Fire and blood
Loivissa POV(late winter 645 ADG)
No matter how many times she had taken this trip, it never became any easier, and the thawing winter snow and ice certainly did not help. The thawed water would run over still frozen ice and make the ice even more slippery than before, and the streams were overflowing with all the extra water.
Loivissa had to be careful with where she placed every step, or else she might slip and break something, which was not an experience that she wished to repeat again. It had been embarrassing enough to have to hobble back to their headquarters with a broken leg the first time that it had happened.
She was clad in tight-fitting black leather clothes with a dark-green cloak atop. The material blended in quite well with the surrounding pine forest and shielded her from unfriendly eyes, though she doubted that there were any to be found this far into the mountains of the Spine.
She had been on the road for a few weeks now, as she had had many errands to run in the core cities of Albion, and riding a dragon would certainly have drawn far too much attention to be a viable option. One of the errands had revolved around scouting out the house that Ilumëo had told her about.
For the entire duration of the week that she had kept it under surveillance, Loivissa had seen neither any guards nor people going in and out of the house. When she had confronted Ilumëo about the matter, the aide had told her that Mercury had once had guards around it, but that he had since recalled them in order to better keep the secret of the tunnel's existence intact.
It made sense for him to do so, as everyone knew that the more people that you had guarding some secret, the higher the chance that the secret would eventually slip out. That was also part of the reason why only Rhunön and Loivissa knew that the dauthdaert had been finished months ago.
If they were able to make use of the hidden tunnel in it to get inside Ilirea Castle, then it would only be a matter of patience before the opportunity to assassinate Mercury with the dauthdaert arose. But before any such plan could be initiated, Loivissa first had to find the traitor in their midst.
Unfortunately, she was having far less progress in that area than she had wished for. After narrowing the possibilities down to Lord Elwing and Lifael, she had come no further in uncovering which one was the spy.
Obviously, she could not repeat the stunt that she had pulled to narrow it down to those two, as she certainly did not have enough people to sacrifice any on something like that. It also did not help that because their group was completely unknown by most of Alagaësia's residents, and hated by most that did know of them, she had virtually no opportunity to replace her losses.
Another reason that such a move would not work again was because it would seem too suspicious for the spy not to notice that she was on to him. No, she had had to use more subtle and slow-working approaches to try and figure out whom of the two that could have had both the motive and the opportunity to report information on Aiedail to Mercury.
Lifael had the opportunities during the many hours of the day that he was not with a fellow member, and he had recently been quite complacent and not even once tried to drive support away from Loivissa and towards himself as their leader, which was suspicious in and of itself.
Lord Elwing on the other hand, would have had ample opportunity to betray them while he was posing in the court of Albion, but Loivissa still believed that the rage that she had felt oozing out from him when they had first met had not dimmed even the slightest over the years.
She also still remembered the fiery speech that he had given when they had first met, about how he had wanted for things to go back to how they once were and that he craved justice for the deaths of his kinsmen, and the fact that he had given it in the Ancient language told her that it had been the truth.
Then again, Mercury is infamous for abusing the loopholes in the Ancient language to say one thing and do another, Loivissa suddenly recalled with shock, if he had tutored his spy beforehand on how to go around such limits, then I cannot trust what they say, even if they are saying it in the Ancient language.
That was a disturbing thought, but a useful one nonetheless. It meant that she would have to use another approach when she confronted both of them during the meeting later today that would encompass all of Aiedail's remaining members. Unfortunately, the only other sure way to figure out who of the two that was the traitor was by going through their minds one at a time.
I will have to alert the others of the situation beforehand then, Loivissa mused, after I have done so, I can enlist their help in restraining the two and going through their minds one by one. If they have nothing to hide, then they will not force me to force my way through. Afterwards, they will agree with me that I had no choice in order to flush out the traitor, I know it.
Loivissa knew that that line of thought was a dangerous one, as it could very quickly lead to becoming as tyrannical as the mad king. She would not compare it to Mercury's rule, as he had, to her knowledge, not even once forced his way into the minds of his enemies or allies.
It was evident by the fact that Aiedail had not had to move that he had neither done it with the late Earl Karl or his son, which Loivissa was extremely grateful for, as their headquarters had finally become homely and there was not that many hidden fortresses out there.
No, his malice was a different one from the mad king's entirely, as he would play with the thoughts and feelings of foes and allies alike to his own amusement, as well as commit countless evil acts without so much as blinking, but he would not sink to breaking into their minds unless he absolutely had to. There was no challenge in that.
