Hazy clouds swirled across the sky, blocking out the sun and making the air feel wet and oppressive. The light coming down from the sun seemed like it was struggling to fight through to the ground, but kept getting obstructed by the wall of gray. It perfectly matched Seraphina's mood.
She stared longingly from her window at the soldiers sparring in the training ring or doing drills in the yard, wishing she could join them. She'd even be up for another punishment detail mucking out the stables. Anything to get her moving instead of sitting in that room for a minute longer listening to people talk and do nothing.
With a sigh, she buttoned on the coat of her uniform and tied her red hair back in a simple tail. The rhythmic sounds of the barracks – clanking armor, marching feet, muffled commands – filtered through her door, each noise a reminder of where she wanted to be instead of the day's tedium that awaited her. She stepped out, her boots echoing against the stone floor, and walked towards the exit drawing respectful nods and salutes from soldiers she passed.
“Hey! Sergeant!”
A girl nearly a foot shorter than her ran over to her, face a little too bright and sunny. She tried to give a salute, but the coffee and biscuits she was holding ruined any attempt at professionalism. A small bit of coffee spilled onto her hastily buttoned uniform, but she didn’t seem to notice.
“Avery…”
Seraphina sighed, giving a crisper salute.
“I brought you breakfast!”
Avery smiled giddily, handing over a cup of coffee and a hard biscuit.
“Aw thanks…” Seraphina’s eyes lit up as she smelled the coffee. “How many of these do I need before I start bouncing around like that?”
“Um… For you, four or five probably. Aren’t you too young to be walking around like a grouch until you’ve had your morning coffee? You’re way too pretty to scowl like that all the time. If I drank coffee, I don’t think you’d ever catch-up to me.”
Her words might as well have been rap lyrics in a language Seraphina didn’t speak. She even did a little skip while she walked.
“Morning people…”
Seraphina took a big bite of the biscuit and washed it down with a gulp of black coffee. When she looked up, Avery was already several steps ahead of her, beckoning her forward.
“So tell me you’re coming back to training this morning? It’s sooo boring without you there.”
“It’s not supposed to be fun. It’s all real now.”
Avery scowled and folded her arms.
“That’s what you always said in school too though… If this is life, then what exactly are we supposed to enjoy?”
Seraphina scowled and stared down at her coffee. They’d had this argument so many times there was no point continuing.
“So are you coming?” Avery’s words were hopeful as she asked again, but her face fell when she saw Seraphina shake her head curtly.
“Not today… Back to the council.”
Despite her disappointment, Avery recovered quickly, and she gave Seraphina a sympathetic nod.
“It’s so cool that you get to sit in with them and hear everything they’re saying… I can’t imagine being around all those important people for so long.
“They’re just people… Really strong people, but still people.”
“Easy for you to say, you grew up around them! The Lady Stewardess is your mother for Gavin’s sake… I guess it’s hard for someone to feel too special when you watch them burn a casserole every night or something.”
They looked at each other and Seraphina felt a tiny smile forming on her lips.
“Wait, is that a smile?” Avery put her hand to her mouth in mocking shock while her eyes twinkled. “A small crack in the Ice Queen’s armor?”
Seraphina groaned, giving Avery a playful swat with her biscuit-holding hand that her friend dodged easily.
“Don’t call me that, I have enough nicknames I hate.”
Avery just laughed and took a step toward the training yard.
“Well, I better get going – Captain will have me running laps or something awful if I don’t get out there soon. Give General Jason a wink for me!”
“Avery, he's nearly 30!”
“27! You promised…”
“No I didn’t!”
“Hm, I could swear you did… Better do it just to play it safe. Never want to break a promise to a friend!”
And with that she was skipping away, leaving Seraphina at a loss for words.
***
The council room was empty when Seraphina arrived. She slowly meandered through the plain wooden chairs and chose a seat at one of the room’s long, polished, rectangular tables with chairs facing the front of the room. The chamber was silent but for the faint murmur of voices from outside and the occasional clink of boots on the marble as messengers ran through the hallway. She looked around at the tactical maps that had been tacked to the wall over the previous sessions, but, despite the number of times she’d seen them, Seraphina’s eyes couldn’t help wandering to the banners hanging on the back wall. Thirteen banners for thirteen archetypes; each one with its own heraldry and heroes.
