Is June important?
June is a crucial character in this chapter. But we shall never hear from her again…
Will Travion suddenly remember who Lauryn is during an utterly cliché moment? (they fight, during a crucial moment Travion realizes who Lauryn is and miraculously switches sides)
I'll leave it up to you to decide if the situation is cliché (make sure you tell me). I think that it is (at least slightly). But that's happening during chapter 20. (Keziah: I read about the site being down somewhere on the last chapter of Jewel, I think)
Why are you so mean! (translation: why did Rye have to die?)
If you think I'm mean because Rye had to die, you have absolutely no idea… *sinister laughter*
Ever heard the song "Made of Glass"?
Nope. Any good?
Author's Note: We're getting a lot of interesting thoughts about Queen Janah's alleged child. Just to clear some more things up, I'll tell you this: Both Janah and Athaniel are in their forties. June returns here, you decide if that's a good thing or not. The men of Lauryn's life also make an appearance. So does Clarine, for that matter. (it's all a great party; everyone's invited…) Enjoy.
18. An Utter Failure
Nobles' Bane: Chapter 16
They were worse than ants.
Because not only were they everywhere, but killing them was not going to be as easy as stepping on them.
"Well," Danel said after a moment, gaze still on the plentiful groups of soldiers and knights. "I see that General Aleyn has decided to take no more chances with us."
"Perhaps he's decided to smarten up," Axe mused.
"Which is not a good thing for us," Vistra growled. "How are we supposed interrupt this torture session when there are more than two dozen soldiers and half a dozen knights wandering around?"
Axe lifted his brown eyes to meet hers. "We're not."
She frowned.
"We can't stop it this time, not without getting ourselves captured," Axe said quietly.
Vistra's jaw clench. The protest to his statement was on the tip of her tongue, all she needed to do was open her mouth and it would fall out.
But she knew he was right.
She pressed herself lower onto the rooftop as she stared down at the scene below. "Fine. But I'm going to stay here and watch."
"And we will, of course," Danel nodded, "wait with you."
She motioned for him to be silent. "Look, they're bringing the victim out."
A small figure was dragged up to the platform. Dragged up as in dragging a limp body, not a fighting one. Even from Vistra's position atop a roof, she was able to see the various bruises that covered the victim's legs and arms. She couldn't see the face, since he was drooped face down.
The small victim was pushed towards the front of the platform, where he fell and rolled to a stop.
Danel frowned down at the scene. "Why, it looks like nothing more than a young lad--"
Vistra gasped. "June?"
Axe glanced at her. "What?"
Vistra blinked. "It's June. A young thief that I …talked to a couple days ago."
They watched as a knight firmly strapped the young girl onto the rack, where she would face the first of her pains.
She must have been caught… trying to steal from a noble… the way I told her to… the way I taught her to.
"I have to help her."
"There is nothing you can do," Danel said firmly.
Vistra's eyes scanned the scene down below. She saw General Aleyn with a snide smirk on his face, looking very pleased. Not too far away from where he stood, Vistra also spotted an expressionless Travis.
No. Not Travis, but Lord Travion.
She couldn't rescue June from the torture that the nobles wanted to inflict. But perhaps there was a way to…
Vistra reached aside to Axe. "Your bow. And an arrow."
Axe frowned at her, but gave her his weapon anyway. She fitted the arrow he handed her into his bow. Aimed it at June.
But her hands trembled. She couldn't hold it steady. And without a steady hand, she would only increase June's pain. She wanted the death to be as quick as painless as possible.
I at least owe her that.
Axe gently took his weapon back from her. "I'll do it."
Danel immediately protested, "It's too dangerous. We can't do it; we'd only end up revealing ourselves. And getting caught."
Axe looked at her. She continued to stare down at June. "Make it quick."
"Jade--" Danel began.
She slowly lifted her head and gazed at him.
After a long moment in which his hazel eyes clashed with her gray ones, Danel gave in with a reluctant sigh. He reached down towards his sash and pulled something out. Two of his slashing moons.
She blinked. "What are those for?"
