Chapter 87
We returned to the dormhouse in silence. So immersed was I in thoughts on how to proceed that I forgot to mention to Axel the surprise I had left in our home.
“Urgh, gross, what the hell is this?”
He had entered first, picked up the still unconscious Paris by the tail, and swung her around with a look of disgust.
“Oh, right. Her.”
I quickly caught him up on what had happened. Luckily, Fleur and Rose were also there to verify my story.
“So you wanted to interrogate her yourself? Why?”
He raised a brow at me as he tossed Paris roughly onto the kitchen counter.
“I'm interested in her motive. If she were working for the elves or Soleo, she could have grabbed them for assistance at any time, but she didn't. I want to know whether she was working alone and what her plan was.”
“It seemed like she had an associate she was waiting for when I got here.”
Rose added, still uneasy being anywhere near the therian.
“I, too, would like to hear what her intentions were.”
Fleur added.
“You're all in agreement? Well, I don't care either way, so let's do it, yeah?”
Axel produced a butcher's cleaver and slammed it into a chopping board that sat inches from Paris’ face.
“Wake up!”
He bellowed into her ear.
As if her nervous system had been shocked into action, she began writhing and knocking our utensils off the counter.
“I'll gut you! Filthy bassstard, where are you!?”
“Oh, good, I was worried she had lost the ability to speak, being in that form so long.”
I commented nonchalantly.
I had already measured her ability, and with Axel around, she had no chance of escape.
Her reptilian eyes locked onto me, and her face contorted in rage.
“You!”
She continued to flail and writhe, but I had bound her too tightly, and her wounds no doubt screamed in protestation of her futile resistance.
Still, I had to respect her tenacity. I thought for sure she would fear me the next time we spoke.
Rose jumped out of her chair and hid behind me, her quivering hands clutching onto my back.
Axel held Paris down firmly, but still she cursed and lashed out.
It was not until Tiara hopped out and hissed at her that she fell silent with a whimper.
“...it's not what I intended, but I suppose I can work with this.”
I cradled Tiara like a baby and slowly walked towards Paris. Her eyes darted around the room in search of an escape path.
“I am very tired after today's events, so I would appreciate it if you did not waste my time with any lies or tight-lipped responses.”
Her jaw was set, but she nodded slightly in acknowledgement of my words.
“First things first. Return to normal, please.”
Her scales peeled back just as a snake would shed its skin, only they revealed not a shiny new coat, but the teenage girl that I had been living with. This act also resulted in her bindings slipping freely to the ground. I made a mental note of this for future reference.
Her limbs were bent in the places where I had broken bones, but she was otherwise good as new. Not counting her newfound trauma when faced with Tiara, of course.
“Great work. Should we move on to an easy question?”
I smiled at her brightly and softly stroked Tiara’s head.
“Fleur? I'm sure you want to ask why you were targeted, right?”
Fleur nodded.
“Go on, Paris.”
I urged her to talk.
“...It was not personal. I took a contract to deliver her to a third party. I had no intentions of causing any more harm than necessary.”
I felt a pang of anger at the phrasing she used.
“Don't try to make it sound like some harmless task; you tried to kill my sister.”
I linked with Tiara and bared my fangs, eliciting a flinch from Paris.
“My apologies…”
She took a deep breath and shut her eyes before continuing.
“My directive was to leave no witnesses. I admit that I would have cut her down if possible.”
My anger subsided. I cared for Rose, of course, and any further threats to her would be met with appropriate punishment, but it was the attempt to shirk responsibility that made my body grow hot.
“Okay, we're getting somewhere. How about you tell us your employer was?”
“That's confidential, even from me. We operate through middlemen and dead drops so as to protect our clientele.”
I detected no hint of a lie, but I felt she was still not being entirely forthcoming.
Fleur cut in next.
“What were your orders. Tell me exactly what you were to do with me, down to the last detail.”
Paris closed her eyes and began reciting everything from memory.
“Bring Fleur Sylvain to the western outskirts of Borderton alive. There will be a bonus if she is delivered unspoiled. A carriage will be waiting to collect her, and your payment will be forwarded to your handler. You are not to look inside the carriage.”
She fell silent and calmly awaited the next question. She seemed relatively comfortable, especially given her initial rage and fear.
“Ask who she works for.”
Rose whispered into my ear.
“Who do you work for?”
“Confidential.”
“That is not an acceptable answer.”
