Chapter 26 - Wasn’t That Enough?

“Corbin… you… you’re…”
There was a sudden knock on the door that stopped Willow and she practically jumped out of her boots. I didn’t jump, but my entire body still froze, wondering who else could be here now of all times. Willow looked over at it, then back to me.
“Please…” I said, my voice dropping to almost a whisper. There was another knock, though this one was a bit less demanding.
“Come on, Corbin, open up. I know you’re in there and I know De Numont stormed off this way. We need to talk about what happened,” Daniel’s voice called through the door.
“Danny… He’s…But you…”
Great… The one time I’d managed to leave her speechless and I couldn’t actually appreciate it.
“Willow, he’s not going to go away… you didn’t. Please… I won’t do anything today… I’ll… I don’t know… Just… please… don’t say anything.”
Another knock.
“I know Willow’s in there too. You’re not doing something untoward with my sister, are you?”
“Don’t be gross, Danny! Just give us a minute. Corbin hurt himself,” Willow called back, finally snapping out of it as her eyes hardened, staring at me. She lowered her voice. “You can’t ask me to lie to my brother… and not doing anything today isn’t the promise you think it is.”
“I’m not asking you to lie, I’m just asking you not to tell him who I am… I’ll do the talking… okay?” I said, her brow furrowing harder.
“Who you are… but shouldn’t you be… shouldn’t Prince Frederick…” she started to protest, but then stopped since she still seemed unsure what she was supposed to ask next.
I quickly turned to the table, turning the frame to hide the picture before I could think about why I was doing it. Then I walked past her, knowing this would only get worse the longer I waited. When I opened the door, thankful there was at least one person in this town who didn’t just barge in, I was briefly taken by surprise to find not just Daniel, but Dartigan as well. I only stalled for a moment and hoped it wasn’t that noticeable.
“Sorry, I punched the wall after Gryphon decided to try and make a deal with me. Wasn’t my brightest move,” I explained, not technically lying. Something told me that wasn’t making it better with Willow.
“You’re a bit quicker to anger than I would’ve expected,” Daniel said, walking in and giving Willow a side hug. “So what, were you helping him apply whatever he used to fix himself up? Does your job now include first aid duties?”
“Shut up, Danny,” she snapped. Daniel actually seemed a bit surprised by it and I once again found myself cursing whatever demented force refused to give me any time to manage this situation.
“You were saying something about Gryphon?” I asked, looking from him to Dartigan. “He dumped the rest of our supplies, you know. I haven’t seen them, but Willow mentioned they were just on the road… were they damaged?”
I’d looked back over at Willow as I’d asked the question, finding her still a bit flustered. Why couldn’t she just drop it? I’d told her I wouldn’t act, wasn’t that enough?
“It looked like there were a few crates that’d broken open. I made a note in my ledger and won’t charge you for them. I didn’t think he’d go racing off though. Did you happen to catch where he was going when he made you try to fight your cabin? I’ll be fleeced by the Master of the Royal Ledgers if that kid gets himself into trouble and I’d really rather not get assigned another noble apprentice,” Dartigan said, frustration more than evident.
“He went to Gold’s Lodge,” I said.
I could have lied, could have said he was heading back to Graham’s Rest but I couldn’t imagine any way that wouldn’t have been discovered in… well, however long it took Willow to lose her patience. I looked over at her again, thinking about it for a moment and trying to figure out how I could tell the truth in a way that wouldn’t make her squirm. I wish I had been quicker on my feet with her, or that I could figure out why in Dusk’s name I’d let her pull so much out of me when I knew I was smarter than that.
Not that my normal intelligence was doing me any good right now. There was only one excuse I could think of in the moment and I really… really didn’t like it.
“You should get that apprentice of yours under control, he seems to think if he talks enough, he can convince anyone of anything. Apparently, he’s come to the absurd conclusion that since I’m the rich new guy in town, I somehow must be the person Gwendoline is looking for. I’m not sure what he’s on about, but apparently he thinks that’s enough to blackmail me into getting him leverage on Danwood.”
Make the claim seem ridiculous. Make it seem like I just couldn’t believe it either. It was risky because now, no matter what happened next, both Daniel and Dartigan would have the idea floating around in their head. Maybe I could trust them… maybe. But the prophecy only told half the story. The prophecy never made any connection between the companions of the Hero of Legend and the Lord of Dusk.
I’d let my mask slip… I’d let Willow see me. The Hero’s companions were supposed to be heroic. They were supposed to save people by rising up to stop the Lord of Dusk before he could bring some untold horror to the land. They had the capacity for violence, but it wasn’t supposed to be their default. That’s the tale people were told… that’s the one they believed.
“Huh, that’s a rather bold leap to make. You’re an eccentric man and I have no doubt you’re capable, but you’ll excuse me if I say you don’t come off as the heroic type,” Dartigan said. He sounded like he believed me, but the way he looked from me then back to the road didn’t quite leave me feeling confident.
