Chapter 52: Trust is a luxury
"Told you this was gonna come back to bite you," Adrian’s voice drifted over from beside Lyra, the heavy crunch of their mount's six legs on the snow cutting through the wind.
Lyra slowly turned her head toward him, her silver feathers bristling beneath her cloak. "You knew?"
Adrian hesitated, adjusting his grip on the saddle horn as his gaze tracked the falling scarlet drifts. "I knew after it was done."
Her expression turned to one of utter disbelief, her eyes flashing with a sudden, sharp intensity. "And you didn't think to say anything?"
Adrian opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, Lyra’s attention snapped directly onto the front saddle where Leon sat in discomfort. She gave him a long, incredulous look, her jaw tightening. "No wonder you felt like a sword would suit you."
Leon blinked, his amber eyes shifting as he took in her severe expression. "What's your problem with sword users?" he stared at her for a moment, completely missing the sheer gravity of her betrayal, before turning his shoulders slightly to face the Maya. "Okay, first off, Maya..."
Maya immediately looked away, her face flushing crimson with a sudden wave of deep guilt.
"That was a huge skill issue," Leon muttered while facepalming. "How can you expose us like that? If we're acting like we have memory loss, then obviously we can't tell stories that happened years ago."
Maya's face tightened, her boots shifting uncomfortably against the leather stirrups. "I didn't think—"
"Second, Adrian," Leon redirected his focus, his gaze narrowing. "Whose side are you on?"
Adrian raised both hands slightly in a peaceful gesture, a faint, wry grimace breaking through his stoic profile. " Yours but—"
"Finally, Lyra..." Leon turned fully toward the commander, his coat whipping in the wind. "I'm sorry we tricked you. But I am not sorry for my decision."
That unyielding statement earned him a sharp, ice-cold stare that would have frozen a lesser man, but Leon continued remorsefully. "Look I didn't mean to hurt you but I chose the best course of action given the circumstances and the data I had available. I was acting in the best interest of protecting my group."
Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.
Lyra's professional mask cracked, her voice carrying a sudden, heavy weight across the drifts. "I thought I was part of that group, you know."
Leon went quiet for a moment, the steady rhythm of his breathing remaining perfectly anchored despite the emotional friction. "We come from another world," he finally admitted with a sigh.
Lyra's eyes narrowed to dangerous slits, her fingers locking tightly around her reins.
"We suddenly got transferred here," Leon continued calmly. "We didn't know whether you would treat us as guests or invaders. We didn't even know whether you'd believe the explanation, so I had to collect as much information as I could without exposing anything about us."
Lyra didn't reply, her jaw set into a hard line. With a sharp tug on her reins, she pushed her mount forward slightly, intentionally putting several meters of distance between her saddle and the mount carrying Leon and Maya. Adrian remained seated tightly behind her, riding in silence.
---
A few minutes later Adrian was talking to Lyra while Maya observed them in fascination. She glanced sideways at Leon, her posture slumping. "Wow."
Leon was already pulling out another strip of processed material from his pack, his fingers immediately tracing new geometric lines to begin work on a fresh talisman. "What?"
"Adrian is the one talking to someone while the other person is silent," Maya shook her head in sheer bewilderment. "This is so bizarre."
Leon adjusted one of the internal flows with his fingertip, letting his Sage Eyes track the strands of Qi. Maya waited for an explanation, but he didn't look up, completely absorbed in the talisman he was making.
"What is wrong with you?" she asked, a soft laugh escaping her lips despite the anxiety tightening her chest. "Can you relax for a second?"
"My meridians got filled again," Leon replied matter of factly, his fingertips moving with practiced precision. "I have to quickly expend my Qi so I can continue with the next cycle. We don't know what Lyra's reaction will be yet. If she decides to turn on us, we have to be prepared to cooperate with the other rock-skinned Champions following us to either kill her or destroy her tracking artifact and escape."
Maya's eyes widened, her breath catching sharply in her throat. "Leon!"
"Honestly, both outcomes are incredibly hard and I am not sure we can—"
"Leon, calm down," Maya interrupted, her tone softening as she reached out to lightly touch his shoulder. He finally looked up from the talisman, his amber gaze locking onto hers. "Lyra won't harm us. She feels betrayed, but she's our friend. Let me talk to her. Everything will be fine, don't worry."
Leon looked back down at the shimmering talisman "I hope so. I don't want to fight her."
------
Time passed and Leon's special talisman was almost completed. Maya glanced down at the complicated circuit. "You're still going?"
"Yes."
"You've been making those the entire time, didn't I tell you to trust us. Adrian and I will convince her."
Leon looked at the talisman in his hand, checking the boundary lines. "You are viewing things too simply. Let's suppose Lyra trusts us. Is it to the point where she would betray her country? She's a soldier. She has a duty to report us. What happens then? Do you trust the entire kingdom not to research and to act with goodwill towards us? I really hope this can get settled smoothly but there's a good chance we will have to fight so it's about time you start focusing on your Sage Guidance more."
Maya stared at him, letting out a long, helpless sigh. "Just trust her. She will protect us. Is trust really that hard?"
"Trust is a luxury only the strong can afford. I can trust people but under certain conditions. Lyra breaks the most important condition of them. The condition being my ability to fight back in case I get betrayed. If someone like Lyra backstabs me I won't have a chance to do anything." Leon considered the feedback, while his eyes drifted toward the front mount.
"They're still talking." Leon nodded. "That's good."
Maya looked at him suspiciously, her eyes narrowing. "You actually think so? Why?"
"Because Adrian is better at this than me," Leon stated flatly. "At apologizing."
She stared at his profile for a moment, completely taken aback. "That's surprisingly self-aware."