“Is here fine, Miss Noth?” the young lad asked.

“Yep. Place it down there, that's fine,” I said.

The three men lowered the Sand-Tusk to the floor, and with a small huff all stepped back and away from it.

“Awfully heavy for whatever it is. Is it a bone?” one of them asked.

“Yes. It's the tusk of a large sand creature, though no one has seen them for some time,” I said.

We had killed and eaten them all after all.

“Oh? A sand beast? How cool,” the youngest said as he kneeled down and tapped the tusk.

“They're tasty too... or at least, somewhat,” I said. Chances were, these people who grew up eating such tasty food all the time might not have found them very tasteful... but I had at one time.

“Hm. Maybe we'll run into some before we leave?” one said with a laugh.

“We'll get back to work now, Miss Noth. Yell if you need anything else,” the oldest said, giving me a small salute as he left.

The other two quickly followed after him, giving me half hearted salutes in the process.

Watching them go, I waited until they were far enough down the hall that they couldn't hear or see me... and jumped a little in excitement.

How easy!

Victory was easy indeed!

Almost knocking over a small table as I danced around, I caught myself from causing any more noise.

Calming myself, I took a deep breath and relaxed. I couldn't make a mistake now.

Don't allow the easy steps ruin the hard ones, after all!

The Sand-Tusk rested up against the couch and chairs in Noth's office, and was surprisingly bigger than I remembered. It was almost big enough that it needed to be turned sideways; else it would hit the wall and desk.

But I wasn't going to move it... nor did I have any plans on asking others to do so either.

The other night, when I had saw them from a distance... I had been unsure. I couldn't believe that the House of Hombil would have actually given them to Noth, least of all without explaining what they were... or what they were capable of...

Then I remembered my own Household... and how we had spent so much time going through the crates in our storage rooms, the day before we started trading with Noth. It had taken us a long time... and there had been a lot of stuff in those crates that none of us knew anything about.

It wouldn't surprise me at all, if whoever at the House of Hombil that checked this particular crate, hadn't known at all what they were.

After all, they would have sent the young workers into the storage rooms first. Not the elderly or the educated. Or the healers, like myself, who only knew what they were thanks to having to occasionally treat the wounds they caused.

The House of Hombil didn't need to send such people who would know what the Sand-Tusks are, to do such petty work. They had enough people where they could just use the young workers and men.

And that was why this worked.

Well... that and the fact I had easily been able to ask those men to carry one of them up here into Noth's office for me.

Originally my plan had been to do it to the whole crate, while they worked around them... But this morning when I had gone down and found the room where they were all being held, I found that it was full of crates but empty of people.

They had finished working in that room.

Which meant, even if I used all of the Sand-Tusks in that crate, the result wouldn't be anywhere near enough to matter.

Damage to the Line alone wasn't going to be enough... I needed people to be harmed.

Or well, instead of people... just a statement.

Damage to an empty storeroom? Painful. And annoying. But Noth was kind enough to find it within him to simply leave, instead of exact vengeance...

So I needed something that pushed aside that soft heart... and called forth the terribly cruel Lord of the Line who lurked beneath it.

I needed the Commander who dared to face off with a Sand Goliath. The one who somehow retained the fealty and loyalty of even a giant, behemoth of a warrior like Yevin.

I needed to make Noth angry, and not something he simply sighed or shook his head at.

I needed the man who had done such a thing to my ancestor. I needed the Commander of the Front-Line, not Noth.

Kneeling down next to the Sand-Tusk, I ran my hand along it once more. I had already verified it really was a Sand-Tusk, but just in case I double checked again.

The feeling of wet sand being felt as I slid my hand along the dry bone made me smile.

How familiar. How easy.

I couldn't believe how easy it had been to convince Noth's people to help me bring this up here...

They had thought I had wanted it for something silly. Something a wife would do for her husband. They had teased and joked about it the entire way up here, and I had played along perfectly.

