The Brightest Shadow, page 60
Eventually they got back. There was no talk of anyone getting blindfolded - she had definitely proved herself with this. Before they approached the tunnel, she helped Graenin get into a spare robe, because of course he had a spare robe. Though he still favored his stomach, he was able to walk normally, put his hands in his sleeves, and pretend he was in complete control.
The guards looked shocked when they arrived. One of them hesitantly stepped forward. "Umm... we need identification t-"
"We've got all our fucking identification in a big stinking pile back there." Veron jabbed a thumb over her shoulder. "We need to talk. Somebody run in and get Destrela. The rest of you, get the bodies and the supplies brought in."
They stared at her for only a heartbeat before they hastened to obey. Veron grabbed the sack with two corpses, swung it over her shoulder, and headed in. As she strode in confidently with Graenin just behind her, she realized that she had no idea which way to go. Fortunately, Graenin led them along the right tunnels without forcibly taking the lead.
When they reached the first orb-lit room, Veron allowed herself to breathe a sigh of relief. They were back. She wouldn't feel better until she'd gotten rid of all the filth covering her and slept for a day, but it was better than nothing. She felt alive again, at least.
To her surprise, Destrela wasn't the first to arrive, instead it was the kids. Veron didn't let them see her weariness, instead shooting them a cocky grin. "You all been working hard?"
Slaten simply nodded, while Celivia looked over her and Graenin carefully as if trying to figure out what they'd been through. Tani was the most striking, however, grinning and drawing her knives as she stepped forward.
"Veron, I did it! Try this!"
That was all the warning she gave before she threw her first knife. It was fast, though not as monstrously fast as those Deathspawn, so Veron got her sword up easily. To her surprise, the thrown knife drove her blade to the side with more weight than she'd expected.
There was another knife coming... and Veron had a split second to see that Tani had two knives in her other hand, too. Then she needed to act fast to deflect the second knife, and barely managed to knock away the third. The last came straight for her face and Veron had no choice but to dodge, feeling it pass by her face and send her hair fluttering.
Tani grinned and looked at her expectantly. Veron had to nod in appreciation - it had certainly been nothing like casually knocking down the girl's useless knives like when they'd first met. "Not bad, kid. You've gotten a lot stronger."
"Thank you!" Tani cheerfully moved to pick up her weapons. "I still want to reflect on how my skills can improve with this, but I've accomplished the goal. Do you think they'll let me come out of the base on assignments?"
"Maybe you'd better let us talk to Destrela first. Things might be getting more dangerous."
They didn't have to wait long before the bitch herself showed up, wearing her usual sour expression. She glared at the kids and then fixed her eyes on Veron and Graenin. "Just what gives you the right to demand my presence with such urgency?"
"These," Graenin said. As he gestured to the side, Veron tossed the sack onto the ground. Everyone heard the sound of bodies hitting the cave floor and looked. While she had their attention, Veron cut open the side of the bag to show the bodies of the small Deathspawn. One man and one woman, just in case it made any difference.
"Well, fuck." Destrela turned away, rubbing her forehead with one hand. The others didn't seem to recognize them, peering closer.
"Other than being shorter than average, what was unusual about these Deathspawn?" Slaten asked.
Veron was inclined to just say they were fast as fuck, but Graenin gave a more serious account of the event. He made himself look better, but he didn't hide the fact that she'd saved him from the enemy leader. Given his ego, that had probably taken a lot. Veron resolved to thank him for it later and could think of a few things they could do before his injuries healed.
When the account ended, Destrela stood very still. Veron raised an eyebrow at her. "You know something about this?"
"I heard that Aryabaus was getting more troops, but I didn't think he'd have enough to lay a trap like this." Destrela unsheathed one of her daggers and flipped it around her fingers, eyes still on the bodies as if she wasn't even aware she was doing it. "But if he got some of these, that's bad. I've heard they fought on Fareshel, but didn't expect them to come here. If they're breeding these, that's bad for us."
"Breeding?" Celivia stared at the bodies with a strange look on her face, as if morbidly fascinated. "What are they?"
"You know how the Catai win fights by being tough and strong? Well, they're not born like that, or at least I think most of them aren't. They get that way via training. But these..." Destrela stabbed the tip of her dagger at the corpses. "From what I hear, they breed them like that. Runts, but then they train them in nothing but lethal force. Don't even care about their own lives, just kill until they're dead. If your goal is to take down a strong enemy without wasting one of your own fully trained warriors..."
Celivia considered that in silence while Veron felt the need to nod and acknowledge it. "If you're going to throw lives away, that's the way to do it. Without me and Graenin, they probably could have killed everyone pretty quickly. Even not counting the leader, me alone against all of them... I don't like those odds."
"He's trying to make us rush." Destrela slammed her dagger back into its sheath. "Aryabaus knows he can't find our base by searching, so he's trying to make us sloppy."
Graenin folded his arms and leaned back against the cave wall, making it look casual but probably favoring his injury. "What do we do, then?"
"Act more cautiously, only hit the highest priority targets. No half-trained fighters going out anymore. We'll play it safe until we can get more information. Did you at least get the supplies?"
