To his credit, he recovered from the blow well, shaking off the daze and blowing a large gob of snot and blood out from his damaged nose. “Is this it, then? You’re just here to beat your helpless prisoner?”
“Not at all,” I replied. “I’ve just wanted to do that since the moment I laid eyes on you, is all. You have an extremely punchable face; has anybody ever told you that?”
“Yes, though they soon came to regret it,” he countered. “Most people have learned to treat me with the appropriate level of respect, you see, so I hear it less often than you’d expect.”
“I believe this is exactly the level of respect you deserve. After everything I heard about the genius intellect leading the Company, I expected so much more from you than...this,” I said, gesturing around us with a vague wave of my hand. “Your whole operation was dismantled by three people in one night. Tell me, Strategist, how could such a total loss earn my respect?”
“But that’s where you’re wrong,” he replied emphatically. “A loss is only a loss when you learn nothing from it, and I have learned a great deal tonight.”
I laughed. “I think I’m beginning to understand things now. You can never lose a battle if you just redefine losing.”
He chuckled in reply. “You’re sharp, I’ll give you that. Has anyone ever told you that your wit will get you in trouble someday?”
“Oh, sure, plenty of people,” I grinned. “Including your friend Virram Yorrell.”
I saw a quick flash of amusement cross his face. “Ah yes, the young King. Such an interesting man. So much more going on beneath the surface than meets the eye, wouldn’t you agree?”
“Entirely,” I agreed, silently cursing myself again for the poor assessment I had made of Virram when we first met. Checking briefly over my shoulder to ensure Val was still standing with Lia by the council table, I lowered my voice to a near whisper. “She may not want to believe you, but I do. When we turn you over to the Golden Throne, Virram will have you released before the sun sets. The only reason you agreed to her ‘terms’ is because they’re the fastest and safest way for you to get out of this city and back to your Company.”
“So, you’ve figured me out then,” he replied with a devilish grin. “What do you plan to do about it? You need me as much as I need you.”
“That’s where you’re wrong.” I placed a hand on the pommel of my sword and tapped softly on the grip. “I don’t need you in the slightest. I could kill you now, walk out those doors, and leave Attetsia without a second thought. I don’t care about you, this city, or the King.”
“Then what do you care about?” he asked slowly, his eyes narrowing. “If that’s true, why are you even here?”
“Warp.” The affable tone of my voice drained away as I finally reached the main focus of my interrogation. “Tell me how you’re making it, and where you’re keeping it.” While I was confident I had been wrong about the Dominion appearing in Attetsia, the similarities they shared with the men under the influence of Warp were too great for me to ignore.
“I see,” the Strategist remarked under his breath, slowly nodding his head. He continued with his private line of thought for a moment, his eyes staring absently into the floor, then refocused on me and smiled. “We did not manufacture Warp, we simply modified it; it is produced almost exclusively in Doram and sold to the rest of the world through semi-legal operations. Of course, now that...uhm…” he trailed off and gestured with his chin up to the raised platform. “Uhm...Solette! Yes, that was her name. Now that Solette is dead, I imagine my days of modifying Warp are behind me.”
I was taken aback by the entirely disinterested tone of his voice as he continued to speak about the woman who had been his ally. “Her notes should still be in our quarters on the flagship, but nobody within the Company has the aptitude to follow them effectively. From what I understand, the methods she used for her magic were far more abstract than the standard rituals taught in the Unity church.” He let out a brief, bored sigh. “As for the where of the matter, our entire supply is in a chest beneath the council table.”
“All of it?” I asked suspiciously, caught off guard by the straightforward answer.
“All of it,” he affirmed. “As we were to mobilize our entire force at dawn, the entire supply was planned to be distributed among the Unbound men; one last test before another round of modifications to the formula. With that plan now canceled, I find myself with no further need for it. Feel free to help yourself.”
I snorted. “Sure. It’s that easy.”
