Inside the Dragon Chamber

After several minutes, a man approached. He was dressed in long, sapphire-blue robes trimmed and detailed with gold. He had a small, cylindrical cap on his head in the same colours, with a gold tassel attached to the centre. On his back was a small, brass tank with a mask attached to it by a pipe and slung around his neck on leather straps. The mask had two small, ivory tusks poking out from either side of the pipe.
"So," he said with much less of an accent than his countrymen. "You are the son of the Erestean nobleman?"

Peter

"Yes, I am," I told him.

"Excellent." He paused for a moment. "Then perhaps you can be explaining why he has been dead for several months?"

Peter

Time to come up with a lie very quickly and hope it would work.

"Decoy to confuse our pursuers and try to buy more time to escape," I said.

"Interesting ruse," mused the officer. "Where are the nobleman and the girl?"

Peter

"I have no idea," I answered. That was the complete truth, since Sarah was off somewhere and the nobleman didn't actually exist. "We were separated."

"Hmm. Any idea where they are likely to be?"

Peter

"None."

I wasn't sure why he was asking. It's not like I planned to give away the fact that we were supposed to have been heading to the mountains.

"I hardly expected anything else. Well, when we arrive at the outpost you will be questioned further and much more..." he smiled thinly. "...intimately."

Peter

Of course.

I remained silent, hoping the outpost was far enough away that I could summon the strength to be gone before we arrived.

Fifteen minutes later, another officer appeared. He said something to the guards, who opened the door and let him in. Bowing low, the officer spoke.
"My name is Zhimei Taideko. I am a lieutenant to the captain of this vessel. I have heard many conflicting rumours about you from the troops. Tell me, what is the truth?"

Peter

"What have you heard?" I asked. I was actually honestly curious about this one.

"They say that you are the son of a great Erestean wizard. Others say you simply appeared out of thin air in the Dragon Chamber. Someone said you had strange and mystical abilities." Zhimei watched him like a hawk for any possible reaction.

Peter

"I do have strange abilities," I told him, "but they're not all that mystical."

"Interesting to hear. You see, I do not trust the captain's leadership any more. Help me to overthrow him and I will be able to offer you much better conditions when we arrive at the outpost."

Peter

"Is that true?" I asked. "See, the trouble is, I've been having lots of issues since I arrived, and I really don't know who to trust."

"Understandable. The Norlan barbarians have no understanding o the Great Play." The officer nodded sympathetically. "I simply need to wait for the exact moment to strike with my betrayal, and find the right dramatic flourish. if it is well executed, he will have no choice but to stand down and no reason to do otherwise."

Peter

"You'll have to excuse me," I started, "but I'm not familiar with your Great Play either."

The officer blinked in surprise then sighed deeply and pinched the bridge of his nose. "The world is a play staged for our ancestors. To earn our place in the audience we must give an account of ourselves that will be remembered. Performance is as important as deed. I would rather be betrayed in perfect elegance than rise to greatness through banal means."

Peter

"I see. That's very interesting, and I can't say I've ever heard that take on the world before."

"It is the civilised man's approach to life," said the officer. "Perhaps this could be your first proper performance."

Peter

"If it's all about making a good story," I started dryly, "I've probably been doing pretty well so far for a tragedy. Fine, I'll give you the truth. I'm not sure hiding even matters anymore, and I'm sure the truth would be figured out eventually anyway. It's true that I arrived in the Dragon Chamber out of thin air. That was purely an accident." I proceeded to give a brief summary of what happened, leaving out the part about the apparent secret society that helped us. Just in case.

"Fascinating," said the officer. "So you are no stranger to the vagaries of fortune. Now is your chance to seize fortune and bend it to your will. Are you going to?"

Peter

"I might as well," I said. "It'll be hours before I'll have the strength to jump worlds again and regroup with my team, so I'll be stuck here until then."

"Excellent," said Lieutenant Zhimei. "Tell me, what exactly can you do?"