Legend of Kataria (Draft Version)

Chapter 18

"That's just...just...no...that can't be right," Greeny stammered, seeing the desperate glint in Red's eyes. "That doesn't make any sense! Why would someone betray us? Who?"

"That's what I've been trying to figure out," Red said, his voice quiet, almost as though he feared someone might overhear them. His gaze wandered to Jason who was once again happily doodling a squiggly puppy on the table. Greeny half expected Red to protest, but the boy just sat there, slumped in his seat, looking more defeated than Greeny had ever seen him. "I keep thinking about our team," he explained, "and any reasons they would have agreed to help Morto or any kind of leverage he might have over them. Any of them. But I can't find anything. Blue's so firmly dedicated to the cause, I can't see him ever selling us out, and Pinky hates Morto so much for what he did to her family. She hardly talks about them, even to me, but I'm sure she would never help that man. Ever."

"What about Miles?" Greeny asked. "Does he have any reason to turn on us? Money? Bribery? Threats?"

Red smiled ruefully. "It wouldn't be money," he decided. "The Days are loaded. Bribery also seems a little outside the box. I don't know what Morto could have bribed him with that he didn't already have and Miles isn't interested in power, I can tell you that. He would never bow to a threat. And he and Blue have been close for years. He would have mentioned something if the king had somehow found out he was harboring us."

"So in other words, we're back to square one," Greeny sighed.

"I'm afraid so," Red said. "I was hoping you might have seen something--or heard something. Maybe something that didn't quite make sense at the time? Because as far as I can tell, the only other option would be that Leah broke and gave up our location. I don't believe that and I know you don't."

Greeny shook his head. "Leah would never give us up," he said. "There must be another explanation."

"I agree. So the question is; what is it?"

Greeny leaned back against the couch thoughtfully. A few different scenarios flashed through his mind, but he pushed them all away, realizing that none sufficiently explained the predicament. He agreed with Red. Neither Blue nor Pinky seemed likely to betray them. So the information must have leaked from someplace else, possibly someone with more information on the team, maybe someone who was in charge of overseeing their progress.

Red arrived at the realization at the same time. "Commander Jetson?" he said, raising an eyebrow in surprise. "Actually, that's not a terrible guess. I don't know much about him personally. He seems tough, possibly a former soldier. I can also tell you he's got barely any family in the Resistance. At least not at this outpost. The talk around town is that everyone else stayed loyal to Morto and the Commander was chased out of town by the loyalists."

Well, that's terribly sad. After witnessing the king's cruelty at Southpoint, Greeny could see that being possible. Actually, more than possible. Probable. You'd think Morto would want to be more careful, he thought dryly. At the rate he is going, he's going to terrorize or kill everyone who might be loyal to him.

Just like him. Had he not learned the truth and had Morto not attacked Southpoint, there was a good chance he might not have ever joined the resistance. He wasn't a fighter. He didn't want to be part of the universal revolution. He just wanted to go to school, read, and invent things to help people, Griffionites and Tapushians alike. If Leah hadn't told him about the resistance, and forcibly dragged him into her secret world, then he would have known nothing of the king's true personality.

Red seemed to notice his doubt. "But is the Commander likely to be the culprit?" he inquired. "I mean, why not just side with the rest of his family instead of making up this whole charade?"