It was to avenge those that had died and free those that still lived that Loivissa had initially started on this quest to kill Mercury, and it was because of her guilt for allowing him to come as far as he had, as well as starting him on this journey, that she knew that it had to be her that dealt the final blow.
Firstly though, she had to make her way back to their headquarters, where the rest of Aiedail, and her final obstacles before going after Mercury, awaited.
She jumped across a stream that ran much deeper than it usually did, before she had to slide inside a hidden narrow opening in a rock wall. The opening quickly turned into a deep and dark cave, but her werelight lit the place up.
Eventually, she came to a crossroads, which led into many different directions, but only those that were intimate with the layout of the caves in this mountain would know which one led back up to the surface. She was however intimate with what way to take, so she took the third tunnel to her left.
The tunnel did not initially go upwards, but instead descended further downwards into the roots of the mountain, but Loivissa knew that if she chose the left route on the next crossing, then the tunnel would eventually lead up to the surface again.
As far as she and the rest of Aiedail knew, the system of caves down here did not go up to the surface anywhere else, though none of them had fully explored what was located far down the other tunnels, as they all seemed to go further down forever.
It was just one of the many natural barriers that prevented random travellers from ever stumbling upon Aiedail's headquarters. Others involved having to cross a river that ran 15 metres across, and an extra 10 metres in the spring and fall, as well as just making the climb up the mountain, which not that many did due to the Spine's reputation.
It was then that she noticed it, the dreadful scent of smoke in the air. Loivissa stopped moving entirely to better sniff it, but there was no mistaking the scent of smoke. It made a chill run down her back.
Please be a forest fire, please just be a forest fire, she chanted as she began to run up the slope in an effort to get to the top faster.
If it was a forest fire, then it would be quite bad, as their headquarters was entirely surrounded by trees, but the alternative was even worse.
No, it could not have happened. Not now, when everything is finally ready, Loivissa thought as she neared the surface, which slowly but surely made the natural light dull out her werelight until she cancelled it.
When she reached the surface, it was to face her worst nightmare. Their headquarters was a smouldering ruin, as was much of the surrounding forest, but what lay on the plains between the mouth of the cave and the burning building was what told Loivissa that everything was not going to be alright.
Because lying on the charred grass was the broken and mangled corpse of Lifael's dragon, Ziruvit. His left wing was buried beneath his body, and the right one was broken and bent halfway down, so that the bone stuck out.
Gashes and cuts were abundant upon his main body, neck and tail, and his head was bent in such an angle that it could only mean that he had landed directly on it when he had crashed with the ground after his wing had been broken.
Loivissa drew her sword and slowly and cautiously moved closer to the large body, and after not encountering any threats on the entire way there, she gave herself the time to properly search the corpse for clues as to what had happened.
On the other side of the corpse, she found Ziruvit's rider, Lifael, impaled upon several broken and discarded spears. It looked like he had been defending the corpse with his last breath.
There was no time to do anything about those that had already died, so after once again checking her surroundings for signs of danger, Loivissa ventured further and further towards the smouldering ruin that had once been her base.
The stone archway, where their door had once stood, was still intact, but the door itself had been blasted off of its hinges and the remains of it had degenerated into a pile of smouldering embers. Upon entering, she had been wary of ambushes, but that faded as soon as she saw the body of her brother sitting in a pool of his own blood with his back against the wall, where the door to her office had once been.
His blade was missing, obviously taken by his attackers because of the rareness of rider weapons, and it looked like the wound that had ended up killing him had gone straight into the heart. Beside him, Lord Elwing's corpse lay with the face down against the stone floor and the gaping hole of a sword at the back of his neck.
It was clear that the two had made their last stand in here, likely trying to hold their attackers off while searching for and destroying whatever damaging papers that might have been in Loivissa's desk. Judging from the papers that had been haphazardly spread on the floor and trampled upon, it had not been those that the attackers had come for.
A sudden sense of dread overwhelmed her as her thoughts immediately turned to the one other object that could have been of interest to Mercury; the dauthdaert. She bolted from the room and towards Rhunön's workspace, no longer checking for ambushes as she went.
The ceiling had collapsed in several places on the way there, so she had to find ways around, but eventually, she found the elven smith's rooms. The door had been broken up, and inside the room, she found Rhunön's headless corpse lying across an anvil with a hammer dangling from her fingers.
Please let them not have found it, Loivissa thought desperately as she immediately went to the dauthdaert's hiding place.
