The air is tense between everyone as Leon, and I take our seats at the table. Arthur doesn't appear concerned. He looks far calmer than Gwen, who looks at me with deep and grave thought. I share a glance with Merlin once more, the warlock shrugging. He doesn't know what to expect.
I know how severe it is that I let Tyrant go, and I am willing to take the consequences. Yes, I don't know who he is now as a man, but I do have the memory of him as a child. That memory is the very reason that I let him go. I couldn't bear to see him hurt. In the few short years that I knew him, he was like a little brother, even like my child in ways. I was the one who raised him for those years...
I admit it was a rash. A quick decision was made on emotional grounds. Because he is like my extended family, maybe if Tyrant had stayed, I could have convinced Arthur to go easy on him. But now I'm at the deep end of the situation. I'll have to talk myself off the hot seat and pray that everything will go back to the way it was...and if not.
I don't know what I'll do.
I know Arthur would never be able to put me on the chopping board in Tyrant's place. But he would banish me from Camelot if it is as bad as I fear.
I don't know what I'd do. I'm not that person anymore. I'm not the cunning and intelligent person I was years ago. I don't think I could survive in that life. I'd return to the druids, to Iseldir...that is, if he is still out there.
I don't even have that guarantee. I haven't heard from Iseldir in years.
I force the thoughts from my head. I shouldn't be jumping to conclusions when Arthur hasn't commented yet.
"I'm going to assume this isn't what it looks like", Arthur states, his hands clasped in front of him.
"I can explain," I answer, my voice seeming so much quieter than Arthur's.
Arthur nods. "Please."
There's no use glossing over the story. I know Arthur will see through my lies, and what use have I to lie? Arthur is my brother, and the people in this room are my family. I do not need to lie to them. "He's an old friend", I answer.
"Old friend?" Arthur asks, eyebrows furrowing. "A druid?"
"No," I whisper, unable to make eye contact with him.
Arthur's jaw tenses. "Someone from your...trading days?" He chooses his words carefully.
Arthur hasn't called me a thief in a very, very long time. He prefers to leave that past in the past. Arthur has endured much heartbreak and many betrayals from people he put a lot of trust in. I know that removing my bad history altogether makes him feel like he can completely trust me. It also helps him justify the wrong that he and I had done by our Father and the years that we'll never get back.
I understand why Arthur can never bring himself to hate his Father. Another reason he has chosen to forgive and forget. So he doesn't have to endure the pain.
"Yes-Kind of...it's hard to explain that aspect", I justify. "But we knew each other a very long time ago. I-I practically raised him. He was just a little boy when I...." I pause.
I can't tell them about that part of my history. I can't tell them about my maker. About my old family. The family. Yet, they were so far from it. Too many questions will follow, and I can't bring myself to answer. That was a dark history in my life. I refuse to revisit the memories, never mind including Arthur and my new family in it.
So I bend the truth despite how much I hate it.
"When you what?" Gwen asks kindly, leaning forward in her seat to take my hand in hers.
I look up at her, putting on the best poker face I can. "There was a raid on a village...." A village I helped raid. "I was simply travelling through" Liar. "Two of the raiders had him cornered. He wasn't more than five years old at the time. I took him in" Truth. "But I was only young myself, barely 16. I couldn't look after myself and a toddler. So I left him with a trusted ally. Another thief, yes. But they were honourable." Lies, you didn't give him up. Tyrant was taken from you–by him.
"You didn't think he would become a thief", Merlin inserts himself, always my voice of reason in any situation. I look up at him and give the warlock a faint nod.
"You were just looking out for him," Leon acknowledges. His face softens.
"He was only eight the last I saw him," I tell Leon, the two of us now finally locking eyes for the first time. The knight appears to show me sympathy now with an explanation. It helps me calm down a little. "I know I don't know what he's like now...but I just....when I saw him-"
"You couldn't bear the thought of seeing him hurt", Arthur finishes for me, nodding in understanding. "Edythe, why didn't you just start with that instead of letting him run away?"
"Would you have listened?"
"Edythe-"
"Would you have listened?"
"Before you start to fight me", Arthur raises his voice sternly. "Answer me this. Do you even know what he took?"
I pause, realising that my outburst may have overstepped a line. The truth is, the knights would have arrested him, even ruffled Tyrant up to get whatever he took back. But then, after causing a stir and Arthur calming down, he would have then listened.
But now that Arthur brings the point about the item stolen...I wonder if harsh treatment would have been just. And the truth is I don't know Tyrant anymore. He was a child the last I saw him. How can I sit here justifying his actions if I don't even know what they're acting on? This makes me think...he was working for Ronon...and that means there's no good intention there.
