Jasom kicked and his chocobo sped up a bit to take his position. I slowed down to fall back. Stromsburg looked at me quizzically, almost offended by my order. "Please," I said kindly, "I need to speak to your son."
"What about?"
"It's private."
"No," Stromsburg refused, furrowing her brows.
"Remember my promise, Mrs. Stromsburg?"
"I remember Military promises all too well. You think that--"
"Matron," Tomyn interrupted quietly with pleading eyes. "It'll be all right. I promise."
Stromsburg hesitated, looking at him sadly and lovingly. She shot one sharp look at me before she picked up her pace to catch up with Jasom who was waiting for her. When I was sure that the two in front were outside hearing range, I spoke.
"There was no excuse for what you did," I started. His face quickly donned a look of contempt.
"I don't need you to tell me--" he started to say.
"Don't make me regret my decision to give you a second chance!" I snapped. Jasom and Stromsburg both glanced back towards us. Stromsburg tugged on her chocobo's reins to slow it down but Jasom quickly grabbed it from her hands to bid the chocobo to stay on course. Jasom shook his head at Stromsburg deliberately. Stromsburg bit her lip and sighed in submission. "I am a general of the army, and you will treat me as such," I added fiercely. His expression did not change, though he was more careful with his responses.
"I do not appreciate being shot at and attacked," I said quietly again. "I know that the bolt was not intended for me, but you have no idea how much more you've made my investigation difficult." I sighed for effect. "But all of that is water under the bridge," I continued more calmly. He gave me a quick glance and looked away almost immediately.
"So, you're a Marigold child, huh?" I asked with a completely different tone to let him know that I meant what I said.
"Yes," he answered without turning his head.
"Tell me about Branford."
"Who?"
"Tina. I know you knew her. She mentioned you in her diary."
"Tina was one of us," he said simply.
"I see. So she was a rebel sympathizer?"
"No!" he said immediately. "No, she was not!"
"Good. Because if you say that she is then my investigation has been a complete waste of my time," I agreed. I wanted to sound agreeable to him if only to get him to talk. "Furthermore, I believe that you acted alone in the attempted assassination." He didn't say anything. He hid his face from me by looking into the distance. "Why did you do it?"
"The cause."
"What cause?"
He heaved a deep sigh before he began. "People aren't as blind as the Empire would want to believe. Your noble mission of 'global accord' is just an excuse to expand your power, riches, and territory."
"You speak as if you aren't Vectorian."
"I am neither a rebel nor a Vectorian. I'm an orphan. We, who have been abandoned or cheated by life when we were still too innocent to understand, have learned to think for ourselves and see. Every time Vector steps onto other foreign lands, we grow in numbers. 'Global accord?' Name a dispute in Terrae where Vector isn't involved in. Vector is the one muddling the waters--policing nations that do not need policing, disrupting existing trades to be 'governed' by our own treasury. We're the ones disturbi--"
"Don't give me that crap! You say that you see what's wrong with Vector. How do your actions justify your cause?"
"We have to start somewhere," he replied thoughtlessly.
"The first explosion killed workers with families. Quite possibly with children who are 'too innocent to understand.' You are con--"
"We had nothing to do with the recent troubles."
"You admitted to supplying the rebels resources--" I pressed.
"We had nothing to do with the recent troubles! Which part of that did you not understand?!"
"What I do not understand is this: if you had nothing to do with the attacks, then what was the money for?"
Tomyn was silent. It didn't look like he was going to answer it at all. I let it go.
The choc I was riding rustled its feathers and cawed once. The three other chocs cawed back. They sensed the presence of wild chocs grazing up ahead. The wild chocs raised their heads and stared at us intently, unmoving. Our chocs cawed again. The wild chocs reacted this time by speeding away to the South, out of our way. The caws were almost like a warning sign to the wild. Our gaze followed the flock as a trail of dust tailed them.
And then, Tomyn spoke. "I went on a trip to the North. The Matron hooked me up with an old friend of hers who is a captain of a trade ship from Nikeah. She figured that I would take a liking to a merchant's job to support my self. After all, Tina chose to be a soldier, Lucky chose to be doctor, Barb and Ricky became teachers. They've moved on. I needed something to do for a living.
