Dust: An Elysian Tail

Before The Storm

Written by WildSnivy

Chapter 5

A Strong Interest

"...so Marcia's probably still sitting at her inn waiting for Cassius to show up, and I had to smuggle these foodstuffs past the army's camp on her behalf."

Sereth leans his head on his fists. "Are they aware of our dealings, by chance?" The way he intonates that question is nothing new, but the fact that he's even asking it tells me he's worried. No amount of shade from that hooded cloak of his would hide that.

I take a deep breath in. "They shouldn't be, no," I reply. "I managed to lie my way past the checkpoint, but I'm not sure how frequently I can come here before they start thinking something's up."

Fuse rolls his arm over a few times, inspecting the fire-infused gauntlet he showed me and Ginger before. "That's a really convenient spot for them to put their camp, Jin," he grumbles, then leers up at me. It doesn't feel malicious, but I can tell he wants to do something about this. "How confident are you they don't know where we are?"

I'm not. But I answer anyways. "I haven't seen them send out any scouts yet. It looks like they're focusing primarily on the village anyways. Besides, it looks like they only know you're somewhere close."

I hear Fuse let out a heavy exhale. "They haven't sent scouts yet, but they're going to soon," he predicts. "I'll get the guards on double shifts, keep an eye for them."

"Twitch isn't going to like that," I respond, trying to ease the mood a bit.

Fuse isn't moved much. "What else do you know?" he demands. "About Cassius? Why's he here?"

"Cassius is apparently an underling for General Gaius. Not sure if I mentioned that yet."

I'm actually sure that I didn't. And if Fuse hadn't asked for more details I likely would have kept that little snippet to myself. Instead, he just paces over to the other side of Sereth's table and crosses his arms. "It's him again, then?"

"You asked me why he was here," I defend.

"This might become slightly problematic," Sereth whispers.

Fuse glares at the merchant. "Slightly, Sereth? I think this is a little bigger than that."

"I don't like to speculate on how bad something can go until it does."

The warrior huffs and turns back to me. "Jin, if this is one of Gaius' battalions, they're not going to leave you or us alone until they find out what we're up to."

"The least we can do then is stall them," I counter. "Make them think they're wasting their time while they investigate." Even I'm uncertain about that plan. There are too many variables. I could trust Nikolai and Marcia to play it safe and not spout anything that could doom the town, but there's always somebody. And the instant Cassius found a contradiction...

My brain feels like it's on the verge of overheating, until Sereth speaks up again. "I think it may be wise for you to visit us as infrequently as you can. At least until Cassius decides to give up."

I watch Fuse nod slightly in agreement. "If you're going to dodge the army's camp every time you come down here, they're going to notice a pattern at some point."

"It doesn't have to be me, you know," I point out.

"Even then, we can't risk them seeing you, Ginger or anyone else in the same room as us."

I go silent. I know exactly where this conversation is going, and I refuse to contribute to it.

"Jin, I know what you're going to say," Fuse adds. "But until this blows over, you're going to have to leave us alone for a bit. The less suspicion you're prone to drawing, the better our odds are of watching Cassius bail out."

I'd argue back. I'd love to argue back. But I can't. This would be like arguing two and two add to five. I think back on that checkpoint, about the two guards that pulled me over. About how thorough that search of my pack was. What would have happened if they got curious then? If they decided to scrape off the first layer of food I was hiding the supplies under?

We would have lost right then and there. Unconditionally. I start getting that gut wrenching feeling, that sickening pressure in my abdomen, only compounding with time as I continue to think about exactly how close I came to messing everything up.

Fuse has me. I'm loathe to leave his clan like this, especially if they might be in need of more supplies later on. But the road between Zeplich and here is too dangerous now. If Cassius was going to catch us red-handed, then this would be the spot to do it.

We cannot give him that opportunity. My head feels heavy again, like there's a weight sitting on top of it, but I force myself to look back up at Fuse and Sereth and reply. "Fine," I quietly, begrudgingly concede. "I understand."

My stomach still feels sick as I start to trek back to the village. Sereth had loaded my backpack up with a few bolts of cloth to roughly match the shape and mass of my pack when I first passed the army checkpoint. With any luck, they won't notice anything off about it, at least not from the outside.

Again, the tent spires of the encampment poke up from over the ridge. I should be worried about getting past the checkpoint again, but my mind still refuses to let go of Fuse and the clan. I can keep telling myself Fuse knows what he's doing, that he wouldn't demand we cut back our visits unless he knew he'd be alright. I have every reason to believe him. Fuse is an amazing leader, and an even better friend.

