Chapter 335 - 328 — The Names He Knew

"I’m Aurethar."

For several seconds, nobody on the prisoners’ side of the table spoke.

Vale’s expression shifted first, just subtly enough for Lucien to catch it. Elenwe’s focus sharpened, Durn froze, and Ghara leaned in with the curiosity recognizing a name from ancient military lore.

Pib was the first to say it.

"Aurethar?"

Her eyes moved to the two golden wings folded behind him.

"The Aurethar?"

Aurethar sighed.

"I was under the impression there weren’t enough of us for clarification to be necessary."

Ghara studied him.

"The Six-Winged Golden Warlord."

"Yes," Aurethar said. "That unfortunate title managed to persist."

Vale’s eyes lingered on his back.

"The records mention six wings."

Aurethar looked over his shoulder.

"I know."

Pib scowled.

"But you only have two."

"I’m aware of that as well."

The increasingly unimpressed look around the table finally made him relent.

"The shield around this continent suppresses power above a certain level. I crossed it long ago and discovered that it had rather strong opinions regarding how much of mine I was permitted to keep."

Elenwe immediately focused on him.

"The shield did that?"

"Among other things."

Her eyes returned to his wings.

"It reduced you from six to two."

"When you put it that way, it sounds insulting."

"It is extraordinary."

"I take my words back i preferred insulting."

Pib’s mouth twitched.

Vale was more practical.

"How much of your strength did you lose?"

Aurethar leaned back.

"That sounds very much like information I should not provide to eight people arrested for stealing military blueprints."

"We’re chained to the table," Pib pointed out.

"Excellent. Then the precautions are working."

Malen laughed quietly.

Vale ignored the exchange.

"There were reports that you survived."

That caught Lucien’s attention.

Aurethar’s expression barely shifted.

"Reports?"

"Nothing public. Senior command knew more."

Whatever confrontation had revealed Aurethar’s survival had clearly reached powerful ears on the Central Continent, even if the details had remained restricted.

Aurethar did not pursue it.

Instead, he looked down the table.

"You claimed to represent the Alliance."

"We do," Vale said.

"Then who authorized this expedition?"

Vale hesitated only briefly.

"The High Council."

Aurethar’s humor faded.

"The High Council itself?"

"Yes."

Cedric caught the change right away.

"That’s important."

"It is."

Aurethar turned to Vale.

"Who assembled the team?"

"No one person did."

"Obviously."

He nodded toward the prisoners.

"You’ve got a forge-master, an Archmage, a mechanical expert, several senior Knights, a tracker, and a logistics officer. People like this aren’t picked by drawing names from a hat."

Pib looked quietly pleased at being called a mechanical expert.

Aurethar went on.

"Who picked you?"

"Venn."

That name made him pause.

"Venn selected you personally?"

"Yes. Renna, Aldis, Thorne and me."

Aurethar looked toward the other three before returning his attention to Vale.

"He also oversaw the preparations for the crossing," Vale added.

The remark sparked a more serious reaction. Lucien tucked the thought away. Durn shifted next to Vale, and Aurethar turned toward him.

"What about you?"

"My master chose me."

"Who?"

"Karrek."

For the first time since the conversation began, Aurethar’s seriousness cracked.

"That old shriveled lump of iron is still alive?"

Durn’s face hardened.

"My master is the High Smith."

"I know."

"You know Karrek?"

"I knew him before you were old enough to swing a hammer without falling over."

Durn looked unconvinced.

Aurethar gave him a sideways look.

"Does he still hide the good measuring tools because he thinks the apprentices breathe on them wrong?"

Durn’s suspicion wavered.

"Yes."

"And does he still claim that the stool beside the third furnace is for inspecting the lower firebrick, instead of admitting his knees hurt?"

Durn looked at him.

Pib turned slowly toward the dwarf while Aurethar smiled. "Good. Some things survive history."

"He gets a better angle from that stool," Durn muttered.

"Of course he does." Pib snorted.

Durn glared at her.

"Do not encourage him."

"I’m enjoying this."

Lucien let the exchange settle. That was proof enough without dragging it further.

Aurethar turned toward Pib.

"Your turn."

"Threll."

He closed his eyes briefly.

"Oh, no."

Pib sat straighter.

"You know Skymaster Threll?"

"Unfortunately."

"What’s wrong with him?"

"How much time do we have?"

"Plenty."

"We don’t,Aurethar" Lucien replied.

Aurethar let out a sigh.

"Another tragedy."

Pib’s expression showed clear dissatisfaction. .

"He chose me himself."

"That makes sense."

"Why?"

"Threll has always possessed an extraordinary ability to identify the most troublesome person available and assign them to something important."

Pib considered that.

"I’m taking that as praise."

"You would."

Durn muttered, "He definitely knows Threll."

Malen laughed under his breath.

Aurethar moved on before Pib could ask for a story.

"And you?"

Elenwe answered.

"Warden Vaen selected me."

The change in Aurethar was quieter.

"Vaen still holds the sanctuary?"

"She does."

He nodded once.

"She was already old when I left."

"So were you," Elenwe replied.

The room went silent for half a heartbeat.

Then Aurethar smiled.

"I like this one."

Gandalf made a thoughtful sound from near the wall.

Malen gave him a look.

"Don’t."

"I didn’t say anything."

"You were thinking it."

Pib smiled.

"Guess that counts these days."

Aurethar turned toward Ghara.

"And you?"

"Ugarr Mok."

His eyebrows rose.

"Mok?"

"My uncle."

He was genuinely surprised. Studying Ghara once more, he nodded as if something had just clicked.

