Chapter Twenty Four
We all sat around a table in the mess hall. The broken table that Valeska had pushed Niyol onto was still there, next to where we sat. As I looked down on the twisted metal legs and the bent shiny surface, I hoped that he wasn’t too badly hurt. Either physically, or emotionally. He had really liked Valeska, so I knew that he must have been devastated to find out that she had been stringing him along the entire time. He had been her pawn, and now she had what she wanted from him, she had tossed him aside. He was sitting next to me, on my left. I wanted so badly to hug him, or squeeze his hand, or give him some kind of sign to show that I loved him and was thinking about him. But he was one of those people who doesn’t like physical contact. So I respected his wishes and didn’t embarrass him.
Ayres seemed completely at ease. She was sitting opposite Niyol, both of them in the middle on opposing sides. Across from me sat Captain Harris, who tried his best to avoid my gaze, and opposite Aura, who sat on the right of Niyol, was Timothy. Both of the men sat up straight, staring blanking in front of them. They looked like frozen gargoyles hanging on either side of the Assistant Director. She leaned her arms onto the shimmering steel table and wrapped her hands together, so that her fingers entwined. She cleared her throat, and then began.
“Well, Ventus. Is it alright if I call you three Ventus? It’s easier if I do.”
Aura gave Ayres the dirtiest look I’ve ever seen her give anyone as she crossed her arms in front of herself. Niyol pushed his chair backwards, away from the table to make a loud screeching sound. I sat there silently, smiling politely. There was an awkward silence, as Niyol and Aura tried to stare Ayres down. She glared back at them. I knew how stubborn my siblings were, and knew that they could happily sit like this for hours before they decided to ‘crack’. And guessing the type of person Ayres was, she would probably keep it going too, just to prove that she wasn’t going to back down. After a few moments, which seemed like hours, I decided to stop this foolishness.
“Yes, that’s fine.” I answered cheerfully. Ayres grinned oddly at me, and then continued.
“So, Ventus, let’s talk about the series of mishaps that have led us to this point. First off, I must apologise for this incredibly stupid blunder. No one at the Elementus Populas ever thought that the Inimicus could penetrate the organisation so deeply. Obviously the recruiting process has been badly mismanaged, and those responsible for checking and vetting Valeska will be punished very severely.”
“Isn’t this whole thing your fault then?” Niyol questioned condescendingly. “If you’re in charge of the Supernus, and the Supernus oversee the other departments, surely you should have known about this sooner?”
Ayres eyeballed him intensely.
“And didn’t your department hire her?” Aura added, “so therefore shouldn’t you be the one who gets punished?”
Ayres squeezed her fingers tightly and moved her jaw from side to side measuredly. It looked as if her head might explode.
“What about Sigwald?” I butted in, trying to relieve the building tension.
“Oh yes, well…” Ayres began, happy that I had changed the subject. She leant forward pointedly. “We can’t be sure that he isn’t a mole, so we will continue to hold and process him.”
“Process?” Aura spat, “What the hell does that mean?”
Ayres blinked rapidly, and then shifted her body slightly. Now it was her turn to change the topic of conversation.
“Also…”
“Wait a second,” Aura interrupted, “Sigwald is innocent. He and I figured out that Valeska was the traitor, he…”
“Sigwald called you while you were here, and you didn’t report it?” Ayres’ tone was harsh and serious. Aura looked uncomfortable, mainly because Timothy was anxious.
“I didn’t think that I should have to tell anyone, because it wasn’t anyone else’s business.”
“She told me!” I added, hoping that I would help diffuse the situation.
“Sigwald’s behaviour has been worse than I first thought,” Ayres decided, ignoring me.
“If you punish him, when he has done nothing but help us…” Niyol began.
“You’ll what?” Ayres provoked. “You’ll stop working for the Elementus Populas?” She scoffed at Captain Harris, who remained unmoved.
“Yes,” Niyol replied honestly. “After this whole ordeal, we were thinking about going it alone anyway. But I guess if Sigwald is out of a job, he could always come and work for us, freelance.”
Ayres’ face dropped.
“There might be other members of the Elementus Populas who’ll decide to work for us too,” Aura announced, looking at Timothy, who ignored her.
