Lucas didn’t immediately comprehend what was happening here, somehow, but it didn’t take him long to figure it out either. There weren’t many other explanations for why Valerie had dragged the man down to a secret location below the city, and the fact that Florence had led the way without needing to be told ruled out a number of them. No communication had passed between the skycloaks. Something about the way the man was speaking, or the contents of what he said, had drawn their suspicion. Enough to act on.

  At least, Lucas really hoped that was the case. The idea of his allies snatching up a guy and interrogating him just because they didn't like what he had to say didn't seem plausible. Wouldn’t fit with what he knew of them. Valerie was capable of extreme violence and wasn’t afraid of making a threat, he recalled, but punishing an innocent—asshole or not—didn’t seem like her.

  Sure enough, and to his relief, Valerie’s first question confirmed his suspicion: “Have you, perhaps, accepted some coin from an unfamiliar man recently, Ser Nial?”

  The man’s curled lip was faintly visible in the darkness. As were his trembling hands. “I know what you’re getting at. Can’t even consider the possibility that a man might have a different opinion from your own, eh?”

  The bravado was actually somewhat impressive. Lucas didn’t think he would’ve been so composed in the man’s situation, locked in a dark room with three people he’d just been talking copious amounts of shit about, if indirectly. Well, perhaps not so indirectly in Lucas’ case, but Nial didn’t know that.

  “I find it difficult to believe that a man in your situation would stubbornly stick to belligerence, despite clearly recognising the name I gave you. It’s especially strange for an Aeyemi descendant to say the things you have. Your fear is clear. Your motivations are not, and I will learn them.”

  Nial laced his fingers together in his lap and went still. But it was a tense stillness rather than any kind of relaxation. Obvious, even to Lucas. The man clearly hadn’t any practice in hiding his emotions.“My motivations are contempt for you and your people, demon bitch. No coin needed here.”

  Valerie's backhand slap snapped his head to one side. “Well, I do believe that was at least partially the truth.” She paused, letting that statement hang. “Perhaps the man was not someone unfamiliar to you. Perhaps he knew he didn't have to give you coin at all. I think you were more than happy to follow orders and spread those opinions for free.”

  “There’s no man involved here,” Nial growled. “Just me. And yeah, more than happy to tell people what I think of you useless shits.”

  Florence interjected. “What has you so against the Order, Ser Nial? Surely you can’t think the city, or Mornlunn as a whole, would be better off without us?”

  “I absolutely do! You people have failed for far too long. It’s about time someone else took charge of things and really brought the fight to the demon bastards!”

  There was a beat of silence. Valerie broke it with a hint of anger in her voice, “If it wasn’t already obvious you haven’t been to the Blighted Lands and thus have no idea what you’re talking about, you just confirmed it for me.”

  “Yeah? How’s that?”

  She ignored him. “Moreover, that’s quite the extreme position. Most of the groups arrayed against the Order recognise the need for its continued existence, and very few of those remaining talk about arming the people for an all out assault against the Demon Lord’s forces. Aerth’s Order, True Aerthians, People’s Liberation, New Dawn— Ah. New Dawn then, is it?”

  Nial’s posture hadn’t changed from his rigid tension, as far as Lucas could see. Evidently, Valerie had a keener eye for such things. Which probably went without saying. Interrogation techniques and cold reading hadn’t been in his skillset before arriving here, and he hadn’t yet had cause to learn them since. They were somewhere on his training curriculum, but low priority. Something they’d get to… eventually. When there was more time, more resources.

  “Have you heard of New Dawn, Florence?” Valerie asked, keeping her eyes on Nial.

  “I have,” she said. Looking at her, her expression seemed almost pitying. An interesting take on the good cop, bad cop routine. They kind of seemed like two different flavours of bad cop to Lucas, in this context. At least they weren’t torturing the guy. “From what I recall, they’re a fairly new group, formed some time after the 100th anniversary of the Great Summoning, and their goals are… Well, now that I think of it, rather similar to what Ser Nial was advocating for.”

  “An intriguing coincidence,” Valerie said.

  “Indeed,” Florence agreed. “So is that it, Ser Nial? Does New Dawn have its street level grunts out working the taverns, stirring up the public and trying to recruit for your glorious revolution?”

  “Don’t know what you’re talking about,” Nial said, but the tension in his voice was painfully audible. No interrogation knowledge needed to hear that.

