Chapter Text
The office was bright, but the Riorson siblings weren’t in the mood to appreciate the strategic position of the office of the rider commander in Calldyr. Not the day after their father was killed.
“We find ourselves in an unfortunate predicament.” General Sorrengail said. “Leadership seems to think that the best thing for the safety of our kingdom would be to kill all of you, children of the rebellion leaders.”
Maeva’s eyes widened. She turned around to look at her big brother, hoping to find some guidance. But Xaden’s face was a mask of cold indifference. The only sign that he heard the General’s words was his locked jaw.
Sorrengail continued. “I may have found a way to prevent that from happening, but it wouldn’t be without a price.”
She looked at them with that serious intensity of hers. Maeva knew that it meant the cost would be high. She also knew that whatever the cost, they would do it. Xaden already felt responsible for all the kids that were kept down in the dungeons. And Maeva…
Maeva would never let her brother go through whatever it was alone.
“It would be impossible for us to know where your true loyalties lie.” The General continued.
Maeva knew that this wasn’t true. She knew that some riders had the power to understand if the person in front of them was lying or telling the truth. Liam’s mom told her not long ago, when she was explaining the powers that dragons channel to their riders.
But she also knew that if they asked her right now, she would be forced to answer that she would gladly stab General Sorrengail, the King and whatever general she had to face. That wouldn’t bode well for her loyalties, so she’s happy that the General thought of another solution.
“So… we will let some incorruptible creatures do it for us: the dragons. You will enter the Riders’ Quadrant and, if you’re deemed worthy, you will live and serve Navarre. Or you will die trying.”
Maeva turned again to look at her brother, in time to catch the almost imperceptible sigh he let out. She was relieved too. She was already thinking about joining that Quadrant, since she was the second child of the duke and didn’t have to think about continuing the bloodline. And Xaden was an incredible fighter, even more so since his puberty outburst, which got him to beat her with an annoying consistency.
“Ok, General.” Xaden answered, trying to sound less eager than he actually was. “We can do that.” He said looking at his sister.
There was a beat where the General just looked at them. “I am afraid you misunderstood. I didn’t mean you two. I meant all the children of the rebellion leaders.”
Maeva gasped. Xaden was better at hiding his reaction, but his sister knew he was equally shocked.
“You cannot be serious! A lot of those children are barely old enough to understand what is happening. Most of them have never sparred once in their lives, because they were meant to other Quadrants or for completely different careers. It would be a death sentence.” Xaden argued.
The General didn’t lose her serious and detached appearance. “It wouldn’t. Or maybe it would. The chance of death instead of its certainty: that is the best I can offer. You can either accept or decline.”
A moment of silence passed. Maeva didn’t try to fill it. She knew the decision was up to Xaden, and she already knew what he would choose.
“And if we accept… what would the price be?” Xaden asked.
The General stared at Xaden for a long moment. He didn’t drop his gaze.
“An unnamed favor, to call in and dispose of how I will see fit.” She answered.
Xaden turned to looked at Maeva for the first time since they entered Sorrengail’s office. His face wore the same unfazed mask he used when he needed to assist their father in his meetings, but his eyes showed that his brain was moving miles a minute. Maeva refused to follow that line of thought, because she knew it wouldn’t lead anywhere pleasant.
“You could ask anything you want?” He asked the General.
“I won’t ask you to break the law, of course.” She replied, like that was what worried Xaden. Maybe it was, Maeva thought. Her mind conjured up the image of her brother in chain, then turned into ash for complying with the General’s wish. She willed her brain to shut up, to remember that Sorrengail just said she will not ask him to break the law.
Another long moment of silence passed. Then Xaden talked again. “We will be able to train in the meanwhile, right?”
“You will be placed in foster homes; families loyal to the crown and they will provide you training at their best possibilities.” The General answered.
