I was hoping to throw up a different snippet, but the bit I’m working on has been taking longer to finish than I’d planned… so here’s one possible outcome set for the Auche elopement, if you inform Alasais about it:
Summary
You’re within eyeshot of the stables on the day when Alastor Korren and lady Alasais abruptly walk down from the manor, and stride in after Auche. You slip @{(com > 1) noiselessly|casually} to a place where you can overhear them.
“You’ve built up a nice little cache of supplies here, lad.” Korren’s voice is dry. “Planning a trip that you haven’t told us about? For two, by the looks of it?”
Give the boy credit for poise; there’s only a slight edge of tension to his easy response. “I thought I’d ride out into the moors for a few days’ hunt, and wanted to be well-supplied in case we met a storm. Is there some danger I don’t know of there, Alastor?”
“Son.” Alasais sounds both stern and sad. “We already know the truth of what you’re planning.”
“Dama, I don’t know what you…”
“We know about your elopement. We know about Earith.”
Silence. Then: “I love her, Dama.” Auche’s voice is high and cracking. “I’m so sorry, but I cannot go east while she’s at risk here. If there were any way we could be together like the Captain and her sister, I’d take it, in a heartbeat. But we all know that’s not possible for us.”
“It’s not,” Korren agrees, frank but not unkind. “And nor is what you’re planning, lad. Not on the roads as they are these days. The two of you would be snapped up and we’d never be able to save you in time.” After a pause, he presses on with, “If you truly love her, if you truly want to protect her…”
“Don’t you dare tell me I need to let her go!” Auche snaps at the Alastor. “You, of all people!”
“I’d like some words alone with my son, Captain.” There’s a taut undercurrent to kuria Alasais’s otherwise level voice. “Could I ask you to make the rounds of the area and ensure there are no bats in the outer rafters?”
*choice
#@{brasquedeirde I already know the secret she’s about to share with him.|That’s it.} Time to slip away before I’m caught.
[…]
*selectable_if (com < 3) #I think I can evade Korren’s notice. I stay hidden where I am.
*label evadekornot
*if ((int < 2)
*set spyausc true
*if (int > 1) and not(spyausc)
You’re far enough away that even if he found you, he’d never believe you could hear the de Irdes.
*if (com = 3)
Even with your capacity for absolute stillness, there’s a good chance of being caught by an enforcer scouring the area for listeners. But the kuria’s gratitude should offer you some protection; and you could probably beat them all in a fight, if it comes to that.
*goto auchedrop_2
#@{(com = 3) I recognize the weakness of my hiding place,|I don’t know if I can evade him,} but since it was only by my spying that they’re here at all…I’ll take the risk of being found.
*goto evadekornot
*label auchedrop_2
You focus all your attention on the quiet conversation inside the stable, doing your best to ignore the searching Alastor.
“What you’re dreaming of is…unacceptable, son. Unthinkable.” Alasais sounds like she’s groping for the right handholds on a nearly-sheer slope.
“Unthinkable? You’ve always taught us to think of the helots as not so different from ourselves, Dama. That the de Irde way is to treat them with humanity…”
“Not like this!” Her voice is all the more intense for being held to a low volume. “Angels, tell me you’ve not…that there’ll be no new children ensuing from this madness.”
“She’s not going to let herself fall pregnant, Dama. Not until we’re wed.” Auche’s voice is a rebellious growl.
Alasais’s breath bursts sharply, audibly, from her nostrils. “Your grandfather also assumed that helots ate mullow.”
Neither of them speaks for several drawn-out seconds. “What are you saying, Mother?”
“That this cannot be, for reasons that go well beyond what you think you know.” In the stunned silence that follows, you
*if (brasquedeirde)
lean forward, not wanting to miss the revelation.
*if not(brasquedeirde)
@{(korcyn > 0) remember Cynneve’s light eyes, and Agarie’s, and understand|realize} the foundation of the mutual trust between the de Irdes and Stallards.
“Earith is…not just any helot, son.”
