#I aways intended to write Grian as a bit of a jerk but I felt so bad actually doing it X(

[greeenchrysanthemums]

Thus Always to Tyrants

Chapter 4: Bitter Bonds.

Gem is the commander of the Wintertide royal army, Grian is the leader of a resistance hell bent on taking the crown down no matter the cost. It was only natural that they would become enemies.

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Read on ao3 ❀ here ❀

CW: manipulation, dubious morality, and overall poor behavior from Grian.

Words: 5,045

Pov: Grian

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“You told me that all you were doing during the festival was meeting with that Crestian man!” Pearl hissed, her hands fisted in the front of Grian’s shirt.  Her large, silver and white wolf-dog, Tilly, growled at her side, snapping at Grian’s ankles but never actually biting.

The hold lifted him off of the ground, the tips of his talons just barely scraping the cobbled ground of the alleyway behind the M&E Tinkering Shop in downtown Capital, where he had some business to attend to. Not that he ever made it inside to take care of said business, though. She had grabbed him and dragged him into the shadows before he could so much as think of setting a talon on the threshold. 

“Joel has a name, you know.” Grian said in leu of an answer. Pearl shook him and pulled his face closer to her own, her warm breath smelling of mead where it fanned across his face. If it were anyone else manhandling him in such a way, he would have clawed their eyes out in an instant for daring to treat him like this, but because it was Pearl he let it slide for now. The two of them went way back, after all. He could hardly maim an old friend

“I don’t care about his bloody name, the point is that you lied to me!” She growled.

“I did not lie to you. I never said I would or wouldn’t be talking to Gem during the festival. If anything, I withheld the truth.” Grian defended himself. And it was true! He didn’t intend to run into her on that specific night, but it worked out nicely in the end.

“As if that is any better!” She snapped, dropping him roughly and turning away to run a hand through her long, mousey curls. “Do you have any idea how messy this is going to be now that she is involved?”

“I am failing to see why this is such a big deal, Pearl. She was already involved, all I did was make her a little more aware of things.” Grian argued, readjusting his crooked cloak and fixing her with an annoyed look.

“She may have already been involved, but now you’ve brought her closer than she ever needed to be. She’ll either ruin our entire plan or she’ll end up dead.” Pearl said. She had the edge of her thumb in her mouth, teeth tearing at the cuticle as she stared into the distance, deep in thought. Tilly remained hunched at his feet, her ruby red eyes training on him as she growled. Grian eyed both of them wearily.

“Believe it or not, I have no intention of letting Gem die, she has a vital part to play in all of this. It was always part of the plan to inform her of something stirring in the shadows. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t think you would be so passionate about her involvement.” Grian admitted. “I didn’t realize that the two of you were so…close.”

“We’re not!” She snapped at him, baring her teeth with a snarl. Tilly growled louder and gave him a short bark. Grian had always found it endearing that the old dog mirrored her owner's emotions so much, but he was inclined to like it a little less when she pointed those deadly teeth at him.

“You could have fooled me,” Grian said, raising his eyebrows at her, unamused. “You need to tell me immediately if you have something more going on with the commander than I know off. As far as I remembered, you were just pretending to be on her good side to smuggle information out to us. If that’s changed, you’re a liability and you're out.”

“There is nothing between us. I could care less about her,” Pearl said immediately. There was uncertainty in her voice, doubt in her eyes. There was a kind of guilt lingering in their depths as well. 

“Then why are you so bothered by all of this?” Grian asked, crossing his arms and turning his chin up to her.

“Because! This makes my job so much more difficult.” Pearl snarled before sighing and pinching the bridge of her nose between two fingers, “I will have to work twice as hard to keep her off of my tail now that she’s going to be looking for suspicious behavior. At the very least, I would have liked a little bit of a warning before you went and pulled a stunt like this. I did not need to be blindsided by the information and hear of it through Gem herself instead of from you, someone I am supposed to trust.”

