Chapter 22

I could feel Ifrim’s gaze on me as Dalor helped him remove the harness, and I excused myself and went outside. He couldn’t know what the Worms had told me, and anyway, what did it matter? I only wanted to take down the Council, nothing else. I heard the door open and turned to see Ifrim come out. He gestured for me, and I hesitated for a moment before following him down the street.

He led me to the stairway, where he halted and gazed out over the valley.

“They’ve spoken to you, haven’t they?” he asked after a moment of silence.

He looked at me, holding my gaze, and I didn’t dare to say anything else but tell the truth. I nodded.

“They are full of lies,” he said as he turned back to the valley.

I hesitated.

“They… they didn’t lie to me…”

“Did they not?”

I shook my head.

“They… helped me. I saw it for myself.”

“Tell me.”

“They… took down the Master in Tovira. And they saved Yorun and Mitrandes.”

He fell silent for a moment before asking,

“And how would they have known about Yorun and Mitrandes?”

I frowned.

“What do you mean?”

“Why did that Vorg take such a risk to capture them if he’d never done it before? You already know he collaborated with the Worms.”

“You mean…?”

He nodded.

“They must have told him to capture them only for you to be able to save them.”

I stared at him.

“Why?”

He shrugged.

“They want to enslave us. They’ll say whatever they can to get it. It made you trust them, didn’t it?”

“But what about the Tovira? They… they said they would help us take down the Council, and they did.”

“I don’t know everything about their plans. Maybe they had no more use for the Council. Maybe they were willing to risk it to win your trust.”

I stared at him.

“You think the Council is working with the Worms too, just like Vorg did?”

He shrugged.

“I don’t know… Lucius seems to want to take them down, but...”

He shivered.

“It’s getting cold. Let’s go down and see what Iris has done since we left. That will keep us warm.”

He walked over to the stairs, and I followed him as he began to descend. Was that true? Had everything they told me been a lie? But... I’d thought they had wanted to help us bring down the Council. Were they working together? But… Ifrim was right, Lucius seemed to want to bring down the Spectres, but....

I followed him down the stairs and over to the workshop.

“Look!”

Iris ran over to us the moment we stepped inside, holding out a strange wind rifle.

“What is it?” I frowned.

She grinned as if she had been waiting for the question.

“I’ll show you. It was just completed. Much better than Dalor’s version.”

Ifrim gave it a sceptical look.

“Are you sure it’s safe?”

She scoffed.

“I’m not Dalor, I don't blow things up. Come!”

She gestured for us, and we followed her into the field outside with a set of targets. She hoisted up the rifle and took aim, and the target exploded with a bright flash.

“I still need to improve a few things, but you can try it if you want."

She pressed the rifle into Ifrim’s hands.

“It’s only one shot, but it should be enough to take out any Monster. Just be careful with the cartridges. They... they don’t like to be dropped on anything hard, okay?”

Ifrim hesitantly took it and fired a shot before handing it to me. It was much larger than our other rifles, and I raised it and fired, and the target shattered in a flash.

“You see?” she grinned. “Isn’t it great?”

I glanced at Ifrim, who only shrugged. Iris didn’t seem to notice it, though, because she was already gesturing for us to follow her inside. She had been busy during our time away and had built a device that shot fire, though it was too heavy to lift, a pair of balloons with a net between them that didn’t rise as quickly as she wanted and a firepot that exploded with a flash.

She wanted to show us what she’s done to her ship as well, but Ifrim stopped her, saying we had to go back. After giving us a long list of things we should look for on our next journey, she finally let us go.

Ifrim glanced at me as we walked back to the stairs.

“Don’t beat yourself up for it. They are masters of manipulation.”

I glanced at him.

“Have they talked to you too?”

He nodded.

“What… What did they tell you?”

“Lies…”

“But… What?”

He sighed.

“They told me you were young and inexperienced. They told me to teach you and offered to guide me.”

"But...that’s not a lie...I...I am..."

“You are a Guardian, Silje,” he cut me off.

"But…"

“You proved it in Tovira.”

His deep blue eyes locked into mine, and he smiled.

“Don’t doubt yourself.”

At that moment, Aase called us from the top.

“Havan is here!”

I followed Ifrim up the stairs and back to the house where the others had gathered. Even Gard had come. I’d barely seen him since we returned. Havan was already discussing something with Mitrandes, but I barely heard what they were talking about as I sat down by the table. ‘They want to enslave us. They’ll say whatever they can to get it.’ How… how couldn’t I have seen that? Why didn’t I understand what they were doing? Ifrim had seen through their lies…. Was Lucius also lying? I glanced around, but he wasn’t here.

“So we hope that Fain will join us and help us bring the Fire Nations on our side,” Mitrandes finished.

I woke up from my thoughts to see Havan nodding.

“Do you think he will do it?”

“He’s no friend of Tanur the Guardian,” Kine said.

They fell silent for a moment before Kine turned to Gard.

“What do you know about the Saroons?”

Gard stared at him for a moment, as if not believing that they wanted his opinion.

“The traders that came to Ulin used to say that Zarin had been turned into a fortress, protected by the Crystal,” he hesitated. “They bragged about their city and their Guardian, and they carried themselves as if they were better than anyone else.”

He glanced at Mitrandes before continuing,

“They let others work for them in exchange for their “protection”, even though they weren’t allowed into their city. I don’t think any of those workers were happy about it or even did it out of free will…”

“They didn’t!” Stella frowned, and Iris put her hand on her shoulder.

Mitrandes stroked his beard, nodding. I shivered. It sounded just like what the Council was doing…

“So when will you go to Kalla?” Havan asked.

“The sooner the better,” Kine said. “The Rains will come soon. We need to have crossed the mountains when they do.”

“I can go to Ulin,” Gard offered hesitantly. “Their traders will arrive before the Rains. I may learn something there."

Havan nodded.

“Let’s set out tomorrow,” Tore said.

The others murmured in agreement and got up when Ifrim turned to me.

“I think Silje has something important to teach us.”

They turned to me. What did he…?

“Tell them, Silje. We will all learn how the Worms work.”

Aase frowned, and I blushed, staring down at the floor.

“I…”

I glanced at Ifrim, but he only nodded. I hesitated.

“The Worms… they’ve kept speaking to me.”

Tore gasped, and Aase ran over to me.

“Why haven’t you said anything?”

“Because that’s how they work,” Ifrim said. “They tell you lies.”

“What did they say?” Aase asked.

I hesitated.

“They… said they would help us create a better world…”

Tore put a hand on my shoulder, and Mitrandes said,

“We need to be careful. We cannot hold anything back from now on. Whatever the Worms tell us, we need to share.”

Vessa slumped down on the chair.

“I failed again…”

Tove frowned.

“What do you mean?”

“Tell them, Vessa,” Ifrim said.

I stared between them when Vessa said,

“I… I’ve already listened to them once. I couldn’t stop them this time either…"

She sighed.

"I… I was the Earth Guardian."

She stared down at the table.

“They whispered to me about the impending doom. I watched my people dying, and I didn’t want to give away the Crystal, but the Spectres told me it was the only way to save them.”

She sniffled.

“Then the Council came, promising us safety in Akkadia, and they urged me to accept it. So I did…”

Kine put a hand on her shoulder, and Yorun walked over and hugged her. I stared at her. She… had been fooled as well? And the Council… Had… Had they done what the Worms had told them, just like Vorg had? Who else had they deceived?