Tish waved at Gwyn. “It makes me so happy that you wanted to talk! I was thinking that we could-”
A vine whipped out from Gwyn’s sleeve as she flung her hand forward. It wrapped Tish’s neck and she let out a gag as she was yanked to the ground. “... Heel,” muttered Gwyn.
Tish attempted to stand, but the vines coiled about her body in an instant. She was kept on her knees, arms pinned behind her back. Her fingers twitched as she tried in vain to grab her hammer. “... Gwyn,” she whispered.
“Bad girl,” replied Gwyn.
Behind her, Alton and Vincent had exited the library. “Whoa, hey!” Alton began to wave his arms about. “This isn’t the type of problem-solving that I wanted to see from you!”
Gwyn stepped forward, so that she was within swinging distance of Tish. One hand kept the vines in control as the other retrieved her sword from her belt. She kept it low, letting the vines keep Tish in control. Her demeanor was calm, as though this were a regular day occurrence for her.
Vincent kept calm as well. He kept his eyes on the courtyard rather than on the pair. Alton pulled out a knife and started to walk towards Tish. He wasn’t confident in his singing ability at this moment. Gwyn’s magic tended to go out of control if she lost concentration, and Tish was in no position to survive that.
“I’m going to cut you loose,” said Alton as he knelt down next to Tish.
“I’ll snap her in half if you try,” replied Gwyn. The vines creaked, adding weight to her threat. “All you need to do is be patient while we have our little chat.”
“She can’t talk if you’re cutting off her air,” growled Alton.
Gwyn gave a slight tug to the vine, making Tish dip her head forward. “She needs to understand that I am serious.” She then gave half a shrug. “And I don’t have the patience to listen to her excuses this time.”
Vincent raised his arm and pointed at one of the rooftops. “Stand down!” His voice boomed across the courtyard as he called out to Irving.
The arrow was already notched and pulled back, it’s feathered fletching gracing the side of Irving’s cheek. He didn’t obey Vincent’s command, rather, he was like a gargoyle. Completely frozen while he waited for his opportunity to fire.
Alton held up a hand as Mila jogged up. “Tell him to stand down,” he said as he pointed to Irving.
“I can’t do that, Alton.” Mila kept her distance, hoping that she was staying out of reach of Gwyn’s vines. “We can’t overlook an unprovoked attack like this.”
“Unprovoked?” Asked Gwyn with a slow turn of her head. “How can any of you not understand how blind you’ve been?
Tish gagged again. “G-Gwyn,” she whispered.
Gwyn lifted up her sword. In an instant, everyone was taking action. Vincent extended his arm, summoning his golem to block Irving’s arrow. Alton unfurled his shield with one arm while his free hand grabbed onto Mila’s elbow. She had gone for her knife and had lunged towards Gwyn.
The only calm one was Gwyn, who was deaf to Alton’s cries of panic and Vincent barking orders. She took a knee as her vines pulled back on Tish’s hair. There had to be absolute certainty that the priestess was looking her in the eye.
“Stay away from Veximarl Tuton,” she whispered.
The vines loosened around Tish’s neck, allowing her to speak. “Y-you know I can’t do that.” She leaned forward, but the vines kept her back. “I have to be there to protect him,” she pleaded.
“All you’re doing is hurting him,” replied Gwyn with a slight shake of her head. “Who is going to be there to protect him from you?”
“Stand down!” Alton’s voice resonated with magic as he cried out. It was more of a shout at everyone rather than one person in particular. Chaos was breaking out around him, and he didn’t know how to stop it.
“I’m the only one in this world capable of understanding what Vexi is going through,” replied Tish. “It doesn’t matter what you believe. We need each other, and we are always going to be together.”
Gwyn leaned in. “I’m going to destroy you,” she uttered in a harsh whisper.
Others had taken notice of what was happening. Luca and Evan were already moving forward, but Chester stopped them with a raise of his wand. He couldn’t risk Tish’s life with a poorly thought out plan. Alton’s voice had also caught Veximarl’s attention. He was leaning out the window, struggling to hear or understand what was going on.
“Gwyn!” He called out to her. His eyes widened with horror as Gwyn stood up and pointed her sword at Tish again. Veximarl had to get down there as quickly as possible.
Hearing Veximarl’s voice momentarily made Gwyn lose her composure. Her knuckles turned white as she gripped tightly onto her sword. There wasn’t time to go back on her threats. Now was her only chance to get this right.
“How long have you been using your magic on Veximarl?” Gwyn exclaimed the question loud enough for everyone to hear.
Tish shook her head. She continued to plead with Gwyn using only her eyes.
“It was last winter, wasn’t it? You forced him to sleep with you by using your magic on him! Do you even know how troubled he became because of that?” Gwyn gritted her teeth. “I was there to pick up the pieces, but what did you do? All you cared about was forcing him under your legs again the moment he returned!”
Magic? Alton hesitated and accidentally let Mila slip out of his grasp. Did she mean emotional manipulation magic? Was that what Gwyn was so angry about? “Listen, Gwyn, I know that you’re upset. I understand that this is a legitimate concern, but this is not how to discuss this.”