“So you’ll have to do a little bit more work, you knew what you signed up for with the resistance. It’s not as though she suspects you of anything currently, does she?” Grian stated smugly, spreading his arms out with a smirk.

“No, she doesn’t.” Pearl bit out, a vicious anger dripping from her mouth like froth from the maw of a snarling wolf. Tilly’s lips pulled back as she bared her teeth at him a second time, appearing just moments away from pouncing. He spared the dog barely a glance, knowing with certainty that she wouldn’t attack him.

“Is that all you wanted to talk about?” Grian asked dismissively.

“Yes.” She spat, still glaring at him, her hands clenched into fists.

“Great. Now, do you mind letting me do what I came here to do?” He asked somewhat sarcastically before turning and heading inside. Just as he suspected she would, she followed after him despite not needing to, still seething as she did so. 

Pearl whistled and pointed at the ground just outside of the shop's entrance and Tilly obeyed the command, curling up in the dirt with her tail tucked around her old body. The dog’s angry eyes followed Grian until he disappeared from view, her ears flickering with annoyance.

He didn’t blame Pearl for being angry, she had every right to be, after all. He knew that it was foolish to involve Gem without informing her, but giving the commander the warning sooner rather than later had worked in their favour anyway, so it was not as though it was a big deal in the end. The streets may now be filled to the brim with guards that could catch them any moment, which meant they had to be extra careful when traversing the capital, but that made snooping around the castle so much easier!

Gem had tried her best to divide Wintertide’s forces evenly, but there were only so many knights at her disposal, and many of them were not nearly as well trained as he was sure she would like them to be, all of them far too complacent and lazy in wake of the tense peace times. They had already been able to get people inside without anyone being any wiser of it. The move had been an overall positive for the movement.

And, besides, now that he had done it, he was pleased with how Pearl had reacted. He had suspected for quite some time now that the relationship between the two women wasn’t the purely transactional one Pearl tried to make it out to be. He had his suspicions that the younger woman had let herself grow attached somewhere along the way, and this was all the confirmation that he needed to prove just that. 

He would now have to keep a close eye on her, limit how much information she was privy to. It wasn’t the most ideal situation, but he would have to make do with it. She was a valuable player in his game, he could not simply drop her like he had threatened to. He was smart enough to realize that he needed her.

The dimly lit inside of the shop was neither small nor spacious. It was the perfect medium size to house the cobbled front counter, rows of shelves against the walls, and barrels upon barrels full of scrap metal and wood, as well as some toy weapons thrown into the mix. Knick knacks of all varieties ranging from clocks to toys and music boxes all lined the hand crafted and well worn shelves.

Birds, dragons, and other flying creatures made of carefully woven precious metals were hanging from thin chains attached to the support frames in the ceiling, their jewel eyes reflecting back the dim light from the lanterns that mixed in with the ornate animals. Pearl had to duck to avoid hitting her head on some of the more low hanging ones. 

Soot and woodchips messied the floors and the counter, showing that the broom leaning against the wall at the entrance was for little more than display. There were a few customers milling about, looking on the shelves and in the barrels for what might fit their fancy, but the people Grian was seeking were nowhere in sight.

However, they were inside no more than a few minutes before a loud bang met their ears and hot air rushed towards them to singe their faces and the tips of their hair as something exploded in the back room, answering the mystery of their whereabouts in an instant.

The door behind the counter was blasted open, banging against the wall with enough force to shake the foundation of the building. Black smoke billowed out of the doorway and customers rushed out of the building with exclamations of panic. Moments later, a tall, spindly man with a mustache stumbled out of the back room coughing up a storm, his red leather apron and the clothes underneath it both thoroughly covered in black grime.

“Oh, Mumbo, when will you learn to not explode your projects?” Grian taunted as he stepped closer to his friend, his lips quirking into a genuine half-smile. The taller man pulled his soot stained goggles up and set them on top of his blown back hair. 