He shrugged and eyed me with an amused grin. “No tricks. You can either take the Warp, or leave it for someone else to find. Your choice.”
Silence stretched out between us as I struggled to pin down his motives. Why would he just give it to me? He wants me to take it, but to what end? I take it and turn it in as evidence of his crimes here, and he gets it back when Virram inevitably lets him go? Does he think I’ll use it? Maybe he thought far enough ahead for this eventuality and poisoned the supply? I shook my head and turned away from him. “We’ll see.”
“I had a wonderful time speaking with you. It’s been so very enlightening,” he called out as I left.
A small chill ran down my spine as I paused at the base of the stairs. The Strategist’s voice was unsettling on a deep, subconscious level; something about the mixture of confidence and contempt he exuded, even while bound and imprisoned, gave the impression that he knew what I was thinking before I did. Turning sharply on my heel, I strode back across the room towards him.
His lips curled into a coy grin as he watched me approach. “Oh? Did you think of something else you’d like to ask me?”
Without a word, I yanked up on his gag and secured it back into his mouth, making sure to tighten the knot at the back of his head. Satisfied with my handiwork, I looked him over and gave him a small nod, then returned to the council table. Stepping lightly around Solette’s body once again, I moved to where the Strategist had been sitting when we first entered the room and pulled out the chair. To my surprise, there was a lockbox hidden in the shadow of one of the table legs. It was difficult to spot, and would most likely have been passed over had I not known where to look.
I slid the lockbox out and popped the latch. The interior of the box was about the size of a loaf of bread, and was packed completely full with identical white silk pouches; brushing my fingers over the tops of the bags, I counted at least sixty in total. Enough for an entire vanguard of enhanced soldiers. I withdrew one of the pouches and pulled open the drawstrings, then upended the contents into a cupped hand. A dozen wine-colored crystals poured out and filled my palm, flickering like bloody diamonds in the torchlight.
“What’s that?” Lia asked, resting her head on my shoulder.
The sudden contact made me jump, and a few of the Warp crystals spilled onto the floor as I spun to see who had snuck up on me. “Oh, it’s you. Sorry, I was...preoccupied,” I apologized. Taking extra care to find every lost crystal, I returned them to the small silk bag and drew the strings. “This is the Warp that Solette modified. Apparently, it’s the entire supply.”
She looked over the contents of the box briefly, then back up to me. “Are you feeling okay, Lux?”
I rolled the pouch around my palm absentmindedly. “I’m...yeah, I’m alright. Just a bit distracted, I guess.” I glanced over at the Strategist and lowered my voice. “He just...told me where it was. Why would he do that, if not for some scheme to trick me into doing something for him?”
Lia pondered the question for a moment. “Well, what do you want to do?”
“I want to find out what this stuff really is,” I answered honestly. “I want to know why it made those men look like Thralls.”
“Okay then. Let’s do that,” she said with an encouraging smile. “It doesn’t matter if he’s planning something or not. Just do what you want to do.”
While I knew she was right, it didn’t help to assuage my worries at all. I took a deep breath, t
hen stood and flipped the lid of the chest closed with my foot. “Thanks, Lia. You’re right.”
“Of course I’m right!” she proclaimed, puffing out her chest. I laughed at the emphatic display, and a small grin crept across her face. “Now, it’s almost time for us to leave. It’ll be dawn soon.” She nodded towards the stained-glass windows at the back of the room, which had begun to glow with dim, pre-dawn light. “Are you feeling up to it?”
“I didn’t come this far just to quit now,” I said, testing my balance and range of motion with a few quick stretches. “Let’s put an end to this, once and for all.” I slipped the silk pouch into my pocket and picked up the chest of the remaining Warp, then followed Lia down to where the Strategist was being pulled roughly to his feet by Val.
She turned to us as we approached, and her eyes lingered on the unexplained lockbox in my hands. “It is time,” she said eventually, looking over the two of us.
