“We need to go, now.” CJ said.
“There is an alley exit,” Larl said.
Mae, looked particularly exhausted from the fight, and was clutching her chest. So Alyss grabbed Shaw by the arm and dragged him out as they all fled.
They were back in the evening light, and started instinctively moving through the city back toward the inn they were using as a base. Everyone was out a breath to some degree. CJ, Alyss, and Mae all had cuts and scrapes. CJ could still feel the the tinge of pain where the soup burned his skin. He would probably need a balm for that.
CJ’s eye was returning to normal. He could see the different paths between the buildings of the city, and it seemed that no one had eyes on them. They were safe to slow down.
“Slow, slow,” CJ said, “look normal. We should figure out where we’re going. Where are you holed up Brother?”
CJ looked over his shoulder to Brother Shaw, and the man was walking along with them. Alyss let go of him already, so he was naturally keeping up. But he didn’t look to answer CJ.
“Brother?” CJ repeated.
Alyss looked back and tapped the man on the arm, which seemed to pull him out of a stupor.
“Ah yes, sorry?” He blinked at CJ, but didn’t process the question.
“Can we take you to get your things?” CJ asked.
Brother Shaw shook his head, “Nothing there is worth our time. We should get Mae to safety.”
CJ nodded. That worked for him. He saw Alyss and Larl communicating with their eyes, then Alyss held her side as if hurt. She reached out toward CJ.
“CJ, I need to show you something.” She said with gasping breath.
Everyone moved to slow down, but Larl put a hand behind Brother Shaw. “They can keep up, we should keep moving.”
There was a problem. CJ didn’t need their bond to sense it. There was worry, suspicion. So CJ nodded and slowed down to walk alongside Alyss. She let them slow down enough that the others were out of earshot and then she turned to CJ and tried to keep her pained expression from earlier.
“Brother Shaw isn’t who he says he is.”
“What?” CJ snapped. He went to check the man’s sheet, then realized it would be futile. If he was the same as the Ashen Cult members, then they could be an impostor. “What makes you think so?”
They went at a slow pace to keep up a little, but Alyss thought about her answer as they went.
“He forgets his title.”
“That happens,” CJ said. “He isn’t the youngest man, and we are kind of in a stressful situation.”
“A brother of the one flame doesn’t accidentally call himself a priest, not in Akahi. They are monks.”
CJ thought back, yeah he remembered that. He figured he was joking around.
“Larl tested him earlier,” Alyss said. “Larl and Shaw are not brothers, they don’t come from the same order. Shaw went along with Larl saying so.”
That one felt a little petty. But CJ could see how it was adding up.
“His behavior toward Mae is also strange for a member of the One Flame. They don’t revere the nobility as a point. It was a… bit of a frustrating aspect of the group. There was the possibility Shaw was just an outlier but with everything else we just saw…”
CJ didn’t need anymore convincing. It wasn’t even the facts presented, it was their feelings about it. If they believed this much, then CJ had no choice but to go along with it. They knew this matter, he didn’t. There was a safe way to try to resolve this either way.
“Go and find Ophy’s group at the gallows stage, We will meet you at the rendezvous. Be ready to act normal. If he is a fake, we need to know how much he knows and when the switch happened.”
Alyss nodded, and then broke off from the group.
CJ jogged and caught up with the group.
“What happened?” Mae asked. The suspicion was leaking to her, she knew something was off but didn’t have the details.
Brother shaw nodded as well, “Is she okay?”
“No,” CJ said. “But it isn’t anything Ophy can’t solve. I sent her to grab Ophy and meet us back at base camp. We should hurry though. With everything that happened, we have to figure out how we are getting out of The Brothers.”
Larl nodded with a small smile, but Mae nodded slowly.
“Has the plan been disturbed so much?” Brother Shaw asked. “Are we to leave immediately?”
CJ nodded. “We don’t have anything else to do here in the city. We need to get you and the princess here back to safety until we can get in contact with your Brothers.”
Shaw’s temperament soured. “You shouldn’t mock the duchess like that.”
Mae raised a hand, “Don’t worry Brother Shaw, it is a bad habit of his, he doesn’t mean any real harm.”
Shaw narrowed his eyes at CJ. “Yes, I’ve heard some stories about a strange addition to the duchy, you are him then CJ?”
CJ nodded as they walked along, “That’s right. About the strangest addition you can get. You heard about me huh?”
“Hard not to,” Shaw said. “They said that your party arrived in Barune with a man with one eye. An oddity who traveled with the noble party, but no one knew his titles.”
It sounded like the refugees they rescued from Akahi were talking. They had theories about who or what CJ was, but no facts. That was something Greywind would be able to get after conquering Scaleback. Otherwise, who had that information, who would let it out? There were people who got out of the city before the attack who might have seen him arrive, they were another possibility. It was inconclusive.
