Eliakim's decision came in a whisper.
"We're not delivering a ledger," he said. "We're delivering a story — one that Vaeryn can't tell if he wrote or we did."
Ezra's grin was wolfish. "Now you're speaking my language."
Caleb crossed his arms. "You're talking about lying to a man who lives on lies."
Eliakim met his gaze evenly. "Exactly."
Step one was the prisoners.Rather than free them openly or leave them bound, Eliakim cut their ropes — but replaced them with crude knots designed to give way with a single tug. Then he left one knife in plain sight, as if someone careless had dropped it.
"If they get free, the Legion will think we set them loose," Skyling said.
"Or the Queen's people will think they escaped by themselves," Eliakim replied. "Either way, no one can prove it was us."
Step two was the ledger.There was none in the vault, but Ezra found a stack of merchant logs in a side room. Eliakim took one, tore out several pages, and scribbled false transactions in Elven script — shipments that implied a shadow network moving goods between the Queen's loyalists and… someone unnamed.
Caleb frowned as he watched. "You're not just framing someone, you're framing no one. That's dangerous."
"That's the point," Eliakim said. "The unknown is more dangerous than the enemy you can see."
Step three was the exit.Instead of returning by the route Vaeryn had marked, they slipped through the outpost's storage tunnels, doubled back along the ridge, and arrived at the meeting point before Vaeryn.
When he appeared, dark cloak snapping in the wind, his eyes narrowed just slightly. "Efficient work," he said in Elven. "I trust there were… no complications?"
Eliakim kept his face calm. "None that matter."
Vaeryn studied him for a long moment — longer than was polite. "And the ledger?"
Ezra stepped forward, handing over the falsified book with a slight bow. "As promised."
Vaeryn flipped through it. No flicker of surprise showed, but Eliakim caught the subtle shift in his breathing. He was reading a script — but couldn't tell whose hand had written it.
On the walk back, the air was thick with unspoken questions.Ezra finally murmured, "He's wondering if we passed his test… or if we tested him."
"Good," Eliakim said without looking back. "Let him wonder."
Skyling glanced between them. "But what if he finds out we played him?"
Eliakim allowed himself a faint, humorless smile. "Then the real game begins."