That didn’t mean shit, Maeva thought. Her family, like most of Tyrs noble families, had warriors background. Fighting was part of their education. But it wasn’t the same for all noble families in Navarre. For a lot of them, the best training they could offer was walking in a straight line with a glass of water on their head and doing weight with the wood they use for their fireplaces in the winter.
And that is not at all enough training for the Riders’ Quadrant.
“I will accept if Maeva stays with me.” Xaden replied. Maeva couldn’t say she was surprised by the fact that her brother tried to negotiate even if he had absolutely no bargain to do so.
The General looked apologetic for half a second, before regaining control of her detached mask. “That is not possible. Leadership has been clear on this point. Your sister will be placed either here in Calldyr with the King, or with General Melgren or with me.”
She said leadership like she had nothing to do with the decision. Like she wasn’t one of those who decided that Maeva would live in a nightmare for five years.
Xaden paled and his eyes were filled with horror he was unable to mask. Maeva knew she probably looked the same. She stretched out her hand to intertwine it with her brother’s. He gave her a squeeze.
“The best I can do…” The General continued “is fostering her myself.”
Maeva didn’t really want to go live with General Sorrengail for five years, nor she wanted to leave her brother, but just remembering the cold and calculating expression of General Melgren and the cruel smile of the King while all their parents were burning to death made her sick. There was no way she would survive with either of them for five years.
“You will train her? And you won’t hurt her?” Xaden asked. He lost his unfazed mask as soon as they started talking about Maeva.
The General looked at them both. “It wouldn’t be real training for the Riders’ Quadrant if it didn’t involve getting hurt. But I see what you’re saying. I will make sure no one will harm her just for her upbringing and I will make sure any wound will be properly mended.”
A minute passed.
“Ok, I agree to your terms.” Xaden said.
The General nodded, but there was no happiness or satisfaction in her expression.
“There’s one more thing: leadership want, in addition to the assurance that comes from the dragons, some more… human assurance.” General Sorrengail continued to talk about leadership as if the decisions were taken by someone else and she was as upset by being here as they were. “It’s expected from you, Xaden Riorson, as the firstborn of the leader of the rebellion, to give us that assurance, by taking responsibility for the lives and loyalties of all the children of the rebels.”
Xaden furrowed his brows. Maeva’s brain wasn’t working properly, because she knew that it couldn’t be as easy as saying “I take responsibility for all the children” but her brain refused to elaborate the General request.
“Taking responsibility following Tyrrish costumes.” She added slowly.
“No!” Maeva talked for the first time since entering the office. Yelled would be a more accurate term. But she didn’t care if she broke protocol, there was no way she would let her brother go through this.
If it wasn’t completely tragic, it would’ve been ironic that Navarrian leadership wanted to use a Tirrish custom now, after trying to erase Tirrish language and traditions for decades.
Xaden didn’t have any visible reaction, but Maeva could recognize the set of his jaw.
“Please, Xaden! You cannot do that!” She pleaded, already knowing what the answer would be. “We could do it together… half to each! You can’t do it alone, it’s a suicide.”
“Ok.” Xaden answer was void of any emotion, finally dropping her hand. “But my sister won’t witness it.”
Maeva continued to show her loathing of what was about to happen, but the General ignored her completely. A second later, without any move from her, the door of the office opened, and a rider entered the room.
“Lieutenant, please escort Miss Riorson to the other kids.” The General ordered before the rider could say anything. “Then go to the infirmary and call for two healers to come here equipped. No need to knock when they arrive.”
“No, Xay, please don’t do it! Please!” The rider ignored Maeva’s cry like her General and wrestled the younger girl out of the room.
General Sorrengail got up and signal Xaden to do the same. The boy did it, looking pensively at the rider in front of him.
“I want to say something else, before… you know.” Xaden said, looking the General straight in the eyes. She just nodded once to prompt him to continue.
“She doesn’t know.” He said, knowing that the General would understand. “Maeva doesn’t know.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Was the answer of the General. But Xaden knew it was a lie.
“You do.” He replied, looking pointedly at one of the daggers the General had sheathed at her ribs. “I do, too. But Maeva… she doesn’t.”
