Don't Forget

#40 Die for your Belief

     A/N From now on, if you see the word 'Piscus' tossed around, it's the species name for the squid. Squid is a nickname that the GoldenEye soldiers came up with. Previous chapters will also be updated. :)

     Adam can't believe how fast everything is changing. He never expected, or hoped, to fight for his throne. He hasn't worried about leading anybody since he was twelve.
     People are depending on him now. A lot of people are starting to figure out that he's alive. That scares Adam.
     Lachlan, who's been leading the army for nine years, shouldn't be so trusting. But he is. Dan was one of the King's advisors and closest friends, but he should be more scrutinizing of Adam. But he isn't. All the soldiers around the camp are eager to hear about him instead of scorning him for running.
      Adam feels like he doesn't deserve it; doesn't deserve their acceptance. Everyone, that's somehow gotten close to him, believes in him.
     Still, there will be people who doubt Adam. How is he suppose to change their minds? Nothing about the last few years makes him seem crown worthy.
     The entire camp is packing up and getting ready to move. Nine years, and the battle lines are being redrawn. Most wars end when one of the capitals fall. The Piscus haven't taken the army camps very seriously until now. How did they finally find the underground base, anyways?
Adam sits up in bed and swings his feet to the side. It's the dead of night, but he's always been a light sleeper. The prince carefully creeps outside, trying not to wake Ty up.
There wasn't very many people who knew where the base was. That was so prisoners couldn't give it away. So why now? It was hidden for nine years. Someone must have betrayed them.
Lots of Lords did it in the beginning, but someone in this very camp is a spy for the squids. Lachlan probably knows it, but there's no good way to find them. The spy would run if they knew they were being hunted.
Adam's mind immediately goes to Quinten. He's been around a lot of important discussions, accident or not. Squids killed Adam's entire family. He doesn't trust one that just happens to be half sorcerer. Still, it doesn't make much sense considering the stunt he pulled to protect the medical building.
Anyone from the base could have been an informant, but why wait so long? No one new was ever moving in, as far as Adam knows. All the five Captains had met Adam at some point when he was a kid. It's easy to cross them off. The war would have been lost years ago if they were corrupted.
Prince Adam almost walks into Mitch's quarters without knocking. He backpedals a bit in embarrassment and pounds on the door. The only thing missing from his usual array of weapons and dress is the scarf that hides his face. Assassin black.
"What is it? What's so important that it couldn't wait a few hours?", Mitch is annoyed when he opens the door, but a little surprised to see Adam. He's wearing shorts and tang top from just getting out of bed.
"Um, do you keep track of where your messengers go? And when?", Adam shuffles his feet.
"You want them now? What for?", the Captain opens the door wider and let him inside.
"I just wanna check something real quick", Adam deflects the question. He doesn't want the humility of being wrong if his hunch is incorrect.
The main room of the Captain's quarters is used for meetings with the large table. They had been discussing battle plans just hours before. Mitch's bedroom is behind a closed door on the right. He leaves to find the files and comes black wearing a hoodie and long pants. Adam assumes that the doors on the left are were the rest of his broken unit are sleeping.
"Jerome sleeps like a log, but the other two are a bit better. I don't wanna wake them up just yet", Mitch warns Adam to be quiet. He nods and starts to look through the files.
It takes him a few minutes to find, but there was pair of messengers who went the the underground base two weeks ago. It was just a routine communication check. One of the messengers was a veteran who was taking the other for a training run.
"Do you know him?", Adam whispers, pointing out the trainee's name. Mitch takes a look over his shoulder.
"Yeah, he just became a messenger a little while ago. He was pretty eager, given the danger of riding alone", Mitch replies. The prince shuffles around the papers until he finds the trainee's files. They've only been on two messenger runs: to the underground base, and one of the other camps.
"You see it, don't you?", Adam looks up.
"You think the messenger is a spy, and told the Piscus where our bases are", Mitch leans heavily on the desk. It's hard for him to accept that one of his own could be the enemy.
"Only one way to find out", the prince draws one of his swords.

