Chapter Text
Contrary to what others may have expected, Throné really didn't really know much about the town of Oresrush.
She had heard of it, of course. She had heard its name even before she met Partitio who was from the town. It had come up in conversations within the Blacksnakes, and what little information that Throné had, she was able to figure out that it was a perfect place for the group to pick up new members. There was nothing quite like desperation that could drive someone to join a group, and Oresrush was filled with some of the most desperate people of all. The town had been poor for years, and that meant there were all sorts of people looking to turn their lives around after suffering for ages. The Blacksnakes probably seemed like a perfect way for them to shift everything for the better, but they didn't know what they were getting into. No one should ever want a thing to do with the Blacksnakes, not that Throné would ever be able to convince everybody in the world who needed to hear it that this was the case.
The Blacksnakes knew the tactics to use in order to get people to join them. Throné had heard all about it even if she was far from a recruiter within the organization. Still, she knew that Mother and those who trained under her did a lot of work to make sure they were able to convince newcomers to set their old lives aside in favor of joining the group. The Blacksnakes were a chance to turn over a new life and find new fortune that they hadn't ever thought was possible. They could become the best of the best, and they could have all the power they ever wanted at their fingertips. It was an enticing offer to anyone who was willing to hear it, and no one ever realized just how dangerous it was until it was too late for them to even think of backing down. That was the way the organization functioned; it made itself as interesting as possible until the people who had been caught in the trap were unable to escape.
When Throné saw that new members had been asked to join the Blacksnakes, part of her wanted to tell them to run away and never come back. She wanted to instruct that they be as careful as possible with what they did next since it could very easily end with their own destruction. There was no such thing as security within the Blacksnakes. Even the leaders of the organization were constantly under the threat of assassination from those who were under their command. The upward mobility implied by the Blacksnakes meant that no matter what the situation was like, someone was going to be stepped on while someone else was doing the stepping. What was the point in trying to pretend otherwise when they all knew that it was going to end with blood upon blades and hatred etched into hearts?
Throné had never been given a choice to join the Blacksnakes or not. For others, it was a matter of deciding what they thought was for the best for their life circumstances, but her fate had been chosen for her even before she was born. Throné's mother had been involved with the Blacksnakes before she died. Throné didn't even remember her, and it seemed like others within the Blacksnakes were desperate to keep any and all information about her a secret from Throné too. What Throné did know was that her mother had been working with the Blacksnakes for a long time before she was killed by the structure of the organization. There was always someone willing to kill and claw and scrape in order to make it a little bit higher up in the ranks, and that was what had happened to Throné's mother.
Ultimately, the details of what happened to her mother were unimportant, and Throné knew it well. There was nothing she could do to reverse the hands of time to give her a better place in the world. Whether she liked it or not, she was born into the Blacksnakes, and a lot of people out there wanted her to die in the organization too. It was all that she had ever known, and that was true of many other children who had been born within the Blacksnakes too. They were indoctrinated from a young age to make sure they only cared about furthering the goals of the organization, and anything else they did would lead to dire consequences should they step out of line.
There were two common groups when it came to recruiting new members of the Blacksnakes. There was one group that Throné was part of, and that was the children. Even if kids weren't born into the group directly, there were ways for Mother to find them and then drag them into the storm of terror found within the organization. Orphans whose parents had either died or abandoned them were easy targets. They wanted a place to belong because their parents were no longer alive to give it to them, and that meant the Blacksnakes would fit in perfectly with their other priorities. Throné couldn't say where in the world Mother found so many desperate children chasing the validation of adults, but she knew that the tactic of recruitment was very effective. Kids were trained to be assassins and thieves, and once they were ready, they were unleashed upon the world's darkest corners. There was never any peace so long as the Blacksnakes were around, and their methods of accessing children to create new members ensured the organization lived on forever.
