Chapter 3: Part 3 - No More Secrets

Being swallowed up by the desolate sands of the Silverwastes was looking increasingly attractive to Vasha. It wasn’t just that she wanted rest, because they’d set a punishing pace ever since leaving The Grove. It was Roan she wanted to escape from – Roan and his endless questions.

She’d never thought of Roan as the talkative type; in many ways, she still didn’t. He certainly didn’t start proper conversations the way any normal person would. At least a dozen times a day, though, the charr spat out another question, aimed at Grey. What did Yinn tell you? What does he want with us? What’s the prize this time? Where are we going?

That was the one most often repeated: where are we going? Vasha wanted to know as much as any of them, but it was clear Grey wasn’t going to reveal a thing. Perhaps he was just another of Yinn’s pawns, anyway. There was every chance he had no idea what lay before them.

There was little to do but ask questions in the Silverwastes, at least. The place was empty, scorched sand and wind-blown rock. There was plenty of evidence of past skirmishes, but whether it was Yinn’s doing or not, there was no-one to be seen now.

And Roan hadn’t finished. “How do we even know you’re real?” he asked, as they rounded an outcrop of stone and found another vista of sand before them.

Grey, a few paces ahead, snorted his derision. “That’s the stupidest one yet.”

“Answer the question.” Roan was clearly thinking of the impostor Maille in the Durmand Priory, the way she’d filled all their heads with nightmares. Those illusions had been convincing enough, true, but Vasha didn’t think anyone could have maintained one this long.

Grey stopped, swinging back to Roan with his arms held wide. “You honestly think I’m some kind of dream?”

“A damn ugly one, if you are,” Haki muttered, but Roan gestured for him to be quiet.

“Prove you’re not,” Roan snapped.

“Apart from the fact I’ve been trekking through the wilderness with you for days? You’ve already had your claws at my throat, Roan. What more evidence do you need?”

Roan grunted. Vasha could almost feel his frustration. Being led like hogs to slaughter didn’t sit well with any of them; Roan was itching to get rid of Grey. They all were.

“Do you actually know where we’re going?” she asked. “It feels like we’ve been going round in circles all day.”

For the first time, Grey looked hesitant. With a sinking feeling, Vasha realised she was right. The reason those rocks and trees looked familiar was because they were familiar. They were lost.

“We’re heading for Verdant Brink,” Grey said, shaking his head. “Yinn isn’t the type to just give you a map, though.”

Vasha thought of what she’d told Roan, days before: that Grey was the puzzle they needed to solve. Perhaps that wasn’t going far enough, though. This whole round was a puzzle, from their charr guide to the route they needed to take – and, knowing Yinn, he’d set the Marauders exactly the kind of puzzle that would vex them the most.

Indeed, Gull was shaking her head. “The only time we went this way before, it was dark, and the whole place was under siege by the Mordrem. We barely got out alive; I certainly couldn’t tell you what road we took. Haki and Frostpaw might be able to track water, but that’s the only way either of us can lead you.”

An irritating charr who seemed handpicked to provoke Roan and a road that Gull didn’t know like the back of her hand. Yinn really had made this personal.

Roan seemed to have regained his calm. “There are oases out here; tracking water won’t be enough to get us to Verdant Brink. We need to get up high.”

There was a moment’s silent consideration. Vasha felt a prickle of apprehension run up her spine, but she couldn’t find a logical reason to object to Roan’s plan. He was right: climbing higher to study the landscape might help them see a way forwards.

Roan chose the hill for them to climb, although it was more of a cliff. The two norn were the first to start the ascent, scrambling up the steep slope with their pets in tow. Grey went after them, claws digging into cracks in the rock, hauling him up with little difficulty. Vasha watched them in dismay. She wasn’t scared of heights, but they’d been walking for days. They all needed rest and something to eat, not to start scaling mountains.

Roan paused at her side, and though all her instincts warned her not to, Vasha grabbed his arm. “What are you up to?”

Roan shook her off, dismissive rather than angry. “What does it look like? We’ve got a hill to climb.”

He was gone a moment later, showering Vasha in dust and flecks of stone. She waited for the cloud to settle, then followed.

It was a miserable endeavour, alternately scrambling up slopes of restless sand and climbing over ridges of rock that scraped the skin from her hands. By the time Vasha reached the top, her body ached, her eyes felt raw with dust and sunlight, and the back of her throat was as rough as the stone she’d just climbed. The others were spread across the flat top of the hill, shading their eyes against the glare.

“There are trees, to the south-west,” Gull announced, pointing in that direction. Sure enough, beyond the arid Silverwastes, the land seemed to fold into narrow green valleys. Vasha thought she could see a narrow trail of smoke rising from the trees, but it could have been only cloud.

“Doesn’t look much more hospitable than this desert, does it?” Grey asked – and that was when Vasha realised how close to him Roan was.

She shouted a warning, but it was too late. The tussle was short and violent, and by the end of it, both charr were on the ground. Roan managed to get to his knees just long enough to crawl to the edge of the cliff, dragging Grey with him. Grey struggled, but Roan was as inexorable as he had been in the lake in Caledon Forest. By the time he threw Grey down again, the smaller charr had his legs on the cliff-top – and the rest of him hung over the precipitous drop to the valley below.

Roan growled deep in his throat. “No more secrets. Tell us what you know.”

Grey had, wisely, stopped struggling. He was fighting to hold his head up, Vasha could see – but that didn’t stop him snarling back at Roan. “Go on, Roan. Kill another brother. You know you want to.”

Roan froze, though at least he had the good sense not to release his grip.

“Thought I didn’t know about that, huh,” Grey went on, his face twisted with fury. “Thought I was just a stranger.”

Gull was the first to break out of the trance that had gripped them all. “Roan, this is madness,” she said. “Let him go.”

That, Vasha thought, was an ill-advised instruction. Roan just gripped Grey tighter, pulling the smaller charr closer to his face. “How did you know Artorius?”

“I was there,” Grey snapped. He dug his claws into Roan’s arms, so tightly that if he was thrown over the edge, Vasha was sure Roan would go with him. “I heard the fight. I was the only one who did.”

There was a moment’s taut silence. Abruptly, Roan lurched backwards, pulling Grey with him. There was another brief struggle, which ended with Grey sprawled on the ground. Roan stalked away several paces, refusing to look at any of them.

Vasha shuffled closer to Gull. “You were there too, weren’t you? You said–”

“We were there,” Gull said softly, with a glance at Haki. “We didn’t hear anything, though. We didn’t know…”

“No-one does,” Grey said, climbing to his feet. He was caked in orange dust, but that only made his twisted face more ferocious. “Roan hid the truth from everyone in the warband. And before you ask, no, I didn’t tell anyone. If Roan didn’t admit what had happened, it wasn’t worth telling.”

Roan made a dismissive noise, but his throat sounded cracked and dry. He didn’t turn around. “You’re wasting your time.”

“Am I? Why do you think I’m here, in the middle of this stupid game? I wanted to hear you say it. So, come on Roan: are you going to tell them how your brother died, or am I?”