Vanquisher of Death
My blade shall be evil’s ruin
* Primogenitor: Tirelle Edson
* Members:
* Tirelle Edson (1992-2021): Fully Awakened
Defender
I am the rock that breaks the tide
* Primogenitor: Daniel McIntyre
* Members:
* Daniel McIntyre (1994-2020): Hector
* Warrick O’Shea (1984-): Tier 3
* Florence Anderson (1964-2031): Tier 3
* Takoda Richards (1991-2025): Sitting Bull
* …
Adjudicator
The hammer of justice falls with the fury of the wronged
* Primogenitor: Marie-Alice Hansdottir
* Members:
* Marie-Alice Hansdottir (1992-2021): Urielle
* Johannes Marks (1980-2021): Tier 3
* Ben-Bob Roy (1965-2030): Thurgood Marshall
* Penelope Wang (1998-2025): Tier 3
* …
Assassin
I am become death
* Primogenitor: Fayed Alireza
* Members:
* Fayed Alireza (1994-2021): Xerxes
* Charlotte Stevens (2006-): Tier 3
* Rosemary Gutierrez (1952-2027): Hunhau
* Gilad Ableman (1979-): Zvi Zamir
Paladin
Let the light be my spear, my will be my shield, the people be my soul
* Primogenitor: Seraphina McIntyre
* Members:
* Seraphina McInytre (2019-): Joan of Arc
There were more, but Seraphina stopped reading on her own name, eyes focused on the empty space beneath it. Her name, like Tirelle’s and Gavin's, sat alone, the white letters feeling bigger on the burgundy banner due to the absence of other names. They had earned it, and she… she had just been born into it.
The archetypes weren’t factions, or even guilds, but people took pride in their archetype, often wearing their symbol or even having it tattooed on their body. Some even worshiped their archetype’s most famous heroes, living or dead.
“Hard to do that when you’re an archetype of one…”
As she read through the names for the umpteenth time, the door opened and an older man walked in, carrying a sheaf of papers in one arm and a steaming cup of tea in the other hand. Spotting her staring at the banners, he smiled warmly and walked over.
“Seraphina!”
The man beamed, holding out his arms. Ignoring her attempt to salute him, he grabbed her in a casual embrace. Seraphina grimaced and responded through her teeth.
“Steward Park. I saw you yesterday…”
“And?”
The man shrugged, mercifully stepping away and taking his seat at the head of the room before anyone else entered. The last thing she needed was Graves walking in while the steward was hugging her good morning, even if he was her godfather and the closest thing she had to a second parent. He had been her father’s best friend and had fought with him and Gavin right from the beginning. And he had been there when her father had died and carried his body all the way back from Peru so that they could bury him in Richmond where he’d grown up.
“I always say, the day looks better when we start it with sharp minds around.”
Unlike the other two stewards, the decades of fighting hadn’t completely diminished the almost youthful glimmer in Park’s eyes and his round face grinned like a teenager’s despite the wrinkles and scars marking the years. His tone, always infused with a touch of humor and warmth, softened the formal atmosphere of the council room.
Seraphina shook her head, a faint smile tugging at the corners of her lips despite her mood. She retook her seat and looked toward the door as General Myers entered, deep in conversation with her mother. Myers, with his broad shoulders and stern expression, nodded curtly to her as he passed; Katrina, carrying her own bundle of documents, gave Seraphina a tight smile that said everything about the grueling hours they all had ahead, and sat down next to the other steward.
“Good morning, Jaekwon.
While Steward Park was casual and relaxed, slurping his tea while he read his reports, Seraphina’s mother was stiff and tight with tension.
“Any news from Eytan?”
Park responded without looking up from his papers.
“Nope. You know how it is when he gets like this… He’ll be out there for days…”
“But we need him here.
“Don’t know what to tell you.”
Park shrugged, taking another noisy sip of his tea and looking back at his report. Seraphina almost snorted with laughter at the annoyed look of incredulity on her mother’s face, but barely managed to rein herself in. The two of them were close friends, but in the war council, their personalities clashed as much as anyone’s.
As they settled in, the room quickly filled with the rest of the council – strategists, high-ranking officers, and other advisors. Graves gave her a fist bump as he walked in chatting with his twin brother Jeremy and sat down beside her. The murmuring grew louder as everyone took their seats, the atmosphere an odd mixture of relaxed chatter from the optimists and stony apprehension from the pessimists. Seraphina had started to think of them as the ostriches and the chicken littles as she got more exasperated with the circular arguments between them that went nowhere.