"I should have seen it."

"What tipped you off?"

"The look that says you’ve spent the past ten minutes debating whether fighting me might be a learning experience."

Ghara grinned.

"It would."

Malen spoke immediately.

"Do not encourage her."

Ghara looked toward him.

"I haven’t forgotten you."

"I had hoped captivity might improve your memory."

"It hasn’t."

Aurethar glanced between them.

"You appear to have bonded."

"She tried to break three of my ribs."

"And did she?"

"No."

"Then this sounds like complaining."

Malen stared at him.

"That is exactly what you said when Vale tried to stab me."

"I value consistency."

Lucien tapped the table once before the conversation escaped entirely.

Aurethar looked back toward Ghara.

"Mok knew where you were going?"

"Yes."

"He knew you might not return?"

Her smile faded.

"All of them did but no choice."

The mood changed immediately.

Aurethar leaned forward.

"What do you mean?"

Vale answered.

"The High Council made the risk clear before any of us accepted. They had a method to cross the shield, but no way to bring us back afterward."

Lucien had known the expedition was dangerous, but hearing it stated so plainly gave it different weight.

Aurethar’s expression tightened.

"You crossed the shield deliberately."

"Yes."

"How?"

Vale shook his head.

"That remains Alliance knowledge."

Aurethar accepted the boundary.

"I’m not asking for the design. What did it cost?"

Vale shot a look at Elenwe.

"Soulsilver," she said.

That name hit Aurethar harder than any of the others.

"How much?"

Aldis replied, "One hundred sixty ounces."

Silence fell over the room.

Lucien looked toward Aurethar.

"That is a lot."

Aurethar slowly turned to him.

"That is an obscene amount."

"How obscene?"

He looked back at Vale.

"Where did you get it?"

"The central vault."

Aurethar stared.

"The High Council opened the central vault for this?"

"Yes."

"And Venn signed the withdrawal?"

"He did."

Aurethar sat back.

Lucien had seen him become serious before, but this was different. The old names had made the expedition personal. The soulsilver made it important.

"What exactly is soulsilver?" Lucien asked.

"A resource the Alliance or anybody cannot and does not replace quickly. What sits in that vault was accumulated over generations whenever legendary and above legendary died naturally,higher the rank more the soulsilver."

Elenwe added quietly, "Some of it had been stored for centuries."

Lucien looked along the table.

"And they burned one hundred and sixty ounces simply to send eight people through the shield."

"Yes," Aurethar said.

He studied the expedition again.

Durn had been chosen by Karrek. Pib by Threll. Elenwe by Vaen. Ghara by Ugarr Mok. Vale, Renna, Aldis and Thorne had been selected by Venn.

Each had been warned there might be no return.

Each had agreed anyway.

Aurethar looked at Durn.

"And you accepted that?"

Durn folded his arms.

"Karrek told me there might not even be a workshop on this side."

"You still came?"

"I brought my tools."

That earned a genuine laugh.

"Yes. Definitely Karrek’s student."

Pib leaned forward.

"Threll told me nobody knew whether people even flew here."

"And that convinced you?"

"That was precisely why I came."

Aurethar rubbed his forehead.

"Definitely Threll’s."

Elenwe spoke next.

"Vaen did not need to convince me. The shield had never been studied from this side. I had wanted to examine it for decades."

Gandalf’s attention sharpened immediately.

Lucien noticed and decided that discussion could wait until no one at the table was restrained.

Ghara merely shrugged.

"Ugarr told me the mission mattered."

"And that was enough?"

"He’s my uncle."

Aurethar nodded.

"That explains the answer."

Vale looked toward him.

"You asked who sent us. Now you know."

Aurethar’s humor faded again.

"Yes."

Lucien leaned forward.

"And?"

For a moment, Aurethar said nothing.

Then he looked from Vale to the others.

"I know the people you named. Karrek does not give up one of his forge-masters for curiosity, and Threll does not send a specialist beyond a shield with no route home because he wants a better map."

His gaze shifted toward Elenwe.

"Vaen does nothing recklessly. If she sent an Archmage she trusted, she believed the mission justified losing her."

Then he looked toward Ghara.

"And Ugarr Mok does not send family to die for political theater."

Finally, Aurethar looked back at Vale.

If Venn had personally chosen half the expedition, overseen the crossing, and signed off on that much soulsilver, then whatever had sparked this was clearly worth the price.

The room remained silent.

Lucien had joined the conversation aware the eight mattered, but now he realized something else. They weren’t just assigned—they’d been handpicked by people Aurethar trusted enough to evaluate even decades later.

The High Council had then spent a resource accumulated across generations to send them through a shield it could not reliably cross twice.

Whatever their behavior in Elarion, the expedition itself was not some hastily assembled scouting party.

Aurethar finally looked at Vale.

"Your decision to steal Lucien’s blueprints was spectacularly stupid."

Vale’s mouth tightened.

"But I believe you about the authority behind your mission."

Cedric, who had remained largely silent, finally spoke.

"That still doesn’t explain the Warhound."

"No," Aurethar said. "It doesn’t."

Lucien rested his forearms on the table.

The Warhound had not been part of their mission when they crossed the shield. Elenwe had already revealed that during questioning.

Whatever brought them to Elarion had happened afterward.

Lucien looked directly at Vale.

"All right. You’ve told us who sent you."

He glanced toward Aurethar.

"And he believes you."

"Mostly," Aurethar said.

Lucien ignored that.

"Now tell us what exactly went wrong on other side of the world,that prompted you to do it."