So it was decided that we’d go in and try to negotiate with Donnie
to keep the war from ever happening. At
first, it went about as well as could be expected. Which is to say it was doomed to failure
almost from the get go. Surprise
surprise, he wasn’t all that happy that Claire wanted to come in with the “Honor
Guard” that Goras provided us. Why she
even thought they’d be a good idea in the first place I have no idea. But since I didn’t want to deal with whatever
no-doubt scathing response she’d give me if I asked I didn’t even bother.
And matters weren’t helped any by how incredibly jaded Donnie
seems to have become. He knows it’s only
divine interference that has him in love with Harmonia, and that fate’s headed
towards another Trojan War. But he just
doesn’t care. Apparently he’s content
not to bother fighting fate and to let the Dodekatheon reap what they’ve sown
with their petty infighting. Now don’t
get me wrong, I’m perfectly content to let the Dodekatheon screw themselves
over. But it looks like this war’s going
to do much more than just that, which is why I’d rather see it stopped.
Of course, that’s unlikely to happen. Donnie pointed out that Goras wants war, and
it’s hard to disagree with that sentiment.
Why else would some Greek and Sicilian General care so much about a
little army being raised in Turkey? I
doubt he gives two fucks over Nikolas losing his betrothed. And why snatch him away from us in Delphi if
not to try and ensure that this war would go forward? Now I won’t pretend I can read the man like a
book, but I’m not stupid either. He’s a
general with bigger plans, that much is easy to see. And what’s caused the rise of virtually every
famous general whose name has lasted through myths or history books? Yeah, military victory and/or conquest. That’s
why he’s doing this, for glory and to further his own ends. Donnie and Harmonia might not be helping
matters much, but they’re still victims of a sort in all this. At least they’re not trying to become war
profiteers on a divine scale.
And yeah, I might be being a bit harsh where he’s
concerned. But there’s reason for
that. As soon as we left the museum
where we’d met Donnie and Harmonia it blew up.
Well, there was an explosion inside of it, at least. There was hardly any damage at all to
anything outside of its walls. I went
back in to check the place out on my own, just in case there were any fires
raging or floors ready to collapse. Such
things are mere inconveniences to me, after all.
It wasn’t hard to tell how it was set up. Three blasts, directed towards where Donnie and
Harmonia had been. If anyone had had any
shred of doubt that it was an assassination attempt that would’ve removed it. And I’ll wager that Goras used the meeting as
cover for setting it all up. It’s hardly
as though his previous actions paint him as all that trustworthy of a figure.
Harmonia was the only person I could find in the blast
zone. She was bruised, battered, and the
blast seemed to have messed up her balance and inner ear. But she didn’t seem to have any serious
injuries. So there’s that, at
least. Donnie was able to catch wind of
the bombs before they blew up, apparently.
He shoved her under a bench to shelter her from the blast then flew up
to try to avoid it himself, isn’t strong enough to bear their combined weight
aloft.
So I lifted her out of there. What to do next, though, is a good
question. I put my chances of being able
to track someone through the skies somewhere between slim and none, so I doubt
I’ll be able to find Donnie. With at
least one aspiring assassin loose in the city it’s obviously not safe to drop
her off on her own anywhere, and I sure as hell have no plans to bring her
anywhere near any of Goras’s soldiers.
By the gnawed roots of Yggsdragsil, this is very quickly
becoming a rather spectacular mess…
No comments:
Post a Comment