The Rogue Guardian

Chapter 33: Options

Yikes, my laziness and skipping updates has taken a toll on my writing apparently. Excuse the shortness and general nothing-happening-ness, please, I'm just trying to get back on the track of regular updates. And to make for missing last week there will be a little extra thing published within the next few days!

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There was something thrilling about the war meeting, as Liz called it, and if I was being honest with myself, it was probably because I knew I was once again walking right in over my head. As much as I dreaded the inevitable complications of anything that had to do with the revolution... well, I guess I didn't dread it enough.

I'd been drifting vaguely along with the tide of Maenar for over a week now and come no closer to figuring out who Jaden wanted me to find, besides having Wes's vague promise to help me if he could. I'd joined the Phoenix again in order to get close to Ysmay and figure out if she knew anything about Jaden's disappearance-- if she knew who'd done it, and if it was Aiden. But it was becoming clearer that getting answers from Ysmay would be like pulling fangs from a viper. Dangerous at best and most likely impossible.

So what was I doing? Falling into old habits, apparently. I told myself it was important to have a home base, and that the rebels might be useful later on, but I think mostly they were the closest I could get to home. After all, I'd spent a lot of time in the last month around Aiden's rebels.

The war meeting was held at the Fire Bird Inn. Evvie told us, grimly, that for now it was best to stay out of the thieves' dens. The twins were furious.

"So, from what I understand, Ysmay has to get rid of Dahra."

Kay tapped the table, his faint, ever-present frown in place. "More complicated than that."

"Obviously." Liz sulked near the door. Our group hadn't been let into Ysmay's meeting, with the exception of Evvie, who, since the Circle meeting, went wherever Ysmay went. Her absence had a conspicuous effect on Liz's mood.

So the rest of us, and a handful of other rebels, were having our own informal meeting as we waited, restless, for news from Ysmay.

"Alright, but why? Isn't this just a simple assassination job?" I asked.

"You're awfully comfortable with murder," Wes deadpanned. "And no, not really. It's war. The Silvers will attack us to get to Ysmay. We'll do the same to them. Unless Ysmay's coming up with a better plan in her top secret meeting over there."

"Still, it sounds simple enough. Just brawling. You said the Phoenix is the bigger of the two, so we'll win, won't we?"

Lucien sighed. "You'd think it would be that easy, wouldn't you?"

"The twins make it complicated, then?"

"Most likely." Kay propped his chin on his hand thoughtfully. "Here's the thing, though. Asyl may seem very set against us, but the twins could still swing either way. They've been allies with Ysmay for a long time now. They could choose to apologize for the outburst last night and throw their support behind her in the hopes of gaining an ally in the Circle."

"Option one's not looking so great right now," Wes added. "Asyl's the kind of angry that needs something strong to stand against it, and Haven looked very undecided last night. Asyl will probably sway them against us."

"Right, that's option two. The twins help Dahra and the Silvers destroy us."

"I vote for option one," Lucien volunteered.

I had to agree with him, but it was hard to stand against Kay's immovable sensibleness. Asyl's anger seemed very potent in a way that worried me.

"Option three," Kay went on. "The twins are so tired of us that they use this war to destroy both the Phoenix and the Silvers."

"They can do that?"

The boys looked to Liz as though she was the expert, and she said crankily, "If we do a good enough job of hurting each other, then yes, they could."

"And if we don't?"

"Well, that's kind of option four." Kay ticked off his fingers, and I noted with surprise that there were more ways this could go than I expected. "It's possible that over in Ysmay's meeting they're discussing how we can avoid this war and join the Silvers with the Phoenix. The twins couldn't defeat us combined. But again, that's highly unlikely. Dahra doesn't look like she measures up to Ysmay, but there's a reason we haven't eliminated the Silvers yet. She can be ruthless."

"Most of this seems to depend on how the twins proceed."

"That," Wes agreed, "Or how Roman proceeds."

"Roman?" I echoed.

"Roman, speaks for the assassins, talked a lot last night. He's another possible player in this game, if he wants to be. He set it in motion, after all. We have to assume he wants to play, if only because he's basically the one who said the Circle would consider adding a seat if either Ysmay or Dahra was eliminated."

"So, he's evil."

Liz snorted and Kay cracked a smile. "Caught on quickly."

"That's the general assumption," Wes said brightly. "Roman's a fan of killing people. You kind of have to be, in his business."

"So what are the options with him factored in?"

"Well, option five, he offers his assistance to defeat the Silvers. In that case, we win." Kay frowned again, as if winning in this option wasn't quite enough for him.

"And if he's evil why would he do that?"

"Because he wants what everyone wants. Revenge." Liz sank into a chair with a sigh. "When's Evvie coming back? You guys are boring."

"Thanks," said Wes, but no one seemed angry. You guys are boring, I realized, said more about how she felt about Evvie than how she felt about us.

"Revenge. Why?"

"You remember what I explained about the twins' other faction?" Kay always had the answers.

"The fighters, yeah."

"Well, this isn't the first time there's been faction trouble. You said before that the fighters seem closer to assassins than thieves. That's truer than you know. When they first emerged, it was assumed the assassins would absorb them, but at the last minute Haven truck a deal with them. Basically, true to their nature, the thieves stole the fighter faction from the assassins."

"So now Roman would like to get back at them--"

"--and what better way to do that than to steal a faction from the thieves. Us."

Liz sighed louder. "And to think I could have avoided this whole mess."

"You could have?"

"Liz almost went to the assassins," Wes said smugly. "But we stole her."

"Don't be silly," Lucien said, scathingly. "Evvie stole her."

"I think it was a group effort," Wes objected.

"You weren't even in Maenar yet!"

"I was here in spirit," he insisted.

"No wonder I'm so sick of you," Liz groaned. "Your spirit's awful."