Page 56 of Red Demon (Oria #1)

Truth and Fear

M y stomach churned as I took another swig of lukewarm ale in the quiet common room of the Mora Inn.

After a few such drinks, I’d learned that besides being resistant to lethal poisons, I now seemed to be resistant to the fun ones too.

I added that to the list of mysteries, knowing I wouldn’t have Mira to help me solve them.

None of Telesilla’s people had checked in yet. I’d been nursing this beer for the last hour rather than waste more money.

My thoughts kept drifting to Faruhar, camped outside town, avoiding the city since Telesilla’s glamor had failed to work for her.

But Asher had volunteered to go check on Faruhar instead, mumbling he needed to clear his head with the walk, so that left me to touch base with the Underground rebels.

It made sense Asher needed some solitude after how things went with Mira, and I knew better than to try to say anything to cheer him up.

We’d made sure Faruhar had her fresh journal with a century fabric cover, filled with notes on everything she or I could think of.

She insisted we shouldn’t worry, reminding us she’d been sleeping alone in the forest long before we came along.

Still, I felt a pang when I thought about her waking cold in the snow while I got to spend the night in a warm inn.

The clink of a glass against the table pulled my attention.

A dark-skinned man with Asri braids sat down in the seat opposite me, one white braid among the black, his face weathered with the harsh lines of a life spent defying authority.

Soren, the Chaeten among the Disciples of Reic.

Of all the rebels I’d met in Telesilla’s network, I guess I disliked him the least, so I should be grateful.

“How’d you get here so fast?” I’d expected to see a new face. I thought we made good time to Uyr Elderven, leaving him and Telesilla far to the west.

“We have tunnels through the Underground that run right to the city. Functional transport. If you weren’t traveling with a Chaeten-sa, you could have used them.”

“Well, fuck you too, Soren,” I said. His network’s bigotry toward Faruhar still rankled.

He rolled his eyes. “Just stating facts. Where’s your brother?”

“He’s following up on something. I’ll fill him in.” There were a couple of people on the other side of the common room. “Can we talk openly here?”

“I’ve kheled off our voices.” He directed a soft smile toward the woman at the front desk. “And I’d trust the ka here with my life even if they were listening.”

“Okay,” I started, steadying my thoughts. “What’s the news?”

Soren took a long pull from his drink, his green eyes studying me over the rim.

“General Alexander is about to get involved in Noé, in light of the recent attacks. He’ll be in port within a week, so if we want to make a move, we need to act fast. If Queen Azara hadn’t banned his airships, he’d be here already. ”

“How do you know the General isn’t trying to help?”

Soren laughed. “He’s killed too many of us to be helpful. Besides, there’s a reason he’s the Chaeten-sa in charge of the empire forces, and not Mahakal. When he’s here, all Disciples of Reic will go dark.”

“All right.” I gripped the table. “Anything else we need to know?”

“Mahakal has at least one squad scouting the city. He’s probably watching your Modtech friend.”

The mention of Mira sent a fresh wave of worry and frustration crashing over me.

“Makes sense he’d follow up on the people Ash was writing to from the field,” I said. “She wants to stay out of this, though. I hope he’ll leave her alone.”

He frowned. “You did not mention our name, correct? Nothing she could use to harm us?”

“No,” I said, disturbed by the thought. Mira wouldn’t betray us. She couldn’t.

Soren gave a curt nod. “Fine. I need to talk to your brother as soon as possible about bypassing those magic blockers.”

I leaned back. “Can you tell me how they work? Ash wasn’t the only one who kept our fabricator running.” Ash was definitely more well-read on physics and mechanics, but I thought it best to project confidence.

Soren’s brows furrowed, but he produced a document from his cloak and slid it between us: a technical manual.

“The frequency it emits corrupts the Song within the radius of impact. We can’t sense it until we connect.

Then, think of it like an aeroelastic flutter specific to the delta rhythm.