I waited quietly, expecting some inspiring words about the importance of our mission or how we should feel pride in our work so far. As the silence between us lengthened awkwardly, I realized she had no intentions of speaking, so I cleared my throat. “I’ll be glad to be rid of this place. And this guy,” I said with a dark chuckle, looking to the Strategist. “I hope you understand that what you say in the next few minutes will determine whether you make it out of the city alive. If your men make any attempt to free you, you’ll be dead long before they reach you.”
“Yes, the Commander has made that quite clear herself over the course of the evening,” he replied coolly. “My men listen to me absolutely. Should the need arise, they will quell any unrest among the Unbound.”
“Let’s hope your faith in them is better placed than your faith in the General,” I remarked offhandedly. The thought gave me pause, and I looked back to the stairs where the General had died. I set down the chest of Warp and jogged across the room, leaving my companions without explanation.
“Lux, we need to leave,” Val called out after me uncertainly.
“Head to the lobby. I’ll catch up with you,” I responded as I knelt down beside the General’s body. From the corner of my eye I saw Val give an affirmative nod and shove the Strategist towards the exit, and the two of them began their trip. Lia lingered in place, watching me anxiously. “You should go with Val, in case there are any soldiers lingering in the hallways. I promise I won’t be long.” After one last moment of hesitation, she picked up the lockbox at her feet and jogged out of the room.
Since the last time I had seen him before my blackout, the General’s skin had paled to a shade nearly matching the silvery white color of his closely cropped hair and beard. I gave his body a quick inspection, searching for any trinket or possession that could be unmistakably identified as his. The greatest general the world has ever seen would never give up his swords, even in defeat. They’d have to be pried from his cold…
I shook my head and left the thought incomplete as I looked down at my impending task. With as careful and reverent of a shove as I could muster, I spun his corpse onto its side and unclasped his sword belt, letting it slide off as I let the body fall back onto the stairs. The Company sigil that decorated the front clasp of the belt was beautiful, made from inset gemstones and golden filigree that only a master craftsman could have created; it was no doubt worth more money than any Unbound or Company soldier had ever seen in their lifetime.
Setting the belt across my knee, I turned my attention to the missing swords. One sat on the floor by my feet, stained red by the pool of blood that had escaped the General’s punctured heart. The other blade rested against his leg, the handle still firmly grasped in his hand. I grimaced as I reached down and pulled his fingers open, fighting against both the rigor mortis in his muscles and the brazen sacrilege of my actions. Once the sword was free, I returned both weapons to their respective sheathes and stood to leave.
“You...fought well,” I murmured, closing my eyes for a moment of quiet respect. The gesture felt odd, yet necessary; while the idea of a benevolent God had died for me lifetimes ago, I had a sense of obligation to honor the man who had been so clearly devoted to the same craft that I pursued. “Rest now,” I intoned, finishing the prayer. Looking up to the council table, I nodded to Solette’s remains. “Rest now.”
My footsteps echoed loudly through the empty chamber as I hurried out of the room. As I retraced my steps through the dark hallways of the statehouse, my mind and stomach churned anxiously over the task ahead. I felt little concern for how the Unbound men would react: the initial demands of their revolution would be met in full through Valandra’s promises, all without the massive loss of life that their war with Kaldan would have brought. It was a better outcome than they could have hoped for, despite being coaxed into the revolution under false pretenses in the first place.
The Company men were a different issue entirely. Seeing their brilliant, fearless leader in chains might be enough to cause them to attack us in an effort to save him, regardless of what the Strategist said to dissuade them. Much to my dismay, the plan hinged on him both keeping his word and being as unquestionably effective as an orator and leader as claimed to be. If his speech succeeded, it would be a simple matter of transporting him back to Marin’s shop, retrieving our wagon, and driving him back to Yoria.