Once everyone was seated, Stewardess McIntyre clapped her hands twice and the din of conversation immediately came to a halt.
“Thanks for joining again this morning. I know that it’s been a long week of meetings and that all of you have other responsibilities, but we’re grateful to have you here. I’m hoping that by the end of today we’ll have a plan for how to respond to the requests for aid coming from the other forts while making sure our walls are still protected. Jaekwon?”
“Uh, yes.”
Steward Park stood abruptly, nearly spilling his remaining tea on his lap.
“Good morning, everyone. As Stewardess McInytre said, there's a lot to talk about today, so let’s get straight to it.”
He adjusted his papers, clearing his throat.
“First order of business: the increased attacks on our walls. Reports suggest there’s been a more coordinated effort from the Virus, which means they might be testing our defenses for a larger assault.”
A strategist immediately spoke out, his voice full of frustration.
“You keep saying that, but we’ve seen this hundreds of times over the last ten years and nothing ever changes. What makes this different?”
“Right where we left off yesterday then…” Seraphina groaned inwardly, moving to take another sip of her coffee before realizing it was empty. “And the day before. And the day before that…”
General Myers leaned forward, his fingers interlaced.
“Yesterday we saw an uptick in skirmishes along the northwestern sector. We responded by sending reinforcements, but they immediately withdrew and we got warning calls from our eastern boundary along the river. Luckily, we had a couple of Tier 2s in reserve, but we were close to being overwhelmed. They’ve never tried anything like this before; it’s always just been brute force. Their tactics are evolving, becoming more sophisticated. It's not just random attacks; it’s like they’re probing, learning.”
The same strategist laughed nervously, the sound a little too high pitched to be genuine.
“That’s impossible… You’re saying that after 20 years the Virus have suddenly started to get smarter?”
“That’s exactly what we’re saying. How can we be certain about what the Virus can and cannot do? The minute we think they’re playing by rules, something happens and upends the board. We lost 18 soldiers this week. 4 over level 30. One over level 40.”
That hushed the crowd, causing even the brightest optimists to mutter anxiously amongst themselves. Seraphina hadn’t heard of the level 40’s death; the leadership must have been keeping that quiet. There weren’t more than 20 level 40s in the entire fort and every one of them was irreplaceable. And 18 people… She gulped, suddenly feeling nauseous.
“There’s one more thing.”
Seraphina’s mother’s voice was soft, but the room instantly quieted again when she started speaking.
“I got a report this morning that a juggernaut and a few other Virus got through the walls in Fort Richmond.”
The uproar was instant. Even Steward Park and General Myers turned to look at Stewardess McIntyre in surprise.
“Got through the walls? How?!”
“What happened? That must have been a massacre!”
“Quiet!”
Stewardess McIntyre's voice snapped like a whip and the room fell silent again.
“I know a single woman was killed and that’s it. The militia must have responded quickly. I don’t know anything else yet. I will tell you when I do, but I am telling you this now because it happened and things are changing. It is imperative that we take action before we have no choices left.”
There were no interjections now. The whole room felt like it was balanced on the tip of a spear and Seraphina felt herself leaning forward and staring at the stewards. It finally felt like something was finally going to happen. The stewards looked at each other, and despite their differences in personality, Seraphina could see the trust between them forged by two decades of fighting together. Steward Park nodded and cleared his throat again.
“As we’ve discussed in our meetings this week, both Annapolis and Newport News have requested soldiers to help them defend themselves from more frequent and vicious Virus attacks. Richmond is doing better, but given Stewardess McIntyre’s news, it’s likely only a matter of time before they request our aid as well. We haven’t been in this much danger since the early days and our fellow forts need our help.
“At the same time, things are not safe here. We have twice the population and armed force of any of the other forts, but the majority of the Virus’ attention is focused on us. As a group, we agree on very few things, but we represent the strongest, most experienced warriors we have in the fort and we owe it to our people, of all the forts, to do the right thing. Stewardess McIntyre and I have been discussing whether we send units to reinforce the other forts or whether it is time to ask them to evacuate here.”
