Part 11 - We Could Burn It All Down

Chapter 185 - Confronting the Truth

Miles and Gwen couldn't find Jacob for the rest of the day, but their chance would come the day after. The pager started beeping; Gwen picked it up this time being closest.

"The Volente Guard are making a move."

"Where?"

"The Monahven. Are you sure Jacob's the Void Warrior? He wouldn't desecrate Max's tomb."

"Maybe it's somewhere else? It's a big mountain."

"True. Let's go."

Upon arriving at the Monahven, the mountain at the centre of Dovah Island, it took Miles and Gwen some time to find any trace of the Volente Guard. And even when they did find something, it was a used bullet lying next to a wolf.

"Are we gonna climb this thing?" Miles asked.

"I guess. Unless you can fly."

It took the best part of two hours to reach the top of the Monahven, but they weren't disappointed when they reached it. A squad of Volente Guard soldiers were sitting around, chatting merrily. One of them saw the spiders arriving and gave a shout to which the others responded by getting to their feet and aiming their guns. Miles and Gwen prepared for a fight, but no bullets flew. Instead, from the cave where the dov had once slept emerged the Void Warrior. The spiders exchanged a glance, trying to decide what to do. Now they knew the Warrior's identity, they were reluctant to fight him. The Warrior picked up on this and glanced at his fellow Guard members.

"Leave us. I'll join you in a bit."

The soldiers exchanged worried looks, but did as they were told. When they were gone, the Warrior reached for his back and pulled out a sword which he stabbed into the dirt.

"That's me putting down my weapon because I can tell you don't want to fight. What's with the change of heart?"

"We know who you are, Jacob." Miles replied, lowering his fists.

Gwen followed suit. The Warrior didn't react for a moment, instead just looking between the spiders with his usual expressionless void of a face. Then, the blue flames of his eyes went out and his mask seemed to slide away like some sort of goo to reveal Jacob's face. He lowered his hood and sighed.

"What gave it away?"

"We never told you about the Warrior's mask." Miles replied.

"I could have seen it on TV."

"The Church's kept you quiet."

"Naturally. If someone discovered their greatest enemy can speak Elder Tongue and none of them can, that's a problem."

"Jacob, we have to ask you something: the terrorist attack. Was…" Gwen started.

"It my idea? Definetly not. It was nobody in the Guard's idea, and the Guard didn't carry it out."

"When I was in your HQ, you mentioned a plan. What was it?" Asked Miles.

"To hack the big display screens and give an elaborate speech about the real Dei Volente."

"Who was it, then?" Gwen demanded with an enraged tone.

"The Church of the High Elder Gods, of course."

"What? Why would CotHEG blow up its own temple? You think we're dumb?" Miles asked.

"No, just not smart enough to figure it out. The Church hates anyone who doesn't believe what they do, especially those who actively defy it. But they can't justify killing a group of heretics who haven't done anything violent, so they staged it and played it off as if it was the Volente Guard. That gave them all the justification they'd ever need to hunt every last sympathiser down and kill them. Get it now?"

"But why?"

"Because people who defy them are a threat to their power. They're a bit like an American mega church except there's only one and they have the government in their pocket instead of just cosying up to it."

"And what about at the military base?" Gwen asked.

"I assume you're referring to Vulture and Rhino. That was just hired muscle so we could get the weapons stockpiles. If the Church wants a war, they'll get one."

"I think she means you." Miles corrected.

"Oh. The Elder Tongue spell thing I put on you. It means 'echo suffer', literally. Do you remember me and Max went off and talked a bit just after you'd killed Dea Judicium, Miles?"

"Not really."

"Well we did. He gave me a book that he'd tied shut and told me to keep it hidden forever, and not to open it myself until he was dead and only if I'd been the one to do it. You can imagine I said I'd never kill him at the time, but that aged like milk."

"Was it an Elder Tongue dictionary?" Gwen enquired.

