Aria sat on the floor of the cavern feeling exhaustion and relief in equal parts. Tarek and Jani sat next to her looking equally tired.
Jani also looked conflicted. Her father was beside her, arm wrapped protectively around her like he was afraid something might happen to her the moment he let go. Kahlin's sat at her other side. Aria thought that one part of Jani wanted nothing more than to Hulk out, throw everyone off her and storm away in a huff. The other part, however, seemed perfectly happy to just sit there and be taken care of. For the moment, at least, that part was winning. Maybe things would turn out okay there, after all.
"So, Jani," Aria said, eager to know how her part of the mission went, "It looks like you and Tarek pulled through for us. What happened?"
Jani opened her mouth to answer and started coughing. Kahlin pulled out a flask of water and offered it to her. Jani glared at her, though as tired as she was it was more like a pout. She wasn't about to say no to the water, though. She took the flask and started chugging.
Aria waited. Once adequately watered, Jani said, "Well, I was supposed to go straight for the Bedoowan town, but first I hunted down Dakka and Rill. It didn't take long. I told them what was going on and to keep an eye out, make sure nothing got too out of hand." She jerked her head at Aria.
Oh. Wow. Jani had actually sent Dakka and Rill to watch out for her. "That's why they were at the marketplace! They let a couple horses loose again, slowed up the mob. I'd have been dead meat if it wasn't for them."
Jani looked quite pleased with herself. Aria figured she had the right. "Yup. Then I headed for the town." Her expression soured. "But the trip wasn't as easy as I thought it would be."
She wrinkled up her nose as if recalling something distasteful, and Tarek jumped in to continue. "I think Sai…uh, Sawil, may have been trying to make sure no messages got delivered to the Bedoowan, because he posted guards all along the route there. Knights. One of them found Jani. She'd managed to use a ball of tak to knock him off his horse and damage his crossbow, but he was still very dangerous. I found her trying to get around him, and was able to incapacitate the man."
She shivered, and wondered if Jani and Tarek had encountered the same knights who had killed Alder.
Before she could apologize for the danger her plan had put them in, Steric said, "Young man, you saved my daughter from rogue knights?"
To Aria's surprise, Tarek actually flushed a bit. "Er, yes sir. I mean, kind of," he said, as he eyed Jani nervously. "I mean, she really had it mostly handled by herself. I just stepped in at the last minute. She probably would have been fine."
Despite his attempts to talk the accomplishment down, Steric reached over and clapped him on the shoulder. "Thank you. She's all I have left. If I had lost her, I do not know what I would have done."
Jani groaned. "Ugh. Anyways," she said, obviously trying to push past this agonizingly heartwarming moment, "After that Tarek and I headed up to the town together, filled the councilors in on everything that was happening, and convinced them to come back with us."
Aria asked Tarek, "So I take it they believed you about Sawil?"
Tarek explained, "At first they did not. Or, at least, councilor Raig did not. He seemed outraged by the accusation. Councilor Nyja listened, though, and when I showed her the tak-light and explained about the lab, she was inclined to give me the benefit of the doubt. She said that she'd been suspicious about Sawil for some time, and that she was having serious doubts about the validity of his reports. Raig got very upset, began accusing her of having some sort of personal conflict with the man. At that point Tolk spoke up. He said that he'd noticed a few inconsistencies in some of the reports surrounding Sawil over the years. That really set Nyja's suspicions off. She spent the rest of the day investigating him as thoroughly as possible, and by nightfall we all found out that Sawil had been acting directly under Raig's orders for the past two years, and that they'd been doing things behind the other councilor's backs. Things like upping the night guard in the village and redirecting some of the Tryptite rations away from the Milago. There were also several shipments of weapons that had gone unaccounted for over the last few months. Then there were all the missing funds…"
Aria let out a low whistle. "Bet he's in the doghouse now."
They all looked at her curiously and she clarified, "I mean, I bet he's in trouble with her."
Tarek snorted. "He is in trouble with everyone. If he is not kicked off the council within the week I will be surprised. He may even be arrested."
Jani decided to pick up the story from there. "So I was heading up there and got jumped by that dung-faced knight when Tarek showed up. He was escorting an ambassador to the Milago, courtesy of Nyja. When I told him what was going on, we all raced back to town. Nyja agreed that it was too late for an ambassador, what with everyone rallying for war, but that your plan might work so long as she could keep a fight from breaking out. She grabbed a few knights, then we all mounted up and rode here. Tarek took off for the barracks and rounded up Tal and all the rest. We all met up outside the mine and I led everyone here."