For a second, Seraphina wondered if she’d misheard him. Evacuate the other forts? Bring the entire population, possibly the last humans alive on Earth, to one fort? The people in the room around her just looked around at each other, also not knowing what to say. A couple of mouths opened like they were going to say something, but then slowly closed again.
Finally General Myers spoke, measuring out his words like he was also still processing while he was speaking.
“You think the situation is so dire that you would abandon the other forts? Put all of our people into Washington? Until what - the Virus is defeated?”
Stewardess McIntyre glared at him before panning the same gaze over the entire room.
“The situation is most certainly that dire. Reinforcements may allow the other forts to hold out for a while, but consolidating our forces here in Washington might be our only sustainable option long-term. It's a fortified position with the strongest defenses and the most resources. If we spread ourselves too thin, we risk losing everything.”
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“But how long can we feed everyone?”
“What if people don’t want to come?”
“What if the Virus attack us during the evacuation?”
Questions rang out from all corners of the room as the meeting once again descended into a chaotic mess. Seraphina looked around at the scarred, severe faces around her, the most powerful heroes humanity had left, and couldn’t help but feel… disappointed.
“Is that it?”
A new voice rang out through the room and Seraphina almost looked around to see who had spoken until she realized to her horror that she was standing in her space and everyone else was turning to look at her.
“Is what it, Sergeant McIntyre?”
Seraphina swallowed, hearing her mother’s voice was now less even and a little bit… clipped. Her head swung from side to side, seeing all of the officers and high-level warriors staring up at her and she wondered whether it would be more embarrassing to sit back down without saying a word or to say what was on her mind. She was by far the youngest and most unseasoned in the room, the one who clearly didn’t belong, and had made it through three days of meetings in silence. Yet…
While there were plenty of scornful or angry faces in the crowd, it wasn’t everyone. General Myers looked at her calmly, waiting on her words like she had every right to speak them. Graves had a bemused look on his face and Steward Park, of course, was beaming. Her mother… well she was never pleased, but at least she seemed more wary of what Seraphina was going to say than upset that she had dared to speak at all.
“I…”
She started, clearing her throat nervously.
“I agree that things are dangerous right now. That if things go wrong we might lose. Completely. But… I think that if we evacuate the other forts, it may be a year, or it may be a decade, but we will lose everything.”
“And you know this from what? Your many years of battle experience?”
The voice calling from the other side of the room was scathing and derisive. Seraphina turned and saw General Swoopes leaning back in his seat, arms folded across his chest with a contemptuous look on his face.
“I-”
“Or does the [Paladin] archetype give you skills in predicting the future?”
Swoopes interrupted her attempt to respond. Several people snickered and Seraphina felt her face redden, more with embarrassment than with anger.
“I-”
Another voice, a woman’s this time, rang out from behind her.
“We were fighting the Virus when you were in your nappies, girl.”
There were more laughs and Seraphina felt herself floundering. She had known there would be people who would disagree with her, even take umbrage at her speaking out, but she was still stunned at the immediate hostility. There was an almost tangible pressure pushing her to sit down and shut up. She fought the urge to look to her mother again and instead closed her eyes and took a deep breath, feeling her heart race.
“It’s not a council meeting, it’s a battle. A battle is something I can understand, something I can win.”
She tried to slow her heart rate with her breath, but there was a weight pressing down on her, almost physically.
“What the..?”
It felt hard to stand-up straight, even breath. She opened her eyes and the room around her seemed to shudder, almost bend. She swayed on her feet, feeling faint, and had to put a hand on the table to stop herself from falling over.
“Is that… an aura?”
It was an aura, she could feel it now. It felt like it was targeted straight at her and nobody else. Somebody was trying to make her feel scared. Weak. Alone. Memories raced through her mind, one after another, and Seraphina reeled. It was all she could do not to put her hands over her ears and shut her eyes tight against the onslaught.
4-years old: coming home bloody and bruised after getting into a fight with some older kids who’d been playing games around her father’s statue. 6-years old: waking up screaming from another nightmare, bed wet with sweat, tears, and urine. 8-years old: skipping school to take her sheets to the river so her mother wouldn’t know she’d wet them again. 12-years old: lying awake in bed hearing the sounds of battle right outside and praying to every hero she could think of that her mother would come back. 18-years old: graduating from school and seeing the conspicuous gap next to her mother in the crowd as she received her commendation.
