Chapter Six

Two months before capture…

The mask Aegeus wore was hot and tight, pressing close to the skin of his face until he felt as though he could barely breathe. He wondered how much of that feeling was truly because of the mask itself, and how much of it was because of what the mask represented. When he wore that mask, he was literally faceless. He was just another member of the Order, another of the hierarchy. This mask fulfilled its purpose well. When he wore it, he was unknown to those he spoke to. They didn’t know which of his rank within the hierarchy they were speaking to, protecting him and maintaining the shadowy properties of the Order. Through this mask he was nothing more than a continuation of the Panel and the ranks before him, as well as all of those who shared his own rank with him. While this was useful in some situations, including the rituals and traditions that defined the Order and persisted after countless generations, it was also disturbing. The mask stole from him his very identity. It took from him what made him his own and differentiated him from those around him. This was not only deeply impactful for him and the great pride that he had in his family, but also created a hollow feeling within himself.

It was that hollow feeling that worried Aegeus the most. He knew when a person felt hollow in that way, they most often began to search for something to fulfill them, to remove that feeling and protect them from the uneasiness and loss of confidence and control that could come from it. The mask created that hollow feeling within the members of the Order so that they would fill it with complete devotion to the Order and all that was asked of them. When he wore the mask, he began to lose himself and his true aim. He began to think more about the Panel and what they taught. He felt himself grow stern and fall more and more into line with what was expected of him rather than what he believed and knew that he should be doing.

He struggled against that feeling now as he sat in one of the smallest lounges of the lair with a group of lower ranked Order members gathered around him.

“I’ve heard rumors about the corruption, but I can’t honestly believe that it’s true,” one of the young members said.

The slightly older man beside him nodded.

“I agree,” he said. “It’s just too outlandish. We are a unit and if there was something like that happening, we would know about it.”

“The Order is a hierarchy,” Aegeus pointed out. “What happens in the ranks above you is rarely something that you truly know anything about.”

“Then how would you know?” one of the men asked. “By your mask we know that you aren’t at the top rank. How do you know what happens among the Panel members?”

“You just have to believe me,” Aegeus said.

“I think what you call corruption is no more than some of the upper Order members not living up to the true goal and aspirations of the Order. What they’re doing is wrong, but they are far too high in the hierarchy for anyone to fight against.”

“There are more than just the members of the Order,” Aegeus said, frustrated and horrified that they were taking this situation so lightly. “The corruption has spread into the community. It is stretching further each day.”

“Then why has no one in the Kingdom noticed?” one of the men asked. “If what is happening is so horrible and there are people just roaming the streets throughout the Kingdom so corrupted that it is changing their very bodies, how does no one know about it?”

“The corruption is more than their bodies,” Aegeus said. “It’s their minds and their souls. The mutation of their body is only part of it. There are many who have been completely corrupted in their thoughts and actions yet haven’t undergone the physical transformation yet.”

He could see in their eyes that the young members didn’t believe him. They couldn’t see the danger that they were facing.

“It just doesn’t make sense,” one said. “It sounds like a conspiracy, like part of the rebellion.”

With that, Aegeus knew that the conversation was over. If he continued to push, they would become suspicious and might feel the need to discuss this conversation with the elders. Though he was masked, an inquiry might lead to the Panel uncovering his identity. He started to leave but turned back to face them.

“Soon, you’ll see,” he assured them. “Soon you will see all that is happening. You will know the truth and join the cause for survival and victory, or you will fall. It will be up to you to decide which way you will go.”

Aegeus left the lounge, weaving his way through several corridors before he removed his mask and tucked it away in his robes. He smoothed his hair and gave himself a moment for the heat to disappear from his face before he started through the corridors again. He made a point to look into the lounge and greet the young members, who were still sitting where they had been when he left, discussing what he had told them in low, muttered tones. One looked up at him, the questions in his eyes a stark contrast to the confidence that Aegeus had seen in the others when talking to them.

“Aegeus,” he said.

Aegeus stopped his progress out of the room and turned back.

“Yes, Ephraim?” he said to the man coming toward him.

“Have you heard anything about corruption in the Order?” Ephraim asked.

Aegeus kept his expression still, not wanting to relay any emotion within it.

“Corruption?” he asked.

He intended to maintain the convention of formal conversation between upper members of the hierarchy and those ranked below them. In these interactions the upper member often spoke in questions to the lower member, encouraging them to think for themselves and evaluate situations critically, building confidence and assuredness within themselves while also ensuring that the higher member gave away only what information he deemed appropriate for that particular member. Because the use of this convention was based on the situation and was often used when a younger member was being considered for advancement through the ranks, Aegeus knew that Ephraim would find it impactful that he was using it. Aegeus could manipulate the young man’s perceptions of the conversation and the situation unfolding around him just by the way that he spoke to him, using his words and the inflection of his tone to conceal his true intentions just as much as the mask had.

“There are rumors that there are members of the upper hierarchy, including the Panel, and members of the community that have become corrupt and are threatening the Kingdom and the Universe.”

“And you know who these corrupt people supposedly are?”