Ayres didn’t know what to do. She sat up straight and looked down, thinking. Then she returned her gaze to the three of us.
“I will consider what you have said, but right now we have more pressing concerns. While speaking to Sigwald and other members of staff, and by looking at the data stolen from us, we have figured out that…”
“Valeska is making a special suit that prevents us from using our powers against her? Yes, we know.” Aura smiled snidely, and sat back, content. Mentioning Valeska must have been painful for Niyol, but he didn’t even flinch. He must have been controlling his anger really well.
“Well done,” Ayres started, “but what you probably didn’t know is that she will be making it in mass quantities. A source of ours inside the Inimicus…” she leaned forward and whispered at me “we have moles too!” and then sat back and resumed in her normal voice, “…has informed us of this. There’s no doubt that she will have contacted the Inimicus and told them of your powers so that the suits will work even better.”
“But why?” Niyol spluttered desperately.
“She’s an angry woman,” Ayres replied in a sympathetic voice, “She’s obviously got a lot of emotional problems and… Oh that’s a load of old rubbish! The board tried to convince me that she has some kind of rationale behind it, but to be honest, she’s just a nasty person really isn’t she?”
Niyol said nothing, but shook his head slowly. I wanted to comfort him, but I didn’t.
“But why make loads of suits?” Aura questioned, “Why are they preparing to fight against us?”
“They aren’t,” Ayres returned confidently, “They’re probably just going to attack something of value, in this country, knowing that there would be nothing you could do to stop them.”
“Like what?” I asked.
“A bank job or something like that. It’s always about money with criminals.”
“No,” Niyol declared assertively, “she doesn’t care about money. She wants revenge. That’s all she’s ever wanted. She used to always talk about the ocean and how much she loved it. And just a few moments ago she said that she wanted to kill those responsible for damaging it.”
Ayres shrugged. “Perhaps. We spoke to the head of the Aqua Cohors, and it seems that when she worked there she did her job properly, and wasn’t working for the Inimicus. No files or documents were taken, and as far as we know, she hasn’t been back in contact with the Secondus there either. So it seems to be a fairly new decision of hers, to go against the people who trusted in her.”
“Wait a second,” Aura belted out, lurching forward in her chair. “Yes of course! It has to be!”
“What is it?” Niyol and Ayres questioned at the same time. Aura smiled at them, and then jumped up from her seat.
“A few days ago, the day of the attack, I was speaking with Terrence, you know, one of the science geeks? And he said that he had found a flyer for the Southampton Boat Show on Valeska’s desk.”
“So what?” Niyol pondered, but I had already figured it all out. It made perfect sense. I grinned at Aura and nodded approval for her to continue.
“Valeska wants to hurt the people responsible for damaging the sea. The Southampton Boat show will have thousands of people there, all of them who own or want to own private boats. It is also next to a hug
e port, and I’m sure there are other places there she can destroy, like the cruise ship terminal. It’s in England, it’s very public and it’s in two days’ time!”
Aura sat back down, proud of herself, which she should be. She cracked the code and figured it all out. Now it was Ayres’ turn to jump to her feet.
“So this whole thing was a setup from the start. She knew when the Inimicus would attack, she made you fight, she led you here, and she escaped, showing you that there is nothing you can do to stop her. She knows that we can’t get the Aqua or Terra teams over here in time, and neither of them technically could stop her without harming other people…”
Niyol banged his fists on the table.
“We have to stop her! We can’t let the Inimicus kill thousands of innocent people!”
“She might not kill them,” Ayres rationalised, “she might just want to show them what she is capable of, and scare them. She’ll march down there with thousands of armed soldiers and make a very public statement. She’ll have the whole world watching her. And she knows that there’s nothing you can do about it…” Ayres turned to Captain Harris.
“Captain, how long would it take you to get your men down to Southampton?”
“We could be there by the end of the day.”
“Excellent.”
“No!” Niyol shouted, “No! You can’t send innocent men and women to their deaths!”
Ayres smiled smugly. “We wouldn’t be. The Elementus Populas’ armed forces are the very best…”
“We’ve seen what the Inimicus soldiers are like, first hand. We barely escaped, and we have supernatural wind powers!” Niyol was on his feet now, pleading urgently.
