Chapter 36

They slowed as they reached the camp of the Kinnomes. There was a group of four outside. If they wanted to stop the group of five from getting in, they would have an advantage in weapons at least.

"I don't like this," Pess whispered. "I doubt they'll let us just walk in."

"Normally no, but I'm with you," Anthony pointed out.

"Right, come on," the Doctor agreed. She stepped into sight, waving at the men. "Hello there. Think we could come in? We're here to talk about peace."

"That's one of the enemies," one of the men said, spotting Pess.

"Clearly. Wait. Isn't that Pride?"

"Yes." Pride stepped forward. "The Doctor is my teacher. She's telling the truth." He jerked his head back at Pess. "She's here to negotiate peace."

"And I'm from here. I was captured after being killed," Anthony said.

Two of the guards looked at each other uncertainly. "I don't recognize you," one of them said.

"I don't recognize you either, but I was captured a while ago," Anthony said, frowning.

This wasn't going particularly well. Not that Pride had expected it to be smooth sailing.

"I should've known you were a traitor Pride."

Pride tilted his head, looking past the soldiers. Ella was behind them. He should've seen that coming. Anthony was still trying to talk with the soldiers, but Pride tuned them out.

"You're the traitor, actually," he said conversationally, not really caring if he was believed or not.

Ella laughed. "Oh, is that the best you've got? There's an obvious set up your first day here, you come here with one of those bird people after disappearing during a vital battle, and the girl showing you around was found dead in the entranceway. I bet you killed her."

Oh now he was mad. "I did not," he said, body tense. "Shouldn't she have rebounded? Ask her yourself."

"I'll see if I can find her," Ella said. "You four, enough of this. Stop them from getting in!"

She spun around and headed back inside. Anthony tried to follow, only to get shoved back. And that started the fight. The soldiers reached for their belts. Pride brought the ground up between them just in time, bullets hitting the barrier. He could hear them shouting to go around. Pride changed the barrier, making it encircle them slightly, and also creating a small opening to slip out. They could get to the entrance straight through the gap and it would take the soldiers a little while to notice.

"Come on," he instructed quietly.

He and the Doctor slipped through. Pride had just made it to the entrance when a sword was placed in front of his path. Pride's eyes ran along it, looking up at the person holding it. It seemed, while three of the soldiers had gone around the barrier, this one had waited here as a sort of trap.

"Ah."

The man suddenly spun the weapon, swinging the hilt at him instead of the blade. Why would he do that? Right. Probably because he thought Pride had rebound and wouldn't die from a blade. How convenient.

Pride jumped back and the Doctor ducked, the sword missing them. From behind him, he could hear muffled sounds of trouble on the other side of the barrier. It seemed the others would be preoccupied for a while.

The man swung again, turning on one foot to attack. If Pride could use alchemy to surround one of his feet, the battle would be over. He just needed to stop swinging that sword for five seconds. The Doctor tripped him. The man hit the ground and Pride used alchemy to pin all four of the man's limbs.

"Now then, we have places to be," he said.

The Doctor moved towards the edge of the barrier, no doubt going around to help the others.

"This," the Doctor said, panting, "is a good reason to at least try to help people. If your companion hadn't died, this would've been less messy."

"I did try."

The Doctor stopped, turning around. "What?"

Pride swallowed. This was going to hurt, but he wanted to ask someone. The Doctor had already heard him break down. Multiple times. Logically this couldn't be worse. And at the edge of the barrier, with fighting still going on on the other side, it was unlikely anyone else would hear.

It didn't mean he wanted to do this. He forced himself to keep eye contact. "I did try to help. She was being attacked when I reached the entrance, and I tried to save her. It didn't work. Why didn't it work?"

The Doctor just kind of stared at him for a moment. It wasn't reassuring. "Well, you're new at this. You've got to practice. I've been going for a while and still don't always succeed."

Before they could talk more, the others came around the corner, almost smacking into them.

"Oh, good. You're alright," Pess said.

"Yes. Sorry about that. I was planning to come back and help you but, things got a little. . ." The Doctor frowned.

Pess waved a hand dismissively. "Never mind that now. Let's just find the General, right?"

"Good idea," the Doctor agreed.

She took the lead, moving into the tunnels. At this point, most of the gas had dissipated. Thankfully. There were a few coughs, but nothing serious. A few bodies were still on the floor, but they would be getting up again soon. It was clear Pess was thinking something similar, with the way she watched the bodies and gave them a wide birth.

"Do you know where you're going?" Pride asked under his breath. The Doctor had never been here after all.

"Do you?"

Pride thought about it. "If they're recovering from battle, General Windsor is probably in the medical ward. And I know exactly where that is."

Pride took the lead through the halls. Sure enough, as they got closer, the sounds and smells from after a battle began to drift in their direction. Pride could hear General Windsor giving orders. So apparently, he hadn't been seriously injured.

They reached the medical bay and the General noticed them almost immediately.

"Ah. It's our wizard," he said, stepping out of the room and closing the door partially.

"Yes, I'm back," Pride said flatly.

"You know, Ella was here just a moment ago."

And there it was. Wasn't hard to figure out where this was going. "Oh."

"She said some rather interesting things about you being a traitor. And I notice you brought one of our enemies inside."

"I'm not the traitor," Pride said, though there wasn't much conviction behind his words. It wouldn't work. They'd probably have to fight the General. But they could win easily.

"Really?" the General asked. "I suppose I should go check on the guards we had outside then. I do wonder why they let you through."

"I surrender!"

Huh?

Pess slid in front of the group, both hands sort of protectively blocking the others. Windsor seemed as surprised as Pride.

"I surrender. I am Pess Hayes. I was second in command to Ther. However, he's dead now. So if there's anyone who can negotiate an end to this war, it would be me."

"Sir!" Anthony waved a hand and tried to move around Pess' arm. He stumbled slightly. Well, he was easily the most tired out of all of them. He'd been following from a distance because he couldn't walk as fast.

"Anthony?" the General asked. Evidently, he did remember this man.

"It's true sir," Anthony confirmed. "Pess here helped free us. She wants to end the fighting."

General Windsor watched them for a moment, his eyes more like a raptor than some of the bird people. Then his expression softened, just slightly, his face relaxing. "Well, if that is what you want, I can assure you it's what I want too."

"What?! This isn't supposed to happen!"

They all turned to see a familiar cook standing in the hall. General Windsor raised his eyebrow.

"Did we mention Ella is the real traitor?" Pride asked.

"That would explain a lot," General Windsor said conversationally, pulling out a sword.