Unquestioning Belief

The Capital City of Tiria

Zay stood with Chena, River, Khyrie, Kiel, and Sarah in a narrow alley. “Dirk is moving as quickly as he can. I’ll head to the southern checkpoint.”

Footsteps approached from the street, and a man rounded the corner, drinking from a wooden cup as he walked.

The moment he saw them, water sprayed from his mouth. “You—”

Zay crossed the alley before the man could finish, clamped one hand over his mouth, and drew his handgun with the other.

He pressed the barrel to the civilian’s head and dragged him deeper into the alley, pinning him against the wall. “I’ll ask a few questions.”

Nobody else moved.

“Get loud and I shut you up.” Zay pressed the gun closer. “You got that?”

The civilian nodded rapidly.

Zay removed his hand. “Do you know who I am?”

“You—you’re Captain Zay of the Army.”

“The most decorated soldier.”

“Are you going to tell anyone you saw me here?”

“N—no.”

“Are you going to say I held a gun to your head?”

"I won’t.”

“I don’t think I believe that.”

“…You people in the Army.”  The man’s fear twisted into anger. “Refusing to hand that kid over to the government after people tried to kill him.”

“Trying to weaponize him."

“OUR LIVES ARE IN DANGER BEC—”

Zay drove a knee into his stomach.

“GUGH!”

Water and spit burst from the man’s mouth.

“I—”

Zay struck him across the head with the handgun.

“Told you—”

A left hook snapped across the civilian’s chin.

Chena, River, Khyrie, Kiel, and Sarah backed toward the alley wall.

“Not to get loud.”

The man collapsed.

Zay holstered the handgun and walked past them. “Let’s hope he’s too dazed to remember any of that.”

“Wait for Malia. Continue with the mission.” Zay kept walking until his footsteps faded from the alley, leaving the others in silence.

Minutes passed.

River finally opened his mouth. “Do—”

“Captain Zay is going too far,” Sarah said.

“We’re not clueless about our situation anymore because of the captain.”

River looked at Kiel. “The assassin. The warden we left in the building. This civilian…”

“He’s doing what has to be done,” Chena said.

“You seriously agree with this, Chena?”

Chena didn’t answer River.

“I’ve seen the look on your face.”

Chena was silent for several seconds. “We won’t get out of this situation or find Warui if somebody doesn’t get their hands dirty.”

Sarah shifted. “I thought that at first…”

“Our hands are dirty following the captain,” River said.

“Chena is right."

“But he just gave a regular guy brain damage,” Sarah said to Khyrie.

“It’s that,” Khyrie pointed toward the civilian, “or the public and government see that we’re the only Army soldiers moving freely through Tiria.”

“But…” River struggled to put it into words. “What we’re doing…”

“It proves the charges right.”

“The charges were false in the first place,” Chena said.

Khyrie’s voice lowered. “And the captain just lost his friends.”

“That doesn’t mean we torture people before asking questions. Or knock someone out and leave him unconscious in an alley…”

No one had an answer for that.

“Knowing what that warden called Warui…” River's eyes traveled over Chena. “Knowing what people think of him now…”

“Does that make this easier?”

Footsteps approached.

Malia turned the corner. “I overheard two wardens discussing the cargo-cart orders Zay asked Dirk to issue.”

“They’re around the corner. They have the signed document for the order and arranged a meeting with the officials’ messenger to hand it to her.”

Malia pointed toward the street. “We wait until they meet. Then we take her in and ask about the document involving the specialized operatives.”

Malia stopped short at the sight of the unconscious civilian sprawled across the ground. “Did all of you seriously not see this guy?”

“Captain Zay knocked him out because he saw us,” Sarah said. "He wants us to leave him here."

Malia exhaled sharply through her nose.

“Zay…”

She stood. “Be ready. I’m heading back out.”

“How do we know it’s the messenger?” River asked.

“If you see a woman in fancy clothes approach the wardens.”

Brighter Tiria Newspapers

“Carter, I ran into Commander Dirk earlier this morning.”

Carter continued working.

“He was dismissive of the whole thing regarding the Army.”

“Maybe we should get a warden to comment instead,” Carter said.

“You know, the way he looked, boss…”

“He seemed out of it.” Phillip tried to find the right description. 

“Sort of like there’s more to this.”

“Phillip, when I was your age, I thought the same things.” Carter leaned back. “You’ll come to learn that what the government says is the truth.”

“Whether it actually is or isn’t doesn’t concern us.” Carter turned fully toward him. “Remember that, Phil—”

“What are you looking at?”

“She—she’s…”

Malia sat on one of the desks.

“Well,” she said, “that’s unfortunate, Carter.”

“Because this time around…” Malia slid from the desk. “The truth concerns you.”

“Ma—Malia Coy?” Carter stood. “How could you possibly escape the base while it’s under warden suppression?”

“It’s like Phillip suspects.” 

Phillip immediately pulled out a journal.

“There’s more to this.”

Malia crossed the room and took it from his hands. “We aren’t writing any of this conversation down.”

“We’ll notify the wardens.”

“That won’t work, Carter.” Malia placed the journal aside. “We’ve got this sort of…”

“Let’s say we have a truce going on.”

