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| Details |
| Author: | inkie |
| Summary: | Ben pays a risky call on an uncertain ally in the wake of the news about Alysson and Kaela Mondragon. |
| Rating: | M for Mature 17+ |
Not even the deepest hours of the night in Howling Fjord are truly dark: The shimmering green-and-blue ribbons of the northern lights drape the black vault of the sky, and send faint, fleeting shadows darting eerily in the colorless nighttime woods.
Ben Hazan reins his horse in on the forested hillside above Skorn and surveys the burned ruins of the vrykul settlement below, then lifts his gaze to scan the area around him. He is expressionless, only the clench of his jaw betraying his tension. His blue armor and tabard are both shades of charcoal in the strangely lit darkness.
He drops down from the saddle, then gathers the reins and loops them into a loose knot to rest on his horse’s withers. “G’wan,” he says, low-voiced, and steps back to clap the horse hard on the rump. Dare tosses his head indignantly, then turns and begins a loose, long-strided trot toward the road back to Westguard Keep.
Alone, Ben surveys the woods again. “Harvey?” he asks the darkness: His tone is almost conversational, but carries well enough in the otherwise-silent woods. A shout would no doubt attract too much attention, not all of it the kind he’s seeking. “Mourn?”
He waits a moment and then, receiving neither answer nor guidance, lifts his hands to show he’s touching neither his sword nor his shield. Hands thus upraised, he begins to walk.
It doesn’t take long for him to catch the attention of the wandering death knight. Harvey watches, frosty blue eyes burning a hole through the dark, but does not approach immediately.
Ben stops walking. Maybe it’s his paladin’s awareness; maybe it’s just that creepy premonition you get when you’re being watched. He stands motionless, still holding his hands up, and doesn’t look toward Harvey but addresses the forest in general. “Mourn? I know you are out here somewhere. Don’t expect you recall me from Harvey’s life, but if you do, I ain’t come meanin’ any harm. Tonight.”
Now he turns his head slowly, searching the deeper darkness between trees.
“Not going to punch me again?” Harvey steps closer, making himself known. “Or have you not spoken to Ralaea yet?” His own weapon remains sheathed at his side.
Ben manages to make his twitch of startlement look like mere hesitation before he turns slowly in Harvey’s direction. “Aw,” he drawls. “You do remember. I am touched.” He lowers his hands — casually, relaxed, no movement toward his sword — and looks the death knight up and down. “I speak to Rae on a pretty regular basis. I admit it’s been a couple’ve days, though, on account of some other business. There somethin’ I ought to know?”
“Why are you here?” Harvey crosses his arms, shifting his weight back. “It is nothing short of foolish to wander after dark in Northrend of all places.” The glow from his eyes intensifies, and he appears to be studying Ben.
“I am here to find out whose side you’re on,” Ben says. “I hear all kind of shit about you all here to help us, here against the Lich King, so on. I ain’t sure I believe it yet, but right now you don’t got to give me the whole picture. I am here to find out if you are on Rae’s side or not.”
“And you would believe whatever I tell you?” Harvey smirks, shaking his head. “I am not that naive. What is it you want?”
Ben takes a step toward Harvey, still casual, still conversational. “There is a hell of a storm headin’ straight this way with Rae’s name on it, and what I hear is it is headin’ at you first. What I want to know is: When it gets here, which way’s the wind gonna turn you?”
“Are you suggesting I would betray Ralaea in favor of the woman who stole my future?” Harvey’s face twists into a scowl. “You always have had a rather low opinion of me. So. Mondragon is coming, then? You are certain?”
“If I had a low opinion of you,” Ben says, and for the first time his voice is sharp, “I wouldn’t fucken be here. We wasn’t the best of friends when you was alive, and I sure as hell ain’t gonna be askin’ you to have a beer now. But I know you was in the right place where Rae was concerned, and I figured the reason you been skulkin’ around is maybe you still are in that place. Rae has told me she run into you out here once and you ain’t hurt her. She also told me you wrote to her an’ ‘pologized for somethin’. I reckon you still are writin’ to her, from the way she goes squirrelly whenever I catch her in spittin’ distance of a mailbox. So whether I like you or not, it is my hope an’ assumption you are still willin’ to step up for Rae, and if that’s so, then no, I ain’t got a low opinion of you. I don’t have to like a fellow to have a decent opinion of him. An’ this is about Rae, not me.”
