Chapter 2: Part 4 - Coercion

Watching Marissa flirt was always a terrifying spectacle. Jean could see how men and women alike found her so alluring, when she wanted them to: she was undeniably beautiful, and when she turned her full attention on you, it felt as though you were the most important person in the world. Jean didn’t really want to see her in action, though. Beautiful or not, she was his sister.

The poor scholar who was currently receiving her attention had, as far as Jean could tell, left the inner sanctum of the Priory to enjoy some fresh air. As soon as he’d emerged, though, Marissa had cornered him. No-one in the Priory had yet noticed their presence – they were just visitors, and the place had plenty of those – nor did anyone seem to recognise Marissa. The scholar she was now talking to was certainly too young.

But he’d been downstairs when the Marauders had been there, and that was enough for Marissa. All their own research on the white rabbit had halted as soon as she’d seen their opponents, and been snubbed by them; now, Marissa’s only goal was to find out what Vasha and her team had been doing here.

She returned from the scholar, who now looked rather flushed. Marissa herself was jubilant, and she didn’t trouble to hide it. “Well, I don’t think we have anything to fear from the Marauders for quite some time.”

That should have thrilled Jean as much as it did Marissa, but he found his chest tightening. “Why not?”

Marissa ignored the question. “I have a lead we can follow, but we need to move quickly. Come on.”

As she set off, Jean lunged forwards, catching her arm. “Marissa, what did you learn about the Marauders? Are they in danger?”

For once, Marissa didn’t chastise him. “If they are, that’s none of our concern. They’ve made it quite clear that they don’t want our help.”

Jean couldn’t really argue with that. Marissa wasn’t usually the type to seek allies, but she’d been genuine about offering to work with the Marauders. That big charr of theirs had indeed made it clear he wasn’t interested, though. If they didn’t want help, that was their business.

The Valparis hurried down a narrow, switch-backed flight of wooden stairs, heading south. Jean knew this trail – it was the way he’d travelled when he’d visited the Priory once or twice before. It was only a short walk from here to a cavern that led to Lion’s Arch. They couldn’t be leaving Lornar’s Pass already, though, could they?

At the bottom of the steps, Marissa paused, pointing to where a small figure was visible struggling through the snow to the west. “That’s who we’re after. Auri, if you’d do the honours?”

Auri nodded silently and set off at a dead run, Oska only a step behind. Jean and Marissa were left trailing in their wake.

It didn’t surprise Jean that Auri used the same trick on the asura as she’d used on the illusory white rabbit, only this time it was much more successful. The asura was moving far less swiftly than the rabbit had been; Auri didn’t need assistance to catch the asura, and lift him into the air in a globe of ice. By the time Jean and Marissa arrived, Auri had deposited the asura on the snow – much more gently than his sister would have done, Jean knew – and Oska was tying his hands behind his back.

“This is outrageous,” the asura sputtered, as Jean came to a stop. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“I’d ask Yinn the same question,” Marissa replied, “but he’s not here. You, on the other hand, are. I think we should have a little chat.”

The asura stared at her sullenly. “I’m under no obligation to tell you anything.”

“But you don’t deny you work for Yinn? Excellent.” Marissa cracked her knuckles, in a way that seemed far more sinister than such a simple gesture had any right to. “Let’s get started.”

“Marissa?” Jean was starting to feel as nervous as the asura surely was. “What’s this about?”

Marissa spread both hands. “This individual works for Yinn – that scholar in the Priory told me one of his lackeys had only just left. Don’t you want to know what he’s got to say for himself?”

“About what?”

“Every part of this game has been rigged,” Marissa said, with surprising vehemence. “Yinn made sure no official team could win the first round – much as I dislike the Marauders, they would have won fair and square otherwise. And now look where we are: chasing impossible leads – and impossible rabbits – without the faintest idea what we’re looking for. Yinn has been manipulating us every step of the way. Somewhere, he’s watching us and laughing.”

“We don’t know that,” Jean said, but he couldn’t hide his unease. Marissa was right: there’d been no way for any of them to win the first round, not when that mysterious team had been ahead of them. They couldn’t be certain the trail of this ‘white rabbit’ wasn’t legitimate, though – unless Marissa knew something he didn’t.

Marissa, who was leaning closer to the asura, a thoughtful look on her face.

The asura shrank back. “I don’t know what you want from me. My name’s Floxx. I was just here to make sure all the teams arrived in one piece. Whatever you think Yinn is up to, I don’t know anything about it. I need to get back to Rata Sum. If I don’t report in soon–”

“What? Yinn will worry?” Marissa’s tone of voice was perfectly reasonable; her smile wasn’t. “But I thought you were just saying how unimportant you are. If that’s true, Yinn won’t miss you for a few hours – and if it isn’t… Maybe you can tell me what I want to know.”

