King Vireid Slumnier. The seventeenth king in the Slumnier line and the fifty third king of modern Hypnoise. At forty seven years old he had been reigning for nineteen years after the passing of Murtien Slumnier. In those nineteen years nothing of note had taken place that would elevate his name in history’s volumes apart from the events I myself had played a part in a month prior, but while his name might not be renowned, even a country bumkin like me knew it was well liked. He didn’t come up in conversation often, but when he did I had only ever heard good things, both from the few who had seen him and from hearsay, if never outright praise. It was my understanding that the state of our countries economy had been on the rise over the past two decades. It wasn’t enough that someone like me would take notice, but those who kept their thumbs over such details would let their opinions be known loud enough for me to hear them whenever given the chance.

  But I didn’t see anything of the man they described before me. He was grim. Grim and determined. I damn near expected him to march us off into the pits this very instant. And based on the uneasiness that was hanging in the air, I knew I wasn’t alone in that sentiment.

  “Your majesty, with all do respect, I would ask that you at least give us an inkling of why you have us gathered here today. If not I’m afraid some of us might start to worry that we’ve been sentenced to an execution.”

  I was glad it was Matt who broke the ice and not someone more volatile. Thomas would be the prime suspect of someone who could have sent us to the gallows with a word, but the two scrubbers who were strangers to me felt like wild cards in their own right. I hadn’t heard a word from the woman on the way over and had only received a nod from the man, but I couldn’t help but feel they would leave a strong impression whenever they finally spoke.

  We were all oddly dispersed throughout the chamber as we awaited his words. I do not know how we so naturally spread into such a formation, but it did seemed to multiply the sense of power he had over us as if he could at any moment lash out at one of us with his gaze and execute us on the spot as Matt feared. The only exception was Karen who stood relatively close to me but was for now silent as the rest.

  “Yes…yes of course. You’ll have to forgive me; I simply don’t know how to begin this conversation.”

  That was not promising words to hear from our king. I may never have heard a speech from him myself, but I was certain he was not known for having a lack of words.

  “First and foremost let me say, I do not speak to you as your king today. Nothing I say should be taken as a royal edict with only one exception. Regardless of what you choose to do, not a word of what is spoken here today is to be repeated.”

  Now that…really wasn’t promising. I looked upwards to avoid his eyes that told me of how I could be tried and hung for slander. Two large chandeliers hung glittering above me, this chamber seemed much more suited to a ball of chattering and laughing nobles dressed in bright finery, but instead it was a dark cathedral disguised from its purpose of confining the weary. I wondered over if him not being my king right now meant I could just walk out the doors and go home, but I was certain they wouldn’t let me through.

  “Then I was right to worry. What exactly do you have to tell us that requires you to swear us to national secrecy? What exactly do you have to say that you can’t speak as a king?”

  “I can’t speak to you as a king because there’s something I need to ask of you that you have no reason to accept.”

  He stared us down one at a time with a weight that dared us to see any folly in his words while at the same time expecting us to.

  “I need you all to use the filth, the visions in the ether ways, to prove the queen’s infidelity.”

  “COME OFF IT!”

  Thomas’ patience was finally broken, but just this once I couldn’t blame him. I wasn’t even concerned over whether he would anger the king anymore. I won’t say this was the last thing I expected, but if I had spent the next five years guessing I would have yet to reach this conclusion.

  “You had us come all the way here through freezing dimquar, damn near killing us in the process, to play at being detectives!? What kind of joke is this!?”

  A hearty laugh invaded the deathly silence that would have followed. The voice was less gruff than I had expected from the scruffy scrubber, but there was still a discernible harshness in its tone. It was loud enough that I could hardly hear Karen’s teasing voice right next to me.

  “Silly politics it is then.”

  “Oh, he’s not joking lad, not at all. Well then, go ahead and show us your filth your majesty. We’re used to seeing it.”

  “Joking or not, it’s common knowledge that what we see in the ether ways can’t be used for evidence. We have no way of knowing if such a stain could have been created by the queen to begin with.

  I hardly thought common sense was relevant at this point. There were so many issues to raise that I didn’t know where to begin.

  “But if a defining feature of that stain was that the act was committed with a queen, you’d be able to tell from that wouldn’t you.”

