The Eternal Blade Saga Book 2, Chapter 24: A Secret Discourse

“Your beast is making a mess of things down in my hold,” the dark-haired woman said as she secured the door and locked it behind her. She flashed a disapproving look at the man standing across the galley as she made her way over to a bank of storage cabinets and propped herself against them. “If that overgrown lizard destroys anything down there, you’re paying for it.”

The man nodded but remained unfazed from the woman’s look. “I’m sorry. She’s not used to being confined.”

“I don’t see how you can stand to keep that beast around,” she said, an air of disgust in her voice. She wrinkled her nose. “I mean, it seems to me that it would just get in the way.”

“She holds her own in a fight,” the man replied, narrowing his pale eyes. Her words had struck a chord with him. “Besides she keeps me company, gives me someone to talk to. It’s not like I can get all chummy with the others.”

The woman raised an eyebrow and made a thoughtful noise. “True. But why couldn’t you have chosen something less scaly?”

He made a face but ignored her question. “What are you doing all the way out here? I thought we were going to rendezvous back in Lion’s Arch as planned.” He studied her for a moment, noting her rigid posture. “What is it?”

She sighed heavily and uttered a frustrated grumble. “A search of the hall has been ordered on suspicion that the item in question is hidden there and they’ve-.”

“They’ve what?”

“They’ve given the final order,” the woman revealed as she crossed her arms over her chest. “That little rat has been real pushy with getting that order through, so the Preceptors decided to err on the side of caution and gave him the okay. You were right about his allegiance though. I saw him outside the cave today. Scurrying amongst his little cronies.”

The man narrowed his eyes and placed his hands on his hips. “I saw him too. Now we have confirmation. Do the Preceptors know about this new development?”

“I sent a message,” she replied. “They should be aware soon and likely won’t find it too surprising. Letting Torx run his little internal group unaware we were watching was a vital part of the plan in finding out who he worked for. Now we know.”

“Lord and Lady Byrne,” the man stated, his tone turning sour. He shifted his weight. “They nearly killed us with that beast. I’ve never seen a corrupted creature like that. This technology they’ve created yields disastrous results. I don’t think the wolf was the only creature they created.”

“Why do you say that?”

He shook his head. “Some of those passageways had been dug out. Wolves don’t dig tunnels.”

The dark-haired woman considered this as she bit her inner lip. “So, there’s another one of those things running around. Fantastic.”

“They also wanted Nienna,” he added. “They were going to take her with them.”

She cocked her head to the side. “Interesting. Why do you think they wanted her?”

“Her connection with the blade no doubt,” he replied confidently. “She’s been its keeper for decades. Maybe they thought they could get her to take them to it. Unlock its secrets.”

The woman narrowed her eyes at the man as he shifted his weight again and averted his eyes.  Her gut was telling her there was something else. “What is it?”

He didn’t answer at first. The dark-haired woman had been his handler for years and the two had cultivated a strong bond of trust, yet he found it difficult to part with particular pieces of information. He felt protective over them, as if keeping the secrets concealed would help this last mission go a little smoother. He had hoped his last one would end well, without too many complications or casualties. However, the events had not been unfolding as well as he had hoped.

“There’s something strange going on with Nienna,” he said, finally speaking.

This piqued the woman’s interest and she took a step toward the tall man, doing her best to mask the concern growing within her. “What do you mean?”

Unconsciously, he clutched his arm, the one Nienna had encased in ice, and rubbed it above the wrist. When he realized what he was doing, he immediately stopped and lowered it. “She’s starting to use her gods-given abilities, but there’s something—off about them. Something not right. When we were attacking the beast, I surprised her. I didn’t mean to. She turned toward me, thought I was an enemy, and—covered my arm in ice.”

“Ice?” The woman’s eyes widened with surprise. “That’s not quite characteristic of a necromancer from what I understand. Do you think the blade has anything to do with it? It’s been in her possession for a long time. Has she used it?”

The man shook his head. “She hasn’t used it, but it’s hard to say if it’s had any influence on her.”