“While we walk, can you tell us about your brothers in the priesthood?” CJ asked.
“That was kind of harrowing CJ,” Mae said, and he could see a pained look on her face along with some sweat on her brow, “sure we can talk about that later.”
But Larl caught on. “Lady Mae, I hate to disagree but I could use the comfort of such a story at the moment.”
Brother Shaw looked between them for a moment, but didn’t seem disturbed by the question. He grinned a little and nodded. “Of course. Well it does start as a sad story, but it is also a little long.”
He began a rather elaborate story about being further South in Barune when he heard the news of what happened in Akahi. At first he resolved to stay and wait to find out what happened, but then he got word that there were survivors and arranged a journey. It was luck that got him together with the others in the priesthood.
“How many?” CJ asked. “I mean, how many of you are left.”
Brother Shaw looked solemn. “Not many, but right now we are waiting for others to travel to the meeting point. I’ll have better numbers then.”
“Any word from Brother Ky?” Mae asked, “he was a friend of my father.”
Shaw grinned, “None yet Lady Mae, but hopefully any day now.”
“Where are you guys hiding?” CJ asked.
Shaw crossed his arms. “I hate to make anything difficult, but I feel like I should save that until we get out of town. There is still the risk of capture.”
CJ chuckled, “Good point.”
They were getting close to the rendezvous. It was an alleyway behind a bar. If everything went wrong, it wasn’t far from where the carts were, and they could take different paths to get there.
“Here we are, we can wait here.” CJ said.
Mae opened her mouth to say something, but Larl distracted her with a touch on the arm.
“This whole city is just back alleys and mud holes,” Brother Shaw said. “It is a shame we had to meet here.
“It isn’t too far from where we have the rest of the New Akahi Army,” CJ said.
Shaw’s eyes went a little wide. “A new army? So soon after defeat?”
CJ crossed his arms, “Well keep it under wraps for now. Part of the army wasn’t in the city at the time, a secret mission. But it should be enough to hit Akahi once they let their guard down.”
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Mae had her fist balled up in anger, she was going to say something if no one stopped her.
Then Ophy, her bondmate, and Alyss came jogging into the alleyway. Mae gave up her anger for the relief of Alyss returning. She turned to the group.
“Thank goodness you found them Alyss.”
CJ nodded. “Ophy, this is Brother Shaw of the One Flame.” He motioned for Ophy and Moll to get closer. Ophy walked up and nodded her head to Brother Shaw.
“It is a pleasure to meet you,” Shaw said.
“Likewise,” Ophy said.
CJ smiled. “Now Ophy, please pin him to the wall.”
“What?” Brother shaw yelped.
Ophy shrugged, then used the bar of her arm to smash Shaw at the collar, pressing him into the brick alley wall. His head bounced off the wall and he let out a pathetic groan.
“CJ!” Mae gasped, “Ophy, let him go this instant.”
Ophy looked at Mae, then looked at CJ in confusion. “Uhh.”
“Not so fast Mae,” CJ said. “Unfortunately, we need to check his identity.”
“So you smash him into a wall?” Mae gasped. She almost shrieked but caught herself, then let out a grunt of pain as she held her chest.
“I’m afraid I’m confused,” Shaw said. “You think I’m not myself? I’m as much a victim of those assassins as you are!”
CJ scrunched up his face. “Yeah, except not really. You went there day after day, waiting for us. The whole time they were watching you, but didn’t attack. You were safe.”
“They would have killed us all!” Brother Shaw shouted before Ophy increased her pressure to shut him up.
Mae looked to CJ, “I agree! Why are we doing this CJ? Because you were tricked by those assassins?”
Alyss stepped up, “Lady Mae, you have to feel that something is off. He has made mistake after mistake since we met him. I know you want to believe we found them, but can’t risk everything for that.”
Larl nodded, “Yes, please listen to reason.”
CJ drew his sword again. “Besides, it is a good chance to see how much damage we have to do before these Ashen Cult jerks reveal themselves.”
Shaw watched his sword with desperate fear. “I’ll show you the letters!”
They all stopped. “What letters?” CJ asked.
“I have letters from the others in the order. We discuss our meeting point, our numbers, what to do next.” Shaw said. “I wasn’t sure you were real so I didn’t bring them. But if it comes to this to prove my faith, then I’ll take you there. I couldn’t fake their writing, their seals. I’ll do it, please.”
Mae watched CJ, and CJ watched Brother Shaw. He looked to Larl and Alyss and saw that their resolve was wavering. They were no longer sure.
“Okay,” CJ said. “Let him loose Ophy.”
Ophy released her grip and Shaw bent over holding his collar. He took a few breaths and then stood up.
“I see things have changed in the leadership of Akahi,” Shaw said, eyeing Mae.