Veron nodded. "No thanks to y-"
"Then it was worth it." Destrela turned on her heel and vanished into the tunnels.
Veron stared after her. That was pretty cold. She didn't really care about the fighters who had lost their lives, but it was a different thing to say those deaths were worth it. Not a calculation she wanted to do... or one that she had to do. Instead, Veron nodded to Graenin and turned toward the kids.
"Alright, your dear granny Veron needs to drink until she can't see straight. Where are they keeping the booze now?"
Tani smiled and gestured for her to follow, so Veron fell in with them. The other two weren't so cheerful, but it was nice to have them there instead of seinshocked men who had seen their companions die in an instant. It was easier to forget about that, leave aside her other problems, and pretend that things were fine. Veron was ready to lie to them and herself, except for one thing:
She really needed a drink.
Chapter 45
-
"There will be only one Hero, of course. Do not be disheartened by tales of those who claim to be the Hero and fail. They may be inspired by the light of the Legend, but they are only imitators, precursors to the true Hero who will fulfill every jot and tittle of what has been foretold.
"Our challenge, then, is to see which roles remain uncast, both for ourselves and for Corah. The more we understand the shape of the Legend around us, the more we can move along with it instead of being swept away. This should be the true goal of all the Legend's adherents."
- excerpt from a letter written by Lady Karerela of East Corah
-
When he wasn't training, Slaten carefully explored the tunnels he was allowed to access. Partially because he wanted to know his surroundings, partially because he had little better to do. Tani had been sent on an assignment and Celivia seemed preoccupied, so he had fewer options.
That day he had been allowed into the supply section, since the guards were familiar with him by now. Most of it consisted of simple caves filled with supplies, but he was surprised to find one room that glowed with a cool blue light. Slaten let his sein flow just in case and walked in to explore.
Strangely, he found that most of the room was filled with water. At first it seemed to be glowing, but when he approached the side he saw that there were sein spheres inside that let off a soft blue light. That light suffused the water and created the glow, making the dark shapes flitting within it obvious. So this was how they could eat fish despite their location.
"Peaceful, isn't it?"
The voice took him off guard and he had to restrain his instincts from grabbing his sword as he turned. Slaten was even more surprised to find that Melal was the one who spoke. He didn't sound like himself. All he was doing was sitting back against the wall in one corner, cast in blue light and shadow. When Slaten approached, he didn't look up.
"The training room is too noisy, it's a pain. I prefer to come here to think."
"I wondered where you were." Slaten had been slightly discomforted by Melal's disappearance, and now found himself smiling. He could understand the value of a room like this. "You're working on developing your soul's sense of sein?"
"What?" Melal finally looked up, as if that was the last thing he had expected. "Oh, that. No, I haven't really thought about it."
Slaten had no idea how to react to that and simply stared. As the silence continued, he found a slow anger growing within him. If he had received a result even half as grand as Melal's, he would have thrown himself into training night and day. Yet none of that anger made it to his face and Melal was looking back to the water again anyway.
"Hey, do you remember Rhilanor?"
The unexpected question broke apart his growing anger and Slaten had to take a moment just to formulate a weak response. "Of course I do."
"I've been thinking about what he said. About going home. If I had the chance today, I wouldn't take it." Melal slowly got to his feet, still staring at the water. "Compared to everything else I've seen, being the head of a tiny noble family doesn't mean much of anything. My father didn't even have the strength not to send me away to the Deathspawn. And there will always be bastards like Narenel to lord their status over us.
"No, if I go back home, I want to return home in triumph. After everyone has acknowledged that I'm the Hero. After we've eradicated every Deathspawn from the world." As he spoke, Melal straightened and pulled his shoulders back. Though the blue light played over his entire body, his eyes remained pure white. "Then it will be over and everyone can go back home."
"I see." Slaten dropped his eyes to the water as well. "Is that why you do everything? That would make you happy?"
"Of course!" Melal grinned and suddenly he was himself again. "With my power, I could turn my family's fortunes around, and then I could relax for the rest of my life. That part is easy. The only thing I haven't figured out is if I should marry one of the girls who used to think they were too good for me, or if I'm too good for them now. I've been trying to see if Laeri is interested, but she seems very distracted. Do you think that's suspicious, that she barely pays attention to me?"
"I... am afraid I am the wrong person to ask."
Melal laughed. "I forgot who I was talking to! The day you show interest in a woman is the day I'll eat my sword."
Though Slaten disliked being misunderstood, he was more distracted by the undercurrent of Melal's words. After collecting his thoughts, he managed to ask the question he'd originally wanted. "What is the Hero meant to do?"
"What am I meant to do, you mean?"
Slaten closed his eyes and just surrendered the answer. "Yes."
"The Hero completes the Legend, of course. You should know that, you've seen..." Melal trailed off, his certainty wavering. For a moment he looked like a lonely boy. "It's not the same as it was before. Everyone should be swept up in the Legend, but they aren't. The city is just so broad, I don't see... I'm missing something..."
For just a moment, Melal didn't seem like the Hero. Slaten knew that he should say something but wasn't sure what. He opened his mouth to blurt what came to mind, yet choked on cloying light. Before he could push past it, the moment was gone and Melal squared his shoulders.