The second group was the reason that Throné was in Oresrush at all. Children were easy to indoctrinate and persuade because they did not know any better than what they had been taught, and with a bit of work, anyone could make them believe anything. Adults, however, needed to be in the darkest of situations to even consider abandoning their morals and values for the sake of joining something so horrific. Poverty was the perfect motivator, and any town that was poor enough was bound to have at least someone who was willing to abandon what they knew in the name of something they thought would be more secure. There were probably at least a few people from Partitio's own town that had walked away from everything they had once trusted simply because they had thought the Blacksnakes would be more stable. Throné didn't know if they had come to regret it. She could only hope they did before they wound up dead in the ground, but regret was so rare within the Blacksnakes. Expressing it only led a person to their own demise, and so, the words were never spoken.
Throné was taking a chance by going to Oresrush at all. She was hoping that Mother would be there so she wouldn't have to chase after her for too much longer, but there was no guarantee that would be the case. If there were members of the Blacksnakes in Oresrush, then Throné risked being spotted and reported back to the others who worked around her in the group. She already knew what fate was bound to wait for her if she was exposed. She would die just the same as so many others before her had. It was terrifying to most people...
But Throné was not most people. She knew that she could not stand to live in the Blacksnakes for any longer than she already had. Something needed to change, and she was going to make sure it did no matter what. She didn't care that she was risking her life on a probability of freedom that may not come true. She would rather die and feel free in her final moments than spend the rest of her days shackled to an organization that demanded she kill and destroy the people she could have cared for under less pressure.
"So... What do you think we can expect to find in Oresrush?"
Ochette was the one who had posed the question, and she was walking a short distance behind Throné. She had Acta coiled up in her arms and Mahina flying over her head. "You said that we're trying to find someone, right?" Ochette asked. "Who are we looking for?"
This conversation was bound to begin eventually, especially with how close they were to the edge of town. Throné immediately felt her anxiety spike deep in her stomach despite her best efforts to smother it. She was getting closer to having to potentially having to leave the group behind, and there was nothing she could do about it but give them the information they needed. "Her name is Mother," Throné explained. "She has one of two keys that will combine into another larger key that I can use to unlock my collar. At that point, I'll truly be free."
"Say, why don't you just break that collar 'round your neck?" Partitio asked with a frown. "I'm sure it's gotta be possible, right? If we can find somethin' that'll break through the metal, then we won't have to worry about goin' to get those keys."
Throné shook her head. "If that were possible, I would have done it long ago. But trying to force it off will cause poison to seep out and kill me. It's not something any apothecary can cure either. No one knows what the poison is made of, and no one has ever been able to try and learn the truth behind it. It's highly corrosive and will kill in minutes. I think it's a special blend of some kind."
Partitio stared at Throné in shock for a long moment before shaking his head. "Hoo-ey, that's some heavy stuff," he muttered before forcing a smile onto his face. It was clear that he didn't entirely believe in the grin, but Throné was willing to let him at least try to brighten his spirits. If the others were in a good mood going into Oresrush, then the chances of her having to leave the group were slimmer. "But every product's got its use. Sorry, but would you mind lettin' me have a closer look?"
Throné arched an eyebrow in his direction. "If you're so interested, why not purchase it?" She couldn't say she was too comfortable with the idea of someone looking at her neck with such scrutiny in the name of seeing what was going on with her collar. After all, the neck was a very vulnerable part of the body. Anyone could stab her in it and kill her in an instant, and at that point, she wouldn't need to worry about the collar at all.
Partitio cast Throné a smile, though it was far more genuine this time than it had been seconds prior. "I would if it weren't attached to your neck."
Throné scoffed with a loose smile of her own. "Hah, a fair point." Somehow, the other travelers always seemed to know just what to do to help her relax when she was tense or otherwise stressed about something. She was going to miss this if she had to leave their group behind. At this rate, it felt inevitable. Why would any of them want anything to do with a woman who had stolen and killed for her entire life? She was far from any ideas they may have had about what made a person good, and she wasn't going to try and fool herself into thinking otherwise. They weren't going to want anything to do with her once they learned the truth, and she was going to have to figure something else out on her own.
