“I’m soooooooo booooooooored,” Dowyr channeled to Weynon, who sat next to the fireplace reading a copy of The Five Sentinels.

  They were in their room at Fort Calhoun, just across from the one Garec and Donnan had been given, while Elethe and Sirona were situated in an entirely different part of the Fort. It was barebones accommodations, with dull wooden floors, cracked gray brick walls, and no windows. Besides the fireplace, two lightstones mounted above the beds helped give the room a warm glow. At least it didn’t feel like the prison-cell bunkroom at the Academy, as they were free to roam about and even go outside, though it was far too cold this time of year to want anything to do with the outdoors.

  Dowyr lay on his bed, head hanging upside-down over the side so he could stare at the fire. An hour must have gone by since he had begun watching it, and he had shifted into every position imaginable to keep himself comfortable. Being upside down was his favorite, despite how quickly it became uncomfortable.

  “So let’s play a game,” Weynon said, not looking away from his book.

  Dowyr sighed heavily and rolled over to be right-side-up. “Okay. You go first.”

  “Not that kind of game. We can play Sentinels versus Snakes. Our room can be my base. We can set the rules of which halls I have to stay in.”

  “That’s too easy, I could just cheat to win.”

  Weynon closed his book and got up. “But you’re not actually a Snake. You won’t cheat, and you won’t win either. Come on, let’s go find the starting spots.”

  Dowyr rolled off the bed as melodramatically as possible. “Fine, but if I win, you gotta take care of my laundry for a week.”

  “Then you gotta do mine if I win.”

  Dowyr gave a thumbs-up, and they darted into the halls and began plotting out the boundaries for Weynon’s side, and then Dowyr went off into the maze of the Fort’s halls and stairs and counted a minute before beginning his attempt at getting past Weynon and back into their room.

  Sentinels versus Snakes was typically played on either an open field or a corn maze in a five-on-five matchup. For the longest time it was simply a children’s game, but it had slowly grown into a national sport and new variants of the game made it into official rulebooks. The core of it was simple; one team, the Sentinels, guarded a home base, with restrictions on where they were allowed to roam, while the Snakes tried to reach the home base without being tagged out. Dowyr had played it on occasion during his time at the orphanage, always choosing to be one of the Snakes, as that felt like the more fun side to play on. He and Weynon had also played it with the soldiers a few times during their journey to the Fort, and for some reason Weynon’s team usually won.

  He made his way through the halls as silently as possible, trying to find which way Weynon wasn’t guarding. Soldiers occasionally marched past, to which he gave an innocent smile and wave. For the most part they ignored him, though at least one recognized him and signed safe, pointing a thumb down the hall he came from. Dowyr responded with a thumbs-up and quickly pressed on, checking around the corners carefully. Down one he spotted Weynon scanning the halls. There was only one other point that gave access to his room that Weynon wouldn’t be able to guard at the same time, but it would take a while to make his way back to reach it. By then, he might be checking there already. Timing was everything.

  Except Weynon had spotted him, and he was in his territory. The boy made a mad dash towards him, and Dowyr squeaked, practically leaping back down the hall. Weynon was a faster runner though, and Dowyr’s territory was too far to reach in time. Somehow he needed to hide.

  Turning one corner, he made for the nearest door and as quickly and quietly as he could, pulled it open and darted inside. With it shut, he turned around and found a small group of men standing around a table and staring at him in either surprise or annoyance, Garec among them. The rest looked like older high-ranking officials.

  Oh, Hell, Dowyr thought.

  In a panic, he channeled and made it seem to them as if he immediately opened the door and ran out, after which it was easy enough to make himself invisible to their eyes. It shouldn’t take too long before Weynon left the area.

  “That boy is a troublemaker if I ever saw one,” one of the older men said.

  “I apologize on his behalf, Colonel Aemon,” Garec said, “he is my responsibility. I’ll make sure it won’t happen again.”

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  “See that you do. Continue, Major Ingram.”

  The man who must’ve been Ingram cleared his throat. “There’s little else to report, Sir. Besides the… new geography around Irostead, all I’ve gathered is that Kircany is continuing its advance into Parasten while fending off raids from Arkonia.”

  “I can’t believe they’ve got a damn Class 4 Apocalypse,” another man said. “If word of that gets loose, it’ll—”

  Oh… Hell...

  “It's already loose,” Colonel Aemon said. “That woman wagged her tongue all the way from Irostead to here. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s on the lips of every Elyssanaran by Victorsday. The question is, do we have enough Druids and Cheerleaders to deal with the inevitable morale drop?”

  “There’ll be enough,” Garec said. “And we can do more than just use Druids or Cheerleaders. My men are good at lifting spirits, whatever the circumstances. I’ll brief them about the situation before sundown, they’ll know what to do as word starts spreading.”

  “Not through spirits, I hope?”