*set brasquedeirde true
*page_break
*if spyausc
And then there are hands gripping both your shoulders, yanking you bodily away from the stable, and hurling you into the dusty grass nearby. You tumble away and come up into a @{(com < 2) clumsy|} defensive crouch. Korren’s eyes are blazing, even though he keeps his voice to a whisper. “@{(ird_sus > ird_sus_low) Always it’s your ears pressed to the wall, isn’t it|So what has you pressing your ears to this wall}, ${ird_name}?”
“Lady Alasais wasn’t displeased that I’d been keeping an eye on her son,” you gasp, tracing a cautious circle around the Alastor captain. “If I’d not listened, you’d not be here today—and the boy would be on his way out of Irduin.”
“So you think that makes you, what—the lady kuria’s spy-in-chief? You think she’ll be content that you were eavesdropping on her?” In a smooth, unhesitating motion, Korren draws his sword. “Stay where you are, ${girl}. We’ll ask her.”
*label alkorcaughtch
*choice
*hide_reuse #“Did you hear what she told him?” I demand. “Do you know the secret that could get the Stallards killed?”
*set alkorc 1
“I don’t eavesdrop on milady.” Korren’s tone is bleak. “Breaking trust with her would do a lot more damage than whatever you’ve weaseled out.”
“It affects your Cynneve just as much as it does Earith…”
“One more word and I’ll run you through, ${girl}.”
*goto alkorcaughtch
#I can’t risk Alasais learning that I overheard her family’s connection to Brasque. I @{(com > 1) fight my way free and flee|flee from the Alastor captain and} Irduin.
*if (com > 1)
*label forkfight
Out of the corner of your eye, you see a hayfork leaning against the stable wall. Lunging too fast for Korren to prevent, you snatch it up—barely in time to catch his sword blow between its twin iron prongs.
The Alastor captain pulls back before you can disarm him, then circles you with a @{(alkorc = 4) growing fear. Not only does this make your claims more plausible, but he|new wariness. He} didn’t come armored today, thinking he’d only be stopping a boy’s elopement. “Drop the fork, ${alias}. Before you do anything even the lady kuria won’t forgive.”
“We might already be past that point, Captain.” You keep your voice hard, swallowing both your rue at being caught and your worry that one more hard blow might break your tool’s untempered iron. @{(sralibi = 4) “And you know I could kill you with this, so don’t try me.”|“And be warned—I could kill you with this. Don’t force me.”}
The clash of metal has brought the two de Irdes out of the stable. Auche gapes at you for a confused moment until lady Alasais thrusts him behind her. You don’t think there are any readily improvisable weapons in her reach, but the former Phalangite looks ready to tear you apart with her bare hands. “How dare you assault my captain, ${ird_name}? What by Xaos do you think you’re doing?”
“$!{he} was eavesdropping on you, milady.” Korren never takes his eyes off yours as he puts himself between you and the aristoi. “@{(alkorc = 4) Claims the Mystikon set ${him} on us. And|I’m sorry I didn’t catch ${him} at it earlier. But} whatever you were telling the lad…I reckon ${he} heard it.”
Focused on the Alastor, you don’t properly see lady Alasais’s reaction. But you hear the breath catch in her throat, and the dread tinging her flinty voice. “$!{he}'s @{(alkorc = 4) no Kryptast, Captain. $!{he}'s a spy for the Commotion.|a spy for the Commotion, Captain.} See ${he} doesn’t leave here alive.”
*label whynoguards
*page_break
*if alkorc = 4
This just confirms that she fears an unmasking even more than she fears Kryptasts—and that’s how you might yet escape.
“Why not call for your guards, milady? Worried about what they might hear? What I might shout?” The words spill out of you quick and low; you’re sure you’ve only got seconds before Korren takes his chance at you. “Is Telone Baldassare at the manor today? What do you reckon—could he hear me from here?”
No one moves. “And why haven’t you shouted already, ${ird_name}?” Alasais’s voice could freeze the Irdewater.
“Well, that might end with me dying, and killing the Captain here and a brace of your guards, and all Irduin knowing your secrets. There’s got to be some other way that works better for all of us.” After a moment’s pause, you add:
*if alkorc = 4
“You were right, milady. I’m no Kryptast. I just said that to keep Alastor Korren from skewering me for long enough to talk with you.”
“As if I’d look more kindly on spying by a rebel?”