It had not been long after she had entrusted Rhunön with the secret of the traitor that they had agreed to keep the dauthdaert hidden inside a hollow room in the wall that only the two of them knew about, so as to prevent it from being stolen.
The stones looked untouched, and Loivissa had no reason to assume that they would put them back in place, but there was still the possibility that Rhunön had had it out when they had come for her. It was therefore with trembling fingers that she pulled the stones out one by one, until the full length of the blue sword in its sheath come into view.
She breathed a sigh of relief from the knowledge that Mercury's men, because there could be no doubt that he had been behind this attack, had not found this. It was then that her thoughts turned to the bodies that she had found on her way here, and those that she had not found.
If Augms' corpse had been outside, she would have seen it, and though she had not searched the entire place yet, she doubted that she would find Dweyrn's corpse somewhere in it. There could only be one explanation as to whom the traitor had been, now that both of her other candidates had been so brutally butchered.
It did not make any sense though, as Dweyrn had been with her from the very beginning, and she had even been a part of the ambush on Mercury that had gone so terrible. Still, there was no denying the facts, so why the dwarf had done it did not matter.
Slowly but surely, Loivissa began to gather the bodies of her fallen comrades upon Ziruvit's body, as the dragon was too large to move. After it was done, she gathered as much wood as she could and piled it upon the bodies, before she lit the bonfire to give them a proper burial.
Not even once during the arduous work did she shed a single tear. Not even when she had to carry her brother's corpse out or when she lit the bonfire did she cry or mourn for those that she had lost.
It was only after the fire had really begun to eat into the corpses and the smell of them had reached her nostrils that the true prospects of what had just happened dawned on her heart.
Everyone that matters to me is gone. I kept pushing them down this path, and now look what it has brought them, she thought sadly, before she looked down at her namesake, which she still held in her hands, they all died for this.
It was as she studied the blade that matched so well with the lapis lazuli ring on her finger that she realized what she had to do; she had to go on. She could not bring anyone back from the dead, and no one whose opinion mattered to her would ever thank her for what she had done to get here…but she could avenge them.
Yes, there was still the possibility that she could use the tunnel, and even if she ended up dying because of this, avenging her comrades was the least that she could do to honour their sacrifices. It was with this resolve that she unbuckled her usual sword from her belt and threw it upon the funeral pyre, before she attached her namesake to her hip.
"Mercury, you will die by my hand", she promised to no one and everyone.
Ilumëo POV
"Cheers, to the peace that will finally descend upon the world and a job well done", Mercury proclaimed and raised his glass of brandy to meet her own and the one of the small dwarven dragon rider called Dweyrn.
"To a prosperous future for all", Dweyrn saluted.
After the drinks had been tasted, Mercury returned to his seat behind the desk that would soon be Ilumëo's, while she returned to her post behind him and Dweyrn sat in the comfortable chair in front of the desk, which had a few pillows to bring the dwarf up to a proper height.
"So, how does it feel to finally be finished with all of this?", Mercury questioned curiously, "I cannot believe that it was easy to just turn your back on them after so many years?"
"I cannot deny that it is not strange", Dweyrn answered cautiously, "and I would once again like to thank you for allowing me to not have to participate in the battle".
"No need to mention it", Mercury waved it away, as if it was nothing.
Ilumëo knew that he had pulled her out because he had his doubts concerning what the dwarven woman would do if she was asked to stab her former friends in the back, and that right now, he was merely testing her to gauge her reaction.
"By the way, how is your shoulder doing?", he inquired and gestured to the shoulder that she had been injured in.
"Much better than after I let them shoot me in it after your men disposed of Tahu", Dweyrn answered with a reflexive roll of the shoulder in question, "though it is still a mystery how Loivissa found out about there even being a spy in her midst. It is especially vexing since I went undetected all those years between the ambush and now".
Ilumëo knew how Loivissa had found out; she had told the elven woman herself after all, but she kept her tongue firmly in cheek about that particular detail.
"It does not really matter now anyway", Mercury said and took a sip from his brandy, "everything turned out as I had foreseen it. Do you remember what I told you before you first joined Aiedail?"
"You told me that there was no way that they could ever win, before you told me where I could find them", Dweyrn answered, "and after the ambush, you told me that in order to keep everyone in line, Loivissa would use the same manipulation that she accused you of being guilty of".
"True, and after you witnessed every single one of my predictions come true, you realized that there could only be one victor in all of this", Mercury agreed, letting the implications remain unsaid.