“You’ve had what, two months of training? Our army members have, on average, at least ten years!”
“Now it was my turn to leap to my feet.
“It doesn’t matter! They’re deadly! And they’re expecting it! They know that we know that they will be wearing suits to protect themselves against our attacks. That means that they know you’ll send your forces in. And they’ll wipe you out! What if that is their plan all along? To kill the boat owners and your entire force?! Two birds: one stone!”
“Don’t be silly,” Ayres patronised me, “Even if they are expecting it, they still won’t be any match for us.”
“Please,” I begged, “don’t be conceited. You’re playing with people’s lives!”
“I’ve had just about enough of the three of you!” Ayres shrieked, temporarily losing her calm composure, “You will not interfere in things you cannot understand! You will do as you’re told, and you will listen to me! I’ve been doing this job since before any of you were born! Perhaps you should respect my opinion!”
Ayres’ face was red, and a blotchy raspberry rash had exploded across her neck. Captain Harris and Timothy were now on their feet too, and so we were all standing around the table as if we were about to reach into our pockets and have a Wild West style gun fight.
“Captain Harris, go and get your men…”
“Who do you work for Captain Harris?” Niyol asked him, rudely cutting her off.
Captain Harris once again stood still, stiffened to the spot as he tried to decide whether or not he should answer the question. Ayres twisted her neck around and grimaced at him, thrusting her head towards the door.
“I work for the Elementus Populas Sir,” he replied, grudgingly.
“And who do they work for?” Niyol continued.
“The Elementals.”
“So who has more authority: Assistant Director Ayres, or me, Primus of the Ventus?”
Captain Harris didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t ignore a direct question from a Ventus, but he didn’t want to betray Ayres either.
“It’s not a trick question,” Niyol persisted, “I just want to know who can ultimately tell you what to do. If we have authority over Ayres, then that would mean you must do as we command, correct?”
“Correct,” Captain Harris repeated, still not giving a definitive answer.
“So who has the final say?”
I was surprised by Niyol. Only about an hour ago he was acting incredibly stupid and immaturely, and now he was being shrewd and intelligent. Niyol didn’t have a reputation for being smart, but he didn’t need one since he was amazing at every physical task he ever put his hands too. I was proud of him. He was proving that he could be the leader of the Ventus after all.
Ayres was growing increasingly agitated. Her palms were sweaty and she began to fidget with them. Her eyes darted around the room. It was as if all of her confidence was draining out of her into a puddle around her feet. Captain Harris still didn’t want to answer the question, but eventually, he did.
“You do, I suppose,” he announced, finally, “but it is always wise for people in charge to listen to those of us who have more experience with things like this.”
Niyol didn’t appreciate the additional piece of sage advice. He smirked at Ayres, as did Aura, as they had both proved that she was in fact, not ‘the boss’. Even though Captain Harris was being facetious, I agreed with what he had said. We were not seasoned warriors, and we knew next to nothing about fighting battles. I hoped that Niyol and Aura weren’t going to behave pig headedly, and march into this war without any significant aide.
“I can’t believe this!” Ayres exploded at Captain Harris. “Why did you tell them that?!?”
“I can’t lie to the Commander,” Captain Harris replied, bowing his head in shame.
“Commander?” Niyol mimicked, enjoying the word rolling from his own tongue.
“Don’t go crazy,” Aura warned.
“I won’t.”
There was another awkward silence, as Niyol and Aura considered their newly appointed position of power. Ayres just stood there, gawping, probably deciding if she should storm out or not. It was time for me to say something.
“I think that Captain Harris is right, Niyol. If we are going to try to stop Valeska, which I think we should,” Ayres snorted rudely, “then we might as well plan how to do it with the help of the Captain and,” I said eyeballing Ayres at the same time, “Assistant Director Ayres.”
Ayres seemed pleased with this, and stopped her hands from wringing one another. She looked to Niyol and Aura optimistically, hopeful that they would listen to my advice. They looked at one another sullenly, and then turned to face me.
“You’re right,” Niyol said emphatically, “if we’re going to do something stupid, we might as well do it with all the help we can get.”
Ventus Page 24