"Well, if we're going to do this suicidal thing, we might as well go all the way. These," he held his wooden moon discs up, "are for General Aleyn and the Lord Provost."
Lord Provost…
She nodded. "All right. Let's do it." .
But instead of nocking an arrow into his bow, Axe wrapped a hand around it and whispered several words. Axe's Gift, the color being a deep, wooden brown, shimmered in the air. He then glanced up at her as he fit it into his bow. "Just in case, my aim is off," he said.
Axe's aim was never off. But she nodded.
She frowned to herself as Axe and Danel readied themselves, knowing that there was no way that she would really be of any help right now. Her whip would never reach far enough to do anybody harm, her knives were not as keen as Danel's slashing moons.
Axe spared Danel a glance. "On the count of three, we release," he said.
Danel nodded, a single moon disc fitted in between his fingers of his right hand and ready to fly.
"One. Two. Three."
Axe's arrow whistled through the air and embedded itself deeply into June's heart.
However, Danel was not as lucky. General Aleyn heard it coming, he raised an arm and instead of slashing his throat, the wooden disc buried itself into his lower forearm.
Vistra started to raise herself onto her feet as Danel cursed and readied his second moon. At the last moment, however, she tottered and hit him in the arm, sending the second moon disc flying wildly off to the right.
There were various shouts from below; knights frantically motioned the soldiers to the set of stairs that would lead them to Nobles' Bane's hiding place.
Vistra pulled her sword, ready to fight, and turned on her heel, intent on crashing into the soldiers before they crashed into her.
But Axe grabbed her tightly by the arm and pushed her down. "No, stop."
She tried to pull herself after Danel, who had already left to slow the soldiers' approach. "Russet! What are you doing!"
He glared at her. "Stay here. And don't move. I will set up an illusion; they will not see--"
She gaped at him. "No! I'm fighting with you--"
"Jade, you're staying here." He held her still as he whispered several words. Brown magic shimmered around her.
She twisted and jerked, trying to pull away. "Russet! Let me go!"
Axe clenched his jaw and muttered several more words. Vistra suddenly felt her limbs go numb; she no longer controlled them.
"Take these," Axe said as he placed something down beside her. "Or else they will be able to track you through them."
"Russet! Please! Axe--"
He whispered even more words, and Vistra was then knocked into silence.
And just in time. As Axe stood with his bow and arrow, several soldiers ran onto the rooftop, swords in hand.
Axe shot one down, but then he stopped.
For several more soldiers burst onto the rooftop. And they held an unconscious Danel between them.
No! Cobalt! Danel! Axe!
But she could do nothing.
Axe put down his weapon. Several soldiers tied his hands up, and started to push him towards the stairway.
Someone laughed. "Oh, will General Aleyn be happy to see this."
"There are supposed to be three," a curt voice broke in. "We only have two, if you haven't noticed."
"Oh, why don't you just lighten up--"
Vistra could no longer hear any more, as they slammed a door behind them, and their loud, clanking footsteps blurred their words.
And Vistra was still struck mute and immobile.
A myriad of emotions rushed through her.
And none of them included relief at not being discovered.
Gods, can't I ever do anything right? I failed June. I failed Axe and Danel.
Just as I had failed Mama, Papa, and Travis.
I'm an utter failure.
~*~*~
She glanced around Axe's and Danel's room back at the inn, glad that General Aleyn had decided to just immediately lock up the two members of Nobles' Bane he had caught. For if he had decided to reveal the faces and pull back the scarves that hid their features, the people would most likely have recognized them.
Perhaps even linked her with them.
And it was awfully hard to rescue people when you were locked up in a cell that was next to theirs.
She ran a hand through her still wet hair as she gazed around. She had taken a quick bath before breaking into this room. The warm water had soothed her sore, tense muscles, the result of her hour long immobility.
There weren't too many things in the room. The three of them knew better than to allow themselves get bogged down by too many material possessions. They had money. Clothes. Weapons. Their horses. And in Vistra's case, her make up and herbs. But that was about it.
She went over to Danel's bed and stared hard at it. After a moment, she pulled back his sheets and ran her fingertips carefully over his mattress, probing for something hidden in the straw.
There.