The General’s expression didn’t change; she didn’t nod or signal she understood in any way. But it wasn’t necessary. Xaden knew she got his message.
“If you said what you needed to say, we can begin.” She said, taking out a different dagger.
§§§§
Maeva was waiting for Xaden in Bohdi’s arms. She was counting slowly in her head.
The sequence of numbers made her numb, but it was better than thinking. About her father, about her home, about her brother. She couldn’t even think about the possibility of his brother dying in General Sorrengail’s office, alone and in pain, and then her going to live with the woman despite it.
She was close to thousand when Xaden was escorted into the biggest room of the dungeon, where all the kids of the failed rebellion were scattered.
He could barely do the few steps that separated him from his cousin and his sister. He collapsed at their side, after asking for some water. He drank it, taking some pills.
“Painkiller.” Xaden answered their silent question. “Maeva, listen to me.” He said, taking his younger sister’s face in his hands. “I love you and I will miss you every day, but we will see each other again, do you hear me? I need you to promise that we will see each other again. I need you to promise me that you will do everything you have to do to come back to me.”
His eyes were watery. Maeva didn’t think she would ever see her brother cry again, not after the last time, more the seven years before. Her voice got stuck in her throat and all she could do was nod.
“You hear me? Everything you have to! Fuck the laws, fuck morality and fuck our names. Fuck anybody else! You just do anything you have to do to get to the Riders' Quadrant and then I will be there, and everything will be ok.” He repeated, without letting her go.
When Maeva finally found the voice to answer “I promise” the painkillers had already had their effect and Xaden was sleeping peacefully in her arms.
The big throne room was almost completely empty.
There was King Tauri, sitting on his throne, pompous as always, as if he didn’t just condemn more than 50 people to die, torturing their children with the image of their parents’ death.
General Melgren, commandant of Navarre’s army, was sitting at his side, cold and calculating as he always was.
Colonel Markham, the head of Scribes and their Quadrant, was with them, officially to take notes of everything that was happening, but truly to pick and choose what would end up in the reports and what would rise and die in the safety of this wall.
A few of the King most trusted advisors were scattered around the long table. Only the most loyal were there, informed of the reason why the Tyrs tried to secede.
“Colonel, you asked for a meeting?” General Melgren asked to the only man in the room who was standing.
Colonel Aetos stood tall and proud at the other end of the long table, facing directly the King, but lowering his head to show deference to the monarch. He wasn’t a particular impressive man for rider’s standards, but in a room full of common people, he towered over the table.
“Yes, General.” The Colonel started. He bowed to the King, the third time since he entered the room, then continued: “It’s my understanding that you will be sending Maeva Riorson, the youngest daughter of the Great Betrayer, to be fostered with General Sorrengail.”
The Colonel, as the other people in the room, obviously knew the real reason of the failed Secession. He didn’t even think about saying it out loud, though.
“That would be correct, Colonel.” Markham replied. “Your point?”
“I’d like to suggest for her to be fostered in my home instead.” Colonel Aetos said, picking the interest of the other men in the room. “You certainly know that General Sorrengail opposed you great idea of making the kids watch the executions of the traitors.” He tried to flatter the king.
“You’re afraid that General Sorrengail would be too… soft towards the Riorson girl?” General Melgren asked, calculating.
“Of course, I would never suggest that she isn’t able to do her job, but I fear that her… motherly instinct would take over in regard to the youngest Riorson, especially because the General has a daughter of the same age.” Aetos answered. The he added with a suggestive tone: “And we know that if… something… was to happen to the Riorson girl, that would be a painful blow for her brother to bear.”
After that, Colonel Aetos let silence stretch.
A silent conversation was happening between the most powerful men in the room. General Melgren looked at the other with his calculating expression. Colonel Markham was looking at his notes, nodding slightly. The king looked at every one of his advisors.
“I think that this is a great idea, Colonel.” He said finally.