I dropped Tiara, and she immediately exploded in size and returned to the starry-furred panther that shredded Paris but a few hours earlier.
“Ngh…”
Paris swallowed hard, but kept her silence.
“Rose, please go upstairs.”
I turned to my sister—who's presence had yet to be explained—and urged her out.
“What are you going to do?”
She looked at me cautiously.
“I learnt a lot in those seven years. You don't need to be exposed to of it.”
I gave a response only she would understand, and she made her way up the staircase hesitantly without a word.
“Regeneration is not the flawless ability that many think it to be…”
I started talking as I walked to the stove and activated the fire crystals within.
“When I was 12, my master wanted me to understand the weakness that undermines the strong. He took me with him to hunt a knitbone behemoth, are any of you familiar?”
“No?”
Axel responded, but the rest remained silent.
“They have been mistaken as immortal beings because of their regenerative ability. Not even an ogre can compare to it, believe me, I would know. If but a single piece of their body remains, even the brain and heart can be reformed in seconds.”
I took a fork from the drawer and held it over the flames.
“Master's strategy was simple, really. If we could not kill the beast, we would put it through enough pain that it would seek death on its own.”
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The metal began to glow orange, and my hand started to burn.
“The knitbone behemoth is, as the name suggests, immense in size. He tore out the eyeballs with the talons of a great eagle and filled the holes with lava. The eyes melted almost as fast as they regenerated. He launched burning thorns that were twice as long as a warhorse into the creature's ankles, searing the tendons away from the inside. He pumped the body with a toxin that kept the adrenaline pumping endlessly, preventing it from passing out.”
The others became aware of the damage I was doing to my own flesh, the smell of roast meat permeating through the room.
“Rex, drop it!”
Fleur yelled.
I ignored her and approached Paris with a steady hand and a firm grip.
“We tracked it for three days. After those three days, do you know what we found?”
I paused for dramatic effect.
“A corpse. As it turns out, if a living creature wants to die strongly enough, they can shut down their own functions. The behemoth was an immortal creature, but we pushed it so hard that it simply… stopped.”
I placed the fork inches away from Paris’ eye.
“Now, what makes you different from the behemoth?”
The light of the fork reflected in my eyes.
“We the behemoth its peace, because that was the goal. My goal now is to get answers. But the dead can't speak, can they, Paris? What does this imply?”
Tiara suddenly phased above her and roared. Paris had been so intent on listening to my story that the sudden threat sent her into a fit.
“T-the Silent Reapers! I work for them! Get this thing away from me!”
Axel and Fleur had similarly been caught off guard, but they quickly moved to hold her down again while Tiara returned to my side.
While they were distracted, I cast aside the fork and quickly linked with Vek to heal the damage.
Even with the pain subsiding, I still wanted to submerge my hand in a bucket of cold water just to be sure. Keeping a straight face while that metal was branding my palm was hard work.
Rapid footsteps came back down from the stairs as Rose returned. I hid my hand behind my back as the burns continued to heal up.
“D-did she just say she's with the Silent Reapers?”
Axel got Paris under control and called back.
“The assassins? Like the guy who offed himself?”
Paris was still in a state of panic and unable to respond. Her muffled screams from behind Axel's hand seemed to have no end.
I ignored all of this and quietly fell into thought.
“T-this is bad, guys, bad! They kill anyone who crosses them. They'll go after our families!”
Rose was clutching her head in panic.
“Do you keep records? Who would know who employed your organisation?”
Fleur continued to calmly ask questions, blind to the fact that nobody was listening to her.
“Yo, Rex, should I snap her neck or have you got plans for this snake?”
Axel was laughing over it all, apparently amused by everything he had stumbled into.
“Haa… I should have done this alone.”
I sighed as the situation grew increasingly hectic.
“Axel, just knock her out, please.”
Her screams were silenced abruptly, and her head hung low.
I then comforted Rose and waited for everybody to settle down before opening up the room for discussion.
“Thoughts? The way I see it, she doesn't know anything about the reason Fleur was targeted.”
Axel shrugged.
“She's an assassin. We can't let her go, or she'll come back to bite us in the ass. We can either kill her now or hand her over for brownie points.”
Rose spoke next, though she once again clung to my side and was still trembling.
“Her people will come for her if she doesn't report back… maybe we should let her go?”
I looked to Fleur, who I felt had the most right to decide her fate.
