"He would then get his hands on both Princess Lavinia and Dragon Rider Kael—
All without breaking the Treaty of Vorgath."
Nyris explained, and when her explanation ended, every single being present in the Hall felt a chill running down their spines.
Kael and Lavinia were no exception either. Kael knew the Shadow Regent was exceptional—Veylara had talked about him more than once—but this...
This was sothing far, far beyond what he could have possibly thought...
If what Elder Nyris said was indeed true, then... Zephyr was a far scarier being than he thought.
Suddenly, Kael’s eyes fell on Lavinia’s hands that had curled into fists. He stared at her and noticed her slight trembling, and only now did he finally understand why Lavinia reacted so strongly when she heard Zephyr was the one leading the Drakthar ships that ca here.
They... they weren’t just facing a Demi God.
They were facing a Shadow.
An extrely manipulative Shadow that would go to any lengths to get what it wants.
Slowly, Kael grabbed Lavinia’s fist, calming her down. Lavinia stared at him, and he nodded silently.
"If this is indeed the case, then... it brings us to our initial problem."
Suddenly, Morvain spoke up.
She knew everyone was shaken—she herself was no exception—but they needed to get their act together.
They needed to take action; sitting inside a hall and fearing the enemy was not the way, especially when the enemy was a shadow that liked to surround the opponent and suffocate them, leaving them no choice but to give in.
Morvain’s words attracted the elders’ attention.
"The traitor. We need to find him or... them."
The Matriarch added, after all, they couldn’t deny the possibility of there being more than one traitor.
"Once we catch the traitors, the influence and power Zephyr has over us would fade away, and we will regain control."
She spoke, giving the elders a ray of hope. The elders nodded, once again regaining light in their eyes.
Yes. Traitors... they just needed to catch them.
But...
The problem still remained.
"Does anyone have any suggestion?
A way to catch the traitor?"
Morvain asked, and suddenly—
A heavy silence fell in the Elder’s Hall.
No one spoke for a while.
A suggestion to find the traitor... if Morvain had asked this question just a few hours ago, the elders would have laughed, thinking the Matriarch was jesting.
A traitor among them?
It was hard to even think.
After all, these people had lived side by side for decades. They fought together, bled together, suffered together, and... survived together.
Unity was what made the Velmourns survive this long—how could they even think of the possibility of there being a traitor amongst them?
But...
This wasn’t a few hours ago.
The Matriarch wasn’t jesting, and the elders knew it.
The Drakthar Regent knew things he shouldn’t have, the Stonefangs attacked at the worst ti possible.
This wasn’t just bad luck.
Soone helped them.
Elders knew that but... sowhere in their hearts... they just couldn’t accept it.
Morvain sensed it as well—she felt the sa, but—
"If we cannot accept that there is a traitor,
we are simply allowing it to happen again.
We cannot deny this anymore."
She spoke.
"But we don’t know where to start."
Suddenly, Tarevian spoke up.
"What do we do? Question everyone?"
"...maybe we should."
Kayden muttered.
Everyone turned toward him, but this ti, he didn’t flinch under their stares. Rather—
"Interrogate every soldier.
Every Elder.
Every worker.
Every single Velmourn—even children.
One by one."
Kayden spoke, his eyes shining with an intense light.
An expression he rarely showed.
"That would take weeks."
Aelindra shook her head.
"And it would tear apart whatever trust we have left."
The Warden of Provision shook her head.
"We do not have any other choice, Elder."
Kayden answered.
"We survived this ti because Kael and Lavinia reacted quickly, but there is no way to guarantee the next ti would be the sa.
Who knows?
Next ti, it might not even be 250 Stonefangs, but the Drakthar army itself.
And we cannot fight enemies like them when the ones we think are our own keep betraying us and relaying every bit of information to the enemy."
"..."
Aelindra turned silent. She couldn’t... argue against those words.
"What if we check everyone’s belongings?"
Tarevian suggested hesitantly.
"Search every ho, every barrack. Look for hidden letters or foreign coins."
"That’s not proof of betrayal."
Draksis shook his head.
"Many of our people trade quietly to survive. You’ll find things, but you won’t find answers."
"What about isolation?"
Nyris said.
"If we separate our people into small groups, limit contact, restrict movents... if the traitor tries to act again, we might notice."
"That’s not living.
That’s prison."
Aelindra couldn’t do it to the people she cherished.
"Our people are already barely surviving out there."
She muttered weakly.
"We do not have any other choice, Aelindra."
Nyris answered, watching Aelindra with her hollow eyes. She knew this discussion was squeezing everything out of Aelindra, who did everything for her people—even if it ant working for days without resting.
But...
Wasn’t every one of them the sa?
Draksis spent almost all his life inside his forge, making sure no Velmourn soldier or worker moved without the required tool.
Tarevian worked for days, going around the lands listening to every single Velmourn’s complaints—just so he could make any, even the slightest, change that could better the people’s lives. There were tis when he spent days without food because he fed his share to a few hungry children.
Korvath’s shoulders had already shrunk—the responsibility of the Watch and seeing his comrades die before him, he was nothing more than a broken soul who was only holding on because of his people.
And Nyris herself—she was already one hundred and three years old. Most of her body had stopped working. She had raised every single person sitting at the round table except for Lavinia and Kael, and the only reason she was still holding on was because she wanted to guide Alrisa so the girl could take over her position.
Every single person here had given their all for the Velmourns.
Who here wasn’t hurt by the fact that they had to hunt down one of their own?
But...
"We need to catch the traitor."
The oldest elder spoke, and a heavy silence fell in the hall. None of the people went against Elder Nyris’s words.
Well, no one but—
"All of this is too inefficient."
Lavinia finally spoke up.
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