It’s not worth denying it; you just let a little plaintive desperation into your voice as you nod toward the young kurios.
“If I desired to do you or Irduin harm, kuria…would I have told you that your son here was planning an elopement? I could have let that happen. $!{ird_oath}, I could have helped him.”
Auche’s tear-streaked face goes slack with shock. “$!{bastard}! Rimmer ${bastard}!”
Hopefully, his outrage will help your cause with his mother, whose face still shows nothing but implacable hostility. “You have an alternative to propose, ${girl}?”
“Send your son to fetch my
*if not(alone)
@{(cerl_here and gam) friends|companion} and our
things from the Chesnery. Meanwhile we’ll prepare @{alone a horse|horses} here. @{alone I’ll|We’ll} ride out of your lives. $!{oath}, @{alone I’ll even leave the horse|we’ll even leave the horses} at the canal. On the highway, they’d only draw attention @{alone I|we} won’t want. I’ve no interest in your property, or your secrets, once I’ve quit Irduin.”
“Do as ${he} says, lad.” Kuria Alasais doesn’t hesitate. “Tell no one. Bring no @{alone one.|one but ${his}}
*if not(alone)
@{(cerl_here and gam) companions.|friend.}
You understand now what’s at stake.” Auche swallows a protest, then turns and runs off toward the inn.
“Good of you to send the child away, ${ird_name}.” The tension in Korren’s voice and posture tell you that he’s still on the verge of an attack. You’re sure that both he and Alasais will be afraid of some groom or servant wandering by, seeing your confrontation, and raising the alarm. Killing you before you can shout out any secrets will still be their foremost priority.
*choice
#This is going to end in bloodshed. Best to kill them both now, while the boy’s gone and I’ve a chance of not being spotted.
You lunge for Korren first,
*label killkorren
*if (sralibi !=4) or (com = 3)
faster than @{(sralibi = 4) he can match, even after all your sparring. You’ve always known he wasn’t your equal in a fight…and when your eyes meet over the tines buried in his chest, you can see that he always knew it too.|he has any reason to think you can move. The shock of finding that you’re actually a seasoned fighter spills across the Alastor’s face—and seconds later, it’s wiped away by agony from the tines buried in his chest.}
*goto alkorcfight
*else
as you’ve done in so many sparring sessions since the summer. He almost dodges your thrust, taking a score along his side that puts him close enough to have a chance at your head. You duck fast enough to take only a grazing blow, but the pain is still blinding. Swinging the butt end of the hayfork around, you get in a lucky hit just under his ribcage, winding him so that his second attack goes wild.
In the seconds it takes him to recover, you dash the blood from your forehead and jump back to make the most of your fork’s greater reach. Korren’s also bleeding freely through his shirt, but comes after you with barely-diminished ferocity. This time, he brings his sword down hard enough to snap off one of the tines of your makeshift weapon. With a snarl, you shove it past his blade at the right angle to send it into his chest.
*set alkorc 8
*goto alkorcfight
*label alkorcfight
“Curse you, ${ird_name}!” he gasps wetly, trying with his last strength to throw his sword to Alasais. Seeing Korren’s intent, you shove him off-balance with the hayfork and snatch up his blade from where it’s fallen in the dirt, only halfway to the kuria. She’s already running into the stable to arm herself against you.
When you follow Alasais, you see she’s caught up a wooden manure hoe. All around you, the de Irde horses are whinnying and stamping, sensing the violence on the air. Tears streak the lady kuria’s face, but there’s no tremor in her hands or voice. “May the Angels damn your treacherous, murderous, spying soul to Taratur.” She attacks before you have a chance to reply, whether in mercy or mockery.
Twenty years ago, as an active Phalangite commander on the Halassur border, she’d probably have taken you. Her instincts are keen and her skills clearly rival yours, even when rusty from years of partial neglect. But in the end her improvised, unbalanced staff can’t counter steel. Bruised but not crippled by the blows she lands on you, you lunge past her defenses and slash Korren’s blade through her abdomen.
As her mouth works soundlessly and the life fades from her eyes, you crouch next to her.
*fake_choice
#“I offered you another way, kuria de Irde. You should have taken it.”
