to get up from the bed. Pain overtook his entire left leg and waist. He stumbled and fell on the floor in front of Stromsburg. He crawled the short distance to reach her finally then hugged her. Stromsburg hugged her back tightly. "I cannot turn you in to die! They will surely kill you!"
"We have no choice. I will t-take responsibility."
"No!" she cried out vehemently. "You will hide. Y-you will run away. Get as f-far away as you can and never come back. I'd rather know that you're alive."
"Heal."
Tomyn's dressed wound glowed a golden aura. He felt a chilling sensation before the healing warmth. In a few more seconds, he was able to move his leg without feeling pain. As a side-effect of my healing magic, my Invisibility barrier shattered, revealing my presence to them.
Jennina reacted instinctively. She pulled Tomyn closer to the ground and tried her best to place herself between his foster son and my self. She reached fumbled for her weapon. It was a stun stick. She was still partially crouched on the floor as she raised it threateningly at me. With a swift move of my left hand, I cut the stunner in half with my sword. My sword was back in its sheath in a second.
I held up my hands and sat down on the bed. I wanted to let them know that I meant them no harm.
"You can't take him!" Jennina Stromsburg shouted bravely. "I don't care if you're Military or not. He's entitled to a trial!"
"Mrs. Stromsburg, I am not here to condemn your son."
"She didn't do anything!" Tomyn suddenly shouted from behind Stromsburg. "It was all my fault! I acted alone. P-please. You have to believe me!"
"Just relax. Please," I begged them. They were both on their feet now with Jennina still trying to keep my away with her broken stunner. "I'm not here to arrest either of you. I just want to talk."
"We're listening," Jennina said, her sobs quickly disappearing.
"No, you're not," I said sternly. "Put that ridiculous thing down, and let's talk in the living room."
They both didn't move. So, I made the first one. I stood up and casually walked out of the room, turning my back to them like they weren't a threat to me. In the living room, I waited on a chair beside a fireplace with my legs crossed. I made no attempt to prevent their possible escape.
The two of them walked out cautiously. They saw me, but did not follow suit. They just stood there. Jennina was trying to read my face. She did not succeed.
"Sit down, please," I said gently. "If I wanted to hurt him, I wouldn't have healed his leg."
"It was you who tried to kill him," Jennina retorted.
"Wrong, Mrs. Stromsburg. I'm a frightfully good shot. If I wanted him dead, he'd be at the city morgue right now."
"You have the wrong person, Celes. I beg of you. This is all a misunderstanding," she pleaded.
"That wasn't what I heard back there, Mrs. Stromsburg. I know everything about his attempt to murder Mr. Marrow."
"He's still alive?" Tomyn interrupted, suddenly interested to know.
"No, he's very much dead," I replied.
"Gods!" Stromsburg prayed.
"Your son was not responsible for his death," I said quickly. "Another killed him."
Stromsburg's eyes went wide in puzzlement. She turned to Tomyn for an explanation.
"I swear it, Matron! I acted alone!"
"And I believe him!" I added. "Sit down and let me explain why I'm here." Finally, they did. They were almost glad that they did. It was as if their legs had been wanting to get some rest.
"I'm after a bigger fish," I said, getting right to the point. "Your son's crime means nothing to me or the Military." Their eyes never blinked. They paid close attention and waited anxiously. "The truth is... I need your help."
The last sentence came very unexpectedly to them. Neither found the courage to ask.
"I need to know why your son wanted Mr. Marrow dead."
They glanced at each other. "You don't have to tell her anything," Stromsburg said.
"It's too late for that, Matron," Tomyn said, his eyes filled with sorrow.
"Tell me," I said gently. "Mr. Marrow was killed by another before he could tell us the information that I needed for my investigation."
"Tomyn!"
"You promise to leave her out of this?" Tomyn asked as a condition.
"I promise to leave the both of you out of this mess. I just need the information," I assured him.
"I want this in writing!" Stromsburg said boldly.
I sighed. "Trust me, Mrs. Stromsburg, you do not. Should anybody else find out about this, what you fear the most would most certainly happen. I do not have the power to pardon. Generals never had that power. It's a council decision, and I'm not too keen of their politics."
"Then we have your word, at least?" Tomyn asked nervously.
"You have my word of personal reprieve. Please, tell me why you wanted him dead."
"Tomyn, don't--"
"I made a deal with him. Just me and Mr. Marrow," he said quickly, ignoring Stromsburg.
"What kind of deal?" I asked.
"He needed to get rid of his explosives. I knew about the law and his predicament. How could I not? We are the enforcers."
"How many did you take, Tomyn?"
Tomyn swallowed nervously. Stromsburg sat quietly now, her eyes watering slowly again. Tomyn bowed his head and answered, "4,000 pounds."
I did a quick math in my head. That accounts for everything. Around 5,000 for Magitek Warehouse 5, about 6,000 for the abandoned meat packing plant, and 4,000 for...
"What for, Tomyn?"
"I don't know. I acted as a middle person."
"For who?" Stromsburg asked the question for me.
"Some guy with Jidooran accent. I don't know who he is."
"Jidooran? Describe him to me,"
"He was about my height with a cheery attitude. Yellow hair, brown eyes, freckled face--very educated when he spoke, though you kinda get this feeling that he was sort of a klutz."
"Where did you meet the first time?"
