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"Binter," she said soberly.
"You found him, Highness?"
She nodded. "He's underneath the cathedral. He's not moving."
"Then let us go get him."
"No," Keritanima said. "We have no idea what we're getting into. Let's come back in force. I'm not going to challenge a cathedral full of priests unless I have an army at my back."
"Wise," he agreed.
Allia began to move with more and more urgency. She knew that something was very wrong. Her brother was in danger. She could feel it. Allia was Selani, and Selani trusted those gut feelings alot more than humans did. That she believed that Tarrin was in danger was enough for her, and it caused her heart to race and her feet to move faster and faster.
Tarrin wouldn't leave without letting her know. He did occasionally wander off to roam the grounds, but that was the grounds. He would never leave the grounds without telling her. She mulled it over again and again, and every time she did, she walked faster and faster. By the time she was out the door, she was ru
Dola
"It is a long story," she said in a hollow voice. "What do you need, Allia?"
"Tarrin is missing, Dola
"Perhaps that is for the best," Dola
"Dola
That made her blink. She pulled the Selani into the room and closed the door. "Abducted? Oh, dear!"
"What is it?"
"Allia, you have no idea what is going on!" she said, her eyes widening in comprehending horror. "They must have used the collar on him!"
"Mistress, slow down," Allia said, grabbing her by the arms. "What is going on?"
"Jesmind came to me before she left, and asked me to find out what was going on," she said. "I have been looking into things. Last night, I came across a horrifying discovery, something that has made me doubt the integrity of my own order. It is awful, young one. The Council has become monsters!"
"Dola
She put her hands on Allia's shoulders. "Allia, Tarrin was not attacked by Jesmind on accident," she said with haunted eyes. "The Council had Jesmind captured, and they set her loose on him on purpose!"
Allia stared at her in shock.
"The Council wanted him to be non-human, so they captured a lycanthrope, the first one they could find, which was Jesmind. They had her infect him with her condition. They had a device left over from the time of the Ancients, a collar that controlled Were-kin. They used it on Jesmind, and made her attack Tarrin."
"You mean the katzh-dashi did that to him deliberately?" Allia said breathlessly.
Dola
"Holy Mother!" Allia gasped. "Miranda's plan backfired on us!" She grabbed Dola
"I will not go to the Council!" Dola
The impact, the horrible truth of those words, they crashed on Allia like the most powerful sandstorm, and she reeled back from it. They destroyed her brother's life, and they sat there and studied him day after day, saying nothing, yet seeing their handiwork every time his tail moved. That they did it willingly, actively capturing Jesmind to infect him, it declared their evil and dishonor plainly. Dola
"But we must have help!" Allia said helplessly. "If Tarrin is being held against his will, we may have to fight, and we may need the Sorcerers' magic! Where do we go?"
"Tarrin has friends among the katzh-dashi, Allia, more than he knows," Dola
"Yes, but are you safe walking the halls, Dola
"They do not know that I know, young one, not yet," she assured her. "The one who told me was killed during the night in the fighting. I will be very safe."
"I will send Faalken to you, Dola
"I, I thank you," she smiled. "I would feel much better with my old friend standing vigil for me. I no longer feel safe walking the halls of the Tower."
"You are my brother's friend, and that makes you mine as well," Allia told her with a gentle pat on the arm. "You stay here, and Faalken will come to you. You do not have to face such a burden alone."
The relief in her smile, in her eyes, spoke volumes. "Go now, Allia," she said. "It will take the Knights time to mobilize. If Tarrin is still in the city, or even if he is not, then they will find him."
The sudden arrival of two hundred fully armed, highly disciplined Wikuni Marines at the fringes of the Knights' training field at first caused a bit of a panic among the Knights supervising the cadets. They had no idea why they were there, for the Marines had direct orders to stay away from the Knights. But on the other hand, the famous discipline of their military organization also told the supervising Knights that if all of them showed up like that, then they were ordered to do it.
But before Darvon arrived on the field and a Knight could go over to the Marine Colonel in charge of the detachment and find out what was going on, Allia was seen ru