Chapter Thirteen: Stars In A Line
Things were tense in the sitting room. Soren was eyeing each of the family in turn with care, unsure of what to say or do. He and Ezran were sitting in a pair of chairs separated by a small table, across from which was a couch, on which the family sat. The man was looking awkward, the child still half-asleep and the woman was looking at Soren steadily. Callum, during all this, was standing behind one of the chairs.
"Soren," his mother said, gaining his full attention. "when Katolis burned down, I was so scared for you and your sister. I had to make sure you were okay; I would have come sooner but –" she paused to look at him. At the mention of his sister, something shifted in Soren's face and he glanced away. Her eyes widened with panic. "Claudia's not –"
"She's alive." was Soren's short response, to which his mother sighed in relief. "But…she sided with Dad in the war. I offered her the chance to come with me to get away from him, but she chose to stay with him. She was part of the plan to kill the Dragon Prince and his mother." Soren glanced back at his mother and immediately wished he hadn't. The look of relief had now been replaced by horror and disbelief.
The knock at the door had only interrupted things for a moment as Callum was quick to answer it. He himself hadn't really fully processed Soren's theory from last night and had hoped that Claudia could still be persuaded away from her father; a possibility that seemed to be waning, sadly. Ergo, he was almost eager to remove himself from the conversation. He wasn't terribly surprised to find Gren at the door.
"Morning, Callum." he greeted, "I noticed the insignia of Del Bar on the carriage outside the house. Delegates?"
"Sort of." Callum replied, "It's Soren's mom and her family. I think they only came to make sure Soren was okay, I don't think they have any official business here."
"A-alright," Gren said, suddenly looking…unbalanced, if that was even the right word for it. Nervous, maybe? Just very surprised? Whatever the case, Callum had never seen his aunt's interpreter and second-in-command like this before. "A-anyway, if you don't mind, where's your aunt? She said to be up bright an early today to start a patrol around the edge of the village, in case, uh…Viren comes back."
At this, Callum thought. Neither she nor Rayla usually slept this late, and he did remember Amaya saying something about needing to be up early. He supposed Rayla had had a rough night and needed a bit more space, but for his aunt to be so late to what was apparently meant to be an early start was almost alarming.
"Come on in. I'll see what's keeping her." Callum said, allowing the commander inside and ushering him into the sitting room with their guests while he ascended the stairs in search of Amaya, not liking how things up there were entirely too quiet.
"Lissa?" Gren asked, raising his eyebrows, leading to surprised looks from Ezran and Soren for a moment before each came to a quick conclusion; Soren's mother had been Viren's wife for some years before all this had started, back when he was the king's High Mage. Of course, she would have been familiar with the royal family of Katolis and therefor, his aunt and her interpreter, even if Gren was technically younger than that particular group.
"Commander Gren," she greeted, smiling sweetly. "It's so good to see you."
"You too." Gren returned. He tried to smile, but it wavered as his eyes fell on her and her husband's clasped hands, the young boy between them, and the maybe one-year-old sitting on her father's lap. He took a moment to look at the husband; he seemed far more upstanding then Viren had ever been. Sometimes, fate was just plain cruel, even if she was older. Really, he almost felt like a child pining after an older woman who would never return his affections.
"Oh, I'm sorry." Lissa apologized. "I…I brought everyone here and haven't introduced anyone. This is my husband, Gideon." Gideon raised his free hand in greeting with a brief 'hello'. "This is our son Faolan, and our daughter Gwyneth. Faolan, this is your big brother, Soren." Soren gave the little boy a friendly smile and was met with the uncomfortable squirm of a shy child in the presence of a stranger. Lissa smiled at him when he tried to hide behind her arm. She turned back to her elder son. "How have you been?"
"It's actually been pretty good." Soren said. "I live here with General Amaya, Ezran and Ca –" the boy in question came storming down the stairs and ducked into the kitchen, making enough noise to momentarily distract the conversation. "Callum."
Though Gideon hadn't met the former princes and certainly the children hadn't, Lissa looked at Ezran for the first time. "King Ezran? Oh, look at you, the last time I saw you, you must have been three or four. You look so much like your father."
"Thanks," Ezran said, glancing away bashfully for a moment. "But it's just Ezran now." If he was going to go on about that, the rest of the speech was cut off when Callum reemerged, looking terrified. Soren saw the letter clenched in his hand.
