Inner Discord, ch 22 (Patreon)

Tristan knew something had happened as soon as he stepped through the sanctuary’s door. By now, they knew to expect him, and he walked into the open as soon as he reached the section of cleared ground that stretched from the landing area to the entrance. There was enough coming and going from the exercise room by the entrance that someone would notice him and let people know.

This time, there was no one waiting to take the hides from him. No one in the exercise room. He strained to hear, but sound didn’t carry well. He placed the hides down and stepped carefully, alert for signs of what might have happened to silence the people here.

The confirmation something was wrong came in the form of a scent. Burned flesh and wood. Faint, but getting stronger. Humidity came with it, so whoever was burning was outside. Still no one by the time he reached the intersection, but now, along with the crackling of the fire, indistinct voices deeper within.

The people could be injured, but he found that didn’t bother him. There was no fighting, and he didn’t think he heard urgency in them. If Alex was with them, he’d been helping since he needed them to get through his issues.

The fire and why someone was burning were more pressing.

The light of the fire became visible as soon as he turned, small, distant. It grew as he approached and he made out enough to tell it wasn’t a body burning, and where there was more wood in the smoke. Pyres were burning. The bodies, he made out two pyres, and the reflected light of more, would be on them.

A little closer and he made out the form standing before them, a shadow against the firelight. Human male, wearing the acolyte’s clothing. Too much smoke to make out the person’s scent, but by the way they stood, they weren’t aware of his presence.

More cautiously, claws out, he approached.

He was still out of arm’s reach when the man realized he was there. The tension was sufficiently well disguised, most would miss it. It was also familiar.

“You missed the fun,” Alex said, his tone neutral, the one emotion he had mastered to keep others, even Tristan, from knowing how he felt.

“What happened?”

“Mercs,” Alex replied with a shrug. “What else?”

It was good the people being burned were the acolytes. It meant fewer delays for Alex. But it didn’t explain why his human stood here, watching the four pyres.

“Can you give me details?” He asked with the same neutrality.

“Remember that rich guy I told you about?”

“The one thinking the sanctuary had a piece of art he could buy.” Tristan had looked over the entirety of the structure the first time he’d been able to, as part of locating the library, and because it was prudent to know the layout of a place, he might have to pull Alex out of in a hurry. He hadn’t come across any art other than the books. The incident had made him consider there were hidden rooms, but he’d decided his time was better spent going through the books. If he couldn’t find the one he was looking for, then he’d consider it might be hidden, and go looking for where that was.

“Well, as you can imagine, he didn’t take no all that well. I guess he figured these people didn’t require much to be cowed into giving them what he was after, because he sent an eight people team with hardly any training. I barely got scratched dealing with them. And rich guy did peg me as an experienced merc. He thought I was Teklile’s bodyguard. Probably because I was there the entire time, and wouldn’t take my eyes off him.”

Tristan considered the implications. “How many casualties?”

“One. One of the merc started gleefully shooting at them blindly after I gave the group in the garden an opening to escape. I don’t know how many injured there were. They’d be in the dining hall, if you’re interested.”

“I’m not.” He couldn’t make out the bodies anymore, but each pyre was large enough for two. “Then these are the attackers.”

“Yeah.”

“Why are you here?”

Alex sighed. “It was Teklile’s idea,” he said, annoyed. “When he saw what I’d done to the mercs, the only reason he didn’t kick me out is that the others told him about how nasty one of the merc was.”

“You were efficient.”

“Viciously so. Even the retired merc were appalled, but they didn’t join in saying I should leave.”

“None of them?”

Alex chuckled. “Not even your fan. But yeah, that one sadistic merc made Teklile accept how efficient I was. But he thought I should still feel the consequences of my actions. I think it’s the fact I don’t care they’re dead. I couldn’t make myself seem like I care, Tristan.”

“Lying to them wouldn’t be productive, Alex.”

“I don’t think being honest is doing me any good, either.”

Tristan stepped behind him and wrapped his arms around his human. “You will get through this.”

Alex didn’t relax. “I think I knew this was going to happen.”

“What do you mean?”

“I know how rich assholes are. How being told no just translates into applying more force. I told myself I didn’t kill him there and then because I was trying to be better. That it was my urge to kill that made me want to cut him down. But I think I let him live because I knew this was going to happen. That I’d finally get to kill after so fucking long of holding it in.”