Throné didn't want to have to leave though. Even if she had been slow to open up to them, she wanted to feel safe in the presence of others. She wanted to give herself the chance to let her guard down enough to figure out who she could be when she wasn't constantly worrying about surviving in a world that wanted her to either kill or be killed. The travelers gave her something she hadn't ever been able to savor in New Delsta: hope. Throné wanted to know who she was rather than just what she could be as an arm of the Blacksnakes... But she would probably have to learn on her own. Why would the travelers want to be with her once they learned the truth? It would be her journey alone by the time the sun set, and she was just going to have to deal with it.
She could have tried to keep the group from ever worrying about going to Oresrush. She could have traveled with them forever without thinking about escaping her collar, but she knew she couldn't do that. It would be a betrayal of her own desires to act like she wanted to wear the collar for the rest of her life. Something had to change, and Throné knew that she needed to take her life into her own hands. It wouldn't be easy, but she hoped that freedom would be worth it in the end... Even if it meant she had to upend everything she had come to enjoy about traveling with her new company.
"Hey, look!" Agnea cried out, pointing into the distance. Throné looked up to find that the silhouette of a town had appeared on the horizon, and she fought down the electricity that danced beneath her skin at the sight. "We're almost there! We should make it to Oresrush in just a few minutes, right?"
"So it seems," Temenos hummed, stepping up to walk just beside Throné. "Is there anything else you think we should know before we arrive in the town? If you have something else to tell us, then now is the time to say it."
Throné shook her head. "I have nothing to say." She knew what Temenos was trying to do. He wanted to probe her into revealing the truth about her ties to the Blacksnakes. He thought it would be better if she talked about it before the truth was dragged into the light against Throné's will. As far as she was concerned, that would just sacrifice everything before she was ready to do so. She didn't think she would ever truly be ready, but she wasn't going to let Temenos push her into something she wasn't comfortable with. If Temenos really wanted her to talk, then he could stand to lead by example and act honest in his own right for once. As it stood, Temenos had no right to try and lecture her passively when he was every bit as bad about keeping secrets as Throné was.
"Then where should we be heading first when we arrive?" Hikari asked. "Do you know where it is that we can find this Mother character? I somehow doubt we'll have much luck if we wander around the town in search of her by just saying that name... The townsfolk will be confused and think we are referring to any regular mother."
"I certainly haven't ever heard of anyone by that name in Oresrush," Partitio confirmed. "If she ever did come through town, then I never had the chance to meet her. Maybe she was usin' a false name or somethin'. I'm not sure."
"We should start at the saddlery," Throné answered. "I've heard whispers that when she wants to recruit new members of the organization, she goes to the saddlery in Oresrush. That's where we'll begin our search." She intentionally made her wording as vague as she possibly could to limit the number of questions the rest of the group asked. The details didn't matter, and Throné hoped that her confidence would be enough to keep her party moving. She just needed to find Mother. Everything else could wait until after she had a better plan of how she was going to explain herself.
The saddlery in Oresrush had been mentioned countless times within the Blacksnakes. Apparently, that was Mother's favorite spot to look for new recruits, but no one knew of its significance to her. Throné didn't know if she was going to get any closer to understanding that day either, but the least she could do was try to put in some effort to follow Mother. The finer points of her investigation weren't of much importance; she just needed that key.
"The saddlery?" Partitio echoed, tilting his head to the side. "I can take you there. It's around the inn and the general store. I've been by a few times, but..." He laughed awkwardly and shrugged. "It was kinda hard for me to find the money to get a horse when I was losin' all my money because of Giff's taxes. The one who ran the saddlery always managed to have money even when the rest of us couldn't figure out how to put food on the table though. I never figured out how he did that, and he didn't seem too keen on explainin' it either."
Throné hummed her acknowledgement, choosing to not say that she could take a pretty damn good guess at how that man was able to keep himself above water in a town crashing into poverty. It was easy to find pay when someone was willing to buy and sell human beings... Or whatever the hell else Mother was doing with the new recruits she found from Oresrush. Either way, Throné knew that it couldn't have been anything good. Partitio had no idea of all the horrible things happening in his hometown just under his nose, not that Throné had expected him to know. The Blacksnakes knew how to keep their operations quiet, and beyond that, Partitio had been struggling with his own hardships too much to even think of recognizing it. He wasn't going to enjoy learning the truth of all that he had failed to see, but Throné knew there was no getting away from it now. There was no turning back at all anymore.
