Aramora

Chapter 30: Trial of Honor

Beautiful artwork made by Randompeephere <3

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Paralyzing fear strikes through Nisha's heart as she stares up at the projection and sees the Tus'Felnis through Lavern's eyes. Naomi covers her mouth with her hands as she gasps and turns to look at Evgenia with a panicked gaze. Malachi frowns and his face hardens as he also faces the Tribe Leader.

"I thought they were safe. How did the spies get into the crypts?" he demands, too distracted by the situation to bother with formalities.

Evgenia sighs and looks at the projection as she thinks. "Hm... Galian did report that th' stragglers got away by sneaking through th' auld supply routes. Which used tae be connected with th' crypts, but we used magic tae seal those tunnels off from th' crypt they're in. Ah nae ken how they could have gotten through," she says.

"...Tus'Felnis warding magic," Nisha shudders. "We all saw that there is at least one Mar with these spies. She closed the paths, which means she must have also been able to open them..." she shakes her head and her ears fold back.

Naomi looks amongst all of them. "But why are they after Lavern and Nesosa? I thought they were after information on the tribes," she questions.

Malachi shrugs with a low grumble. "My guess would be the fragment Nesosa still has on her. They've tried to get it from us before, after all," he says.

Nisha takes a step away from them and the wall. "We have to go help them," she states.

Evgenia sighs and holds up her hand to the Tus'Felnis. "We cannae dae that," she says. "We cannae interrupt th' test. Nesosa must finish th' last trial before we can dae anythin' tae help. She is a warrior. She can hold her own against a few measly cats," her eyes dodge to Nisha's ears and tail.

"Wait... how dae ah ken yer nae one o' these spies?" Evgenia slowly brings her hand back down and narrows her eyes sharply at the girl.

Nisha clenches her fists and returns the glare with her own. "I'm just trying to save Aramora like all of us. I'm doing my part, so don't take my role as being obsolete simply because of my race. Last I checked, centaurs aren't exactly smiled upon in Aramora, either. Yet here you are," she snaps and crosses her arms.

Evgenia growls and goes to draw her sword, but Malachi steps between her and Nisha. "We can't turn against each other. Nisha is a trusted agent of the Dev'al Ordon who has been serving Athemar for over two years now. These spies just showed up within these past few days, and she's been with us the entire time. She's not one of them," he speaks as calmly as he can manage with the gravity of this entire situation.

Evgenia sighs and forces herself to stand down and break her distrustful glare from Nisha to return her gaze to the projection on the wall. "We will wait. Nesosa just has tae finish th' trial 'n' then they can get out," she says.

Nisha has to force herself to loosen up as well, but her tension doesn't ease as she also goes back to watching the scene play out and hoping she's right and Nesosa can do this on her own.

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Nesosa's eyes dart from one spy to the next, getting a count on exactly how many are in the room. She still counts six, but Lavern notices what she's doing and points to the shadowed corners at the back of the grand hall.

"Archers. Two of them," he says.

Nesosa squints her eyes as she tries to see what he's talking about, but her focus is quickly interrupted and her suspicion is answered as an arrow soars at her head and narrowly misses her shoulder.