Tomin led me down the block to the scene of the incident. Rangers were encircled around the building with weapons still drawn, keeping anyone from approaching. A junior officer noticed Tomin and I walk up, and guided us to Luke's location.
We found the rogue standing out on the street opposite the structure. The main door was still blocked with a make-shift barricade, and some of the windows were still boarded up from the inside—but there was a blackened hole on the building's face that stretched from the ground to roof, exposing both floors.
I spotted Hanna near the improvised entrance managing some soldiers moving in and out of the building.
Bodies were being carried out on stretchers.
I raised my gaze from the covered corpse towards Hanna, "What of Bashir?"
"Inside. Luke has him secured in the basement."
"Any other survivors?" I asked coldly.
"None."
"Good."
I was escorted through the battle-worn building to a flight of stairs which lead downwards into a dark abyss.
Tomin pulled a small lantern-like device from his side. He turned a series of nobs and a dull light flickered to life, growing in intensity gradually until the hallway was washed in a comforting glow.
The darkness receded from the stairwell and we descended, with Tomin in the lead.
I heard Hanna tell one of the soldiers to stand guard at the top of the stairs and prevent anyone from coming down after us.
Luke carried two slightly charred, but still serviceable, chairs with him.
At the back of the room, tied up and flanked by two guards, was Ridwan Bashir.
His shirt was torn and I could see there was a deep purple bruise forming around his shoulder.
The noise of our arrival stirred the man's attention. He raised his head and a frown took hold in an instant once he'd spotted me.
"So, the heretic queen has returned. I wondered what must have changed for the divisional dogs to bite with such fervor."
Bashir's voice sounded rough and strained, likely hoarse from smoke inhalation judging by the soot stains that covered his skin and clothing.
Luke silently placed one of the chairs down before the prisoner then stepped back and remained at the stairway with Tomin and Hanna.
I took a seat and stared at the heinous man.
I motioned for the guards to loosen the restraints, and he collapsed to the floor.
"I would've never guessed you were a rat, Bashir. What in the Goddess' name did you hope to accomplish here? Selling out our people to murderers… Haah. It's such a disgrace."
"The only one here who is a disgrace is you," he sneered, "You spout your fabricated stories about meeting with the Gods. Well, we've all heard about your twisted magicks. Turning men into blood colored dust. There is nothing divine about such a wicked power—"
Ridwan was disrupted by a fit of coughs. His body convulsed into a curled position.
Once the fit had ceased, he tried to straighten up but flinched in obvious pain.
"You're an apostate. A false queen, corrupted by the temptation of power. I know the truth, oh yes," Bashir's face twisted with a crazed look, "Airis Vanixi died and you're a pretender—an impostor. A woman slain by a demon, raises from the dead and resurrects the fallen around her!? Only a demon could perform such an act. You're all demons wearing human skin!"
The man was practically rabid, struggling against his bindings while shouting his sham of a story.
"Are you finished?"
His only response was a scowl of contempt.
"That can't be all this is about, right? You'd hardly be able to gather your little collection of seated consulars, nobles, and praetorian guard of divisional soldiers if decrying my supposed demonic possession was all you had. So, lets cut the bullshit, Minister. I know you conspired with the Renaultians, and in the eyes of the law you're a traitor. You'll hang before the day's end."
The fire in his eyes paled, his façade of righteous anger began to flake away.
I continued, "Now, tell me how deep this rabbit hole of conspiracy goes. When I take back Axio and free those who remain, I bet I'll find the families of the co-conspirators who lie dead upstairs, as well as yours, in thick with the Renaultians. If you don't want them all executed as kin with guilty blood, their bodies mutilated, and tossed into an unmarked ditch—you'll unravel this ill conceived plot to me."
-✵-
With the aid of some externally applied persuasion techniques and the threat of danger to his family, Bashir relented and told us everything.
Well, at least we believed it was everything.
By the end, the man was in such a sorry state that Hanna and Luke had to excuse themselves. If the man had the will to keep to lying and spinning tales of demon possession at that point, then there was no way we'd get the truth.
The wretched man was currently lying on the hard floor in a pool of his own filth and blood, unconscious from the burden divulging the truth had on his body.
A streak of crimson slowly made its way across the grouted stone. A bead of red formed at my heel, and I turned to leave the foul basement.
"Julius."
"As you command, Your Majesty."
The raw sound of steel piercing flesh echoed in the chamber as Julius struck the traitor's heart, finally ending the cruelty.
After Hanna and Luke had left, Julius had come to take their place halfway through the interrogation.
He'd clambered down the stairs while Bashir was being particularly forthcoming about the aristocrats in his coterie's feelings pertaining to my closeness to Hailey.