While the rest of the travelers started off toward the saddlery, they didn't realize they were being followed. There was a young boy, likely no older than ten, trailing after them. His hair was a light blonde color, and it peered out from around a gray mask that covered his entire face. Throné heard something creak behind her, and she knew instantly that someone was tailing her. She didn't know who it was or why, but she was going to get to the bottom of it soon. She wasn't sure of what to expect yet, so she figured she would choose her moves carefully and wait until she was in a better place to strike. Until then, she would keep it hidden from the rest of the travelers. If the others knew that she was worried about something, then they would let it show, and Throné was certain that was one of the worst choices they could make when they had no idea what they were up against.
When the travelers arrived at the saddlery, the owner of the business was waving farewell to one of his customers. "Thank you for your patronage. I shall prepare the goods posthaste. In the meantime, please wait at the tavern," he was saying, and Throné narrowed his eyes at the man. The saddlery owner, just as Partitio had said, had clearly found a way to maintain his finances even when the rest of Oresrush was struggling significantly. His clothing was simple at a glance, but Throné knew that it had cost quite a few leaves to purchase. It was easy to find money for these sorts of things when a person was sacrificing others for the sake of making progress in the world, Throné thought bitterly.
The shifty man visiting the saddlery nodded before walking toward the door. Throné had no intentions of moving for him, and the man's shoulder roughly collided with her own. She didn't let the pain bother her as he walked out though, and the man didn't say anything in return. Throné could see something glittering in his hand though, and she had to wonder if it was important somehow. Surely he would have had to hand over most of his leaves in order to purchase whatever it was that he needed from the saddlery... Or perhaps not. Throné tucked the information away into the back of her mind and then approached the counter.
The saddlery owner examined her from head to toe with an eye full of scrutiny. "Might I help you find something?" he asked, his tone guarded as could be. "We have an array of goods made of cloth and leather and even others with chains."
Throné shook her head. "I'm not here for horse gear."
The saddlery owner feigned surprise, but Throné knew better than to fall for it. "But, milady, this is a saddlery..."
"Is that so...?" Throné questioned, arching an eyebrow and planting one hand on her hip. "What did that man purchase just now? He didn't seem to have a horse with him..."
For a long moment, the saddlery owner said nothing, staring at Throné and waiting to see if she would back down. When she did not, his expression shifted ever so slightly. "You have a keen eye, milady," he remarked. "Alas, that man did in fact bring a 'horse.' I saw it with my own eyes. I would not have been able to craft the proper gear otherwise."
"Did he now...?" Throné murmured. She certainly hadn't seen any unattended horses outside the building. The only one that she had noticed very clearly had a rider with it, and Throné doubted that the man she saw was just watching over the horse for the sake of the other customer. There was something else at play there, and the 'horse' the saddlery owner was referring to could not have been a literal one. It was expected for the Blacksnakes and their business partners to speak in code this way, Throné knew. She just had to figure out what it meant when she peeled back the layers of disguise.
The saddlery owner refused to let her see a crack in his armor though, and he turned around before pretending to stock the shelves behind the counter. "Please come again."
Throné could feel the eyes of the other travelers following her as she shook her head and started toward the door. They all trailed after her quietly, wanting to say something but unsure of where to start. Throné crossed her arms once she was outside and tilted her head up to look at the saddlery in its entirety. "As I suspected... It isn't a saddlery at all," she muttered."
"But... That's what the buildin' is, right?" Partitio asked with a frown. "The saddlery has been there for years. I don't know what else it could be. There were some horse supplies in there too, right?"
Throné shook her head. "They're not just selling horse supplies. They're selling something else there too, and that's what we're here to try and get to the bottom of." She pressed one hand against her chin in intense thought. "As for this 'horse...' It must be what I need for the exchange. The man from before must have one. So I suppose it's time to see a man about a 'horse.'"
