Chapter 104: Far bigger threats (3)
"But why did you suspect Aaron and Mara to begin with?"
"Because we scouted the forest weeks back. Chasing leads on the monster swarms hitting Havenwood. We found a camp tucked in a ravine. There were some people talking. No actual name was made, but I knew some of them. They worked with Aaron."
"They might have been sent by Martin."
"No, they weren’t. I would have known otherwise."
Then Reidar had to ask. "Care to share the relationship between you and Martin? It’s something I had been curious about since I came."
She seemed reluctant, but then she nodded.
"Martin was a colleague of my father. His best friend, actually. Dad died a couple of years ago because of cancer. Martin took care of me and Mom until the apocalypse struck. Mom died during the earthquakes."
That explained why Lena was Martin’s right hand, and why she would have been informed of whatever Martin did. He would have told her directly.
"I’m sorry to hear that."
She nodded.
"Point is, they had no business there."
Reidar’s jaw clenched.
They kept studying the area. The battle seemed to have moved quite a distance. It started in one place and ended in another. The group was currently following the tracks.
Reidar held tight as his wolf jumped the stream, sending water splashing everywhere. The trees grew thicker around that area, and the signs of battle were still there. There were many trees on fire.
"One thing I can’t wrap my head around." Lena said. "The church hit you twice. First outside the quarry, then the hunters you said you sent your summons to kill. If they wanted your power, why do so?"
Reidar urged his mount to get closer to Lena.
"The church hit me at the quarry to pin it on Martin, I assume," Reidar said.
"But we were there... Those guys attacked us too. Wouldn’t have been better for them to attack just you in that case? This doesn’t make sense."
"Eh... They attacked you too but made it in such a way that I would clearly notice they weren’t serious about you guys."
"And in the chance of your actually dying," Jorik said. "The people of Havenwood would have been more scared since even someone like you would have died."
"Indeed," Reidar nodded. "It’s not just that, though." A thought was swirling in Reidar’s mind. "I find it weird that Aaron and Mara were the only spies."
He paused. "They were surely in a position to know a lot since they were the healer of the settlement, and its engineer, meaning they dealt with a lot of people."
"So?"
"So while it’s true that Aaron and Mara could have known about us leaving to go to the quarry, I actually think there is another spy. This spy must be one of you four."
That left Lena, Jorik, and Torren flabbergasted.
"No! No! That’s simply not possible! What makes you think that?" she asked.
"Because they just didn’t know we were going to the quarry." He paused. "They knew WHERE we were WHEN we completed the quest. That’s not a casual information, because if they really wanted to pin this on Martin, doing so AFTER we completed the quest, and Martin got closer to getting the settlement creator token, would have given me more hints about the fact he was the one sending them. Only one of us would have had the knowledge to tell them all this information."
Jorik had a grim look on his face.
"Maybe the monsters stopped them before they could get to us," Torren added.
"That was what I thought at the beginning," Reidar said. "But this is just speculation. Nothing is confirmed. Until we find these guys, everything coming out of my mouth is just what I think about the situation."
"But this opens another problem," Lena said. Though she didn’t say much else.
"What?" Torren asked. All but him understood that what Lena found out was that one of them was a spy.
The trail of destruction grew fainter as they pressed deeper into the forest. Broken branches and scorched earth gave way to undisturbed undergrowth more and more.
Reidar’s spectral knights fanned out, but they returned with nothing. No fresh blood, no tracks, no sign of Lysa’s passage.
The absence of a conclusion was its own kind of answer. The battle had either moved far beyond this point, or it had ended in a way that left no trace. Reidar’s wolves then sniffed something.
"A trail, finally!" The group moved.
Lena’s eyes narrowed against the dappled light filtering through the canopy. She gripped the wolf’s fur tighter, leaning forward as the beast bounded over a fallen log. Then she got close enough to Reidar for only him to hear her.
"You really think they planned that far?" she asked. A spy in her group was far too important, and surely it was something planned since the start of Havenwood’s construction.
"Church fanatics don’t half-ass chaos." Reidar scanned the trail ahead, where charred earth scarred the path. Smoke lingered, curling like ghosts from smoldering stumps. "They wanted you all at each other’s throats. Weaken Havenwood from inside while its boss waits to swoop in. I think that was Mara and Aaron’s roles. They said pretty nasty things to me about Martin."
"But why did you say this in front of everyone?" she sneakily glanced at Torren and Jorik. At that point, even Lysa could have been the spy. This information was threatening to make all of Lena’s certainties crumble.
"Because I wanted you all to know that I figured it out." He sighed. "Whoever the spy is among them, or even you... I know you will act today, and I know for certain I will not be the target this time, but the rest of your group who is not with the church."
"They are going to kill us?" Lena asked.
"Likely yes. Destroying my army was just a message they sent for me to go talk to them. They are not interested in you."
"What are you guys talking about?" Torren asked.
"Nothing!" Lena said and then Reidar explained everything he knew to the others, what Mara and Aaron said, how they blamed Martin for the attacks, and how they said it was because of him preventing Aaron from using some of the materials that the walls got destroyed. Aaron even added that friends of his had died.
"Bullshit!" Lena had a disgusted look on her face. "Martin stopped no one from getting resources, and the ones he pooled for us to get better system rewards were not construction materials."
"But even if one would complain about the usage of such resources," Torren said in outrage. "No one can deny that if it wasn’t for the levels we gained through them, Havenwood would have been destroyed already."
Jorik nodded. "You do not know this, but most of the time, when the hordes attacked Havenwood, we were in the woods stopping them. What actually arrived in the city was just a small fraction. We were also the ones who did all the quests needed to get the settlement creator token. Only two quests remained when you got there: the quarry quest, which we helped you complete, and the turbine quest, which you completed today. If we hadn’t done all the other quests, we would still be without a token."
"Guys!" Torren was pointing at something.