First Interlude - Conspiracy Theories

Rata Sum was in an uproar. Eight of the twelve teams who’d started Yinn’s game had made it back, in varying states of good health. To Jean’s surprise, the Nth Degree was one of them, although without their golems, he doubted they’d be much competition in the future. Marissa had informed him of their presence, just as she’d told him the Marauders were still in the game; the invitation card with its glowing circles representing the teams was still firmly in her possession and hers alone.

Jean wasn’t about to ask for it, either. Long experience had told him when to give Marissa a wide berth, and this was one such time.

She’d been in a foul mood ever since they left the Hinterlands. Contacting the Marauders, and hearing their stunned response to being bested by an as-yet-unknown team, had briefly entertained her – but only briefly. She hadn’t spoken of what troubled her, but Jean didn’t expect that to last much longer. Whoever she was so angry at – not him, for once – was going to hear about it.

Indeed, Auri spoke up as they left the asura gate from Lion’s Arch, whilst Marissa was already melting into the crowd ahead of them. “Yinn will wait until we’re all here to make an appearance.”

Jean glanced across at her. “It’s Yinn who Marissa’s so angry with?”

“Of course.” Auri’s blue-green eyes blinked steadily, and Jean shook his head. The girl always looked like she had her head in the clouds, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t paying attention.

“Why would she be angry with Yinn?”

“There was no way to win the first round, was there?” Oska said, on Jean’s other side. “It wasn’t just unfair. We were set up.”

Set up? There was no evidence of that, as far as Jean could see. Someone had beaten even the Marauders to the prize, but that had just been another of the twelve teams – hadn’t it?

They caught up to Marissa, who was standing in the centre of the plaza with her arms folded. There was no light show this time, and no golem; Yinn appeared on one of the ramps from the city’s lower levels, and slowly made his way across to Marissa. A crowd had already gathered, other teams catching wind of his arrival. Jean couldn’t see any sign of the Marauders.

Yinn greeted them all with an elegant wave of his hand. “What a fine and competent lot you are, to have made it back here in one piece!”

“Not everyone did,” said a voice from the crowd.

Yinn inclined his head in that direction. “There was always a chance some teams wouldn’t be up to scratch, no matter how carefully I chose them. Better to weed out the competition at this early stage, wouldn’t you say?”

A cool silence greeted his words, and Jean knew why. Yes, there were entire teams who’d been ‘weeded out’, but there were also surviving teams who were now missing a member or two. If that had been his own family, he wouldn’t be happy.

“This game is a sham,” Marissa said suddenly, her patrician tones cutting across the plaza, perhaps helping along by a little mesmer magic. “We reached Harathi Hinterlands – we know what happened. There were only two keys for the final prize. Two keys, amongst twelve teams.”

Yinn’s eyes gleamed. “My dear Lady Valpari, you surprise me. What did you expect? What use is a game without a little challenge to it?”

Marissa didn’t back down. “Then what about the fact that ‘winning’ the round had nothing to do with skill?”

Yinn hesitated, just long enough that Jean knew his sister had hit on something. “What are you implying by that?” he said finally.

Marissa was suddenly brandishing the invitation card; Jean hadn’t seen it appear in her hand. “The team who reached the prize first, and took it, weren’t an official part of the game.”

So that was what Oska had meant about being ‘set up’. Marissa had spent a long time studying the card and the twelve teams, when Jean had been too preoccupied looking for Vasha.

“Is that what you think happened?” Yinn looked amused. “That sounds remarkably like a conspiracy theory.”

“It’s not just a theory if we can prove it,” Jean put in. The sensation of the crowd’s eyes turning to him made his skin itch, but he held his ground. He’d already guessed what Marissa had deduced from the card. “We tracked a pair of individuals through Harathi Hinterlands. They don’t match any of the remaining eight teams.”

Yinn stared at Jean for several heartbeats. He was still smiling, though it didn’t touch his eyes. “Let me make one thing very clear,” he said, speaking loud enough for the whole crowd to hear. “Nothing happens in this game without my knowledge. If there are rules you haven’t yet discovered, that’s because you haven’t been paying attention, not me.”

“What rules?” someone in the crowd said, but Yinn ignored them. He turned his back on Jean and spread his arms wide, his cane dangling from one hand.

“Winning the first round of the contest merely conferred a time advantage for the second. The Nageling Marauders came close to success, but alas, it was not to be. There is nothing more to say, other than this: round two begins tomorrow. All surviving teams may participate. The game, dear friends, goes on!”

There was no puff of smoke this time, but between one blink and the next, Yinn was gone. Marissa growled something under her breath and strode into the crowd, the twins following. Jean watched them go, a feeling of cold dread settling into his stomach. There had been something in Yinn’s eyes as they’d faced one another, and it had looked worryingly like cruelty.

Marissa wouldn’t give up the game so easily, though; Jean wasn’t sure she’d even listen to his warnings. He wasn’t about to go chasing after her, either. There was one more team here, one he hadn’t seen in the crowd, and they were even more important than a mysterious norn and asura who might or might not have won the first round. The Marauders had to be here somewhere, and Jean was going to find them.