Page 6 of Ash Fall

"Do you want to take this town and hold people against their will?"

"No."

Something different slips into his voice that time. The answer is still controlled, but the word comes out rough enough to tell me there's more happening inside his head than his frozen body can show.

"Then why are you following the orders? Did he threaten you?"

"No."

"Did someone threaten your families?"

"No."

"Then why do you have to obey him?"

The taller soldier answers this time. "Because when he tells us what to do, we do it. Even when we don't want to."

I look at Gage, and the concern in his face matches what I'm thinking. Mars lets his arms fall to his sides and steps closer.

"You think he can do what you can do," Mars asks.

"Maybe." I face the soldiers again because the idea makes too much fucking sense. "Before the moon cracked, if Colonel Ashford ordered you to round up civilians at gunpoint and imprison them, would you have obeyed?"

"No," the taller man says immediately.

"What about the rest of the unit?"

"No."

I rub my palm over the back of my neck. "That's what I thought."

Mars swears quietly, and I keep looking at the two soldiers. "These men signed up to serve. I'm not pretending every soldier is a saint, but I don't believe an entire unit woke up after the moon cracked and decided kidnapping civilians sounded like a great career move."

Gage nods, and I let out a short bitter laugh. "My father, though? He'd love this. He used to get pissed and rant about how much better everything would run if people simply did what he told them. Give that man the ability to force obedience, and this is exactly the kind of thing he'd do with it."

Luna chews on her bottom lip while she studies the soldiers, then looks back at me. "Can you override him?"

I stare at her. "What?"

"His orders. If his magic is making them obey him and yours makes people obey you, can you tell them not to?"

I hadn't thought of that but I’m not sure if that’s how it works.

"I don't know," I admit.

"Try."

I face the soldiers again, but first I need them able to move without losing control of the situation. "You may move and speak normally now, but you will not touch your weapons, leave this room, or hurt anyone here unless I tell you otherwise."

Both men move at once. One blinks several times while the other drags in a deep breath, but neither reaches for his rifle.

That answers one question. I can change a command after I've given it.

I focus on the taller soldier first. "You will forget every order Colonel Ashford has given you since the moon cracked. Those orders have no control over you anymore."

For a second, nothing happens, and then his eyes widen as his entire face changes. "Fuck."

The shorter soldier turns toward him, and I point at him next. "The same applies to you. Every order Colonel Ashford has given you since the moon cracked is gone. You don't have to obey any of them."