Page 59 of The Sundered Blade

“Leisa.” Kyrion’s voice was a harsh rasp, from a throat that seemed raw with agony. “Find her.”

“We will.” Niell had never sounded so certain of anything. “Listen, I don’t know how your bond works, but I don’t believe that she’s dead. Karreya said Leisa was with Lord Kellen when they were arrested, and someone knocked her unconscious, but there is no reason to believe that anything worse has happened.”

“I felt that blow,” Kyrion muttered, struggling to his feet. “This is different. This is more.” His hands rose to cover his face, then clutched at his hair for a moment before they fell, revealing a man in torment.

His eyes were empty, his face drawn and haggard. “She is simply… not.”

Karreya shook her head. “I cannot tell you exactly what has occurred, as I was unable to find my way within the walls of the dungeon. But my…” She paused, recalling Niell’s words. She needed to give him his proper name. To strip away the mystique lent by his magic and his lies. “Even if Modrevin intends to kill his prisoners, he would not have done so yet.”

Niell nodded grimly in agreement. “They are political enemies, and he needs to remind his other nobles of the price of disagreeing with his decisions. There would be a public display of their execution, with as many as possible in attendance.”

“He is correct.” Karreya knew all too well how that was usually accomplished, and where her father would have learned such lessons. “It is a tactic my grandmother uses to great effect.”

“Then I will go.” Kyrion’s tone was flat, leaving no room for negotiation. “Alone if necessary. If there is a chance she is alive, I will find a way in. I will tear down the walls if I must, but I will not wait for kings or armies or negotiations.”

For the barest instant, Karreya sensed Niell’s hesitation, as he considered the stakes of whatever choice they made. Thoughts danced behind his gray eyes, but when he finally clenched his jaw and faced Kyrion, he did so with a conviction that belied any doubt.

“I am with you,” he said, with a single confident nod. “As circumstances now stand, whatever happens next is largely beyond our control. Modrevin cannot be swayed by threats, and we can do nothing worthwhile to expose him. The armies will march, and we must trust that Danric and Allera and Lythienne can hold them at bay. Perhaps…” He shook his head and shut his eyes. “Perhaps it was always going to come to this. Perhaps Abreia never had a chance to avoid this wretched, bloody, unspeakable war. I wanted to think we could stop it, but maybe I was always fooling myself.”

“No.” Kyrion’s voice was still raw but firm. “It is never a mistake to stand in the way of great evil. The only mistake is in becoming the evil we seek to prevent.”

Karreya felt those words like a knife to the chest. They sank deep and ripped through the happiness of finding Vaniell, only to expose the fears she had not yet dared to face.

All of this suffering had been caused by her father’s ambition. And all of this could end with her father’s death.

At first, she had demanded that his life be spared, but she now grew more and more certain that it was a selfish wish. She had wanted him to go home. To spare her from being her grandmother’s heir. But she could no longer doubt that such an outcome would be catastrophic—for the people of the Empire as well as the people of Abreia.

But if her father could not be the heir, and Senayawouldnot, there was only one other option, and it was the option she had abandoned her life and come all the way across the ocean to prevent. The option that would separate her from Niell forever.

And yet… if it would save this land, if it would save the Empire from her father’s rule, was it not a sacrifice she should be willing to make?

If she were willing, then her father no longer needed to live. But how did one say aloud that it was now acceptable for her father to die?

Karreya examined those words silently and felt nothing in response, but that did not mean it was the right decision. Her own sense of right and wrong had been shaped by unspeakable forces, and while she understood her lack, she could not yet always see an alternative path.

She already knew it could not be her hand that wielded the knife, and if she were not prepared to do so, how could she be cruel enough to ask another to act in her stead?

“Both of you must hear me.” Kyrion’s deep voice interrupted her thoughts. “I bear you no ill will, but Modrevin is my enemy. Beyond what I have suffered, he has caused countless other deaths and brought Abreia to the edge of destruction. Should I find myself face to face with the man, I will not hesitate to strike.”

Niell’s jaw clenched, but he offered the night elf a nod of understanding. “I will not beg you for his life, but neither am I fool enough to pretend that I could do what is necessary. Even after all that he’s done… I’m ashamed to say that I don’t know if I could kill him by my own hand.”

“I hate him,” he continued helplessly, “but he is also the only father I knew for much of my life. He is not Melger, but all of my memories of Melger are somehow his. I want him to pay for his crimes, but what would that make me if I killed him? What would I become with his blood on my hands?”

It was the same question Karreya asked herself, and still failed to answer. If one must become evil to defeat evil, then what was the point? And yet, if no one stood up to confront evil in the first place, did that not become just another form of evil?

“I am well enough to go on,” Kyrion said. “If you require rest, then stay, but I must find Leisa.”

“Lead on,” Niell said. “Though we should probably take a moment to consider our approach. Karreya, is there anything we should know about the state of the city?”

She could only shrug. “I do not know what it was like when last you saw it, but it is not open to visitors at present. The gates are closed, passes are required in order to enter, and there are far more guards than are needed. Horses are being confiscated, and many men have been taken away to swell the army’s ranks. The people are afraid, which means it is not a peaceful place.”

“So we’ll have to find a way in,” Niell mused. “Can the passes be easily forged?”

“No need,” Karreya said, sliding her own pass from the pocket of her skirt. “This will allow two people entry for another day. They do not mark them, so there is no way for them to know who first held the pass. You and Kyrion can enter through the gate, and I will choose a different path.”

“Won’t work,” Niell reminded her grimly. “They’ll never let a night elf in, so it’ll have to be Kyrion who finds another way.”

“Do not fear,” Kyrion said in a low voice, as he scattered the fire’s remaining coals and then stamped them out. “Recall that this city was my home for ten years. They cannot keep me out should I choose to enter.”

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