Tarek interjected, "Nyja also gave the order for Press to be released and for Sawil to be arrested on sight if he returned, so with any luck he may be waiting for us in a jail cell when we get back."
Despite that wonderful bit of news, he still sounded sober. The last thing Aria wanted was to address the reason, but she couldn't keep ignoring it. Hesitantly, she asked, "Tarek…did you hear about Alder?"
His jaw clenched, and he nodded.
Of course he did. In fact, given how recently he must have returned, he can't have gotten the news more than an hour or two ago. She wondered if Tal had told him about finding her next to the body, and if so, what he thought about that.
Well, she couldn't put off telling him what happened any more. "Tarek, I'm so sorry. I…"
She trailed off. What could she say? There was no way he knew what really happened, but the thought of telling him that she had abandoned Alder, that she had left him to die when she could have saved him, terrified her. It didn't matter that Alder had told her to leave, had forbidden her from using the gun. The barracks had barely been fifty feet away. He would ask her why she didn't go for help, why she didn't call for help, why she didn't do anything to help.
Still, she had to tell him. He had a right to know. And she needed to give him the ring. She opened her mouth to speak, to tell him the truth…
And she found her mouth wouldn't move. She couldn't do it.
Tarek shook his head. "It is alright. He told me many times that death was a very possible outcome in the battle against Sai…well, in the battle."
Aria rubbed her temples. That was the second time they'd nearly mentioned Saint Dane. This would be easier to talk about when they were somewhere private. "So, what do we do now?"
At that moment councilor Nyja walked up and said, "Now we head back up and begin unravelling exactly what led us to this situation. Then we begin mending the relationship between our tribes. Then, we see where we go from there. May I ask what you two were talking about just then? What has happened to Alder?" She sounded worried, like she knew him personally.
Tarek stood to address her. For the first time Aria recalled that he wasn't only a Traveler, he was also a member of the Bedoowan army. He saluted her and said, "Ma'am, as Alder's squire it is my duty to report that he was slain yesterday afternoon in the forest by the barracks. Knight Talrind found him. His killers have not yet been identified."
His tone was calm as he delivered the report of his mentor's death, and Aria's insides writhed with guilt.
Nyja looked stricken. "Oh, no. Alder? He was one of our finest, and another personal friend of mine. This loss…" She quieted. Her gaze sharpened, though she maintained a neutral tone. "We will get to the bottom of this plot, mark my words. We will discover who was responsible for Alder's death and everything else that has happened these last few days, and mete out justice."
Then her tone softened. "My condolences, squire Tarek. I know that you and Alder were close. He spoke very highly of you, and he would have been proud at what you have accomplished. Your role in this will not be overlooked; nor will his."
Tarek bowed low at the waist, but Nyja waved him off. "At ease, Tarek. Consider yourself on leave until we have sorted this mess out."
With that she turned to where her fellow councilor, Tolk, stood. He, along with several of the Milago soldiers, was standing by the chandelier, examining it with obvious delight. One of the scientists was explaining the tak-light to him. In fact, now that Aria took the time to notice, all around the room people were expressing fascination with the tak-lights, tak-troughs, and even tak-fireworks. Through the grief she felt a flicker of pride in Kahlin and Steric's achievements. This was exactly what she'd had in mind when she'd thought this plan up, and it was really great to see it come to fruition. She wished Alder could have seen it – she thought it would have made him happy.
She blinked away the tears that wanted to spring up again and stood. It was time to go. She turned to Nyja, who was directing her knights to assist where needed regarding the tak. They didn't want the vein to be open and unguarded, so she was recommending that a combination of her own knights and the Milago soldiers go down and make sure everything stayed where it was supposed to be. The scientists were going to return some of the tak-lights to the lab, but bring most of it to the surface for immediate use. She waited for Nyja to finished directing her men then said, "Hey, sorry to bother you, but is my uncle still in your town? And if so, what are the odds of me getting up there before sunset? I'd really like to see him."
She looked apologetic. "Of course. He mentioned that he was worried about you the last time I went to visit him. If I had known that you were in town when he was arrested, I would have sent for you to make sure you were looked after. Though it seems it is a good thing I did not, given all you accomplished when left on your own!"
Aria smiled sadly. "Not on my own. Alder looked after me, mostly."
