Chapter 4 Questions He Will Not Ask
Questions He Will Not Ask
“The rifts to Illithor are deeper down. By the tracks of the L station,” Declan said, pointing with his kitchen knife into the darkness ahead of them. “There are stairs that lead to a platform. That is where we will find Darcassan… if he has not already found a rift to Illithor.”
“How do you know, Lord Declan?” Elasha asked, all agog.
Though the truth was that Aquilan was wondering the same thing, but he found such questions dying on his lips.
Questions like: what happened in the hallway before he and Rhalyf turned the corner?
How had Declan killed over a dozen of the Leviathan with a broken kitchen knife that seemed to appear and disappear randomly?
He knew that Declan had done it. Not Darcassan. He knew it.
So many questions.
And yet he found himself remaining silent.
Did he not want to know? Did he fear knowing would change these growing feelings he had for Declan? Was he afraid of the answers for any other reason?
No.
The answers simply didn’t matter.
Declan was what he was.
Declan could do what he could do.
Declan was his Shadow, who shouted Iefyr in his dreams, who carried his books and cared about the things that would delight him from sweets to where his bedroom should face. Declan was good. He knew this. He felt this. Down to his bones.
Yet…
No human can do what he has done here.
So the real question–perhaps the only question–was what was Declan? But he couldn’t imagine ever asking that. Not here in any case. Maybe tenderly over wine and food with gentle prodding to see if the young man knew himself. But not in the dark, corrupted world of the Leviathan.
Declan could have prevaricated when he had answered Elasha’s question. Aquilan saw him hesitate. But then he simply answered, “I can sense them.”
Sense them? Magically? Yes, it must be. He cannot be human if this is the case.
Elasha’s eyes went wide. “You can sense–”
Rhalyf let out a slightly hysterical chuckle as he cut her off, “The location spell confirms that Darcassan is down deeper. We really must not delay getting to him. I have a very bad feeling that if he gets to Illithor and takes anything from there–”
“He must not,” Declan said firmly. His voice was soft, but commanding. He meant what he said.
Aquilan found himself adding, “No, he must not.” Then with a feeling as if he were stepping off a cliff, he added, “It would be disastrous.”
His own fears were suddenly reflected in multiple sets of eyes and he didn’t feel so alone in this. It also meant that his fears were more like realities. But having everyone on the same page about this was crucial.
“But why?” Elasha asked, her eyes flickering from one of their faces to the other.
“Because, like Helgrom said earlier, King Vex will know if he steals something,” Finley said as he pushed his glasses up his nose. “And it could start a war between the Kindreth and the Aravae.”
A war… another war… but this one would be far harder, far bloodier, far more terrible. And for what? A stolen trinket?
“WHAT?!” Elasha’s voice rose up.
Rhalyf snapped his fingers and her voice died. She lifted her hands to her throat and stared at his best friend with aggrievement.
“Can’t have you screaming down here, dear,” Rhalyf explained unrepentantly.
Aquilan stared at Finley. “You have put it quite succinctly.”
Finley hadn’t hesitated when he’d said it.
He was acting as if this was a normal thing to think.
That he understood Vex. And maybe he did.
From not thinking of the Kindreth to suddenly considering…
what? That Vex would know what they were doing was a leap he hadn’t expected to make that day or any day. And yet, here he was.
“I’m not saying Vex wants a war,” Finley qualified. “But I think it would be most unwise to give him an excuse for one.”
“But Vex is far away! Deep in the Under Dark. Nowhere near Illithor,” Elasha’s voice was back so long as she didn’t scream. “I realize you say he will know, but that’s very vague and it’s based on dwarven superstition–”
“Superstition is it, girl?” Helgrom’s bushy eyebrows drew together.
“I will have you know that the reason we stayed on the Kindreth’s good side for as long as we did was because we understood Vex.
While others fell because they underestimated him or failed to appreciate his belief system, we remained an ally.
That is a fact. Not a belief. Not a superstition.
And you’d do well to understand that history before you speak about it. ”
Elasha lowered her head. “I’m sorry, Helgrom. I meant no offense! It just seems mad that we went from Darcassan taking a sword or two from an abandoned city to a war with the Kindreth!”
It was true. It should have sounded crazier to consider. But it wasn’t. Maybe it was the darkness. Maybe it was the knowledge that Illithor was so close as a simple step through a rift.
“No one has ever trespassed in Illithor before either. Especially not an Aravae prince,” Helgrom reminded her.
“But they haven’t been seen in millennia! Why would they care if we took something from that moldering ruin?” Elasha’s hands flew up into the air.
