The Brightest Shadow, page 71
"I'm not sure which way we should go first. The back entrance should be unknown, but do you know if there's anyone at the front entrance?"
"In terms of guards, I don't know," Slaten said. "But it shouldn't be abandoned this morning. I saw Laeri going that way earlier."
A chill lanced through Tani's body. "Why?"
"I didn't ask her."
"Do you trust Laeri, Slaten? If your life was on the line, would you really trust her?" The dark look in his eyes was answer enough. "Then we need to hurry. I'll run and try to catch up with her, at minimum find out what she's doing. You cover the back entrance, check there just in case Destrela is planning a betrayal."
Slaten nodded and moved away swiftly. Being believed and having people act on it motivated Tani to hurry as well, sprinting through the tunnels toward the lower entrance as fast as she dared.
How could she have missed this? The fact that Laeri had shown up directly in their path, claiming to be searching for the Hero... Tani's mind had been so hazy, she had accepted it, but now she realized just how suspicious that was. Innocent little Laeri, naive almost beyond belief.
Tani couldn't imagine what would motivate her to betray them, but then again she knew almost nothing about the woman. What little she knew was probably lies.
In the tunnels she stumbled over a few sleeping or hungover fighters, shouting at them to get up without explaining. If Narenel and Slaten were right, then Laeri had only had the opportunity to leave recently. She wasn't very fast... but Tani had to assume that she might have been hiding her full speed.
When Tani reached the outer cavern she was running too quickly, her feet stumbling over the rock that still held the appearance of a normal cavern. No one at the guard post at all. Further out near the entrance, still no one. She cursed everyone in the resistance for celebrating so recklessly. The traitor could have simply walked out and currently be running to betray them all.
Tani burst out of the cave entrance and looked around wildly. Of course she could see nothing, as the entrance was hidden. Instead she leapt to the top of the nearest small hill, shielding her eyes from the morning sunlight to search the land around them.
She spotted a blue and white robe moving away. Not moving very quickly, perhaps trying to hide in the grasses. Tani leapt off the hill and sprinted at her full speed. Laeri had made significant progress already, but Tani caught up to her quickly. When she got close she lunged, tackling the other woman to the ground.
When Tani twisted Laeri onto her back, the other woman looked at her in wounded confusion. Now that Tani looked more skeptically, the emotion seemed clearly false. "Tani? What are you doing?"
"That's my question for you." Tani drew her sickle knife, just in case Laeri had another trick. "What are you doing out here?"
"That's... hard to explain."
"Well, you'd better find a way."
"Is something wrong? Why are y-" Laeri cut off with a whimper when Tani pushed her sickle knife toward her throat. She sniffed and closed her eyes before answering. "When I w-woke up this morning, I had a really bad feeling. I just... I don't know exactly why. I tried to tell Melal, but he was sl-sleeping with a woman and told me to go away. So I thought... I don't know, I thought if I went out here and got some fresh air I might figure out why I had such a bad feeling..."
The answer seemed ludicrous, yet the hope Tani had felt when she spotted Laeri was fading away. She tried to hold on to her anger. "Why were you waiting at that crossroads when you first met us?"
"I t-told you! I was certain that the Hero would come along, so I just felt led there..."
"And is that the same as your feeling this morning?"
"Yes! I can't explain it, sometimes I just... I don't know, I just feel really certain about things. Like I know my place in the world. Before, I felt like the Hero needed me and I could do something to help. But now... ever since the battle I've been feeling funny. But then I had an awful dream where we were under attack, and I woke up feeling just awful..."
Though Tani wanted to believe that the emotional babble was all an act, she was beginning to doubt her own suspicions. Laeri seemed honestly confused by the whole thing, and the discomfort she described had the ring of truth. More importantly, if she was a spy, this tactic made no sense. She should have been running away, not moving slowly, and if she needed an excuse she wouldn't try such an absurd one.
