Lies & Labyrinths

It had come by much deliberation that Lilith was to be the one to go. Emily seemed to be sad to lose the mask yet again, but they both agreed if anyone could pull off convincing Arleigh for more than two seconds, it wouldn’t be the color squeaking and stuttering every time she was spoken to. Lilith slipped out of the dorm and closed the door behind her, wondering how far Arleigh had gone, only to find him waiting patiently in front of the door sans McDougal.

“Oh. Arleigh.” Lilith said in her best Klymviner impression.

“Sorry to surprise you Bella. I had just finished the rounds and thought to come back and check the room once more with a fresh aetherometer.”

“Well there’s no need for that, I checked it myself.”

“You did?” The man asked, rather surprised.

“Quite so. Didn’t want to leave anything to chance. Especially not with that one.”

“Ah. Well…” Arleigh cleared his throat, and adjusted his tie. “I guess that means all work is done for the week. Will you care to join me for some brandy?”

“Sure.” Lilith blurted out. It seemed her plans were falling into place without the slightest hint of provocation.

“Really?” Arleigh seemed like a child opening presents on their birthday.

“Ehrm, well, yes but I feel we must get to the matter at hand, don’t you? This Knave has become quite the nuisance and I’d like to cover as much ground as we can.”

“Oh.” He seemed the least bit deflated, but happy to have not been turned down. “Very well, I’ve just the bottle. I’ve been saving it for such an occasion.”

“For discussion over a burglar?”

“For you to say yes for once.”

It was the second time that Lilith had been in Arleigh’s study chambers, the first time with him leading her happily into his private sanctum. He swung the door open and did a big gesture, half bent over as he waved his arm and let Lilith into the room. He gave a nervous chuckle at the state of the place, following in and quickly moving a stack of papers out of one of the seats.

“Ehrm, I apologize. I never have guests in here. Just eh, focused on the job at hand, heheh.” That same nervous chuckle. He definitely hadn't expected a yes.

Lilith did her best to match Klymviner’s raised eyebrow, striding in and taking a seat. “Really, Arleigh. It’s quite fine. Have you found anything searching the Deltas?”

“Besides plenty of contraband? Invisible ink for note taking, sneezing powder, a low grade sedative bilked from Professor Galvin’s potion making class? Nothing.” Arleigh moved towards a cabinet, drawing a key and unlocking it, returning with a silver tray with two glasses and a crystal decanter. He popped the lid off, pouring two drinks, handing one to Lilith who stared down at it. She hadn’t thought this far.

“Well, cheers.” Arleigh said, bringing his own glass to hers with a klink. Lilith took a deep breath, starting to take a sip before immediately spitting it back into the glass as stealthily as she could. Dear gods! It tastes so bad! How did adults drink this!? Instead, she pantomimed drinking, and even matched the slight puckered discomfort that Arleigh made as he drank freely from his own glass.

“Ahh… good year. Made for the Missing Emperor, believe it or not. My father got it from a colleague when he attended, actually.

“Oh really?”

“Yes, quite rare. Only twelve casks left in the world.”

This made immediate sense to Lilith; something that tasted like rubbish probably wasn’t made too many batches of. The rest undoubtedly had been dumped.

“So, what about you Bella? Find anything in the Alphas?”

“Oh… no. Not really.” She swirled her drink around, looking down at the miniature whirlpool in the glass as she spun it. “You know the Alphas. Absolutely perfect in every way.”

Arleigh hadn’t picked up on her sarcasm, nor her lie, only agreeing. “The future leaders of the world, each and every one.”

Lilith pretended to take another drink, Arleigh following close behind. “So, Arleigh, The Knave took something of yours.”

He seemed to grow stiff at the words. “Ah. Yes. A paperweight, of all things. A purple stone that had been recovered from the beach off of Paduhn.”

“Anything of particular note or value?”

“Other than it being some bit of wreckage from Sulore? Not that I’m aware of.” Arleigh took another drink, his face starting to seem flush. “What about you? I hear The Knave got hold of one of your items.”

“Yes. A mask inside a lockbox.”

“Really? What kind of mask?”

“Wooden. Supposedly able to change the shape of the user.”

“You mean The Changeling Mask!?” Arleigh sat up, eyes wide.

“What?”

“A mask hewn from the Changeling tree itself. Only one ever made.”

“No, that’s not possible-” Lilith nearly finished her sentence by saying “because there would be two of them”, then realized she couldn’t exactly go telling that she was wearing one and The Knave the other.

“It very well could be. That lockbox, you said at the last staff meeting you had found it at the Anaestrian dig site, yes?”

“I…” Lilith tried to not panic. She had been planning to be asking questions. She never thought Arleigh would be expecting answers in return. “Sure.” She finally said, faking another drink of the disgusting thing known as ‘brandy’.

“That’s near one of the former Fey Arch Gates. It’s very well possible that such a thing could have been brought over.”

“So The Knave could be anyone, is what you’re saying.”

“Yes, it is quite possible.”

“And the belief that they might be a former student, by what they had said to Miss Lavoi?”

“I mean, anything is possible. Them knowing how to get into the school for one thing does lend credence to that.”

“Yes, we were talking about that. We thought it might be a Delta.”

“We?”

“Uh, Twixtfeather and I.” Lilith lied rather quickly.

