The Esper of Algol: Protector

Magic Lessons

"You lied about your brother."

Noah took a seat next to Alis. Their only chance to get to Dezolis now that the space route had been suspended indefinitely was a captive in a prison nestled in a mountain range to the west, according to the mendicants in Gothic. Night had fallen an hour ago, and they had set up camp on the edge of a forest patch south of the now decrepit town.

Odin and Myau were somewhere in the forest nearby fighting smaller monsters for resources to try to sell. Alis had been sitting by the fire for a while playing with a disabled Transer device, some sort of pocket teleporter that would bring the person using it back to a nearby town. She looked up at him now, alarmed.

"Who told you that?" she asked.

"You forgot Odin was in the rebel band with your brother?" Noah crossed his legs and laid his white staff at his side. "Nero wasn't killed trying to help a poor family feed themselves."

Alis looked down at the Transer absently. "Well, technically..." she muttered.

"Technically, he was trying to help everyone feed themselves," Noah said. "But the reason he was killed was because his assassination plans were discovered."

Alis said nothing, but balled her fists in her lap, the Transer falling to the ground.

"Treason is a weighty legacy to leave to your little sister," Noah added. "And he asks you to enter the mantichor's den in his place?"

"Lassic needs to be stopped!" Alis' voice cracked. "He knows people are suffering and dying. He won't respond to reports that his regime is cruel, and anyone who goes to reason with him is either killed or turned into one of his robotic soldiers to be an example. And then Nero discovered evidence of an all-out war being brewed that could throw in the entire Algol system into destitution..."

She was full on crying now. Her cheeks shone in the firelight as her uneven breath punctuated the gentle crackle of the fire.

It was the first time he had seen her cry in the week he'd been traveling with them. He felt an involuntary pull of his arm in her direction. He wanted to hug her, to wrap his arm around her and just let her weep. To tell her We'll take him down! and stroke her hair...

But he wasn't allowed to fall victim to that urge. Instead, he gave her the courtesy of not staring at her during her vulnerable moment and turned to look into the fire himself.

When she had calmed down, she continued, even though her voice was still a little raspy. "I could hardly tell you I wanted your help to avenge someone who, according to the official records, is a criminal, and to continue his mission to rid Palma of the king."

"So you lied in order to pull at my heartstrings?" he asked, his voice calm. She was doing a better job of that with the truth.

"I didn't lie," Alis returned. "Nero did often stand up for people who were being starved and then oppressed when they asked for the right to eat. It's part of the reason he joined the rebel fighters to begin with." A pause. Her head angled downward "We were starving, too."

Nero Landale. Alis Landale. They should have had every luxury they could want. But since Lassic took over under this dark cult of his, they had been reduced to scraping for food and possibly begging, like those poor souls in Gothic that Alis couldn't help but give away all their monosachremate colas to.

"The rebel group," Alis continued, "they taught Nero how to hunt and fight. They helped him provide for me after our parents were gone. They kept us alive and hopeful that things would change. They would make them change."

"But every time one for them would get close..." Noah trailed off.

"They'd be assimilated or murdered." Alis finished.