#“I’m so sorry, milady. You deserved a better end than this.”
#“I am damned, kuria. But I’ve more to do before Taratur claims me.”
#I say nothing. Why waste breath on the dead?
You drag Alasais’s body into the darkest corner of the stable, then hurriedly leave before the horses’ panic draws retainers to the scene. @{(aristo or (me_ride > 1)) There’s no time to try to calm any of them enough to ride away.|} When Korren’s body is found, they’ll hopefully try to locate the lady back in the manor to find out what to do. When she’s found, kurios Joet will surely set the estate’s hounds to find the murderer. You need to be as far away as you can before that hunt begins.
#Alasais isn’t brutal enough for me to be at any real risk. At worst, she’ll exile me from the village. I stay put.
*if int > 1
This would still be a good time to fish out the sharpened stone chip you use to draw blood. But as soon as your hand dips toward your kyrtle, Captain Korren’s sword extends to hover near your neck. “No knives, no weapons, no tricks, ${ird_name}. Keep your hands open.”
*label alkorcaught
You stay frozen in place until lady Alasais emerges from the stables with Auche in tow. Her eyes snap to you at once, then narrow with anger and apprehension. “Captain Korren. What is this ${woman} doing here?”
The Alastor commander speaks over your desperate efforts to make yourself heard. “Eavesdropping, kuria. Whatever you were saying to the young kurios there…I reckon ${he}'d already heard the first half of it before I found ${him}.”
Fury flares across Alasais’s face. “$!{he}'s a spy for the Commotion, Captain. Dispose of ${him} at once.”
$!{oath}. So much for her benevolence.
*if (com > 1)
*gosub hayfork [see above]
“Put it down, ${alias}. We can have a dozen guards here before you’ve time to run.”
*goto whynoguards
*elseif (int > 1)
*set alkorc 5
*goto bloodypalm
*else
All you can do is bluff, as fast and as persuasively as you possibly can.
*goto alkorckryp
*if (alkorc = 0)
*hide_reuse #He’s got to be at least a little worried that I’m a Kryptast. I try to intimidate him.
*if cha > 1
When you speak again, it’s in a flinty, emotionless tone that sounds gratifyingly unlike your normal voice.
*label alkorckryp
“If my next report doesn’t reach the Mystikon by Langnight, the next ${woman} sent here won’t be listening at walls. $!{he}'ll find out I was killed, assume you’re rebels, and kill you all, too.”
*if (cha < 2) and (alkorc = 0)
Korren’s lip curves back. “A Kryptast? You? Angels, ${ird_name}, don’t make me laugh.”
*goto alkorcaughtch
*elseif alkorc = 0
*set alkorc 4
Korren’s face becomes a blank mask. “Let’s neither of us do anything rash, then. I’m not about to let you go just for saying ‘Mystikon’ at me.” When your muscles tense, he barks, “Don’t try to run, ${ird_name}. I’ll cut you down, and explain why to anyone who comes asking, Theurge or otherwise.”
He clearly means to keep you under guard until kuria Alasais emerges from the stables to guide him.
*choice
*selectable_if ((com > 1) or (int > 1)) #If she thinks I know her family’s secret, she’ll tell him to kill me, Kryptast or no. I need to fight my way free.
*if com > 1
*goto forkfight
*else
*goto bloodypalm
#@{((com < 2) and (int < 2)) I’d never survive a fight with Korren.|} I can convince her I didn’t hear anything damning.
*label twonobex
When the two nobles emerge a few minutes later from the stable, you can see the anger and fear plainly on kuria Alasais’s face. “What by all Angels…?”
“$!{he} was eavesdropping on you, kuria,” Korren begins.
You interrupt him @{wisdisp by cutting your palm and levitating him to twice his height. Before any of them can do more than gasp, you snap out,|with cold confidence.} “As I was sent by the Mystikon to do.
*label rebprobe
The rebels of the Rim probe everywhere for an opening to the Southriding. I came here to reassure my masters that it will not come through Irduin.”
Kuria Alasais’s eyes dart in fleeting despair to her son, before coming back to fix bleakly on you. “What proof can you make of such a claim? Have you a warrant from…?”
