Chapter 25: House Of Cards

After the crime she’s accused of doing, I wanted to keep her arrest a secret for her own safety. That was the plan, until someone ( I’m blaming you, Noel ) spread the word. The speed in which news spread in these small enclaves never ceases to amaze me. By the time I made it back to Tazwiir a huge crowd had gathered across the street from the holding center.

It was as if the entire town was waiting to get a glimpse of her. Good thing I had sense enough to use the rear entrance. The guards I assigned to keep watch should stop anyone from getting too close.

Only thing left for me to do was wait for her to wake up. Well, that and have her examined by a medicine woman. She might be in worse shape than meets the eye.

I spotted Arabia amongst the curious and waved her over. “Is it true, General??” she asked, before I could get a word out of my mouth. “Did you apprehend one of the attackers? And she’s not from the empire??”

“Yes, it’s true. I need you to do something for --- ” I started, but the girl’s curiosity was more important than what I had to say. I’d swear she moved faster than my rune could keep up! “Arabia!”

“What does she look like?? I want to see!”

The prisoner moaned and churned on her bunk. “...ugh..my sides...”

“Hey you!” Arabia shouted at her. “Why’d you attack my city?!”

“Arabia,” I said, grabbing her arm. I led her away from the prisoner and back to the entrance. “Do me a favor and fetch a medicine woman.”

“Huh? For what?”

“For the prisoner.”

“Oh! Is she hurt really bad? Serves her right.” She turned and yelled, “Serves you right!”

“Would you hurry, please?”

“Okay! I’ll be right back!”

I made sure the doors were locked before heading back to her cell. She was sitting up with her back against the wall, holding her sides. Was now a good time for an interrogation?

“A medicine woman is coming to check your wounds.” The suspect remained silent and stared up at the ceiling. “You want to tell me your name?”

“Ya could have killed me, ya know? Knocking me off my horse the way ya done. And now you want me to tell ya my name??”

“You weren’t stopping. I had to do something.”

“Why should I stop when someone’s chasing me on a griffin no less!”

“Look, we know you rode back into town to get your horse’s shoe fixed...”

“Since when was it a crime to have a horse shoe replaced?” she scoffed.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“How about you try to cooperate a little bit because you’re in a heap of trouble. We know you're involved with the recent attack in the city. You and your friends were tracked out of Tazwiir. You were one of the two assailants that returned here shortly after. Where’s the other one?"

She wrapped her arms around her chest with a grimace of discomfort. I figured she wasn’t going to talk too easily. If only I had that Manipulation rune; this would be so much easier. I wonder if it had cycled back or did Aiden have to recreate it? He was the one who destroyed it that day Catalyst went off.

I could still hear the sound of the sky tearing apart.

.......

This was not the time to be thinking about that again, Idris.

I needed to figure out a way to get her to talk as soon as possible. She told the blacksmith she was headed to the foothills. Did she mean to meet up with her comrades there? Were they preparing for another attack?

I caught my reflection in a wall mirror and then it hit me. I was still wearing civilian clothing. What were the chances that she’d recognize me as a General without my armor?

There were few people here that didn’t, but with her accent, I’m willing to bet that she might be one of the few.

“I can’t imagine how you got involved in all of this, but once the Generals from Ras Almal get here, you’re going to have them to answer to.” I waited for a response, a signal that she knew who I was. She kept quiet and didn’t even look my way.

"You can deny it all you want, but they have evidence against you. And when you're convicted, you're going to be executed. If you would only tell me what you know, you might escape the blade."

"Executing the weak is all they’re good at,” she said. Of course, I disagreed with her, but I knew better than to say so. “Things will be different once the south rises.”

“What do you mean by that?”

"Emperor after emperor has used us to fuel their warring ways. They've taken our land, our homes, the lives of our chosen leaders. We’ve had enough. It’s time to fight back."

“By attacking civilians?”

“We never killed anyone, unlike those Generals. But we had to stir things up; get the lands and the people behind us.”

The breakaway regions. That’s what this was all about? “Who’s us?”

“General! General!” Arabia interrupted. If she banged on the window any harder---

“General??” the prisoner said as I headed to the front. “How dare you trick me?!”

As bad as Arabia’s timing was, I was relieved to have proof that the attacks weren’t orchestrated by the empire. Now we just had to put a stop to the ones behind them.

Arabia marched herself inside before the door was open wide enough. “I brought the medicine woman,” she announced. “And another General!”

Another General? “Isa,” I said, as the man stepped into the room. I almost forgot I sent word of the prisoner’s capture to Ras Almal via Noel.

“Where is she?” he asked, looking over my shoulder.

“This way.” I collected the keys from my pocket and unlocked the cell door for the medicine woman. Of course, Arabia wanted to follow her inside like a stray kitten; I made sure to hold her back. “Thanks, Arabia. You can go now.”

“Huh? Well, okay!” She glanced over at the prisoner and ran off, exclaiming, “Wait until I tell papa!”

It was interesting how the prisoner made eye contact with Isa before the two of us left the area. “Has she talked?” he asked.

“She said enough to clear the Ahrman Empire. From what I can tell we may have an armed dissension on our hands.”

“Why’d you request to be Emperor?” Isa asked, and he didn’t sound too happy about it. I wonder if he was upset that I hadn’t told him, or because of the request?

“I thought the kingdom needed a new direction, and after speaking with the prisoner, I believe it more than ever.”

“You have no experience in the affairs of the state beyond the military. What makes you as qualified as Istan?”

“Look, Isa, we can go over that later.”

Isa shook his head, dismissively. “No, we can’t. The Grand Vizier have made their decision. You need to return to Ras Almal as soon as possible.”

“I’ll head once I’m done here.”

“I’ll handle the prisoner. The Grand Vizier’s decision is more important.”

“Right, I guess you’re right. I’ll head back as quickly as I can.”

Yeah, no I’m not. You’re too eager to get me out of Tazwiir, Isa. Maybe it’s about the Grand Vizier like you say, but my guts are telling me something else was bothering you.

I rode out of town on my horse just to convince him I was gone. I immediately doubled back on foot and snuck around the city walls. Scaling them and traversing rooftops was simple with my rune. Just had to make sure Isa didn’t see me as I got closer to the detainment center.

He led a couple of horses to the dark side of the building and disappeared. It wasn’t long before he reappeared, mounted and with a second rider. It was surely the prisoner, but she wasn't at all restrained.

“What the Hell are you doing Isa?”