{"id":82,"date":"2017-09-06T13:54:13","date_gmt":"2017-09-06T13:54:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/?p=82"},"modified":"2017-09-06T14:03:34","modified_gmt":"2017-09-06T14:03:34","slug":"eighteen-treason-and-heresy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/2017\/09\/06\/eighteen-treason-and-heresy\/","title":{"rendered":"Eighteen: Treason and Heresy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cNo!!\u201d The deserter shook his head, more as if to clear a bug from his ear than to negate a thought. \u201cNot for me. \u00a0\u2018No aid for deserters,\u2019 I know so well. \u00a0Do it for the nation, then.\u201d \u00a0He pulled a tattered old piece of paper from an inner pocket. No, she realized, vellum. \u00a0\u201cDo this and I will lie down, never at peace, but troubling the others no more.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

She took the vellum carefully with just the tips of her fingers. \u00a0Next to her, the Diamond Raven was looking at the paper too. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf this is real-\u201d \u00a0He sounded sick.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cReal! \u00a0Real and then some! \u00a0It is exactly what it looks like and nothing more, I swear it on my honor!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou have no honor.\u201d \u00a0The Diamond Raven growled it out as if the deserter had personally offended him. \u201cHow do we know this is real?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLook at it. \u00a0Feel it. \u00a0Touch the magic inside it – but carefully, carefully! \u00a0It is tainted all the way through, it is taint even to touch it too long!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd you\u2019d give it to a young girl like my companion here? \u00a0Shame on you, you monster! \u00a0Why would you think she should risk the touch of such a thing?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBecause she is young and she is protected, she is shiny with all of the eyes on her. \u00a0She can put it where it goes and none will ever know it was her, and its taint will not stick to her. \u00a0You, you are old, like me – well, not like me, but you are not young and you are not pure and you are protected only by her. \u00a0I do not think her protection can carry you quite that far. \u00a0She, on the other hand, I think the protections on her could carry her all the way into the underlands and below. \u00a0Ah.\u201d \u00a0He sighed. \u00a0\u201cThe ,underlands. \u00a0Would that I could ever go to the resting.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThen you shouldn\u2019t have deserted,\u201d snapped the Raven. \u00a0He wasn\u2019t giving Raizel any \u00a0\u00a0time to speak, but Raizel was having her own problems. \u00a0She was squinting at the vellum, trying to make the words make sense. \u00a0They were written in an old version of the Tzar\u2019s script, many of the words spelled strangely \u2014 well, if it was from the time of the Tzar\u2019s grandfather, that made sense. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis\u2026\u201d \u00a0Something in her shivered. \u00a0\u201cWhat is this?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Is that a question?<\/span><\/i> Asked a voice in her head. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNot yet,\u201d she muttered. \u00a0\u201cBut maybe.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the problem,\u201d the deserter answered. \u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s the secret to the \u2018win.\u2019 And for all my life I have been looking for someone who could take it and not be shifted by it, who could post it without being turned sick by its touch.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAll your life?\u201d \u00a0She stared at the once-man. \u00a0\u201cTruly all?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSince I learned of this when I was a private, yes. \u00a0I tried to my higher officer, and to his higher officer, and to hers, and so on, right up to the Tzar, who <\/span>laughed at me<\/span><\/i>. \u00a0\u00a0I tried the wizards, but they told me they could not help me. \u00a0I told the priests, and they sent me away as a liar. \u00a0And then, and only then, I left the army, because the army was tainted from the privates right up to the Tzar.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is treason and heresy to say,\u201d the Raven warned the deserter, but he sounded far less angry and far more somber now. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTreason then, and I paid the price, and didn\u2019t I?\u201d \u00a0He flapped his arms at them. \u00a0An old, old wound guttered red, pink and orange at Raizel. \u00a0She swallowed hard to keep her stomach from misbehaving. \u00a0\u201cBut now it\u2019s just history, the things they put in books as flavor. \u00a0As curiosity. \u00a0We won, aye. \u00a0But what was the price?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEverything has a price,\u201d Raizel muttered. \u00a0\u00a0She was thinking of Trinner Traln and his evil statues. \u00a0\u201cWhat is this thing?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis, this is the secret. \u00a0This is the reason that we managed to beat everyone in the Seventh War, even the Partrion, who there is no way we should have beaten.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s heresy,\u201d the Diamond Raven muttered. \u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s the nastiest sort of evil magery. \u00a0Don\u2019t touch it any more, Raizel, don\u2019t take it, don\u2019t post it. \u00a0Let someone else do it!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSomeone else cursed by a pixie and quested by a god-touched?\u201d she muttered. \u00a0\u201cWe won the Seventh War with luck, magic, and cunning.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

