Chapter 3 All Is Lost #2
“Yes, I’m not certain of his House. He didn’t say,” Elasha said uncertainly.
She thinks Declan is an Aravae. Oh, my gods how insane this is. I suppose that hoods hide a variety of sins. She couldn’t see his rounded ears.
His eyes met Finley’s as the young man opened his mouth to correct her.
Finley’s mouth clicked shut, understanding that it was not a good idea to point out that Declan was supposed to be human.
Who would believe that now in any case? And really what was the point in hiding any longer?
It was all going to come out. Worse, Vex must be here.
Right now. Somewhere up ahead. He had to warn everyone. He had to…
“Remember when uncle told us yesterday that he had no time for love?” Elasha laughed lightly as she tilted her head down the hallway to where Aquilan was running his hands up and down Declan’s arms and shoulders as if to assure himself that Declan was uninjured. “What a difference a day makes!”
A day… It's just been a damned day since we returned to Tyrael. I never thought things could go so wrong so fast. I was imagining nude picnics and long evenings at the Dawn, but it’s all over now. All of it. Just the ending must come.
Still smiling, Elasha asked, “Do you know his family, Rhalyf? I think it must be a very good one. He’s so kind and brave and powerful!
Though, I am surprised that I haven’t seen him at court before.
” She tapped her chin as she regarded Declan critically.
“And he dresses a little eccentrically, but that doesn’t matter, I suppose.
I mean that can be changed, if it has to.
But I do need to know his House to make sure that it is of…
of… well, you know. That he is fittingly royal. ”
Rhalyf stared at her and thought about bursting out into bitter, hysterical laughter.
Declan was royal all right. He was the Night Prince.
Heir to the entire Kindreth empire. Son of Xelroth Vex, most powerful of all elves in existence, most powerful of all magic users.
If anyone were royal enough to date Aquilan, it would be Declan Wilde.
But, of course, for all the same reasons he was the absolute last person that Aquilan could ever be with.
Does Vex know about Aquilan’s nascent feelings? Is he watching all of this and laughing?
He gazed back down the hallway towards the doomed potential lovers.
Declan’s eyes were covered by those sunglasses, despite the pitch blackness of the location, but then Aquilan gently removed them.
Declan blinked as if even this darkness was not dark enough for him, but then smiled shyly up at Aquilan.
What did you tell him, Declan? Did you admit killing those Leviathan with a Blood Weapon?
Aquilan’s expression says “no” but what does he think happened here?
That the Leviathan just dropped dead? That they were dead before you ran down the hallway for no reason?
Infatuation may be blinding him now, but not that much. Not that much…
He heard the thump of Glom’s four feet as the naki lumbered up to them.
“What’s going on? Why are we stopping” Helgrom asked as he and Snaglak reached the corner.
Glom stuck his head between them and looked hungrily at Snaglak’s bare thigh.
“Fangs!” Snaglak’s eyes grew huge as he saw all of the fangs littering the ground.
“Not so loud, big man,” Finley raised and lowered his hands. “There might be living Leviathan nearby.”
“Hope so!” Snaglak chortled. “Killing fun! Fangs money! Money for beer and food!”
“You mean my beer, my food and then, eventually, my money,” Helgrom chuckled. But then he sobered and looked very hard at Rhalyf. “How did so many fangs come to be here exactly?”
Rhalyf opened his mouth, but no words came out.
“Declan!” Snaglak chortled. “Declan big boss. Declan kill all Leviathan. Declan let Snaglak have fangs, Finley?”
That last was said with a rather pathetic, puppyish look by Snaglak. Rhalyf had not believed that an orc could look cute, but Snaglak was doing a shockingly good impersonation of that.
“I’m sure he’d be fine with it, Snaglak,” Finley said with a flash of a smile.
Everyone here but Elasha knew that Declan was supposed to be human.
But as Rhalyf gazed among them, he realized that none of them believed that.
Helgrom was stroking his beard. His amber eyes rested on Rhalyf and there was so much unsaid behind that gaze that Rhalyf nearly turtled in under the weight of it.
He knows! He knows Declan isn’t human. And he knows… Does he know about me?