  The king showed us a malicious knowing smirk that made my whole body grow tense. Some things are better left unsaid. I’m sure that we all individually reached the same conclusion long ago, but I had never heard a single scrubber speak it. Certainly, there were many ways in practice if we were to trust those impressions as truth. There were damning threads of correlation that could be followed.

  Matt hesitantly began to respond but the king held up a hand to stop him.

  “You don’t have to answer that. We’ve already gotten the answer.”

  “Just what the fuck is this performance your majesty?”

  “Hold your tongue!”

  Connell Ray who was still standing near the entrance was red in the face, but the king signaled him into silence.

  “Like I said, I’m no king right now. Raise whatever fuss you need to as long as you listen.”

  He held his head like he was coming down with a migraine.

  “I started off all wrong, I should have begun with the most important matter first.”

  He took out a bundle of parchment that was tucked beside him on the throne and scanned our faces.

  “Which one of you is Douglass Draemin.”

  The whole thing had been absurd from the beginning, but I at least understood why my name was brought up. The only mystery was how it was all connected. As soon as I considered it the possibilities started coming to mind. The subject might not have been as out of pocket as I first imagined.

  “That would be me your majesty”

  He took the bundle and tossed it in front of my feet. Nervously I picked it up from the ground and began to read. My hands became clammy as the kings initial warning began to sink in. I shouldn’t be seeing what was written in its contents and I imagined it shouldn’t be written down at all. It most definitely broke the spirit of our pact with Unduroc and I was willing to bet it broke the law as well although I wasn’t knowledgeable enough to say that for certain. In and of itself it wasn’t unexpected it was just something that shouldn’t be admitted to. At the very beginning it was clear that it was an in depth account of dream warden positions, population, and even details on their lives taken from the other side of the Unduroc border.

  “You can see from the seal that these documents were dictated before a magistrate. If he hadn’t valued his country over the spirit of the law my reign may have ended before this meeting could take place. The seventh and the final page are the most relevant.”

  I turned to the pages in question. It spoke of demon sightings just as the rumors I had first heard in Duskhovel implied and then…an outbreak. The real ground zero for the recent influx of the disease. It was dated around a week before the first reports on our side should have been happening when an entire village was confirmed dead.

  My stomach felt sick. No matter what or who it was happening to if an outbreak was triggered scrubbers would be sent in or at least that’s what I’ve always believed. But they couldn’t could they? Not based on a record that does not exist. And maybe not for a people who they mean to see exterminated.

  I recalled Rachel’s outburst. Lieutenant Davis Togl would hate everything we had just heard.

  “The scout himself was infected but was able to survive longer than the villagers. In his last account he detailed a demon entering and a demon possessed leaving. It was written, he hadn’t been able to contact us from the ether ways for days.”

  “Did you already know the outbreak was coming before we were dispatched.”

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  The king slammed his fist into the arm of his chair as his face grew almost cruel in its gravity, but his words remained steady.

  “Only vaguely. Only vaguely, but there wasn’t a damn thing we could do about it at the source. And the Demon possessed was something we could have never predicted. All because of that damn treaty. The same one that’s been letting my peopled be murdered for years.”

  I was sure I knew the identity of that demon possessed, but the description in the report was not good enough for me to confirm it.

  “When the cleaning was finished a new scout was sent in with two scrubbers independent of your own group. They discovered the last testament of his predecessor along with further demon sightings. Go ahead and turn to the last page. Do you recognize the description?”

  My nausea multiplied sevenfold with every word I read. I was back in that forest as I recalled his twisted broken neck, his cracked and bruised skin, his tattered clothes and dirty knotted hair. The description estimated him in his fifties. Somehow his age wasn’t a detail that had occurred to me, but I realized that he must be around Rayngo’s age who is forty four even if he looks older. His hair was salt and pepper black. His face was somewhat wide and his nose was staunch, appearing broken. His eyebrows were thick and his eyes were brown. All these details were true but I hadn’t thought to focus on them until they were described to me. The scars, the expression, and the voice had painted over everything else for me. But I did recognize the outfit immediately, the same outfit as Rayngo.

  “Yes yes, this is him. The scholar. This is the man who killed the scrubbers. Who killed Bennie.”

  I was suspicious of the king. I was suspicious of everything I was being told today, but I did not believe they had staged the murder of the scrubbers as Rachael had implied, not after meeting the man who was actually behind it. They were most likely trying to take advantage of the situation, but if their reason for doing so was what I was beginning to suspect it was, I wasn’t sure if I could actually oppose the idea.

