Seth Richter
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Bk 2, Chapter 11: Scenarios
🕑 Added 2024-01-26 09:43:39 +0000 UTChttps://docs.google.com/document/d/1GZ64LXss59jkBMvHFli-CRVPF3Bxw1BMFQ4sSoIhMpo/edit?usp=sharing
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The room was a cell. It was larger than the previous room with benches lining three of the walls and a disgusting-smelling grate in the far corner, and from a single glance the purpose of the room was obvious. But they were allowed to remain together and walk into the cell under their own volition, so Cayden didn't fight as the legionnaire held the door open for them.
There had been a moment, a handful of seconds as the legionnaire leading the procession had struggled with the runed lock on the door to the cell, when he might have been able to fight his way free. He had no doubt that the legionnaires were powerful and capable of combat, but they didn't need to win – just escape. And Cayden had already defeated Duke Vass; what were a couple of legionnaires in comparison to the duke's powerful control of light magic?
But then he'd caught a glance of Tiana through Jeremy's perspective, and the moment passed without him taking advantage of the legionnaire's distraction.
"How much trouble are we in?" he asked as they each settled onto a different bench. They'd left them their delving supplies – either a foolish mistake or gross overconfidence if they had actually been criminals. But perhaps Sir Albert had truly seen them as normal adventurers and wanted to inconvenience them as little as possible. Regardless, they would take advantage by making their cell a bit more comfortable.
"Optimistically? None at all. Best-case scenario, we just got unlucky with the timing of the curfew and our arrival back to the city, and we'll be free to go in the morning." Tiana replied.
"But a curfew? What could trigger something like that?" Jeremy asked, and Cayden could feel a small note of worry in the formine's mental voice. It was the first time he'd picked up anything from Jeremy through his [Bind Minds] skill, and it was still less than what he could feel whenever Tiana communicated, but it showed his friend wasn't taking it quite as stoicly as he appeared to be.
"I think it's safe to assume it's something with the new queen and the nobles. Perhaps the queen pushed too far in her retaliation. Perhaps some nobles loyal to the former Duke Vass attempted to finish the job he started. Perhaps other nobles don't believe the queen to be fit to rule and are attempting to instate Princess Valeria in her place. Without more information, it's useless to speculate. On the plus side, their questions would have been harsher were it open war, so hopefully whatever's happening is staying confined to just the nobles.
They silently unpacked their sleeping rolls as Cayden considered Tiana’s words. Open war? He didn't even realize that was a possibility.
"What's the worst case?" he asked, and Tiana looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "You mentioned the best-case scenario. What's the worst?"
"Sir Albert somehow divined your involvement in the duke's death, and there are currently messengers en route to nobles who might prefer if you never saw the light of day again." She shrugged. "Luckily, unless I'm way off in my impression of Sir Albert, I think that's significantly less likely than the best-case scenario. We'll probably be fine."
Cayden had a tough time sleeping after that. He lay down on his bench for all of five minutes before standing and pacing back and forth across the cell, feeling the door and each of the walls for potential weaknesses. He found nothing, but it passed the time better than just laying in his bedroll, so he continued to search for avenues of escape – until Tiana complained he was keeping her up and that his snooping might get them in trouble with any observing guards.
Regretfully, he laid back down in his bed. But with Tiana’s foreboding words, he found it impossible to relax or even consider sleep. He just lay there, listening to Tiana snore.
For hours.
It was perhaps the most agonizing night of his life.
He was used to the strange sounds that came with sleeping in unfamiliar places – he'd gone on enough overnight delves with Elise to be comfortable with that. But the noises of the small cell were different from the noises of the forest, and between [Awareness] and [Other Ways to See], his hearing was better than it had ever been. Every squeak, stomp, and rustle he heard, each time wondering if it was a contingent of legionnaires coming to finish them off. And in their windowless cell, without the sun to guide them, he had no accurate sense of the passage of time. After the first couple hours, he kept waiting for someone to come release them – and waiting, and waiting, and waiting, wondering if they were forgotten and they'd have to force their way free.
It was only at first bell, with the echo from the magically-magnified belltower echoing over the city, that he remembered he'd be able to hear when it was first light. The ringing woke up Tiana and Jeremy, who, despite tossing and turning on their benches for much of the night, both somehow seemed to have been able to get some sleep.
Silently, they packed up their bags and waited. As much as Cayden wanted to plan for the worst-case scenario, he wasn't sure what they could plan. Trapped in the cell and without knowing what was coming for them, he didn't know what preparations they could make that would be any help. So, they simply waited.
And then finally, after what felt like much longer than just a single hour, the belltower tolled second bell. And then a few minutes after that, they heard the shuffling of feet outside their cell, followed by some scratching against the door. And then, as Cayden waited with bated breath, the door swung open – revealing a single legionnaire.
"Follow me," he gruffly said, before turning and walking back down the hallway without waiting to see if they were behind. Cayden hurried to catch up after Jeremy started moving, and they trailed the legionnaire through the narrow hallways in a reverse to the path they'd followed earlier. Before he knew it, Cayden saw sunlight as the legionnaire held open a thick door to the street beyond the lower western gate.
"Curfew is from thirteenth bell to second bell. Don't be out again during that time," he explained as Tiana and Jeremy shaded their eyes from the morning sun, Cayden wincing with them in the secondhand brightness. Then without any further words or gestures of farewell, the legionnaire closed the door behind them.
"...is that it?" Cayden asked, stunned by how little fanfare there'd been with their release.
"Apparently so," Tiana answered, and then continued out loud. "Let's get moving. I really need a shower." She pouted as she turned to Cayden. "You were right about the crevices."