“I want more answers. We cannot kill her. But I do not believe I will be given access again if we hand her over.”
She frowned, unable to come up with a solution.
“Well, that just about leaves us on every possible side for this matter…”
I shook my head, as we were unable to reach a consensus.
“Why not keep her here until I am satisfied? Then we can hand her over to the authorities.”
Fleur suggested.
“I'm not keeping her locked in our house for an indeterminate amount of time.”
“Torture is fine, but you draw the line at false imprisonment?”
She argued.
“I didn't torture her. That was just a scare tactic. Torture is almost never a valid option.”
“...?”
Rose gave me a concerned look, but I breezed past her question.
“Merk would no doubt be able to get her to cough up any more information. I say we let him take over. He might know how to prevent more attempted kidnappings, or at least place a personal guard on Fleur.”
I never really had much hope in the idea that Paris was going to offer some game-changing intel, but I kept her presence a secret just on the off chance I could leverage something for my personal gain.
Clearly, that had been a failure. Knowing she is an assassin just raises too many additional questions, and it was already getting late. How long could we realistically hold her without anyone finding out?
“Who is Merk?”
Rose asked.
“Ah, The Umbral Arm. Merk is the name he gave to me, though I’m fairly sure it's just an alias.”
“The Umbral Arm… I have heard stories.”
Fleur pondered. Seeing as I had already made my decision, I moved to push her to my side while she was in doubt.
“I have a way to communicate with him. There is a good chance I could relay what he learns to you.”
She stared at me for a moment, then nodded.
“Very well.”
Axel shrugged, already having made his disinterest clear. As far as he was concerned, he just wanted to know whether we would be digging a grave in the yard tonight.
“But the others… what if they come looking for her?”
Rose muttered. She was losing confidence as she saw she was the only holdout left.
I looked at her carefully in consideration.
“There is no reason to believe they would know you had any involvement here. Besides, Borderton is being turned into a military outpost after today, you will be sent back—”
I stopped. Lily said it was only likely that nobles would be transferred to the central campus. But Rose was a commoner, and she couldn't go back to Redwater. None of us could. Getting there required crossing elven territory, and it was really only Imperial land in name. It undoubtedly sat closer to Soleo soil than any other. I could only hope our foes wouldn’t attack a civilian village that held no strategic value in this conflict; otherwise, our family could end up as collateral.
“I think this is our cue. Hello all!”
Lily came sliding down the railing of the staircase and jumped off to join our circle.
Given the way she spoke earlier, I had assumed she would have already left, or at least been staying somewhere else. Did she really say goodbye forever, only to go back to where we both lived? Just how intent was this girl to annoy me?
“The look on your face right now is priceless!”
She pointed at me and giggled mischievously.
“Weren’t you meant to be—”
“Stalking Guy? Yeah, I'll get to that later.”
She hand-waved me and grabbed Rose by the shoulders.
“Don’t worry your pretty little head, my boss has it all sorted. Here, why not hear from him in person?”
She stepped back, and out of her shadow emerged a looming figure. The darkness receded, and there stood Merk.
Our reactions were varied. Rose jumped back and squealed, Axel tensed up and clenched his fists, and Fleur reached for a quiver that was not there.
“Apologies for my intrusion.”
He bowed to Rose and Fleur, who had yet to meet him in person.
“I hope you forgive me for eavesdropping on your meeting, but I wished to see what you all planned with this one.”
He yanked Paris out from Axel's grip, and before I knew it, she was chained and gagged.
“L-Lily? Who is this?”
Rose stepped back, shocked by the man’s presence.
“Didn’t I just say? He’s my boss.”
Lily cheerfully responded.
“I can’t say that I am pleased to find that you kept this prisoner from me, Rex.”
Merk looked at me.
“You made the right decision in the end, but I would like to hear your reasoning for keeping this a secret.”
I didn’t respond right away. Even assuming he had come to the dormhouse immediately after the meeting, as Axel and I did, nothing he would have heard should have told him that I was the one who kept Paris hidden.
“Hold that thought.”
Merk held his hand up to stop a response that wasn’t coming yet.
He reached up and dragged his fingers across the ceiling, then plucked something imperceptible down. His fingers were positioned as if holding a small, solid object, but there was undoubtedly nothing there.
His grip tightened slightly, and I heard a faint . Suddenly, an oval-shaped metallic object appeared in his hand.
“You have seen something similar, correct? This is a non-mobile version. What it lacks in motion, it makes up for with increased stealth capabilities.”
