James paused as if considering the idea and feigned a serious expression, “I do get cold easily. Maybe I could setup a little stand to sell knitted goods to the others, too. Make some credits while I’m here, all alone in the snow with nothing to do but sit around and get fat.”
“I won’t even recognize you when I get back. Then I’ll have to find some other handsome Inari boy to protect me.”
“Such a shame. All because I got bored and cold.”
Shara shrugged, “Well, there is nothing to be done. We must accept our fates.” Her face cracked into a wide smile.
James grabbed her waist and pulled her into him, kissing her. He felt her arms slide around him, and she leaned into the kiss as he pulled her in as close as he could. He pulled away, placing his cheek against hers, then whispered, “I think we should make our own fates.”
Shara turned her face to kiss his cheek, “Someday, this will all be over. We can make all the—fate—we want.”
James chuckled as she took a step back and slid her hands down his arms to grab his hands, “You really have to pack now?” He asked.
She sighed, “Yeah, I do,” She leaned forward and gave him a quick kiss, “But, I’ll see you soon.”
“Don’t take too long. I don’t want to have to hunt you down out there.”
She smirked and turned to walk away, “I can’t make it too easy on you.”
44
Shara
Shara followed Taeri’s lead. The old Illara had thought it best for all the teams to strike out together and coordinate traps around the camp before branching out towards the Xenai camp. Mostly because between all the teams and their Source-casters, they only covered each source element two times. Keeping Shara nearby made it easy to augment any trap.
Traps made from trees would form cages when triggered, and they could augment the traps with Lifecasting to manipulate the trees to have thorns. Shara refused to do it to the living trees, however. Miscasting could kill them. She did, however, manipulate the underbrush. Layers of thorns as sharp as swords formed underneath the fallen leaves without even disturbing the leaves and giving away the trap. Around the source traps, the guides and the rest of the teams build conventional ones.
They built some conspicuous traps, guiding any wary Xenai toward the open spots where the harder to spot Source traps would catch them. Then, they built two more lines of traps, completely hidden to any but experienced trackers, that surrounded the source trap and spread out behind the conspicuous traps. No matter whether the Xenai helped whoever got caught or left them, they would hit another wall of traps.
The better part of the day was filled by creating this elaborate buffer of traps before the camp. Taeri had refused to allow the men to stop for lunch, so as the first colored lines of sunset appeared in the sky, they all sat down and made a dinner.
“We should break off into our groups tonight, start moving to our areas in the dark. The longer we are together the greater the danger of them Xenai coming down on all of us.” Taeri said thoughtfully as he leaned against the tree next to where Shara sat on the ground. They both watched the men, working together to build the campfire, pouring in rations to the series of small pots they pulled from a few groups’ supplies. Shara couldn’t help but notice the Inari boy off to the side of the group, smiling and watching the men while he drew in a leather-bound journal. He set it down to join the group of men around the pots, each of them contributing a small amount of water from their own canteens to make the slurry that they called soup. How many of these men will come back?
“I wonder how long it’ll be out here. This may be the last time in quite a while they get to have a night like this,” Shara said. “Each group will lose a man or two and they won’t relax again. Not until they are back at home—in Prin—for quite a while.” She heard Taeri shuffle and turn toward her.
The silence hung between them. Shara felt it crushing her before Taeri softly asked, “Is this how you feel?”
“No. But, I know if I didn’t have the powers that I do, and the Xenai had chased me—swarmed me—like what happened to us... Even after escaping, I would want to stay in my tent and sleep for days and forget the mission—forget everything. It’s easy to lose sight of hope when staring down a moving wall of Xenai. Some of these men asked for this assignment—most didn’t. That feeling of dread—of inevitable death—that will be the real enemy out here for our teams, once the Xenai start hunting us.”
Shara could feel Taeri’s thoughtfulness through his eerie stillness. She kept watching the men as they sat down with their sludge. The jokes and stories didn’t carry all the way to her and Taeri, just the murmur of their voices. The tones of happiness punctuated with laughter. What will they leave behind? Wives? Husbands? Children? Vengeful younger siblings that will come out here to die as well?
She let her thoughts spin around her. How was she supposed to keep her men in good spirits when she couldn’t stand the thought of their deaths before any actually happened? It was going to crush her whenever she proved too weak to protect them all. She would live—it was hard for her to imagine any scenario short of the entire Xenai army coming at them where she would be killed—but she would fail to protect all of her men.
“This is a mistake, Taeri. We can’t take these teams out there.”
“We have orders. You were excited ‘bout this a few hours ago.”
“Orders didn’t have faces when they were given—now they do.”
“The men are here to fight—to die when they have to. You aren’t goin’ to protect them all. Without these sacrifices, Prin stands no chance.”
“And the sacrifices we choose to make is what separates us from the Xenai. We built an entire line of source traps to kill the Xenai that leave their soldiers behind. We spent three times as long making three times as many traps there than the other source traps, because we all know they will sacrifice their soldiers for their goal. It will be a fun surprise if they don’t leave trapped soldiers behind… But here we are, doing the same thing. This assignment will be a death sentence to a lot of the men sitting down there,” The words caught in her throat and she had to force out the last few words, “And we are moving on toward our goals.”