Ephraim shook his head.

“No,” he said. “No one seems to. I’ve heard that Casimir was one of them. I’ve also heard that at least one advisor to the King is another.”

This was something that Aegeus hadn’t mentioned to them, a new bit of information that Ephraim must have gathered from another source. He tucked it away in his mind so that he could share it with Athan.

“And you believe that this is happening?”

“I don’t know,” Ephraim said.

“We don’t,” one of the other men said.

“Why?” Aegeus asked.

“If it was, we would all know about it. The Order is too powerful for anything to remain hidden for long.”

Aegeus nodded slowly, processing what those words really meant. He looked into Ephraim’s eyes. He could see the beginnings of belief there, enough uncertainty that there was a chance that Aegeus could convince him, could sway him into understanding the truth and taking the steps that he needed to to help rise up and protect what needed to remain safe.

“Do you know who you can speak to if you feel that there is something happening, or if you notice something that you find suspicious?”

Ephraim stared back at him and Aegeus hoped that he had done enough to make his message clear. He turned and walked away slowly, showing no sign of the urgency he felt to get to Athan.

When he arrived at Athan’s house his trusted friend joined him without saying a word. They walked quickly toward Aegeus’ house, neither looking at the other. The closer that they got to the battle, the more aware they were of the possibility of prying ears and curious eyes. They didn’t want to risk calling any attention to themselves, or for even a stray word to be noticed by someone around them. They rushed through Aegeus’ house and into the hidden lounge, each taking a moment to look reverently at the symbol that represented Aegeus’ father as they passed beneath it.

They settled onto the chairs surrounding a rectangular table scattered with papers and Aegeus looked at Athan.

“I think that we might be getting to Ephraim,” he said.

“Just Ephraim?”

Aegeus nodded.

“The rest that I talked to didn’t seem convinced. They think that this is all just a conspiracy and that none of it is really real.”

“I don’t know if we should consider that a bad thing because we need as much support as we can get, or a good thing because it means that the corruption is moving slowly and hasn’t yet infiltrated or impacted them.”

“We don’t really know if it has impacted them,” Aegeus pointed out. “It’s possible that their resistance and distrust is just an early sign of it. We have to stay vigilant and pay close attention to them and how they are interacting to see if there are any further signs. How did everything go with you this morning?”

“Well,” Athan said. “Our store of weapons has grown considerably. I think that we are nearly fully armed. I went to see the Irisa today and have found several who are sympathetic to us and are willing to join the cause.”

Aegeus nodded.

“Good. We need to determine how we are going to call the battle without disturbing anyone else in the Kingdom. This is only about us confronting the corrupt in the badlands, not against any of the rest of the Order or any of the community in the Kingdom. I want to make sure it stays that way.”

“So do I,” Athan agreed.

“Creia,” Aegeus suddenly said.

“What?”

“Creia. The King of the Denynso clan.”

“The Mikana has no alliance with them,” Athan pointed out. “Even the link between the Order and the Denynso has been extremely thin and fragile for many years. We rarely, if ever, interact with them.”

“Exactly,” Aegeus said. “Remember how the Panel questioned me. They know that something that’s happening has to do with the Denynso clan that disappeared. So, if it is conflict with the Denynso that the corrupt want, then that is what they’ll get.”

Aegeus leaned back against the stone wall, shuddering as a drop of water slid down the surface and ran down the back of his neck. He hadn’t felt warm and dry since Ryan had tossed him into this cell. His mind was slipping further. He was disappearing a little more each moment. He had to keep concentrating, no matter how painful it was to remember. He had to try to understand what had brought him here, to this moment, to this place. Who betrayed them? How did they know? How could his plan have gone so wrong, so quickly?

He shifted and a shooting pain cut through his back. Aegeus gritted his teeth and hissed at the pain. One benefit that he had found for the cold that surrounded him was that it helped to take some of the intensity away from the pain of his deepest injuries. The numbness of his skin ensured that the worst of the pain was dulled rather than driving him into madness. Some of the injuries had been inflicted purely for their pain, punishments for resisting transfers, for fighting against the Valdicians, for existing. Others were the result of experiments that Ryan carried out on him. Aegeus never knew the true purpose of any of the experiments, just as he didn’t know how much time had passed. The constant changes in amount of light that he had and the amount of activity he was allowed, or forced into, made it so that Aegeus was never sure of the time that passed and his body was rapidly losing its internal rhythms, leaving him not knowing whether he was being awoken every day, every other day, or several times throughout a single day.

By the hair on his face Aegeus could only make a guess that he had been with Ryan for several weeks, if not more. His body ached from being kept in such small spaces for so long and not being allowed to move around when he wanted to. His mind was continuing to slip away, the torment of what he was going through chipping away at him little by little. But it wasn’t enough. He was going to keep fighting. Nothing was going to stop him. He would continue to remind himself of why he was there, why he was such a threat to Ryan and the Valdicians that they felt they had no choice but to focus all their energy and attention on finding and stopping him. No matter what he went through now, he knew that it was because he got so close to them, he threatened them so much.