He studies Harvey. “And I didn’t say Mondragon. You know it, though. You hear it from someplace, or you guessin’?”
“Ralaea has not yet come to terms with what I am now. That is the only conflict we have.” He lowers his head, though only slightly. “But I would never harm her. And as for Mondragon…I have been searching for her. If she is not here yet, but she is coming, that would explain why I have not encountered her. I know you have people on the other side. One of them could have seen her. And besides…if it were anything less, you would not be here.”
Harvey uncrosses his arms and lifts his head again. “Tell me what you know, if that is what you are here to do.”
Ben nods curtly. “One of ours went missin’, in the west. We got people lookin’ for him, I went over to join the search.” He pauses. “Alysson Mondragon. You know him?”
“Alysson…Mondragon, you say?” Harvey looks to be going through something, a list, perhaps, in his mind. “I do not know anyone from that family named Alysson. How old is he? What is his relation to them?”
“He’s Kaela’s nephew. Alynnra’s son. He is — I reckon around my age, little younger, I dunno. It’s… a real long story. Any case, he’s Cobalt, just like Rae. What we are hearin’ is that the sisters was in Borean Tundra and took Alysson off with ‘em, told him they’re on some kind of mission, an’ they’re headin’ this way.” Ben hesitates. “Alysson is — what you got to understand about Alysson is he means well, he wants to do right, and he got no idea what the fuck that looks like. He is wanderin’ in circles in his own head half the time. But he’s a good fellow an’ it seems like he’s been talked into some bad shit here.
“I don’t know if he’s with ‘em willin’ at this point. He knows Rae an’ knows she’s Cobalt, an’ he knows we’re here to kill the Lich King, so if he’s hearin’ about any other kind of plan from Kaela Mondragon, I dunno what he’s made of it by now, or what he will. I would not like to see him come to harm. I also would not like to see Rae come to harm. Those two, they’re my priority. Alynnra, she is — she is complicated. I ain’t sure how to handle that.” His gaze holds Harvey’s steadily. “Kaela Mondragon I have not had the pleasure of meetin’ personally, but I reckon you and Rae know her pretty well. She is alleged headin’ here, alleged makin’ her first stop at you, maybe don’t know that you ain’t under her thumb no more.”
Ben weighs something and then adds, more quietly, “I ain’t told Rae none of this yet. I come to you first to suss you out, and also because I am pretty sure the minute I tell Rae that Kaela fucken Mondragon is ridin’ down on her, she will run out to meet her first. I spent a long time tryin’ to teach Rae to be careful an’ keep her skin together, and I am a little uneasy that when she hears about this, she is gonna get on that ram of yours and ride straight at hell all by herself. An’ I ain’t havin’ that.”
Harvey’s eyes narrow as Ben speaks of Alysson. “If he is around your age, he is not much younger than Alynnra herself. And yet he claims to be her son? Impossible. But fine, assuming you are not being fooled by whoever he really is, he is not an enemy? Alysson aside, Alynnra is with her too? The Alynnra responsible for what happened to Ralaea’s arms? I have seen her only once since I learned of it, and she played innocent. If she is working with Kaela, she has all but confirmed her guilt.
“And Ralaea…” he sighs. “I have also been trying to convince her that relying on Cobalt Company is in her best interest. Whether or not she continues to take our advice when she learns both Mondragons are coming for her…I cannot say for certain. Your caution is noted and appreciated.”
