The Eternal Blade Saga Book 2, Chapter 31: Safe and Sound

The courtyard was eerily empty.

Usually, Ariella would be at her post outside stoically keeping watch, but she was nowhere to be seen. The front doors were closed and all the windows shuttered. There wasn’t a single soul anywhere to be seen or heard. The only sound amongst all the silence was the distant hooting of an owl. We exchanged uneasy glances but I gave them a nod indicating we should take a chance and despite our concerns, move on. We kept our weapons in hand and stayed to the edge of the road for cover, just in case.

“I don’t like this,” Seren said as she stared at the outline of our home as it drew nearer. She nervously adjusted her hold on her sword at her side.

Clarkus sniffed at the air then let out a huff. “I don’t like this either. Where is everyone?”

“Hopefully inside and safe. Let’s go, but be watchful,” I warned. Overhead, I heard the flapping of wings and I looked up to find Athena flying toward the hall.

I felt a tapping on my arm and I looked over to find Dee sidling up next to me. The lines on her forehead wrinkled with worry and her lips were set in a hard line. “I should let you know that the rest of the group knows about—you know,” she said quietly. “You weren’t here and we weren’t sure when you were coming back. I decided to tell them. I hope you aren’t mad.”

The admission caught me off guard and I nearly tripped over my own feet. Even though I wanted to be mad at Dee for breaching my trust, I couldn’t logically bring myself to scold her. My sudden absence had put her in a tight spot. I wasn’t there to give her permission or advise her on what to do.

“I understand,” I replied and she flashed me a relieved smile.

I led our little group across the edge of the courtyard and into the open space. The charred remnants of what was once our flagpole remained right where I left it. No one had made any effort to clean it up. As I passed by, I couldn’t help but slow and look upon the results of my momentary madness, and as I did so, I was overcome with guilt and shame. I had destroyed our emblem, our physical representation, just as I destroyed the life we all once had.

“Hey,” a voice called from the front door. I glanced up to find Tuborg peering out between the doors. He gestured for us to come and then disappeared back behind the doors.

“You got my message,” I said as we slipped inside. Dee closed the front doors behind us, but not without one last look to make sure we weren’t followed.

“What message?” Tuborg asked as he flashed me an odd look. The little thorns along his upper lip twitched as he pursed his lips in thought. “Wait—where’s Quint?”

“Not coming,” I replied firmly. I didn’t want to talk about it and that must have resonated in my tone, because my response elicited an odd look from the sylvari. I braced myself for further questions and felt a wave of relief when they never came.

“Tuborg arrived shortly after you left,” Dee explained. “There’s no way the message could have gotten to the Grove in that short of time.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Then why have you come?”

Tuborg flashed me a knowing smile. “I admit when you—sent us away, I was uncertain when or if I would ever return. However, the Pale Tree showed me something in my dream one night shortly after I arrived in the Grove. It was something I needed to do. When I awoke it was like an itch I had to scratch. I knew I wouldn’t be satisfied until I came back here and fulfilled my Wyld Hunt.”

“What did she show you?” I asked, but Tuborg didn’t get a chance to reply. Heavy bootsteps echoed down the hall from the direction of the kitchen and soon after, Ariella entered into the main chamber. Her lips were set in a hard line and her dark eyes narrowed. Behind her, Salara emerged, holding a tall staff of twisted wood. Nestled in its peak was a roughly cut opaque gem that glowed with a soft, warm hue.

“She’s awake but not talking,” Salara said. The sylvari rolled her eyes and shook her head as she firmly planted the end of her staff against the floor. “I doubt she will. She’s really dug her heels in.”

“She?” I asked eyeing them all suspiciously. “Who do you have here?”

The others looked at each other uneasily and then led me to the kitchen.

***

“Oh no,” I uttered under my breath. Sitting directly across the long dining table was Danae’s first mate, Blake, bound to the wooden chair. A dark purple bruise had welled up on her forehead, just above her right eye. She glared, her sky-blue eyes narrowed so sharply, I could almost feel them cut through me.

“Look who we found snooping around,” Alena said. Her flesh golem, Gordo, loomed behind the chair Blake was tied to, watching the asura with his hollow eyes.

“Your captain friend left her here to watch over us, or so she claimed,” Dee explained. She drummed her fingers on the edge of the large wooden kitchen table. “Alena found her looking for something. I decided it would be best to confine her.”

I rubbed at the bridge of my nose. Her presence added another complication to the mix, one that I would have rather done without.

“We need to decide what we’re going to do with her,” Seren spoke up. “We can’t just keep her tied to a chair forever.”

“I’d prefer not to be confined in such a way,” Blake complained. “It’s rudimentary and uncomfortable.”

Tuborg raised a thorned eyebrow. “She speaks.”

“Of course I speak!”