"No..." I whisper, head hung low, "What did he take?"
Arthur sits forward in his seat, sharing a concerned glance with Leon, the knight falling back in his seat. "Remember that stone you took a very long time ago?"
My heart skips a beat, the emerald stone vivid in my mind. The mere mention of it brings the memories flooding through my consciousness. A voice echoes in my head, a distant memory like a ghost in my head '...an emerald stone engraved with silver patterns. Just the stone in silver, nothing else attached...'.
"What?"
"Edythe, he took the stone", Arthur states firmly.
I sit in bewilderment. What is it with this stone? What is it exactly that a stone such as that could do? When I had taken the stone from the volts, I did not care to know what the stone did. Yet once I had heard Morgana wanted it, I didn't want to sell it any longer.
Allister, Aro and his men all seemed to stare at the stone as if it were a god. As if it were something to protect and worship. At the time, I thought they saw it as a way to get in good grace with Morgana, thus their admiration for the stone. But, thinking about it, what if it did mean more?
First Morgana was after it, and now Ronon...if Ronon wants his hands on it, it can't mean anything good. I know Morgana is no better and has no better intention with it. However, Morgana wishes to sit on Camelot's throne, whereas Ronon wants the world at his feet.
It's taken him years to build what he has now, and with that, he has more power than imaginable. It's terrifying to think about what he could do with a stone-like that...
Arthur pulls a sheet of paper from his pocket, placing it on the table. He slides the piece of paper along the table, Leon pushing it the rest of the way to my line of sight. My eyes narrow down at the symbol.
At first, I couldn't figure out what it is like. My brain refuses to see it. But after the moment passes, it becomes clear. My body goes stiff as stone. My heart begins to pound in my chest, yet my blood runs ice in my veins. My fingers curl around the paper, fingertips turning icy. I blink, trying to rationalise what I see as I lift it closer to my face.
I stare at the symbol of two circled vines overlapping in an infinite sign, a wolf's head in the centre of them. It's unmistakable for a mark I know too well, yet one I have long forgotten. From a past that I will never speak of and forbid myself to think of.
"We found it in the place where the stone had been," Arthur explains. He sounds so distant like he and everyone in the room is a thousand years away. "We were hoping this might be able to tell us, or you, where this man will be headed. If there's a chance, we could get this stone back before he-"
"No."
"What?"
"I said no," I assert, fingers turning white as I scrunch up the paper into my fist. "You don't want to go where he's going."
"Why not?"
Standing from my seat with a black expression, I don't respond. I rush to the fireplace and discard the paper into the red hot flame. I can feel all the eyes in the room following me, the air tense. But I refuse even to consider thinking about the past. About Ronon. I won't merge that world with the world I hold onto so dear now. I won't.
"Edythe, why not?" Arthur demands, standing from his seat to see me. Everyone follows in pursuit.
I continue to stare at the flame, trying to force the memories from my mind. They threaten to spill over the gates I locked away a long time ago into the most bottomless darkest pits of my mind. Somehow, the flame only seems to make it worse.
"Because where he's going...it's hell", I answer. "And I don't mean metaphorically...no. It's hell on earth."
"Edythe, if we don't get that stone back. It could be hell on earth, everywhere," Merlin states in a concerned voice. Everyone glances over at Merlin's comment, a few eyebrows raising.
"Does Gaius know something I don't?"
"Something like that."
"Well, I don't care what that stone does. I agree that we can't let it get to Tyrant's destination...." I agree, nodding as I begin to think to myself, the memories giving me one helpful bit of advice. As if I have two different thoughts merge, my mind wanders to the date. The day immediately sparks recognition. There is a significance of why Tyrant now chose to steal the stone.
The current week and a half host an illegal meeting for thieves, slavers, and other criminals. This week there is a trade made between said people.
This happens for other events I will never think or speak of. There will be different locations for meetings and trading over the seven kingdoms. This time of year is very busy for people in the underworld. When I say underworld, I mean the dark hidden place for criminals like ghosts. It makes sense that that's where Tyrant would be heading.
Another thought crosses my mind as the memories keep flowing. Tyrant was on the front line, stealing and possibly dealing. That means he isn't in the family yet...as if a coin dropping in the room, a chain reaction goes through my brain. This is Tyrant's initiation...of course. He's around the usual age. It's the right time of year.
