"I understand why you're worried, and I'd be worried too if Marla knew about everything. But she doesn't, and that's the key here. As far as she knows, Beth came up and said I was part of a mutiny plot after I roughed her up a bit. That could easily be played off as her trying to get revenge for what I did, couldn't it?"
She smiles, hoping to reassure Tyris and Astrid.
In fact, if I were to play my cards right, maybe accuse her of scavenging those corpses she joined with and being an elven infiltrator to destroy us from within, it's possible she'd actually be punished instead, Arastine thinks. She'd even have a real nice place for her too, strapped to the front of her tower shield...
I should remember to ask for that if everything goes well.
Internally, Arastine smirks.
"And as for being valuable... Individually, we're not valuable to her at all. But imagine if Toxin were to hear that Marla had killed some of her own troops? Normally I doubt that would be an issue, but... think about our missions. The last one was very critical to Toxin's success. This one, we're being trusted to storm a castle and bring back a princess alive. At first it might seem like a suicide mission, but if it we were expected to be wiped out, why give orders about the princess? Why send us instead of Acid? I believe we're becoming something of an elite force in Toxin's army, and it would hurt Marla's reputation quite a bit if it turns out the elite Miasma Battalion was plotting a mutiny and Marla found out this late. So she's not likely to believe Beth, even if only because of her pride."
Arastine has a few other ideas about why Marla might not act even if she believes there's a mutiny plot, but to suggest that perhaps she'd decide to let them try and make an example out of them afterwards seems... unwise, given Tyris' current state.