While I was feeling much better physically than I had any right to be after my endeavors, the idea of fighting off the entirety of the Company men present at the assembly seemed nearly impossible. I gripped the sword belt tighter in my hands as I considered the alternative scenario. If they won’t see reason, and we can’t use force...we’ll use intimidation. I knew it was a risky strategy, as it could easily provoke the men to further action, but seeing proof that the General had been killed also had the potential to put to rest any vainglorious thoughts of rescuing the Strategist from his captors.
The hair on the back of my neck stood up as I unknowingly stepped into the radius of Lia’s Detection magic. I felt a brief ping of alarm in her aura, followed immediately by a strong rush of relief, and I doubled my pace to catch up with the group before they reached the lobby. After another minute of travel through the dim corridors, I found Lia leaning against the wall, patiently waiting for my arrival.
“Are those the General’s swords?” she asked as soon as I appeared, clearly having considered the question over the course of my trip to her.
“Indeed they are,” I answered, giving the belt an emphatic shake. “They’re beautiful blades, especially when they aren’t trying to kill you.”
She pushed off from the wall and matched my speed as we followed behind the sound of Val’s armored footsteps stomping somewhere ahead of us. “Why did you stay behind for those?”
“It’s just a bit of insurance,” I answered. “Ideally, things will go exactly as they’re supposed to, and the swords will just end up as a lovely keepsake from our Attetsian vacation.”
Lia chuckled under her breath. “I think I’m going to need another vacation after this one. A better one.”
“Anywhere you want to go. For real, this time.” As we made our way down the hall, I couldn’t stop myself from staring at her out of the corner of my eye. It hadn’t even been a week since her first military mission started, yet she carried herself with the strength and ease of a seasoned veteran; it was nearly impossible to picture her as the same frightened girl I had first met in the dungeons below Yoria.
I realized I had stared far too long when she turned and raised an eyebrow at me. “Do you...need something, Lux?”
“No, no,” I said, looking away embarrassed. “I was just...thinking, is all. You’ve gone through a bit of an unfair crash course for this lifestyle of fighting and danger, all because of me. I feel bad about it, but at the same time...there’s nobody I’d rather have with me. There’s no way I would have made it this far without you.”
“I’m here because I want to be, not because you forced me into it,” she replied as she always did. “Plus, things are
different now. At first I wanted to follow you, no matter where you were going, because you…well, because you changed my life. I wouldn’t have been able to go back to the way things had always been once you showed me how things could be.”
She looked away as she continued in a softer tone. “I’m not that little girl anymore. I have the power to help the people I care about, and I can’t waste that power. If we hadn’t come here, the Company would have marched straight to Yoria’s gates, and that would have taken them straight through Tolamar. What would have happened to my parents if we hadn’t stopped the Strategist?” Her hands gripped tighter around the handles of the Warp lockbox as she shuddered. “I’m here because it’s the right thing to do.”
“If you keep talking like that, some people might start calling you a hero,” I teased.
She scrunched up her face at me and let out a flustered huff. “Well, what’s wrong with that? Not that I’m saying I think I’m a hero or anything!” She sputtered as she struggled to put together her next thought. “You’re the one who trained me! And you’re always talking about how you want to help the people who can’t help themselves! I just got it from you, that’s all.”
A laugh caught me off guard, and I took a moment to compose myself enough to respond. “That’s true, that’s true. It’s my best quality, really. And, coincidentally, my worst.” I leaned over and planted a quick kiss on the top of her head. “You just keep being you. That’s all that matters.” Lia smiled up at me for a long moment, then quietly shifted closer to my side until I rested my free arm around her shoulders.
We met up with Val and the Strategist as the lobby came into sight around the final corner, and the four of us walked together in tense silence to our final stop. I moved to the tall windows at the front of the lobby and snuck a careful glance through a crack in the heavy curtains; as expected, the plaza outside was packed with soldiers, all centered around the small wooden stage erected at the base of the stairs. I turned and nodded to the others. “They’re here.”
Restart Again: Volume 2 Page 31