There’s No Trust, No Faith, No Honesty in Men

"I don't want to believe you," Hemele said. He refused to look at Althea after about half of her story. The lightning and thunder had returned and mirrored the tale he was being told.

"That's your decision. Certainly the easier one." Althea had once again relived her own past filled with everything she wished she could forget. It was no easier the second time. "And I can't say I'm much surprised. And now you are no doubt going to ask me to prove it to you. Well, outside of what you have already seen," she gestured to her shoulder then and the upturned room behind them, "I have nothing else to offer other than my truth."

Hemele shook his head at her. "No," he said more to himself than to her. He began to fidget with his own fingers in his discomfort. "No, there's no need. Something has stunk throughout this whole castle for as long as I've been assigned to his guard. I guess I've always known, something has always toyed with my instincts. Your words make more sense than I thought they would. Maybe I turned my sights away from it to avoid my own damned complacency in the whole thing."

Disappointment shown clearly in Althea's face, and Hemele took the pain he felt from it rightly. Althea felt truly despondent over the prospect that he was not the only one to take the easier road and turn from hateful malice because to fight would risk too much. Maybe there was no true courage left. If not completely gone, bravery was at least surely dying out.

"I…" Hemele seemed to break in his attempt at first. He turned his head from her gaze then and found it easier to speak. "I won't ask for your forgiveness. Not until I do what I can to make things right. Though, I must admit, I cannot fathom how I can make that much wrong right again."

In a surprising move, Hemele felt Althea's hand on his once again. "Listen, I understand shame, especially in this. I turned away from all of this too. I ran from it and left him here free to do the harm he did. I have forgiveness to seek as well."

Hemele pulled his hand away from hers. He knew very well that she was trying to comfort him and put him at some ease. Instead, her words only deepened his shame. In his mind, she had absolutely nothing to seek forgiveness for. The very idea that she felt this way made him angry. If the whole world were to be damned to keep her from facing the worst again, so be it. At least that was his belief. Since the start of the Mist, even before that, he had witnessed so much selfishness and the human capacity to take goodness for granted. The breadth of societies depravity that only seemed to grow in tragedy was grotesque, and she would seek forgiveness from it. Those who coward in shadows deserved nothing from the light that would lead them to salvation.

The thought that this woman with a bruising eye and angry, welted burn would seek forgiveness from anyone for wanting to protect herself only proved more that she was every bit the inspirational good that Galen spoke of. It also showed just how much guilt she had been trained to take onto herself. Most of all, it made him all the more painfully humbled.

Turning from self-pity, Hemele put his mind to practicality and tactical moves. "What should we do now? Where should we go first?" Hemele found that with these words, this thought into action, he was able to look at her in the eyes once again. She seemed lost, however.

"Thank you," she said relieved that she no longer had to stay on the subject of her past. "Honestly, I have no idea. Just when I think I can handle how bad I can imagine it can be, I am shown just how short my imaginings fall." She shook herself out of any thoughts of her pain. What she could not do, what was out of her control, was not worth the wasted effort. "I mean, I guess I'm so lost as to what's around me to know what direction is right. Okay, what are your men's orders as they stand now?"

He nodded his head in agreement that this was a good place to start. "Our orders were to report that your body was found in the town where we picked you up, and to report also that you were killed by Immortuos. It was hinted that this was for your own protection. The rest was left to rumor and speculation." Hemele could see that she was confused but pushing it aside to follow all he had said. "We are ordered to never reveal that you are alive until further instructed. Two men are to guard this door at all times letting only Durai or myself pass."

"Do you think you can trust the men posted now to let me leave?"

Silence followed her question. He wasn't entirely sure. His men followed his ideals of duty and orders to the letter, but he had no small manner of influence over them as well. "Let me worry about getting us through the door. I have my own assurances. The big question is where do we go first?"

"What do you mean?" Althea really only had the one goal in mind: get to the temple and stop the Mist. She hadn't even thought of anything outside of that.

Hemele put a hand to the floor to outline some potential routes as he explained. "I know that you want to get as fast to the temple, but there is a lot of ground between here and there, and a lot of ways that you can be stopped. I'm not just talking running into Durai; I mean we could be stopped by people who knew you before and thought you dead, gossipers that would get word back to Durai, the Queen herself and whatever her reaction might be…you get what I'm saying?"