"I can't say I entirely understand what it is that you are trying to say, Throné, but... If you think that we need to find a way to get a horse of some kind, then I trust you," Hikari said slowly. The look on his face conveyed a thousand things at once. He trusted Throné's judgement, but he was beyond confused about what it was that she was trying to articulate. He would go along with whatever it was that she said was necessary, but he wasn't going to know how to express his feelings on the matter all the same. Throné was going to have to act on her own without earning too much suspicion.
"We should go to the tavern to try and figure out what the horse is, yes?" Temenos questioned. "If the man from before has one, then that means that we will be able to learn what it is and then determine what our next few steps will be from there. Perhaps we can take it right off him without the need to ask too many questions..." He turned to Throné at that, clearly gauging what she was going to say in response to his suggestion of blatant theft.
"We'll do what we have to in order to get what we need," Throné replied simply. "Come on. It's off to the tavern with us."
It didn't take long for the travelers to arrive at the tavern, and once they were through the front door, Throné spotted the man. He was sitting at a table in the corner, concentrated on a game of cards that he was playing with someone else from the town. His back was to the door, and Throné could see something shining peering out of his pocket. That was right. She had seen him holding something that glittered too back when they were at the saddlery. Throné didn't know if that was what she was looking for, but she figured it was as good a place to start as any.
Throné walked past the man like she was planning to go to the table that was on the other side of his on the far wall, reaching her hand down and pulling the shining item out of his pocket with the skill that she had been trained to have many years prior. By the time Throné arrived at the table, she stood beside it with the rest of the travelers filing in just behind her. The tavern was so busy at this time of day that no one noticed what she had just done, not that Throné would have cared much if they had seen it. In a place like Oresrush, everyone would want to keep their heads down and not make too much trouble for themselves. Righteousness had gotten them in trouble in the past, and that was not a lesson that was easily unlearned when the danger had passed.
Throné looked at the small item that she had snagged, and all of a sudden, the request of the saddlery owner made sense. He had asked for a horse, and there, sitting in the palm of her hand, was a coin with a horse etched into the side. It was some form of currency when it came to the trade there in Oresrush, it seemed. If nothing else, it was a key and a sign that someone was in on everything that was happening there. Now, all Throné had to do was take it back to the saddlery, present it to the owner, and then get what she was looking for.
"Come on," Throné said, starting toward the door of the tavern once again. "I have what we need. We can go back to the saddlery now. The sooner we can talk to the owner about all of this, the better off we're all going to be." She didn't wait to see how the rest of the travelers responded to that, instead simply powering toward the entrance of the building with a firmness to her gait. The tricks of Oresrush would not keep her away from Mother forever, and sooner or later, she was going to reach her destination.
Still, Throné couldn't help but notice a strange tension in the air as the rest of the travelers followed her. They were anxious about what she was choosing to not tell them, and she could hardly even blame them for it. She probably wouldn't have felt too much better if she had been in their shoes and had known that the person she was with was trying to keep things from her. But Throné couldn't talk just yet. If this was the last bit of peace that she was going to get, then she wanted to savor it.
Throné didn't let herself so much as look over her shoulder at the rest of the group on the way back to the saddlery. She felt like her insides had been knotted over themselves a thousand times over, smothering any attempts that she could have made to explain herself long before she could even try to find the words. She was exhausted, and all of this felt pointless in a way. She was just drawing out the inevitable, and when it finally snapped, there would be nothing she could do about it. Throné had always thought that lying and deceiving others was just part of the work of the Blacksnakes, and she had brushed it off whenever she had concerns about it...
But she didn't want to act like the Blacksnakes anymore. She wanted to change her life for the better. She wanted to prove that she could rise above that which she had always been told was her only option in the world. She wanted to be free, and the best way to do that was to take her life into her own hands.
She wanted to prove that she could be different than she had always been told, and yet, she didn't want to do anything drastic just yet. She didn't want to leave behind the group that had shown her that a better life was possible. Throné would have to soon enough, but perhaps just for that afternoon, she would be able to justify every poor behavior that she had been trying to smother. She could try to be better when she was certain there was no other reason for the performance.
Everything was going to end soon, and Throné could only hope that her final moments in the sunny light of her friends' smiles would be enjoyable before it all came crashing down.