A Most Dangerous Weapon

Chapter 56: It Won't Work

"Do you really believe that this is going to work? Because I have my doubts, which means that you have your doubts. So I guess you don't really believe it. You had more confidence before Rowan talked to you about your plan, right? He doesn't believe it will work, and yet he's going through the motions just to make you happy. I think his doubt is making us doubt. Care to talk it out?"

This incessant chattering had been going on for over six hours now, ever since my dad made his unwelcome reappearance just after midnight. I haven't responded once, both out loud or in my head. I was hoping that if I didn't give him the satisfaction of giving in he would eventually fade away. He didn't take the hint. My father stayed by my side all night long making it impossible for me to get some sleep before our morning undertaking. I guess one could argue that everything he was saying were things that I was actually saying. It's true, but I was trying to regain some control by not progressing our thoughts into a full blown conversation. Clearly my brain was in a rambling mood whether I liked it or not.

He chuckled when I refused yet another invitation to talk it out.

"Let's focus on the smaller picture then, shall we? You're about to ambush a Romallian troop in order to kidnap the royal bastard in their possession. Don't you think they'll notice when she goes missing? What if the girl fights back? She might not want to go with you. In fact, she might be more willing to go with the Romallian troops if she's been told about her parentage and her royal future. Maximus is simply offering her a comfortable life while you're first proposing taking her to war. She could die on the battlefield! Perhaps she would rather head to the Capital to wait this all out in style, taking the easier path to royalty."

I had taken to mentally singing the lullaby a couple of hours ago as a way to avoid responding to my father, and to somewhat drown him out. Despite my annoyance that the people have been sacrificing themselves to war over this song, I still found comfort in it when I remembered the faint memory of my mother and father singing it to me as a child. And of course it reminded me of Decimus...

"This plan is risky, sweetheart. What if they open the carriage before they get back to the campsite in the afternoon? That doesn't give you a lot of time to track some distance between them and you..."

He wasn't wrong on this point.

"You're taking a huge risk here. The smartest thing to do would be to kill all the witnesses and just take the girl. It will take well into the afternoon before the High Commander realizes something went wrong during transport. If we hide the bodies well enough, it might take days before the his men find them. We'll be long gone with Diana by then..."

I didn't want to kill needlessly. Not only were these Romallian soldiers and not Galacians, but they were also under the influence of Kilgorian's father. So long as the man seemed persuadable against Maximus, there was a good chance that I could persuade him towards Diana. His army certainly holds his opinion in high esteem, therefore if we could turn the Commander in our favour than the others would follow suit. It would be foolish of us to kill potential followers.

Or at least that was the excuse I used when I put forth this plan to the others. Like my father, they seemed to be more in favour of just killing everyone. Rowan was the only one who praised my desire for mercy which didn't come as much of a surprise. To be honest, I was just getting tired of the bloodshed. Maybe it was the passing of a forgotten Name Day, or Rowan's admittance of having difficulty in taking a life, or perhaps it was Arrian's cries that got to me.

When is it enough?

Whatever the trigger, I made a conscious decision to spare the lives of these men if possible. We would pull our blades only if our plan went awry.