“Grian!” Mumbo exclaimed between coughs before ambling over to the avian and pulling him up into a hug. “We thought you were going to be coming ‘round later than this, mate! Thought I had some time to work on this before you got here.”

“I decided to come a little early.” He replied, patting Mumbo’s back. He was set down back onto his feet just as a man a little shorter than Mumbo stumbled out of the still smoking room, his usually snow white hair turned an ashy grey colour, his own leather apron and green tunic equally covered in muck. His goggles were already pushed up and must have not been covering his eyes when the explosion went off, because even his eyelids were stained black.

“Oh snappers, you’re early, boss. Sorry about the smoke.” Etho said apologetically as he made his way over to a pulley that sat against the right hand wall. He pulled on it, hand over hand, and slowly a hatch opened in the ceiling and the smoke began to clear out.

“It’s no problem.” Grian said, dusting himself off to clear away the bits of soot Mumbo had gotten on him.

Mumbo scanned the room to make sure everyone but them was cleared out before going over to the front door and locking it, waving a hand at them to follow him towards the back door. “Well, let's get to it then.”

“We’re not going to explode, as well, if we go in there, are we?” Pearl jested. Mumbo’s cheeks turned red and Etho laughed.

“No, you should be perfectly safe. It was just a little explosion anyway.” Etho replied.

“Just a little explosion, he says,” Pearl said absently with a roll of her eyes as she followed Mumbo into the back. Grian followed behind them, pulling his hood down as he went. It was pretty hot in the little shop.

Mumbo Jumbo and Etho Lab, one of Grian’s oldest friends and a Wintertide royal knight turned traitor, both of whom just so happened to be two of Grian’s most valuable resistance members. Though Etho’s inside intel has long since become obsolete, and he was now a wanted criminal who was hiding from the law in plain sight, the knowledge on explosives and combat he possessed from his time in the war was invaluable when combined with Mumbo’s keen skill for creating machines and weaponry. The two of them made a hell of a team.

The two men weren’t the most serious people he had ever met. In fact, they were both a bit laid back and goofy most of the time, and that had initially made him hesitant to pair them together in the start, but they always got the job done when push came to shove. That was all that mattered to Grian in the end. 

In the center of the back room was a long, wooden table covered in the scraps of something large, the abused oak scratched up and decorated in scorch marks. Evidently, the scraps were the cause of the mysterious explosion, smoke still coming off of them in black and grey swirls.

There was a stone hearth against the left wall, the dying embers flickering in shades of yellow and orange. Bags and barrels full of who knows what, as well as half finished projects, littered the ground and spilled off of the large shelf that covered the entire back wall.

“Alright then, let's cut right to the chase,” Grian started, “Pearl pawned it off to you two, so where is it?” 

“It’s just over here,” Etho said, walking over to a part of the expansive shelf that was occupied entirely by books. He pulled out a large, black, leather bound book with ornate royal purple detailing on the cover and spine. The front was damaged, the design that was meant to adorn it scratched off, but he knew that it was like that before his resistance member's took possession of the book. It was an intentional defacing that had to have been done centuries ago.

“In the bookcase? A little on the nose, don’t you think?” Grian said, equal parts amused and peeved.

“Well, people would assume we’d hide it, would they not? The bookcase would be the last place they think to look. Hiding in plain sight has worked out for me this far.” Etho said, the corners of his eyes scrunching up in a way that suggested he was smiling as he passed the book off to the avian.

“I can’t argue with that.” Grian barked out a laugh as he pulled the book carefully out of Etho’s grasp, delicately flipping through the aged pages that felt as though they would fall apart if he wasn't careful.

“I’m still not sure what that is or why you made me steal that dusty old thing, but it better have been worth all the effort I put into it. I have a bruise the size of Bigb’s famous cookies on my arsecheek.” Pearl said from where she was standing leant against the center table with her arms crossed.