Tristan didn’t like the uncertainty in Alex’s voice. Mistakes were acceptable, expected, but assessing what happened should lead to more confidence, not less. This wasn’t about making Alex doubt himself, but about giving him certainty, control. Still, it was a process. One Tristan didn’t have expertize in, so he couldn’t judge it until it was completed.

“I think,” Alex said, “it’s why I let that last merc call out before killing him. Why I taunted him.”

“Do you have the comm unit?”

Alex shook his head. “I destroyed it before I could outright tell him to send more.”

Tristan rested his muzzle on Alex’s breathed in the wet and ashy scents.

“Do you want me to stay with you?” he eventually asked.

Alex chuckled bitterly. “Like you have no idea. But the point of this… exercise is for me to stand with the consequences of my actions, not be distracted from them. Once the fires are down to ambers, if it doesn’t start raining before that, I’ll be released from this.”

Tristan nipped his human’s neck. “I will make this worthwhile then.”

Alex caught his hand and faced him. Searched his face, then released him. “I’ll see you then.”

There had been questions there Tristan wished his human asked, but he wouldn’t force him. He no longer had the right to demand Alex tell him each thought that crossed his mind. If they were still relevant when he was ready, Alex would tell him then.

He left him to seek Teklile. Tristan had explained Alex’s problem, but now there had been an expose to a minimal version of it. While giving Alex the task of watching over the pyres should imply the situation hadn’t changed for him. Tristan needed to be certain.

There were eleven injured. Tristan found them, along with the majority of the sanctuary, in the dining room, as Alex had told him. Two were in severe condition, one’s chest burned to the bones; the other, part of her face. He was noticed as soon as he entered, and Teklile headed for him.

“Alex told me,” he preempted the explanation.

“Ah, yes, I suppose you would be drawn by the fire.”

Tristan set aside his questions and forced himself to look over the injured. He didn’t care, but he knew of the social expectations. If he build a mask, the actions would come to him without thought. Did acting on them without the underlying emotions make the act a lie?

“Will they be okay?” he asked, and then added. “Do you need Heals for them?”

“They will be well, but I thank you for the concern and the offer. They already have received Heals. And they have been looked over. The consensus is that they won’t need a medical table.”

“They are going to be scared and disfigured.”

“And they accept that. Appearance isn’t important here.”

The man sounded sincere, but Tristan’s knowledge of humans contradicted him.

“Then I’d like to talk about the person behind the attack.”

“Carter Hart.”

Tristan noted the name. If he had to, he’d research him. “Alex said he came here looking for a piece of art. Is it here?”

“I don’t know. Possibly. As I told him, I don’t know all the pieces we are keeping. Our founder already left us many, and more were donated over the years.”

“What is it called?”

“I don’t remember. Something about a moon, I think.”

“And he didn’t mean a book.”

“That isn’t the sense I got from him.”

“I haven’t come across something other than books in my exploration.”

“In the early days, there were more attempts at taking the art, so our founder built a hidden repository for them.”

“Can I see it?”

“Certainly, they are hidden as a deterrent, not because we are keeping them from the universe.”

Tristan followed Teklile through the sanctuary until they found themselves among the books. He went to a large shelf, pressed his hand under it, then pulled. The wall moved with an ease that spoke of technology not on display, and the light that came on inside, was harsher than what was used in the room and corridor. Something he’d expect on a ship, something that didn’t cater to people.

The inside went deep into the mountain, but the walls were metal. Shelves and cabinets held variety of pieces, painting, sculptures, he saw a hologram.

“What’s the security on this?”

“The lock is key to my body.”

Unsecured then. The merc would have after one specific item. They might take others to increase their take from the job, but there would be no care in getting in. They wouldn’t use explosive, since they wouldn’t know where inside the item they were after was, but if they made it this far, they would want to get through fast, so heat lances. Books would be destroyed, some of the pieces too.

“Thank you.” Tristan stepped back and Teklile closed the wall.

Tristan picked a book without looking; camouflage while he thought.

Merc wouldn’t get close enough to endanger the books. They wouldn’t get close enough to endanger the people here.

Since the goal was for Alex to have to deal with his issue, any fight he engaged in undid the work he’d done to that point. So Tristan to ensure no one came to bother his human.

The first step was locating the ship the mercs had used. He’d need to go to his ship. Its scanner might be able to pick it up. If not, the research stations should have an array he could take control of. He should also set them up to warn him of ships incoming to the area. Merc would land just outside the sanctuary’s expected sensor field, and they would easily detect the lack of one.

Once he had that, he had to decide how he would handle each potential landing location.

He smiled. Maybe he had enough time to train the local predators to attack humans on sight.