"I do." Althea felt the strain of all the possibilities pressing down on her. She was trying to keep up her optimistic determination despite that strain, but she was quickly losing stamina.

"Wait here." Hemele left through the doors and came back incredibly quickly with a handful of cheese and bread from the tray he had left. Althea wondered if she looked as worn as she felt or if perhaps he was just incredible perceptive. Whatever the reason, she took the food happily and ate while he continued to plan out loud.

"Perhaps the best move would be to get more people on our side. If we're stopped or discovered, the more of us there are, the less of a problem it would be."

Althea swallowed what was in her mouth then. "But that would cost time, and the more time we wait, the more chance we have of being discovered. Is there no one you could send for now that we could trust right away?"

Hemele thought for a second.

Suddenly, Althea dropped her food and grabbed at both of his arms. "Galen! Where is he? What did you do with Galen?!" All the color was lost from her face at the remembrance that she didn't know where her friend was. She dropped her head for a moment then, "God, how could I forget…"

Hemele wrapped his hands to hold her arms just as she held his. "It's not like you didn't have more imminent dangers to worry about. He's safe. Though I am ashamed to say that I've kept him isolated in a room of the hospital, at least until …" Hemele was having a hard time finishing his explanation of another wrong, but she nodded her head in understanding.

"At least he's safe. Right?"

The nod in agreement was more relief that she would have thought. Galen was safe, and that was the most that mattered to her in the moment.

Hemele rose to his feet and offered his hand out to her. "I have one man that will come no questions asked. Let's get started."

Althea looked at the outstretched hand and decided to take it. If she made one more mistake in trusting him, then so be it. She had no other choice. True forgiveness would take some time, but she wasn't about to refuse help in this moment.

They walked together quietly up until the main door to the castle's hallway. He turned to her and motioned for her to be directly behind him. "I'll go first, and then you follow. Don't look at them directly; let the focus be on me. They won't question a direct order if you look confident too."

Althea nodded in agreement and took a deep breath in. Hemele did the same.

"Okay," he said to her as he opened the door and simultaneously took a step forward. However, he stopped after that first step, and Althea who was looking at the ground ahead almost ran into him as he stopped instantly in front of her.

She looked up at the delay, and Hemele seemed to bow his head to the figure waiting at the opened door. Althea couldn't help but make a small, frightened noise that she brought her hands to her mouth to stifle. Durai had been waiting for them. How long had he been waiting? Althea felt frozen just as Hemele was before her. The shock of him there, the familiar and terrifying brilliant glow from his green eyes, and all of the blackened aura he exuded held them petrified.

Slowly Althea felt wetness and warmth on her bare feet. She was so terrified at the sight of him that she thought perhaps she had released her bladder in shock. However, when she looked down, she found that what she felt was pooling blood before her feet.

She met Durai's eyes then and felt the cold sweat forming on her face. She shook her head in disbelief while slowly taking steps backwards. The knife that Durai had thrust into Hemele's chest as he took his fatal step forward was taken out with a sickening sound as Hemele dropped to the floor in a broken heap. Durai then wiped the blood from his blade with the fabric of his dark green robe. He continued to keep Althea locked with his eye contact the whole while.

"This is quite a body count you are responsible for." Durai's evil voice had returned and reached her ear like a creeping fire.

....

Jian left the room where the candle had burnt down. He walked sullenly down the darkened hall lit only by the flashes of lightning to the Queen's own room. He paused only slightly to take a breath and opened the door unapologetically.

Mireya was sitting on her chair at the fireside reading quietly when the door opened suddenly and made her jump. No one had ever come into her room unplanned to say nothing of unannounced. She rose to her feet indignantly until she saw the determined and concerned look on the man's face. "What is the meaning of this?" she asked more out of apprehensive worry than fury.

"I beg your Majesty's forgiveness for the rude intrusion. I would not be bothering you if I didn't think this was important."

Mireya approached the man who stood at a respectful distance. She never wore the tyrant role well, and she often defaulted to helpful than self-importance. "I'm listening," she told the guard.

"I have instructions from my Captain to come to you if he did not return by an appointed time. Well, that time has passed, and he is still gone."

"And you believe your Captain is in danger?" Mireya said already looking as though she were to jump into action.

"I have no doubt of it. At his request, I ask to pass you this letter and discuss it in privacy." With that, he handed a rolled parchment written, signed, and sealed by Hemele to the Queen. "I think we're all in further danger."