Dark magic carried the smell of death. A faint stench that could usually only be picked up by dragons. Such a high concentration of it, though, and it became possible for elves to pick it up, and perhaps even humans if they knew what to look for. That was how Rayla managed to find the cave.
The cave was perhaps a mile or two into some woods; too near for Amaya's liking, and she made a mental note to have this place investigated when they got home. At the moment, Amaya was keeping a close watch over the elf, who despite her determination did look a bit green from the smell. Entering the cave, the foul stench of the dead hit the general's nose and Rayla nearly gagged.
The cave wasn't very big and the morning sun coming through its mouth lit the place up enough for their purposes. Rayla's eyes zeroed in on the small pouch that sat propped up against a wall. She cautiously inched closer, her and Amaya's eyes darting around, waiting for someone to come out of the shadows, for the attackers who were, in all likelihood, waiting for something.
A chill ran through Rayla as something flashed in the corner of her eye. She desperately wanted to keep her attention off of the horrible thing, but her head moved of its own accord. It was the half-decomposed body of an elf; Sunfire, it looked like. Amaya's stomach turned at the sight and quickly turned to look at Rayla. Before the Battle of the Storm Spire, one of the things Callum had told her about this young elf to dispel her distrust was how soft said elf truly was; she was meant to end Ezran's life in the name of a mission, but she was unable, not just unwilling. In the coming two years, Amaya would see this for herself; the girl was an excellent fighter but didn't even like hurting people and seemed afraid to take a life. Now, Rayla was frozen, save for her shaking. Her eyes were wide as she took in this grizzly sight. Amaya had decades of military experience, and this was definitely one of the more gruesome scenes she'd seen. Rayla, on the same front, was an absolute greenhorn She'd never killed, this would be far rougher on her.
When Amaya tried to put a supportive hand on her shoulder, she wasn't expecting the sudden embrace given to her. The general slowly wrapped her arms around the girl and held her tight. Her shoulders were shaking in a way that made it clear she was crying, or at least sobbing. They slowly sank to the ground as Rayla collapsed, Amaya making a careful effort to steady her. It was Amaya's turn to be on the short end of the language barrier as she felt Rayla talking for a moment, but couldn't see her lips from here, leaving her unable to understand what was being asked of her. Looking back at the corps, she recognized several instances of Viren's handy work. There was no way this poor guy had a peaceful end. The two were so wrapped up in this trauma that neither of them noticed the two figures appear from outside, one with a large staff in hand, and close in on them.
"Collection?" Gren asked. He and Callum had chosen to have a private conversation in the kitchen, away from their guests.
"Of Moonshadow elves, somehow." Callum told him. Gren stared. The memory came back like a wave. The screaming, the terrified elf in the coin, something about pride always giving way to fear. And Viren.
"I've seen it!" Gren nearly shouted, standing up and startling Callum. Their eyes flit to the sitting room, thinking first and foremost of the children in the other room; they more than the others didn't need to hear about such things. Gren turned back to Callum, speaking softer, now. "One of the elves who assassinated King Harrow survived and was taken prisoner. Viren performed some spell on him, I didn't see what happened, but he came out and showed me this gold coin, with the elf inside."
"What?" Callum asked, his eyes also widening.
"He was still conscious, looking around and scared to death." Gren reported. "You don't think Rayla…"
The change in Callum was immediate enough to make Gren regret the unfinished question. The younger boy bolted from the kitchen and out the door, gaining the attention of the others. Gren took a moment to assure them that everything was fine and just enjoy their visit before he ran after him. Faolan, curiosity peeked, hopped off of the couch and followed the man, closely followed by Soren. They stood in the doorway and watched.
Gren was talking to a tall, intimidating-looking man he called Corvus, saying something about saddling up a couple of horses. Faolan noticed a few people out and about already and how they had stopped what they were doing to look at the boy. The next few seconds were something that Faolan would remember for the rest of his life.
The guy held his arms out in front of him, made sure to take a moment to breathe and spoke three strange words. Each of these words caused something on his arms to light up and Faolan's mouth dropped open as a huge pair of brown wings appeared in place of his arms. The now winged boy left a ripple of dust around him as a massive flap lifted him up high off the ground and he flew away. Faolan was so amazed, he nearly missed the two older men riding after him on horseback, shouting at him to wait and that he didn't know where they were going.
"Are you sure?" Lissa asked. Soren had needed to physically pick Faolan up and carry him back into the room.
"Gren and Corvus both have years more experience than I do." Soren explained. "And Callum has his magic."
