Previously:
Politics and worries.The Busty Dryad, Canal District, Silver Trailings
The manacles hung heavy on Jyslyn's wrists, pinning her arms behind her back. Her cloak and tunic sat in a crumpled heap where they had landed after Biala removed them from her. Her brother pulled on her arm, forcing her to sit down hard on a creaky chair. He stepped back out into her view. "Now, dear sister, we can talk."
"Are you sure that'll hold her?" the young man asked, his voice trembling with nervousness.
"Not even a Matriarch can cast spells with her arms locked together." Belial knelt down to meet Jyslyn eye to eye. "Shall I start to tell you just how much trouble you are in?"
Jyslyn maintained the eye contact without flinching. "Just how is Mother these days?"
"Dead. She died in a tragic accident."
"She was tragically in Valenza's way, you mean. Just how did Valenza kill Mother?"
"Do you really think Valenza did the deed herself?"
"It's so hard to tell with her. Did she see killing Mother as a task or as sport?"
"She's saving the sport for you." Biala stood to his full height. He walked over to a table where Jyslyn's belongings were laid out. "Valenza was upset to learn that you'd disappeared. You know how she gets."
"All the more reason for me to not return to the Citadel."
Biala picked up Jyslyn's grey rod, rolling it between his hands. "That's not in the realm of possibility, Jyslyn."
"According to who? You? I don't see Valenza here to enforce her will."
"When I am done here, I will take you back." Biala slammed the grey rod on the edge of the table. The rod splintered. "I'm sure Tereka will show you the folly of believing you could ever be a wizard." He dropped the remains of the rod on the floor.
Jyslyn glowered at her brother. "I'm sure that Valenza and Tereka would be interested to hear about what you're doing in Silver Trailings."
Biala grabbed his sister's shoulder to pull her up from the chair. "Just what do you know about what I'm doing?"
"You're not here looking for me. If I didn't know I would be here, there's no way for you to know. Valenza, maybe, through divine methods, but then she would be here, not you." Jyslyn spared a glance at the wounded young man. "You both are involved in something far bigger than you and your people combined."
"Kill her, Accursed," the young man said.
Biala didn't take his eyes off Jyslyn to answer. "And risk the wrath of a Matrairch? Are you mad?"
"The bitch knows too much! Sesserine will--"
"Sesserine can go hang!" Biala threw Jyslyn at her chair. She crashed over the seat, landing on the rough floor. "I am in charge, not her. Sesserine is a pawn with delusions of grandeur."
Jyslyn laughed. "Do you ever listen to yourself, Biala?"
"Quiet, Jyslyn!" Biala took a moment to calm his fury. "Oswin, go get your arm healed. I will deal with my sister, not you, not your guild. Am I understood?"
"Sesserine will hear of this!"
"Perhaps. And perhaps she may listen. Go!" Biala watched as Oswin ran out of the room, then focused his attention back on Jyslyn. "Now that we have privacy, dear sister, we can have our talk."
Jyslyn got her knees under her. "You don't have to take me back, Biala. We both can find better lives away from the Sundered Chasm, away from the Citadel and Valenza. Power isn't everything."
"You were always too naive, Jyslyn. How you survived is beyond me."
"Biala, Valenza will be too busy as Matriarch to find either of us. She'll never send Tereka after us. We can be free of her. You just have to let me go."
Biala gave a harsh laugh. "You just don't get it, do you, dear sister? I take you back and Valenza has a toy to keep her occupied for weeks, long enough for me to create chaos in the Sundered Chasm. By the time she's done with you, it will be too late."
"I should have known. You're a damned fool, Biala, getting involved with the Defiler's cults. You're going to destroy the families!"
"And step in to take over. All of us, unified instead of plotting against each other and sapping our strength. We will take back our rightful place in the world."
"And do what, Biala? Slaughter everyone else on the surface?"
"They will join us under our banner or die. It's an easy choice. We'll start with the traitors who drove us below."
"That's the history of the Chasm, Biala. Have you read it? Every few generations, someone tries to unite the families. Each time, Biala, each time, the attempt fails. The families aren't going to give up power easily."
"Then they will die. Is that why you left the Citadel, to find power elsewhere?"
"I left the Citadel because everything that happens there feels wrong right to my core. The casual cruelty Valenza and Tereka have, the backstabbing, the plotting, all of it, it's not for me. Not anymore. Come with me, Biala. Come and see what life can be like out of the darkness."
"Valenza was right about you, Jyslyn. Mother should have thrown you into the Chasm when you were born."
Jyslyn lowered her eyes. "Have you spent any time outside on the surface, Biala? The sun's light burns, but it also warms. There is so much colour up here. And the people, Biala. They show more emotion than just greed and lust. We don't have to live like we do in the Chasm, not able to even trust another."
