Betrayer

The Road to Mt. Dakun, Rebellion-Held Aviye

Zai

The Nightravens lit a pyre for Sergeant Lorn at midnight.

To Zai, losing Fengri hurt fiercely, and that loss brought with it the pain of losing Sh'zi, Edam, and every Nightraven who'd died under her command.

Together, around the pyre, the Nightravens toasted one of their fallen leaders. Zai was the last to receive the bottle. She almost broke her vow, until she remembered that Sergeant Lorn had always insisted on equal treatment...

Yet this was not an equal situation. Sergeant Lorn hadn't died on a battlefield, fighting the enemy in a battle of equal-minded duty. She'd been shot by a traitor. A piece of rot that had hidden in the roots of the Rebellion, climbing its way along towards some sinister purpose that Zai wished to see ended.

So when the bottle came to her, Zai placed it against her forehead, feeling memory and anger and the desire to make things right swirling together, until in a cold fury, she stepped forward and placed the bottle inside the flames.

She turned towards the Nightravens, encompassing even Amri and Quynh in her consideration as she felt the words rise up inside her...

"Nightravens... tonight we mourn..." she took a breath, pausing to let the words sort themselves. "Everyone we've lost has given their life to the cause... to a tomorrow they knew they might never see... and I wish I could say we will be safe, returning to our own... but we are not, even less so now than ever before..." She looked up, gazing at the stars spilling across the sky in two streams. "We're in the fire... and I wish with my life that I could keep everyone safe... but there is still work to be done.

But know this, it is my duty to you... not the Rebellion, or the people, or even the gods... to see that all we have lost will be for the sunrise they wanted... I swear this on the dawn, and every dawn going forward: We will fly."

As one the Nightravens chorused. "Arrah!"

The interrogation of Major Qirees was saved for last. One by one, his soldiers had been taken out of hearing and sat before Captain Zai and Amri, who sat with the Nightraven's truck at their backs. There was no torture, though any resistance as they were moved was met with quick correction.

They were well into the afternoon by the time the full picture of the Major's role began to resolve... along with the scale of the rot that Zai feared more than the enemy.

The soldiers were all from the same squad, all former members of the Northern Theatre sent to Command along with Major Qirees. The regulars had little information, though many expressed the simple desire to stay safe from the war that had drawn them to be the Major's guards and lackeys. The single NCO left amongst them however was far more informed.

That Sergeant painted a picture of the Major's machinations; of transfers and trades and unofficial deals that skirted around scrutiny, taking from the Rebellion just a little more than what was needed. In truth, nothing they gained from the Major's men was enough to indicate more than simple corruption and cowardice... but the words the Major had said before shooting Sergeant Lorn still stuck in Zai's mind, driving her towards the truth...

He'd said an end to the war was already coming... She knew in her bones he didn't mean that the Rebellion would suddenly be victorious.

And so, even before Major Qirees was pulled before her, she had something special arranged.

His soldiers had been treated fairly after each interrogation, walked back to their truck and allowed into the back. They'd been given food and water, and allowed to chat with each other so long as they weren't loud. They weren't even tied up again. The Sergeant, however, had been treated like a hero after his confession, patted on the back and given food right from the Nightraven's own campfire before being escorted to the Nightraven's truck. All this had occurred within sight of the Major, who Zai had been pleased to see was sweating bullets despite the cool air of late spring in the mountains.

"Your men told me some interesting things, Major," she had no weapons around her, nothing with which he could arm himself if he tried to escape or end his own life.

His formerly pristine uniform was drenched down to his chest with sweat. He'd been gagged through the night until this moment, when Sergeant Ruu pulled the gag from his mouth while holding onto the cloth binding his hands.

"This is against regulations!" he immediately shouted. "I demand my rights as an officer of the Rebellion!"

