Chương 13: 12. The Traitor

Tavian scoffed at the sniveling vault master, as he cringed in the partially looted vault of Tavirost Fortress.

"It's not what it looks like?" He rolled his eyes.

"Please, let me explain, I—""I saw you in the hall last night with Mandros," Tavian said.

"You're in league with them."

"My lord, I'm begging you," Jarden said.

"Please, hear me out. My daughter—""Bind him," Tavian said.

"We'll execute him in the courtyard."

"No!" Jarden began to wail as he was bound.

"I was force—" He cut off as a gag was shoved in his mouth. A rattle from the entrance to the vault signaled the approach of Squad Lieutenant Zael and his men. They carried two sacks of valuables, splattered with blood.

"The rest of them got away," the lieutenant said.

"We killed the rats trying to escape with these."

"Round up everything that we can find," Tavian said.

"The vault is not safe. There are secret passages in the walls." The lieutenant bobbed his head.

"You found them?"

"Anarvians disappeared in a dead end," Tavian said.

"We'll come back and search for the entrance after we secure these treasures." Moving through the palace carefully, they transported the remaining valuables up to the courtyard. The keep seemed silent, and Tavian felt a growing sense of anticipation. Mandros must be preparing something. Tavian pushed Jarden into Braun's hands when they arrived.

"Look what treasure we found in the vault," Tavian said.

"Why am I not surprised," Braun sneered. Jarden mumbled something through his gag. Braun pulled the gag out.

"Thank you, my lord," Jarden said.

"Perhaps it should not be surprising to find the vault master in the vault? If you would allow me to explain—" Tavian grabbed the gag from Braun and shoved it back in Jarden's mouth.

"He was looting the vault and helping the Anarvians. We'll behead him and extract the Essence from his body. Keep him secure until then." Braun nodded and dragged Jarden away. Tavian posted guards at every intersection between the courtyard and the vault. It took a few trips to empty it. They stacked relics and antiques in the courtyard near the Air Gate, and Calli came over to see what they'd accumulated.

"What do we have here, Calli?" Tavian asked. He didn't have the same encyclopedia of historical kingdom information in his head as she did.

"What can we sift for Essence?"

"Woah," Calli said.

"I didn't know we still had this!" She pulled a velvet bag away from an ornately worked golden shield.

"Recognize it?"

"Isn't that the shield that used to hang over the throne?" Tavian asked.

"That's right! It's the Aegis of Tavirost Veros. I have no idea why father had it taken down." Tavian inspected the heavy shield. It was too ornate to have ever been of use in battle, it must have been a purely ceremonial ornament. Tavian tried lifting it. Even with the help of his kingdom's influence, he struggled to get it off the ground. Tavirost must have been incredibly strong. Or had a lot of influence.

"And this," Calli said, "It's the Tapestry of the Great Crossing! I thought Father was working on having it restored." She held bolts of silken fabric that had been rolled up and stowed in a huge sack. Images of men, boats, dragons and flames had been beautifully woven into the visible portions. Tavian estimated that the tapestry might cover half the courtyard if it was fully unfolded. Tavian's system interface pinged.

⬣ New perk: Appraising Eye I (passive) ⬣ ⬣ By looking closely, you can estimate the Essence that can be extracted from an object. ⬣ Had he somehow earned this though his actions today?

"Huh," Tavian said aloud, and Calli looked at him curiously.

"One second," he said to her, walking away so he could talk to Lea.

"Lea?" Tavian asked.

"Did you do something?" She appeared beside him.

"No," she said.

"But I facilitated it. The Core adapts to how you lead; it grows with you, and can sometimes grant you new abilities."

"Cool," Tavian said.

"Can you… make it give me certain things? I used to have a perk where I—""I can't," Lea said.

"Unfortunately. It's the Core adapting to you. And don't get too excited about Perks. You'll get a few of them early on, but they don't come as often after that." A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"I guess I need to be more careful about how I'm ruling," Tavian said, jokingly. Lea chuckled.

"You joke, but you could get yourself into trouble." Tavian returned to the pile of loot. Calli watched him expectantly. Tavian inspected the Aegis of Tavirost.

"Fifty-seven Essence," he said.

"Approximately. I wonder if a higher Tier in the Perk gets me better estimates?"

"Tavian…" Calli said, a note of warning in her voice. She hated when he didn't tell her what was going on.

"I can see how much Essence I'll get from things!" Tavian exclaimed.

"I'll have to assign this to you and Vanal…"

"How? Why? We didn't attach a module or anything!" Calli was giddy with excitement.

"It's free, from the Core," Tavian explained.

"Lea says the Core is adapting to me?"

"That's… That's… wow!" Tavian inspected another trinket, then set it down.

"This one's worth twelve. This saves us!" Calli looked shocked.

"You're not sifting this," she said, taking the bauble from him.

"This is our heritage."

"Not all of it can be special," Tavian said.

"If it comes down to it. I will do what I have to." Calli crossed her arms.

"Even father didn't sift this shield." Tavian checked the kingdom status. ⬣ Kingdom Status ⬣ Core Essence Tiles Claimed Influence 82 16 5. 13 Forty or fifty Essence would go a long way, especially if he wanted to push to Tier III.

