"Too small to be a Clayor," the officer said. "Too small for most of the species here."
Aria couldn't say a word. She simply stood, dumbfounded, staring at the monitors long after there was anything of significance to see. Ryden examined her, his powerful bulk towering over her suddenly.
"Tell me," he said quietly, with menace.
Aria looked up into his merciless, cold eyes. She swallowed back the shame she felt, but the looming guilt didn't go down that easily. She knew quite well what the general had in store for the traitors. All she could think of was whether he'd add her to the list.
"I know it was a human," Ryden said, his voice dark and threatening. "And you know who it was. I can see that plain as day. Tell me now, while I'm still prepared to believe you had nothing to do with this."
"You'll kill h... them."
"Him, yes."
Aria glared. "If you know who it is, why do you need me to say it? I don't want to deal a death sentence like this, I don't..."
Ryden cut her off smoothly.
"I understand you want to protect your fellow human, Ambassador. That is all the understanding I'm willing to give."
The look in his eyes told Aria quite clearly he wasn't joking. She thought of the man who had first welcomed her to Ilotra. She didn't deny she had no warm feelings toward him, but Aria had seen Ryden in action. It was not a death she wished upon anyone.
Only, Ryden was right. The traitor in their midst had possibly killed them all. He deserved it.
The traitor. A human.
Ryden's eyes were burning, warning her to speak before it was too late.#p#分页标题#e#
"Ambassador Sota," Aria said, forcing her voice to be strong.
Ryden didn't react in any way she'd predicted. The general didn't growl in fury, nor did he nod knowingly. He simply looked at her, his gaze holding her frozen in place.
"You must be certain," was all he said.
"I am," Aria replied quietly. "Please don't make him suffer."
Ryden tilted his head, a sneer on his lips. His stance was threatening, a creature of violence held at bay only by force of will.
"Why?" he asked, growling. "He betrayed Ilotra, you, everyone here. He deserves to die."
"Maybe," Aria shot back. "But it can be quick. Painless."
The look Ryden gave her was almost hurt, if she could believe he was capable of the emotion.
"That he does not deserve."
"I can't stop you," Aria said defiantly. "All I can do is voice my plea."
A small growl escaped Ryden's throat. The general was suddenly so close to her she could feel his broad chest rise and fall against her gown.
"Your plea is heard," he said, his voice so low and deep Aria barely heard the words through the growl.
Then he turned and walked away from her, leaving Aria struggling to find words that could stop him.
"It will still be death," she called after him, desperation marring her voice.
Ryden stopped and looked back at her. Aria backed away under the intensity of his gaze, but she refused to give in. For some reason, she needed him to show mercy. So far Aria had approved of the general's doings, compromising her own beliefs about freedom and order. She had stood by as Ryden killed dozens of enemies, but all of them were warriors. They had weapons in hand.
Sota was a traitor, but Ryden had promised execution, not torture. If he went back on his word, it would have meant he wanted to do it, and took pleasure in hurting someone. There was a big distinction between killing and taking revenge, and Aria was holding her breath to see which he would choose.
"Don't talk to me about death," the general said seriously, pointing to the skies above them. "Death is up there, coming for us. And here on Ilotra, hiding in shadows. All of that thanks to him. He brought this all upon us. Don't expect any mercy from the Clayors."
"I'm not asking them," Aria said, her heart beating in her chest, unsure of how she dared to speak to the general like that.
Ryden snarled at her, but said nothing. He turned on his heel and walked away, leaving Aria to look to where he'd pointed, where the enemy was coming for them, relentless and bloody and unstoppable like death itself.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Ryden
She was infuriating to him.
Ryden marched on, gritting his teeth. After all those days, he thought he'd finally figured out what terrified the little Terran so much about him. Her plea, lacking any sense to him, was fueled by mercy, by a sense of forgiveness. She couldn't have broadcast being Terran more loudly if she'd tried.