So why am I having so many problems leaving him alone like this? Was he really that afraid of the army and what they could do?

Was I afraid of them? No, I yell at myself. Absolutely not. They might be occupying our town and interrogating everyone who dares look at them strangely, but I refuse to believe they can do anything to hurt us. The Royal Army's grunts would be easy enough to lie to; they wouldn't have nearly as much information as their commander would. And Cassius only looks threatening from what he's shown me. So far, I'm skeptical he's noticed anything that would help further his investigation. All Marcia has to do tonight is calm down and just play around his questions. If she does that, then Cassius should leave her alone and we're one step closer to kicking him out.

I stop walking for a second to shut my eyes and breathe in. My gut is still wavering on whether it wants to cooperate with the rest of my body, but at least that pressure on my head is clearing up. It's a start. I open my eyes back up and see the checkpoint up ahead, and it looks like it's being manned by the same two guards from earlier. For some reason that calms me down even more.

I pick up the pace and march towards the two guards. I just want to go home. Sit down with Ginger and a meatball sandwich and just be done for the day. And she's going to be glad that little run went off without too many problems. Plus we'd be getting a decent payment from Marcia come tomorrow. It's technically tainted gold, seeing as how I'll be getting it for a smuggling job, but I don't care. I'm pretty sure the parents wouldn't have minded it either. It's pretty much the family business by this point.

The guard on the right side of the trail is the first to see me, and I bring myself to a stop. "Hold for the...oh, it's just you again," he sighs, like he's not all that pleased to see me returning back to the town.

"How was your walk?" the second one inquires.

I take a second to find the right word. For fun, I put myself in Sereth's shoes for a second.

"Rejuvenating," is my reply.

The guards don't seem to have an immediate response prepared for that one, and it takes them a second to get their thoughts back together. "Any signs of activity while you were out?" the right one asks.

"Nothing to report, no," I answer, making sure I didn't respond too quickly.

"Good," the left one nods and turns up the path. "Off you go then. Let us know if anything happens."

"Right," I affirm as I restart my trek back to Zeplich. The soldiers seem friendly enough towards me now, and I feel confident to check over my shoulder to make sure I'm out of their sight even if I might not be. But I don't, and instead just continue pressing on back to the village.

I'm not sure why I'm in such a hurry to get back to Ginger. Maybe there's just been too much going on today for me to feel fully relaxed. Between Cassius' storming into town, my offering to transport Marcia's supplies, and Fuse's recommending we stay low profile, I am completely spent. Burnt out, if I could steal Nikolai's words.

The village eventually peeks over the peak of the mountain. Shafts of sunlight break through the spaces between buildings, casting a red tint onto the town as the sun vanishes behind a few clouds. I finish climbing the path and enter back onto the main road. There's still some business being conducted here and there at a few stands, but with the evening fast approaching, I can tell almost everyone is prepared to call it soon.

As am I. Two more minutes of walking down the street puts me back in front of my house. My home. I sigh to myself, satisfied my work is done for now, and push the door open. "Hey, Ginger! I'm..."

I go quiet as I identify the two guests in our house. They are seated at the kitchen table with Ginger, who looks exactly like Marcia did just this afternoon: traumatized with fear. Her eyes are glued on Cassius' face, which he has decided to fully unveil this time. The black hat hiding his extremities is sitting on the table, off to his side closest to the second soldier. To my slight surprise, his visage isn't as intense as I had thought. His eyes are sharp, but soft, almost blank in a way, as they slowly drift off to his right, past the soldier sitting across from Ginger and towards me.

I slowly slide my backpack off and kick the door shut behind me. I'm not happy to see him, but I try to hide that as much as I can for now.

"And you must be the brother," Cassius deduces as I slowly cross into the kitchen area, not taking my eyes off of the commander or his associate. At least they had the courtesy of leaving a chair next to Ginger open for me, and as soon as I'm fully in the room I waste no time grabbing it for myself and sitting down. I look over at Ginger again. I'm hoping she's more at ease, but for some reason she only looks more worried now.

Cassius waits for me to respond, but continues once he realizes I'm never going to give him one. "You'll forgive the intrusion. Our appointment with Marcia isn't for another twenty minutes, so we thought it best to go ahead and...check you off our list, so to speak."

"What do you want from us?" I growl. I feel Ginger boot me in the shin from under the table, scowling off to my side. She could get on me about my manners as much as she wants to; it won't change the fact that I still want Cassius out of my house as quickly as possible.