She pulled the cover of the corner away, and pulled out the small box that was hidden there. She opened it, revealing the dozen or so moon discs that Danel had already whittled and kept around just in case. Just looking at them made her feel a little better. Too bad there wasn't anything of Axe's that she could really take.
She reached into her pocket and pulled some things out. Pins. Two of them. Pins that should have been on Axe's and Danel's collars. But no, Axe had had to take his and Danel's off.
"Take these. Or else they will be able to track you through them."
Dropping the two pins inside, she closed the box and stuffed it into her knapsack, hurrying out of the room.
Down at the stables, she motioned the stable boy away and prepared Bile for riding. She would have taken Axe's and Danel's mounts too, but she didn't want to attract such attention to herself. A small, cloaked figure riding a fierce horse and leading two more behind her? People would most certainly notice her. But perhaps she could come back for them later.
Bile didn't snap at her as he usually did. Today, he was amazingly docile. Her mood must have been more obvious than she thought.
He pranced nervously, showing agitation and worry for her. She tried to calm him by patting his neck.
"Come on, Bile. We should go."
The streets were crowded with people who were still talking about the afternoon's events. It was known that General Aleyn had caught a couple of the members of Nobles' Bane. The mood of the crowd seemed generally hushed and depressed.
Vistra continued to ride forward, becoming tense every time the phrase 'Nobles' Bane' was heard.
When she finally reached her destination in the quieter part of the city, she breathed a sigh of relief.
"Stay here and harm no one," she whispered to Bile.
He whickered softly into her face.
She hurried up to the door of the small house and knocked on it. The man who opened it stared at her with obvious surprise.
His light blue eyes traveled over her blonde hair. And then stopped at her scarred cheek.
"It's only a scar that you have seen before, Nathan," she said bitterly, before thinking. "There is no reason for you to gape so obviously."
Nathan flushed. He stepped backwards, and she stepped forwards, entering his home.
"Nathan, I--I'm sorry. I did not mean to sound so angry," she quickly apologized, surprising him again.
"Vistra?" Clarine stepped into the conversation, looking as surprised as Nathan was when he first saw her.
"I'm sorry," Vistra said again. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything, but I…" Her throat suddenly went dry, and she had to try again before she could speak. "I'm sure you've heard of what has happened today."
Nathan nodded slowly.
Clarine glanced over her shoulder nervously. "Perhaps this is not the place to talk. Or the time," she said.
Vistra ignored her. "Well, I… I…"
"You want my help," Nathan said for her.
She nodded wordlessly, reaching into her pocket and pulling something out.
Nathan stared at the gray sash that she held in her hand as if he had never seen it before. Clarine was also staring at it warily.
"Nathan? Clarine? What's going on?"
The ground suddenly seemed to drop from beneath her; Nathan's firm grip around her arm was the only thing that kept her standing.
"Are you all right?" Clarine asked.
Vistra didn't hear Clarine's concerned question. She was too busy staring at the young man whom Nathan and Clarine had probably been entertaining before Vistra had knocked on their door.
Kenric. No, Lord Kenrictonerain of Ra'kaul. The General's son.
Nathan suddenly stepped back and moved his hands in front of himself and Clarine in a defensive gesture.
Vistra realized with some surprise that she had suddenly drawn one of her knives from her boot and was holding it threateningly in front of her. She lowered her arm, but did not put away the knife.
"What is he doing here, Nathan," she demanded in a low, tightly controlled voice.
Clarine stepped around her husband's protective arm and approached Vistra. "You look exhausted, Vistra. Won't you come in and sit down?"
Vistra stepped back, not wanting Clarine's close proximity. She started to stumble backwards towards the door. "No. No, I have to go--"
But she had no place to go. She closed her eyes for a moment, biting back the sudden tears that threatened to appear.
And she opened her eyes, she saw Clarine. Her face was completely void of any hate, resentment, and dislike. It only held sympathy and concern.
Concern for Vistra, who at best, had always treated her with undisputable distance.
"Won't you come in?" Clarine offered again.
Finding that words were only getting choked in her throat, she simply nodded and allowed Clarine to lead her into her house.