“I’m sorry, Brother Shaw,” Mae whispered, her eyes filling with tears. “This is… not how we usually behave. Desperate times have made our edges jagged.”
He thought for a moment. “I’ll take you there, but I don’t want it to turn into my grave from one bad interpretation. I won’t take all of you.”
CJ’s grip tightened on his sword. “What?”
“I’ll take Lady Mae,” Shaw said. “Maybe one other.”
“Lady, no,” Larl said. “That is suspicious.”
Shaw pointed to his collar, “Choking me in an alley is without suspicion? I should flee. I thought I was going to be rejoining us with the Magmaguard elite, not back alley thugs!”
“We can go,” CJ said, nodding. “Me and Mae, we’ll go see his letters and make our decision then.”
Everyone was quiet. Silent nods went around the group.
“Everyone else go be ready,” CJ said.
Mae clutched her chest again. Then they set out.
They walked the streets of the Right-side city of The Brothers, and CJ tried to think of exactly how to solve the upcoming crisis.
They were being lead into a trap. There was no way around that. Everything about the situation screamed trap. There was the possibility that Shaw surprised him, but that wasn’t what he was planning around. He was worried about another aspect of the trap.
As they crossed a quiet back road, CJ looked back at Mae. She still seemed tired, despite them having plenty of time to catch their breath. The full bond really did take a lot out of her. Now the whole reason for this trip was a bust, she wouldn’t get to take on the attunement she wanted. CJ didn’t know what happened when a whole mastery organization fell apart, what happened when every expert in an attunement is gone?
“Don’t worry my lady,” Brother Shaw said, putting a hand on her back. “We are almost there, and then we can get all of this sorted.”
CJ kept a close eye on the man until he let her go. Mae just nodded, despite clearly still being distressed.
“Here,” Shaw said. “I’m in this tenement.”
It was a thick building of brick that rose five stories up. It looked like it was falling apart from the outside. There was clothing hanging out of nearly every window on the outside. It was an apartment, thick with residents.
“Any special requirements before we go in?” Shaw said, his voice thick with a slight layer of spite and smugness.
CJ shook his head no. “Lets just go and see, huh.”
So they went inside. There was the sound of people all over the dimly lit building. They walked down a hall where children screamed and men could be heard laughing. They went up one set of stairs and then headed deeper into the structure. He pulled out a small ring of keys, and got one out.
Keys here were simple, just a few teeth. Shaw stopped at a door, opened it, and let them into a small single room. From the door to the window couldn’t have been more than 14 feet. There was one other door inside, near the back corner, a closet. Inside the room was a simple mat on the floor that was covered with blankets, and a table desk with a chair. There were shelves near the entrance, which had some boxes and jars of food on there. It was a really simple space that spoke to a simple lifestyle.
“Please, come in,” Shaw said. “Let me grab the letters, I had them put away.”
CJ walked inside and made his way toward the desk. It had papers on it, arranged and ready for writing letters. An inkwell was stoppered next to it. It didn’t look like he had used it, the papers were well stacked and the table had a fine layer of dust.
“How long have you had to stay here again?” CJ asked.
“I hadn’t said,” Shaw said. He was at the sleeping mat, rotting around under it. It seemed his letters were hidden under there.
Why would the writing area be so dusty, wasn’t he communicating with his brothers about what was going on? No, it wasn’t completely unused. There was a spot where some ink was spilled and dried up, and that had dust over it. It was used, then it wasn’t, maybe when he started waiting for them.
There was a thud, and CJ turned to see Mae collapsed to her knees. She looked dizzy, she slipped down until her head thumped to the wood floorboards.
“Mae?” CJ said, taking a step toward her.
But Shaw moved faster, he rushed to her side. “Lady Mae! Are you okay?”
“My chest, so tight…” Mae gasped. “Everything feels hot…”
Shaw shook his head. “I saw the signs, but I wasn’t quite sure.”
“What is it?” CJ asked. He kept a little distance, watched the man as he touched Mae’s back.
“Her soulstone is Solidifying, it can be an exhausting process, especially while you are on the cusp.” He looked up at CJ, “She might be incapacitated for a moment. Help me move her to the mat.”
Shaw lifted her up from her shoulder, and CJ came close and helped. They pulled her over and laid her down on the bedding. She was sweating bad, and kept her eyes squeezed shut.
“I’m guessing yours was much easier,” Shaw asked. “There were signs, but not everyone suffers this much.”
CJ stood and looked at Mae. “No, I don’t really remember mine.”
Her expression was familiar though. CJ could remember fits of illness, just not here in this world.
Shaw nodded, his back still turned to CJ. “Yes, well needless to say now it is just the two of us.”