“I might have to go pay the man a visit if he’s staying in Gold’s Lodge,” Daniel said. He was practically fuming and I was actually surprised by the reaction. “He insults my town… insults my neighbors… and now you’re telling me he’s even tried to threaten you all just to try and get his slimy, little fingers on my home… Mr. Ward, how much trouble would I get in if I beat that man senseless?”
“You don’t need to do that,” I said quickly, and Willow let out an incredulous sound.
“You really don’t,” she muttered, shooting me a look.
“As much as I can actually say I understand the feeling, I would advise against it,” Dartigan said just a bit wryly. “If you merely hurt Gryphon, he’ll doubtless increase his efforts to put himself in place to benefit from the work you’ve done here, Daniel. And if you do more than hurt him… Well, Lord Drake may not care for the boy as much as his eldest three, but I can’t say he’d treat the act kindly. That said, I’m not entirely sure Gryphon’s ‘threat’ holds any merit.”
“If I told De Numont I was going to beat him over the head with a wagon, no one would take it seriously either, that doesn’t mean it’s not a threat,” Daniel said while noticeably calming. “What can he do then? If we just… ignore him?”
“He can file petitions for incompetent leadership, though given he has no stake in the settlement I don’t see that being taken seriously with no other complaints in place,” Dartigan offered.
I was just about to comment on the fact that nobles would absolutely forge extra complaints if it served them, but managed to catch myself.
“Besides that though, there’s not a whole lot he can do without a ranking sponsor,” Dartigan continued. “The Sister technically did have the authority–and not just because she’s the Royal Dawnmother. But I’ve never met a Sister who’d act on that authority without a truly just cause. Sure, he might go and spread his theory, but at worst that means the village gets a visit from Prince Frederick and how that’s anything but a treat I just don’t know. One look at Corbin here and I’m sure that absurdity would be cleared up in a jiffy.”
“That… okay that is a bit comforting when you put it that way,” Daniel nodded, reaching up and rubbing the back of his head. “Probably a good thing I asked, mighta done something reckless.”
Willow actually laughed at that and I winced slightly. Daniel looked at her with a raised brow and she laughed again.
“What, I’ve fought people before, it’s not that funny,” Daniel said, causing Willow to shake her head. Before she could say anything… I did.
“I wasn’t going to ask…” I admitted, mentally cursing myself while I did so. “I kinda might have briefly… heavily considered doing something to him myself.”
Dartigan immediately looked over at the table that I’d yet to clean up after the sudden interruption. All of my reagents were still out and of course he zeroed in on the ones that wouldn’t have made sense for healing my hand.
“Stars, are those Lion’s Dawn thorns? Were you trying to poison the entire town, Corbin?” Dartigan asked, actually a bit taken aback.
“No! I wasn’t going to poison anyone,” I insisted, drawing another snort from Willow and I could see an increasing amount of… something in her face. Constipation? No… that couldn’t be right. “I’m not as convinced that leaving this alone is the right plan…”
“We could bring it to a Settlement Vote, though… I’m starting to wonder if we need to reevaluate those,” Daniel said, his brow pinching together. “They helped prove a point today but if more people are going to keep moving here, we’ll need to find a better way to implement it. I had both Koji and Wayne ask me after those last two if they were even allowed to vote after just moving here.”
“There are some system options you could look into, though admittedly the only ones I can think of come with their own drawbacks,” Dartigan offered, getting curious looks not just from Daniel, but from me as well.
“For voting? Not sure I’ve seen any tabs in my interface for that,” Daniel said.
I dug through my memories, trying to remember all of the Settlement features I’d read about over the years. I’d always believed if I just found the right one, it would give me an advantage over Frederick and the crown. But unfortunately, even forcing control over a region out of their reach never gave me some magical “stop holy crusade” option.
“You wouldn’t,” Dartigan admitted, then looked around like he was making sure there weren’t any prying ears. “Strictly speaking, the crown prefers people not to know about this, so forget where you heard it from… but there are certain Settlement features that are… well, not disabled, but specifically not included in the basic suite Settlement Administrators get.”
“Well yeah… there’s stuff like—” I started before cutting myself off, realizing I had almost started listing off the various militia features that only the largest settlements, like the one Gryphon’s father was the direct lord of, had access to. “Umm.. stuff like magical repositories… right? Manaway has one but I remember someone mentioning it’s not a normal feature.”
“That’s a more eclectic one, but yes. Also stuff like siege facilities and other wartime features that aren’t quite as necessary for every town in the crown’s reach to have access to. And that’s not even getting into the really high level stuff like Territory Secession, though you’d need an absurd amount of gold to do that and I can’t imagine why you’d want to,” Dartigan explained. He pulled open his ledger, paged through it for a moment until he stopped on one that had a visible red sheen covering it, making it impossible for anyone but the owner to read. “Anyway, the one I think you might be looking for is… ah here it is, Polling Place.”
I cocked my head to the side. The words rang a bell for some reason but I wasn’t quite sure why. My system research had been extensive but also very specific since I’d been looking for ways to fend off and defeat the crown’s forces, not necessarily how to manage a settlement. My normal management method usually involved a whole lot of threats and the overwhelming force of Dusk once I’d brought the right people into my thrall.