"The captain was okay. He taught me a lot. In fact, he taught me more than I needed to know," Tomyn said with a chuckle. "The man had a knack for 'acquiring' needed merchandise for his buyers."
"He was a thief?"
"No. Not a thief. He... made shady deals but nothing criminal," he explained. "He was a middle man for many things, if you take my meaning."
I nodded vaguely. Like how you were a middle man for Marrow and Verde?"
"Exactly," he said softly, hoping to avoid being overheard by Stromsburg. "He had lots of contacts, see? And he needed help with the... uh... transactions.
"One night, he ordered me to deliver a wagon full of supplies to... 'this one place.' It was in the middle of nowhere miles away from the nearest town. I thought I had gotten myself lost."
I asked, "You mean the captain wasn't with you?"
"No, he wasn't. He wasn't feeling very well so he had asked me to do the job for him that day. He instructed me to go to that certain location and wait till sundown. And then he told me not to look into the crates that I was carrying with me.
"I've always been too curious for my own sake. With instructions like that and boredom on my side, I just had to take a peek. I took a crowbar and opened the top crate." He paused for effect. "They contained dried and preserved food, much to my disappointment.
"Something pricked me on the neck. I pulled it out and saw that it was a dart before I blacked out."
"I woke up in... uh... this other place. I was being held captive by what I thought at first to be bandits. I was scared to death. I was in a hole covered with a metal grate kept alive by food scraps that they threw down at me. My hands and feet were bound by metal shackles. None of them spoke to me though I've asked them many times why I was being held prisoner and what they had intended for me. They didn't seem to want me dead. It felt like I was a prisoner serving time."
"Where is this place?" I asked.
"I cannot tell you that."
"How did you escape?"
"One day, my captors brought in another prisoner. He was thrown into the same hole as mine. I heard the guards say that he was caught trespassing. We talked. I asked him where we were and he told me. I asked him what he was doing in that place, and he admitted to being a robber. He wanted to rob the place, but he got caught. And then, I told him my story. He didn't care much about mine. He was busy picking his shackles with a chicken bone he had found on the filthy ground.
"The man knew what he was doing. We were out of our shackles within the hour. And then, he offered to split the bounty with him if I promised to help him rob the place. I told him that I just wanted to get out of the place. He agreed. I gave him a boost and picked the lock on the grate. He climbed out and pulled me out of the hole."
"The guards?"
"There weren't any around. I guess they didn't think that we'd escape. I began to get a better look at the place. We were underground. I saw tunnels lit by torches and oil lamps. There were rooms and twisting corridors with ceilings that often forced us to get down on our knees and crawl through. My new friend seemed to know his way around.
"After a few minutes of wandering, we came upon this big underground chamber full of people. People in ragged clothes. Men, women, and children. Wretches and outcasts. Sick and crippled. They paid us no attention. They thought that we were one of them. They went about their business, sleeping on dirty mats laid on the floor. Some huddled together in small groups, eating what looked like roasted rats, lizards, snakes and who-knows-what-else. It was a terrible sight.
"The thief disappeared into the crowd. I wandered around looking for him or an exit. I stumbled into the corner of the chamber where there were a lot of sick children, lying in cots. I felt pity for them instantly. They were cold, hungry, dying and alone. I started asking the sick children where their parents were. I learned then that they were all orphans.
"An old man reprimanded me for disturbing their peace. He made it sound like they were already dead. I asked the man who was caring for them. He promptly told me that they were just there to die. That there was nothing else that they could do. They had nothing to ease their pains. Nothing to cure their maladies. Absolutely nothing.
"The thief appeared suddenly. He grabbed me by the arm and led the way out. We emerged out of a secret opening on the side of a mountain. It was then that I noticed him carrying a small chest. Under the full moon he offered to split the spoils with him. I felt sick to my stomach. The man had robbed what little the wretches had in their coffers! Could you believe that?"
"What did you do?" I asked, eager to hear more.
"We walked a couple of miles away and hid somewhere safe. Then, I told him to start counting while I searched for food. I knew he was a thief, and had a feeling that he'd split the second I lost sight of him. But I didn't care. Because right then and there, I was torn. My plan was to look for a weapon, like a rock or a dead branch to hit his head with. I didn't care then if it would've killed him or not. Those children were dying and greedy people couldn't care any less.