Taeri was quiet again.
“I assume your silence is some small amount of agreement?”
Taeri grunted.
“Then we follow orders. But, safely. All the teams stay back, building the traps—except for mine. The more traps we have to lead the Xenai into, the more successful we will be anyways. And I want my team filled only with the volunteers...ones that understand that we may not be coming back.”
Taeri looked down at her with intense eyes, “You’re not invincible, Shara. You can’t put yourself at so much extra risk. Plus, Hafi would kill all the men you’re trying to protect if we lose you. So, you wouldn’t be saving anyone.”
“He will not. That man is the gruffest and kindest person we both know.”
Taeri sighed, but Shara looked up at his face. He was watching the soldiers continue to laugh. “From what Hafi told me ‘bout your mother’s secret soft side, I think you are more like her than you want to admit.”
Shara felt a shock pulse through her at the idea. I’m not trying to be their mother. “I’m just trying to keep as many of our soldiers alive as possible. It’s strategic.”
“Uh-huh. Well, you’re technically the ranking officer ‘cause of your source mastery. I’m volunteering for your squad, though.”
Shara jumped to her feet and smiled as she launched herself at Taeri, grabbing him in an aggressive hug, “Thank you.”
45
Fiher
Fiher felt the change in the surrounding chaos. The other Xenai, rubbing against him and pacing, lessened. Gaps began to form, and groups of Xenai sauntered away. He internally cursed at keeping himself cut off from the Void, despite knowing it was necessary.
They’ve got new instructions. And I didn’t hear them.
A few of the Xena
i near him moved together, he followed them as if he had received the same directions that they had. He felt a drag on his mind from the level of awareness he had to use to move with them, rather than after them.They cleared the edge of the camp and continued east. From the right, an Ambernai approached them, a clear look of confusion on its face. One of the new experiments. These new Xenai had implants, but were notably missing the obsidian implant that created their smoke and allowed communication between Xenai across the Void. Relief washed over him.
Good. They will have to speak—maybe I can get details.
The Ambernai moved into the group and sat on the edges, watching with the bewildered look. Fiher moved closer to listen in. He hoped his own confusion was hidden, but his smoke made hiding emotions hard. From what he could tell from within his own cloud, the jagged rippling of anxiety was not present, nor the rapid swirls of confusion, but he knew his own perspective was far more limited than what the other Xenai could see of him. There was no way to hide, like the Ambernai or the Terrans, by turning his face away. Fiher’s fog could reveal his inner state to anyone around him without him having any idea that he had been given away.
The scrape and pointed sound of Xenaran rang across the group like a large boulder, growling as it was dragged across rocky ground, “You—Amber—Why are you here?”
The startled Ambernai turned to the Xenai at the head of the pack, “They sent me—to provide cover.”
It was strange to hear Xenai speak. How long has it been? Fiher remembered the frantic meeting between his co-conspirators. The worry of being discovered. Ten years? Each of the Watchers had gone their own way to reduce the risk of them being caught. He had not spoken to another Xenai since.
The lead Xenai looked the Ambernai over. Fiher sensed the concern wafting from her as she gazed at the Amber. She must sense how newly he was made, just as Fiher had, “We will get as close as we can—and stay overnight while you grow the cover we need to get closer.”
Amber just nodded.
Not much information. Fiher repressed a sigh.
Nearly all at the same moment, the other Xenai, besides Amber, dropped into their hunched positions and moved. Fiher followed, glancing to his side to make sure that the others had not noticed his sluggish response. They shambled forward, eyes ahead. The sun was still coming up over the mountains; it would be a long day of marching.
Fiher glanced over his shoulder at the incline rising behind him. The only path not blocked by Pact patrols had cost them two of their team. Luckily, not Amber. Despite the Source-caster’s best attempts to grow handholds from the roots where they stuck out, there was so much rock that it had been little help.
The light had fallen away hours ago, leaving the group weaving through trees in the darkness. Upon reaching the treeline, the Xenai came to an abrupt stop. Fiher caught himself before tripping on the Xenai ahead of him. Amber tumbled into him. He hoped that the collision would cover his own trip up. He crouched down, as if looking into the open plain ahead of them, but glanced around at the others. No one was looking at him, although one was glaring at Amber.
Fiher turned his attention to the field. The deep shadows were lit by occasional specks of light in the far distance. They moved in long lines, then turned and wandered back to their starting positions. Patrols.
Behind the dots of light, Fiher recognized the tall, dark, imposing shape. He had crept his way past it more times that he could remember. They had come back to Prin.
Why?
The group moved forward suddenly. The two lights closest to them were heading in opposite directions, which would leave a gap in the patrol. Fiher moved after the group and heard Amber shuffling behind him.