“You know I don’t want to ask this question—.”

“Ask it.”

The woman clenched her jaw but forced the question out anyway. “Do you think she’s a danger to anyone?”

“No. It was an accident.”

She raised a dark eyebrow. “You answered that pretty quickly.”

“Because I don’t believe she’s a danger,” he replied, clearly articulating each word. “If she was, she would have done something by now. Her goal has been to guard it and now she wants to destroy it.”

The woman’s eyes grew wider. “Destroy it?”

He nodded.

She crossed her arms over her chest and made herself comfortable against the cabinets again. “Well this is a development. What changed her plans?”

“She wants to protect everyone,” he replied. “She feels destroying it is the best option at this point to prevent any more deaths.”

A smile pulled at the woman’s lips. “A noble idea. She always had a little bit of an idealist in her,” she uttered softly. “But we can’t guarantee more people won’t die before it’s destroyed. If it can be destroyed.”

“If,” he echoed.

The woman shook her head, her dark curls bouncing with the movement. “She’s not going to like this, when she finds out what we’ve been doing. Though, it’s not like we have many options.” She bowed her head and sighed. “I’m just hoping she won’t hold this against us when it’s all over.”

“So, what’s the plan now?” the man asked, ignoring her last comment and instead focusing on the mission.

“Torx and his employers want Nienna, right? The Preceptors have suggested we use her as bait.”

The man’s eyes went wide. “No.”

“Look, I don’t like it either,” the woman said firmly, “but Lord and Lady Byrne obviously want her, so if we can lure Torx and his employers away from the hall and into a trap of our own making, we can finally put this case to rest and get back to normal.”

“Normal,” the man uttered as he shook his head. An amused chuckle escaped his lips. “We’ve been at this for so long. Do you remember what it’s like?”

The woman smirked but didn’t answer. Instead, she pushed herself off from the cabinets and strode towards the large table in the middle of the room. She absentmindedly pushed some of the documents around, scanning over the information written on them.

“What do you make of this new development?” she asked the man as she held up a few pieces of parchment.

“A complication,” he stated simply.

This amused the woman greatly and her smirk grew into a grin. “A complication? I didn’t think you had any siblings and yet here it seems you have a full understanding of them.”

“I only mean that in regards to the mission,” he explained. “If Seren is indeed her sister, I’m happy for them both, I really am. However, I can’t help but be concerned about the blade. We know Nienna has a connection with the blade, that it has something to do with her family line. Having another person with that connection could complicate things. What if Seren tries to take it? What if someone tries to exploit her connection?”

“Slow down,” the woman said as she raised her hand still clutching the parchment pieces. “First of all, can we be sure she really is her sister?”

The man joined the woman at the table and looked down at the collection of tomes and documents. “Salara does her work well. I’m inclined to believe it.”

Biting the inside of her lip, the woman considered his response for a moment before nodding. “You’ve always had a good intuition, better than mine, but I have to wonder…” she let her words trail off.

“What is it?”

“Did the Preceptors know about Seren? Did the Master know about her?” she asked. “I find it hard to believe that she could have been hidden so well that no one figured out who she was until now. We’ve had Nienna on our radar for so long. We knew about her parents and her aunt and uncle. Did they suspect there would be any other living relatives?”

“If they did or if it mattered to them, they never let on,” he said, shrugging.

Dropping the small stack of documents back on the table, the woman turned and began to pace with her hands planted firmly on her hips. “So, we stick to the plan?”

“Stick to the plan.”

“Quint?”

“Yes?”

“Promise me you’ll do everything you can to make sure nothing happens to Nienna,” she pled. “She’s a good person. She helped me out when we were young. When this trap gets set, Nienna is going to get swept up right in the middle of it all. I want to see her walk out alive.”

He crossed his arms over his chest and nodded. “I promise I’ll do everything I can.”

The woman sighed heavily and then in a sudden fit of anger, she kicked the cabinet nearest to her, leaving a dent where her black boot collided with the metal. “Sometimes I hate this job,” she confessed.