"Yes, it was. But not just a dictionary: a spell book. In Elder Tongue, the word 'suffer' by itself is a spell that causes a sharp burst of pain in the victim. If you put the word 'echo' in front of any spell, it'll repeat itself constantly until you tell it to stop. That's what I did."

"Why, Jacob?"

Gwen sounded angry again.

"Because you have better reflexes than Miles, and he's already pushing me to my limit. I might have memorised a holy dictionary, designed a super suit and an AI assistant, but I'm still only human. I didn't want to hurt either of you, but when the Church enlisted you I had to put you in your place in the hopes you'd stop."

"We're spider people, Jacob. We don't stop until the bad guy's behind bars or we're dead." Said Miles.

"I know, but it was a hope."

"What's up with your assistant's name, by the way?"

"Basil?"

"Yes sir?" Piped up the robotic voice.

"Nevermind, Basil."

"I'm here when you need me, sir."

"It's a Doctor Who reference. There was an episode where someone asked him his name and he replied with 'Basil'."

"That makes sense." Miles replied slightly sarcastically.

Suddenly, there was a loud noise from somewhere below the height of the peak of the mountain. Jacob put his hood and mask back up and ran to the edge.

"Uh oh." He turned back to them, raising his hand so his sword flew into it. "Have fun. And do some spying on the Church for me. I'll come round as soon as I can. And sorry about this, Gwen. Zhiþ norst."

The spiders suddenly found themselves stumbling into their own flat, tripping and falling. Gwen groaned, clutching her head. Miles picked himself up and helped her to her feet again.

"He needs to stop speaking that damn language." She snapped.

"I think there was a helicopter coming."

"Whatever. I need to get drunk right now."

"Err…that's not something you'd ever say."

"It's been a long day."

Unfortunately for Gwen, the day wasn't over yet. Jacob suddenly appeared a few hours later. Gwen groaned, pinging open another beer.

"I'm not that bad. Ouch." Jacob commented.

"Just…shhhut up with that Elder stuff." She replied, clearly far from sober.

Miles appeared from the kitchen.

"Ignore her. She's been drinking since we got back."

"You shhhhh too." Gwen replied, pointing in his general direction.

"9578 used to have pills that made you sober up in minutes." Jacob mused.

"But this isn't 9578." Miles mused. "What brings you back here? Didn't we cover everything?"

"Not quite. We need to talk about the Guard and Church's war. Like I said, I didn't want you to get involved, but it happened."

"We didn't either, but I'll bet a few Dames CotHEG won't let us quit now."

"I'll bet the same on that too."

"Any ideas?"

"You could do some infiltration if you'd like. The Church has three Ethereal Plates: Void, Reflection and Imagination. They also have three people who can wield them, and that's never good."

"You want us to steal the Plates?"

"It'd be nice, but they'll be kept under lock and key. You'll also need to find out where they're kept and find a good reason to go there. Let me know if you need a hand with that last bit. If you can't steal them, though, the other option is to kill the wielders."

"We don't kill."

"Not even super-terrorists? The Church won't lock its own people away."

"I know."

"So your only option is to steal the Plates. When used, they protect the wielder from Elder Tongue which is my only real power."

"What about finding another Plate and using it? Me and Gwen are worthy."

"Gwen I don't trust with Plates, but that's just how I was brought up if you think differently. You would be good for it, but the problem is I've no idea where anymore are."

"Paarthurnax might know."

"Most likely. It's the sort of thing that sets off his senses."

"We'll work it out. And we'll let you know if CotHEG spills any secrets."

"Great, and thanks. I'll see you both around, hopefully a little more sober next time."

"Yeah. See you."

Jacob disappeared with a few words in Elder Tongue causing Gwen some more discomfort. Miles looked at her and shook his head, picking up the last few beer bottles still on the coffee table. Gwen kicked up a fuss and tried to grab them back, but he pushed her off them.

"You've had enough."

Crossovers in this Chapter

- Skyrim