Chapter 77

Nayali

Search and Rescue

The trio made their way forward searching for signs of Lykan. What they found instead were increasing signs of annihilation. Fields were burnt to cinder; salt was left to destroy the fields. Every structure of any decent size was burnt to the ground.

These weren’t just isolated events either. These were the results seen at all places visited. Worse, the ash and salt made it tougher for Aren’s tracking capabilities to lock down on Lykan’s location. Something about the ash and salt breaking apart the psychic residue that is left behind by people. Instead, they had to follow footprints, but even those were inconclusive.

They found the town of Abberty, Lykan’s home. They also found signs that a large group of people and animals had left a hidden underground settlement of some kind. With seeing the damages, and unable to see where the shelter that had been used was Aren, Nayali, and Florijma all agreed that following the freed people would be the way to find Lykan. At the time it was believed that Lykan would be with the group of survivors.

Unfortunately, there were of course complications along the way. First Nayali and her group weren’t the only ones who found the tracks left behind by the animals and fleeing group of people, many of which were determined to be children. This was confirmed both by footprint size and by lingering smells and psychic reside that Florijma and Aren were able to interpret.

The more time Nayali spent with Aren, the more she felt there was something off about the woman. While she had been open and honest, it was clear that she was not completely honest. She also had a form of magic that Nayali had never seen before, nor read about. Worse, there were signs that she was part of the cult.

It started off as a mere hunch, but then as times went on the illusive woman gave more and more hints. Not that there were any true ways of identifying a cult of magi assassins, but Aren had a vibe about her that caused Nayali to tread carefully. While they might be convenient partners for the moment, there was no doubt in Nayali’s mind that she was being judged right now.

Perhaps sensing that Nayali was onto her, or at least had suspicions about her origin Aren finally broke the unspoken truce. The truce that had attempted to conceal Aren’s true presence.

“Say it.” Aren stated more than asked.

Hearing this Nayali paused standing still for a moment. This in turn caused both Florijma and Aren to stop in their tracks for a moment.

Florijma stopped mainly due to see what had caused her bonded to stop so abruptly. Nayali stopped as she wanted to be prepared for a possible strike from a mage assassin. Especially if said mage assassin was choosing this time above all others to call her out. Nayali realizing that she only had one chance to make this possible ambush count decided to be blunt and straight forward.

“You are Cerusian.” Nayali also stated.

Hearing that Aren went stiff for a moment, almost confirming the answer right there. At least as far as Nayali was concerned that act was tantamount to admitting she was correct.

A hush fell as both watched each other for a long second. Finally, Aren spoke first.

“Yes.”

“You here to kill me?” Nayali asked, her hand clasping the hilt of the mithril sword at her side.

Aren watched the gesture and paused. Her calculating blue eyes seemed to go through a myriad of possibilities before finally relaxing slightly.

“No. That was never my assigned task.” Aren admitted.

Nayali listened to the words, the followed the trail of thought. “You just report in whether I should be killed or not, then someone else comes to perform the deed?”

Hearing that a slight smirk filled Aren’s face. “No. If I found that you should be killed during the performance of my initial task, then I would kill you.”

Nayali watched the woman’s face remain stoic. At the very least she believed she could carry out her beliefs. Hearing the words and seeing the expression on her face Nayali gulped, but then quickly regained her composure.

“So, what was your task?” Nayali finally managed.

“I could ask you the same thing. Let’s make a deal. I answer this question truthfully and before the gods. Then you do the same.” Aren spoke before raising her right hand, a sign that she was willing to invoke the gods to oversee their truthful exchange of information.

Nayali opened her mouth and was almost ready to spit out the rhetoric that the gods long ago abandoned the Cerusians but stopped herself. Such thoughts were ones of bigotry and biases. Besides there was a simple way to prove whether the gods listened to the plights of the Cerusian. Partly out of wanting to have a fair exchange of information, and partly out of curiosity to see if the gods watched over the Cerusians, Nayali raised her own right hand.

Seeing Nayali’s hand raised, Aren nodded and then began reciting the ancient chant. A half second later Nayali followed suit, her voice echoing the chant to invoke the gods.

“I so swear that what I will tell is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. So witness me gods.” The two finished. Then as soon as both were done, they were both covered in a golden sheen that signified that the pact had been heard, witnessed, and registered by the gods. This meant the two were bound to answer truthfully unless they suffer curses to the soul. These curses could result in anything from skill devolutions to attribute reductions. Of course, there was nothing rewarded for telling the truth, other than of course the whole act of not being punished by the gods. This was one of the reasons why many were so hesitant to enter such pacts, as these pacts were seen only as negatives. Though many believed that there was positive karma that seemed to follow those who made such pacts and told only the truth. Such claims were largely speculation and hard to quantify, as random good acts were hard to quantify.

Seeing that there was a slight pause, Aren held a hand over her heart and bowed. “I guess I will start. My task as you called it was to identify the true maternal lineage of Lykan Vov’Vita.”

Hearing this Nayali was surprised, but this did make sense as to why she remained around Lykan even after most of the other members of his team were reassigned.