Jeremy guffawed in surprise as Cayden shook his head. He wasn’t able to muster a smile, but as they walked side-by-side down the road in the early morning light, he began to believe that – just maybe – they'd scored the best-case scenario.
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"What do you mean they can't come in?!"
"I'm sorry, but I mean exactly that. In light of recent events, we've made some adjustments to our policies. Unless you are a currently active student in good standing or employed by the academy, we cannot grant anyone admittance. From our records, I can see that you are a currently active student. Your friends are not."
"That's my sister – and she's been living here!"
"Be that as it may, those are our policies. I apologize, but I cannot grant them admittance."
Cayden stared in disbelief at the clerk denying Tiana and Jeremy access through the gates of the academy. He'd thought for sure their issues had been resolved with their release from the cell. Sure, the city had been much quieter than it usually was that early in the morning, with some shops that would normally be open having their windows shuttered and a few of the regular food carts missing their typical lines of patrons. But none of that was too unusual – a rainy morning would have the same effect. The regular posters warning about the curfew were more alarming, but there were no dead bodies lying around or people weeping in the streets, so Cayden had hoped that nothing too serious had happened.
Yet now Tiana was being denied access to the academy.
"I received special permission for my sister to live with me. Can you send a message to Instructor Blyre to confirm?"
The clerk hesitated. "I can send a message, but I wouldn't expect to hear back for several hours, at the earliest. She's head of administration of the academy – she's very busy."
"Send the message, please," Cayden said, struggling to keep his voice level.
"What about me?" Jeremy asked. "I've been a student, and I'm registered for next semester."
"I can see that in our records, but I can also see that you chose to forgo off-season learning, which means your enrollment is not currently active. Once the next semester begins in five months, your enrollment will be considered 'active' and you're welcome back on campus. Until that time, however, we are limiting access to the academy. For the safety of those students who are currently active."
Cayden clenched his hands into fists, sheathed claws poking out beyond the tips of his fingers. He took a few frustrated steps away from the clerk before turning to his friend. "I hate to ask...but do you think we can crash at your place?"
"Of course," Jeremy answered without hesitation. "It might be a little tight. I've been meaning to get my own place, but I've been living with one of my teammates since the semester ended. But he's cool, so I'm sure he'll be fine with it."
"Thanks," Cayden said, shaking his head in relief.
But Tiana was also shaking her own head. "You should stay here, Cayden. I'll go with Jeremy – if that's fine with him, of course."
"...what?"
"We need to find out what's going on and hopefully get permission for me to move back into the academy. You need to find Elise and hear what she knows. And while the academy might not work out long-term, it's the safest option for us in the meantime – you need to get permission for me to move back in, if you can. Who knows how long it will take the head of administration to get the message? You should be able to track her down much faster. And the faster you talk to her, the quicker I can move back in."
"I'm not letting you stay with some random guy!" Cayden instinctively replied, but then hesitated upon seeing the frown start to form on Tiana's face. "I mean, come on Tiana...you're a thirteen-year-old girl, staying overnight with an adult adventurer you've never met. You can't tell me that's not stupid. No offense, Jeremy."
"None taken," Jeremy replied. “You make a good point.”
"Well then don't let me stay alone overnight," Tiana responded. "Either get permission for me to come back into the academy or come join me with Jeremy. We'll need some of our stuff from the dorm, anyway, if this ends up lasting more than a day or two."
"I suppose that makes sense..." Cayden begrudgingly admitted.
He didn't want Tiana to leave his sight, not when there was clearly some sort of unknown instability in the city. But neither could he expect to be able to follow her around non-stop like a mother duck. Even if it was feasible with the rest of their schedules and goals, he knew they'd be likely to drive each other crazy if they were to try. Cayden was already impressed with how well they'd been getting along after spending two whole days together on the delve, and he didn't want to test how long they might be able to last before that good humor started to break down.
And while he didn't know Jeremy's teammate, he knew Jeremy. After Elise, his formine friend was probably the person he trusted most in the entirety of the capital – if he couldn't trust Tiana to be safe with Jeremy, who else could he trust her with?
"Fine. Yeah. Let's do that," he said after another moment's thought. "I talk to Elise and Instructor Blyre, and if I can't get you access back into the academy, I'll come join you at Jeremy's teammate's place."
"Sounds like a plan. And in the meantime, we'll spend some time at the adventurer's guild, see if we can't catch up on the news and rumors. If we aren't waiting for you at the academy's gates once you're done, we'll meet you there."
"Are you going to be fine on your own?" Jeremy asked. "My skills don't have that long of a range, and it's not like our sight will be any help when we aren't with you."
"I'll be fine," Cayden stated, trying to inject more confidence into his voice than he felt. He'd gotten more used to navigating blindly around campus on his own, but he wouldn't exactly consider himself proficient at it. Especially since he didn't currently have his spear to feel the ground in front of him. "Good luck, and I'll see you in a few hours."
As Tiana and Jeremy bid their goodbyes, he turned back to the clerk, who had returned her focus to the desk and the various stacks of paper and runed items scattered across it while they’d discussed their plans. She looked up as he walked forward.
"I'll be entering alone," he stated, struggling to keep his frustration from his voice – as annoyed as he was, the clerk wasn't the one making the policies and didn't deserve his ire. "Do you know the location of Instructor Blyre's office?"
"Of course. It's in the Wheeler building. Second floor, first door on the left after the main staircase," the clerk replied, giving a small nod to the four armed guards standing in the academy's entrance – double the usual number – who parted to let him pass. "...do you need any assistance getting there?"
"I'll be fine," Cayden said again. And then, taking advantage of the last few seconds he'd have of Jeremy's [Share Senses] skill, he walked confidently forward into the academy.
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