**************************

Dylan rolls over in bed, not quite asleep. He's bundled up in a thick blanket with just his mop of brown hair peeking out. He shares the room with seven other messengers, all in bunk beds.
Dylan isn't sure what woke him up. It must be pretty early in the morning with how dark the window is. The draft makes the room a little chilly. Wait..... didn't he close that window?
A hand slaps over his face right when he opens up his eyes. Dylan panics and tries to pull his attacker's arm away, but they're much stronger than him. He's dragged outside with barely a sound. None of the other messengers even stir in bed.
Captain Mitch is suddenly standing over him with a gag. A spike of fear makes Dylan freeze in shock. That's him, isn't it? The rumors are true. It's Prince Adam who drags Dylan back to his feet after being gagged.
"You have no reason to be afraid, if you have nothing to hide", Mitch frowns, nudging Dylan forward. The messenger starts to sweat a little. He takes a few steps before bolting.
Almost immediately, a shadow springs from the rooftop. They land right on Dylan's back and they both crash to the ground. Dylan has the air knocked from his lungs. The weight on his back is nearly unbearable. The hybrid, Jerome, scowls down from his perch.
Lachlan gets up from his crouched position, scowling. Vikk melts away from the shadows of the building to the right. A few more people come to stare, but Dylan only recognizes them as Prince Adam's assassins.
"Do you have anything to confess?", Lachlan drops the massager's saddle bags at his feet. They're full of maps, coordinates, and letters from squid higher-ups. Dylan is the one glaring now, dropping any act at innocence. He can't talk around the gag even if he wanted to.
"I wish it wasn't true", Mitch mumbles, looking down in disappointment. Jerome keeps weight on Dylan's back as he ties up his hands.
     "He chose his own fate. It's not your fault", Vikk narrows his eyes in disgust.
     Getting hauled to his feet, Dylan doesn't resist as he's manhandled deeper into camp. His thoughts are racing around in his head. He believes that what he's doing is the right thing. The rebels don't stand a chance. They all need to die so that the Piscus can build GoldenEye to be stronger.
Dylan's parents are both supporters of the Piscus. They're the ones who set him up as a spy. He's followed every order willingly, passing on information whenever he could. Being put right in this camp has been very taxing on his nerves. All the other messengers were so trusting and happy to have him there. Dylan can't face the thought of seeing their, or his parent's, disappointed faces.
Jerome doesn't expect it when Dylan suddenly wrenches himself to the side. The messenger is surprisingly quick when he spins and slams into Mitch.
The Captain had instinctively drawn his sword when the commotion started. He tries to jump back, but it's too late. Dylan impales himself right on Mitch's blade. He drops it in shock and steps back as the traitor crumples to the ground, dead.
     No one speaks for a moment, stunned into silence. Mitch isn't a stranger to death. He's walked off a few too many killing fields to claim innocence. This is different.
Dylan couldn't of been out of his late teens or early twenties. What was shoved in his head to make him throw away his life like that? Mitch gets a sick feeling in his stomach. Would any of his own troops do something like that if they were captured?
The war has been going on for nine years. Not every sudden death will have a huge effect on a person.
"I didn't think he would try anything like that......", Jerome trails off. He could have stopped it if he had been paying a bit more attention.
"It's not your fault. People always die for what they believe in", Adam ducks his head and looks away. It reminds him too much of Preston giving his life for his own beliefs.
"I wanted to wait until morning to make an example of him, but he's a traitor. He would have been executed anyway", Lachlan is cold, and doesn't show any regret. Execution would have been a mercy compared with torture. Vikk shivers a little at the General's tone.
"He sent letters with the location of another camp, right?", Mitch tries to ignore the body and get back into the conversation. He shouldn't have any empathy for a spy.
"Right, but we're all moving out of the camps tomorrow. We should send word and leave any visitors a little surprise", Adam, one step ahead, hands Lachlan a detailed letter with his next plan.
The rest of the messengers were shocked in the morning, but the letters were proof enough. It turns out that none of them even knew anything about Dylan's personal life. He wasn't there long, but it still should have raised some red flags. Mitch is now only taking veteran soldiers as new messengers.
     With the traitor gone, Lachlan explained why the camps were all leaving and where they were going. The news of a Zemrlt army on the march was met with mixed opinions.
     Adam couldn't bring himself to help. A lot of people know he's alive but he's still scared of what they really think. Dan and Ty's disappointed looks were enough of a punishment.
     Soon. He'll have to face the public very soon, but not now.