According to the Hero's ideas - one could not decently call it a plan as it was so messy - they would only spy on the fanatics and dig up any information on their identity in their conversations.
If he had known he was going to do that, he would have at least warned Helmir to join them and support them, fortunately he had kept a small object that would be useful if everything went as he had planned: badly.
The group walked through the most gloomy parts of the Nether, walking on those sticky and muddy paths, where no light dared to penetrate, the windows were either closed or broken. In these dark streets, there were no living souls, no living being who had or had the slightest spark of intelligence, one could come across all sorts of beings who had reverted to a savage state, even the fairies whose race had not been born as violent and savage beings, and not very adept at hand-to-hand combat, confronted all the beings who stood in their way.
In order to go unnoticed and not have to fight these creatures that have degenerated to the state, Lelelitio had executed Silencio on his partners and himself. Even if it was not an advanced spell, it was powerful enough to deceive the most stupid.
And at last they arrived at the meeting place, in front of the "Hydragon". For convenience, the inhabitants of the Fairy Forest called it the Hydragon but, in truth, it was the mass of two dragon corpses, one was bigger than the other, had four wings bigger than its six legs and three heads and the other had six wings, two heads and four legs.
These dragons were gigantic, their sizes were totally disproportionate, nothing like anything the Hero had seen on his long journey, they were simply... creatures of nightmares. Those things that had come to the surface of the Earth to decimate Men and Faerie.
The Hero thought he saw signs of 'cybernetic hybridization' on the jaw - a 'natural' process done by some creatures of all types that fuse with mechanical or technological objects to become a kind of 'natural' cyborg. No one knew where this instinct to mechanise came from, it seemed to date from long before the merging of worlds according to some Faerie books - but it seemed to him to be nothing more than metal particles found in the teeth of fire-breathing monsters, having the ability to store a flammable gas in an organ of their body and the clash of their teeth would create sparks allowing the breath to ignite and the monsters to breathe fire. Not all of them have this particularity, it is even very rare, but the three-headed dragon seemed to possess it.
Our little group was gradually approaching the meeting place, the further they went, the more murmurs they heard, which meant that they were reaching the low masses he was looking for. Lelelitio stopped them and advised them to be very careful.
- We may be in total stealth, but my spell is not as powerful as the one I placed on the orphanage, so be very careful where you walk and how you walk.
They all nodded and moved as one towards the centre of the meeting, striding quietly, forcing themselves to breathe as quietly as possible. They found a most strange scene: a whole bunch of men in those red tunics with the long pointed hoods around a huge bonfire and circling around it, above them were two men whose faces were hidden by the gloom, but you could tell from their physiognomy that one was rather thin and the other a huge lump, and both had no wings. At this point they couldn't tell if they were the leaders of the group or not - if even Lelelitio and Lin with elf eyes weren't going to make a difference -, nevertheless their words were more than audible.
So finally, they have come together, the Hero thought, it speeds up my predictions and that's good.
At that very moment, the Hero's eyes lit up with a golden glow, and he closed his eyes to prevent anyone from seeing him in this state. The hero's powers of legend had been activated, he understood that the people inside the skeleton were speaking a foreign language, or rather... a dead language. As Beneltig had told them, the fanatics were speaking English to cover their tracks. And this time, unlike when he had to read a book in French, he had to concentrate as much as possible to understand what they were saying.
- Brothers!" said one of the two men on the railing, "today we have suffered treachery within our group.
Everyone felt Beneltig tremble, which made the hero and Tarkus laugh - although he did not understand what the leader was saying - but they managed to hold back. Malalalivua patted the Hero on the shoulder and whispered that she recognized the voice of the man who spoke, it was similar to that of the Mortalis Shears. The Hero gave her a thumbs up to confirm that he had also noticed and told her that she would explain what they were saying to each other in the end.
However, the voice was very familiar.
- This oaf really thought he could betray our centuries-old cause for the sake of some scum. He has received his just punishment, so I want you to remember that when you join our group, you never leave until the true ruler of our kingdom and, soon, of this entire planet returns.
Planetary domination? Cliche, a bit. But that's not surprising when you see the followers.
- Lord Grey," said one of the adepts around the fire, "how then are we to get rid of the Usurper if he is no longer here?
- It's not for lack of trying more than once," added another.
- It is true," replied the other man, "that little gnat is untouchable. We have tried many things against it for fourteen long years, but nothing has worked, and even this fool could not do anything. Now this legend has come to understand our plans, plus this hero and the queen who is infatuated with him... Nothing's wrong, is it? But I have a call! A call from our mistress!
All the fanatics knelt down at this announcement and a thud went up from the centre of the assembly, they started waving their hands towards the sky.