Ben nods. “What I would like to do in all this is get Alysson away from the other two of ‘em. Like I say, he is Cobalt, he’s a good-hearted fellow even if not always the brightest, and I don’t reckon he’s up to nothin’ but trustin’ his ma — who he ain’t hardly know — not to lead him into trouble. The problem about Alynnra is –” Ben glances westward. After a moment, he shakes his head slowly. “The problem about Alynnra is there is two of her. In the one, I mean. A shadow priestess… done somethin’ to her, a while back, that I ain’t quite understand. So now there is Alynnra, who is a sweet girl, an’ there is this… other thing, the Watcher, some kind of… shadow in her. I can’t be sure but I am guessin’ it is this one, the Watcher, who fucked Rae up, and I am guessin’ it’s this one runnin’ with Kaela Mondragon right now. If there is a way to get Alynnra — the real Alynnra — out of all this, I would like to.” Another pause, and then he admits grimly, “But Alysson’s my priority. Rae, obviously. But as to the three comin’, I mean, Alysson’s the one I’d like to get out clean.”
He eyes Harvey. “An’ they are bein’ followed. So we got eyes on ‘em, hopefully. They’re in Dragonblight now, already past Mo’aki. Stoppin’ in Kalu’ak settlements, is the word, pretendin’ that Mondragon’s Ebon Blade. I am aimin’ to get down to Kamagua in the mornin’ an’ let them know to be careful of ‘em, and to get us word up to Westguard the minute they turn up there, if they do. What I do not know how to do is keep Rae out of the path of ‘em and still get her the face-off with Mondragon that she wants. I know she ain’t ready for it, and I know she better fucken not go near it by herself, but I did promise her she’d get her shot. So if Rae finds out Mondragon showed here and we got rid of her somehow ourselfs before she had her chance, well. I think that might be the end of her trustin’ me, or Cobalt.”
Harvey is silent for a moment, processing. “If what you said about Alynnra is true…it clears some things up, for me. I will admit when Ralaea told me who had done that to her, I doubted her for a while. I met Alynnra at a party in Lordaeron. She was a shy, clumsy girl. Awkward, but not malicious. I will keep it in mind.” A smirk comes to his face. “And Kaela is pretending to be Ebon Blade? If she tries anything wearing that tabard, Roper will not be happy.”
He briefly glances down at his own tabard, and though the black is impossible to see in the darkness, the Argent sun almost seems to glow. “If you tell Ralaea and she tries anything rash, I will stop her. Otherwise…you can leave Kaela to me. If you do not bring up that you spoke with me, she will not blame Cobalt. My concern is…Kaela is cunning. She would not charge down here recklessly. She has a plan. If she is coming to me first, I will find answers. And I will not allow her access to Ralaea.”
Ben considers Harvey for a long moment in silence. At length he nods. “I am inclined to leave you handle it. I am goin’ to get down to Kamagua and let them know to look out, and then I am gonna sit tight at Westguard and keep eyes on Rae. I will be a last line of defense if it comes to it. I am relyin’ on you, though, to keep ‘em gettin’ that far, and to keep this conversation out of Rae’s ears.” He looks west again. “You ought to know there’s more Cobalt comin’, too. Chasin’ Alysson. They’ll be after — maybe not the same thing as you, but they are after Alysson and they won’t want Mondragon within a mile of Rae. So I reckon you will play nice with ‘em.” It isn’t a question.
“Respectfully, I plan to avoid your people if at all possible. I would venture that most of them would be…uncomfortable with my presence.” He almost sounds amused. “Kaela is my priority. I trust you and yours can handle the rest.”
"Oh, I don't expect y'all will be shakin' hands on nothing. Steerin' clear's as good a way of playin' nice as any. I will make sure the rest of 'em is lookin' after Alysson, long as you promise me you can handle Mondragon."
Normally this is the moment Ben might shake a person’s hand, and he hesitates again visibly. Then he steps back, his expression a mask, and takes his hearthstone from the pouch on his belt. “Long as I believe you are on Rae’s side in this, and long as you keep understandin’ Cobalt has got her back, you won’t get trouble out of me. We all want to see Mondragon dead.” He looks Harvey up and down. “Some of you more’n the rest of us, I reckon.”
He studies Harvey again, and although his expression doesn’t change, his voice is less edged when he says, “I was real sorry to hear it. How you — Harvey died. Was a good man, lookin’ out for other people to the end.”
Harvey’s eyes seem colder, if possible, at the mention of his death. “It no longer matters what he was. You might think yourself a good man, Ben, but remember. In this world, there are no heroes. When you die, you lose everything.”