“Okay, how do we get that?” Daniel asked.
“You need a—“
“What does this have to do with that jerk?!” Willow finally snapped, cutting Dartigan off. She’d apparently reached her limit for everyone allowing me to redirect them. “Are you guys leaving him alone? Are we supposed to prepare for a visit from the literal crown prince?”
“Um… Yes and I guess yes?” Daniel said, looking back at her. “I figured that was obvious since we just established it wasn’t a good thing to attack him. You doing okay, Willow?”
“You said that you weren’t going to attack him,” she said, and I flinched, not meeting her gaze or her finger when she pointed my way. “He said he wasn’t going to poison anyone… are we really just skipping past the fact that that leaves a lot of other options open?!”
Daniel actually laughed. I might have been happy about that if it clearly didn’t annoy Willow more.
“Oh come on Willow, he was being… Stars, what’s the word… facetious? I think that’s it,” Daniel said, snapping his fingers as he puzzled it out. “Yes, this should probably be a Settlement Vote, but unless this Polling thing is something we can get installed before he leaves Gold’s Lodge–”
“It’s not,” Dartigan interjected.
“Then calling another vote would just come down to either letting this guy go to keep trying his nonsense or inflicting violence on him. And as rootrotted as that guy is, I just don’t see that resulting in a split vote,” Daniel said and I said a silent thank you to him actually having common sense. When he found Willow staring at him wordlessly, he seemed to falter for just a minute, then looked at me. “Corbin, you’re not planning on doing or using something other than poison to hurt De Numont, are you?”
Willow’s head swiveled back to me and she waited. For what it was worth… she hadn’t outright blurted out what she’d learned. Maybe that had to count for something. My eyes didn’t leave hers.
“No… I’m not going to do anything to hurt the pompous guy with ash for brains, even if he deserves it. It wouldn’t be good for Danwood,” I said and Daniel nodded, a smile spreading over his face.
“See, there yah go. Take a breath, if he comes back, we’ll deal with it then,” he said, patting my shoulder before he turned. “Mr. Ward, mind going over some of the details of that Polling Place with me? As long as the crown’s not going to come and yell at me for it, I’d love to actually see what it could do. And Willow… just… it’ll be okay. We can talk about it more later if we need to.”
Dartigan spared me a look briefly, then looked over at Willow who didn’t seem any less wound up.
“I’ll circle back to your worksite in a bit, we can iron out the sale details and I can take any other orders you might have,” he said, then followed Daniel out. Willow stared after them, her jaw hanging slightly open before she turned to me and snapped it shut.
“How?! What else are you lying to us about? You were able to redirect them so easily, have you been doing that this whole time?!”
“Willow… What good comes from them knowing? I told them everything that matters… isn’t that enough?” I asked, finally able to relax just a bit now that Daniel and Dartigan had left.
“No. It’s not, Corbin,” she said, her crossed arms tightening like a cinch over her chest. “Have I guessed everything? Or just everything that you think matters? I don’t want to… but if this is going to be what my life is, I don’t think I can manage the inn or continue to help you around here…”
I debated lying to her… Maybe I could convince her if I pushed it hard enough… but what would be the point? Unless I went back on my word, Gryphon was going to eventually tell Frederick his theory… and then he’d be here. I moved back over to the table and turned the frame back up, staring back at it as I tried to reach for memories I knew had been buried impossibly deep.
Sure… maybe that wouldn’t immediately turn into a war. But eventually it would. Frederick was a man of Dawn, a man of light meant to eradicate the darkness from this world. A man who would use that very Dawn to burn out any bit of Dusk he thought he had to… And no matter how much I tried to fight and deny it… Well, I had an intimate relationship with Dusk and didn’t believe it deserved to be unilaterally destroyed.
“The second one…” I finally said. “If the only way to get you to understand is by telling you everything…”
I stalled for a moment… Was I actually about to promise her answers? Why? Why did I care if she quit? There were other people with actual experience running businesses that I could find and hire. And if she did say something, I could just brush her off as upset or mistaken. Dusk… if I really needed to, I could hunt down the annoyingly rare ingredients for any number of potions that could affect memories…
I actually shrank back at that last idea. There was no such thing as a safe potion that affected memories. There were always side effects… And the thought that Willow would have to deal with any of them… with losing parts that the potions weren’t meant to target… No… I couldn’t do that to her, even if it did protect me.
And if I were to use them on Gryphon… well, that was just as easy of a way to paint a target on my back as one of the few Alchemists in the area, especially since those potions were also considered highly illegal to even produce in the Crown’s reach. One sniff of that and his family would swarm this region looking for the source of the potion.
I just couldn’t win…
“I don’t want to… It’ll change too much, but…” I started up again, Willow refusing to budge or give me anything to try and divert the subject. “If it’ll make you understand, then I’ll tell you the real reason I don’t want Frederick to find me… Even if it ends up meaning I have to leave anyway…”
Willow stared at me, weighing the choice for just a moment, then nodded.
“Tell me.”