She had never felt anything like this. The aura felt like it was attacking her, feeding on her very soul. Every second it was getting stronger and she felt closer to collapsing and giving up. She looked around desperately – only a few seconds had passed, but the laughter had started to die down and she was beginning to get a combination of condescending smirks and worried frowns from the people around her.
“I’m not alone.”
Her words were so soft that nobody else could hear her.
“I haven’t been alone for ten years.”
Not since she’d said her vows and spoken Joan’s name. Not since she’d awakened her archetype. With every ounce of effort she could muster she pushed out from the depths of her soul and felt something there. Small, but strong. She was a [Paladin], a knight among knights. And more than that, she was the daughter of Daniel and Katrina McIntyre. And she was angry.
“[Radiant Beacon]!”
Seraphina nearly screamed as she pushed out with her own aura. The aura pushing down on her was a subtle tapestry. It weaved through the room unnoticed; manipulating her without anyone realizing. Hers, was a sledgehammer. It felt like there should have been an audible crack as one second there was pressure, and the next it was gone. Her aura came from her archetype, not her hero, so she hadn’t needed to transform. But she still glowed with a hot, white light that caused those closest to her to avert their eyes.
“How dare-”
General Swoopes sat up in his chair, starting to say something, but Seraphina cut him off.
“General Swoopes.”
With great effort she managed to keep her voice steady, but it still seemed to reverberate like it was coming through a microphone
“I respect your experience, the battles you have fought in and won, but I have a different perspective.”
The general’s face was beet-red and his eyes glinted with a combination of indignation and surprise, but he didn’t interrupt her again.
“So probably not him then… He doesn’t look at all like he knows what was happening, just upset that I aura blasted the council room.”
Seraphina quickly looked around at the other faces in the room, but the only emotions she could see were surprise, anger, and curiosity. Nobody who seemed suspicious or too knowing. Her mother and General Myers shared a glance with each other, but it was impossible to make out what those two were thinking so she filed it away for later and continued speaking.
“I was born on August 2nd, 2019. That means I was less than six months old when the first rifts started forming. I had barely turned one years old when my father sacrificed himself. I say this because each of you remembers a time when there was no Virus. Times where we had electricity and automobiles and the world wasn’t perfect, but mostly, it was safe. Maybe you think that if we defend ourselves for long enough, the Virus will just go away. That we’ll somehow destroy all of it and then we’ll be able to rebuild everything.
“But that’s not what I’ve seen. Me and my classmates, we don’t know what that’s like. We’ve seen a Virus that only gets stronger. That every year gets more numerous, while we get fewer. Before my time we celebrated Independence Day, Labor Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas. Now? We have only one holiday. Memorial Day. Just broken out over every month of the year so we have time to honor every legend who has died. Each year we celebrate our survival, when in reality we are just one year closer to our deaths.”
Seraphina felt her aura pulse through the room as she spoke, punctuating her words and emotions. It was terrible manners to blast it like this, particularly in an official meeting, but she didn’t care. A few of the weaker members of the council were shying away from her, shaken while even the stronger members like General Swoopes seemed braced against it. Only the stewards and General Myers seemed completely unaffected. After a few more heartbeats, she let it drop and the room seemed to breathe a collective sigh.
Several mouths opened at once, but before any of them could speak, she heard General Myers’ calm voice.
“So what would you have us do, Sergeant McIntyre?”
This was it. She took another deep breath.
“Attack them.”
“Attack?” Even the general looked like he hadn’t expected that. “Attack what? The Virus has no base, no cities. There’s nothing to attack.”
“That’s not entirely true…”
All eyes turned to Steward Park, who was tapping his lips thoughtfully. Seraphina felt a sense of relief at having some of the attention taken off of her and took the chance to sit back down although she still felt wound as tight as an arrow.
“Eytan and I were there when Tirelle died. We’ve told all of you what she said. There are a finite number of Virus in the world. Every one that we kill, whether in defense or attack is one less. And then there’s the Stone…”
“Jaekwon…”
Stewardess McIntyre’s voice carried a note of warning in it, but it was too late. The head of every [Adventurer] in the room as well as a few others had shot up at the mention of the Stone and they were staring at the stewards with a combination of purpose and avarice. Stewardess McIntyre sighed, slapping the table beneath her. When she spoke again, her voice was frustrated, but resigned.