"I think I know how we can get the stone back", I claim, giving everyone whiplash from my sudden change in optimism. This is good. This means Tyrant isn't going into the very heart of Ronon's world. This means we may have a chance to get the stone back without engaging in contact with the world, I genuinely fear.
"How?" Arthur asks, confusion filling his face.
"Well. I know where it's going to be," I correct. "There's this festival for thieves and slave traders. Meaning he'll be headed there. It'll be there he'll meet with his...superiors. They won't be there for a few days yet. So if we get there quick enough, we could somehow trick Tyrant into giving the stone back."
"Surprising that such individuals would be honourable enough to have festivities", Leon comments.
"Well, it's not without issues, of course", I add. "It's more like a way to get the business going and a way to get approval from the up and up in the criminal status."
"Must be very pleasant then", Arthur acknowledges, lips pressed together as he calculates. "So you can take us to this festival?" he asks.
"Yes, it's not very hard to find if you know where to look," I confirm "it should be a walk in the park. It's still early days, meaning only the dimwits will be present."
"Great", Arthur exclaims. "What could go wrong?"
***
"We're going after this man", Arthur declares. His four most trusted knights, Gwen and Gaius, myself and Merlin, listen. "Edythe believes that this stone is bad news, as I would expect having been locked away in the volts. Edythe believes some very powerful people are behind this. I agree. Anything that they want could mean the downfall of Camelot."
"Where do we even start?" Elyan asks.
"Yeah, this kid is like a ghost", Gwaine comments.
"His name is Tyrant", I snap, hating that they keep referring to him as 'the thief' or 'the kid'. "And that is the idea", I add, standing off to the side, my voice hoarse as I finally speak.
I spent most of my time in silence, staring at the round wooden table as I thought about the picture of the symbol. I didn't get a wink of sleep because of it. I haven't slept all night, unable to with the thought of the stone getting into Ronon's hands or even Morgana's. Of how I'm the reason this whole mess has occurred.
I don't want to talk further about Ronon or the 'family'. I don't want to even think about the symbol, but I have no choice but to help. I made this mess, and I will fix it. There will be no going back to normal if we don't get that stone back. I dread thinking of what we will have to do to get the stone back, and I dread what will happen if we don't.
All eyes turn to me now.
"But I know where he'll be headed", I continue, finally pulling myself from deep inside my thoughts. "Chances are Tyrant is doing an initiation of some sort. Which means he'll have to meet up with someone. He'll have to make a stop."
"An initiation for what?" Percival asks.
"Trust me. You don't want to know," I answer gravely. "But luckily for us, Tyrant is at the bottom of the ladder from where he comes from. It could be a few days before he even gets the word that the exchange is going down. "
"Edythe, if you know something, please share it", Arthur presses. He is catching on that I avoid speaking of something that goes deeper.
"Arthur, please, you don't want to know who sits at the top of that ladder. And you don't want to get involved. Trust me. All you have to worry about is catching up to Tyrant, getting the stone back and returning it to Camelot. Anything other than that isn't important to you. Trust me on this. I will take you to Tyrant. I will get the stone. But I will not–will not–get involved with his superiors."
Arthur doesn't get the chance to press on the matter as Leon interrupts. He has always been good at reading a room. He knows I don't want to discuss anymore, so he redirects the conversation. "So, how is it we plan on getting the thief?"
"Well, if we stop standing here and get on some horses soon, I'd say we could meet him at the place Edythe speaks of", Gwaine interjects. Gwaine knows how to read me well, also trying to push Arthur away from questioning me any further.
If there's one thing my friends know, it's not to question my past. I get very defensive on the subject and won't speak of much between when I left the druids and worked for Olaf. Arthur has never asked. I suppose he tries to ignore that I have magic and thus doesn't want to press on the matter. He's lost too much to magic, and I respect that's why he doesn't ask. Thankfully so, as I'd also like to forget the period between the two best parts of my life.
"Where is this place you speak of, Edythe?" Gwen asks, finally speaking up, much like the others.
I turn my head toward Gwen for a moment, offering her a thankful smile, before I look back at the table once more. "He'll be headed to the border of Escetir. There's a small ancient castle structure at the furthest northern border. We'll find him there."
"Are you sure?" Arthur asks.
"Positive", I confirm. "I can take you there. Few people know how to find it."
"But you do?"
"Yes."
Arthur and I stare at one another for a long moment, Arthur waiting to see if I'm going to give more context on why. Then there's me, trying to get him to drop the subject and get going before we are too late.
Merlin breaks our stare, declaring, "I'll go get the horses ready, shall I?"
"Yes, we leave for the northern border of Escetir at once."