Tales of Avalon: The Maid and the Falcon

✧ Chapter 27: Change of Plans ✧

Peregrine sat in near-silence in a darkened room.  The only sound was the soft rustle of paper as she turned pages.  She was using her hunter's breathing technique, slow and silent, in an attempt to avoid discovery.

Nothing here.  There were no useful records in this place.  Of the writings she'd found, most were fiction while a few were historical accounts of ancient places.  There had been one that seemed slightly interesting, describing the Red Age of Avalon in a very different way from Avalon's own histories, but Peregrine only skimmed it before returning to her search for recent events.  There was nothing in this library that she could use to fan the flames against the Tanen, especially to the nobles of Tabora.

Fine, then.  Next location.  Peregrine stood, warped into a falcon, and flew out the half-open screen of the house into the warm night air.  This was one of the private libraries she had found, but they often seemed to contain exaggerated stories about distant lands and fantastical accounts of old legends.  People in Rheda do seem to love their stories.  She had seen dozens of storytellers in the markets and streets, crouched on woven mats with their audiences around them as they wove their tales in exchange for coin.  Rheda was filled with stories.

If that's the case... then I just need to spin them a good one.  It didn't necessarily have to be fully true; it just had to be true enough to capture the minds of the people.  But for that to happen, it needs a basis.  That crucial grounding in reality was what Peregrine was searching for, and so far she had found nothing of substance.  In four private libraries, there had been almost no recent news, and no hint of a story that could lead to the Tanen.

Peregrine let out her breath slowly, willing herself to be patient.  It's exactly the same as all the other missions.  Reconnaissance first, action later.  But this time in particular, patience was difficult to achieve.  Peregrine had never been pleased when reconnaissance was the order of the day, preferring to cut or burn her way through the problem until it was no longer a threat.  Now, that impatience was doubled, as every moment that she spent uncovering the Tanen's secrets was a moment that their victims suffered and died.  Tactically, Peregrine knew that simply attacking the Tanen would solve nothing, but her heart pleaded for faster action and chafed at every delay.

Sternly Peregrine reasoned with herself, reminding herself that she had only been present in Rheda for two days.  And you've found four private libraries in those two days.  You are moving quickly.  But Peregrine's heart was reluctant to accept it.  In her mind, the ghostly shapes of her people appeared constantly; most often she saw the woman with one hand, reaching weeping toward Peregrine's horse, a strange light burning in her eyes.

Peregrine's heart sank as she considered the time it might take to bring down the evil tower with all its abominations.  A month?  Two months?  A year?  God only knew how many innocents it would devour in that time.  Peregrine's falcon eyes drifted away from the street she followed, pulling her off course as they drew irresistibly toward the central tower of the Tanen.  Was there really nothing she could do?

After a frozen moment, when her wings bore her slowly and irresistibly closer to the tower, Peregrine landed on a wood-tiled roof and gripped the ridgepole with her talons.  There must be something.  I can't stay here waiting forever.  There must be an option.  She felt the thin whipcord tendons in her talons tremble from the force of her grip.  There has to be a way to save them.  The woman's tear-filled eyes, her stump reaching out, filled Peregrine's eyes.

Inside Peregrine's mind, something seemed to snap.  She couldn't do this.  She couldn't sit and be patient and thorough like this.  That was Lily's job.  Peregrine unfurled her wings, took off from the roof, and began to fly for the tower.

"You useless little brat!"  The Queen's voice ricocheted in Peregrine's head and her wings faltered.  Her small falcon's body plummeted, barely righting itself in time to land on a small woven fence around a sweet-smelling herb garden.  Her breath came fast and her wingtips trembled.  "Their deaths are your fault.  You know this!  Where was this care for them when they were suffering?  You hardly tried to save them, and now that grieving them requires no effort, you feel pain?  How dare you mourn them now?  You have no right!  How could you be so shameless?!"

Peregrine shivered, covering her head with her wings, trying to block out the voice in her head.  You're not here, you're not here, you're not here.  You're not real.  Go away; you're not real.  Her grip on the woven fibers of the fence clenched tightly, the strands ripping slightly under the sharp talons.  You're not here.  You were wrong about them.  You were wrong, and you're not here.

After what felt like hours, Peregrine felt as if she could breathe again.  She released her head from its concealment under her wings, looking around the small garden in the moonlight.  Her keen eyes caught the herb stalks dancing in the faint breeze, the moonlight glistening on the plants as if they were draped in silver.  The sight stabbed her with guilt for being outside, for being able to see this and smell the sweet dustiness of the herbs, when the prisoners of the Tanen could not be here, could not see this, could not feel this respite however short it might be.

There must be something.  Peregrine tried to think.  This was not like the Tanen facility in Destane.  She could not approach it as if it were.  Marching in, cutting things down, burning them to ashes, and blowing things up would be the worst possible course to take.  They would just rebuild it.  She knew this already and had factored it into her plans, but... Surely there's something I can do to help them right now.  Surely...

Unbidden, the memory of a different operation rose to mind.  It had happened a long time ago, before the King died, before the Queen changed.  Usually Peregrine was defending against threats encroaching on Avalon's land, but this had been different.  This had been an assault from within.

She remembered the now-defunct Seredis Duchy, bordering Neithe.  It was now nearly covered by the Shadowed Wastes, and what was left was populated by fiercely independent hunters who were used to repelling the creatures of the Wastes, but it was once a flourishing and wealthy land that rivaled Crista Magna in riches.  The Duchy had been a real threat to the power of the royal family, and both houses knew it.  Eventually the hands had uncovered a spike in the number of suspicious aristocrats visiting the Duchy, and then one night there had been poison in Peregrine's drink.  She recovered quickly with the help of the Poisoner's Bane, but it had been a declaration of war.

Still, too many would try to help the Seredis Duchy, and as a young Champion she had not known what to do.  Then the King pulled her aside; she could still see his smile.

"Havoc, Peregrine.  Wreak havoc and they will slip up."  And slip up they had, replacing destroyed supplies by draining their allies dry, and then draining the very light out of their land in an attempt to make up for their sudden loss of power.

Havoc.  I can wreak havoc.  She couldn't go in with devastating and overwhelming force, but she could create chaos.  And then they'll slip up.

The first step in creating havoc was to ruin the enemy's supplies, and there was one supply the Tanen was always in need of.  And incidentally, it's what I'm most worried about.  If she could find a safe place for the Tanen's victims, she could take them away, and then the Tanen would need more, especially if they had any of noble stock.  Why search for an old story when I can force them to make a new one for me?

The only problem was a place to hide the people of the Tanen.  She could not allow the place to simply recover its old victims.  Anywhere in Tabora, they would be found quickly, but it would take too long to bring them to the borders, and the Tanen would find them immediately.  It must be close to Rheda, but not a place that is easy to find or trace.  Still, finding such a place would be much easier than finding activity that the Tanen wanted to hide.

So be it.  Havoc it is.  She was looking forward to making the Tanen panic.  They deserved to be afraid.