POV character is from my middle grade (?) fantasy series. This scene takes place during the timeline of the second book but probably won't be included. Lisa is a character I have been coming to know but all the others in this scene are totally new to me.
The green hill between three mountains came into view. By now, sentries would have alerted the Rhabdi to Lisa’s arrival. Too late to turn back. Lisa closed her eyes and took a couple slow breaths. Relax, she told herself. The heat of the summer sun ran through her wings and a delicious summer wind pushed her along but she couldn’t unclench her fists and her pulse throbbed inside her head. The small bag between her wings might have been loaded with rocks the way it seemed to press against her back.
Lisa descended lower. She could identify the four people gathered on the open grass now. Aerad waited with arms folded, wings out of sight. Sunlight flashed from the rings on his hands and the bronze scales on his arms. Toma lounged on the grass, a dark grey shadow against the bright green and yellow. His presence might have been a welcome reassurance except for the last two: Iras and Guinevere.
Lisa’s nails bit deeper into her palms and the pain brought a halt to the panic threatening her composure. Liars. Anger welled up afresh and the fear dissipated. She vanished her wings while still above head height. The heavy impact of her landing against the soft turf was very satisfying. She straightened up and raised a bent arm over her head briefly in greeting to Aerad.
“Blue skies, abAearad, and a wind to your back.” Lisa nodded to Toma and turned a radiant smile to the two women. “Pardon my interruption.”
Suspicion darkened Iras’s face but Guinevere smiled back, “Pardoned indeed! Great news is always a welcome interruption.”
“You have returned much earlier than planned.” Aerad said. “You were successful?”
Lisa kept her smile in place as she swung the velvet bag from her shoulders. “More successful than planned.” She held the bag loosely in front of her.
Toma rolled onto his back, “Don’t torment them, child, spill your secret.” He opened one yellow eye to look at her. “I hope the truth is at least half as sensational as some of the rumors. I’ll be disappointed in you otherwise.”
“With all respect due to my elders, I would like to propose a trade.”
“A trade? You know whatever you have reclaimed is already the property of the Rhabdi.” Aerad’s expression didn’t change but he’d slipped into his disciplinary lecture tone.
“Oh, not for this, abAerad.” Lisa lifted the bag slightly. “Toma mentioned sensation and rumors. I only want to trade truth for truth.”
Toma opened both eyes and seemed interested for the first time but Lisa didn’t look to him. Puzzlement wrinkled the foreheads of Aerad and Guinevere. “What do you want to know?” Aerad asked.
“Where did the Galth virus come from?”
Aerad’s gaze was steady when he answered, “you know your history, the virus originated in one of their underwater labs, a tragic experiment,” but then, he had been the one to teach her how to detect signs of lying… and how to lie convincingly when necessary. “What else did you want to know?”
“That’s enough.” Lisa shrugged. She reached into the bag and closed a hand on the hidden orb. She winked at Toma. “The truth is rather sensational.” Lisa locked eyes with Iras. She wanted most to see her reaction. “There are survivors and they had the hab with them all along.”
She threw the orb down, her wings already unfolding as she leapt away from the explosion. Heat seared her bare arms. She flew straight up until the air became frigid and thin around her where no adult could follow. The cold eased the sting on her arms and Lisa slowed to catch her breath.
Any moment now she would feel the thrill of her victory. Liars. Tricksters. She’d fooled them! But she felt only hollow and lost, worse than the feeling after she had betrayed Maro and left him. Lisa grasped for any remnant of anger. Nothing. Iras’s final expression had erased it. Lisa had been prepared for shock and anger or fear and guilt but Iras had only looked sorry.
