Blade(Part 3): Dusk

Chapter 18: Maisa

"You helped him escape?" Decimus growled.

"Helped who escape?" asked Maisa. She then sensed anger from the Colonial League's Commander, and one of the Hoplites standing behind Maisa smacked her in the knee with the pommel of his spear, and she fell to her knees. Decimus raised a hand to stop him from hitting her even more.

"Don't even pretend to deny it," Commander Zeno warned. "Dameon's cell had absolutely no breach and nothing that would have helped him escape. It was as if he just disappeared from the cell, or maybe someone, say, reached through a portal they open themselves and pulled him through it. There's only one person in all of the colonies who is capable of that: You." Maisa stood up, then thought about what the Commander said. He was right. There were no Silver Hawks left in the colonies, and humans wouldn't be able to cast the Fae sorceries they used. There really was no one else who could have done it.

"I don't deny it," she admitted. "If you knew who he really was, you would not have let this happen to him."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Commander Zeno demanded.

"You remember when the Guardians and Queen Anorae went to Acran to travel to Spark, right?" asked Maisa. "You remember how Shala said to Dameon that he had to stay as far away from Spark as possible? That's because he's the only one who can activate it, but also the only one who can stop this war."

"In whose favor?" Zeno wondered.

"Whoever he fights for," Maisa answered. "He fought for the colonies, the League, and you, and you were about to let Tullius cause his downfall."

"I defended him," Decimus reminded.

"Hell of a job you did!" Maisa screamed.

"Watch it," Zeno warned. "I did everything I could."

"Then why did the jury declare him guilty two hours ago?" Maisa wondered. "Tullius made up lie after lie that entire trial, and you did nothing to turn that around."

"What could I have done?" asked Decimus. "If what you said about Tullius rigging everything was true, what could I possibly have done about it?" If the Commander was talking any more, Maisa wasn't listening. Instead, she thought about what Dameon told her last night. She should just kill Tullius where he stood, and she will, since Decimus' idea of waiting for him to slip up wasn't working.

"You and I are done talking," she hissed, stepping towards the door of the office. One of the Hoplites stepped between her and the doorway, pointing his spear at her from behind his shield.

"We're just getting started, Maisa," Zeno growled. Maisa was in no mood for his nonsense. He was seventy years old, but Maisa was twelve hundred and one. She knew when to take matters into her own hands, and she would. She cast a Fuera glyph at the two Hoplites, sending them both flying into the walls, and knocking them unconscious. She then hurled one of her sickles at Zeno, intentionally missing his head, and sticking the mithril blade into the wall behind him. There was no fear from the League Commander, though, even as he ducked when Maisa pulled on the sickle's chain and jerked it back into her hand.

"I am going to kill Tullius before he damages us any more," she declared. That was the end of that. The Silver Hawk stormed out of Commander Zeno's office with both of her sickles in her hands. She made her way to General Tullius' solar, and raised her foot to kick down the door. It turned to splinters when Maisa's foot slammed into it. General Tullius quickly stood from his seat at his desk and faced her with a black knife in his hand. He was a Peacekeeper.

"I knew it," Maisa hissed. She threw one of her sickles at him, which he parried with his short, black blade. As Maisa pulled the sickle back by its chain, Tullius lunged at her with his dagger. She blocked his attack with both of her sickles, then threw him back across the room with a Fuera glyph. As he stood up, a blast of lightning bolts came from his hand, striking Maisa's aura shield, and sending her through the doorway, and crashing against the wall of the corridor behind it. As Tullius rushed out to attack her with his cursed dagger, there was a loud gunshot, and he suddenly dropped to the ground. Maisa looked to either end of the corridor, finding Marla Connor, Jake's twin sister, standing with her double-barreled beam rifle aimed down the hallway. She lowered the weapon once she saw Maisa.

"Marla," Maisa sighed, sitting up against the wall.

"He framed Dameon," Marla hissed. "He's the reason my brother's dead."

"I know," said Maisa. Suddenly, she felt something poke her from behind, then slowly turned her head and saw that it was a Colonial Hoplite's spear. Marla had her beam rifle suddenly snatched away by a Marine, and another Hoplite had his spear trained on her. They both slowly raised their hands, and the soldiers grabbed their wrists and chained them behind their backs before they were thrown into the dungeons under Thebas. They had their shackles taken off, but Maisa wouldn't cast a glyph to warp them out just yet.

"Marla, what were you thinking?" Maisa hissed.

"I was thinking that the man who actually killed Jake needed to die," Marla answered. "Not the person framed for it. Zeno told me what happened, but he did nothing to punish Tullius."

"He was working on it," said Maisa.

"Says the one who was just trying to kill Tullius," Marla reminded, with her voice raised, and anger in her words. "What exactly can you say to that!? You knew Tullius framed Dameon as much as I did! You knew he killed Jake, and all you did was say he did!"

"Would you have suggested that I kill him in court rather than discreetly and quietly?" Maisa wondered, speaking in a rather calm voice compared to Marla's. "The reason we're in here is because you shot him, with a weapon that can be heard all the way in Torriban. Either way, though, we both had the same idea. What I was about to do still might have ended this way." Maisa thought about that for a moment after she said it. Even if there was no evidence suggesting that she killed Tullius, she said right to Zeno's face that she was going to kill him. Surely, though, once Tullius' quarters were searched, evidence would be found that he was a Peacekeeper. Maybe that would be enough to clear Maisa and Marla of any charge against them.

"It's my fault, honestly," Maisa admitted. "The truth is, Zeno and I have both known that Tullius was an enemy for an entire year." She then sensed even more anger from Marla.

"Then why did he live long enough to..."

"We needed evidence to suggest he was a spy," Maisa interrupted. "But I should have known."

"Known what?" Marla snapped.

"Known that I didn't," Maisa answered. "I should have killed him as soon as I sensed that he was lying to us. Maybe your brother would still be alive if I had, and Dameon would not have been convicted. After all, I'm not a soldier of the League, I'm a Silver Hawk of Astae. Whether that would have excused me or not isn't certain, though." She and Marla both sat for a while longer, when the door to their cell suddenly opened. Commander Zeno himself walked in.

"Maisa, Sergeant," he greeted. "The only reason I am not court-martialing you both at this very moment is because evidence was found in General Tullius' quarters that he was, in fact, conspiring with, and spying, for the Empire of Skaola. One such piece of evidence is a letter from the Shadow, Akhtar, that the ambush outside of Aricia a year ago was carried out successfully, and Jake was captured. The reason I suggested not killing Tullius just yet was because every one of his soldiers would have been angry at their commanding officer being murdered in his sleep by someone who claimed to be on our side."

"I am on your side," Maisa reminded. "And I know that you were waiting too long to see him dead, and look what happened."

"My brother died over this, sir," Marla asserted. "And it didn't have to happen."

"You're right, it didn't," Decimus agreed. "But once it happened, nothing could be done about it, and for that, I am sorry, Sergeant." Marla would hear nothing of what led to her brother's death, since she already knew. She stormed past Zeno and his guards, out of the dungeons of Thebas.

"Listen, Decimus," said Maisa. "I lost my husband and son to the Skaolans, therefore, I lost them to the Peacekeepers. I acted out of revenge and hatred for them when I killed Tullius. If you wish to punish me for granting them justice..."

"I have no intention of that," Decimus encouraged. Both of them then began to walk through the corridors, and out of the dungeons.

"Dameon said that the city of Noglidas is the one city that we truly need to win this war," Commander Zeno continued. "And he's right. That is why I'll be committing all of our forces to its capture, including you. Consider yourself lucky, Maisa."