I didn’t understand right away, but then it hit me.
“Professor Kuhn’s drones…”
I smiled wryly, realising what had happened.
Back during the festival, when Merk was disguised and entered the dormhouse, he must have planted this. There were probably many more scattered around the campus grounds.
That would mean everything that happened with Paris had already been recorded.
“Were you watching the entire time?”
I asked.
“No. I had others in charge of monitoring the live recording, but they were forced to leave their stations when the attack began. I reviewed everything shortly before our meeting.”
“Nyahaha! You didn’t see that coming, did ya?”
Lily was delighted at my expense.
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
Axel asked.
“As I said, it was a test.”
Merk kept his eyes on me as he continued.
“I didn’t expect to see such a familiar interrogation technique from you. Harming yourself always raises the question ‘if they will do this much to themself, what are they going to do to me?’ Where did you learn such a thing?”
“From Ada. But the story about my master was all true.”
Ada’s education went beyond magical theory; she also found it important to teach me all about her methods of manipulating the psyche of others. As someone who has always been more perceptive than most, it wasn’t hard to follow her lessons. Reading others came as second nature to me after all.
“Ada Jaeger? Right, she would be privy to such things.”
Merk seemed to recall a past interaction and scoffed ever so slightly,
“Well, those techniques would serve you well in the order of the watchdog. I have no issue with it. Did you plan all this in advance when you ingrained your authority into her flesh?”
He must have been referring to the brutal beating I gave to Paris. I chose to assume Merk already knew everything and gave up any further attempts at deception.
“Yes. I figured she had something to do with the attack and hoped to glean information I could use to further my position.”
Merk quietly appraised me.
“Were you in my order, I would have you lashed.”
“Understood.”
I did not argue. I had defied the chain of command and withheld a source of intel for personal gain. If my subordinate did the same thing, I would have them punished severely and publicly.
“After that, I would reward your ambition with an opportunity. It is a shame you are not yet eligible to join an order, or I would offer you an apprenticeship.”
Merk finished addressing me and turned his back.
“Miss Sylvain. Until the situation has been resolved, I will need you to remain in a safehouse. Nobody here may know the location.”
Fleur tensed up. Maybe it was the fact that not even Axel could speak back to the man, but she knew in her bones that she could not defy this offer.
“Understood…”
She nodded.
“Good. We may also ask you to sit in during our questioning of your brother.”
Her ears twitched.
“Understood.”
It was subtle, but her expression told me that she perceived this to be good news.
“I will keep today’s events to myself, for all your benefits. Fleur, one of my Watchdogs will pick you up from here tomorrow. Good night.”
He gave another bow and walked out of the building with Paris in tow.
We all stopped holding our breath and exhaled as one.
“That was nerve-wracking…”
Rose sat on the hard floor and threw her head back.
“I can’t be the only one who feels like they’re suffocating with him around, right?”
Axel asked as he effortlessly lifted the couch and put it back where it belonged.
“Yeah, that never goes away, just so you know.”
Lily laughed happily as she observed us.
“Well… it looks like we’re all stuck here at least for the night. We should try to make it a little more homely.”
I suggested as I began picking up the scattered ornaments from the floor.
“Nah, screw it, we’ll do it tomorrow.”
Axel slapped the items out of my hands and jumped onto the couch, immediately passing out and snoring loudly.
“Can I stay here tonight?”
Rose asked.
“I don’t want to be alone tonight.”
“Yeah! You can sleep with us!”
Lily wrapped her arms around my waist and placed her head on my chest.
“Haaa… I’m too tired for your games, Lily. I know you and my brother aren’t sleeping together.”
Rose shook her head, failing to catch the look Lily and I shared.
I mean, technically speaking… We slept together in the literal sense.
“Seriously, though, I need to speak to you in place tonight.”
Lily whispered before letting go of me. I nodded to show that I understood without drawing attention.
“I will see you in the morning then. Goodnight.”
Nobody stopped Fleur as she retired for the night. Even if she did run off in the night, I imagine Merk had people watching us even now to make sure there was nothing else we were hiding.
And so, I washed away the grime and blood that clung to my body and retired to my room, allowing Rose to take Oliver’s bed.
I briefly considered what might have happened to Oliver, but found myself too exhausted to linger on it.
Sweet darkness embraced me, and for the first time in what felt like an age, I found myself back in the Crucible.