The damage is instant and permanent.” Seeing the blank look on my face, he clarified, “The machine emits a specific electromagnetic frequency that triggers neurological arrhythmias that correspond to our chout .”

“All right.” I frowned.

Soren sighed, throwing his hands up. “Bad machine for magic. It makes our brain hurt. Seizures until sword boo-boos kill us.”

“I know what electromagnetism is,” I said, a generous claim. I knew enough to repeat most of what he said to Ash.

“Good. Reic would eye-twitch himself into writing a whole new textbook if he knew I had to dumb down Chout Attiq-ka as ‘magic,’” Soren said with a huff.

“He must be fun at parties.” I took another sip of my impotent beer.

“Where’s your brother, again?” he asked, his green eyes sharp.

I shrugged.

“When will he return? If he can bypass the anti-magic machines as he claimed, we can take out the entire unit at once.”

I frowned. His implication was clear. They didn’t need me or Far.

“I’m sorry, Soren. We need to connect tomorrow. I’ll make sure Ash looks through this, though.” I leaned forward with the manual in hand. “Do you have a place we can meet outside of town?”

He scribbled down coordinates for a tea shop, passing the paper across the table. “Anything else you wanted to discuss?”

I took a deep breath. The anger simmering inside me since leaving that cafe needed an outlet, and I didn’t mind dumping on Soren.

“Why doesn’t your network just tell the world what’s going on?

Send encrypted notes, pamphlets, that sort of thing to clear your names?

If people knew what the empire was up to, all the military and government corruption would self-implode. ”

Soren snorted. “Your mind seems like a tranquil place. Maybe all the ghosts who’ve tried to possess you just got bored and moved on?”

When he wouldn’t stop smiling, I slammed my fist on the table. “I wasted years of my life chasing after the wrong enemy. People deserve to know what’s happening!”

He leaned back, frowning through an array of facial twitches before he spoke.

“I know that feeling—quite well. That’s still a na?ve political view, though.

Fear has more persuasive power than truth, particularly when the truth is complex.

Word of mouth about complicated things like ‘there are swarms of ghosts on the rampage that neither the Underground nor the empire knows how to fully control’—that’s a complex truth.

Why should they listen to us if we don’t have a better solution? But the fear of those ghosts—”

I crossed my arms, glaring as he gathered his words.

“When the Asri first met our ancestors, do you think it was truth, evidence, that made them recognize us as human? Most Attiq-ka weren’t like Reic, embracing us as brothers right away.

” Soren stared at his glowing hand, flexing and unflexing a fist. “Queen Azara united Asri and Chaeten to fight the ruren-sa hordes before turning the violence on the Attiq-ka. Fear united our world, not truth. Nothing’s changed. ”

“What are you suggesting we do then? Lie just to scare people?”

He took a sip, shaking his head. “A small truth is fine, one that Azara or Mahakal can’t outmaneuver. But we do need to make good ka afraid, to focus on one demon’s one sin. We make the solution simple: kill the demon. Problem solved.”

Tranquil or not, I liked being in my brain better.

“I think we agree on our first small truth. ‘Mahakal is bad.’ Other powerful people in the empire can get behind that, taking down one corrupt Chaeten-sa. After we act on that message, we can move on to ‘General Jeron Alexander is bad,’ then…”

“‘Kill off anyone with Chaeten-sa code’ is not my message, if I haven’t made that clear.”

We exchanged glares.

“Very well. We agree to one mission together: Mahakal. What can we prove about him that the world should know?”

I ran my hand through my hair. “I know he tried to kill me and he’s a rapist, but I don’t have hard evidence.”

Soren’s eyes went distant. “I grew up near the palace in Ea Shadohe, friend. Even if it’s difficult to hear, I assure you that all Chaeten-sa are murderers and rapists by design.”

“Nope.” I stared back, unshaken.

He chuckled. “Have you considered the possibility that you’re just not the Red Demon’s type?”

“Again, fuck off.” I decided Soren was no longer the Underground rebel I hated the least. They all sucked.