  “As expected, then this demon possessed, the bastard responsible for the culling of my army is camping out right behind that line, the same one that’s protecting the rest of the bastards harming my country.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  “With that in mind, can you not play along with my little farce? The charges aren’t false. I’ve known for years and I’ll be damned if that harlot is the one thing standing in the way of me protecting my country from another outbreak.”

  The cards were finally on the table, but they were a disorganized mess. The onus was on us to shuffle them into something coherent.

  “I think we all more or less understand. I have my own thoughts and I’m sure everyone else does as well, but you haven’t addressed the real issue. Regardless of whether we agree it’s necessary, how are we supposed to use the evidence in stains in any legitimate way? And for that matter, why do you need us specifically? You’ve already told us your scrubbers already found the evidence.”

  That was the real issue. The entire premise was nonsensical.

  “The answers are connected aren’t they. For some reason you need us for the evidence to be seen as viable.”

  And finally, the short haired blond woman spoke meaning I could finally put a voice to every scrubber present if not a name. Her tone was evaluating and detached. I felt that she was more interested in the analysis of the question than the purpose behind it.

  “That’s correct.”

  The king sighed and his posture grew ever more informal as he sunk his chin into his palm and took of the circlet that defined his station only to spin it around his finger like a child’s toy. His every movement was a desecration of his role in order to hammer the point down.

  “I can respect his commitment to the bit at least, but there’s no need to posture at bad posture. My neck hurts just looking at him.”

  Karen’s muttered words that could be clearly heard in that silent hall almost got a smile out of a few of us, but there was there was no wresting the mood away from king Vireid, informal or not.

  “You were all changed by your exposure to the heavily infected ether ways. You can see deeper into the filth. You can see real images and definitive memories.”

  “That’s news to me.”

  He spoke as if these obvious lies were immutable facts. The message was clear, we were to treat them as if they were.

  “They’ll see right through it. There is no way this will stand up to scrutiny and when it’s questioned we’ll be back where we started. There is no way to prove the veracity of the dream.”

  Matt was right. There was already reason enough to believe the stains of the ether ways, none of us saw them as false delusions, they were just unusable on any practical level. Then what was the purpose of inventing an excuse that could be disproven further?

  “They won’t question it. Between queen and country, they’ll all choose country down to the last man. They just need a reason.”

  “Then what of Unduroc? If they can prove the breaking of the treaty was illegitimate, what then?.”

  It was the last wall of reason that Matt had left over what had started as nonsense, but the king scoffed at it.

  “Unduroc wants an excuse. We’ve already spoken off record, but we can’t legally acknowledge the location of the demon possessed. They’re ignoring the information because they think we have no choice but to invade against the treaty, but this puts them in a bad position. Once the issue of the demon possessed is out in the open it will be easier to prove it was already known either by us when we invaded or by them when they didn’t move against it themselves. There won’t be any more questions once it’s all over as long as we can get through the initial stage.”

  There was no more logic to argue. No, I’m sure there was plenty, but nothing that was meaningful or that would reach past Vireid’s iron will. All that was left was emotion, and there would be plenty. We couldn’t deny the situation we were shown but we all hated it. And who better to lead the last stand than Thomas.

  “Enough already! You're talking like everything’s adding up, but what about you using us like patsies? All those scrubbers died and the soldiers too and you want us to skip around for your political games. Take your treaty and shove it. Just send your troops in and put a proper end to it. I’ll march down there and do it myself if I have to.”

  Fair. Completely fair. He spread his arms wide like an orator as he turned in a circle to address us each in turn all while pacing in small steps due to his agitation.

  “Aren’t you all with me? We’re scrubbers. Laborers. We have no place here and we don’t owe them anything. They can make their own machinations. They made this lie so they can make another. Let them do what they need to do on their own and reap the consequences.

  Togl would hate this. Raechel would hate this. But Bennie, Bennie would have seen the sense in it. He would have had the patience and understanding.

  “I think we should do it. Just forget about his games and his reasons. We can’t have the demon possessed run loose. Not for what he’s done and what he's going to do. It would waste the work they died for let alone leave them unavenged. There’s nothing simple scrubbers like us can do about it. We just have to help out with this one thing, this one lie, and then we can be assured the matter will be settled.”