It wasn't like all of them were like that. Not at all. Ryden was on his way to execute a human that put the entirety of Ilotra in danger for whatever his selfish purposes were. But humans... they possessed many conflicting emotions and Aria was clearly on the other end of the spectrum.
Brions didn't think like that. Victory was everything to them. The right kind of winning was something they only bothered with when absolute necessity demanded it, like when great issues were at stake, such as the recent civil war. Generals Diego Grothan and Faren had done plenty to assure everyone they were on the right side, even if it meant seemingly backing down.
Ryden knew his own situation demanded that he take their example seriously. The entire Brion species was on the brink of being thrown out of the union , he knew that. It all rode on his actions and what would still remain standing after the dust settled on Ilotra.
And Aria wanted him to be merciful.
It shouldn't have mattered. He kept telling himself that it didn't either, but it was hard for him to convince himself of a lie.
When he arrived in the Terran quarters, his mood was sour.
His warriors had already apprehended the ambassador. The short, dark-haired man was looking at him with unconcealed fear. He was practically shaking in his boots, trying to struggle and flee, but his body language told Ryden the man didn't believe much in his chances of survival.
"General," the traitor said as soon as he saw him, stumbling over his words. "Please, let me explain."#p#分页标题#e#
"I am not interested in excuses," Ryden growled. "All I want from you is an explanation. If your answers are of use to me... I might give you a quick death."
That seemed fair. It was all he could give Aria, not more. The need to rip the coward to pieces with his bare hands was nearly overwhelming. He despised men who plotted and schemed behind the backs of their betters, conspiring to get others killed without even giving them a chance to fight back.
"It was not me," the man said quickly.
"You have been identified," Ryden replied coldly. "Don't bother to deny it and don't waste my time."
The traitor seemed to fall into despair. He was truly a pitiful creature to Ryden's eyes, a weak man, both physically and mentally. How did Terra choose such a man to represent them? Then again, Ryden didn't exactly value his own ambassadors either.
Ambassador Sota took a visible, deep breath, clearly trying to calm himself. All eyes were on him; the hate the warriors felt toward him was nearly palpable.
"I do not deny it was me that dropped the generator's shield," Sota began.
"Then we have nothing else to discuss. Reveal your accomplices and we are done here."
The ambassador shook his head, his eyes pleading.
"General, please," he said, begging. "It was me, but I did not choose to do it. I don't know what came over me. I did other things as unexplainable as this, but I didn't want to, I swear. I don't even know how to disable the damn thing! I think I asked Aria about it once, but—"
Ryden raised his hand. The room had suddenly gone from quiet to deafeningly silent. It wasn't the lack of any voices, it was the purposeful absence of it. The dirty looks his warriors had given Sota before were now directed at him, questioning, worried.
"Repeat that," the general ordered. "What you said about the shield."
"I said I don't even know how to drop it," Sota said, his voice carrying the same desperate, pleading edge. "I am not a technician nor a scientist. Aria is the engineer, but I have no idea how to do that. I swear to you, before I went over to it, I didn't even know where it was."
"Mind control," one of Ryden's warriors said carefully. "General, if this man is telling the truth..."
Ryden didn't answer. A horrible thought had occurred to him, an idea that he had misunderstood the Host's intentions.
"Aria," he said, more to himself than to the others, but Sota heard him anyway.
"Yes, yes," the man hastened to say. "Aria would know. She explained it to me once. I don't remember most of it, but—"
"That is why she was able to trick the Clayors," Ryden growled. "The hive mind already knew she was able to do it. Through you. It has been setting this up for a long time. It has been here much longer than we'd thought."
It all started to make sense. There were no traitors on Ilotra, there was just the Host. It was known the hive mind had some mind control powers, but Brions had mostly seen them use it in short-term solutions. Taking control of a weak-minded enemy, throwing off someone's aim. The hive mind didn't use it much, because it was mostly too obvious. But on Ilotra... where everything was confused as it was, it could be both devastating and hidden at the same time.
It had fed them the lie from the very beginning. Making him chase the traitors, discredit himself in the eyes of the council even further. Making them suspect each other as well.