“Brother steal. Vex mad,” Snaglak said simply as he patted Glom’s side. Not all of the fangs were gobbled up yet.
How many Leviathan were here when Declan entered this hallway? Aquilan’s mind treacherously asked.
“All right! Fine! Vex doesn’t like being stolen from. Who does? But even if we do get to Illithor, the Kindreth might as well be on another plane, they are so deep in the Under Dark in comparison to where we will be,” Elasha cried.
She was right. Or, at least, she would have been if he didn’t know of the Kindreth that made their way to the Lieran plane. Almost to the doorstep of his parents’ palace.
Finley looked meaningfully at Rhalyf as he carefully said, “We have reason to believe that a very powerful Kindreth has been on Earth recently. Right, Rhalyf?”
Aquilan’s head snapped towards his best friend. More Kindreth? On Earth? And Rhalyf hadn’t told him? Why? How? Rhalyf’s usually tanned appearance looked pasty in the darkness. He swallowed hard and didn’t seem to be able to meet Aquilan’s gaze.
Guilty! He feels guilty for not telling me right away? That must be it, but…
“Two Aravae were killed by where you found Finley and me. I cannot be certain who killed them, but I know Kindreth magic was used and it was someone powerful who wove it,” Rhalyf explained carefully. His voice was clipped, having none of its usual richness.
“Why did you not say something immediately, Rhalyf? My people were murdered by a Kindreth on Aravae land?” Aquilan’s voice was rising now.
Why did he not tell me this? He knew Darcassan was missing!
Rhalyf gave a jerky nod so unlike his usual movements. “I should have.”
“YES!” He nearly roared, pulling back at the last moment.
Declan touched his arm. He was trembling. He breathed. This was Rhalyf. His best friend had a reason–undoubtedly, a good reason–for not telling him. It was this place that had him on edge. The thought of two survivors being so close to death and destruction and–
Declan does not seem unnerved at all by this place. He seems…
“I know! I know.” Rhalyf scrubbed his face with his hands. “But in the excitement and confusion hearing about Darcassan… I intended to tell you. After I had a chance to get my own head around it. As I said, I am still just guessing, educated guessing, but guessing nonetheless, but–”
“But you feel it is so,” Declan summed up for him.
“Yes. But to say that there is a Kindreth–a powerful Kindreth–on Earth without more proof…” Rhalyf’s lower lip trembled for a moment. “I didn’t want to believe it. That’s the truth of it. I don’t want to believe it.”
Aquilan’s anger drained away at Rhalyf’s honest answer. It was too much to take in. It was. He felt the same way and yet…
“Who do you think this powerful Kindreth is?” Declan asked.
“I… I don’t know,” Rhalyf said, his eyes darted to Finley.
Finley sighed and pinched the top of his nose.
Rhalyf raced ahead in response, “I think… you’ll probably believe me mad! I mean we’re going as Elasha said from one smallish thing to war to…”
“Who do you think it is, Rhalyf?” Aquilan put a hand on Rhalyf’s shoulder to steady his friend.
Those intelligent gray eyes rose to his and they were filled with despair. Aquilan almost jerked back from it.
Rhalyf swallowed deeply and his nostrils flared like a frightened horse, but he forced the single word out, “Vex.”
And the name seemed to echo in the hallway. Everyone jerked around and looked over their shoulders as if the Night King would suddenly appear. But according to Rhalyf, he could.
“That’s–that’s insane! Isn’t he dead? Or something?” Elasha asked, one of her hands fluttering up to her throat belying her words.
“No, he is not dead,” Aquilan found himself saying, “I would know.”
He’d said that once before. He had hardly realized that it had left his lips that earlier time. But this time it was spoken with him knowing he was saying it, but unable to stop himself. It was true.
“Why were they killed, Rhalyf? Why would Vex kill them?” Aquilan’s voice was harsh. Cold.
Did he kill my parents the same way? Part of me thought it was impossible, because when it happened they weren’t that far into the Under Dark… were they? I can’t… can’t remember…
“I don’t know.” But Rhalyf wouldn’t meet his eyes again.
But you have an idea. A good idea. But what? Why won’t you say?
“He might have felt he had a reason,” Finley said.
“Or he just slaughtered them for no reason whatsoever,” Aquilan said coldly. “That’s what Kindreth do. They kill for fun, for power, for nothing at all.”
With every word, Rhalyf jerked as if physically hurt by those words.
“That’s not necessarily true!” Finley put a hand on Rhalyf’s shoulder almost protectively. “Maybe some do, but not all. You mustn’t believe all the stories–”