Needing to clear her head, Tani stepped off of Laeri and straightened. Her eyes wandered aimlessly over the sky and the horizon as she tried to think of another angle...
Except there was something on the horizon.
Tani focused on it, shielding her eyes and focusing her senses on the disturbance. It was an army of Deathspawn, warriors running at the front with soldiers marching behind. They avoided the nearest roads so as not to raise dust, instead cutting straight across the grasslands toward the hills. Tani's legs trembled and she took a step back, eyes still locked on the army.
She had been wrong. They had all been wrong. Tani couldn't think of any new theory, she only knew one thing: the enemy had already been told their exact location. She was too late.
Chapter 53
-
"The Land of Darkness that will be the site of the final battle is also unclear to me, so discerning its location is critical to our success. Perhaps it is the homeland of the Deathspawn, but it could well be a different location. If we know where the final battle will take place, this will offer critical military intelligence about all battles before then."
- excerpt from a letter written by Lady Karerela of East Corah
-
Corridors flashed past Slaten as he headed straight for the hidden passage. Though he didn't know if Tani's urgency was necessary, acting was better than sitting silent and letting the uncertainty consume him. If not for Veron and now Tani providing more substance, he might have assumed it was just his mind playing tricks.
His exploration of the tunnels had left him nearly certain that there was another exit, so Veron had only been confirming his suspicions. The secret passage wasn't much of a secret, it just extended from a set of chambers that was already off limits at most times. They contained Destrela's room along with several locked storage rooms.
On a whim, Slaten checked the doors - locked, but he could see through them that the rooms had been disturbed. Only a few members of the resistance had keys, so he wondered if Destrela might have taken supplies and run. If she'd also stolen money like Veron believed, that suggested her departure might be unrelated to anything else. After all, if Destrela was the traitor, she'd had countless opportunities before now.
In the back of one of the chambers, an empty shelf hid the exit. It had been closed, but not perfectly, as if someone had passed through in haste. Slaten shoved the shelf aside and headed into the tunnel that led to the surface. Was this unconnected, or might the traitor have taken this route?
Slaten drew his sword as he advanced, since he was now in territory he didn't know well. The passage out was fairly short, a natural cavern to hide the entrance. No sign of passage in the stone and no attacks.
When he emerged from the cave, he found that it led to a narrow passage through the hills, presumably leading to an exit far from the front of the caverns. A good way to retreat if necessary, or to sneak out without being noticed. Slaten began to speed up, trying not to lower his guard.
Ahead of him, he spotted a glimpse of dark leather. He used his full speed to catch up and caught sight of Destrela as she rounded another corner. She still wore her bandages from the fight, but she was fully armed and carrying a heavy pack over one shoulder. Slaten rushed after her...
And nearly ran into a dagger.
"Dammit." Destrela had turned back as soon as she rounded the corner and now had him at dagger-point. Slaten managed to back up and get his sword into position while she watched him with irritation. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"I..." Whatever was going on, she would likely kill him if she thought it was necessary. Slaten didn't think he could come up with a convincing lie in such a short time, so he just answered honestly. "Veron thinks you're stealing the resistance's money."
"Well, I am. I figured she'd drink herself into a stupor. Dammit." Destrela hadn't lowered her dagger, still prepared to attack.
"You're leaving the resistance?"
"That's always been the plan, I just didn't have enough of a stash until now. More importantly, I have mansthein seals and papers. With those, I can get far away from this hellhole for good."
Slaten lowered his sword into a less aggressive stance, though he was still prepared to attempt a defense if she decided to stab him. "You wouldn't be telling me this if you intended to kill me."
"What I'm hoping is that you'll cooperate." Destrela stared at him coolly, then lowered her dagger. "Killing you would waste time and energy I don't have, even if I avoided injury. But I can't have you go back and alert anyone else. You're coming with me until I get far enough away that I can be sure to escape. Try anything and you know what will happen."