"Just see what all this stuff is," Tavian said, "And separate it into categories: 'stuff we have to keep' and 'stuff we can sift,' understand?"

"As you will it,' Calli said, looking relieved. Tavian guessed the 'stuff we have to keep' pile would end up being quite large. He added the Appraising Eye Perk to the [Extractor] class so that Calli and Vanal could use it, paying a two Essence cost. Then his attention turned to their prisoner. Jarden was struggling against his bonds. Braun and another man were restraining him, but he kept spitting out his gag.

"Please, at least hear me out!" he begged. Braun had tied a rope around the man's arms and legs, then staked it into the ground. Normally that would not be sufficient restraint on a man, but since Jarden was not a subject of Tavian's kingdom, influence worked against him. Tavian approached.

"Tavian, please," Jarden pleaded.

"I'll tell you the truth, I'm not a traitor, I swear! Lord Anarvia has my daughter, he abducted her, and he forced me to let them in through the tunnels, I didn't want to, but I didn't know what to do, I had to! I promise, I'm not a traitor!" Tavian glanced at Braun. Braun shrugged.

"Where's Erond?" Tavian whispered.

"Sleeping, over there," Braun whispered back. Then, more loudly.

"Do you believe him?"

"No." Jarden was on the point of tears.

"What else could I have done?"

"You could have come to the king," Tavian said.

"My father would have helped you. But you betrayed us to the enemy, and now you deserve to die." Jarden sobbed once, loudly, but Tavian cut off the impending wail.

"First I need you to tell me something. If you really are ashamed of your behavior, you'll tell me the truth, straight away. Where does the hidden tunnel from the vault go?"

"Everywhere," Jarden gasped.

"It goes all over. It's a whole maze down there, you can access many places in the palace, and maybe even in the Temple. I don't know how far it goes. I've been mapping it for years. And…" He trailed off, realizing that everyone was now listening to him. He lowered his voice, conspiratorially.

"…there are things."

"Speak up, man," Tavian said.

"There are what?"

"Things. Dark things," Jarden said.

"Dangerous things. I've marked out areas to avoid. I've seen men disappear down there. The halls are choked with miasma."

"Did you ever tell my father about this?" Jarden looked cagey.

"He knew, I believe."

"You believe? Did you, or did you not, tell him?"

"He didn't want to hear about it," Jarden said.

"It's dangerous down there. It's… It's a miasmic dungeon." Tavian wrinkled his nose. Miasmic dungeons were common in the mythical stories of ancient heroes, but one here? Beneath Tavirost Fortress?

"It's true, I swear!" Jarden said.

"The Anarvians lost a Half Block of men down there."

"When you were letting them into the fortress," Tavian said.

"To kill my family." A Half Block was typically seventy-two soldiers; a lot of men to lose in a tunnel.

"I told you they have my daughter!" Jarden said.

"Listen, do you want to get out of here? I can lead you through the tunnels, I can guide you out and you can escape into the south!"

"We're not going anywhere," Tavian said.

"We don't need help from a traitor and a liar." Braun shoved the gag back into Jarden's mouth.

"Should we kill him, then?" Braun asked.

"Prepare for an execution," Tavian said. Jarden wailed through the gag.

"My lord! My lord!" Shona called to Tavian from atop the wall. Tavian mounted the steps and climbed up to see what Shona needed. The outer courtyard had been abandoned by the Anarvians. The flowerbeds had been torn up, and a body lay near the far wall, two arrows sprouting from the chest.

"They're hiding, over there," Shona said, pointing. Tavian looked where she indicated, and caught a glimpse of movement around the corner of the keep.

"And more are around the corner of that gate," she pointed to a partially obscured gate in the inner wall.

"We're keeping a close eye on them," she said.

"If they try coming through here, we blast 'em with magic."

"Good," Tavian said.

"What was it you wanted to show me?"

"There," Shona said, pointing to the main gate in the outer wall. It was mostly obscured by the inner wall, but the two towers of the gatehouse could be seen. Tavian looked at it, but didn't see what she saw.

"Two things," she said.

"There's no flags flying. That means someone took them down. But who?"

"Anarvians," Tavian said.

"But they're putting up their own banners when they take ours down," Shona said, pointing out a few places where purple fabric now waved in the breeze.

"Why take them down and not put up your own?"

"They ran out?" Tavian suggested.

"And," Shona said, voice gaining intensity.

"The gate is still closed. You can just make out the top edge of it, there. Why not open the gate and march your soldiers in?" Tavian understood.

"They haven't captured the gatehouse," he exclaimed.

"It's still held by Veros!" Shona nodded.

"That is what I was thinking," she said.

"Those are our people over there." Tavian could have wept.

"There are probably pockets of resistance throughout the fortress," he declared.

"Mandros is probably trying to consolidate his control before he attacks us again."

"Perhaps, my lord," Shona agreed, then added.

"Don't the families of the guards stay in that gate house with them?"

"We have to get to them," Tavian said.

"Signal them, somehow, before they surrender!"

"If you can think of any way…" Shona said, shrugging.

"I can't shoot an arrow with a message on it through one of those slits in the tower though, so don't suggest that." Tavian grimaced.

"I might be able to think of a way," he said, turning and heading back down the steps. He was going to have to delay the execution.