The commander himself doesn't look that fazed however, like that even needs to be stated. "Please, no need to be defensive. We'd just like to ask you a few things and we'll be on our way."

I notice his eyebrow raise a bit. "You actually look familiar to me, come to think of it. Where did we see each other before?"

"I was at Marcia's booth at the inn this afternoon," I clarify.

"So you were," he nods gently. He could try to paint himself as a sympathetic and relatable character; Ginger and I both know what he's really here for. "In any case, we won't waste any more of your time than necessary, so I'll be straightforward."

He leans forward in his chair, his arms crossed and his index finger tapping the table in some indeterminate rhythm. "When I was giving my speech in the square, I mentioned that there were some members of your caravan that may have been Moonblood sympathizers. Do you remember?"

He must think we're in primary school for all the patronizing words he's flinging at us. Good thing Ginger beats me to the response before I can say anything I might regret. "Yes, you did mention that. Sir."

Cassius heaves a small sigh before continuing, like he can feel remorse. "That isn't the full story, I'm afraid," he adds. "I didn't want to mention names in my address, which is why I didn't want to bring this up until we could meet privately."

I try to feign interest, even though I know exactly what he's about to say next. "Are you insinuating that..."

"Your parents may very well be traitors to the crown, yes," he concludes for me. He lets the kitchen's silence swell for a moment before he continues speaking. "I'm sure this isn't what you wanted to hear from me, but that is what we've turned up so far."

How convenient that they can not only destroy a caravan but then completely spin the issue in an entirely different direction. Even if Cassius wasn't part of that scouting party, I can tell he's doing everything he can to deflect attention away from the real traitors.

"How did you find out they were our parents?" Ginger quietly asks.

"We found some old paper records telling us they lived here with their son and daughter," the commander replies, looking back and forth between me and my sister. "The family resemblance is hard to ignore as well."

He straightens his posture and then fixates on me. My gaze hasn't left him once since this conversation started. "Jin, right? Your sister gave me your name."

I give him a small nod.

He tilts his head to the side, just slightly. "Were you aware of your parents' business with the Moonbloods?"

I thought he'd ask that at some point. I knew he'd try to get more info on my parents from me. But for some reason I can't think of a suitable response at the moment. "To what extent, sir?" I ask back, steadying the shakiness in my voice.

Cassius clears his throat and restates his question. "Did you know what they were up to while you weren't around? Did they openly discuss anything or do anything that might have looked suspicious?"

I want to look over at Ginger for help, but I can't. I'm on my own, and Cassius is blankly glaring at me, waiting for me to say something back. I don't know what to say to him. Frantically, my mind tries to formulate some sort of answer. What is only a few seconds of silence stretches into an eternity, and I mentally panic as I pray Cassius doesn't notice I'm struggling to find a lie to tell him.

"Calm yourself, Jin," he instructs, soothingly but with a gravely sinister undertone. "This is important."

I take his advice, and unsteadily take a deep breath in and out.

Ginger leans forward. I rest my forehead into my hands.

"Yes, sir," I softly respond. "Yes, I might have."

My sister's eyes go wide. Cassius raises an eyebrow and snaps his fingers at his escort. The soldier reaches into his pack next to his chair for some paper and ink.

"What can you tell us?" the commander asks, his neutral tone now tainted with a small note of urgency. "No detail is unimportant."

I glance over at Ginger. She continues to stare at me with those shocked, stunned blue eyes, like she's expecting me to deny anything I knew about our parents.

I turn my head back to Cassius and sigh. "I mean, they never explicitly told me anything involving the Moonbloods, but...but in the past I did see them behaving rather strangely."

"In what ways?"

"About...once a week, I guess, they'd load up a few backpacks with food and trade supplies and say they were 'going for a hike' or something like that," I solemnly explain. "They'd be gone for two, three hours tops, and then they'd come back once the sun's down."

Cassius nods at his assistant as he scribbles down what I'm saying. "Do you know what they were doing with all those supplies?"

I close my eyes and shake my head no. "But I looked into one of the bags one night when they returned. And it was completely empty. They took the supplies out but they never came back."

"Did your parents have a route they liked to hike regularly?"

"If they did, they never told us," I answer, glancing at Ginger again. She's still stupefied that I'm giving Cassius all of this information. Faintly, I can hear her breathing get heavier.

The soldier finishes transcribing what I have to say, and then nods at his superior. Cassius reaches under his vest and flips open a sterling pocket watch. "Jin, this will be very, very useful to us. Thank you for sharing," he blankly remarks, almost like a machine, as he slaps his watch shut and stands up from the table, his assistant obediently following suit. He places his hat back onto his head, hiding the top half of his face once more from the world.