Though part of him remained suspicious, Slaten thought she might be telling the truth. He put away his sword quietly and obeyed when Destrela gestured for him to walk ahead of her. At first he was braced for her to stab him from behind, but she let him walk in front and simply watched to make sure that he didn't try to run.
As they walked, Slaten racked his mind trying to decide what to do next. This felt like a time he should learn more, but she probably didn't want to reveal anything else. Running would be futile. Yet just biding his time would be the same as letting her escape. He needed to decide whether that was acceptable and didn't know how to begin weighing the issue.
Before he could come to any conclusion, they entered a larger valley and Slaten stopped. Destrela cursed behind him. "Keep moving!"
"Look." He gestured forward. The valley was lined with gnarled trees that cast their boughs over the center, filtering the morning light over the ground. That made it difficult to see, but someone wearing a large cloak lay on the ground in the center of the path.
"Shit." Destrela's eyes narrowed and she drew her dagger again. "Alright, move forward. Check the body."
Slaten obeyed, wanting to draw his sword but restraining himself in case Destrela was jumpy. He carefully knelt down next to the body and almost immediately tasted blood. Sein, but sein that was distorted in some strange way. Not quite like an injury, unless it was a strange sort of injury. When he rolled the body over so he could see, he recoiled.
Celivia lay on the ground, alive but barely conscious. Her skin was covered with some sort of unnatural burn, perhaps the same affliction that distorted her sein. She carried all her weapons, like she hadn't even had time to draw them. Slaten immediately looked for an enemy, but around them he saw only the gently waving boughs and dappled sunlight.
"Fuck." Destrela came up to stand beside him, eyes shifting even more than his. "Fuck, this is bad."
"Do you have any idea what's going on? Tani thought there might be a traitor, could the mansthein be guarding the exits?"
Destrela turned away and set down her heavy pack, eyeing the trees. "I have no fucking idea what's going on. This was supposed to be over, there was no way Aryabaus could retaliate this quickly..."
Then Celivia sprang to her feet and stabbed Destrela through the back.
At the last instant the older warrior moved, avoiding a lethal blow, but the knife still sank deep between her ribs. Destrela cried out in pain and stabbed backward, forcing Celivia to leap away. After staggering several steps Destrela turned back, eyes blazing with hatred.
All Slaten could do was stare at Celivia. Her sein flowed strongly, though it still tasted poisoned to him and the strange burns looked even worse when she moved, her skin twisting and cracking. His first instinct was to help her fight Destrela, but Celivia was the one who had stabbed an ally in the back. Slaten drew his sword but didn't act, stepping back and watching the two of them as they faced off.
Celivia raised her bladed whip, which shimmered in the sunlight as it unfurled. Destrela sneered at it, paying more attention to the pack she'd abandoned on the ground. Neither of them said a word, apparently determined to kill one another.
When Celivia lashed out with her whip, Destrela scornfully struck it aside, pushing it to entangle with the branches.
And then the whip shifted in midair like a living thing.
Destrela froze for a fraction of a heartbeat, surprised by the unusual sein, and that was all it took. The whip coiled around her upper arm, blades digging deep. Celivia tugged on it and the bladed whip cut off Destrela's arm.
Though Destrela gave a cry of pain, she also drew a dagger in her remaining hand. Celivia lashed out again with her whip and this time Destrela deflected both the initial strike and the second coiling movement. Celivia lunged after it, abandoning her whip to strike with her knife.
As they exchanged blows, Slaten remained frozen. He knew that this was his best chance to act, but what should he do? His instinct was to hit Celivia in the back, to make sure that both of them were injured so he had the advantage. Slaten recoiled from that, and in the time it took him to reject that chance, it was already over.
Destrela's dagger dropped to the ground. Celivia's knife was buried in her chest. The older woman struggled to grasp at it with her hand, but the blood flowing from her arm and her other injuries had clearly taken their toll. She fell with a bloody gurgle and Celivia backed up to let her fall.