"Well, I found my rock!" he said, his voice rising. Stromsburg and Jasom glanced back at us. "I walked back to where I left him. A small part of me wished that he'd run away. To my surprise he was still there--counting. A thief intent upon keeping his promise. Weird, huh? But no matter. Those coins belonged to the poor wretches. Those coins belonged to the children! The orphans! My people!"
"Tomyn?" Stromsburg called from in front with worry in her voice.
Tomyn ignored her. He continued to speak with vehement pride in his voice. "Why did Miss Jennina volunteer to help us? It's because she's one of us! Do you understand, General? We orphans look after one another... because there is nobody else out there. It's a bond forged strongly between strangers who have nothing else in common than the fact that injustice had cheated them out of normal and happy lives. We are the people who live in-between worlds. We are the victims. We are the oppressed. We are the casualties. I take pride in what I have become, and hope to prevent the others to share my fate."
He looked away from me and stared forward. Stromsburg met his eyes. His face instantly calmed. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he shook his head slowly. "I never meant to hurt one of my own," he whispered so that only I could hear him.
"Eyes forward!" Jasom urged Stromsburg. She did after a moment's hesitation.
"And so you killed him?" I asked softly.
"What would you have done?" he asked me grudgingly.
I thought about it carefully. "I don't know," I answered. "If you're not strong enough, you should bow down before the storm. Allow your mind to seek the answers your heart failed to. You live longer that way," I said indifferently. I was testing.
Tomyn shot me a sudden, cold look.
"I'm sorry," he muttered after a few seconds.
"For what?"
"For not aiming at you instead."
Tomyn's choc shrieked as its rider fell off its saddle. Stromsburg and Jasom spun around in time to see me getting off my chocobo, drawing my sword with my left hand. Tomyn was rubbing his right cheek where I had struck him.
"No!" Stromsburg cried as she hurriedly got off her ride. In her panicked haste, the stirrups get entangled around her foot. She fell to the side, taking the chocobo down with her.
"Hold her back, Jasom! That's an order."
Jasom dismounted his choc and rushed towards Stromsburg who was already struggling back to her feet. He tackled her down again.
"Mercy! Please! Not my son!" Stromsburg cried as she wrestled with Jasom. She was a strong woman. Jasom had a hard time subduing her. He finally pinned her to the ground after much exertion. "Tomyn!"
I approached Tomyn with my sword. He took a handful of sand and threw it at my face. I saw it coming and turned away just in time. He lunged at me. My foot sent him back down on the ground, coughing.
"Mercy!"
Tomyn was on his knees right in front of me, clutching at his belly. My sword hovered dangerously above him.
"Look at me!" I commanded. "I said look at me!"
Tomyn raised his head. His eyes gave me the coldest look he could muster while the rest of his face contorted to an ugly form of contempt.
"I wish you could see yourself now. I doubt that you would even recognize the monster that you've become. Do you want to take another shot at me? Here!" I dropped my sword in front of him. "Butcher me in front of your mother! Crack my head open like you did to that thief! Or deprive me of breath by slitting my throat. No tricks. I won't fight back."
Tomyn took the sword by its hilt slowly. His breath became faster. His face was turning red. I could see it in his eyes. He was fighting his demon. The good in him urged him to hold back. His demon stood up from the ground and faced me, my sword in his hand, while Tomyn continued to wrestle with it from within.
"Tomyn!" Stromsburg screamed.
Tomyn wanted to come to her aid. Somehow, his demon would not submit to the cries. It knew that the sight of her mother would drive away the burning hatred in his heart. I could only imagine him trying to recall the images of the sick children flashing before him to fuel his rage. It was a known tactic for brainwashing: implant a strong image into the mind of the subject that invokes a primal emotion directed to a programmed enemy.
"Am I not your enemy? Tomorrow, a village may be wiped out off the face of the planet by my order. Isn't that enough reason to kill me? Then why do you hesitate? Why are you torn? Your options are simple enough. Or are they?
"What happens afterwards? You kill me now, and then those lives stand no chance at survival. I am their only way out. Not you!"