Biala sneered. "And the fools up here trust you?"
"More than they should. More than I deserve. Not everyone, but enough have trusted me. You have to meet the right people. Not someone like your Oswin, who is only after his own needs, but someone who is in awe with the world."
The door burst open. Oswin stuck his head into the opening. "Get out of here! There's--" An arrow imbedded itself into his side. He clutched the protruding shaft as he fell over.
Jyslyn recognized the elves who appeared in the doorway. Wren had her bow out and level, an arrow nocked. The young elf swung the bow around to aim at Biala. Jyslyn scrambled to her feet, placing her body between Wren and her brother. "No!"
Biala ran to the room's lone shuttered window. He leapt, crashing through the boards without effort. Kazimier dodged around Jyslyn to look outside. He shook his head. "He's escaped."
"Who was he?" Wren asked.
"My brother." Jyslyn let out a long breath.
"Did he do anything to you?"
"Nothing."
"Nothing, yet," Kazimier corrected. He eyed the manacles on Jyslyn's wrists. "I should leave you in those."
Jyslyn kept her eyes cast towards the floor. "I wouldn't blame you, Kazimier."
"You were told that it was dangerous to come here alone, Jyslyn. Yet, here you are." Kazimier ran his fingers through his hair. "What were you thinking?"
Wren stepped in between Kazimier and Jyslyn. "You don't have to yell at her."
"I deserve it, Wren," Jyslyn said. "I went and came out here when I was told not to. I could have been betraying all of you for all you knew."
"You wouldn't betray us. I know you wouldn't."
Kazimier pulled Wren closer to him. "Wren, it's more complicated than that. You may trust Jyslyn completely. I can't afford your level of confidence." He turned to the dark elf. "Jyslyn, you could have waited until Nyssa and I returned."
"No, I couldn't," Jyslyn said. "You could have said no again. I took the risk, Kazimier. I didn't want any of you hurt."
"You aren't expendable, Jyslyn. No one is." Kazimier picked up the fallen chair and offered it to the dark elf. "So much could have gone wrong. What if the town guard saw you? What if one of the thieves here killed you? What if your brother killed you?"
Jyslyn sat sideways on the chair. "What if I didn't come here? I did find out more, Kazimier."
"That's not the point!"
"Why else are we here in Silver Trailings? Why else did we travel so far from your home if we aren't going to try every method we have at our disposal?"
"There's a principal involved. We are a team. We work together. We don't skulk around alone into buildings filled with cutthroats and bandits, not alone." Kazimier leaned against the table. "Not when we have other ways to get that same information that doesn't risk one person's life."
Jyslyn raised her head. "It was my life I risked. Not yours, not Wren's, not the humans'. Mine. I made the decision based on the reputation my people have and how difficult I have made lives up here on the surface. I wouldn't have sent anyone in my place, even if that person did know what to do."
"Did you even consider the impact of us losing you would have?" Kazimier wrapped his arm around Wren's shoulder. "Wren was worried sick when I got back to the inn. I was worried about you."
"I lost you once, Jyslyn." Tears welled in Wren's eyes. "I don't want to lose you again."
Jyslyn dropped her head, unable to look at either Kazimier or Wren. "I am sorry, Wren. I didn't mean to hurt you, not again." The dark elf sighed. "What happens now?"
"Right now," Kazimier answered, "we get those manacles off you so you can get your cloak on. After, we go back to the inn, eat dinner, and hear what you learned and what Nyssa and I learned. Then you and Wren can rest while I meditate and pray on what you've done. Let's hope your brother dropped the key before he ran off."
Jyslyn got to her feet and walked over to the table. With effort, she picked up the largest piece of her broken rod. "I might be able to get them off."
Wren stared at the broken rod. "Did your brother destroy this?"
"Don't worry about it, Wren," Jyslyn said. "I don't need it to cast spells, just to make it easier." She closed her eyes, feeling for the arcane flow of magic. She snagged an eddy of magic, coaxing it.to flow through her fingers. The dark elf wriggled her fingers, directing the the flow out through them and into the manacles. The iron of the manacles hummed as the magic worked on it. The manacles constricted, pinching Jyslyn's wrists. The dark elf ignored the pain, concentrating on maintaining her spell. She whispered a short incantation through gritted teeth. The manacles twisted, crushing Jyslyn's wrists before ripping apart. The remains fell to the floor.
"That looked painful," Kazimier said.
Jyslyn rubbed her wrists. "I'm fine."
"Let's get out of here, before someone downstairs finds the courage to come up."
Next Week:
Regrouping and a new direction.
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