Slaten stepped onto her fallen whip, grinding one of the blades into the ground. He caught a glimpse of Celivia's quick smile, disturbing on her burned face. She didn't attack, but he aimed his sword toward her. "What are you doing?"
"I'm glad you came, Slaten. It will be easier out here." Celivia glanced toward the sunlight and then reached into her cloak to retrieve something. "It's time to take the last one. That will answer some of your questions, just give me time to explain."
When it emerged from her robe, her hand held a small gray sphere. Celivia swallowed it with a grimace, then shuddered.
As Slaten watched, her skin began to peel away, shriveling like burning paper. Though Celivia hunched over, clearly in great pain, her knife remained steady to defend herself. He couldn't muster an attack, staring at the strange transformation. Her skin flaked off, yet there was more skin beneath it - gray skin. Slaten realized that the hair falling over her face was no longer light blond, it was actually silver.
Then Celivia opened her eyes and they shone crimson.
"You're mansthein." He sounded like an idiot, but his mind struggled to wrap itself around what he had seen. "Or... did the pill transform you into one? Is that your reward for betraying the resistance?"
Celivia laughed and shook her head. "I've always been mansthein, Slaten. I endured a great deal of pain to pass as human, but that's over now. We need to leave before Aryabaus arrives."
"Why do all this? Just to eliminate the resistance?"
"There's another reason, but there's no time to explain. I made contact as soon as I could in Gerant, so Aryabaus could be here at any hour. Believe me, you'd rather surrender to me than to him."
Slaten raised his sword and readied himself. "You haven't given me much reason to trust you."
"There's no time for this!" Celivia raised her knife in his direction. "I have no choice but to work with Aryabaus, but I'm not loyal to him. I don't have time to explain mansthein politics to you, Slaten. But you don't have to die here. And if you cooperate, we can save Tani, too."
His mind tumbled in confusion worse than the white haze surrounding the Hero. Nothing was controlling him now, and he knew that no power was controlling Celivia. This was who she had always been, her entire reason for being with them. Yet though he kept his sword raised, he wasn't sure what he actually needed to do, his mind locking as the facts ground against one another.
At that moment, he heard the rustle of clothing and tasted blood as someone using sein sprinted into the valley. He turned just in time to see Tani skid to a halt.
"Celivia?"
~ ~ ~
Tani could only stare, her mind refusing to believe what her eyes told her. She had sprinted to warn Slaten, telling everyone along the way to try to salvage something from this ugly situation. Thoughts of the traitor had left her mind as she focused on a way to escape. She had never imagined that she'd find something like this.
"Hello, Tani." Celivia turned toward her and dared to smile. The coloring of her body was a little different, but it was unquestionably her. And Tani had heard enough of their conversation.
"You lied to me."
Celivia's smile vanished. "I didn't have a choice. But you have one now, Tani. We aren't really enemies, or at least we don't have to be. If you just come wi-"
"You were working for Aryabaus." Tani drew knives in both hands, struggling not to tremble with rage. So many conversations between them built on false premises, and now Celivia tried to sweep all the lies away with a few words? "He's a brutal warlord and he works with monsters like Subenor. You expect me to just think that's okay? To just trust you?"
"And you work with a bunch of murderous bandits worshiping a genocidal madman!" Celivia took a breath, lowered her voice and focused toward Slaten, who still stood motionless. "I don't blame you for everything the Heroes did. Give me the same respect and don't hold me responsible for everything the mansthein armies have done. Trust me long enough to survive this, at least."
"Respect? You let me see that memory! You let me believe a lie!" As Tani thought back to the false memory and all the pain Celivia had forced into it, all her hatred for Deathspawn... Tani stilled the trembling in her hands and raised her sickle knife toward Celivia. "You knew it would make me trust you more, that I'd think you could understand. Why should I trust you when you've done nothing but lie?"