"We are actually slightly behind schedule now, but this was a very valuable use of our time," he continues, pushing his chair back into the table and then turning his head towards Ginger. She still looks horrified, her hands tightly gripping each other as they block the lower half of her face. "Thank you for your hospitality, Miss Ginger. Jin."

He bows his head and motions for his assistant to follow him out the front door. The soldier actually rushes in front of him to get to the door first, respectfully propping it open as Cassius makes his exit.

Cassius catches himself before he enters the street. "Oh, and Jin," he calls back to me. I slowly turn my head in acknowledgement, and see the commander pointing down at my pack.

"Can I ask what you were doing out this evening?"

I actually have an excuse this time. "I was out at the market. I was grabbing a few cloth bolts and food before I came back."

"I see," Cassius replies after a moment, then tugs on his hat again. "Sorry for the delay. Good evening," he adds before he finishes leaving my house. Only when his commander is fully outside does he follow him out, dragging our door shut behind him.

Ginger waits for the bolt to click back into place before she speaks up for the first time in what felt like ages. "Why did you tell him that?" she silently demands. Her posture has not changed in the past few minutes either.

I look back over at her, uncertain of what I should say. I can't tell if she's alright with what I told Cassius or not. "Did you tell him anything?" I ask back. "Before I got here?"

"No," she replies, almost timidly in a way. "He asked me the same things he asked you, and I just said no."

I let out a heavy sigh of relief and hang my head over the back of the chair. "That worked perfectly, then."

"Why didn't you just say you didn't know anything either, Jin?" Ginger inquires a second time, her voice getting a little bit louder and firmer. "Cassius has a lead now, he's going to look into this."

"If you can even call it a lead," I point out, sitting myself back up in the chair. "All I did was give him enough to keep him going."

"You should have kept quiet."

"I don't think I could have," I retort.

Her eyes narrow in my direction. "Why did you tell him that story?" she barks at me.

"What do you think would have happened if I didn't, Ginger?" I calmly respond. "What would Cassius think if the two people closest to his suspects said they didn't know anything about what they were doing?"

She's still leering at me, and I'm not sure why.

"I'm never selling out Mom and Pops, if that's what you're worried about. But if we both said we didn't know anything, then I think Cassius would know something's wrong."

It happens too quick for me to fully notice, but I think she blinks after I say that. "You...knew what you were doing?"

I nod affirmatively. "Look, I get it if you don't think I did the right thing..."

Ginger cuts me off. She doesn't say anything, but instead, to my surprise, she starts laughing. I could probably continue talking over her, and I'm pretty sure she's still able to hear me, but I'm more befuddled by her reaction instead, and my words just hang in my throat. She continues like that for a few seconds, until she finally regains the composure to start talking again.

"You're such an idiot, Jin," she chokes out. Her eyes are shut, but there's a small drop of water forming right at the corner of one of them. They open back up after a second, and they're shimmering in the dying sunlight. She isn't upset at me, or at least if she was, she isn't anymore.

"You're my idiot, though," she smiles at me. Another one of my heavy mental weights takes off from my head. I'm glad she's not angry. And I think she's glad that my gamble worked.

I return the grin as best as I can. "I'm glad I can live up to your expectations," I jocularly reply.

"Don't scare me like that again," she commands, shaking her head as she rests it in her hand.

"I can't promise that," I return. "But I'm going to do everything I can to make sure you're safe. That's what the parents would have done, and that's what I'm doing. Got it?"

She renews her smile again. "Always the protector, aren't you?"

"I wouldn't be doing my job as big brother if I wasn't, would I?"

She stands up to go to the cooking area, and I know exactly why. I try to follow, but she immediately points me back down into my seat. "No you don't!" she commands. "You're going to stay right there."

"Hey, I just want to help with the cooking is all," I respond.

"If your job is going to be supplying the Moonbloods and tricking Cassius, then the least I can do is make sure you're in good enough shape to do it," she asserts, jabbing her finger at my chair again. "Now sit down and don't move a muscle until I bring your dinner over, alright?"

She makes a very convincing case. And I'm certainly not going to argue with somebody offering to make dinner for me. She doesn't look like she's going to bend on the issue either, if those flashing, intense blue eyes of hers are anything to go by.

So instead I just give her a "Yes, ma'am," and sit back down, as she smiles back at me and starts running water into a cast iron pot.