Captain Zai tightened her fist where she held it in front of her. She was sitting with one hand balled into the other, upon a log while the Major was made to kneel. She wanted to punch him, badly, for daring to say such words, but she held back. "You ceased to be a soldier of the Rebellion the moment you shot Sergeant Lorn," Zai spat back. "Now, how about you give up pretending. We've already gotten most of what we need from your NCO."

"You have nothing," Qirees lurched upwards, about to spit, only to cry out as Sergeant Ruu squeezed his stabbed-through hand. His attempt at defiance wound up dribbling down his chin.

"So what you're saying is that there's something to have." Captain Zai said, returning somewhat to calm now that they were getting on track. "Why don't you tell me about the orders you gave the 38th. They told us you wanted Dr. Jeng killed."

Qirees remained silent, glaring hatred at Zai.

Amri leaned in, whispering in Zai's ear.

"I see... you disagreed with the orders you gave the 38th. That would explain why you didn't kill us on sight... You wanted the Doctor for yourself... to negotiate past the one who gave you the orders..." Zai drew out the timing of the sentences, emphasizing each point.

"How..." Qirees' eyes went wide.

"Dr. Jeng has been cooperating with us. Her steps towards becoming Ascendant have given her something of an ability to read minds."

"Impossible..." Qirees gasped.

"I assure you, your understanding of the Ascendants is wrong," Amri supplied. "They are not just warriors. Anyone in any walk of life with the right training can discover their potential."

Zai stared into Qirees' eyes. "Even if you say nothing, I will get all the answers I need from your mind so long as you continue to think. So cooperate, and I promise you I will do my best to see you held until the end of the war instead of executed for what you have done."

The man grew silent again, and Amri put a hand on Zai's shoulder before whispering.

"You're trying to figure out if there's a way to fool us. To overcome an ability you didn't even think was possible until a moment ago... Want to know what I have to say to that?" Zai held his gaze. "Don't think about purple dragons."

"W-what?" Qirees stammered.

Amri took her turn. She'd insisted on not using torture for any of the interviews, and so Zai had tasked her with coming up with a way that they could convince others that Amri's power was more comprehensive than it really was. Purple dragons had been the solution. By telling someone not to think about something, it activated the power of their imagination to think about the very thing they weren't supposed to think about, and imagination was an important tool in understanding. "You see, Qirees, there's no way to get around me. Your thoughts can betray you faster than you can conceive of them..."

"So tell us what you meant when you said an end to the war was coming." Zai said. "That is the one thing your sergeant didn't know about..."

Qirees' defiance, worn down by hours of waiting and now the knowledge that he was well and truly caught, finally gave out.

"General Jiang... bought us a way out of the war." He said slowly.

"How?" Captain Zai asked.

"We were going to form our own nation... the Hegemons... they're going to let us take the East, as long as we abandon the north to the Kingdom... The entire coast is going to be ours, except for Xain province, as long as we favor them once our power is established..."

"Why?" Zai asked. "Why do this? You betrayed your soldiers, your people..."

"What did they ever give me?!" Qirees shouted. "I had a good life before the civil war! A career! I don't want to be trapped in this hell forever!" He took a raspy breath. "Dividing Aviye makes sense... Jiang knows this... that's why when the Hegemons lost her... he agreed to find and execute her."

"But you disagreed?"

"Why give up leverage? I asked some questions... found out who she was. Any intel on Ascendants is as good as platinum... I thought if I could use her correctly, I'd secure myself an important place in the nation to come..."

Zai stood. "Thank you for cooperating with us, Qirees." She turned towards the truck behind her, "Did you get all of it, Major?"

Private Anfus raised the tarp, exposing the radio, its red jewel of a light indicating that it was on.

"Loud and clear, Captain Zai," Major Fang Riel replied over the waves. "Here are your orders: Return to base with all prisoners. Once you arrive we will begin deliberations on what to do about General Jiang before he arrives. Aviye will not be divided."

"Yes ma'am," Zai replied firmly.

"And Captain... good work. Riel out."