I raised an eyebrow.
“Elaborate.”
He didn’t reply.
Ah, I didn’t ask him a question. Gotta rephrase.
“Under what circumstances would you have caused harm to a member of this group?”
Derek focused his eyes on me. “If someone attempted to stop you from fulfilling your mission, I would have intervened on your behalf.”
I glanced back to Orden, worried that she might try something drastic, but she didn’t seem to be making any moves just yet.
I turned back to Derek. “Are you aware of anything related to Tenjin’s disappearance?”
“Yes.”
There we go.
“What do you know about it?”
His eyes shifted to Orden, then back to me. “I have a pretty good idea of who was involved and why.”
I nodded. “Who was involved and what do you know about their motives?”
“The initial group that entered the tower consisted of Vera, my friend Carter, Elora Theas, and some others from Caelford that I didn’t know. Carter and Elora were working with some kind of secret society. I don’t know all the details, but when Tenjin showed up with his attendants, Carter and Elora started a fight. Tenjin’s attendants stabbed him in the back, and I’m pretty sure they were—”
“Derek, stop.” Orden clapped her hands, and Derek shut his jaw. Orden smiled. “Well, this is all quite interesting. It’s obvious Derek wasn’t responsible.”
I turned back to her. “What are the odds that one of the names he was about to say was ‘Professor Orden’?”
“Quite high, I’d say, although my friends usually call me Lyras. Yes, yes, I had Tenjin kidnapped. I was truly hoping to avoid this conversation, but I suppose it’s inevitable now.”
Jin raised a pistol, not quite pointing it at Orden, but keeping it at the ready. “We may be having a bit more than a ‘conversation’.”
She looked at Jin with a hint of surprise, like she was seeing him for the first time. Then, blinking, she continued. “Oh, don’t be so eager for violence, Jin. I believe you’ll agree with me when you hear my motives — but even if not, I would urge you not to attempt any violence. After all, Derek was the only one of you who presented any threat to me, and he’s quite thoroughly under my control.” Orden rubbed her forehead. “Really, this is such a bother.”
Sera glanced at me, then meaningfully shifted her eyes toward Derek.
I shook my head just slightly.
Not yet, Sera, but I’m glad you’re ready.
“Okay, Professor.” I waved a hand at her. “Tell us why you kidnapped a visage.”
Orden chuckled. “Oh, it’s so much more than that, Corin. You’re thinking too small. Why don’t you ask Vera what she was doing in the tower in the first place?”
I didn’t take the bait, so I just shrugged. “Research. Artificial attunements or something like them.”
Vera winced. “That...may be a slight understatement.”
Oh, goddess curse it, Vera. What now?
Without looking away from Orden, I said, “Okay, Vera. Fill us in.”
Vera nodded. “Guess there’s no point to keeping it a secret now. You met Echion, yeah? Well, he’s the result of a joint defense project between Caelford and Valia. An extremely important project; one we’ve been working on for decades. Something that could have helped keep us safe from Edria for generations.”
Professor Orden raised a hand to her chin. “You’re still dodging the real issue, Vera. Why don’t you tell us exactly what Echion is?”
“He’s...” Vera glanced from side-to-side. “His attunement is unique. It’s not like a human attunement. It’s structured more like the power used by a god beast.”
Okay, Orden might have succeeded at deflecting our attention after all. Everyone’s eyes shifted to Vera. I replied first. “Wait, what?”
Vera scratched the back of her head sheepishly. “We’ve been able to replicate existing attunements for years. Echion is our first success at making a completely new one. It’s distinct from what the goddess grants, and vastly more powerful than any individual standard attunement. He’s still learning how to use it, but eventually...”
“Eventually he’ll be like a human with the power of a god beast,” Jin concluded.
That’s a line of research I wouldn’t mind hearing more about, but it obviously has the potential to be dangerous. And it sounds like they weren’t careful enough.
Vera closed her eyes. “That’s the light of it. We brought him here to test him in the tower, but someone must have tipped Tenjin off. Carter or Elora, I suppose. I still don’t understand why. They were both a part of the project.”
“Because you lacked foresight.” Professor Orden raised a hand and pointed up. “Tenjin was always going to find you in the tower. We just expedited the process. And we saved you from him. Tenjin would have annihilated your group. I know because he told me. I am one of his Whispers, after all.”
Vera stepped toward Orden, arms folded. “Well, if you were doing us such a great favor, you could have told us about it. And, you know, not beat the pants off of us afterward?”
Orden opened both hands in a gesture of peace. “If all had gone according to plan, you would have woken up safely in a lab with the rest of your companions — who are all safe, I assure you, and cooperating quite nicely.”
I sincerely doubt that last part, unless by “cooperating” she means “under the control of magic rings”.
Orden glanced away from Vera. “Unfortunately, Tenjin didn’t fall quite as easily as we expected. He managed to cast a spell to summon help before he lost consciousness. We were forced to grab the people closest to us and flee. Sadly, that led to Katashi finding your unconscious body at the scene and throwing you into prison. It took some time before one of my fellow companions was able to make enough adjustments to lead someone to your prison to free you.”