The group spread around as they approached the center of the patrol, each Xenai hiding behind nearby bushes. Fiher watched as Amber took the nearest and started casting. The bushes rapidly expanded across the remaining 6 meters until the wall, then they grew taller. The lights of the patrol had turned and were heading back. The cover was set. The Xenai crawled forward until they were hidden in the bushes that now lined the patrol path. Fiher was certain he could reach just his hand out and grab the cloak of the Prin Guard as he walked by him.
The guard to the far left stopped on his path, looking at the bushes with a confused expression.
“Stop fucking around, Timothy,” the guard to the right said.
Timothy shrugged, “I just never noticed how thick the brush is here.” He walked back to the center, planting himself in front of the iron gate that led into the Underground.
“You don’t notice a lot of things.”
“It’s good Sarg gave me a duty that requires noticing things, then.”
“Aw, c’mon, we all know he just gives you night watch so he can flirt with your wife.”
Timothy swept the butt of his spear around, knocking it against the other guard’s shins, “At least I got someone to marry me. You can’t keep any of your lovers interested.”
“It’s not my fault that I can’t choose between the men and the women. I just get so bored with only one or the other.”
“I don’t think what’s in their trousers is what bores you. You pick truly brainless people. They’re too close to your intelligence. You need someone smarter than you that confuses you into being interested.”
The other guard grunted, “I dated an engineer once. He would stop during foreplay to take notes of something that came to his mind. It was always about the damn motos, not me.”
“Oh, I see. Your problem is that you aren’t interesting enough then.”
“I’m done talking to you.” The second guard turned his back to Timothy.
“Take a jest, Sam. Our relief will be here soon, you can go find your next conquest—and just remember that when you fail, I’ll be in bed next to my—” The sentence turned to a startled shout as the Xenai lunged out of the bushes, falling upon the guards. Two guards were no match for them.
Sam was on the ground, his spear fallen to his side when he was tackled by two Xenai. A third walked up, picking the spear up and thrusting it into his gut.
“Xenai! Xenai!” Timothy yelled. A clang came from within the tunnel beyond the gate.
The Xenai with the spear turned to him and started playing with him, thrusting at him and forcing him to block. There was no intent to kill him in its movements—but rather to distract. He fell into a guarding position and blocked the swings. It was like watching a child poke at a worm, the way the Xenai poked and prodded him, watching his reaction with interest.
Near him, the first two Xenai to pounce were tearing Sam’s cloak off of his dying body. A small groan escaped him as they rolled him over. Blood dribbled out of his mouth. The Xenai growled and stood, turning to look at the mock fight with Timothy.
The mocking ended. The Xenai countered a thrust by grabbing the shaft of the spear and twisting it with a sharp jerk. The spear was wrenched from his hands. The Xenai stepped forward, jabbing with his own spear as he dropped Timothy’s to the ground. Timothy tried to dodge backwards, but caught the end of the thrust anyway, tearing open his inner thigh. He would bleed out within a few minutes.
The sound within the tunnels grew. With a click and a moan, the gate swung outwards. Men piled out of the tunnel, hastily forming a defensive perimeter around the opening to allow the rest of the men behind them to come out. A howl rose in unison from all the Xenai except Fiher and Amber. They jumped on the group of men, tearing into them.
Fiher dodged as a soldier came at him. A second solider jumped at him, singling him out to the side of the larger group. In the tunnel he heard a shout echoing, “The caster is nearly here, just hold them back!”
The soldier flanking him rushed. Fiher sighed, dodging again into a low crouch that allowed him to hit the woman in the stomach. She groaned and did her best to jump away to the side as he came in with a second blow.
The voice of the man guarding the entrance reached Fiher, “—Shara should have been here—all dead by now.”<
br />
Friends of the girl?
He looked at the other soldier, lining up a thrust at him. How easily I could take his spear and kill him, and he has no idea.
The girl wouldn’t like that.
He continued dodging; the blows getting closer and closer to him as the two soldiers attacked in unison. He felt the cold of metal and then the burning heat of a cut as one thrust made contact. It pushed past his armor, the tip of the blade biting into his flesh. He was slowing down, but so were they.
Behind the soldiers, he heard a growl of excitement from his group. He glanced, seeing one of them with a raised arm, holding a shimmering piece of green tinted glass. A LightTab. The other Xenai all turned and retreated.
Fiher dodged another series of blows, then slid to the side, hitting the man’s spear with as much force as he could muster. It slammed into the ground, giving him the time to create enough distance to run after his group.
As they reached the trees, Fiher looked back at the soldiers. They were checking their wounded and moving back into formation. If only I belonged with them.
46
Hafi
The latest scuffle was on the south side of the camp. They were always on the south side of camp, where the makeshift bar had been set up. Each day was proving how dangerous it was to have restless men with violent pasts as new soldiers.
If I have to beat the soldiers every time they get a little bored, we are going to lose as many soldiers loitering here than we did in battle.
Hafi shoved the flap of the command tent aside with such force it wrapped around the guard posted outside. He didn’t pause to apologize. Hafi heard his aide and the captain, who had reported the incident, jogging behind him. They offered up a stream of ‘excuse us’ and ‘sorry’ to the people pushed into his wake.
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