“Eytan has been searching for that Stone for years and he hasn’t even gotten a whiff of it. It could be anywhere around the world – somewhere we have no hope of finding it. Or it might not even exist. We can’t kick off some sort of quest for it like it’s the Holy Grail.”
“But respectfully, ma’am, isn’t finding the Stone worth any risk we can take? Tirelle told Steward Park and Steward Kalanick that destroying it would destroy the Virus.”
Jeremy Graves spoke for the first time and each of the other members of the primarily [Adventurer] Argonaut unit around him nodded. Even General Myers’ head made the smallest of inclinations.
The official creed of the archetype that the primogenitor Ramon Martinez wrote was: “I walk the journey to our salvation; no obstacle will block me, no danger will stop me”, but pretty much every [Adventurer] interpreted ‘salvation’ as a literal treasure. The Stone.
“And we’ve scoured the Eastern Seaboard looking for the Stone and all we have to show for it is empty hands and dead [Adventurers]!”
Stewardess McIntyre’s voice was sharp and emotional, before she visibly made an effort to control her frustration. Jeremy looked like he wanted to respond, but his brother put a hand on his shoulder and sat back with reluctance.
“Regardless, unless I’m mistaken, I don’t think that an all-out quest to find the Stone is what Sergeant McIntyre was suggesting.”
Seraphina gulped as the room’s attention focused back on her.
“No, it’s not… Let’s say for a second that the Virus is learning. Or let’s even say that one of our generals was leading the Virus. What would they see?
“Back in 2022, after the Tower, we thought that the best way to defend the remaining people was with six forts. None of them were more than a few hundred miles apart and there were outposts every ten miles and nearly constant trade caravans moving between them.
“In 2028, we abandoned Charlottesville after a large attack decimated the city’s militia, and in 2035, Baltimore, after the Virus destroyed many of the bridges and tunnels between us and the fort. Now we only have four forts and a few major outposts between them, and only the bravest and strongest caravans still run routes between the forts.”
“Those were all sound decisions. We didn’t have the resources to justify continuing to defend the additional forts and outposts.”
The voice came from an older strategist behind her, but Seraphina could tell that more of the room was warming to, or at least curious about, her viewpoint.
“Yes, but only if you view the Virus as an animal that’s acting only out of instinct. But what if it’s learning from how we respond? What if its tactics today are designed to make us respond in a certain way? The way we always have?”
“But why would it want that? The more we consolidate, the harder we are to kill.”
“Only if you see it from a human perspective.”
Seraphina’s heart leapt as General Myers joined in, giving her a considering look.
“We know so little about the Virus, how it was created, why it wants to kill us, but one thing we think we do know is that it doesn’t have a timeline. It doesn’t seem like it cares if it kills us now or in a hundred years or else it would be mustering far more numbers against us. And why would it care? It doesn’t age, starve, get sick. We do.
“And while consolidating does make us harder to kill, that’s only in the short-term. With fewer forts, we can’t support as large a population. We don’t have as much access to resources to build weapons and structures. We don’t have the tactical flexibility to ambush and flank the Virus armies.”
“This still doesn’t change anything.” General Swoopes’ face was obstinate with his arms folded tightly across his chest. “It doesn’t matter how the Virus responds if the alternative is letting it isolate us and pick us off fort by fort.”
Seraphina put her hands down on the table in front of her and leaned towards the general.
“That’s clearly not what I’m suggesting.”
Even as the lowest leveled person in the room, she was still one of the tallest and she tried to use every inch of her stature to provide the gravitas her age couldn’t match.
“We can rebuild the connection with the other forts without having to abandon them.”
“You mean by destroying the Virus marauding between them?”
Swoopes’ face still looked unimpressed, but there was a slight relaxation of the scowl on his face as if, if only slightly, he was conceding her point had some merit.
“Yes.”
The room erupted with noise as several people tried to speak at once, both against and in support of her words, but Seraphina only had eyes for one person. Her mother. She had expected her to be upset, furious even, but there was a look of challenge in her eyes as if to say ‘this is what you wanted, make it happen.’
Seraphina opened her mouth to respond to one of the many people challenging her idea when another person stood up. She felt her mouth close as the arguing voices trailed away.