- Yes! My brothers, Lord Diaphanous here has received a communication from our mistress telling us what to do. The transcript we were able to make, she tells us to continue to gather energy for her awakening and to seek out the location of where she was locked up in Sylvania, but most importantly, we must disable all of these troublemakers who wish to stand in our way as we pursue our most sacred duty.
- If she says that, does that mean there is a way to defeat the queen?
Their leaders laughed out loud and assured them that there was a way to defeat the queen.
- And the best thing for our case is that we can blame it on this invading human. When she explained the method to us, I immediately understood that it was viable, since I had seen the queen's fight against him, but this time, unlike this shoddy hero, I would show no mercy to her.
That means he was in the throne room when I fought the queen? thought the Hero, so I have really heard that voice before... But what method is he talking about?
- Then we leave you to carry out the usual procession for the resurrection of our beloved queen, we will find the body of the traitor.
Their discussion ended and the two 'lords' left, a third person who seemed less important than the two lords but also higher up in the hierarchy since the top of his hood had a grey line in the centre and the holes that allowed him to see were also surrounded by a circle of the same colour.
- Bring in today's tribute, the guru ordered the grey line.
And an elf child was brought to the circle formed by the followers, he struggled with all his strength to escape, but the men were far too strong. They tied him to a post. The child was crying so hard that the snot in his nose turned to colour, he begged them to spare him, but none of them answered him, continuing to hum a sinister melody from the back of their throats.
Malalalivia stood up and was about to go to his aid, the Hero grabbed her wrist and looked at her, he didn't need words to make her understand what he wanted to say.
Do as you please, but take responsibility.
She broke free of her restraint and jumped into the crowd. Lelelitio reassured him that her magic would hide their appearances, though for the Hero it was a bit harder since he was doing magical interference, so he told her to remove it completely.
Tarkus went after him, cracking his two fingers, followed by Lelelitio and Lin not far away, Beneltig tried to escape but the Hero grabbed him by the collar and said:
- Don't think you can get away with this, I still need you so you're going to join the fight.
He threw him against some fanatics and went off to fight with the rest of his comrades. At first, seeing his intruders arrive, he thought it would be over very quickly, but when he saw the hero of the legend arrive, smiling, staring at him with a predatory look, he quickly understood that if he didn't get out of there, he would end up in little pieces.
How did they find us?" the fanatic exclaimed, "It's not possible! The queen sent them! It has to be her.
Without missing a beat, he ran off in the opposite direction to the Hero. It was a pity, it would have been nice to know the identity of this person, but he should not leave his companions, the people around them were probably from the army of Sylvania, so, although Tarkus, the princess and her servant were strong and were prodigies of combat, chances were that they were no match for the elite army of their kingdom - knowing that he did not know if Lin knew how to fight (let's not bring Beneltig into the equation).
The coterie was defending themselves well, but the Hero had said he was not there to attack them, and thanks to Lelelitio's power, their identities were hidden, except for the Hero who used his awful looks to scare off the more cowardly of the group, he took the opportunity to untie the child and throw him into Malalalivia's arms.
- Run, I'll hold them back!
They obeyed and all ran away, except for Beneltig who was held back by the Hero as he tripped him to escape. He waved his fingers at him and ran away at full speed.
- You son of a...
The fanatics grabbed him and pinned him against the pole, one of them grabbed his neck and demanded that he reveal his identity, unable to be heard properly because of Lelelitio's spell, they disenchanted him and revealed Beneltig's identity.
- Who is that," said one of the cult members, "isn't that our little lost sheep?
He let go of him, letting him catch himself against the wooden post.
- What are we going to do with you?
Further on, back on high ground, the group paused, seeing that no one was chasing them, the Hero came up next, panting, and told them the terrible news about Beneltig.
- But we have to go and get him!" cried Lin.
- We can't, these guys are clearly on another level, if I didn't have this magical restriction imposed by the seal set by the hospital doctors, I could have gone but this is...
It was clearly a lie. Not just his pitiful acting but claiming he couldn't save Beneltig because of the 'restriction', he's been in far more difficult situations before he learned how to regenerate.
- What do we do then?" asked Beneltig.
- It's not that I'm not saddened by his death, but I have no desire to save him," Malalalivia admitted.
- That doesn't sound very heroic," laughed the Hero.
She flinched and was embarrassed to have thought that openly.
- But she's right, Lin, none of the others will want to save him because they all have their own personal grudges.
Lin clenched her fist in frustration and shouted at them:
- If I had known it would end like this, I would not have helped you at all!
The Hero grabbed him, wrapped his arm around his neck and whispered:
- Don't worry, he'll be fine, I have a plan, so don't be mad at them. Just pretend to push me off and walk away.
The Hero must have been angry at his little shenanigans for giving in so easily to the revelations.
- Are you really sure?
- No, but there's a good chance they'll get away with it.
- When an hour and a half ago they tried to kill him?