Evidently, a number of nobles who had sought refuge with the third division had numerous complaints her. The main two grievances were how a 'mere laynoble' could command a division, and her 'unseemly' behavior around me.
Though the nobles residing in Tolin had their complaints, only the consulars had officially backed Bashir's schemes—but it did indicate a deeper fissure in the stability of Tolin.
Bashir revealed that a growing number of mednobles in the city were grumbling about my lack of proper retainers and my own behavior was unfit for a ruling archnoble or royal.
A loud resounding of 'This is why I despise nobility.' repeated in my mind while we'd wrapped up our interrogation.
Julius followed me up the stairs and into a cleared common room, in which the majority of my companions had gathered. One especially concerned face stood out in the crowd, a mix of worry and revulsion.
Ah… this'll be hard to worm my way out of. Please don't be too upset, Hails.
A guard handed me a clean rag, and I scrubbed my face and body of any filth the traitor may have left on me. As I cleansed myself everyone in the nearby area shuffled awkwardly to different rooms or left the building entirely, leaving me alone with Hailey.
Rosy-pink eyes glowered at me from across the room.
I quickly glanced towards the exit, earning me a bitter look from the short priestess.
"Oh, come on!" she huffed.
"Hails, I—"
"Don't even start right now. I've been in a fret since you were whisked away at the city gates—which, by the way, I don't appreciate the complete communication blackout since then. It took an hour to get someone to explain this situation properly and by the time I got to that poor excuse for a forwarding operating station, I find out you've had all of the ministers locked up!"
Her voice raged with burning ferocity. And by the end of the outburst, she was shouting.
But the intensity did not let up.
"I was so confused. Any sort of reasoning eluded me. Despite that, I just kept thinking to myself, 'Airis must have a good reason for having such a harsh response.' That is, until I arrived here to a disgusting pile of covered corpses and was barred entry to a stairwell emanating the dying wails of a tormented man."
"Hails, if you heard half the vicious shit that traitor—"
"No! No. I don't want to hear your excuses. Airis, you murdered a man. Not even going so far as to have it done under a farce of execution—just raw, trial-less, cold-blooded murder!"
Hailey seethed at me, her face twisted in a loathsome grimace as if I was some abhorrent monster, and stormed out of the building.
I slumped to the floor. My heart raced with anxiety, the blood pounding in my ears felt as if they'd rupture any moment.
Shit shit shit!
The previously dulled and repressed feelings of guilt began to swell and a sense of regret threatened to flood my emotions.
I clenched my fist so tightly my nails drew blood from my palms. The sudden shock pulled my mind free of the messy internal conflict, and I remained in a state of turbulence for a few minutes before collecting myself.
I did what needed to be done.
If not me, then someone else would've had to extract information from him anyway. Whether it's done on my orders or handled personally—it's the same.
Hailey just… She doesn't understand the severity of letting the corruption of treason fester. I won't let these venomous snakes in the grass harm those closest to me ever again.
After dusting myself off, I quietly headed towards the improvised entryway to this viper's lair—but stopped short at the sound of two familiar voices.
"Didn't know you smoked." Julius' gruff voice reverberated in through the opening.
"Ah, I don't usually," the gentle sounding Luke replied, "I bummed one from Tomin. When I get stressed out, it helps control it a bit."
I continued to pause, not wanting to interrupt them and cause more stress to an already strained day. I leaned back against the wall and drew in a few steady deep breaths to calm myself down some more while I listened in.
"Tonight felt like it was one of those nights. A creature comfort only a few of us can even take advantage of, as our dwindling supply of tobacco trickles ever lower."
A tense silence followed, and I could hear Luke fidget as he flicked the ashes from his cigarette. Julius sighed, and I knew he was struggling with what he wanted to say.
"Ya' know, there's really no need to let it get too far under your skin. At the end of the day you're just following orders from somewhere up the chain, right? In this case, the Empress declared it so—and so it had to be. Personally, I think the world is less unsightly if you focus your eyes on her path."
"Her path?"
"I've been following after the flames that girl leaves in her wake for over a decade, so trust me when I tell you it hasn't always been filled with happy days and sugary treats. But when things seems hopeless, even when facing down the executioner's axe or the gates to the underworld, somehow her spark manages to propel us to unimaginable heights."
"Sure you're not a little biased? You were raised from the dead by her, after all."
"It'll take more than death to keep me from enacting her will."
I cringed a little on the inside, but I appreciated the confidence of my steadfast second-in-command.
Now, hurry up and wrap up the macho man stuff so I can go home and crawl into bed.