“I also don’t understand why we had to take it after the fact. It made our jobs that night a lot harder, you know, having to worry about some dusty old book and get our task done at the same time.” Mumbo piped up as he tinkered on a new gadget on the blackened table surface, ignoring the smoking husk.

“This, my dear allies, is a grimoire. A highly valuable one at that.” Grian grinned, a deeply satisfied smiling splitting his face. “And I had Pearl hand it off to you because she is an outsider that close to someone inside of the castle. If they noticed it missing, which they miraculously haven’t as of now, she would be one of their main suspects and it would be found immediately if they searched her belongings. 

“You two, however, are nowhere on the kingdom’s radar outside of being the cause of more than a dozen noise complaints. That’s another reason I waited a few days to come here, so that it would be less likely for anyone to be looking for me, and they would be less likely to trace the book's disappearance to you.”

“So you knew that they would suspect me first and didn’t think to give me a heads up on that either?” Pearl asked, that angry upturn to her lips returning. It disturbed him just a bit how similar she and Tilly looked some of the time. It brought to mind the old magic tales about mages melding their souls together with a beast in order to strengthen their magic. He had no doubt that in another world, the two of them would have gladly joined their souls into one.

“We’ve been over this, you knew it was a risk when you agreed to be a mole. There's no need to be angry about it now.” Grian said, waving his hand at her as he continued to search for the page he was looking for.

“But, wait, a grimoire? As in, for magic?” Etho asked, wringing his gloved hands together nervously.

“Yes, Etho, for magic,” Grian said, raising his eyes to give the man a semi-manic grin.

“What use could you possibly have for that? No one in our ranks knows any magic.” Pearl stated suspiciously. Mumbo gave him a grim, knowing look and notedly avoided his eyes.

“Let’s not worry about that at this moment.” Grian said, snapping the book closed and tucking it away in the waistband of his trousers. “So, tell me, is everything coming along nicely?”

Etho still looked unsure as he shuffled over to the table to stand by Mumbo’s side, and Pearl looked annoyed more than she did angry now, so that was an improvement. Mumbo rubbed his sooty forehead and sighed.

“Everything is going according to plan for the most part,” Mumbo said. Grian waited for the ‘but’ that sat on the tip of the mustached man’s tongue. “The explosives are still unpredictable, though. There's no telling if they will work how we intend. They could cause more damage or less damage than we are anticipating.”

Mumbo gestured towards Etho, who nodded and went back over to the back wall, retrieving a rolled up tube of paper from the uppermost left part of the shelf before coming back and handing them to his partner. Mumbo unrolled the first and spread it out across the table, brushing loose debris and thick soot out of the way to avoid soiling the parchment too badly. 

“And how are we planning to counter that?” Grian asked. He hopped up to hold onto the back of Mumbo’s chair, his talons latching onto the semi-splintered wood as he peered over his shoulder at the map of the castle grounds the other man pulled out.

“In the event that it causes more damage, that will work in our favour, so we don’t have to worry about that too much. If it does less, then we’ve planted a series of explosives here” He pointed to the garden walls, “and here” He traced his finger over towards the far side of the stables.

“These are spots in the wall that we found are exceptionally weak and shouldn’t need as much force as other parts to destroy, so no matter how much damage the blasts cost we’ll be able to break in regardless. They aren’t the most defendable spots within the inner walls, though, and thus are not our first picks for entry points, which is why they've been relegated to back up. “ Etho picked up where Mumbo left off, lazily scratching at the scarred skin at the edge of his empty eye socket as he did so.

“Perfect, good work, you two.” Grian said, eyes scanning over the map and taking in all of the bold Xs that littered the surface, all indicative of explosives they’ve planted inside of the castle walls and beneath the ground where they would be undetectable.

“What of casualties?” Pearl asked suddenly. All three men looked up at her tilted head and pinched expression. “This sounds like a lot of destruction.”