- Yes, they did.
- He better be alive.
- I promise you he's gonna make it, the hero of the legend.
Lelelitio pushed him as agreed and walked away from the group, he was angry that his friend was put in such danger, but he couldn't blame the others for hating him when some were trying to make things better in this cursed place and another had lost his best friend for his friend's survival.
- Why the fuck did you do that, Benji?" he whined, his eyes welling up with tears.
From their encounter with the fanatics, the Hero had come away with a piece of cloth from their tunic.
The rest of the days before the Hero returned to the Upper Town and the Sanctuary were spent moving the children and furniture to a new home: the former home of the Grave servants. After that, the Hero left without asking for help and told them to come back when they had found a final solution to put an end to this cult.
Now we can pick up where we left off with the Queen and the Hero in their discussion.
- I did not know you were so mischievous," remarked the Queen.
- I sense a touch of disappointment in your voice," said the Hero.
- Probably, but it's more like astonishment.
- I assure you: he was not used as bait to escape.
- Perhaps you did it to get rid of the competition.
- WHAT?" shouted the Hero, "but that's not right!
The Queen was hilarious at the Hero's reaction, then suddenly broke into a coughing fit, the Hero gently slapped her back to recover.
- You know, that doesn't work," said the Queen, "plus you're touching my wings, it's extremely embarrassing.
- Oh sorry, I didn't mean to...
- Oh, I didn't mean to... I'm just kidding. We know each other now, it doesn't matter if you touch them, at least if you do it for a good reason. Besides, it's to take care of me. And I'm sorry, I just wanted to bug you about the competition.
- As if I were afraid of this guy.
- That's almost a confession.
- No way!" replied the Hero.
The queen laughed, but avoided the explosion of laughter to avoid another coughing fit.
- If not, this story of a weak spot, an addiction or whatever? Is it true?
- I can't answer that.
- Because of your plan?
- Who knows? Frankly, now I realise how hard you work given how few trusted people you have around you.
- I imagine that in other kingdoms and in ancient times, kings and queens also had traitors in their court," she breathed, "and these people have been around for centuries in our kingdom.
- In Beneltig's words, yes.
- Well, we have to deal with that.
- In your condition it's going to be difficult," the Hero reminded her, "how is it that the War Weapon of the Fairy Forest Kingdom, Sylvania, managed to get sick.
- Oh it happens to everyone, a cold, the flu, whatever seasonal illness and then you faint.
- It wouldn't be because you use your powers too much?
- No," she denied, "it's just that I have to use them constantly to keep myself...
She muttered something quite inaudible as she saw the Hero's suspicious eyes. He asked her to speak up, but she continued to grumble, so he forced her to speak openly by tickling her?
- But stop! Stop it! I'll tell you! I'm not sleeping.
- What do you mean you're not sleeping? Everyone sleeps.
- I force my body with my powers and potions not to sleep for at least a month before I get that way.
The Hero slapped her forehead repeatedly to punish her for doing such stupid things.
- You. Come on. Now. You. Rest.
- I get it, no need to violate me," she stammered, "but not sleeping allows me to keep an eye on everything that is said in the kingdom, but even so I have never heard any of their conversation in this dead language.
- Perhaps that is why," said the Hero, handing her the piece of cloth he had acquired in his scuffle with the cult members.
She took it and recognised that it was not a cloth from their realm, probably an import, inside it was some kind of metallic material she did not know.
- What is it?
- According to what I've read before, aluminium, the inside of their suit must be lined with it that's why your waves can't reach them and you can't read their minds.
- Clever," the Queen exclaimed, "these rascals must be close to me to know the specifics of my power and be able to protect themselves from it.
The Hero returned to his seat and sighed.
- You are pushing yourself too hard, though it is for the good of your people, but I understand Sawyer's desperation now when he tells me about you. You're impossible, Selia.
The queen smiled at the mention of her diminutive name. The Hero may not have been able to say "first name" to her because of the great distance between them, but he struggled to be more familiar with her, so he would eventually say "first name" to her.
- I am unable to take as much care of you as you do of me, I am already unable to take care of myself, so I don't want you to fall apart and find me unable to help you.
- Thank you. You help me enough with these impudent people who want me and your protege dead.
- Do you know where Marrynela's body is?
- I have no idea," lied the Queen, "it would have been very useful for me to rid the kingdom of it. But I imagine that if we catch one of these felons, he will tell us where he is.
- That's my concern. Hence my plan. If Beneltig got away with it, then I could easily catch one of these guys. In fact, even if he's dead, I could since I revealed myself to them.
He hoped in his heart that he was alive, he had no desire to attend his funeral where he would have to pretend that he was a good friend in her eyes - he would surely have to attend at the express request of the Fairy, which of course he could not refuse, or else he would alienate her.