Tomyn's hands started to tremble. His grip on the sword did not loosen despite the fact. He was still fighting.
"Why are you still frozen?! Why do you cradle this hate that blinds you? Do you not see the obvious answer? Do you not see what it does to you? Do you not hear your mother's voice any longer?"
"No!" he shrieked. He broke down in sobs, dropping my sword and clutching at his hair. He dropped back to his knees and blubbered, "I'm... not t-the m-monster... t-t-that you think... I am!"
"Please let go of me!" Stromsburg pleaded with Jasom. Jasom held fast. "Tomyn!"
"I'm n-not a c-c-criminal!"
"The thief--" I started but he cut me off immediately.
"I didn't k-kill him!" Tomyn blurted out.
"Of course, not! He recruited you, didn't he? He revealed himself to you. He was testing you. You felt that something was wrong. He could've left you in that hole. He could've left you in that sick chamber. He could've killed you after getting out of that place. He could've run away with the money when he had the chance. But he waited for you to come back to him."
Tomyn looked at me in astonishment. My theory was right on the dot.
"How did you...?"
"And you gave them the money because you were thinking about the children. 'Your people.' I'm sorry to say this to you, Tomyn, but you've been brainwashed," I said loud enough for Stromsburg to hear.
"No..." he denied. "Not true!"
"You were acting on mental images that they fed you, subconsciously convincing yourself that you were only doing the right thing. Oh, don't feel bad! Vector isn't any better at it.
"But the children... they were sick! They were dying!"
"It's a sad world, Tomyn. Death happens to everybody. Though your intentions were noble, you were awfully misguided."
"Misguided? How could you say that? How--"
"When you returned from your 'trip,' did you tell your mother what happened?"
Tomyn didn't speak. He just looked at her sadly.
"I didn't think so."
"You are wrong about them," he answered resolutely. "They are not murderers. So what if they showed me their side of the story? So what if they shared their sufferings with me? I've had my share here! I've seen the lies and promises of the emperor to his very own people! My people!"
"There is hope for you yet, Tomyn. And for the rest of us. Pick up my sword and run back to your... allies."
"What?! You can't do that!" Stromsburg interjected.
I motioned for Jasom to let her go. He did so promptly. "Do you disagree, Mrs. Stromsburg? Do you not feel that your son is a danger to his self? Did you not ask him to run away earlier?"
Stromsburg was speechless for a moment. Jasom helped her get back up on her feet.
"My son needs help," she pleaded. "You said so yourself. He's been brainwashed. He's been deceived."
"True. But he's also made himself an enemy of Vector. Your son is no longer safe in Vector. He left his prints on an incriminating weapon from the North."
"But... you can't just let him go now!"
"I don't suppose the two of you can see the great irony of your request. Don't forget that I am the one assigned by the New Military Council to seek out rebels and sympathizers alike and neutralize them! Consider yourself fortunate that I'm even giving you this chance," I reminded. "You have ten minutes to say your goodbyes."
Stromsburg and Tomyn spoke alone for thirty minutes. Jasom and I waited patiently for the two to finish.
"Brainwashed?" he asked.
"That's my theory," I answered modestly.
"Why send him back?"
"It's only logical. He's safer there than in Vector. I am forced to give my findings about the crossbow to the Council. If the Military gets a hold of him, the Marrow case would then be a Military case."
"And that's bad?"
"Very. It might make somebody back in Vector suspicious of our actions. We have been careful to cover our tracks. I don't want that to go to waste."
"You do know that Jasom is our first real lead to the rebels," he noted.
"You do remember that the rebels have not yet done real crimes against us," I retorted.
He nodded and looked back towards the two. We saw both Marigolds hug each other for a long time. Their goodbyes were at an end. Tomyn took my weapon and rode his chocobo to the south. Stromsburg rejoined us a few seconds later, avoiding our eyes.
For a long moment, nobody said anything. The sun had already set. In the distance, up ahead, we saw curious lights of different colors. The lanterns had been lit. The village was near.
"Thank you, Celes," Stromsburg said, suddenly.
"I do what I can," I answered softly.
"If this village does not heed our warning, what then?" she asked.
I thought glumly and answered, "I'll think of something. I promise."