"Callum does magic?" Gideon asked, and it was clear that they thought it was dark magic, as they were probably used to. Soren and Ezran looked at each other and grinned slyly.
Amaya glared hard enough for the both of them, which might have been needed because Rayla was still in shock. Viren and Claudia had ambushed them and paralyzed them with some kind of dark spell. It was the same one, Rayla could feel, that Claudia had used on her back at the Moon Nexus. Now, they were tied up, with thin twine digging into their wrests, likely to leave cuts in Rayla's case. Rayla's eyes stared ahead blankly, not responding to Claudia's glare. Amaya held a cold stare to Viren, which was returned in full. Behind them, that elf, Aaravos was barely paying the four attention. He was waiting for something. Or someone. There was little chance that Callum would really heed her words with Rayla on the line, but hopefully he at least had the sense to gather reinforcements.
Amaya looked at the small sack openly. Viren smiled and took it, having gotten the message: What's in the bag? Viren dangled it in front of Rayla's face, and the motion finally seemed to wake her up, though she was still a far cry from the wild spitfire that Amaya knew. Slowly, Viren opened the small sack. The captives watched in rapt attention, Rayla more so. Viren pinched the bottom of the sack, taking his sweet time all the way, and flipped it over, dumping the contents on the ground. Five or six small pebbles clattered on the cave floor from where they had fallen. The elf's heart sank. Viren looked to Amaya, who's expression seemed to ask what kind of game he was playing.
"You're getting rusty, General Amaya." he spoke in a menacing tone, despite her inability to hear it. "Falling for one of the oldest tricks in the book. Do you honestly think I would leave such trophies just laying around?"
"Ah, and here's the man of the hour." Aaravos said, seeing Callum close in on the cave, followed by a pair of humans on horseback. Callum landed in front of him moments before Gren and Corvus dismounted their horses. He didn't take his eyes off of Aaravos as the soldiers entered the cave, their furious eyes trained on Viren and Claudia. They approached them, weapons at the ready, before they were suddenly thrown back. All but Aaravos, Viren and Claudia appeared shocked, while the three of them just smiled.
"Just a small protective spell." Viren told them. His smile was a slimy one. "Can't have you attacking us when we're only trying for diplomacy."
"Diplomacy?" Callum echoed, eyeing Aaravos.
"Yes, that's why we're here." Aaravos said. "To talk. So long as you hear me out for, say, the next ten minutes or so, no harm will come to your friends."
"Why should I trust you?" Callum asked.
"You shouldn't." Aaravos told him, just as he had to Viren long ago. "It's not like you have another choice, of course. You defy me, and remember they are at my mercy."
Callum didn't like this at all, but if there was a chance that cooperating could save Rayla and his aunt, he would have to do it. "Fine."
Aaravos grinned and cast a look back at Viren and Claudia; they could do as they pleased, but no lethal force. For now. He then turned back to Callum and gestured for him to follow, which the human did after reminding Gren and Corvus of the same.
Gren and Corvus stood outside the barrier, weapons in hand, though they knew they were helpless to do anything other than watch the dark mages keenly. Viren smirked at them, feeling almost smug before a hard lurch jerked him awake. Somehow, the elf had managed to get to her feet and tackle him despite being bound the way she was. She was sending Viren a poisonous look before Claudia grabbed her, smacked her roughly in the face and shoved her back to the wall near Amaya. The general would have been concerned if she wasn't so relieved; at least the kid seemed to be back to her old, bold-to-a-fault self. She was practically growling at Viren, uncaring of the sadistic smile that appeared on his face.
"You know, Claudia," Viren said, gaining his daughter's attention. "I think this is a lovely time for you to finally see what's in this coin pouch."
Claudia's eyes widened with interest and all eyes were on Viren as he pulled out the same coin sack and jerked it up and down so that the contents jingled; coins. Just as before, Viren was painstakingly slow in opening the sack, his eyes now never leaving Rayla. He was taunting her. This time, he dumped the contents, four gold coins, into his hand. First, he showed them to Claudia, who appeared mystified, her eyes lighting up. After, he showed them to Rayla, who could again feel her gag reflex betraying her.
Author's Notes: Sorry if this is a bit later than usual, I've been a little under the weather. Just a minor strain of the flu, nothing to worry about. And yeah, Gren has been in love with Lissa for decades, but clearly, it's never happening. Our brave boy's trying to be a good sport about it, though. Next time; lots o'stuff! Review.