OK, I am finally back. Sorry for the delay -- three separate business trips and a bit of writer's block on the Immortal Dynasty combined to put me behind. I am still super busy all week, so I will likely not update the Dynasty story until the weekend, but this was already done except for uploading the pictures, so... On with the story!
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A few days later, back at the den'Rhelys palace, Meridel was drawing a sheet over the disease-ravaged features of Mara Pembina. Though she'd fought valiantly against the illness, she had never had much chance. She'd already been too long-exposed to the evil emanating from the root in her own lands, and she'd been too close to the gate when it had opened just a few floors below.
"Is it true Lord Radal is dead as well?" asked the young student at her side. "I heard some of the elders talking."
"It's true," Meridel confirmed. "My sister sent word, and my mother confirmed it with the seeing stone."
"Do you think if Lord Stellan dies too, that will put an end to all of this?"
"Whyever would you think such a thing?" Meridel asked, turning to the girl in astonishment. "The Pembina are not the cause of this disease."
"No, but they opened the Gate, and--"
"And if you let a horse out of the barn, and then you fall off a cliff, does that put the horse back in?" Meridel's voice was sharp, partly from weariness, but partly to put an end to this kind of dangerous talk. "We have one enemy on this island, and it is not the Pembina, nor the jah'Itan, nor your own Nelayan."
The girl ducked her head at the rebuke, eyes on the floor, but she didn't relent. "I know that's what we're supposed to believe," she says. "But the Pembina have always looked down on our family. They think we're nothing but stupid fishermen. The jah'Itan, too. They laugh at us all the time. I hate them."
"Lareina, what's the matter with you?" Meridel was more concerned now than anything. "You know that's not true."
"It is true," the girl snarled back. "I hope Lord Stellan dies along with his mother. I hope they all do."
"Lareina!" Meridel grabbed hold of the girl's arm to bring her to her senses. "You shouldn't say such things."
But her words were barely audible over the sound of a platter crashing to the floor, where a newly arrived Pembina student had thrown it. "You shut your mouth," he said, tears streaming down his face. "You don't know what you're talking about. Lady Mara was a kind woman. She didn't deserve to die."
"No she didn't," Meridel agreed, trying to calm the situation. "Now if you will both please just--"
"None of us deserve to die," the young man continued, his voice trembling. "But we're all going to. There's nothing that can stop this. It's all just a matter of time until we all get sick and die."
"We’re not going to die," Meridel said firmly. "Not if we can help it. Not if we work together rather than fighting amongst ourselves."
"Of course you say that, when this is just as much your fault." Lareina pulled her arm free as she continued shouting. "You were supposed to protect us. But you couldn't. And now your own brother ran away rather than stay and help. For years we've supported your family, and for what? We finally need you and you run away."
"I told you we're all going to die," said the young man. "Lord Jaffaran wouldn't have run away if--"
"He didn't run away!" Meridel raised her voice to shout over the two of them, holding out her hands to keep them apart.
"Stop it right now!" A strong voice interjected itself as one of the den'Rhelys elders entered, his wand at the ready. "Both of you calm yourselves! You are not in your right minds!" But Lareina had launched herself at the Pembina student, a vicious look on her face as she reached for his throat. The elder waved his wand, and a burst of bright sparks exploded around her. She fell to the floor, limp.
The Pembina student looked on in horror. "You killed her!"
"No, child," the elder said kindly, putting his hand on the boy's shoulder. "She's just sleeping. And you should be too. You'll feel better after some sleep, I promise you." The wand moved slightly in his hand, and the young boy's eyes fluttered closed.
Meridel lowered him to the floor, shaking her head at the scene. "It's getting worse," she said.
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In the kitchens of the Pembina castle, where Nella and her small group of scholars had set up the equipment they needed to craft more medicines, Kamran was still talking about Lord Radal's death. "...and I am still convinced that he was dead for days before we found him. I don't know how that could be, since we heard him speaking to us, but the state of his remains was such--"
"Listen," Nella said quietly, pulling him aside from the rest of the team. "I've been thinking about that, and it's possible that what we were hearing was not actually Lord Radal's voice, but rather a deception. You know that one of the forces released was Cliste, the trickster. And you know my mother hasn't been able to determine where those forces are."
"You think they're here?" Kamran whispered back, his eyes wide.
"No," Nella shook her head. "Not anymore. I think they knew they wouldn't be able to hide anymore once we opened that door, and so they left."
"Well, so maybe they're weaker than we thought. And if they're moving, your mother may be able to find them."
Nella just shook her head again, looking grim. "It may help her find them," she allowed. "But if they left, it's because they're not ready for confrontation, which means that they're planning something worse than this plague."
"Perhaps," Kamran said. "But as you've said, one of their tools is deception. Which is why I wonder... " He hesitated, weighing the various ways he could ask the next question. "You seem to admire Lord Torin a great deal," he finally said. "Are you sure we can trust him?"
Nella gave Kamran a wry look, knowing that his choice of words was deliberately diplomatic. He could just as well have said 'like,' or possibly even 'flirt with' instead of 'admire,' if he'd wanted to be less charitable. "I do," she said simply. "I have had no indication that he's been affected by the forces the way the rest of his family has been. Even my brother said that when he was stationed here, or when he saw Torin at the market, as far as he could tell Torin was fine."
"But I don't understand," Kamran pressed. "None of the Pembina has any genetic protection, and everything I have read about the forces from behind the Gate says that they will turn whatever flaws a person has against them. Lord Radal was arrogant, as we all know. Stellan was as well. Why should Torin be spared their fate?"
"You've answered your own question."
"Hm?" Kamran's brow furrowed in confusion.
"The forces use people's flaws against them," Nella said, standing up from her slouch and starting to walk away to hide her cheeks -- which had most irritatingly flushed light pink -- from Kamran's view. "If a person has no flaws, there's nothing to use."
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"So this is the Breakwater," Cliste said, eyeing the small fishing village they could see on the beach.
"I don't like it."
The trickster sighed at the ghoul's typical negativity, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Are you ever going to say anything positive?"
"No."
"Well, at least you're consistent." Cliste's voice was dry as he turned toward the warrior-like figure at his side. "You're sure you want to start here? The others are closer."
"The others are traders," replied the warrior. "They're suspicious by nature. These people are simple, and will trust you more easily."
If he was at all offended by the notion he'd need that lesser challenge in order to succeed, Cliste hid it well behind a shrug. "Very well. Off I go." A moment later, after a shimmer of light, a Nelayan fisherman stepped forward from the trio, striding purposefully toward the thatch-roofed huts.