Gwyn continued her line of questioning. “But it was never just about the sex, was it? You’ve been using him to manipulate his entire squad!” She looked around at the forming crowd. “How do we know that she didn’t plan for Zaniyah to get hurt?! She was the one who insisted that she join Macestar on their mission!”
“That wasn’t supposed to happen,” replied Tish in a hoarse whisper. “It was an accident.”
And that was the moment that Alton’s heart hardened. “Tish…”
She lifted up her tear-filled eyes to stare at him, yet he felt nothing for her plight. Why was it an accident? Why, out of all the excuses she could have said, did she imply that it wasn’t supposed to happen? What did she intend to happen?
Then he remembered that Tish was there with Veximarl when he assigned Sybil to the south. Veximarl was the one that gave Zaniyah that mission with Macestar. Alton hadn’t heard about it until Zaniyah brought it up the day before she left. If it was true that she had been manipulating Veximarl, why would she want Sybil and Zaniyah positioned in such a way?
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Alton felt so weak at that moment. He didn’t know what he should do anymore. “... Did you work for Paladin Buttonweed?”
Tish didn’t say anything. Her eyes began to swell as tears spilled out on her cheeks.
This wasn’t what Gwyn wanted. She didn’t actually believe that Tish worked with Buttonweed or was actually plotting against Grimstone. The crowd was making her panic, and now she was saying whatever she could to make her seem like the better person. That this is what Tish deserved, but… Gwyn lowered the sword. Tish had done so much worse than she had even imagined.
“I have this handled,” she whispered to Ivy as she put her hand on her shoulder. Gwyn hadn’t even noticed her friend's approach. Her eyes remained on Tish, and the vines continued to creak and slowly tighten.
“I don’t really know what’s going on, but you have to stand down,” said Ivy.
“Answer Alton’s question,” spat out Gwyn. She was regaining her courage. “Did you work for Paladin Buttonweed?”
Tish shook her head. “I’m not working for anyone.”
“Stop lying!” Gwyn ripped back the hand that held onto the vines. Tish nearly doubled over in pain, letting out a whine that was partially cut off as the vines about her throat began to choke her.
Veximarl had finally made it down the stairs. He needed to stop this. All of this was his fault. If only he had handled Tish better, or had never told Gwyn that he was drawn to Tish’s magic… Whatever the repercussions of today, he knew it was all his own doing.
Before he could get any farther, Zaniyah caught onto the back of his jacket. “Incoming,” she said as a warning.
From their position, they could see the glint in the air as Trenchall’s coins moved into position. They spiraled about in the air, poised and waiting to freeze the vines off of Tish’s body. His signal came from Beat, who leapt down from the library roof.
He landed next to Vincent and kneed him in the stomach. His hand whipped to Vincent’s ear, knocking him unconscious. No more golem, no more barriers. Irving’s arrow flew straight at Gwyn. A clang rang through the air as Alton was barely able to deflect it in time. As he rushed to defend Gwyn, Ivy yanked out her blade. Slits appeared along the center of the blade, covering the area with smoke bombs.
Just as Macestar moved in to help Tish, everyone within hearing range doubled over in pain. A series of high pitched notes was rattling their senses. The melody shifted, and the smoke from Ivy’s smoke bombs was blown away. While everyone struggled to recover, Alton knelt next to Gwyn and lifted up her head.
He whispered a soft song within her ear, placing her within a deep sleep. Alton then lifted her up and began to bark out orders. “Luca! Treat any of Tish’s wounds and let Alder lock her up if he feels it's necessary. Evan! Ivy! Break up the crowd! Zan, find Chi! Tell him we need magic restraints for Gwyn and Tish! Mila,” he said as he turned to her, “take Vex to Lady Blu.”
Mila glanced over to Beat. “No offense, Alton, but I work for Bronzescale, and-”
“And you’re going to need evidence that Tish has been manipulating Vex,” interrupted Alton. “We need to know if he’s been injured in any sort of way and we also need to stop him from intervening in this investigation.”
Mila looked over to Beat again, who nodded. “... Alright,” she said with a quick nod.
And all the while, Temporary Commander Shaw Arbutus had been standing off to the side. He had been one of the first to appear on the scene, but he had become paralyzed when he realized what was happening. Life as a right hand man had done that to him. Shaw didn’t know how to take control of a situation.
Watching Alton swiftly clean up the situation was… It made him feel lost. Without Duxton, he was aimless. There was no direction to follow. All he could do now was stand by and watch as Alton approached with Gwyn in his arms.
“We need to lock her up somewhere,” said Alton as he handed her over to Shaw. “Put her in the guest quarters for now. Unless you have an objection, Alder?”
Beat narrowed his eyes. “The guest quarters will be fine until we have finished the investigation.” He gave a slight bow. “I must make my report to Lady Blu. I will contact you afterward once we know what our next steps are.”
