{-Casrane-}

“Is now a better time to explain what your job is?” Llewel prompted. “I’m pretty sure by now we’ve all taken a guess, but…”

Bezyu, if not just to herself, nodded. “I’m… one of the attendants of the temple I showed you.”

“Are you like Duuzlo, then?” Myr asked. “He’s one of the priests for Emmyth’s temple in Nafrius. He takes care of all sorts of stuff—more or less runs it all. Do you kind of do stuff like that, too?”

“N-no, I… wouldn’t say I do anything involved,” Bezyu answered after a moment’s consideration. “Unlike Emmyth’s temples elsewhere, ours does not often welcome visitors. We often discourage them—there’s a value to what we have there, it’s not just a place for admiration. My duties are smaller things, like checking on the rune and making sure it stays contained within the temple.”

“That sounds pretty important to me,” Myr remarked.

“It also sounds like you kinda failed on that last part,” Llewel muttered.

“There’s a difference between making sure it stays contained and stopping someone from picking up and carrying the whole thing,” Bezyu defended. She didn’t seem as offended as she was somewhat distressed at the idea. “But, it… does hold true, that I ultimately couldn’t do anything…”

“You’re still able to do something, though,” Casrane pointed out with a soft smile. “You’re helping us—so that, then, you can also help your people.”

Bezyu looked surprised to hear it, but she nodded anyway. “I hope you’re right.”

They didn’t talk a lot for the rest of their walk—Myr made some attempts, and Bezyu did try to continue them, but it still didn’t last long. Casrane had to stop at one of the campsites and leave for a little bit; they were all aware that it wasn’t anything planned, but… surprisingly, they didn’t ask after it. She didn’t want to tell them, either.

When she got back, they walked for a little bit longer before they came up to a temple. Myr and Bezyu had started another casual conversation, one Casrane had eventually joined in on, so none of them noticed Llewel wandering off.

Until, of course, he came back dragging someone with him. This person, quite frankly, looked terrified—he didn’t dare move once he was in front of all of them.

“This guy’s been trailing us for a little bit,” Llewel remarked. “Is it safe to assume you don’t know him, Bezyu?”

Bezyu frowned and, slowly, shook her head. “I don’t think I do.”

Casrane realized who he was, though. He’d been meant to ambush them, if she remembered right—try to stop them from entering. But there he was, doing nothing, clearly afraid of whatever they’d do to him. She said nothing, in hopes that they’d figure out the reasoning after he explained.

Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

“Why were you following us?” Bezyu tried.

“I—I was supposed to stop you,” he stammered in response. “You… you have what you need to fix the oasis, right? I was sent to keep you from doing it. They don’t want it to be fixed.”

“And who’s ‘they?’” Llewel prompted, though it was clear he already knew his answer.

The man kept his eyes on the ground. “The Rune Reactivation Project.” Quickly, he continued, “I didn’t want to do it. I don’t understand why I’m here. But they made me—I didn’t have a choice. I-it was to do this, or something else happened, and I didn’t want to figure out what that was.”

“If… he was just doing this because he had to, can we just let him go?” Myr asked. “He didn’t want to do anything, so if he promises not to go through with it, it should be okay, right?”

Llewel shook his head. “If he’s a part of the Rune Reactivation Project, then we can’t trust him. Who knows how much of what he’s saying is true.”

Casrane looked between Llewel, though, and the man. “I’m pretty confident he’s honest.”

As much as she had surprisingly mixed feelings to acknowledge.

“I mean it! I really do!” the man tried. “Would—would telling you my name help? I’m Rulle. If I had any interesting information for you, I would give it, but… I’m just a lackey. They don’t trust people like me with any important information. I was always just doing my job. I-if I knew that what I did was going to cause this, I never—”

“What else did you do?” Bezyu questioned cautiously. She was already starting to piece it together, though. “Had… you been the one..?”

He seemed ashamed of the fact, but he nodded. “I was the one to take the rune out of the temple. I—I only did it because they told me to. They said they needed it somewhere else. They never mentioned what it would do here. I didn’t know anything about this until it was already done, I swear!”

“How? How did you get past all of the trials and take the rune out?”

“I don’t know, honestly. It was with the help of something the Rune Reactivation Project gave me. I—I don’t have it now, though. They took it back as soon as the mission was over.”

“Do you know why?”

“No. I just did my job. They didn’t tell me anything else.”

Myr looked between the rest of them. “Can’t we just let him go..? We don’t really have to do anything else…”

“I think she’s right,” Casrane offered. “He doesn’t want to be a part of this. If he’s lying… then we can revisit it later. But there’s no harm in showing a bit of kindness now.”

Llewel sighed. “Alright.” Glaring right at Rulle, he continued, “But I’m doing this on the assumption you’re just going to tell them your mission failed, if you go back to them at all. Don’t tell them we were here—if you’re smart, you wouldn’t even imply you saw us. Because, if it turns out you just turn around and make things worse, I’m not going to just accept that. Got it?”

Rulle quickly nodded, mumbled his thanks, and quickly left.

“I… suppose that’s one mystery solved, even if we don’t know why, exactly,” Bezyu remarked. She shook her head. “But that part isn’t quite as important right now—bringing the rune back to the temple is. Come on, I’ll show you inside. Though, I… must warn you, there’s a reason we don’t often have visitors. There’s… a couple of things you’re going to need to do in order to get in. You won’t be considered worthy of entering without it.”

“Can’t you help?” Myr prompted.

Bezyu considered it, and she nodded. “I think so. I know what all of them are—how to disable them quickly. I’m sure the others would acknowledge the importance of the situation if we forgo them. This is a rather important situation, after all…”