A puzzled expression on his face, Jate wondered why there was such a long pause. He shrugged it off and tried to find a place to sit. The room was reasonably cleaner than the last time they had congregated in it, or perhaps it only felt that way due to a lesser amount of people. Picking up a small pile of scrolls and dropping them, for lack of a better place, onto the floor, Jate perched on a stool.

"Well." His voice took on a dry, almost amused tone. "Input not yet considered. I don't know how much planning has been going on here, but I've been out in the rest of the Keep. So I don't know what has been considered or not." He paused, wondering how the leaders might take his thoughts. Slipping into a more tentative mode, Jate felt his way out carefully. "Ah..well, I was thinking for a while. Fighting is all well and good, but there must be some alternative. If we could only find a way to get to the city and confront the Regent..." he trailed off, wondering where to go with that. Light, he wasn't sure where he was going with that! "There has to be some way we could get there."

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going on a journey through my old claims

The Phantom appraised Jate briefly, the implications of his suggestion skittering off in a spiderweb of possibilities. "For negotiating purposes?" he asked, more to think out loud than to probe Jate further. The only negotiations he wanted to act upon, with the Regent, involved a sharp weapon and an accompanying ultimatum. The notion was appealing, but the actual plan was weak.

Thinking out loud - and still bouncing his gaze anywhere but Silvryn - the Phantom drummed his fingers on the desk and continued to voice his thoughts. "Assuming we did have a way to reach the Regent in the next two days. It would mean leaving here, effectively without leadership, and there's no guarantee we could get into the palace. No guarantee we could get out, either."

He quirked an eyebrow at Jate, evincing the thinnest of smiles. "Don't mistake me, the idea is appealing."

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Silvryn, already fully recovered from the unexpected interruption and thinking in terms of the conflict once more, cast a pointed glance in the Phantom's direction. "I stand by my proposal of surrender," she said evenly. "There is no way to guarantee a successful negotiation, but the only way to even get within the walls of the city alive is in chains. Those in custody will be taken to the main prison, which we already know is little more than an inconvenience."

"And from there?" Kjan interjected. "That's still no short trek, from the prison to the palace entrance. Certainly enough time for our absence to be noted, and most likely enough for them to track us down. And that's assuming we even got out - I imagine every guard available would be devoted to such valuable prisoners."

"Leaving the Regent that much more accessible," Silvryn pointed out. "And you forget that I lived there for sixteen years. It is far to the main entrance, yes, but there are other ways in - passages known only to the royal family. Get us into Y'rydha, and I can get us into the palace."

"Will it be that simple?" demanded the Phantom, swiveling to glance at Kjan. "There are too many variables. What happens to those who stay with us at the Keep? What happens to the Keep itself? What happens if the Regent decides he doesn't want to wait, if he decides to take care of the annoying problem of his heir once and for all?"

He'd already said this to Silvryn. The Phantom found he could look directly at her again. And suddenly, with surprising clarity, he knew the source of his hesitation.

"Do you think I don't know how desperate it is?" he asked, meeting each of their eyes in turn. "I know how many soldiers are out there. I know what the odds are." He could nearly hear the myriad footsteps through their underground tunnels. All those lives, in their hands. "While there are still walls, between us and them," he continued slowly, "there's still a chance to protect what we can't afford to risk."

He wished Kjan and Jate could have delayed, just a moment or two. Swallowing his own discomfort, the Phantom turned again to Silvryn. "The Regent's been trying to kill you since he knew you were alive. To just give ourselves up is to risk too much. Too much opportunity for him to succeed."

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"And you think that we will be any safer here?" Silvryn countered. "We cannot hold out indefinitely, and we will lose any battle that occurs."

Kjan hesitated slightly, seeming to consider. "I have to agree with milady on that point," he said at length. "I spent nearly all day equipping and training our forces, and I've seen what and whom we're up against. And while I generally prefer to be optimistic about this sort of thing, I think it's about time that we realized that we don't stand a chance. It's not tenacity - it's suicide."

"I am not proposing that we lose all hope and give up without even trying," Silvryn persisted, gaze steadily on the Phantom now. "But I also do not believe that we should resign ourselves to a valiant last stand when there are alternatives available. If there is even a miniscule chance of successfully reaching the Regent, then it is greater than our chance of winning a battle here. And I sincerely doubt that the option of surrender will be offered twice."

Surrender. Surprisingly, the thought wasn't as unappealing when placed against the cold facts of their situation. Jate pursed his lips and stared blankly at the opposing wall. What the Phantom had to say made sense. There was no guarantee that the Regent wouldn't kill them on the spot, or that they could get out of the prison at all. And his life was definitely on the chopping block as well. He knew that was quite a selfish thought, but there it was. With a start, Jate realized how important this decision was - not only to him, but to the people getting ready to fight in the Keep as well. Those people....his people. For the first time, Jate was able to really sympathize with how the Phantom felt.