  “Of course not. Fear only works without confidence. We know how dangerous Class 4s are, but they’re just as humanly fragile as anyone, without an Immortal anyway. All we need is a reminder that they can be killed.”

  “Where did this Rage Emogician even come from?” another man asked.

  “My sources say he’s Roderick’s younger brother, Royce,” Major Ingram said. “I don’t know whether it’s true, but I doubt Roderick would use him as bait like that if it weren’t.”

  “Isn’t he only nineteen?” Garec asked. “That might be to our advantage.”

  “Yes, he is still only a naive teenager,” Colonel Aemon said. “That is our one saving grace. But him being so close to Roderick is what worries me. Roderick might not be an Emogician, but it’s clear he knows war. The General expects an attack once the snows melt. I should be receiving further plans on defensive preparations within the week. We’re still waiting for more men to reinforce the border. Captain Klausgow, do you know when the next wave of Emogicians are supposed to be conscripted?”

  “It would have been two weeks ago,” Garec said. “More will still be training, but you should expect by winter’s end to have maximum strength in Emogicians.”

  “Good. In preparation for them I want all of you to make a list of all your Emogicians and send it to me. I’ll be handpicking from them to be specialized Emogic unit leaders. That is all. Dismissed.”

  Salutes were exchanged, and they began marching towards Dowyr. He moved away from the door and noticed Garec, last to leave, signing in his general direction, my room, two minutes.

  Oh, HELL.

  The door shut behind them and Dowyr cut his channeling, gasping as if he had been holding his breath the entire time. Then, after counting the minutes, he carefully opened the door and investigated the hall. Finding no one, he sprinted out and went straight for Garec’s room, not even bothering to slow when he came across a very confused Weynon around one corner.

  “YOU WIN, GAME OVER,” Dowyr channeled.

  “What? Where are you going?!”

  There was no reason to answer since Garec’s room was only a few more leaps away, and in seconds Dowyr was inside, panting his lungs out. Garec and Donnan were sitting across from each other at a small table, neither looking too pleased. Garec even looked angry, which was a first.

  “Sorry,” Dowyr channeled. “I didn’t mean to barge in on that, I was—”

  Garec waved a dismissive hand. “I’m not mad at you, and you can barge in on the Colonel bathing for all I care. Handpicking my Emogicians my ass.”

  “He won’t pick anyone ye need,” Donnan said.

  “Damnit, I need all of them, I can’t even afford to lose Henric.”

  “Why?” Dowyr channeled.

  “Because we have Elethe, and once… Snakes, Royce is complicating things.” Garec slammed a fist on the table and took a deep breath. “Donnan, tell me how this makes sense. We learn Kircany has a Class 4 Apocalypse, and our commanders still want to just sit on their asses and play Kings all day?”

  “It’s winter,” Donnan said. “They want te keep their arses warm.”

  “Useless bastards, all of them. If we don’t move soon we risk everything.”

  “We’re two weeks from the solstice and ye want us moving already? How’s that supposed te fly?”

  Garec tapped his fingers on the table sporadically. “It won’t. The Halberd would come flying down on our necks. I wish I’d known about Royce before reaching the Fort, I would’ve turned the Company southeast and gone straight into Parasten. Maybe make a beeline for the capital.”

  Dowyr looked between them. “So now what?”

  Garec sighed. “We have to stop the Tyrdens, Royce and Roderick, with Royce being the priority. We can’t let someone that powerful roam free, much less alive. The longer he’s out there, the more lives it will cost. But there’s still the matter of making two hundred soldiers disappear without anyone noticing or being able to do anything about it.”

  “Why don’t you just have Elethe and me help them disappear? We could do it.”

  “No, you couldn’t. Too many eyes to deceive for too long. The moment you stop channeling everyone will know and come after us, and that’s it, we’d all be Halberded. We wouldn’t be able to get away fast enough.”

  “We need a Sprinter,” Donnan said. “Too bad they’re all running messages.”

  Garec knuckled his chin. “One is due here on Fireday…”

  “No, Garec, no, stop. I know what ye’re thinking. No more kidnapping.”

  “We don’t need to kidnap one. I could just have Henric—”

  “Ye know Lust doesn’t work like that at his Class level.”

  “Elethe can do it.”

  “Oh, I’m sure she’d love that.”

  Garec tossed his hands. “Fine, then I’m kidnapping the poor bastard! Besides, it’ll only be temporary to help us escape. You don’t need to be involved. You though,” he pointed a finger at Dowyr, “you I could use. Wanna help me nab a Sprinter?”

  Donnan sighed heavily and rubbed his forehead.

  Dowyr shrugged. “I didn’t like getting kidnapped that much, but with my expertise I think I could make it a more pleasant experience for the poor bastard.”

  “That’s what I like to hear. I’ve got things I need to get done today, so we’ll plan it out on Watersday. Donnan, let’s go speak with the men.”