She reached out, planting the tip of one finger on the asura’s temple. “Asura anatomy isn’t the same as human – but I’m sure it can’t be all that different. If I can get inside a human mind, I can probably get inside yours. There will be things in there you’ve forgotten you ever knew. All it takes is the right spell, and I can drag them out into the light. Wouldn’t you like that?”

By the expression on Floxx’s face, that was the last thing he wanted. With his hands bound and the twins on either side of him, though, there was nowhere for him to go. Was Yinn watching? Jean wondered. He was sure this display was only half about finding out what was going on in the game. Marissa also wanted Yinn to know she wasn’t prepared to be messed around.

If he was honest, Jean felt the same. What was the use in playing a game when you didn’t know the rules, the other competitors, or even the prize? Yinn’s contest had seemed so enticing at the start, but now he seemed to be leading them on for his own amusement.

Did the other teams know? Whatever they thought of their situation, Jean knew one thing for certain: such coercion was never going to sit well with Marissa.

“Don’t you have anything to tell me?” Marissa was waving a hand in the air in front of the spellbound asura, as though he was a fish she was trying to catch. She tutted. “If you won’t talk, I can always make you. Shall we begin?”

Before Jean could stop her, Marissa stepped forwards, hands closing around Floxx’s head. The asura’s mouth had gone slack; Jean couldn’t be sure whether he was simply in shock, or whether Marissa’s mesmer magic was already having an effect. What was she going to do to him – and, given the look on her face, how much of his mind would be left when she’d finished?

Abruptly, Floxx yelped. As soon as the sound was out of his mouth, he started to shake, shoulders bunching towards his ears and eyes rolling back. Marissa clung onto him, fingers digging into the sides of his head; Oska had to catch the asura before he fell back into the snow.

“Marissa!” Jean’s shout took even him by surprise. Marissa released Floxx, stepping back as smoothly as though she’d always planned to do as much – and the asura lurched upright, babbling a stream of syllables that resolved into words.

“Y-Y-Yinn w-wants as much discord in the game as possible! There isn’t any white rabbit! Every team is following a lead that appeals to them and them alone, to cause as much confusion as possible!”

After his final exclamation, Floxx went limp, sagging back against Oska. His eyes were wide, his breath coming in pants.

Jean grabbed Marissa’s arm, hauling her round to face him. “What did you do to him?”

Marissa pulled free, but she looked smug rather than annoyed. “Nothing much, and certainly not as much as I could have done. Just a little spell to ensure the words he was so determined not to say came flooding out instead.”

Indeed, Floxx was now glaring at Marissa. “You humans think you’re so clever.”

“Oh no, my dear.” Marissa was all smiles now. “Unlike asura, only the humans who really are clever think that.”

Floxx was silent a moment as his breathing subsided. “There should have been a trail for you, like every other team. Why didn’t you pick it up?”

“Something more important drew my attention,” Marissa said. “Is there anything else you’d like to tell us?”

“Will you release me if I do?”

Marissa’s gesture was noncommittal.

“South,” Floxx spat. “The clues were intended, after the required period of disorder, to lead every team south, to Timberline Falls. Satisfied?”

“Very much so.” Marissa waved to Oska, who neatly sliced the asura’s bonds. Floxx scrambled to his feet without delay, scurrying across the rough ground towards the safety of the Lion’s Arch road.

Jean ignored him. There were a hundred things he could say to Marissa, none of them polite – but what was the point? She never listened to his chastisements, and besides, she wouldn’t really have hurt Floxx… Would she?

“Has it occurred to you that Floxx might have been our lead?” he said instead. Floxx had suggested the clues might be tailored to each team, and catching one of the game’s organisers would certainly appeal to Marissa’s need to feel superior.

“I don’t think so.” Marissa was already turning away, Lornar’s Pass now of no interest to her. “We ignored the illusions in Bouldermouth Vale and reached the Priory faster than anyone had anticipated. I think I saw something Yinn never intended another team to see.”

Jean reached down to pull Auri out of her nest in the snow, but his eyes were on Marissa. “Which was what, exactly?”

Marissa still hadn’t shed her smugness. “That sylvari, the one the Marauders were talking to?”

“The one who was presumably giving them their lead?”

“Precisely. She sent them off into the hills of Lornar’s Pass, according to that scholar I spoke with – which serves them right for not listening to me, really. I knew the clues were fake the moment I saw her.”

“How, exactly?” Impatience made Jean slip in the snow as he hurried after his sister. Before he could get up again, she turned back, utter jubilation on her face.

“Whoever they were talking to was hiding under an illusion. Without a mesmer amongst them, the Marauders couldn’t see it – but their sylvari scholar wasn’t real.”