  “Douglass…”

  “What are you saying? Who’s to say they’ll even do anything. They just want a damn reason to invade. It’s just like Raechel said. We should have just cleaned their mess and have been done with the military.”

  “Isn’t that for the best? My understanding is that these dream wardens happily pillage Hypnoisian people. This should be a matter of knocking two birds out with one stone.”

  The blond woman interjected coldly, but without malice. I couldn’t even tell if she had a purpose in her argument.

  “What does that matter to us. There’s no reason for us to be used as pawns. It’s the principle!”

  I was surprised to find the room set against him and more surprised that I had led the first counter. The king himself did not oppose Thomas’ words. He just sat back and let him air his grievances.

  The bedraggled scrubber let out another laugh.

  “This is no time for principles lad. We’ve entered the house of the madmen.”

  “Honestly, I think it’s best we go along after all despite my reservations. Douglass is right, we shouldn’t be worried about their actions. This is to help take care of the possessed and keep that atrocity from happening again. That’s all”

  “Damn it.”

  “I know Raechel wouldn’t like this, but we can still do it for her…and for Bennie.”

  “Have it your way. It’s not like I give a damn about the life of some royal twat anyway.”

  We seemed to have settled on a decision, but the cold blond woman still had something to say.

  “I agree this is for the best interests of everyone involved, but what about afterwards? Will we start arresting people for crimes based on what we find in the ether ways? Are we going to be turned into a police force?”

  “Smart lass, I was waiting for someone to mention it. Go ahead and come forward.”

  The king turned his head to the side as two elderly men stepped forward. One was dressed in a robe that had the same colors as the royal guard. It gave him a distinguished look along with his jutted chin and face that was more weathered than wrinkled. The other was dressed as a scholar. Unlike the other his face was grossly wrinkled and his straw like hair was ghostly white. His eyes were closer to grey than blue and most noticeable of all he had the same insignia worn by Rayngo and the scholar. He handed a document to King Vireid and the other presented a quill, ink, and a stamp to him on a tray. The king signed and stamped the document then stood up and walked directly towards me. He was almost a whole head taller than me despite my height being slightly above average. I was intimidated in the shadow of his statuesque glare, but he simply thrust the document into my hands.

  “This entire conversation has been dictated. It has my seal and signature. They’ll accept it. If ever I make such a move turn this in. All responsibility will fall to me, and I will be executed to hand the country over to a new lineage. My culpability will also shield the country from consequences once it’s known the treaty was broken knowingly. Go ahead and take it lad.”

  It was not enough for me to place trust in the king. The magistrate had already looked past the law for the country if not for him by his own words. That much makes sense, our law doesn’t exist for Unduroc, but it still sets a bad precedent. In the worst case I could simply be killed and the document burned. It was hardly the lifeline he made it out to be. I was nervous, nervous for myself and the future of the scrubbers, but the scholar reigned sovereign over my anxiety. He was the most important factor. Everything else came second.

  “Very well your majesty. I think it’s clear by now we’ve come to a consensus, but you’ll have to excuse us if we don’t kneel on our way out.”

  “Then I won’t darken your sight any further. The professor will lead you out. He’ll be working with you over the next few days. This farce will take more than throwing you into the ether ways for a couple nights. We need details. Real details.”

  It was over and in the span of a short conversation everything had changed, but maybe everything had also become simpler. The wheels of these governments had already been turning beyond our vision, and they would continue to do so once my eyes had returned to Duskhovel. It was just a single favor to push everything along. Just a single sacrifice of a woman who was both hated and guilty of her crime. We just needed to briefly glance into the complexities to shield ourselves from a greater eruption that would come had we looked away. As we walked towards the door without a backwards glance at the figure who would have once been larger than life, he had one last piece to say before the doors opened back to the world where this conversation could never happen.

  “I won’t begrudge any disillusionment, anger, or even rebellion, but know that this is all for the best. Lives will be saved in the end. Feel no guilt in the secrets we’ve thrust upon you for they’ll harm no one that doesn’t deserve it. Set them on your bedside and sleep instead with wisdom and you may find when you wake, they have been cleaned.”

  To sleep with wisdom. I can see why Rayngo disdains the phrase. There has never been wisdom in sleep. Wisdom is a battle with the mind, and the sleeping mind does not fight. It can only swim in the ignorance it shields itself from when awake, and I knew I would stew inside it. If only humanity had never slept then maybe we could have held on to that wisdom.