  “Were you instructed to sew discord before the barrier went up or after?” Valerie asked. “I can imagine the event sent your superiors into quite the panic, if they were truly delusional enough to believe they could overthrow the Order?”

  “Don’t need no instructions,” Nial said, ignoring the latter question. His belligerent tone had faded almost entirely in a remarkably short time, and now he just sounded bitter. “You lot think you’re so superior to the rest of us. Can’t imagine people don’t worship the ground you walk on just because you live in the same ivory fucking tower as one of the Great Heroes.” He spat the last two words with an impressive amount of venom for a man clearly holding himself still so he wouldn’t tremble too obviously. “Here’s the truth for you: half this city fucking hates you!”

  Valerie rested her hand on his shoulder and squeezed. Nial winced. “Do calm down, Ser Nial,” she said with mock sympathy. “Getting so emotional may be bad for your health.”

  “That a fact, huh?” Nial grit out through clenched teeth. “Heard you know a thing or two about that, Vayon. Heard a lot of things about you.”

  “Oh, I’m sure you have. But we’re not here to talk about me.” Holding him in place with the hand on his shoulder, she buried the other deep in his gut. He let out a pained gasp and his body tensed like it wanted to double over, but Valerie was keeping him upright.

  Lucas’ stomach turned, and it wasn’t merely out of sympathy for the blow Nial had just taken. He opened his mouth, but didn’t know what he would say. Instead, he turned away. The door was closed, and a good few-hundred metres of dark passageway spread out beyond it, eventually reaching a hidden door in the cellar of a regular building. No one would hear anything happening down here. That was the point.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  “We’re not even here to talk about you, really,” Valerie continued. “Whether or not you zealously believe in your words is immaterial. The fact remains that you are clearly spreading propaganda on behalf of an organisation that opposes the Order in principle and in fact. I would know why.”

  “How does someone like you stay loyal to the Order, if even half the shit they say is true,” Nial wheezed, ignoring her question. There was another thump, and the man let out a groan.

  “New Dawn is evidently trying to recruit more members. I would know why.”

  Nial was breathing heavily now. He gasped out, “They locked you in chains when your age could still be counted on a man’s fingers. What kind of people do that? Is that deserving of loyalty, of elevation to the highest possible position in our society? Do you really believe—”

  He seemed to choke on his words as another thump landed. This time, though, he laughed.

  “Go on then, Vayon. Beat me to death in a dark room and dump my corpse in one of those legendary underground rivers people are always telling tall tales about. It won’t matter. I’m insignificant, like you said. Just some guy who goes places and speaks his mind and hopes people listen enough to actually think about his words. Even if I’m gone, the sun will still come up tomorrow. It always does. And one day, it will inevitably rise on a world with new Order. Who can say what form that will take? Maybe Lucas Brown will show up and take charge. Maybe Lady Claire will decide to make a bunch of reforms. Maybe Lord Jamie or Lord Rian will decide to come back into the fold, or maybe even Lady fuckin’ Aarya will resurrect from the dead and get everyone working together again.”

  He paused as Lucas snapped back around to face him, but his grin only widened, focused on Valerie. “Or maybe someone will come along and do something better, with something that doesn’t involve a bunch of clueless nobodies from another world. Doesn’t have to be this New Dawn group you keep talking about. Could be one of the other ones you mentioned, or one of the fuckin’ hundreds of other enemies you fuckers have made in Dawnguard. It doesn’t matter. One day Aerthians will take back our own destiny, and the Order will have to choose.”

  A beat passed in silence. Nial was grinning like a man who’d just achieved his greatest triumph, though his eyes were still pained. Valerie stared back at him, unimpressed, while Florence lingered over them both. Lucas found himself feeling somewhat adrift, like he was disconnected from himself, watching this all unfold from a great distance.

  Something snapped.

  “Do you think the five heroes wanted this burden?” Lucas heard himself asking.

  Nial’s gaze snapped to him, his mouth falling open like the bottom half of his jaw had disconnected from his skull.

  “You talk like the heroes are a group of foreign tyrants who came here to oppress and enslave your people for their own selfish ends. Why? Surely you know the history, that they were summoned here by a gathering of the greatest wands on Aerth at the time, thousands of them sacrificing themselves to ensure their prophesied saviours would possess great power. In that story, does it ever mention whether the heroes were asked their opinion on the matter?”