"Police Headquarters in the City Circle. He was a tourist asking for directions. But even he stood out from the rest of the tourists."
"Oh? How so?" Even Stromsburg raised her brows in intrigue.
"I expected him to be asking directions to the local museum, or the library, perhaps. Or even the Vectorian Opera House. Instead, he asked where he could get a hold of dynamites."
"I remember him!" Stromsburg interceded. "He said he was scouting for mining supplies in the area. He didn't look too suspicious. I mean... what criminal would walk into a police station and ask where he could buy explosives? We just assumed that he was in the business legitimately. Besides, we kept records of Mr. Marrow's customers. This person's name didn't show up on the list. We figured that he had found his supplier elsewhere."
"What was his name?" I asked.
Stromsburg paused to think really hard. She was being very cooperative this time. Anything to divert the topic of conversation away from them. "Drat! It started with a 'V.'"
"Mr. Verde," Tomyn said guiltily.
Stromsburg frowned and glanced at him. "So you're saying that was not the last you've seen of him?"
"After we gave him a list of suppliers in Vector, I had a word with him in secret. It was I who struck a deal with him. The man was innocent, Matron."
I trusted Stromsburg to ask the right questions for me this time. I chose to listen quietly.
"What exactly was the deal, Tomyn?"
He sighed, instinctively rubbing his healed wound. "I remembered Mr. Marrow's predicament. So I thought I'd... help him out."
"'Help him out?' He reported it as theft! It was a shady deal."
Tomyn hung his head in shame. "It seemed so harmless at the time."
"You took advantage of Mr. Marrow. I know that he had a less-than-reputable history with us, but that was no excuse."
"I-I realize that now. I'm sorry."
"How much did you sell the explosives for?"
"7,000 kirians," he responded promptly.
"And how much did you share with Mr. Marrow?"
Almost inaudibly, Tomyn replied, "None."
Stromsburg sighed heavily. "You knew he was in trouble. You knew he'd be better off giving them away. That's entrapment, Tomyn. Entrapment, extortion, and attempted murder..." Stromsburg's last word trailed off to a silent sob.
Tomyn's shoulders began to tremble. He, too, was going to cry. I had to say something to stop the both of them. There were a lot of ground to cover. "You kept all the money to yourself, Tomyn?"
"No! I kept none of it!" he said defensively and almost proudly. That was when he realized his mistake. He should not have said it at all.
I gave him a look of puzzlement. Stromsburg, too. "Where is the money?"
He swallowed nervously. His eyes darted around the room, blinking fast. He was thinking of a lie. He was that readable. "I... I can't tell you that. It's personal."
"Tomyn, I don't care about your personal life. I just want things accounted for. Where is the money?"
Tomyn didn't respond. He shot Stromsburg a pleading look, asking her in silence to redirect the conversation elsewhere. Though, Stromsburg wanted to know about the money, too, she thought she had better help her foster son first.
"Celes... I thought you said you have bigger fish to catch? So far, all these questions incriminate my son."
"Why shouldn't they, Mrs. Stromsburg? Your son was in contact with questionable characters. They're the ones I'm after."
"I cannot help you, General," Tomyn said resolutely. "I would rather go to jail."
I sighed and stared into his eyes. He felt uncomfortable, as though I was trying to call his bluff. "Your mother would hate to see you in jail, Tomyn. Would you really put these characters before her?"
Tomyn looked at her with pain-filled, loving eyes. "It's because of her that I believe in--"
"The cause?" I finished.
They both looked at me in shock and horror. "I... don't know what you're talking about," Tomyn lied.
"I cannot waste time here trying to prove to you how I know about it. But I do. In fact, it was only yesterday that you had a bit of a powwow with the enemies of Vector under the orphanage. I had a spy listen in on the entire meeting."
"How did you--?"
"Find out? I have my sources. But that's not important. I--"
"I'm not going to betray them to you!" Tomyn said adamantly. "Like I said, 'I'd rather go to jail.'"
"Don't be so presumptuous. I'm not after the rebels. They're not a threat to us." It was hard to tell whether Tomyn was relieved to hear that or if he was insulted. "I take it that the money went to them?"
Tomyn did not respond. He didn't need to.
"What exactly do you want from us, Celes? Just tell us."
"I will tell you. And you will not ask questions. That's my condition."
She nodded. I didn't take it as a promise.
"Tomorrow at sundown, I will lead a force to a Maranda village in search for reported rebel presence. I will round up the population and ask them to turn the rebels in. If they don't, I will have no choice but to start killing people until they do."
"But there aren't any--" Tomyn began.
"I know," I cut off.
"Those people are inno--" Stromsburg wanted to add.
"I know!" I said. "I do not want to kill them. But I am expected to do these things. I have no choice."
"How can you not have a cho--"
"I thought I told you questions aren't allowed?" I said, halting Stromsburg's outburst. "Hear me out. The play is going to run this way whether or not I give the order. Those people are doomed... unless you can help me save them."
"Us?" Stromsburg said, looking incredulous. "What's this got to do with us?"
"Simple. You're the only one I know who care enough for the innocent," I said to Stromsburg. Then, turning to Tomyn, I said, "And you owe me."
"What do you want us to do?"
I stood up and walked to open the front door. Jasom was on guard outside, waiting. Stromsburg and Tomyn, both stood up in alarm. "Change into something comfortable. We ride to Maranda."