Shaw adjusted Gwyn in his arms. Beat hadn’t addressed him at all during the exchange. “Temporary Commander” was truly nothing more than a title. No one actually expected any leadership out of him.
“... Thank you for protecting her,” he muttered to Alton.
Alton was preoccupied. He was looking around the courtyard, seeing if there was anyone else that needed something to do. “Yeah, yeah… It isn’t a problem.” He then frowned to himself. “Alder, wait up! I’ll go with you to see Lady Till!”
It wasn’t over. Next came the paperwork, the questions, the arguing back and forth of what needed to be done. A simple, violent action had torn apart the barracks. But there were those who were shielded from the fallout. Ones who weren’t allowed to be involved.
Veximarl had been confined to a small room in the infirmary. Lady Blu had been in and out, talking to him and answering to Lady Till’s summons. At some point, she just had to stop and sit. There was a patient she had to deal with, and there would be no more interruptions.
“Listen, Vex,” she said as she leaned forward in her seat. “This sort of magic… It’s like a drug. A very bad drug. It can do things to your mind, your ability to rationalize and to make healthy choices. That sort of damage can’t be cured with a spell or a nice cup of tea.” She gestured to the cup that Veximarl was drinking out of. “I need you to understand that the road to recovery is going to be long and difficult, nor will we ever be able to cure you completely.”
Veximarl stared at the medicine in the cup. It was supposed to help with the withdrawal symptoms that he would soon be experiencing. He claimed he had been drinking it, but it had been discarding it whenever Blu had excused herself.
“Have they come up with a decision on what will happen to either Tish or Gwyn?” He asked, not looking up from his cup as he did so.
Blu hesitated. “We need to carefully evaluate your condition first, Vex. That will play into their decision.”
A knock at the door, and Alton entered without waiting for an answer. “Lady Till needs your signature on the paper you discussed.”
Blu’s mouth formed into a thin frown. “I suppose it was getting close to that time… Excuse me, Vex. There is business that I have to look into.”
Alton stole the doctor’s seat as she left the room. He leaned forward in the chair, staring at Veximarl the whole while. His face was like stone, but his eyes, ever shifting in the fading sunlight, contained a wave of emotions.
“How long must I be kept locked up like a criminal?” Veximarl asked.
“How long have you known that Tish was manipulating you?” Alton deflected Veximarl’s question with his own.
Veximarl stood up and poured his cup of tea into one of Blu’s plants. “I wasn’t absolutely certain that she was doing so until Mart’s feast day.”
Alton didn’t respond at first. He continued to stare at Veximarl as the gears slowly worked in his head. “And what about Paladin Bastardweed?”
“He was the one that forced my hand when it came to giving Prince Duxton aide in the south. I was eager to make a visit to see Tish and find some relief to my headaches. However, Sybil had her suspicions that they would move westward to retrieve her. I didn’t want to believe that Tish was somehow involved, thus I thought it appropriate to wait until Macestar returned from their mission before I asked.”
“If you thought that Bastardweed was a problem, why didn’t you say anything before we left with Sir Grimhawk?”
The stabbing pain of guilt appeared within Veximarl’s chest. “... I had no way of knowing that Paladin Buttonweed would be able to control Sybil to such a degree.”
Alton gritted his teeth. “You knew that there was a chance we would have to fight and kill one of our knights, and you said nothing.” He inhaled sharply and exhaled slowly. “Maybe it was an accident. Maybe Tish had no way of knowing that Zaniyah would get hurt… But we had every opportunity to properly prepare ourselves, to warn the others, to get proper answers and you threw it away.
They keep reassuring me that you’re a victim in this. That Tish is also a victim and that the one person we can blame for all of this is already dead… But I don’t care. I still need time, and even then, I don’t think I am ever going to forgive you.”
Veximarl struggled to keep his breathing calm. A part of him wanted to argue Tish’s case, and to claim that he had no choice. Another part of him knew that nothing he could say would ease Alton’s troubles. “... I understand.”
“Tish is being expelled from the barracks. We’re currently arranging her to be transported elsewhere. Lady Till believes that she was acting out of a need for her own survival, and that Tish had lost control of the situation once Buttonweed became involved.” Alton narrowed his eyes. “You are not to contact her afterward, nor will we inform you of her whereabouts until we are certain that her magic is out of your system.”
“... I understand,” repeated Veximarl.
Alton checked his pocket watch. “I need to inform Gwyn of Lady Till’s decision.”
Veximarl watched Alton stand up. He remained seated. “Will she still be joining us on our mission to Volo Refuge?”
“No, Vex. I don’t think you understand how serious all of this is,” said Alton with a shake of his head. “She’s also being expelled.”
Veximarl was on his feet in an instant. “She didn’t do anything wrong.”
“She could’ve maimed Tish. All of us know what those vines are capable of,” replied Alton. “... I don’t have a choice here. Gwyn violated the rules of the barracks by attacking Tish. That’s a crime. It’s a miracle that neither of them are getting arrested. They’ll go on and live their lives however they want, but as far as these barracks are concerned, they are no longer squires.”