For a time, he does not believe what he is hearing. It is true that, even as his superior, Parson could not have gotten away with simply labeling the matter “classified” as long as it involved Rainlord territory, but even still, this is more than absurd. That such an old friend would threaten his family while they are so vulnerable is a betrayal beyond anything he has ever experienced.
But all the same, he does what Parson asks in the end. An international road is left unguarded for a single evening. It only connects Sair and Intar. He cannot imagine what need Parson would have of it. Vanguardian troops can already move between the two countries with relatively little difficulty. Perhaps Parson intended to move such a large volume of people that taking them through the proper channels might have spooked the other Rainlords. But if that was truly the case, then why would Parson not simply tell him so?
Then the news arrives.
House Elroy has been slaughtered. Only a pair of teenagers have survived.
And he realizes. This is no coincidence.
He contacts Parson immediately.
“I advise you not to say anything,” Parson tells him. “Else you may find yourself shouldering the blame for their deaths.”
“Parson... What did you do, exactly?”
“Again, I’ll thank you for your discretion, as long as you’ll thank me for mine.”
He can pull no more information out of the general. He learns from the other Rainlords that Abolish was the culprit, but they are all disturbed and bewildered by how such an apparently large and dangerous sect of Abolish could infiltrate Sair undetected.
And he finds himself faced with a choice. Remain silent or risk telling them what he knows.
It tears his heart out, but he and Rholtam decide to say nothing. They believe that, with how little they know of Parson’s plot, even telling the other Rainlords a “version” of the truth would likely blow up in their faces. They must not attract attention.
Thankfully, the other Rainlords discover a lead on the Abolishers, anyway. His House helps hunt them down while Ibai is kept under guard at Marshrock. The hunt ends abruptly and with little satisfaction when they find that the Abolishers have already been obliterated. Their severed heads have all been put on gruesome display. He later asks in private, but unsurprisingly, Parson does not claim responsibility.
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Page 885
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Screw Parson with a butterknife in the molar.
ReplyDeleteThose Abolishers were probably killed by high-ranked Abolishers for assisting Parson, either that or the obvious.
ReplyDeleteFrost I swear to god, if this gets any more George rr Martin esque I'm going to petition hbo to make you a TV show :p never stop this
ReplyDeleteThe abolishers trook the blame but I doubt they were responsible.
ReplyDeleteHope Parson dies
Dam, when all of this falls into place im probably going to blown away.
ReplyDeleteWith chunks of iron and shattered glass with ya.
ReplyDeleteSatan approves
ReplyDeleteI once complimented a particularly awesome page and the only response I got was "thanks satan", I was pleased.
ReplyDeleteSo Parson is probably willing to create an aberration to get what he wants. Abolish probably wouldn't want to risk strengthening the relationship of Vanguard and the rainlords by doing such a thing, and they wouldn't know that he wouldn't just kill it when he found out what it was, so they would be wasting a captive for nothing. I wonder if all the major servant dynasties have reaper genetics running in their blood, and if perhaps being part reaper or having an ancestor for a reaper might have some connection to the special powers like rain and sand. Also, I wonder if there are any dynasties with non-mass powers, and what they might be. We probably won't find out for a while if ever, but eh.
ReplyDeleteThat explains why Parson went with the thuggish approach instead of just invoking Vanguard secrecy. By knuckling under on a matter that was obviously disreputable (because he blackmailed them instead of giving a good reason), the Blackburns implicated themselves in the result. If he had convinced them to let him work in good faith, they wouldn't have hesitated to blow the whistle to Sanko when they found out the truth.
ReplyDeleteRereading this page, I just realized... Wouldn't a severed but not crushed servant head still regenerate? Even if the reaper is killed?
ReplyDeleteDepends. If regeneration is still running, it would regrow with or without a living reaper, but you could defeat that by encasing it. If regeneration isn't running, it wouldn't regenerate, but would still keep the reaper from respawning the servant unless it decays or the servant manages to self-destruct.
ReplyDeleteExactly what I was thinking. I'll compromise and just think that the heads that were left were ones that could be left intact.
ReplyDeleteActually, putting a head on a stake would stop the regeneration too, because the brain is destroyed. I hadn't reread the page all the way, and didn't realize you were talking about the Vlad's Flowerbed incident.
ReplyDeleteAh I didn't even think about the stakes going all the way through. There's that mystery solved.
ReplyDelete