“We hope to end the fighting before the innocents have the chance to get involved. That’s why we’re employing the help of Coral Crest, so that we can overwhelm them quickly and effectively. The explosions also will not touch the castle itself, and they will be set off when the least amount of people are likely to be out and about. That’s why you were asked to observe schedules over the years, we’re going to use that to avoid as many casualties as possible.” Grian soothed. It seemed to quell some of Pearl’s worries as her wrinkled brow smoothed out and she nodded before looking away.

“Have you heard from Cleo lately?” Etho asked to break the sudden tension.

“I have not, no.” Grian admitted, “Have they been trying to contact me?”

Etho nodded, “She needs to talk to you about the sword production, and they had a question for you about arrow tips or something like that. I wasn’t paying much attention, to be honest. We’re all also getting pretty antsy for news about the next group meeting.”

“The next meeting should be within the next few days or by the end of the coming fortnight. I’ll be sure to get into contact with Cleo before that; thank you for informing me of the matter.” Grian said before hopping off the back of Mumbo’s chair and landing on the ground with light feet. “Is that all there is to discuss today? Do any of you have anything to add or ask of me?”

“Just one more thing!” Mambo said before jumping to his feet and rushing over to one of the barrels. He rooted around in it before producing a handful of smoke bombs like the one he had used on Gem the day of the festival. They always made sure to have them stocked up for Grian; they were his favorite playthings.

“Thank you, I had almost forgotten to ask about them.” Grian said, gladly accepting them with a smile.

“No problem, mate.” Mambo replied cheerfully. His eyes were serious, though, as he pulled away from Grian, gaze drifting down to where he had tucked the book away with weariness. Grian met his eyes and smiled. Whether it was a reassuring smile or a dismissive one, who was to say.

With that Grian shook both men’s hands, bidding them warm farewells before he was off, leaving the shop with a promise to be in contact again soon. Pearl and Tilly followed hot on his heels as he traveled through the city before stopping just at the forest's edge.

“You better keep me better informed in the future, Grian. I don’t like being used like that.” Pearl warned. She glared at him over her shoulder, blue eyes appearing almost crimson in the waning light, far too wolf-like for his liking.

“Of course, Pearl.” He said simply. She huffed at him before turning to face forward and stalking back into the city, a growling Tilly at her side as her red cloak swayed from side to side.

He watched her go until she melted into the crowd, a cold feeling burning in his stomach where the book was resting and creeping up towards his throat. Once she was entirely out of sight, he pivoted and made his way into the thickets, wishing he could fly to get home quicker. His talon’s ached from being on them for so long.

As he walked through the forest a second pair of footsteps joined his own nimble ones, crushing the leaves and snapped branches under heavy boots, a cane thudding against the ground in beat with each step. An echoey meow filled the air and Jellie trotted up to walk beside him, her tiny legs moving fast to keep pace as she occasionally rubbed her cold head against his leg.

“Couldn’t wait for me to make it back to the hideout?” Grian asked, tilting his head up and back to meet Scar’s unnaturally green eyes. The man grinned at him, the smile all teeth and sinister, sharp edges.

“Do you finally have it?” Scar asked in place of answering Grian’s question. Grian didn’t answer and instead stopped in the middle of the forest to pull the book free and hold it out to him. Scar snatched it away with overeager hands, pulling Grian off balance in his haste to have the book in his possession. 

Grian huffed and righted himself, crossing his arms. “Are you going to be able to use it? I hope we didn’t cut it too close, getting it to you this late.”

“This is perfect, little bird,” Scar said, running his fingers down the front of the book before snapping his fingers, causing it to disappear with a flourish of pale flames. “If anything, this might have been too soon to snatch it out from under their noses. They are sure to notice it is missing, if they haven’t already… In any case, I’ve long ago mastered the art of quick learning. You have nothing to worry about when it comes to me and this little book.”