Sympathetic or no, though, the matter still stood. "We cannot hold out for long against these forces. Even a day fighting will be straining us considerably. And we can't just wait to be starved out." Jate hesitated, wanting to pull his words back but unable to. "Surrender is the only option. We must be able to find a way out of prison. And the country has to be prepared to face the elves." He swallowed hard, and wrenched his gaze from the empty wall to the Phantom.

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going on a journey through my old claims

Surrender, or be starved out. Risk themselves, or risk all of Kytana. The Phantom found himself comparing it to jumping off a cliff or being tossed off blindfolded - neither attractive in the least. But even he had to admit one was more attractive than the other. "So it's a gamble," he mused, lost in contemplation.

More attractive except for one particular aspect. He moistened his lips and leaned forward. "All right. We surrender, and hope the dark gods are busy somewhere else, and pretend this plan is not bordering on suicidal." That was surprisingly easy. He'd expected the decision to take longer.

"But," he continued, stopping the quill in his fingers to brandish it at Silvryn, "Kjan and I know how to get into the palace as well as anyone. The fewer we have, the fewer we need to break out of prison. If you'll go with the refugees, we surrender."

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Ash stood at the back of the room, leaning against the wall, listening to the conversation. He didn't like the thought of surrendering at all. Hundreds of people were willing to give up everything for the cause, and now it felt like the cause was giving up on them. However, as much as he disliked the idea, he had to admit that they were running low on other options. What the others were saying made sense.

Several times during the talk, he bit back protests. <i>Just keep quiet,</i> he told himself, <i>Nobody likes surrendering, and your complaining about it won’t help anything.</i> Well, at least he might be able to help when it came to getting to the Regent. He had been to the palace a few times, and knew some of the more inconspicuous ways about the place.

Silvryn did not reply immediately, inwardly debating whether or not this stipulation was worth disputing. He made a valid point about including as few people as possible, but it was not as though she were exactly superfluous in this operation. The entrances of which she spoke were intended only for members of the royal family and were therefore quite a bit more difficult to access than most. Not to mention the fact that leaving now went against everything in her nature. But given that she had just proposed a plan that required swallowing their pride and doing what was best for the rebellion....

"I know how to get into the palace better than anyone," she felt the need to point out. "There are passages available only to members of the royal family. If you wish to successfully reach the Regent, such passages would be ideal."

Kjan started to interject, but Silvryn held up a hand to cut him off. "However," she continued more slowly, "as much as I would prefer to accompany you personally, I am more concerned with the success of this plan. If it is the only way that you will agree to this, then I accept this compromise. The magical wards ought to recognize Jate as well, so if I give you directions, there should be no problems getting in. Are we agreed?"

"Aye," agreed the Phantom after the most infinitesimal of pauses. He waited for the finality to sink in, the trepidation, the hollow feeling of having made a potentially disastrous decision. Perhaps a symbolic earthquake.

The silence just stretched another few moments.

He rose, letting the quill fall, and the level tone of his own voice surprised him. "Right. Not much time to lose, then. We'll finish getting the refugees out. Jate, once I manage to locate Eledhe, she should be able to to teach you a thing or two about using that rock of yours to blow things up." It took another moment of readjusting his thinking before other tasks occurred to him. Slowly, the Phantom added, "Perhaps...we should send the valuables we have with the civilians who haven't left yet. If - when - well, we won't be coming back to it."

The finality was indeed beginning to sink in. The Phantom took a breath and forgot what he had been going to say. "...right. Destroy anything in your personal quarters that could give the Regent more information than we want him to have."

As they dispersed, he stared down at the entrances and passwords marked in purple. Every last one.

He lifted the edge of the parchment into the candle flame.

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Dante had come in the doorway, holding in his hand an extremely crude tool he'd intended to ask Ash to sharpen, when he began to catch drifts of the conversation, and slowly processed it's meaning.

Surrender.

It was ridiculous, inconcievable that this is what the Phantom Grey - the Phantom Grey that Dante had watched steadily fight with everything in him, even when it was madness - had decided. How could he surrender? How could his passionate companions just agree to it like that?

<i>They've all gone mad.</i>

Dante stepped back, watching Jate come through, while so many words smoldered inside of him. Just hours ago, he would have felt like they had finally made a right choice, finally done a mature thing. But now, just when he'd become used to the idea of fighting...

He stepped forward quickly... shoulder to shoulder with Jate. "What new impulsiveness is this?" he muttered bitterly. "First we're all going to die fighting, and now we're all going to die surrendering?"

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<center>
"The piano is able to communicate the subtlest universal truths by means of wood, metal and vibrating air."

Jate fingered the Heartshard as the Phantom spoke, wondering what Eledhe --wait. Eledhe? She was going to be teaching him? Time alone...with her? He impulsively swallowed, a tight feeling in his stomach. Sure, the Phantom could say that with no problem at all. But Jate had no doubt that she wouldn't be a patient teacher. Lost in musing, he barely noticed when Dante materialized at his side. All too soon, though, he caught the bitter tone.

