Third Interlude - Persuasion

Of the twelve teams who'd started in Yinn's game, five remained. Vasha was surprised so many had survived the jungle, but you had to be made of stern stuff to get this far.

Yinn gathered them to a meeting on one of the lower levels of Rata Sum, well away from the bustle of everyday life. In that dark corner, his voice echoed strangely, and Vasha felt like they were all underwater.

"It is a genuine pleasure to see so many of you back here," he said, from the platform atop his golem. "I'd expected at least a few more of you to succumb to the Mordrem."

There was a muffled sob from the crowd. Vasha shuddered. She wouldn't be the only one with nightmares of the jungle, she suspected.

"All of you proved remarkably adept at problem-solving," Yinn went on. "Rest assured, the game is not over yet. Before the next round, please ensure you have done everything necessary to prepare yourselves for the rigours of survival in a difficult environment. The trials to come will test many of you to your limits."

His smile was positively macabre. Yinn was enjoying this far too much, Vasha thought. Maybe Light's Memory had been right and there were other eyes watching this competition – but if that was the case, Yinn was still the architect of every puzzle. He appeared to be playing to his strength of making people miserable.

With that motivational announcement out of the way, Yinn dismissed them. Vasha studied the other teams before they dispersed. There were the Marauders and the Valparis, of course. There was Yelazar, on his own once again – which meant he'd shed every one of his sylvari allies – and the Nth Degree, who seemed to be down to three members. There was also a disreputable team of humans and charr, whom Vasha recognised as pirates from Lion's Arch – apart from one member she recognised for different reasons.

She strode over to him without hesitation. Grey looked like he wanted to sidle away, and he had the good grace to look embarrassed at the sight of her. Vasha didn't wait for him to speak. "What was all that about joining the game to get back at Roan? Was any of it true?"

Grey bared his teeth. "I'm not a liar."

"Then what are you doing here?"

"Even a gladium needs a team sometimes." Grey's smile wasn't reassuring. "Turns out, I'm not done with this game yet."

Vasha nodded towards the team of pirates, lounging against the wall just out of hearing. "They hired you?"

"You could say I hired them. I can be very–"

"Persuasive. I know." Vasha folded her arms. The pirates had been in the game from the beginning, scraping through each round with nothing to distinguish them. Either they'd lost a member somewhere along the way... Or Grey had found a reason to have one of them removed.

"Did it make you feel better?" Vasha asked. "All that subterfuge just to make Roan relive his past, to get a confession out of him. Are you going to be able to sleep at night now?"

"It wasn't to make me feel better," Grey said.

"To make Roan feel worse, then?"

Grey was silent for a moment, staring off into the distance. "You know what I believe, little mouse? There's always justice in the world. Things don't always happen on a mortal schedule, though. Sometimes, it takes a little push to speed them along. And then? The guilty get what they deserve."

Vasha shook her head. She wasn't sure Roan was guilty of anything except a terrible mistake that had robbed him of his brother. Whatever punishment Grey bestowed, that memory was worse. "You can keep your justice to yourself, next time. There's no room for it in this game."

"You still think you're going to win," Grey said, with a gleam in his eye.

"Not necessarily." Vasha had stopped caring whether they actually won. Pride wouldn't let her forfeit the game, but all she wanted was to be standing at the end. "Do you want to know what I believe? Justice or not, Roan's going to kill you."

Grey's ears twitched. "He's not as tough as you think."

"But he's tougher than you think." Vasha tapped the side of her head. "When I first met Roan, I thought he didn't have much going on up here. All brawn, no brains. You're probably thinking the same thing – and you're completely wrong. Roan's a strategist. He doesn't show it on the outside, but he likes to plan ahead. By the time he realises you're still here, he'll have had plenty of time to decide what to do with you."

"Trying to scare me off, little mouse?" Grey's snarl looked more like a grimace. "It won't work."

"I'm not trying to do anything," Vasha said, uncrossing her arms. "In fact, I'd prefer it if you stayed in the game. I'd like to see your face when you realise I was right."

She was about to walk away when Grey called her back. "He's been watching since the beginning, you know. From what I hear, he's taken an interest in you."

Vasha glanced over her shoulder, frowning. Was Grey talking about Yinn? The game's master barely knew she existed. "Why would Yinn be watching me?"

"Not Yinn," Grey spat. "Yinn's just a puppet. If you haven't seen that already, you're a fool. The Archon."

Vasha didn't like demonstrating her ignorance, but it was better than going into the next round blind. "What are you talking about?"

"So you don't know." Grey shook his head. "Yinn can parade around all he wants, but he's not the one in charge here. The Archon is."

The Archon? The name meant nothing to Vasha. It certainly didn't scare her as much as Grey seemed to think it should. "Is that supposed to be a warning?"

Grey grunted in obvious dismissal. "I was trying to do you a favour. Call it a professional courtesy. If you don't want to listen, that's on your head."

Fine. He wouldn't take her warning about Roan, either, and that was a lot more pertinent than talk of some mysterious 'Archon'. Grey was just trying to scare her with the first thing that came to mind.

This time, when she walked away, Grey didn't call her back. She heard his words, though, almost whispered. "Be careful, little mouse."

That wasn't an act, surely. More chilling than any threat, Grey actually sounded scared.