"The Hero annihilates all the Deathspawn and brings peace - true peace - back to the world. False heroes always forget that the Hero belongs to the entire world. Fighting a few Deathspawn isn't enough. There's a greater purpose, a path the Legend has set before me... I just haven't quite figured it out yet. But I'm getting closer."
Though the words made an old horror well up in Slaten's chest, it was matched by a surge of unwanted hope. None of that conflict was evident on Melal's face, he simply seemed puzzled. Was that what he had actually been contemplating here?
"I think... I know that I need to cut the head off the serpent, somehow." Melal raised a hand in front of him and formed a tight fist. "I think there are some who will stand in my way, perhaps... something else I need to do. But in the end, all of that is just preparation. Everything will come down to the final moment, to the last battle foretold in the Legend."
"But that preparation doesn't involve training?"
"It doesn't matter." Melal said the words so easily that Slaten almost couldn't believe he had heard correctly, but the other man was already continuing. "None of the stories of the Legend say a word about the Hero working. What matters in the end is courage. What wins this war is not strength, but righteousness. I have no time to waste on trivial matters."
Slaten's mind twisted, wrenched by thoughts he could not control. He wished that he had studied Tani's mental technique more, but it was not something that could be learned in a day. And standing right next to Melal, hearing him speak as the Hero and yet as himself, Slaten wasn't sure it would be enough. Not at his level of skill.
"So..." Slaten took a deep breath and forced more words out. "What happens next?"
"Hell if I know." Melal sat back down in his corner and put his hands up behind his head. "I think I need to wait for something else. The Legend might be about the Hero, but it's not just the Hero. I think I'll need some Companions, before the end. And maybe someone to... not sure about that part yet..."
"You need to think about it more?"
"What I need to think about are ways to get Laeri to pay attention to me." Melal grinned at him, all traces of seriousness gone. Slaten stood silently for several heartbeats, then nodded to Melal and walked out of the room.
Once he had put the blue glow behind him, Slaten was able to think again. Though torch smoke filled the dark corridor, he breathed the air deeply and tried to push the haze out of his mind. He remembered what Melal had said, however, quite clearly. Over the coming days he'd think about every word.
Though he should have felt mentally refreshed and prepared for training again, Slaten found that his sein was in disarray. He changed direction and focused inward. As he walked, he focused on his breathing and let the flow return to its stable patterns. By the time he had reached the infirmary, he felt mostly himself again.
The infirmary was a long cave of cots with healing supplies tucked into alcoves along the sides. It was also the uncontested domain of Auntie Elima. When a group returned from an assignment heavily injured, it became a hive of activity that she ruled over with an iron fist, even Destrela not daring to get in her way. Given how well she kept the resistance's fighters alive, no one challenged her.
But at the moment, the room was mostly empty. A few of the young healers sat clustered together around a table, casually drinking tea. He didn't see Laeri among them, so he didn't approach. Since he had some idea of how hard they worked when the injured returned, he knew they could use their rest.
Other than them, the main occupants of the room were a few seinshocked men and women on cots at the far end. Auntie Elima sat in a chair beside one of them, reading in a soft voice that seemed to soothe their nerves.
And then there was Teren, running toward him with a smile on her face. "Slaten! You came!" She moved to hug him and he realized that she no longer dove at his knees. As much as had changed over the past years for him, more had changed for her.
She still giggled girlishly as she hugged him. "I'm learning all sorts of things from Auntie Elima! She still makes me stay outside when there are lots of hurt people, but I'm learning about all the herbs and how to mix them." Teren then went on to explain to him in detail, most of the specifics correct. It seemed that she enjoyed studying healing, so if she continued, she might quickly surpass what little he had learned.
"Auntie Elima says that if I work very hard I might be able to be a healer like her someday! Then I could help you when you get all cut up!"
He had thought that he'd hidden the cuts from his training from her, but Teren was always more observant than he thought. As noisy as she could be at times, she could also watch quietly. Slaten did his best to smile. "I'd be honored to have you heal me, Teren."
"Slaten..." She looked up at him with large eyes. "Do you think we'll be able to go home soon? I like Auntie Elima, but I want to go back. Laeri is always asking to go outside, but they say she can't go. But then they let Tani go, do you think they'll let you go too?"
"I think they will, eventually." Slaten managed a better smile and put a hand on her shoulder. "I talked to Narenel and he said they travel near Oken territory sometimes. If I get permission to go along, I think I could take you with me."
"But you'd go away? You wouldn't leave me, would you?"
"I... Teren, I've made promises to people here, too. I want you to be safe, but once you are, I want to help them be safe too."
Teren considered this, then nodded somberly. "That makes sense. But... you will come back, right Slaten? You have to."
"Of course I will. How could I not visit you?" She had been so young when they had both lived in Oleph-Amm, how could he explain his uneasiness there to her? But what he had said wasn't a lie. No matter what happened, he was sure that he would return to visit Teren.
"Nu-uh." Teren shook her head, sending her hair lashing around her. "I don't want you to just visit. You have to come back and marry me!"