A sudden rage began seething through his veins. Jate turned and rounded on the older man. "What do you know about it?" He hissed. "What do you know besides your own skin and what directly concerns you? This whole trip you've done nothing but complain. I don't deny that I had my fair share too, but I've learned. I've seen these people. My people. You don't think that it kills me to give up, to let this thing go? I'm in as deeply as the Phantom now, no matter my age or previous affiliations. But I see what's best for them." He was leaning in closer, his nose inches away from Dante's.

"We've got one chance in this whole, crazy, light-burned place. Getting us killed in a heroic last stand isn't going to help anyone. Especially not with those elves on their way. Or have you forgotten? You know, that whole bit with them wanting to take over the entire human country? Any possibility of getting to the Regent and making him see..." Jate broke off, frustrated. "Just...why don't you think of the whole instead of your own little bubble?"

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going on a journey through my old claims

Momentarily, Dante was taken aback by Jate's impassioned words. He staggered away from the boy, staring with incredulity, fighting back the outburst anger that was his initial reaction. More than anything, it angered him that he knew the words were true, staggeringly so. With every day since he'd first begun traveling with them, the truth had been around him. Audacious. It refused to let him alone, blatantly there every time he tried to clear his mind.

"And you assume that just because you're a bloody <i>heir</i> or something, that you know what's right and best for all these folk?"

He was quiet for a moment, tasting the bitterness of his words. The accusation was harsh and ridiculous, it hadn't been Jate who'd made the decision, but the Phantom. And the Phantom, no matter how crazy his choices, <i>was</i> their leader. For a moment, Dante struggled inwardly, furious at the way the boy had spoken to him, knowing it was right, but feeling it was wrong.

"By the gods Jate," he said finally, yet struggling with his anger. "I just don't belong here."

There was nowhere to go, no other option, no way out of the entanglement of which he was just a small, unimportant thread. And now he would surrender with the rest of them, though his heart was not in it, for he was no rebel, no revolutionary. Pushing past Jate quickly, he muttered darkly, "Well, at least my bubble makes sense," and headed for the mainroom.

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<center>
"The piano is able to communicate the subtlest universal truths by means of wood, metal and vibrating air."

Kjan listened to the escalating debate outside with something resembling bemusement. Dante had never given the impression of caring a whit about what happened within the rebellion, so long as it didn't negatively impact him. Kjan would never have thought the cartographer would actually favor fighting over surrender. Though, of course, he also hadn't known Jate felt so strongly about it all until roughly two mintues ago.

He cast around briefly until his gaze settled on Ash, who hadn't fully departed yet. "Master Salone seems to be rather impassioned this evening," he commented mildly. "I don't suppose you could accompany him and find a more constructive use for his zeal than arguing with anyone unfortunate enough to cross his path? We have no shortage of things that still need to be done, I'm sure."


Silvryn hesitated briefly by the door, wanting both to stay and to depart. She would have liked to discuss matters further with the Phantom (and perhaps allow for another moment of distraction), but she also needed to give Jate instructions. And beyond that, she found herself wanting to have a more in-depth conversation with the young man than the obligatory communication that had occurred in their recent travels together. Her initial impression of him had been nothing outstanding - just a boy caught up in adventure far larger than he was. The impression had changed very little even after learning that he was royalty. But she had overheard much of Jate's reproach of Dante, and she was intrigued by the fervor that she had heard in his voice. Was it possible that she had underestimated this one?

After a moment, Silvryn managed to convey in a glance that she and the Phantom would continue their discussion later, then started down the corridor. "I have a map in my quarters that would prove useful in your attempt to enter the palace," she informed Jate as she walked past. "You may wish to come retrieve it before I begin disposing of other confidential documents."

----------

Kjan still didn't move from his chair, waiting patiently until everyone else had departed, and even then he made no attempt at relocating. He simply sat for several minutes, almost appearing to have fallen asleep until he abruptly opened his eyes to cast a sidelong glance in the Phantom's direction. "So I really didn't miss anything, hmm?"

The Phantom's train of thought - or perhaps trains, in the plural, was more accurate for his fragmented state of mind - swerved into the dangerous realm to which Kjan was referring, and he started upright with slightly burnt fingers and a pile of parchment ashes on his desk.

He leveled a glare in his second-in-command's general direction. "Who taught you subtlety and timing? Eledhe?"

Not waiting for an answer, he folded his arms over his chest and attempted calm. The feel of her in his arms was an uncomfortably vivid sensation, let alone... Right, train of thought was veering wildly. Focus. The Phantom erected a facade of calm and picked up the next incriminating parchment to let the candle flame lick its edge. "She enjoyed it too, you know."

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Jate gave a small jump as Silvryn brushed past him. He'd been preoccupied watching Dante...as well as taking in what he'd just spouted out. He had no idea that all that had been bottling inside him. But, as he considered, it was a pretty accurate spew. It took him a moment to leap back to the here and now as Silvryn continued down the hallway. He wondered what she had to say. Moving along behind her, Jate had to conclude that no matter what she wanted to tell him, she was twenty -no, make that fifty- times better than Eledhe. Map? that could prove useful.

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going on a journey through my old claims