“Oh? What makes you say that?”

“Because they asked Lilith about you. And the only students I could ever think of not having such a fond memory of a wonderful man like yourself would be those Delta delinquents.”

Arleigh seemed to blush, then smirk, wiggling in his seat as he drank more than half the remaining liquid. “Yes, I suppose only one of those worthless Deltas would. But I can’t think of a single memorable Delta in all my tenure here. They’re all so… forgettable.” Arleigh’s expression soured. “Save for that Lilith Lavoi.” Arleigh stood, moving to grab the decanter. Lilith took the opportunity to dump her own glass into the potted plant near his desk in lightning-fast speed while he was turned away.

“She really has gotten under your skin.”

“Yes, well, I suppose it doesn’t matter. As soon as we get through our quota, we’ll not have to worry about Delta students anymore. More brandy?”

“Uh, yes please. What do you mean about the Deltas?”

“I mean, that we now have offers from all three world powers for their assistance in the expansion into the Blank Canvas. War is on the horizon, and they want trained mages. And sure, those children can’t cast a spell to save their life, but they’ll stand more of a chance with some enchanted armor and a stack of spell scrolls on the battlefield. And with that invention that Inam came up with, I daresay I was fuming to see her weasel her way into my profession, but it has made this work much easier for all of us. I won’t have to worry about keeping detention filled at all times any longer!”

Waves of realization began to wash over Lilith in an instant. She could see the events playing out in her mind; three world powers trudging across the land bridge that connected them all, full of the sons of farmers conscripted to die on the frontlines along with the Deltas of the Veilweavers. A battlefield taking place not far from her hometown. All of that money pouring into the school to fund the creation of more scrolls, more enchantments, more foot soldiers. And how long would it take for such a war to be over? Two weeks? Or four years of hell?

And then Lilith remembered the very machine she had helped to invent. One that Inam was certain she could refine to do bigger and greater things. One that ran nonstop, that would keep the Deltas from being in detention, and potentially out on the battlefield even sooner.

“I have to go.” Lilith said, placing the glass down.

“Oh? But we just got into our second glasses!”

“Drink mine then.” She said, turned away to hide the tears of rage.

She had to get out of the class, away from Arleigh, away from all of this. Out into the hallway she walked, then ran, leaning against the wall outside the classroom. Her heart was pounding that same strange pounding from before, her chest feeling that weight, her throat closing up as the world seemed to pulse between shadows at the corner of her eyes, and blinding lights with spots and stars.

A panic attack; she was having a panic attack. Lilith fled down the hall to the girl’s restroom, pulling the mask and tossing it across the room as she sobbed at the sink.

A toilet flushed behind her, and Lilith froze, still leaning over the sink. The stall door opened, and out stepped Inam, walking to the adjacent sink and setting down the mask that had clattered underneath her stall door.

“You’re not supposed to be here, dear. There’s a curfew.” Inam said.

Lilith gave no response, still sobbing into the porcelain, fingers gripping the sides. Inam hesitated, placing a hand down on her shoulder. She cried for a bit longer, Inam waiting for her to finish as she tried her best to console her student.

“How long have you known?” Lilith finally managed.

“About what?”

“About Delta. About being war profiteers. All of it.” Lilith looked up, catching the look of surprise on Inam’s face; it looked rather guilty.

“Since shortly after the arrival of Emil’s uncles.” She admitted. “They tend to keep us in the Prophecy department in the dark, as it were. They like relegating the future-lookers to only seeing things in hind-sight.”

“And yet you went ahead with making that machine!” Lilith shouted. “We’ve made something that will ezzarsirate-”

“Exacerbate” corrected Inam-

“That’s what I said, exacerbate the problem! You’re letting your students go marching off to die!” Lilith sobbed again, but this time when Inam tried to comfort her, she smacked the woman’s arm away.

“Get off me!”She shouted, grabbing the mask from the sink. “You’re just as bad as the rest of them! Sure, Arleigh is an arse, and Klymviner is a cruel woman who demands nothing short of perfection. I thought they were the bad seeds. But you! YOU!” Lilith wiped her nose on her sleeve, ignoring the grossness of the residue of tears and snot. “You were supposed to be different! But everyone is the same here! All of you adults are rotten! This whole school is rotten!! ”

“We’re neutral, we-” Inam tried to rationalize in vain.

“PLAYING ALL SIDES ISN’T NEUTRALITY!” Lilith screamed, stamping her foot hard enough that it stung in her shoes. “You’re evil! All of you! And I wish I never lied and I wish I never forged my name and I wish I never, ever came to this evil school! I should have stayed in Wheatsburg!”

And then she fled, without even caring how much of the truth she had just told to an adult. Out into the hall and down towards the Delta dorms she ran, and not once was she stopped along the way. She ran all the way back to her dormitory, swinging the door open and startling Emily, who went from scared to concerned in the time it took to register the look of despair upon her friend’s face.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, but Lilith did not reply, only rushing and hugging her friend, crying into her shoulder. Emily hesitated only a brief moment before wrapping both arms around her bereft friend, letting her cry for people who hadn’t died yet, who had no idea that she had killed them long before they ever would step onto the battlefields that would spring up. She sobbed herself to sleep in Emily's arms, unable to form a single word while all her friend could do was hold her still and not let go.