Grandmother Rivini would be proud... at least for a moment, until she realized the meaning behind it all.

Still...

For a tiny moment I reconsidered.

I knew what I was about to do.

I personally have nursed men and women... even a child once, who had sustained injuries from these things.

They had been some of the first people I personally had allowed to die. They had been my patients, my own, who from start to finish I had cared for.

Granted... I couldn't have saved them, no matter what. But it had taken me a long time to get over their loss.

Their deaths had not been kind to me.

Not just mentally, but physically. Mother and the other healers had not been happy with me at all... but had been more than happy to shift the blame entirely upon me.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Giving me the patients, who couldn't be saved, so they themselves wouldn't be blamed when they died was a common tactic amongst them. I understood it all now, but the child I had been at the time had not understood it at all.

My breathing became rougher as I remembered the beatings, and the nights I went without food because of such incidents.

They made what I was about to do rather easy.

Standing, I hurried over to the other side of Noth's desk. Sure enough, just where I had left it... from last night's meal that we had shared, was a large bowl of water.

Large enough to cover the entire Sand-Tusk.

Which meant large enough to ignite the whole thing.

Bending down, I was surprised at how heavy the bowl felt. I knew it wasn't heavy at all, since I had carried it earlier, but at the same time...

“Just do it, get it over with,” I mumbled to myself.

I had checked the surrounding rooms. Only a few people were here.

They were all smart people too. The people of this Line were brilliant and wise... and strong.

They'd be wise enough to run, once they saw the flames.

They might even be able to put it out, with their great magic or tools.

No one should die... no one would...

All they would think was that the House of Hombil tried to sabotage them...

My footsteps were heavy as I rounded the desk and walked towards the Sand-Tusk.

All Noth would believe, was that I helped them... and that...

So that meant...

“Derri and Hombil would...”

With heavy feet, and an even heavier heart... I stared at the water in my hands.

Past the bowl, near my feet... laid the Sand-Tusk...

All I had to do was tilt the bowl.

A small lift of my hands.

Then it was done.

My suffering would end.

All children of Derri's suffering would end.

“Kya!”

The sudden scream made my whole body freeze, as if suddenly locked in place. As if buried by sand.

“Hide me, Princess!”

My eyes were all that I could move as I watched a blur of motion run into the room, nearly stumbling over the Sand-Tusk in the process as she rounded the couch and hurried behind the desk.

The little blur of motion had been clear to my eyes, and made my eyes watery.

Why was she here? Why now?

Looking down, at the water in my hands, I began to become covered in a certain kind of liquid of my own creation as I slowly stepped away from the Sand-Tusk.

“Sshh! Don't tell her I'm here!” Veronica said from behind the desk, peering at me from around its side.

I nodded with a rickety neck, and carefully put the water onto the desk... as far away from the edge near the Sand-Tusk as possible.

“Telleya? Thought you were with Jamthi,” Sarley's voice entered the room as she did, and she sounded pleased to see me... or rather, excited at the opportunity to tease me, and Noth through me.

“I was,” I said honestly.

“Hm. Don't blame you. The kid means well, but he gets so annoying sometimes... he has too much of Noth in him,” Sarley said as she looked around the room.

As her eyes scanned the room, I panicked when they slid over the Sand-Tusk... but she didn't even bother to see it.

Her eyes instead danced from chair to chair, corner to corner... even to the cupboards and shelves nearby.

Walking over to one of the shelves, I calmed down a little when I realized she was just looking for the child.

“I'm on the hunt for a criminal, Telleya,” Sarley said as she grabbed one of the cupboard doors.

“A criminal?” I asked, and felt the cold sweat return.

Sarley nodded as she opened the cabinet, and my sweat and panic suddenly disappeared.

“What!” I startled, hurrying over to her.

Startled by my outburst, Sarley shut the door as she turned, looking around the room for the cause. “What, what?” she asked, bothered.

“How'd you open it...?” I asked, stepping past her and grabbing the door myself.