She remembered that much from her history classes, even if they had not always been her most fun lessons. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBy magic and cunning, yes. \u00a0This thing is evil, Raizel, and for people to know about it-\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cNo!!\u201d The deserter shook his head, more as if to clear a bug from his ear than to negate a thought. \u201cNot for me. \u00a0\u2018No aid for deserters,\u2019 I know so well. \u00a0Do it for the nation, then.\u201d \u00a0He pulled a tattered old piece of paper from an inner pocket. No, she realized, vellum. \u00a0\u201cDo… Continue reading Eighteen: Treason and Heresy<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Side Quest Eighteen: Treason and Heresy\r\n\u26f0\ufe0f\r\nThe deserter has some interesting things to say\u2026\r\n\ud83d\ude9e \r\n#freefiction #amwriting","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-82","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8Tn4Q-1k","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":87,"url":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/2017\/09\/22\/nineteen-evil-and-escape\/","url_meta":{"origin":82,"position":0},"title":"Nineteen: Evil and Escape","author":"Lyn Thorne-Alder","date":"September 22, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cFor people who know about this thing\u2014\u201d the Diamond Raven warned. \u201cFor people to know about it is truth! \u00a0Is all of us who rotted for the Tzar laid to rest! \u00a0Is everything that went wrong put better!\u201d \u00a0The deserter was foaming at the mouth. \u00a0Raizel took a step back.\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 4 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 4 comments","link":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/2017\/09\/22\/nineteen-evil-and-escape\/#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":95,"url":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/2017\/10\/11\/twenty-two-lost-and-found\/","url_meta":{"origin":82,"position":1},"title":"Twenty-Two: Lost and Found","author":"Lyn Thorne-Alder","date":"October 11, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cWhy her?\u201d The Diamond Raven shifted so he was standing almost between Raizel and the Left Hand. \u00a0\u201cWhy this stranger on the street?\u201d \u201cBecause she\u2019s not a stranger, is she? \u00a0She\u2019s the one that everyone\u2019s been muttering about. \u00a0She\u2019s got you, which is interesting in and of itself. \u00a0She\u2019s made\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 3 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 3 comments","link":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/2017\/10\/11\/twenty-two-lost-and-found\/#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":92,"url":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/2017\/10\/04\/twenty-psst\/","url_meta":{"origin":82,"position":2},"title":"Twenty-One: Psst","author":"Lyn Thorne-Alder","date":"October 4, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cI don\u2019t think she really wants the kitten gone,\u201d the Diamond Raven commented, when they were out the gate and on another road. \u00a0\u201cAnd I don\u2019t blame her.\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s pretty cute, isn\u2019t it?\u201d \u00a0She looked down at it, and it looked up at her and mewled. \u00a0\u201cI bet it\u2019s terrified.\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/2017\/10\/04\/twenty-psst\/#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":58,"url":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/2017\/07\/25\/eleven-the-diamond-raven\/","url_meta":{"origin":82,"position":3},"title":"Eleven: The Diamond Raven","author":"Lyn Thorne-Alder","date":"July 25, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Esteronzerai was the biggest town Raizel had been in yet, and it was where the carriage\u2019s route diverged from Raizel\u2019s, whether or not she had been stopping to lasso a wizard. \u00a0She bowed to the driver and, her grandfather\u2019s words in her mind, tipped him, although she had not been\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Quest"","block_context":{"text":"Quest","link":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/category\/quest\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":77,"url":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/2017\/08\/25\/seventeen-crossing-cross\/","url_meta":{"origin":82,"position":4},"title":"Seventeen: Crossing, Cross","author":"Lyn Thorne-Alder","date":"August 25, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cYou\u2019re old enough to be out on your own, yes?\u201d \u201cOf course I am.\u201d \u00a0She wrinkled her nose at him. \u00a0\u201cI am here, aren\u2019t I? \u00a0Everyone may keep calling me child, but I have an apprenticeship, I am carrying the weight of my family to the capital, and I -\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Quest"","block_context":{"text":"Quest","link":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/category\/quest\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":60,"url":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/2017\/07\/27\/twelve-watch-what-you-say\/","url_meta":{"origin":82,"position":5},"title":"Twelve: Watch What You Say","author":"Lyn Thorne-Alder","date":"July 27, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The man who might or might not b the Diamond Raven struggled, but he couldn\u2019t seem to do anything about the cord around his neck and, rather than have Raizel tug it tighter, he followed her. \u00a0\u201cI have things I should get-\u201d he protested, but she didn\u2019t listen, and then\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/2017\/07\/27\/twelve-watch-what-you-say\/#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85,"href":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82\/revisions\/85"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}