Kailin nodded. "That's possible. We've never considered that. It's also possible that the Sitorians are holding someone's loved ones hostage and forcing the person to do their dirty work for them. There have been instances like that in the past."
"Or it could be Elusitor converts," Shovia said.
I frowned. "Is there such a thing in Elucia?"
She shrugged. "If we are already on the subject of insane people, we might as well go there. I've heard rumors. Those Sitorian priests can do all kinds of things with their black magic."
Kailin shook her head. "Those are just conspiracy theories of people who enjoy scaring themselves and others."
Shovia cast her an amused glance. "Haven't I proven to you that most conspiracy theories eventually turn out to be true?People just don't like to believe in things that make them uncomfortable, so they choose to dismiss them as fictional. But when a lot of nasty shit is going on, eventually they have no choice but to smell the stink, and then they have to look for the source of it."
It was a crude analogy, but it drove the point home.
"Do you think there can be Sitorian converts in the Citadel?" I asked.
Shovia shrugged again. "Everything is possible, especially when dark magic is involved."
Kailin rolled her eyes.
"I can't believe it's true," Codric said. "Elucians converting to worship Elusitor and turning against their own people is like sheep leading themselves to slaughter."
"Fear can make people do stupid things," Kailin said. "No dark magic required. After two extinction wars, some might decide to join the winning side rather than keep fighting. Others might have been persuaded to believe that the Sitorian have the upper hand because their god is more powerful than his benevolent other half."
"That's just cowardice," Shovia said. "And I can't reconcile cowards with assassins who hide among us and are willing to die for their abhorrent god. It must be dark magic. Those accursed priests of Elusitor somehow managed to poison the minds and souls of the traitors."
Frankly, Shovia's theory made the most sense even though I didn't believe in magic. Brainwashing didn't require anything supernatural. It only required the weak, susceptible minds of the victims and the skill combined with drugs of the perpetrators.
"Some might choose survival even if the road they choose goes through the seven hells." Kailin sighed. "We haven't lived their experiences. We haven't lost entire families to Shedun attacks. We haven't watched our homes burn."
"You have," I pointed out. "Your village was attacked. You lost people you knew. And you didn't turn traitor out of fear and cowardice."
"No. But I also got lucky. I survived without losing any close family members and moved to Skywatcher's Point, where I met Shovia. I don't know how I would have made it without her. I was so lost, so devastated, that I might have fallen under the spell of someone with nefarious intent."
"No, you wouldn't have." I kneeled in front of her and took her hands in mine. "Your compassion and empathy are admirable, but misplaced."
They were also a weakness that could be easily exploited, but I didn't say that.
I didn't want Kailin to doubt herself. Not when she was still so fragile. I could always revisit the issue later, when she was back to herself. Right now, I needed to keep her alive until her bond with a dragon would fortify her stores of energy and her defenses.
She looked at me with those somber eyes of hers. "I choose to believe that there is some good in everyone."
"Even the Shedun who attacked your village for no other reason than your people's alliance with the dragons?"
Kailin took a deep breath. "They dehumanize us. That's how their priests convince them that it's okay to slaughter us. I don't want to fall into the same trap. I want to believe that under the brainwashing and the drugs, there is still some good left in them."
"If there is a kernel of good left in these demons, it is not enough to justify compassion," Shovia spat. "By showing mercy to monsters, you are condemning the innocent to slaughter. It's us or them, and I choose us, not because I'm Elucian but because we are light while they are darkness, we are good while they areevil, and we are truth while they are lies and deceit. I have no moral ambivalence."
I was glad that Shovia had voiced these words, so I didn't have to. As an Elurian, I didn't have the right to the same vehemence.
Kailin nodded. "I know. I just wish there was another way. I wish we could one day live in peace."
Shovia snorted. "The Sitorians will never accept anything less than the whole of Aurorys bowing to Elusitor, and not a single dragon left alive. They even lie about the dragons being here first. They claim to be the first inhabitants of Aurorys and accuse the dragons of being the invaders."
"We all know what they claim," Morek said. "But it's neither here nor there. The bottom line is that we need to watch each other's backs. We stick together, and we don't trust anyone outside the six of us and Saphir. Everyone else is a suspect until proven otherwise."
"That's a grim way to live," Codric said.
"That's the reality we're in," I told him.
