Theo takes a moment to look the fort up and down behind the cover of a rock, his gaze shifting somewhat to Rune, before gazing back at where they would be making camp for the moment. Something had been bothering him since they left Saad behind.
Something had struck him as odd about Rune's earlier conversation with Jack. The likelihood was that she was Govitian, judging from her reaction to Tselino's loss, judging by her claims to blend in better than one of the most seasoned stealth operatives he'd ever met. He was wrong, he figured, about his initial assessment of Rune's reaction. He was getting rusty at reading people,but he'd figured that much. The balance of probability was that Rune was a Govitian; she could just be someone who happened to know somebody from Tselino, who just happened to be skilled at blending into Govitz, even better than a man trained under Joi Hart, but too many coincidences would have to line up, too many for Theo's taste.
The skills threw him off, however. Her magic was unlike anything he'd ever seen indeed; illusions, enough to entrance the eye and induce wonder in the viewer. She'd seem like a mere entertainer, had she not been in a crew of seasoned intelligence operatives, military veterans, mercenaries and the others (Elanee, he figured, was here for her magical knowledge, possibly having heard too much to not be read in, and he still couldn't quite understand what Michael was doing here). But given her claims, given what she was good at, Theodore figured there was something more to her.
Perhaps that she was, possibly, a spy from Govitz.
It seemed the logical conclusion as to why Jack would want her; she would come with the requisite skills needed for a mission of this sensitivity, the mindset of secrecy, paranoia and distrust to prevent the enemy from disrupting them, and knowledge of the territory. How she came to Jack's attention was something currently beyond Theo. Was she a defector? An old friend? Did she get captured? The latter seemed more likely, given her reaction to Jack and given her general aloofness from the group; very hard to want to interact with others when you were practically an attack dog, chained with the promise of execution should you fail. He didn't want to make any more deductions in this line of questioning, not until he had more information.
Theo did a quick mental count of who already knew she was a Govitian; Jack likely knew, given he most likely selected Rune for the mission. Evra probably figured it out already; a soldier of her pedigree would have the knowledge to figure this one out. Bayard probably knew, before Saad put an end to him and silenced him forever. Maybe Keyleth, though if she knew, she wasn't saying a thing. The others were oblivious, most likely, due to inexperience or simply not paying attention. He didn't blame them. Even a man of his talents took a while to figure it out.
Theo mentally slapped himself. He really was getting rusty.
He figured there'd be others who would despise Rune for being one of the enemy; the maid and the wyvern rider seemed paranoid and suspicious enough. He himself wasn't quite sure if he trusted her completely, but, as long as her help continued in battle, and he had no reason to distrust her, he'd continue to give her the benefit of the doubt. He'd keep his mouth shut, for now. Calo, as much as Theo disliked him, was a huge loss to the group. They didn't need more chaos. At the very least, he didn't want to trouble Elanee and Abelard with the fallout. He'd keep an eye on Rune, Theo resolved; he was concerned for her, yes, but if he was right about who she was, there was enough reason to not let her in too closely.
A man of his talents had a responsibility to use those talents for the betterment of others, after all, even if they were your enemies or strangers. She'd rammed that into his head many times, after all, in less words. Hard to forget.
Back into his role. He breathes out, a confident smirk back on his face, an adjustment of his collar, and he returns to helping establish camp, like nothing ever happened, as another observation, not related to Rune this time, filled his head.
"It's been too quiet. Those fools have likely tailed us already, given that we haven't seen hide nor hair of them for a while. This doesn't quite feel right, for a man of my talents."
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Topic: FEF: Death to Traitors: Chapter 5 (Read 79287 times)