Nyja's head dipped in mournful acknowledgement. "I am sorry. As one of the Bedoowan councilors, it is my job to maintain order amongst our peoples. It seems that I have failed miserably on that front recently."
Aria tried to console her. "It's not your fault. The guy who was responsible for this has weapons up his sleeve that you never could have prepared for. Besides, how were you supposed to know that all of this was intentional?"
Nyja shook her head, and when she spoke her voice was firm. "As nice as it would be to chalk this disaster up to an understandable lapse, I have a responsibility to be prepared for any danger that may befall my people, intentional or accidental. If I shirk that responsibility now, then I risk leaving my people vulnerable to future attacks. I must accept that my negligence played a part in this near-calamity, and learn from my mistakes. That is the duty of a leader."
Aria was impressed with the woman's resolve, but once again felt a surge of guilt. This woman was willing to own up to the near-destruction of her people's entire way of life, but Aria couldn't even own up to her role in one man's death.
She looked over at Tarek, who was helping Steric and Kahlin to their feet.
She swallowed heavily. She needed to tell him about what happened to Alder. And she would. But surely it could wait until later?
Yeah. It could wait until later.
There was another series of small, crackling explosions as a scientist let off another string of fireworks, and this time the resulting cry was one of excitement, not fear. She knew that her whole plan had been a triumph – but she couldn't help feeling like a failure, at least partly.
As the group began making for the exit tunnels, she was right near the front. She wanted to get out of these caves, find Uncle Press, and go home.
Saint Dane sat perched on a tree outside the mine, shaking with rage.
So that had been her plan. To sit everyone still and force them to see the reality they had thus far been so willing to blind themselves to. Like children. He'd thought her plan absurd when he'd first arrived, and indeed, it had seemed as though fear and fury would win out easily in the end. He had taken on the form of one of the soldiers and done what he could to spread anger and distrust through the crowd, and once he'd set off the fireworks in the back – silently thanking the fool who had decided to bring them down – he'd thought his victory all but secured.
Then that brat had arrived with the cavalry.
The Milago knew from experience the fighting capabilities of the Bedoowan knights, and when they were finally faced with real repercussions for an attack they'd heeled like the dogs they were. Had he only been able to arm them with tak beforehand, they would have torn that pitiful contingent to pieces and proceeded to the Bedoowan town as planned without hesitation. Alas, the only thing that could be certain to turn an enraged man from violence was the knowledge that he might just get as much as he gave.
He watched from above as Milago and Bedoowan both began to spill from the mine entrance and head towards the village. The object of his ire was one of the first to emerge, and he watched her closely. To his surprise, she showed no semblance of satisfaction at her victory. On the contrary, she looked quite forlorn. She'd witnessed Alder's death after all, then.
Though the girl's grief was certainly a minor triumph in the grand scheme of things – it would stay with her through the coming battle and with enough loss she would break, as Pendragon once did – he found that he felt no particular sense of satisfaction. He had always delighted in tormenting the insufferable boy with his losses, but somehow he didn't think she would be as much fun to pester. She struck him as more sober, more contained, less prone to fits of emotion. He wondered what it would take to shatter her.
Perhaps he wouldn't even have to, though he would certainly give it a shot. After all, the new boy, Theron, seemed like a far easier target.
He leaned forward, spread his wings, and took off as the crowd made their way through the sparse forest. There was nothing else for him to do at this point. With the accusations that had been leveled at his two main personas, and with Kore sulking obediently back home for peace talks, he would be unable to rile the army again. Without a sizable party willing to do violence, the tak would be worthless to him. He would return in time, when the final battle was to begin, but in the meantime he would leave them to enjoy their brief reprieve.
He felt the agitation of his own dark Solara pressing in upon him, but shook it off easily. In the old days the spiritual presence had weighed heavily upon him. Those spirits had split from the original Solara to join his own, and like stakeholders with massive investments, they had been eager to press him for returns. After Denduron, Cloral, and First Earth, they had been driving him nearly mad, only relenting after he'd conquered Veelox. Fickle things, they'd been, but his new backers were somewhat more sanguine. His new Solara was sustained almost entirely by the Qi'xir, and by them he was venerated as a god. They would not lose faith as easily as his allies of old had.
He circled over the crowd and took stock of the situation. He wouldn't be making an appearance as Maal or Sawil again. His assassins could hang, for all he cared. They had failed him. Raig and Kore, too, were fools, and would get whatever they had earned for themselves.