Phillip raised an eyebrow. “A truce? With the people they’re detaining?”

“May I ask you two something?”

Carter gave her a tired look. “We probably have no choice.”

“That’s correct.” Then her voice softened. “But please.”

“The Army needs you guys…”

“To report the truth.”

Capital City of Tiria

Two wardens waited outside a flower shop as a woman in expensive clothing approached. From the rooftop above, Sarah watched the meeting unfold.

She hurried to the edge and looked down into the alley.

“Looks like the messenger is here.”

“Looks like?” Chena asked.

“It’s her.”

“Khyrie. Kiel,” River said.

The two stepped from the alley with their fedoras pulled low over their faces.

The woman smiled as she approached the wardens. "Good morning to you two.”

“Morning, Penelope.” One warden held out a document. “Here’s the paperwork for the Commander’s order.”

“Hopefully the officials are fine with us carrying out the order before they even received documentation.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that.” She tucked the paper away. “They appreciate the Crown Warden complying during this time of uncertainty.”

She smiled. “I’m sure they’d also want things done as quickly as possible.”

“Of course.” The other warden nodded. “Anything to preserve our beautiful country.”

“Anyway, you two have a—”

Khyrie passed beside her.

Their arms linked.

Penelope barely had time to react before Kiel covered her mouth. 

“Nnngh—mm!”

The two wardens looked the other way as Khyrie and Kiel guided Penelope into the neighboring alley.

Second Floor

Penelope was still struggling when Khyrie and Kiel brought her into the room, sat her in a chair, and let her go.

Penelope's eyes found the dead assassin, then the beaten warden.

One eye was swollen shut, one arm pinned to the floor by a cutlass. An open wound marked his thigh, with dried blood spread around him.

“PLEASE! I’LL GIVE YOU WHAT YOU WANT!”

“We should’ve cleared the room first,” Chena said.

“No, no, no. Listen.” River immediately held both hands out. “We’re not here to hurt you.”

“Yeah,” Sarah said quickly. 

“These two guys…”

“I—it…”

“It wasn’t our doing.”

“BULLSHIT! HOW COULD IT NOT BE?!”

“Please, ma’am,” Khyrie said. “Don’t get up from the chair.”

Tears ran down Penelope’s face. “WHAT WILL YOU DO TO ME IF I DO?!”

Kiel worked a finger into one ear. “Calm down, woman. We really aren’t going to hurt you.”

River approached slowly and crouched in front of her. “We only want your help.”

“Wh—why?”

“And with what?”

“Trust me. I know it’s hard to look at.” He pointed toward the unconscious warden. “But do you recognize him?”

Sarah moved closer and checked the man’s pulse. “He’s still alive.”

“He…” Penelope immediately shut her eyes again. "Yes, he looks familiar."

“You showed him a document at the western checkpoint the other day.”

Penelope froze.

“Its contents authorized freelance specialized operatives into Tiria.”

Kiel muttered to himself. “Whatever ‘freelance specialized operatives’ even means.”

“Yes. Yes.” Penelope nodded quickly. “That happened.” 

“A—are you guys in the Army?”

River nodded.

“Is that why this interests you?”

“We just want to disprove the charges against the branch and get our commander out of prison.”

“I—I did think the document sounded strange.” She sniffled. “But the justification seemed right.”

“We’re not blaming you.” River kept his voice steady. “We just…”

“Maybe you could bring the document to us?”

“How does that solve your situation?”

River waited.

“You guys are criminals and that’s that.”

“We could release it.”

“Have you and the warden testify.” River gestured toward the warden behind them. “Maybe you could get the documents ordering supervision of Warui too.”

"They started watching Warui before the attack ever happened, so the dates shouldn’t match what the government told the public."

“Tha—that…”

“It seems—”

The door opened.

Malia stood there with Carter and Phillip. “Hear that, Carter?”

Carter stared into the room.

“You’ve got yourself quite the story here.” Malia stepped aside slightly. “And for once, you know it’s a hundred percent truthful.”

“Boss, we need to take this to the public.”

Carter said nothing.

“The people deserve the truth.” Phillip lowered his eyes. “The Army does too.”

Carter’s shoulders sank. “I can’t.”

“Ehh?” Malia stepped forward. “Maybe you needed to put your ear against the door a little harder.”

Carter couldn't face her.

“This whole ‘the Army is deliberately endangering civilians and withholding a strategic anomaly’ thing is a bunch of horseshit.” Malia’s voice rose. “If you can’t stand against the government even once in your life, then you’re an even bigger cow—”

“I understand that it’s the right thing to do!”

Malia stopped.

Carter’s voice shook.  “It’s the truth.”

His eyes were wet.  “I see that.”

“But why do you think we’re the capital’s official newspaper?” He wiped at his face. “I’ve been doing this long enough to know newspapers that directly challenge the government don’t last.”

A tear slipped free.  “I have a family.”

The room fell silent.

“I’ll…”

River returned his attention to Penelope.

"I'll get the documents."

"And testify."

River smiled.

“Thank you so much.”

Valeria City, two and a half hours later

Zay sat alone on the roof of a two-story house overlooking the southern checkpoint, drawing a slow breath through his nose.

His eyes closed as he let the breath out through his mouth.

“Haaaahh.”