“If I may…”
The voice was quiet, but resonated with a musical quality that was somehow calming and attention-grabbing at once. Other than the stewards and generals, Angel McLaughlin was probably the only person in the room who could have stopped the arguing voices so suddenly. In a world where almost all influence came from personal strength, McLaughlin was nearly unique in the fact that she had so much influence and so little strength.
Unlike many other leaders who had actively fought the Ten’s political rise – none more famously than the American president who’d sent the army to attempt to ambush and kill them in Shanghai – the former mayor of Washington D.C. had been close allies with the fort’s stewards from the start. Although she lacked an official position in the post-Virus government, she was at times the only link between the military and the fort’s people and their love for her earned her a measure of respect from even the largest personalities in the room despite being more than 70 years old and having never fought on the front lines.
“I think we could sit here arguing until the fort’s walls turned to dust and many of us would still disagree with each other.”
She appeared almost frail and grandmotherly, huddled deep in her shawl against the February chill, and she enhanced the comparison by taking a long slow sip of tea from her cup before continuing to speak.
“Steward Kalanick has been rampaging through the wilderness for years without either making a dent in the Virus’ numbers or imperiling the forts. Clearly just going out there and killing things isn’t going to change anything, but I think we could spare a few extra soldiers to aid the steward if we had a true goal to accomplish, such as, say, resecuring the travel route to Fort Richmond or Annapolis. We could call it… a test of Sergeant McIntyre’s idea.”
As McLaughlin finished, she shot Seraphina an overt wink.
Seraphina felt the weight of the room's attention shift slightly as many in the room considered McLaughlin's proposal. It was a compromise, a middle ground that didn't commit them to an all-out attack but also didn't dismiss the urgency of action that she was trying to impel. She sat back surveying the many faces around her, knowing better than to speak again when one of the best allies she could have asked for had stepped up in her corner.
General Myers nodded slowly, his demeanor contemplative.
"It's a prudent approach. It allows us to test the waters without overextending. And if successful, it could restore some of the confidence and morale among the troops and civilians alike."
Steward Park leaned forward, his earlier casual demeanor replaced by a focused intensity.
"I agree with Angel. If we can demonstrate that we can secure and hold these routes, it could serve as a blueprint for further operations. It would give us a strategic advantage and, more importantly, it might provide the leverage we need to push back against the Virus with more than just defensive actions."
Stewardess McIntyre, who had been quietly listening, finally spoke up again.
"If we're to proceed with this, I want clear, achievable objectives set for each mission. We need to know exactly what success looks like and have contingency plans in place. This isn't just about fighting; it's about securing our future."
General Swoopes was the last to speak.
“I still think this is a bad idea. We would be sending soldiers who we desperately need fighting at home away from the fort. This endangers everything we have.”
His arms were still folded and he looked almost petulant, knowing that the tide had turned against him, but to his credit, he stood his ground and didn’t give in. Stewardess McIntyre gave him a respectful nod, acknowledging his point.
“I appreciate that, Dalton. Why don’t we break for now to think about it and the generals and stewards can convene tomorrow morning to make a final decision.”
“Thank you Katrina.”
The general nodded up at her, appearing mollified.
“Then let us call it here. We’re well past lunchtime and we all have other things to be about.”
With a palpable sense of relief, Seraphina gathered her papers and made for the door. A few people were shooting her dirty looks, but more appeared pleased or impressed, stopping to shake her hand or clap her on the back.
“Seraphina, a word.”
She had almost made it to the door when her mother’s voice stopped her. She looked longingly at the sunlight peeking through the clouds outside and her mouth watered at the smells of grilling meat in the keep’s courtyard. Suppressing a sigh she turned back and sat down across from her mother. She was not the only one there. Steward Park had stayed sitting, fingers still toying with his teacup and General Myers was there as well, looming over all of them from the corner of the room and watching Seraphina with his penetrating gaze.
When the last person had filed out of the room, Seraphina looked to her mother, but to her surprise, her first words were not the start of a lecture.
“How do you think that went, Jaekwon?”
Jaekwon mused for a few seconds before responding, scratching his cheek.
“Definitely an aura. I could barely detect it and I couldn’t identify its source since the full force seemed to be directed at Seraphina. Powerful though, skilled. I don’t think I would have noticed it at all if I wasn’t looking for it.”
