All That Is Evil Is Not Dark/Chapter 42

Darin moved from the chamber into the hall with precision, his demeanor suggesting great agitation. Tralin followed reluctantly; he could imagine that Darin wanted to have the Brilhado sent forth at once. Tralin knew that on some level that is what he should do, for the longer the light demon lived in the castle, the more agitation the people outside felt.

"What is it, Commander?"

"I certainly hope, my lord, that I misread your intention for this man..."

"Darin," Tralin interrupted, "another hour will make no difference to the people; they are already incensed. Hearing him out might at least make this somewhat easier. If there is any chance whatsoever that his information about Akriloth's attack is founded then we need to be aware of it. Now I realize that we are distant from this and there is little I can do, but Nel's people live in Moglin Forest. They have already been scourged by the search of my own brethren. I owe Nel at least some sign of the truth behind our years of friendship. He is the oldest and truest friend I know."

"So you will use the Brilhado for the information he has..."

"And then send him away. I tell you, another hour will not incite the people any more than they already will be when they learn of his escape."

"Your majesty, I beg you to reconsider this travesty..."

"Really, Darin, an extra hour it is hardly a trav..."

"MY LORD!" Darin yelled in frustration. "Please, might I be allowed to express one sentence without your interjection? I apologize for speaking out of turn and with frustration to you and if you want my position or my life for my treason then.. then so be it, but I cannot keep quiet and you are simply not listening."

"You cannot! Must not! Turn this Brilhado..."

"Darin... I cannot simply give him to the people. While as a strategist you might find turning him loose to be an unacceptable risk, I cannot betray Draynor's trust that way."

"Lord Tralin, you are not listening to me at all..." Darin sighed. "I do not wish to suggest you turn the Brilhado to the teeming masses. I pulled him from those self-same vigilantes. If I were to encourage justice of that sort, I would demand instead you bring him up on charges of crimes in war. Yet I tell you with strongest assurance that my motive cannot be further misunderstood then you have made it. You are a self-proclaimed communicant of the Great Creator god. I tell you, lord, in the name of all that is good, in the name of Draynor's memory, and in the name of your own lifelong professions that every person is an individual to be judged as one, that you would be making the single greatest error of your throne and perhaps of your life entire should you turn this man away when he so strongly begs you for solace. Brilhado he is, but he has also offered us information about a greater danger at the present time. Do not now show such hypocrisy and turn you back on all you believe in a moment of fear about the people. I know you well enough. You yourself compared us. I know you well enough to know that no good will come of such a decision. You shall never be able to take it back. If nothing else speaks for the Brilhado's sincerity, his willingness to share what he knows of Akriloth even in the face of being sent out to die convinces me thoroughly. Such an act is selfless and I have never seen another Brilhado act in a selfless fashion."

Tralin sat in stunned silence, absorbing the full impact of Darin's tirade.

"You are the same man who planned my destruction and sought to drive the people against me because you believed I betrayed your god? You are the same close-minded fanatic that manipulated hundreds of thousands, nay, an entire nation to drive your own desires and passions? I can scarce believe my ears, Darin of Vandar."

Darin looked crushed under the assault of Tralin's perceived rejoinder. He had no good response to it because it was based completely on the truth. "My lord, Draynor saw something in me. He believed in me though I was once his great enemy. I have served his throne faithfully in spite of my once staunch support of militant democratization. Your accusations are all true. You know well my crimes. I sent spies into this very house to advance my plans to control the people and increase my power. Ostensibly, I did this to advance the position of my own nation, Vandar, but as you say, my reasons were much more selfish. Even when I believed I acted for the Water Lord, the truth is my actions were really motivated by my own ambition and prejudices. I've changed. Surely you believe or had believed that or else I would not be anywhere near the position I now hold in your army. I am proof that an individual even in the darkest hole can be redeemed. Even were this Brilhado personally responsible for his peoples atrocities, based on that potential alone, I believe Draynor would wish him spared, but from all appearances his only fault is one outside his control and that is that he had the misfortune to be born of Brilhado parents. You know as well as I that if he is even beginning truth with us, he will be killed if the other Brilhado recover him. We know the Brilhado well enough to know how they would deal with dissension in the ranks. Just that we have seen no Brilhado other then those single-minded servants of the Devourer is proof of how they deal with questioning and discord."

"If you are quite done, we have something to say," Tralin responded formally. "Now it is you who misunderstood us, Darin of Vandar.

"I did not mean to accuse you of anything," Tralin admonished, softening slightly. "I was merely expressing my astonishment over just how much you have changed in the past year. When I came in here, I expected you to encourage me to send the Brilhado away at once, and I was tired because I feared inside that, though it would not be what Draynor would want or do, it would be the right decision regardless. Instead, you wished to beg that I reconsider, a daring enough position given your very obvious discomfort with me since the incident at Stone Deep. You are, of course, correct. Draynor would never countenance what it is that I have suggested. Yet I am left with an impossible position: how can we just give the man refuge in spite of the people’s outcry? A king is no king when his subjects scream for his blood."

"We must determine the truth of the Brilhado's words and we must gain his help against the Uncreator. There is no surer way to turn a people's view of someone then to make him a hero."

"You want to press him into the Derenian military?"

"No, not press him, merely to suggest that it offers us a way to give him refuge and demonstrate his veracity. Have you a better suggestion?"

"No."

"Well then."

"Well then, Lord Darin, you are the commander of the military. Enlist the man..."