- Tell me," said the Hero, "you have trained the Princess Malalalivia and her servant Lelelitio, in the company of Sawyer, have you not?
- Yes, as he told you.
- You must have spent a lot of time together...
- Six and a half years to be exact.
- So why does she have a certain animosity towards you?
- It must be because I refused to change the kingdom to suit her and the tournament was far too long overdue for her liking. I don't blame her. I understand her frustration, but I can't do what she wants to do, she has to do it by herself, I'm already hanging on by strings like a puppet, I can't be her puppet too... Moreover, their training was not easy, at her request and our requirements, since she wanted and had to be able to reach my level.
- So mission impossible.
- Not as much as you think.
- You mean beyond potential?
- If she hadn't had her wings ripped off, she would be even stronger, but she has to make do.
- But if she's as strong as you say she is, then Lelelitio must have an insane level.
- Is that what you think? Interesting.
The Hero did not understand the Queen's answer, but did not take it into account.
- I think I've taken up enough of your time, but you should know that our conversation must remain between us, I haven't even told Helmir so that she wouldn't inadvertently tell anyone in the cult.
- Will your plan work? I'm not currently in a position to come up with a better plan, but is this the only solution?
- Unless you do another purge like you did before and allies of yours are affected because of suspicion, I think, sincerely, that what I see is the best solution.
- So I trust you, genius.
- I'm just using my deductive skills to help you. Well, it's not all that, but I'm going to have to leave to get ready for this party that Princess has invited me to.
- The Samarin? If it's tomorrow, it must be. So have fun and don't do too much foolishness.
He got up and was about to leave, but stopped, he wanted to tell her one last thing.
- You... You're doing a wonderful job as a mother, Mama Selia.
All through the discussion he had been thinking about the best way to put it and for him. It was the best way to meet Audiselia's demand, or rather, her request, while at the same time making it sound natural in his mind.
- Thank you, but I don't think I can replace the blood ties between you and your mother.
- That might be true if my mother and I shared the same blood, but since we don't... so, in the end, it doesn't matter," he smiled at her.
At the announcement of this revelation, Audisélia could not help but have a wide smile on her face. Was it because she was looking forward to having the opportunity to really live up to Elena's standards as a mother, or was it because she was satisfied that the Hero was not the biological son of her best friend whom she adored so much?
He didn't want to think about it, and he didn't have time to think about it because Audiselia burst into tears.
- Does this mean I took it out on you for nothing? I treated you in the most miserable way just because I couldn't grieve.
She wiped her tears with her sheet and blew her nose with it. Sawyer had warned the Hero to beware of the Queen when she was emotionally disturbed, lightning bolts would unintentionally shoot out of her heart, evidence of her emotional instability. And since she was ill, it must have gotten worse, the Hero guessed.
- Selia is really incorrigible," she lamented, "no matter how much time passes, I only hurt the people around me.
- You know, it's not so bad, I'm used to it," said the Hero to calm her down.
- You don't have to be used to being treated like a nobody!" objected the Queen, "you're not a demon as the Queen suggests, so you deserve to be treated like everyone else. Stop devaluing yourself as if you were worthless!
Feeling her on the verge of a nervous breakdown, he returned to her and grabbed her hands.
- It's true that we had a difficult start, you and I, but as time went on you made up for it, so to speak, to make me feel more confident, to make my body hurt less when I walk, run, go for a walk with my new friends, so that I can express myself normally. I'm still on formal terms with you, not to be distant, out of habit towards adults, but I promise you, mummy...
She laughed at the Hero's 'mummy', she was almost amused by this way of calling him.
- ... I don't hold it against you. You're a wonderful person who goes a bit too far.
- That's true.
- Of course it's true, otherwise I wouldn't say it, Mama Selia.
- Then I believe you. And you stay a good boy with everyone.
- I'll do my best.
He laid her down on her bed and kissed her on the forehead like his mother used to do when he got sick. She put her hand on his face and stroked his cheek, her hand was so delicate. The Hero wanted to withdraw it but the Queen was determined to continue.
- This face I see every day and yet do not know. It is so sad.
I don't think you will ever find out in my lifetime," said the Hero inwardly.
- Nevertheless, with time, your eyes no longer glow that scarlet red that you had when you arrived.
- Surely my soul is darkening," replied the Hero.
- I don't think so, I would even say that it is the opposite..., she contradicted him with a voice that was becoming less and less audible.
- You're tired, it's time to really rest.
He spread his blanket over her body before walking away and letting her rest.
The Hero felt that she was taking far too much trouble for him, did he deserve such deference from her? He was extremely pleased but... No, it's not worth the trouble of ranting about it.
Besides, was that story about the less bright red eyes true or was she completely hallucinating?
He simply went to prepare his clothes for the party to which the Fairy had invited him.