“We carry no warrant, nor charter, nor letter of introduction.” The level of scorn in your voice cuts through her defiance. “Our @{wisdisp power is our warrant—as is our knowledge|knowledge is our warrant}. And I have already shared enough with you to prevent this boy’s folly.”
“Didn’t think that was how Kryptasts usually stop folly of this sort,” Korren @{wisdisp says, shakily but forcefully, from above you all|notes flatly}. Auche’s face is taut with terror.
“We kill where we must. Not wastefully or rashly. Not where a House is willing to discipline its own.” You cock your head to one side in a show of curiosity. “Enlighten me, kuria: what was it you sent Korren away to tell your son? The Alastor laid hands on me before I could hear whether the helot was herself with child.”
The two of you exchange expressionless stares for some seconds before Alasais growls, “She is not. And I wished to tell my son some matters pertaining to his father, my former husband, Tyndar de Wrase.” She hides the lie well—and you don’t think she’s sure that you’re lying about the last thing you heard. You can still see your death in her eyes, though. “With no warrant, ${kuria} ‘${ird_name},’ how is one expected to manage an outrage of this sort? I’m sure the Mystikon has some way of distinguishing its servants from @{wisdisp rebel Goetes|common spies}.” @{((theuknown > 9) and wisdisp) The horrid suspicion that you’re actually ${fname} ${lname} tinges every word.|}
There’s only one answer that might give them pause in killing you. “Bring back Seichareis. Tell him I am discovered. Let him take me off for Slow-Harrowing if I’ve lied.” You @{wisdisp return Korren swiftly to the ground|gesture to Captain Korren}. “Now tell your Alastor to sheathe his sword before we’re seen. If anyone else here suspects my purpose, it could lead to the rebel sympathizers among your yeomanry fleeing before we can draw in the net.”
It’s also a reminder that if they mean to dispose of you, they mustn’t do it where any passing retainer might witness it and tell an investigating Theurge. “It seems, ${kuria}, that you must be a guest of the de Irde.” With a thin-lipped smile, Alasais pulls the scarf from around her neck. “For subtlety’s sake, then…lie down, and let us bind your mouth.”
*page_break
It was an impressive piece of cleverness from the lady, you have to admit. She’d never have released you back to the Chesnery to await the Theurge’s coming; but for @{((ird_focus = 1) or (ird_subfocus = 1)) an ordinary retainer|a helot-friendly commoner} to suddenly be housed in a top-floor room in the de Irde manor would kindle rumors all across the demesne. The best excuse is for you to be taken suddenly and gravely ill with an illness that only a Theurge could be expected to purge. @{(lyssa > 0) Like lyssa.|Lyssa, the bite-madness sometimes spread by bats from the mines, fits perfectly.}
So Korren gagged you to keep you from biting, bound your wrists, then had you borne back in a feigned fever-fit by terrified servants. The fact that this made it imposssible for you to shout any secrets @{alone or warn an accomplice|} was no doubt also intentional on kuria Alasais’s part.
Now you’re locked into a room where only Korren will enter to bring you food, water, and medicine. You’ve not touched any of it yet, wary of poison.
*goto jailbreak
*if int > 1
#A display of ${wisardry} will convince them I’m a Kryptast, and that they can’t stop me.
*set wisdisp true
*goto twonobex
*else
*comment if nobles already out of stable
*page_break
Your threats, and the cold confidence with which you utter them, take the Irduines aback. “Such words are easily spoken,” Alasais says at last.
"Do you find them hard to believe, kuria?
*goto rebprobe
*comment not caught spying
And that’s when Captain Korren gets close enough to notice you. As he approaches, you raise one hand in greeting and (reluctantly) let your senses refocus to their normal limits. “Wanted to make sure the young kurios wasn’t about to ride off with anyone he shouldn’t,” you explain in a low voice, trying to keep the immensity of the secret you just overheard from affecting your demeanor.
Korren gives a rough shake of his head. “Won’t be happening. You seen anyone else hovering about with their ears open?”
“No one, Captain. The secret’s safe.” You make a quick bow and hurry off before the nobles emerge from the stables. The implications of the secret you just overheard buzz ceaselessly around your mind.
But here are some of the alternatives when you’ve sent the boy away (other than “