He looked down on the crowd again and one figure caught his eye, limping up to Aria and engaging her in conversation. The Milago girl. The brat. Jani.
His golden eyes honed in on her, and he felt a surge of disgust. It was obvious she had played a sizeable role in his loss on Denduron, more so perhaps than its own Traveler, Tarek. Ordinarily he forfeited any claim he had to the lives of those who had aided his enemies once the conflict was over. Unless they played into his later plans, he did not come to call on them again. It was something of a code of honor with him. As much fun as it would have been to simply fly around the territories annihilating everyone Pendragon had ever grown close to, such an endeavor had seemed beneath him, and would have been a frivolous drain on his time and resources.
In this case, however, he might just make an exception.
Despite Alder's loss, Aria had had it very easy on this territory indeed. He thought back to the losses and horrors Pendragon had faced – the miner lost to the Transfer, the Milago lost in the arena…and Osa, of course. But Saint Dane had been too busy to ensure that the girl received a proper orientation. Besides, she couldn't even attribute Alder's death to him directly. Perhaps an encore was in order before he moved along to his next endeavor.
He watched the Milago girl for another moment, then wheeled away towards the village. He would wait for a more opportune setting. He had always enjoyed his theatrics, after all.
With the hour, Aria was sitting at a table in the Milago Town Hall, a plate of food and a glass of wine in front of her. She'd insisted that she was too young to drink, but apparently they didn't have a legal drinking age on Denduron because they'd brought her a glass anyways. Also at the table were Jani, Tarek, Nyja, Tolk, Kore, Kahlin, Steric, and Talrind. Maal was nowhere to be found.
They were going over everything that had happened and piecing together all the evidence they could accrue, but it was slow going and Aria just wasn't that interested. She answered questions when they were asked of her, but for the most part everything she knew had already been shared with the others. The only thing she knew more about than anyone else was Alder's death, and she was dreading having to give her account of it. She'd hoped for a moment alone with Tarek to tell him, but it looked like she was going to have to go over it in front of everyone, and she had no idea what she was going to say.
For the dozenth time in the last three days, she simultaneously felt resentment towards her uncle and desperately missed him and hoped he would show up.
Finally, nearly an hour into the discussion, he did. He strode through the front door evidently having brushed straight past the guards, because two knights followed him in a moment later, protesting.
"The hall is off-limits right now, there's a meeting going on!"
"The councilors need time to discuss recent events, it's vital–"
But Press ignored them and, upon seeing Aria, ran straight across the room to her.
She jumped up and met him halfway, tackling him in a hug. He wrapped an arm around her and gave her a squeeze.
Her uncle grinned down at her as they separated. "Hey, kid. Miss me?"
She opened her mouth to say, 'yes,' but instead found herself yelling:
"What is wrong with you?! Why would you just leave me here? Do you have any idea what has been going on over the last few days? I almost died!"
Behind her she heard Jani start laughing, evidently pleased at the familial discord, and Press grimaced. "I'm sorry, Aria. I hadn't expected to be arrested again."
"Again. Again? This has happened before?"
He looked like he regretted saying that last bit, and he brought his hand up and motioned zipping his lips. "I'll tell you about it later, yeah?"
She groaned. Nyja stood up and waved off the guards, who were standing around looking like they had half a mind to grab the two and haul them out of the room. "Press! I am glad you were able to join us so quickly. We have much to go over, but perhaps it would be better if you and your niece were given time to talk?"
Press nodded to her. "That would be great. But first, is everything alright? Any imminent disasters on the horizon?"
She shook her head. Aria said, "I think everything's okay. The war is off, anyways."
"You managed to call off a war?" He let out a low whistle – Aria had picked up that gesture from him – and said, "I guess you'd better fill me in on what happened. Walk and talk?"
She nodded and they made for the exit. She waved a 'see you later' to Jani and Tarek.
The Town Hall was surrounded by people, and a few attempted to ask her questions as she made her way out. She tried to answer a few as she passed, mostly just general reassurances that everything was okay and that Nyja, Tolk, and Kore were getting along really well – total lie, Kore was still furious – but she really wanted to get away from the crowd.
They kept walking until they got to a part of town that was a little more deserted. "Well, it looks like the Milago and the Bedoowan are talking again. And what's this I heard about a war?"