“So, what are we going to do with her?” Clarkus chimed in. He eyed the asura captive as he uttered a deep, threatening growl.

I could feel the weight of the mounting pressure pressing against the base of my skull. It was only a matter of time before we found ourselves in the throngs of battle, and for a prize that could destroy lives as easy as it was to wave your arm. And now on top of this, we found ourselves with a controversial captive to deal with. The others began debating on what to do with Blake. I tried tuning them out while considering our best course of action, but the sounds kept cutting through, stalling my thoughts. Shadows began slowly crawling into the peripheral of my vision.

Panicking, I squeezed my eyes shut to make the shadows stop, but then the chatter turned to whispers in my ears, and I swore I could hear voices calling my name. I desperately wanted them to stop. I wanted nothing more than silence at that time, but it was as if the sounds themselves were crawling under my skin. I wanted them quiet. I wanted everything quiet. In a manic fit, I raised my axe and buried it deep in the wood of the dining table.

The entire room grew silent. I could sense all eyes turn to me.

I uttered a small sight of relief as the shadows and voices began to recede. “Let her go,” I ordered.

Dee slammed her hand on the table, startling everyone including myself. “You can’t be serious!”

“I am,” I asserted. “You have captured an Order of Whispers agent and held her prisoner in our home. The Order will likely see this as an act of aggression and will surely escalate an already unsteady situation we seem to have with them.”

Clarkus bared his teeth and huffed in Blake’s direction. “I knew I smelled lies and deception,” he rumbled.

“Situation?” Seren spoke up from the corner of the room where she sat quietly on a stool. “How is the Order of Whispers involved?”

“They knew about the blade,” Blake announced and then eyed me with a sinister little smirk on her dark lips. “We’ve known for a long time.”

My hand began to sting and I lifted a couple fingers to find frost on the hilt. I quickly covered it back up and pushed through the stinging sensation until it melted away. Looking over at our asura captive, I glared and yanked my axe out of the table, leaving a noticeable cut in the wood. She didn’t flinch.

“I was naïve to think I’d be able to stay off of the Order’s radar all these years. Now it appears that not only have I been on their radar, but on a revenge seeking couple’s as well.” I sighed and braced myself against the table. “There’s also no use in you being here while the Chantry is under attack.”

Blake’s eyes went wide and I heard her utter a soft gasp.

I motioned to Blake. “Let her go,” I said again, “but if we see her snooping around here again, we won’t be as merciful.”

***

I watched out my window as Blake sped as quick as her little legs could take her toward the south gate and disappeared into the growing shadows. Despite my decision to let her go, it was an unpopular one as evidenced by the sea of frowns on their faces. It didn’t matter which choice I made, someone was going to be unhappy. I preferred it to be the group of individuals I assumed weren’t set on killing me if the situation called for it.

“I know you don’t agree,” I began as I turned from the window and shoved my family’s book in a leather bag, “but please believe me when I say it’s for the best.”

“It isn’t about what I agree with. It’s about the safety of our home, our people,” Dee argued. She planted her hands firmly on her hips as she followed me into my office.

Since my departure, someone had set my desk back upright and straightened up the papers. I bent down and opened the secret compartment built into the desk leg. I pulled out the papers I had hidden there and shoved them into the bag with the book. “That’s exactly what I was doing when I chose to let her go,” I replied. “It’s complicated. Everything is complicated.”

“It’s a downright mess,” she added.

Frowning, set the bag down on my desk. “It is, but this road is of my own making and I have to start setting things right. We can argue and debate all we want, but we don’t have time. Torx told me the Byrnes’ are coming and soon our home will be swarmed with them and Inquest. They must know it’s here. We need to prepare.”

Not waiting for a reply, I strode out of my office and into the hall where I called for Salara. She met me in the main chamber with the others following closely behind.

I presented the bag to her. “I need you to take this to the bank. Ask for Amal Price specifically. Give him this bag. Don’t give it to anyone else, do you understand?”

Salara flashed me a confused glance, but she took the bag into her arms and nodded.

Looking over my shoulder at Dee who I said, “And I want you to go with her.”

“What?” she blurted out, incredulously. “I should be here, defending our home.”

“I need you to protect her and the bag on their way to the bank,” I said. She stiffened and started to object, but I placed a hand on her arm. “Please do this for me. I know it’s a lot to ask, but it will help secure a future for our people. Please, trust me.”

Her knitted brow relaxed and she nodded in acquiescence. “Alright, I’ll see it done.”

“Thank you,” I replied, giving her a thankful smile. “Disguise yourselves. Take the back way and stay off of the main roads. Keep an eye out for anyone and anything suspicious and don’t stop until you get to the bank.”

“We won’t,” Salara assured me as she secured the bag over her shoulder. “We’ll make sure it gets there safe and sound.”