James Islington - The Shadow Of What Was Lost

Davian nodded, almost dizzy at the thought. "So who else knows?"

“To the best of my knowledge, there was only a very small group who knew the whole truth – my father and uncle, the Council at Tol Athian. Talean and the Elders at Caladel.” Pain flashed across his features at the last for some reason. “It feels good to finally tell you, though.”

Davian inclined his head. "It can’t have been easy, not being able to talk about it." He gave his friend a considering look. “So why didn’t Karaliene give us asylum? Did you… pull her hair when you were children or something?”

Wirr grunted. “I did, but that wasn’t the reason she said no. She figured she couldn’t hide us, and the Desrielites would take it amiss if they found out she was trying to.” He waved his hand vaguely. “Said it would start a war or something.”

Davian grinned. “Just the man to be rewriting the Tenets.”

Wirr smiled wryly, though the expression was still tinged with sadness. “Any other questions?”

Davian shrugged. “No doubt there will be more, but for now….” He brightened. “Oh, one very important one.”

Wirr raised an eyebrow. “What’s that?”

“Should I call you ‘Your Grace’ now?”

Wirr snorted. “No, no. Of course not. That’s my father.” He paused. “It’s ‘Your Highness’. Or, ‘My Prince’, if you prefer.”

Davian laughed, but quickly sobered. “It goes without saying that I won’t tell anyone, Wirr, but I think you should tell Taeris too. He’s risked his life to get us this far. He deserves to know.”

Wirr grimaced. “I would have agreed a few hours ago, but… Karaliene was at his trial, Dav. She says the evidence against him was stronger than he told us. Witnesses that heard people screaming. And the men he killed, he supposedly tortured them. Disfigured them.”

Davian listened in silence. “I cannot believe that,” he said eventually. “Administration wouldn’t have had any shortage of willing ‘witnesses’, I’m sure. Still… what do you think?”

Wirr shook his head slowly. “We know why he killed those men. He certainly doesn’t strike me as the type to take pleasure in killing, so if I had to guess whether the mutilation part was truth or an exaggeration… they could have been referring to knife wounds from the fight, for all we know.” He shrugged. “He saved us. That’s good enough for me.”

Davian smiled, relieved. “Agreed.”

Neither boy spoke for a few moments, and Wirr’s face fell. “Dav, there’s something else. Something big.” Davian was unsure why, but from Wirr’s expression he suddenly felt a wave of dread. As if, as awkward as the past few minutes had obviously been for Wirr, this was what his friend had actually been avoiding.

“What is it?”

Wirr just grimaced.

“I have some terrible news,” he said quietly.

Asha stared out the window, still trying to come to grips with everything Elocien had just told her.

"And Wirr - Torin - could change the Tenets. By himself," she repeated, dazed.

"Only once I die, so hopefully not too soon," said Elocien wryly. "But yes. We suspect that’s why these attacks have been happening - whoever was searching for him must have known he was at a school, but not which one. The first two attacks were probably to flush him out." He shook his head, expression rueful. "Which we knew at the time, and did everything we could to bring him home quietly… but it looks like we still obliged whoever was looking for him."

Asha nodded slowly, taking a moment to compose herself, to digest what the duke had revealed over the past few minutes. Wirr, the Northwarden’s son. It was almost too ludicrous to contemplate… and yet she knew Elocien was telling her the truth. Now that she really looked, she could even see the physical resemblance between the two.

She closed her eyes, trying to sort through her churning emotions. Wirr was the reason Caladel had been attacked. Why Davian and her other friends had died. Her stomach burned with a flash of irrational, white-hot anger, which thankfully faded just as quickly. It was tempting to blame Elocien for bringing that danger to their doorstep, but it wasn’t his fault - nor Wirr’s, nor the Tol’s. It was the fault of whoever had attacked. Whoever had targeted her friend in the first place.

"Who would even have known about his situation?" she asked eventually, trying to keep her voice steady. "It can’t have been a big list."

Elocien shrugged. "Bigger than you would think - the entire Athian Council, for a start. Nashrel made it a condition of helping me. Said he wouldn’t go behind their backs." He made a face. "He knew Torin was at Caladel, but everyone else was kept in the dark about the specific location. That’s one of the reasons I’ve been reluctant to exchange information with them."

"You think it’s one of them?"

Elocien sighed. "Maybe. Truth be told, someone could just as easily have slipped up. A stray word near the wrong ear… it wouldn’t have taken much."

Asha responded with an absent nod, still lost in thought. According to Elocien, Wirr’s body hadn’t been amongst the dead at Caladel, which meant that he might still be alive. It was wonderful news, of course… but even so she found herself frowning a little, the expression fortunately hidden from the duke’s view as she gazed out the window.

It had only been an hour since she’d arrived at the palace, and yet as far as she could tell, Elocien had told her everything. Everything . She’d hoped he would be forthcoming, of course, but this much trust so soon after meeting her for the first time felt… strange. She couldn’t say why, but the entire situation was making her uneasy.

She bit her lip. Perhaps, at least in part, her discomfort was because the revelations had changed things so much. She couldn’t give the Shadraehin this information - couldn’t have Wirr’s plight used against his father, no matter how well-intentioned the Shadows' purpose. She didn’t know what the consequences of withholding the truth from Scyner might be, but that was something she would have to worry about later.

"I still can’t believe Wirr’s your son," she said after a while, even now bemused at the thought. "Sorry - Torin. It’s going to take me a while to get used to that."

"I expect he will too. Assuming…." Elocien’s expression clouded, and he took a deep breath. "I just hope he’s safe. Not knowing if he escaped, or was captured, or…." He shook his head. "It’s been hard, searching for him without knowing who’s behind all this, and especially doing it without Administration’s knowledge. My resources have been more limited than I’m accustomed to."

"What are your resources?" asked Asha curiously.

"I have various people… some owe me favours, others are friends who have nothing to do with Administration and are smart enough not to ask questions." Elocien shrugged. "Here in the palace, there are only three people I trust. They’re the ones I want you to work with." He stood. "Speaking of which - wait here. I’ll find them and make the introductions. We can go from there."

Asha paced for a while once Elocien had left, still trying to process the implications of what she’d been told. Even the beauty on show outside the window – the immaculately kept gardens, and beyond the elegant, clean lines of the city stretching away to the harbour far below – did little to distract her.

After a few minutes the sound of voices outside the door stopped her mid-step. She looked up as the duke entered, followed by three people close to Asha’s age.

Elocien took a seat, gesturing for Asha to do the same. He stared at her intently for a few moments.