“So, this had nothing to do with me?” Nayali asked, wanting to clarify.

“I will admit you were investigated. But after we found no evidence that you were either speaking to your brother or working on plans to sabotage Lykan you were dropped.” Aren answered truthfully.

Hearing this Nayali nodded to herself. Then continued, “So I am not a target?”

“That I cannot say. I can tell you that you are not my target. Nor have I been given the order to eliminate you. But I make no claim to know the full workings of the order. I just know my assigned task.” Aren answered.

Nayali nodded at this revelation. In truth this was better than she had hoped. With her primary concern over herself satiated, she went onto the next topic of interest.

“Did you find out his true lineage?” Nayali asked.

Aren nodded, “I did.”

“What is his lineage?”

Hearing the question Aren just waggled a finger in a disapproving way. “No, that is not mine to tell. Also, you have already had your one base and three follow on questions answered truthfully. It is now my turn for answers.”

Hearing this Nayali paused, but ultimately nodded in agreement. Aren had answered every question truthfully, it was her own fault for spending two of her questions to ask about her fate with the cult of assassins. Though to be fair, this was her one and only time where she had met someone from the order who was truth bound to answer whether she was a target or not. What self-respecting mage wouldn’t ask whether they were a target. Realizing she was to give answers she first thought back to the first question that they were both curious about.

Nayali closed her eyes and took in a deep breath.

“My true task was to bind myself to Lykan at any cost, even my own personal freedom. Then get him to eventually convert to work for my brother, Ajimal.” Nayali said.

Aren nodded having already heard this before. But now that her words were confirmed by the gods Aren felt a little relieved. This also meant that she could ask three follow-up questions related to this topic.

“What are your brother’s plans for him?”

“As far as I am aware, Ajimal will use him as a weapon of war to help conquer this continent.” Nayali said truthfully. It wasn’t just enough to answer yes or no, with a binding of the gods the more you answered the better your chances of not having negative repercussions from your statements.

“Your brother wishes to rule the continent?” Aren asked.

“Yes, he wishes to fulfill our grandfather’s legacy of uniting the land under one banner.”

Hearing this Aren just nodded. Then after a pause she asked her third and final question.

“What are your current plans for Lykan?”

Hearing that Nayali felt like she had been punched in the gut, as all the air was forced out of her. She should have been expecting this question, or at least one like it. But the truth was she didn’t know. She paused and her face more than expressed her innermost confusion.

“I don’t know.” Nayali finally managed.

Hearing that Aren nodded to herself. “Since no answer has been given. I will ask another question in its place.”

Hearing that Nayali nodded. This was standard practice; three questions must be given truthful answers. While I don’t know was truthful, it was not enough to satiate the will of the gods. The gods demanded more from those in their care. Steeling herself for any question that might come she was prepared to answer anything, except for the question that came next.

“Do you love Lykan Vov’Vita? Truly love him, or just the idea of what he can provide you and your family.” Aren asked. While there were technically two parts to the question this was fine for the gods as clarifying the true purpose of a question was seen as a good thing. Clarifying the true intent of a question was often seen as a good thing, as it helped prevent unwanted complications from the rulings of the gods.

Nayali for her part just stood there like a rabbit who noticed a snake.

“I…” Nayali began but then paused as she tried to fully understand how she truly felt about Lykan.

“I…”

***

The rest of the trip had been one of quiet contemplation as both parties tried to digest the information they had been given. Worse Nayali had been trying to understand how she felt about the revelation she made about herself.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Florijma asked Nayali mentally. Their bond was still weak and growing, but they could, with effort, transfer ideas.

“No, I think I need more time to consider what it all means.” Nayali replied, even that little bit almost exhausting her.

“Well, if you need anything I am here.” Florijma.

Feeling the thoughts Nayali turned to look into the eyes of the beast that was walking by her side. Once they locked eyes Nayali smiled and nodded, trying to express gratitude without having to waste her much needed mental energy.

Nayali’s mental energy was a potential future problem, as she was beginning to feel the strain of constantly moving. Worse, she was so confused about everything that was happening. Fortunately, she had answered every question posed to her accurately, a sign that was confirmed by the gods. Or at least she had answered truthfully enough not to get punished by the gods in any noticeable way.

Aren for her part was open to answering more questions about the order, about what she found about Lykan and his lineage. The only problem with that was, Nayali didn’t want to answer any more questions from the mage assassin. First, she wasn’t entirely certain about her future plans, plus she now knew things about Nayali that Nayali didn’t even realize about herself until she had been asked.

So lost in thought was Nayali that only when Aren stood still and began looking around wildly did Nayali take notice.

“What is it?” Nayali asked.

Aren’s eyes darted around the woods for a few moments, before focusing on a spot in the distance.

“There.” Aren said, before taking off in a sprint.

Nayali and Florijma soon followed only to see pillars of flame erupting from the ground. As they approached it was clear that an Azani raiding party had found the same group of people that Nayali and Aren had been tracking.

Shock filled Nayali as she began circulating her mana on an instinctual level. Before she even realized what she was doing she was up in the air and flying forward towards the raiding party, anger in her eyes.