Destiny: Legend Untold, Chpt 15 Pt 3

Chapter Fifteen: A Royal Request Part Three "It knows formality," the Queen spoke, and I was thankful that it was no longer pounding my mind, at least until I realized that I was the one she had been calling 'it' this whole time, "What does it want, brother?" She had looked to the Awoken man, who was apparently her brother, as she asked that, and in turn he looked to me once again. "What [i]does[/i] it want?" he emphasized the question, his look of suspicion returning. Collecting myself, I caught up with the situation and thought up my next words carefully. "I am William, and I came in search of information on the Black Garden, as I'm sure the Guardian before me also asked for," I explained. "The City sure is ignorant, isn't it?" the Queen's brother chuckled, "They're the only ones who don't know where it is." "It's not exactly easy to get scouts out into the system these days," Rush replied defensively. "Well whatever the case, I suppose we will tell you the same thing we told the other," the man looked to his sister for her decision. Mara Sov sat there for a moment, looking down at us all from her royal perch as she thought. "The Queen wishes to speak with her brother once more," she somehow made the request sound like an order, speaking in her aloft, third-person manner. Without complaint, the brother walked up the stairs and took a knee in front of the throne, leaning close so his sister hardly even had to turn her head to whisper to him. I could not make out what was said, but the brother seemed a bit confused at first, shifting to satisfied at the end. After they had finished speaking, the man stood up and turned back towards me, walking slowly back down the stairs with a crooked smirk across his face. "It's your lucky day, William!" he practically spat as if my name were a clump of dirt in his mouth, "We will help you enter the Garden if you do something for us." "What do you require of me?" I questioned. "Now, we asked the other one for the head of a Vex Gatelord," the man laughed deviously at that, seeming to think of it as a death sentence, "But from you... bring us the Mind Core of a Vex from the Citadel, still intact of course, and a Captain or higher rank officer of House Winter, still breathing." He seemed delighted by these requests, as if it was all part of some grand game. "What do you need Vex parts and a Fallen captive for?" I inquired. "That's for us to know, and you to retrieve," he answered snidely. After considering for a moment, I looked past the brother to the Queen. "It will be done," I nodded to her. "Then this audience can be concluded," Mara spoke as if to the whole room rather than to me directly. "Thank you, your majesty," I once again bent over and swung my arm in a bow, then rose and began walking back the way I had come under the guidance of my escort, taking one last glance at Mara's following eyes. [i]Farewell, William the Guardian[/i], the Queen's voice rang in my mind as I walked away, [i]Prove yourself exceptional amongst your kind.[/i] • • • Soon I was stepping back onto the dock, this time only met by two guards aside from the pair that had taken me to and from the throne room. One returned my gun to me while the other remained in place and actually began talking to me. "You will be escorted out of the Reef by two Vestian Seekers, to ensure your journey through our territory is safe," she reported stiffly. Not the warmest of farewells, but I accepted it even though I knew she meant that they didn't want me causing any problems before leaving. "Thank you," I bowed slightly at the waist, respectfully, "I wouldn't wish to get lost or accidentally cause a dilemma." She was unimpressed by my clear acknowledgment of the hidden meaning of her speech, and simply waved me by as the other three guards took up positions to watch my departure. Without another word I had Rush transmat me aboard the Aurora Lance and fire up the engines. As I was told, a pair of escort fighters drifted just outside the carved out Ketch and formed up just barely in front of me and to my sides as I exited. They were identical to the Hildian Seekers that I had seen before, but this time Rush identified them as the Ceres Galliot ships, made for long-range patrolling. I let Rush guide us through the labyrinth of drifting asteroids and spaceship rubble as we followed the escort, trusting him to keep to their trajectory better than I could. For a moment I just sat in my pilot's chair, staring out at the mess of debris that blocked out everything more than several meters away from my ship on all sides, before Rush spoke. "Request from Sierra to speak on a channel created by John," he notified me of an incoming call. "Does she know where we are?" I checked. "No way that she could to my knowledge," Rush answered. "Will the Awoken mind?" I sighed as I thought of our hosts. "Doubt it," Rush responded, "If they can even pick up the transmission." "Alright, go ahead," I gave Rush the all-clear. After a moment, the ship's radio came to life and Sierra's voice came through loud and clear. "Where the hell are you?" she spared me the pleasantries. "Just about to return to the City from a patrol," I told her coolly. "Well it's about time!" she exclaimed, "Drew and I have been waiting for you all day, it's boring as the grave here and that big lout won't shut up! You have to stop going on those sightseeing tours with your coms off because Drew always comes looking for me!" "Okay okay," I laughed, "I'll be there in just a few minutes to get Drew off your back." "You'd better!" Sierra huffed, "I need to go shoot something and Drew and John can't decide where to go." "See you in a few," I signaled Rush to close the channel as my laughter died down. "Someday she'll find out you're risking your life without her, and then you'll really wish you only had to deal with the Vex and Awoken," Rush rotated himself from side to side as if shaking his head. "It's weird to think that I'm risking my life more by lying to her than by going out into the system alone," I joked uneasily. "Glad that girl is on the Light's side," Rush agreed, "Otherwise we'd all be in trouble." Soon after our conversation came to a close, we came to the edge of the Belt and our escort diverged and turned back silently, leaving us to our own devices. Sighing in relief as we finally traveled without guns at our backs, I turned my eyes from the kingdom behind us to the vast space ahead, "Take us home, Rush." "It would be my pleasure," he bobbed in the air, then turned back to the controls and set our course. At last, we were shooting through space at warp speed on our way to the safety of the Tower. _________________________________ Link to Ch15 Pt2: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/229311689/0/0 Link to Ch15 Pt4: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/229312151/0/0 Link to ToC: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/212710816/0/0