As the uncomfortable silence lengthened, Helgrom broke it with a hearty, “How will you carry them all, Snaglak? I’m counting on your fortune here.”
“Not me carry. Glom!” Snaglak explained.
“I don’t think there will be room in your saddlebags,” Finley frowned as he compared the amount of fangs in the hallway and the saddlebags on either side of the reptile's scaly back. “And Glom will clank. The Leviathan will know we’re coming.”
“Glom not carry fangs in saddlebags. Glom carry fangs in belly!” Snaglak patted the naki’s head to get his attention and pointed to the nearest fang. “Eat, Glom!”
“Eat? Oh, good gods, he really is eating them,” Rhalyf remarked.
“He poop out when we in Tyrael! Much money! Much beer and food!” Snaglak rubbed his rock hard stomach.
The naki snarfled up the fangs as it moved down the hallway towards Declan and Aquilan who were now holding hands while they were pretending to be exchanging the sunglasses.
This cannot be. None of this can be. Aquilan’s heart is going to shatter…
His gaze shifted to Finley, who was also looking at the Sun King and Declan with obvious affection and fondness. Finley seemed to sense Rhalyf looking at him and turned towards him. The smile Finley threw his way was warm and welcoming. Shared secrets. Intimacy.
If only Aquilan would react the same to finding a Kindreth in his midst. But he will not. He cannot… Everything is lost.
“They are such a handsome couple,” Elasha enthused. “I really do hope that his family is appropriate.”
“Before you start picking out their wedding colors, we have to rescue your damned brother!” Rhalyf snarled at her.
Elasha jerked back at his cutting tone and blinked rapidly. He wanted to scream at her then. Why did that damned Darcassan have to do this? If they weren’t here then… then what? It would just be another way that Declan’s identity and his secret were revealed.
Vex was on Earth.
Vex was here.
All was lost.
He shoved past her with Finley on his heels as he headed down the hallway towards Declan and Aquilan. The happy couple to be!
“Rhalyf, what’s wrong?” Finley whispered fiercely.
“He’s here,” Rhalyf growled.
“What? Who?” Finley asked.
He spun around, eyes blazing. He knew they were from the way that Finley drew back slightly, but then leaned towards him. Determined not to be frightened away.
“Vex.” The word felt ripped from his body. He was bleeding having said it.
“I would ask you how you know this, why you think this, but that doesn’t matter. You do and I believe you, but what do we do?” Finley asked.
“I… I don’t know.” That was the truth. “I need to tell Aquilan. We need to get–get out of here. As fast as possible. Return to Tyrael where defenses can be… be set up and–”
“Do you really think he’s here with an army?” Finley protested.
“He doesn’t need an army! He’s enough all by himself! Finley, in all of your research have you not understood just what he is?” Rhalyf heard the hysteria in his own voice and tried to swallow it down. “He’s a bloody god.”
“I–I realize that.” Finley grasped his hands.
“No, no, you don’t! You can’t! You just think he’s a powerful mage, but he’s nothing like that and–”
“What I do know about him is that he is clever. Yes, he has power and can be ruthless and violent when it suits his purposes. But everything I’ve read about him indicates that he enjoys finding ways to trick his opponents into making what he’s doing just even if it isn’t,” Finley interrupted and squeezed his hands to stop them shaking.
“Meaning?” Rhalyf found himself clinging to whatever hope Finley was offering him about Vex’s motives. That the Night King wouldn’t simply slaughter them all down here in the dark.
“That murdering us wouldn’t appear just. He has no reason to attack us,” Finley said. “And there’s no cover for him to do it even if he simply wants to.”
“I… see what you are saying. Well, except for me. He thinks I am part of a cabal to assassinate him. And if he were to attack me, Aquilan would intercede and–”
“Yes, that’s possible, but if he were really here after you then wouldn’t he have done more than simply dismissed your glamour in the forest?” Finley pressed. “When you were divining what happened to Seith and Leisha, he could have done more than he did, right?”
“Yes, that trap could have killed me,” Rhalyf forced his breathing to ease. It was true. Vex could have killed him then. But he hadn’t.