“Yes, I barely noticed it as well. Whoever was projecting it had to have been close to the same level as Jaekwon and me. We really could have used Eytan for this… That was a stroke of brilliance suggesting they would go after Seraphina, Jason.”
General Myers shrugged.
“I figured if they’re truly trying to undermine us Seraphina would present too good of a target to pass up. We-”
“I’m sorry, what?!”
Seraphina interrupted, unable to hold her tongue any longer. She had gone from confusion to incredulity, and was now bordering on anger – not made any less hot by the bemused looks on each of the other three people’s faces.
“You knew this would happen?!”
“We suspected.”
General Myers, at least, had the grace to look at least somewhat abashed. Her mother, on the other hand, didn’t look the slightest bit repentant, while Steward Park looked downright exasperated.
“I just can’t believe it took you four days to speak up… We were all pretty sure you wouldn’t make it through more than one without exploding at someone.”
Seraphina felt her coffee cup crack in her hands at the steward’s words. She wouldn’t have been surprised if someone had told her there was literal steam coming out of her ears like a character in a magazine cutout.
“So this was all a set-up? These hours and hours of talking around in circles were just designed so that you could see if someone would try to take advantage of me and make me look like an idiot?”
She imagined her voice had that dangerous quality that her mother sometimes had when she was really angry and it got soft and measured, but she suspected there was a note of hysteria mixed in with it as well.
“Well if you want to put it that way, then yes, that’s exactly what we were doing.”
Her mother’s voice was so brusque and unapologetic that it knocked the wind right out of her sails and she felt the ire building inside of her collapse and a wave of exhaustion form in its stead. “It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t tell you, but this never would have worked if you’d been suspicious. It had to look like the perfect opportunity for whoever that aura belonged to.”
“But why? Why would someone attack me like that?”
Stewardess McIntyre and General Myers shared a look, but it was her godfather who spoke, putting a gentle hand on Seraphina’s shoulder.
“Because, Seraphina, in this world, there are many who seek power, not just among our enemies but within our own ranks as well. Your rise, your influence as a young leader and your name make you a target. They’d rather undermine you, make you doubt yourself, or make others doubt your capability.”
Seraphina’s mother took over in his place.
“There’s a lot, too much, that we don’t know, Seraphina. But someone very powerful and very discreet is trying to sabotage our work and reputation from the shadows. Not everything that has gone wrong over the last six months has happened because of the Virus. Miscommunicated orders leading units into ambushes. Supply depots holding weapons and food destroyed. There was even an assassination attempt against Angel McLaughlin last week that very nearly succeeded.”
“Sabotage? Assassination? They’re really that powerful? As powerful as you? How can that even be possible?”
Seraphina’s voice was small now, barely louder than a whisper.
“That aura… it nearly crushed me. I’ve never felt anything like that before, even from Steward Kalanick.”
General Myers sighed, but Seraphina could see the apprehension on his face. It was telling to see the general, who never seemed to be phased by anything, looking this anxious.
“There’s no way to know somebody’s level without them telling us. You know the army, as well as almost all militias, require people to report their levels and skills to their commanding officers, but there’s nothing stopping people from lying. Or maybe they’re not in the military at all…”
“So what do we do now?” Seraphina tried to keep her voice steady as she asked, but there was a slight wobble to it. She continued, however, trying to muster her bravest face. “You confirmed your suspicions, but we’re no closer to finding out who is attacking us. I want to help!”
“Attagirl!”
Her godfather beamed, slapping her on the back. Her mother shot him one of her trademark glares, yet he continued to smile, letting it slide off of him.
“I’ll have to ask him how he does that…”
“Now we execute your plan.” Her mother’s voice was succinct as she stood up and moved to the door. “And we keep our eyes open. If someone wants to take us down, huddling in the corner will only embolden them. The best we can do is what the people of this fort have been trusting us to do for the last 20 years. Lead.”
Jaekwon and Jason also moved towards the door, leaving Seraphina sitting alone at the table. She had been so anxious to get outside just ten minutes ago, but now she needed a moment to herself to process her thoughts.
“Seraphina.”
She looked up and saw her mother was still standing by the door, alone.
“I’m proud of you. I never questioned for a second that you would be able to hold your own against whatever was thrown at you, yet still you managed to surpass my expectations. What you said was… inspired. I know your father would be so proud of you.”
Then she turned and left, letting the door close softly behind her.