“Who is to say I was worried?” Grian asked before continuing on his way to the hideout. Jellie meowed at him and he leant down to allow her to hop onto his thin shoulders. Why she liked to perch there was beyond him, but he supposed he could relate to finding a nice perch, as uncomfortable or unconventional as some of them may actually be.

“I can see it written all over your face. Things are progressing so fast after years of slow build up and you’re not used to the pace. You’re worried about the little things and what could go wrong.” Scar said, slinking up next to him, walking with one arm folded behind his back and his torso bent at the waist so that he could meet Grian’s eyes, that infuriating, smug smile pulling his lips up.

“I have nothing to worry about,” Grian said, avoiding Scar’s eyes.

“Oh, but you do, don’t you? Pearl could turn traitor any day-”

“No, she won’t. If Pearl is anything, she’s loyal.” Grian snapped, cutting the other off. Scar stood up straight, his face sarcastically questioning.

“But you aren’t the only one she is loyal to, are you?” Scar asked with an air of faux naivety. Grian stayed silent, knowing the other was right. True as it may be, though, he knew Pearl wouldn’t betray them. She wouldn’t dare to. “And besides, she isn’t the only one you are worried about. The Crestians' also have uncertain loyalties, they could just be using us for their own gain. Not to mention our man on the inside… What has he been up to lately?”

“He’s the last person I’m worried about,” Grian stated, ignoring the taunting words about the people of Coral Crest. He knew they were probably just using the resistance as a means to an end to finally defeat their long-time enemies, but he wasn’t worried about it. They would all fall into the roles he’s picked out for them eventually. “He’s done everything I’ve asked of him with no hesitation. He’s pulling strings behind the scenes as we speak.”

“Humans really are so single minded. Once they’ve set their hearts to something they can see nothing else.” Scar said cryptically as they reached the entrance of the hideout. “I would be more cautious of this fact in the future if you really want this plan to come to fruition.”

“I’ll take your word for it.” Grian said, entering the hidden cave, holding onto Jellie’s back to make sure she didn’t fall as he dipped down. 

“You really are the most amusing being I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting in my lifetime.” Scar said, his words tinged with childlike joy.

“And you are the most annoying.” Grian retorted with a huff. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go over these plans before the next meeting. You run along and get to work on learning that spell.”

Before he could move further into the cave, Scar’s hand grabbed his wrist in a tight grip, pulling him back to meet his eyes. Jellie jumped off of his shoulder with a startled cry, circling the two of them while her tail flickered back and forth. Scar maintained that easy smile of his, but there was clear annoyance in his cold eyes, which seemed to shift in colour just the faintest bit.

“You would do well to listen to what others have to say once in a while, you know.” Scar said, deceitfully calm and sweet.

Grian met his eyes with equally cold ones before wrenching his wrist away and stepping back. There was a tense silence in the cramped cave that could be cut with the swipe of a taloned hand. The air felt colder than it had before.

“This plan has both of our interests at heart, it wouldn’t do us well to fight this far into things. Don’t forget what's in it for you,” Grian snapped, straightening his sleeve where it had ridden up at the rough handling. The tense silence lasted a little longer before Scar’s strained smile smoothed out.

“Right, of course. I’ll go ahead and get to work; you do the same.” Scar said, words still sickeningly sweet like a mouthful of sugar.

Grian said nothing more, and neither did Scar, as the taller man continued on into the cave while Grian remained put, the rhythmic sound of his cane tapping on stone slowly getting fainter and fainter.

He gripped his own wrist in the same spot Scar had, the pressure slowly increasing, his nails digging onto the soft skin as he bit into his lip. He couldn’t afford to fall apart and start fights with his most valuable players like this so close to his dreams finally coming true. He wasn’t worried, he wasn’t.

Everything was going to work out fine, he desperately told himself. He would make sure it did.

Things couldn't end up the same way they had all those years ago.