Maybe he’s just tormenting me! Taking everything from me before he kills me…
“I believe he must be here for Declan. Clearly, there’s a connection there, at least,” Finley argued.
“Oh, I definitely agree with you there!” Rhalyf thought of Sorrow’s End being likely a “tattoo” on Declan’s back right at that moment.
Sorrow’s End a Blood Weapon! Good gods, Declan is too strong. Vex has to kill him. He can’t risk having him out there!
“The point is that I highly doubt he’s here to simply kill or attack you or–or the Aravae, generally.
He has no justification for doing that…” Finley suddenly stopped talking.
His eyes were distant. Clearly, something had occurred to him.
“But if Darcassan were to go to Illithor and take something…” Finley’s head shot up. “That would give him a reason.”
“Yes… yes, it would…” A yawning pit opened in Rhalyf’s stomach. “We have to stop Darcassan.”
“We have to. We can’t run. We must do what we came here to do: rescue Darcassan and stop him from taking anything from Illithor,” Finley nodded vigorously.
“Because, even if Vex doesn’t intend to act violently towards the Aravae all along, Darcassan’s thieving might force his hand to respond that way. A lesson for others.”
“Yes.” A chill swept through him. Even if Vex didn’t want to attack the Aravae now, if an Aravae prince were to loot Illithor, to steal even one measly weapon, that would be enough for Vex to have to respond.
Just like the Nhagzad. None could survive the betrayal so that no other ally would think about it.
“And besides, even if you told Aquilan that Vex was here, do you think he would abandon his nephew? No, he would just insist that we all leave and he would go after Darcassan alone,” Finley added.
He cupped Finley’s face and kissed his forehead fiercely, which left Finley blinking and staring at him. “You are bloody brilliant! I just had to kiss that big brain of yours,” he added in explanation.
Finley lifted an eyebrow. “So what will you say to Aquilan?”
“I must tell him… I… Finley, I’ve lied to him about everything,” Rhalyf’s voice was wretched. “Everything.”
“You had your reasons,” Finley suggested.
And he had! The fact that Aquilan would never have let him open his mouth to speak before killing him was the number one reason. And it wouldn’t have been just the Sun King. A Kindreth? On the Lieran Plane? In the noble court?
“It won’t matter. He’ll never forgive me.” Suddenly, Rhalyf wished Vex was here to kill him.
All is lost.
“He’s your best friend.”
“Didn’t you hear what I said? I lied to him about everything! Finley–”
“Then that’s all the more reason that you need to tell him carefully about everything. Which you cannot do in the Pedway,” Finley pointed out.
Rhalyf clutched onto that. “I can’t. You’re right. I can’t tell him now.”
I don’t want to tell him ever.
“Tell him what you found about Seith and Leisha’s deaths and that a powerful Kindreth is here. Tell him your fears about Darcassan’s actions and how they might be taken by that Kindreth. You can even tell him…” Here Finley swallowed, “about your fears that it is Vex.”
“Y-yes, I can do that. I should do that,” he hastened to add.
“Those are the facts he needs. The rest can wait,” Finley suggested. “For when we’re not in dire danger in a dark pit surrounded by enemies.”
Rhalyf let out a soft laugh. “Yes, yes, exactly. I’ll tell Aquilan everything else later. But it’s not just my secret, Finley. There’s… there’s Declan to consider.”
Finley nodded. “All the more reason not to bring in extraneous information he doesn’t need to know now. We need a plan for all of this.”
“Right. Clever boy.” He touched Finley’s cheek again.
Finley froze for a moment, but then leaned against his hand. “Yes, yes, well, everyone is wondering what’s happening with us.”
And he was right again. Elasha was staring at them. Helgrom grimly stroked his beard while regarding them. Snaglak… Well, Snaglak was urging Glom to eat faster so he wasn’t paying any attention to them. And on the other side of them, Aquilan and Declan were approaching, hand in hand.
Despite everything that Finley had said, despite the fact that he wasn’t going to admit it all now–or maybe ever, his mind whispered–he couldn’t get the thought out of his head that…
All is lost.