The same one she had just opened.

Tugging on it, I groaned when I felt the hard firmness upon it. It wasn't going to open.

“Oh... oh! Sorry Telleya... Only a few people can open these ones here,” she said, happy it wasn't anything serious.

“Only a few? So only those Noth trusts?” I asked.

“Uh... well... I guess you could put it that way,” Sarley said, and I could tell I had made her uncomfortable.

“I see,” was all I said as I stepped way, calming myself.

Sarley coughed, and also seemed glad that I had dropped the topic. She probably was worried I had taken offense to it... though I don't know why she'd think such a thing.

She knew I wasn't really his wife after all...

“Anyway... so I'm chasing this criminal. A real dangerous one, she is,” Sarley said, going back into character.

“Hm. How dangerous?” I asked.

“The dirty kind.”

“Dirty...?” I asked, thinking of what she meant.

“Yep. So dirty, even the cobwebs are cleaner,” Sarley said.

“Oh,” I understood her meaning, and smiled at her. So Veronica was running from a bath...?

Surely not... she was old enough to not do such a thing. Must just be a game of some sorts to them.

“Well, as a loyal citizen of this land, it is my duty to aid the just and call out the unjust,” I said.

“So it is!” Sarley agreed, her eyes heading towards the desk.

“Hm. So, as a loyal citizen, I formally make a report that there are no criminals here, good Sarley,” I said, trying to play along.

“Indeed, so it seems. I thank you for your assistance, loyal citizen...” Sarley started to say, but stepped around me and to the other side of the desk in the process.

“Though maybe there's a reward for her capture...?” I asked, and heard a tiny noise come from under the desk from my question.

Uh-oh, did I just lose a friend?

“A reward indeed! I bought a tasty snack for Veronica, but the darn girl went and became a criminal... so you can have it if you help me find her,” Sarley said.

“Wha...!?” a tiny voice came from under the desk, and both Sarley and I smiled at each other.

Sarley didn't waste any more time, and rounded the desk with haste. A loud thump was heard, and I flinched and hoped Veronica hadn't hit her head too badly.

Being pulled out from under the desk, Veronica flailed as she struggled to get free.

Then Sarley tossed her into the air.

Veronica squealed as Sarley flung her into the air, and I startled when she almost hit the ceiling.

Groaning as Sarley repeated the process, I had to accept that she knew what she was doing... and wouldn't throw the child up into the roof.

“Caught ya!” Sarley shouted, hoisting Veronica over her shoulder as if she was a sack of sand.

“Noooo! Princess Noth!” Veronica begged for help, but there was quite literally nothing I could do.

“Sorry, I can't even reach you,” I said, stretching my arms out a little.

The truth was I could reach her. I could reach far enough to grab her legs if I wanted, but there was no point.

Not only was Veronica in no danger, but I'd not have the strength to free her from Sarley's grasp even if I wanted to.

“Why would the Princess save you! Criminal scum!” Sarley shouted, her forceful voice becoming deeper as she imitated some guardsman.

“Gah! My lawyer will hear of this!” the girl yelled, obstinate till the end.

“What's a lawyer?” I asked her.

“Noth! Mine is Noth! You'll all rue this day!” Veronica yelled, squirming with all her might.

“Now that's a story! How about we go verify that right now, shall we?” Sarley asked, glancing to me.

I nodded with a smile, and was glad I could do it without throwing up.

“Off we go then! Princess Telleya shall be my witness! To the judge!” Sarley shouted strange things, and Veronica joined in as they headed out of the room.

For a brief moment I paused... instead of following them, I looked back and at the Sand-Tusk nearby.

“Forgive me...” I whispered, and hoped to all the grains of sand in existence that there could be forgiveness... even for someone like myself.

Before leaving the room, I hurried over and grabbed the bowl of water. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it yet... but I couldn't afford to leave it in the room with the Sand-Tusk.

Not now that I knew young children ran in and out of there at random.