"It was not just because of survival instinct that I decided to side with you", Dweyrn objected insulted, "it was primarily done because I could see no difference between the methods of yourself and those of Aiedail. After that disappeared, I figured that the best thing for Alagaësia would be to just remain at peace as a part of your Alliance".
"Of course, my apologies", Mercury said, "but I suppose that you would still like to have your reward for your exceptional services?"
"Aye, as we agreed upon", Dweyrn concurred, though Ilumëo detected a faint tint of dread in the voice.
It was not surprising, considering that the dwarf technically had no value to Mercury any longer. She was a loose end, and having been betraying her comrades for years, Dweyrn had no doubt run the same thought process and come to the same conclusion.
"The ship awaits you and Augms in the harbour. It will take you anywhere that you want and the entire cargo is yours, but if you ever get tired of seeing the world, then there is still room for the two of you in my new dragon rider order", Mercury said with the hints of a smirk tugging at his lips that most likely came from him anticipating her thought pattern and finding it amusing.
Before Dweyrn could answer though, a knock sounded at the door, before Elladan came inside. He was clad from neck to toe in armour, held his helmet underneath his arm and used the other to push the door open.
"Greetings", he said and nodded towards the occupants of the room, "it is with pleasure that I can report that my men counted all of the rebels among the fatalities during our raid of their headquarters".
"Excellent…", Mercury said slowly and smugly, drawing out the word to its fullest, while he stapled his fingers in front of him, "once you have rested from your trip on lethrblaka back, you can begin making sure that my ship will be readied for its last trip in a month".
"It shall be done, my lord", Elladan answered and curtsied, before he left the room and closed the door behind him.
"He did not mention the dauthdaert?", Dweyrn pointed out.
"No, I never bothered to order them to look for it", Mercury shrugged in indifference, "why should I, when I have so many other weapons in my collection that fulfils the same purposes?"
"Then why did you have me lead them to meet with Ilumëo those two times so that they could obtain it?", Dweyrn wondered.
Ilumëo once again had to keep her tongue firmly in cheek. If she did not, then she might accidentally reveal that it had not only been two meetings that had occurred between herself and Loivissa. They had had far more than just the initial two.
"To give them a bone to chase after and spend their resources on", Mercury answered with a shrug, "they diverted all of their resources and manpower to making the weapon work, which made it easy to discredit and cover up their limited contact with the outside world".
"But why even let them go on for so long when you could have wiped them out at any moment?", Dweyrn asked curious.
"There will always be dissidents in any new province, and in my centuries of doing this, I have found that it is much easier to have one big group that opposes me, which I know where is and how to deal with, than to have the dozen small groups that forms from the lack of a single big one", Mercury answered, "after all, it is much more difficult to install spies in and direct the efforts of a dozen small close-knitted groups".
"Like moths to a flame then", Dweyrn surmised with a chuckle, "is that also why you let Loivissa go in the beginning?"
"Kind of, yes", Mercury answered and twirled the contents of his glass, "she seemed a good candidate to be the flame, so I simply let her do that".
"But Loivissa mentioned that your aide swore to her in the Ancient language that she had not received orders to release her from you?", Dweyrn said with a puzzled look.
"And she never did", Mercury shrugged and downed the last of his glass, "I asked her to. There is a slight yet important difference. Anyway, is it not time for you to depart for your ship?"
"Of course, I shall keep you no longer", Dweyrn said and jumped down from the chair, before she went to the door, opened it and then closed it after her again.
It was then that Mercury turned to Ilumëo and said, "has everything been prepared for my endgame?"
"Yes, everything is either ready or is in the process of being readied for it", Ilumëo answered dutifully, despite how anxious she was about the matter.
"Good, once Dweyrn is out of my hair and with the curse of the eldunarya left behind in my previous body, nothing will be able to interfere with my plans", Mercury said with a wishful look in his eyes, "for 400 years, I have been preparing for this, and I will not tolerate any interference".
"I understand, my lord", Ilumëo said, "though I have to leave you now to attend a meeting regarding the first election of Albion's representatives for the Tribunal".
Mercury nodded in recognition, before Ilumëo began to exit the room at her usual pace, though she would have run if it had not been because it would have looked suspicious. She nodded to the two guards on either side of the door, before she continued down the hall with the same words reverberating in her head.
He has to die. It is what he deserves. It has to happen…the endgame…
...So...that happened...
I have to say that it has been really fun replying to reviews up until this point, because I knew this was coming but could not reveal it as a justification for some of the actions taken by Mercury(such as why the dauthdaert was so lightly guarded), and therefore had to really think of answers that could logically make sense, but without ever insisting that it was exactly as such.