CJ narrowed his eyes, then Shaw whipped around and punched him in the face, sending CJ reeling backwards until he tripped over the chair at the desk. He tripped and crashed to the floor, his heading flashing with pain.
“Sometimes people don’t remember a thing from their Solidifying,” Shaw said with a chuckle, “I might even be able to convince her you betrayed us.”
CJ rolled over. Shaw was good, the exact moment CJ was too distracted to watch him, he struck. Blood trickled from CJ’s nose, he hoped it wasn’t broken. Actually, they might be able to correct that here.
“Pretty clever,” CJ said from the ground. He could hear Shaw walking up behind him as he crawled along the floor. This was the situation he was thinking about earlier, what he tried to plan around. Well, not this exact situation but something similar.
CJ focused, and a line of energy sprouted from him and reached out to all the others in the bond. It realized immediately that only Mae was nearby, and attached to her. The sensation was strange, there was definitely something going on with her soulstone, the energy coming from her was unbalanced, maybe even incomplete. But it was there.
Shaw kicked him in the side to turn him over, then stood over CJ. “It was a good attempt, I could tell you were suspicious.”
The man’s smile was nefarious now. He was shedding ash from his body, small bits of it falling out of his beard and off of his shoulders. The real him was waiting underneath.
CJ coughed, pulled in a phlegm and spat out blood to the side. “So, when did you make the switch?”
Shaw rolled his eyes. “Do you really expect me to lay out our plan to you? Can’t you put together enough pieces?”
CJ smiled from the floor. “Consider it a last request, so my soul can rest in peace.”
The monk pulled a knife out of nowhere, reaching into the very fabric of his cloak as if it were liquid and yanking out the crooked blade. “They said you were smart. Your soul isn’t going to rest, you’ll be ground down and used as precious fuel for what must come.”
“Yeah yeah, right.” CJ said with a smirk. “I didn’t realize villains really would just make speeches like this.”
Shaw stomped on his stomach, knocking the wind out of him, then came down with the knife. It plunged into CJ’s shoulder, and CJ let out a scream of pain. Shaw stayed in close, whispering into CJ’s ear as he struggled under the knife. “After I kill you, I’ll kill your little group out there. Then we’ll hunt down this man’s whole order, killing each one of them. The flame will be smothered in ash, and your remains will be on the front lines of it all.”
CJ struggled against the pain. It really did hurt, to a level he didn’t imagine possible. But there was a positive to it, he actually did manage to get what he wanted.
“So the Brotherhood still lives…” CJ said. “Okay, Mae, go ahead.”
Shaw’s eyes went wide, and he tried to turn. But before he could a sword plunged through his back. Shaw let out a terrible cry that shifted tones between two voices.
Mae was standing behind him. She still looked unwell, but the font of power between them wasn’t to help CJ fight, it was to help Mae stabilize. It seemed that with the bond up, she was able to fight off the effects of this Stabilization.
Shaw fell over to the floor. Mae pulled her sword out, and Shaw’s ash fell away, leaving a pile on the floor. Underneath was the most overdressed Ashen Cult member yet. They were wearing a set of leather armor, a false ribcage spreading out from a smoldering red mark in the center. Their grey skin had black paint marks heading up toward another red pit mark taken out of their forehead.
“You’re an idiot if you think I didn’t know about Solidifying,” CJ said as he sat up. “We’ve been waiting for Mae to get over this hump for weeks.”
CJ was hoping this would do it. Whatever was holding her back, Alyss and Larl suggested a meaningful struggle would be the difference maker. Killing a member of the Ashen Cult, no matter how grim, this could be it.
Mae looked at the twitching assassin, and shook her head. “May your flame return, as Hibe wishes.” Then she finished him off. She dropped her sword, and then sat down on the floor.
“You heard right?” CJ asked. “They should still be out there, they haven’t found the Brotherhood yet.”
Mae’s eyes were watering again. She suppressed a sob, and nodded. “Just… Brother Shaw is most certainly lost.”
That was true. It seemed that this impostor found him once he came here. They weren’t invited into a trap, Shaw was just tracked. Alternatively, the Goldfeather Post wasn’t as secure as everyone thought. But he was made to believe that was impossible, their attunements were built around keeping their letters secured against theft and tampering.
CJ held the knife into his shoulder, grabbed a nearby discarded shirt, and wrapped it around the blade to stop the bleeding. “We have to try to save who we can, right? Shaw was doing what he-“
There was a thump in the room, it was in the closet. They both turned, and CJ looked at Mae until she cleared her eyes and went over to the closet door. She had her sword ready, blood still on it. She held it at the ready, then yanked the door open.
A man fell out, his mouth dribbling a foamy liquid and his eyes rolled back in his head. The beard and hair were familiar, despite the face looking emaciated and terribly pale. It was Brother Shaw.
The two looked at each other.