  “Aeyemir,” Nial whispered.

  “As far as I’m aware, it doesn’t. Know why? Because they weren’t asked their opinion. They were just snatched from whatever they were doing at the time without so much as an apology, and dragged here into a war for the fate of an entire world and told they had to fix it. I’m sure they’ve been imperfect. I have no doubt they’ve made mistakes, and they’ll continue to make more. But they’re here because your people placed that burden on them. They rose to the challenge because it was the right thing to do, but they didn’t choose it. I wish more people like you remembered that.”

  Nial swallowed audibly. His trembling eyes were going back and forth between Lucas and his two companions, but undoubtedly his gaze lingered on Lucas the longest. “You’re speaking Aeyemir,” he said with a small voice, all his triumph washed away.

  “No, I’m speaking English, and the special magic your ancestors wove into my soul is translating it into your native tongue,” Lucas said. He took a step forward and leaned down in front of the trembling man, Valerie shifting to make room. “I’m Lucas fucking Brown, if you hadn’t figured that out yet. Apparently that makes me a big deal here.”

  The man closed his eyes and shuddered.

  Lucas head felt like it was burning. He was so tired of hearing people’s opinions on him, as if he’d had any say in arriving 100 years after his friends. “You were right. Things are going to change in this city. In this world. I’m going to find Jamie and Rian and Claire and Aarya, and all of us together are going to kick the Demon Lord’s shit in, because there’s nothing the five of us can’t do together. One day the sun will rise on a world with no demons in it, no blight or beasts. It’ll be a world ruled by Aerthians, ready to rebuild after a century of strife.” Lucas paused, feeling like he was staring through Nial’s face, barely seeing him. “Unfortunately, it’s becoming abundantly clear there’s going to be a bunch of people standing in the way of that. People with a myriad of old grievances dating back to before I arrived here. Personal feuds. Politics. Generational grudges. And you know what? I don’t care about the context. I don’t give a flying fuck about any of it. The only thing that matters is this: finding my friends, and making sure they can all make it back home with me. If that means we have to go through some apocalyptic demonic threat to get there? Fine. If that means we have to go through a bunch of people too? So be it. I don’t want to, but I will.”

  He placed his hand on Nial’s shoulder, opposite Valerie’s. The man cracked open his eyes.

  “Your Breaking Dawn group, or whoever they are…“

  “New Dawn,” Nial murmured.

  “Right, them. New Dawn can get on my side, or get out of the way. Did you see the barrier go up around the tower? That was a sign. An omen. A precursor for what’s to come. The Order hasn’t bothered to waste its time with groups like yours before now. Presumably Claire didn’t think it would be worth the resources. I’m changing that. Unifying everyone, just like you claimed to want.” He paused, leaning forward until the man’s face filled almost all of his field of vision. “But here’s the thing, Ser Nial. We’re not gonna tolerate people plotting to put a knife in my back before I can get to this Demon Lord guy. If my life’s in danger, well… I don’t like it, but groups like yours are gonna have to go, one way or the other. It seemed like you were relying on the idea that you’d be able to manoeuvre against the Order and they’d kinda just watch you coming. Well, now I have them mobilising, and they’re going to hunt you all down.”

  Nial shuddered again. He whispered, “You say all this, then claim you’re not a tyrant.”

  “I don’t fucking want to be,” Lucas snapped. “I want to grab my friends and go home, but I’m not an asshole, so I’ll use this crazy magic your people gave me and go solve your problem before we leave.” He stopped to take a calming breath. “Here’s the deal, Ser Nial. You know my identity now, and so the only way either of these two are letting you leave here alive is if I order them.”

  Their silence was agreement enough.

  “I’m not going to order them,” Lucas said, and he wasn’t sure if he was lying or not, at this point. It didn't feel like something he would sanction. But what choice did he have?

  “I’m prepared,” Ser Nial whispered.

  “Your life is one thing,” Lucas said. “The rest of your New Dawn group is another. I’m sure there’s people you care about among their ranks, right?”

  Nial closed his eyes as if pained.

  “If you tell me about them and what they’re planning, maybe we can foil their plot in a way that ends with them alive and, perhaps, forgiven. Maybe they’ll even have their freedom.” Lucas squeezed Nial’s shoulder, hard. “Otherwise, the Order will simply have to respond to your plotting with overwhelming force. What’s it going to be?”

  Nial answered.