Beyond relieved that she could finally go over everything that had happened without censoring anything, Aria let loose with all that had happened since he'd left. She started with talking to the Milago, told him about Jani chasing her, about meeting Alder and Tal and Tarek, and about finding out that Maal was Saint Dane and then about meeting him in the forest…
"Ah," he said during that part. "So that's why he said I needed to work on your aim."
"What? You talked to him? When?"
Press told her about his periodic visits. Aria cringed when he mentioned Saint Dane telling him she'd left.
"Yeah. I'd had a rough day." She wondered if he'd already heard about Alder's death, then realized he almost certainly hadn't. She was going to have to tell him. "Uncle Press…Alder is dead."
Her uncle's face took on a grim expression, and he nodded in acceptance of the news. "I was afraid of that."
He stopped walking, and Aria paused with him. He reached over and took her shoulder. "He was a good man, and he knew what might happen when he took up this job. Are you okay?"
Aria tried to tell him she was, but her throat closed up.
He waited. Once she got control of her vocal chords again, she said, "I guess. I mean, I didn't even get to know him that well."
Even Press didn't buy that. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her in for a hug, which she returned. "Sometimes you don't have to spend a lot of time with someone to get to know them. I'm sorry you had to go through that." Once she let go he asked, "How is Tarek holding up?"
Aria just shook her head, and Press seemed to sense that that was a topic she wasn't willing to cover at the moment. She still hadn't told Tarek what had really happened, though she'd had the opportunity to on the walk back to the village. She couldn't talk to Press knowing that she'd stayed mum with Tarek. It had been her uncle who had taught her the importance of honesty; that you had to tell the truth, even when it hurt, even when you were afraid of what might happen.
She was afraid of talking to Tarek.
Instead, he pushed on and said, "Alright, so, you found out that councilor Maal was Saint Dane. What happened next?"
She went right in to the rest of the story, though she kept stumbling around Alder's name. It hurt to talk about him. When she got to the part about confronting Kore and his army and everything she said to get them to chase her, he snorted in barely contained laughter. "Wow. You actually said all of that? That must have just about killed you!"
"They just about killed me." She told him about the chase, almost getting caught, the diversion with the horses…
"Damn. That was dangerous. Guess you're picking up the Traveler lifestyle pretty well."
She glared at him. "I don't want to be picking up the Traveler lifestyle. As soon as we're done here, I'm going home. I'm not cut out for this."
He sighed. "I know how you're feeling. Trust me, I do. And yes, once everything is all wrapped up here, we'll head back for a spell. But Saint Dane is still out there, and he still needs to be stopped from doing to the other territories what he almost did to this one."
She shook her head. "Well, I've done my part. The rest of you can handle it from here."
He gave her a strained look, and she once again got the sense that he knew a lot more than he was letting on. He let her comment drop, though. "So, Saint Dane's plans to drive the Milago and the Bedoowan to war failed, they have a replacement for Tryptite, and the councilors are talking again. Though with the Milago missing two of their councilors, negotiations might be rough."
"The Bedoowan are going to be missing one of theirs, too. Turns out Raig was working directly with Sawil – Saint Dane – so he's probably gonna get booted off the council."
Press said, a bit darkly, "Doesn't surprise me. Saint Dane tends to get his fingers into as many pies as possible when he's working on a territory. Taking on the role of one councilor while puppeteering another. Playing both sides of the field. That's pretty typical of him. It's unusual for there to be a faction that he isn't a part of one in way or another."
Aria shrugged. She didn't need to know. With luck, she'd never see the guy again.
Press continued. "Say, you haven't seen him again, have you? Talked to him? He didn't mention his next destination?"
Aria thought that was an odd question. What, did Uncle Press expect their archnemesis to dramatically announce his next target or something? This wasn't a cheesy Batman movie. "Uh, no. Last time I saw him he just waved a knife around, insulted me, then left."
Her uncle didn't seem too perturbed. "Alright, no worries. He'll pop up again, I'm sure. In fact, I get the strange feeling that he's still creeping around somewhere."
Strangely enough he glanced up and around, as though Saint Dane was going to fall right out of the sky. What a nightmare that would be. "So," she said cautiously, "Should we head back? There's still a bit to tell you about, but I think Nyja and the others can mostly take it from here."
"Sure," he said. "Let's wrap this up. Besides, I want to see that laboratory you told me about," he grinned.
She smiled weakly, and they turned to head back to the Town Hall.