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“And you enjoy those blue balls until you learn to not be an arsehole.” He took off before he could see my rude gesture.
TWENTY-THREE
NYX
It was too easy to forget, at least for a few days, that there was a war waging out there—the very reason for the urgency to get Zaria trained. That was until they pulled me out of one of our training sessions to meet in the war room. It was already filled when I slipped in. The section leaders were all gathered around the large table in the center, which held a model of the Twelve Kingdoms, while the Regent gave an update.
“...northwestern front with no warning, which concerns me. We need to send troops to see if the outposts in the Second Kingdom are overrun.”
“How could the outposts be overrun without some warning? We have systems in place for this,” I asked as I stepped into a space at the opposite end of the map.“What about the fire signals?”
“I don’t know.” Concern pulled his harsh features.“They either failed, or the outpost didn’t have enough time to ignite theirs.”
“None of the pyres were ignited?” I asked since I’d missed the first part of the brief and was lacking some context.We had a system of pyres to ignore across the border of the Twelve Kingdoms to alert for emergencies. They stretched all the way across every kingdom and were checked and manned around the clock. It was the responsibility of each of the barons to keep the pyres in their kingdom in working order.
“None of them. When the Third Flight went to relieve the Fifth Flight at the outpost, it was empty.”
“Empty?” My voice was strained. The Fifth Flight was a unit with eight flyers and their ryders. Even if they’d been ambushed, they should have been able to hold off the attack long enough to ignite the pyres to warn the rest of the kingdom.
“Wait, you said the northwest? Not the southwest?” That information threw me. We didn’t have any enemies in the northwest. There wasn’t much inhabited land, and the North Sea created a harsh environment to live in. I chose my words carefully, knowing the gravity of what I had to ask, but I knew Octavian, and he was withholding something vital. “You don’t think it was the Vestar, do you?”
Octavian fixed me with a stern look, confirming my hunch. Maybe he would have withheld longer, but I wasn’t about hiding information or even theories. Our units out in the field deserved better. I might not be general yet, but I would still make sure that our kind were not hobbled by misinformation out on the front line.
He shook his head slowly. “I think it’s the Vivi Mortui.”
A gasp rippled through the room. Even I hadn’t seen that coming.
I said what the entire room was thinking: “We haven’t seen an attack from the Vivi Mortui since the Twelve Kingdoms were united.”
“I know, but what else could it be? If it were the Vestar, surely there would be evidence of an attack. Even their death magic couldn’t vanish an entire outpost overnight.”
“When was the last time we heard from the outpost?” I placed both hands on the map, surveying the area, but I had it memorized. I didn’t need to look. I knew we had nearly a hundred lives there.
“Four days ago. The Third Flight arrived two days ago.”
“And we’re just hearing of it?” I said through gritted teeth.
“They had to conduct a full area search before reporting. You know the protocol, Private Asar, or do you need a refresher course while you are back in the trainee program?”
I had struck a nerve, and Octavian was not someone to cross, no matter who he was to my family. I wasn’t surprised he would take the opportunity to remind me, along with the entire command, that I held no rank, nor was I even through training on paper.
But I didn’t take his bait and ignored the derision. I stepped around the group to get a better look at the villages around the outpost. “Did they fall back?”
“They did—to the village here.” The Regent used his magic to point to a village two hours inland from the outpost.
“It’s got to be safer there for now.” Or at least I hoped. If we were dealing with the Vivi Mortui, it was completely unknown. They were the reason the Twelve Kingdoms originally united. To defeat the undead enemy, we had to come together. The last time we fought them, we had an abundance of dragons and lost far too many driving the Vivi Mortui back into the sea.If they were back during a time when we were bleeding dragon lives, what hope did we have against them?
“I’m sure the commander of the Third Flight had similar thoughts.”
“What of the missing outpost residents?”
“No trace,” the Regent replied curtly and stepped back to sit in his chair. “I’m open to ideas on how we move forward before I bring this to the King.”
Soft chatter broke out in the room among the advisers.
I closed my eyes, trying to rationalize. The North Sea bordered most of the Second Kingdom and was a bitterly cold place this time of year. It didn’t get much better in the height of summer. No realms beyond the freezing waters had reason enough to risk the crossing for an attack. If the Vestar braved the North Sea to surprise us from that side of the realm, I couldn’t imagine why. Even so, the undead army? I couldn’t fathom that, either.
“Kol?” I spoke to my brother through the bond.
