Shadow

15

"Don't panic," Teval breathes as he sits up. "Don't panic." He grips the letter in his hand tightly. What is he supposed to do now? Lexton, Risol and Seran are out on a hunt, so he goes downstairs to the only person he hears in the house that will hopefully calm his nerves.

Delian looks up from some paperwork as he walks in and holds out the letter. "What's this?"

"Please tell me I'm not going crazy."

With a frown, she plucks it out of his hand and begins to read. He sits on one of the plush chairs, trying not to fidget nervously as the furrow on her brow only gets deeper and deeper.

"Did... did he fake demoting Jiyo to have him watch us?" she asks incredulously as she looks up.

Okay, now Teval is panicking. "Oh, spirits, I didn't even think of that. What do we do?"

Delian does a little snap and twirls her finger, so he puts up a sound shield. "If they suspect anything about Lexton, maybe we should consider getting him out of here. But where in the dells are we going to send him?"

Teval sits forward, putting his head in his hands as he thinks. "Maybe to my parents? Is that too easy?"

Delian hums skeptically. "Someone might suspect he'll go to one of our families, and I don't want to put them in any danger."

"They would probably welcome it if I explained why," Teval says. His parents and family are fiercely protective and he feels bad not telling them everything that's gone on. His mother is going to demand the entire story when he sees her again.

"He could go to relatives to the southwest, but again, they might find him there," Delian mutters, chewing on her thumbnail as she thinks.

"Wait, we could go north and start looking for the tribe his father might be from," Teval suggests carefully.

"That... actually doesn't sound like a bad idea." Her frown is gone. "Nobody knows where he's from, and they wouldn't suspect Lexton of going there." She quickly pulls out a set of maps, unrolling one of the north half of Hakken. "This is probably better for Lexton to plan since he's interested in this sort of thing, but you could either go north through Bothel and go west, or go up through the capital to the west and then start going northeast."

Teval nods as she points out the different routes and this sounds like a great plan. They're writing down ideas when the rest of the team returns from their hunt, and Risol interrupts their discussion.

"I have news," she says as she walks into the office, unfolding a paper to reveal a wanted poster for Orem Askon, and the amount surprises Teval.

"Dells," he mutters.

"Oh no, what did he do?" Delian asks as she stands and takes it.

Risol hesitates, clearly upset as she glances away. "He killed his father."

Delian curses, and Teval eyes the reward again.

"His sister told me he came home when their father was beating her. Orem tried to stop him, but he turned on his own son and Orem just lost it, grabbed a knife and stabbed him. When he realized what he did, he ran and they haven't been able to find him." Risol sighs as she paces. "His sister Binna wouldn't tell the Corps, but she told me that he snuck back and told her he was leaving and refused to let her come with him so she wouldn't be implicated. She's terrified to be by herself, so I sent her to stay with the folks at the theater."

Delian rubs her forehead. "We won't be able to find him, will we?" she says with a worried look at Teval.

"What do you mean?" Risol asks, glancing between them.