Isha exercised extreme caution as she walked through the back lines. Even after a week of pushing the Western Alliance out of the forest, men continued to die. Their enemies had left them parting gifts in the form of traps and gruesome deaths. The Akar army had created a safe path for their supply lines and to transport their wounded. But she knew better. In Sunda, nowhere was safe.

Watching her surroundings, she found it easy to discern the new recruits and those who had seen combat in Sunda. The veteran knights remained on high alert despite the distance from the front lines. She could feel their wariness as they ate their meal. As they chatted. As they pissed and relieved themselves. The fresh ones were tense, too, but less so.

"Major," a few knights saluted as she passed, noticing the green armband she wore.

Isha stopped once she was in the middle of where she thought most knights had gathered. "Guards, stay alert!" she yelled.

Everyone's eyes turned to her except those on guard duty. They eyed her for less than a second before resuming to guard the perimeter.

"The rest of you. Attention!" She barked.

The knights stood and formed orderly lines before her. She looked down at them and estimated there were around five hundred knights. Around half wore black armbands.

"Who is the current captain of the Underground Hunters Division?" she asked.

A bearded man in the front row stood forward. He was the tallest of the rats and stood just above her shoulder. "Ma'am," he saluted.

Isha gave the man a nod before returning her gaze to the crowd. "And the Captain of the Jungle Specialists?"

A tall and muscular woman stepped forward. "Ma'am."

"Both of you stay. The rest prepare for deployment," Isha ordered. There were a few 'yes, ma'am,' but for the most part, the knights were silent. She waited for the knights to leave before turning to the captains.

"Ragnar," the captain of the rats introduced himself.

"Trasar," the other captain introduced.

Isha nodded at them. "Isha," she gave them her name. "How secure is the forest?" she asked.

"We cleared sixteen tunnels this past week. We only managed to close four due to the lack of earth elementalists," Captain Ragnar answered. Isha thought she heard annoyance in his voice.

"We faced six tunnel attacks during that time," the other captain added. She gave the Captain Ragnar a side-eye. "Most of my men have been moved to other divisions, ma'am."

"That is fine," replied Isha, dismissing whatever arguments the captains were having. We have received credible information from defectors about the tunnel systems and the exits. We expect most of our enemies to have retreated into the mountains by now. Our orders are to clear and secure the forest."

"And what is the intel?" The Captain Trasar asked. "Ma'am," she added when Isha met her gaze.

Isha took out her map, which was a rough sketch of the forest with circles representing the tunnel entrances. "Captains, do you recognise any of the entrances?" she asked.

The captains did not reply and stayed silent. Isha looked up at them. Their eyes were wide, and their mouths gaping.

"There are so many," the Captain Trasar remarked in awe.

"We've cleared not even a quarter of them," the rat captain added with a similar expression.

The captains began looking around as their uneasiness peaked, a hand on their weapons.

"Like I said. Most of the enemies have either retreated or defected," Isha tried to reassure them. It had minimal effect. "Captains," she raised her voice to catch their attention.

"Apologies, major," they apologised but did not remove their hands from the pommel of their blades.

Isha continued. "As I was about to say. We are planning a coordinated attack on the tunnel systems. You will prepare your rats to dive. And your men," she pointed at the jungle captain. "Will stand by the exits to deal with the one that escaped."

"How would you like us to deal with them?" the woman asked.

"Hold on," Isha stopped her. "You both will have locals that will escort your men to the entrances and also into the tunnels."

"Is that wise, major?" the man asked. "We didn't have a pleasant experience with them."

"Afraid you won't be able to control your bloody whore?" Captain Trasar snarked. "He'd rather kill them and face court martial."

"You know nothing about him," Ragnar retorted. "You should be more worried about your men pissing themselves at the first sight of the mudmen."

"Enough! Both of you," Isha shook her head in disappointment.

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They were bickering like children, she complained in her thoughts. Then again, they were barely more than children. Maybe it was just the way they coped. They did not choose to be captains after all. She reckoned the responsibilities were passed down and forced upon them instead.

"Captain Ragnar," Isha addressed the rat. "Can you control your men?"

"Yes, ma'am," he replied, still looking annoyed at the other captain. "They won't like it. But they'll follow orders."

"Good," Isha replied. "And you, Captain Trasar?"

"They'll obey," Captain Trasar replied.

"Then inform your men. The locals will arrive within the hour. We're flushing the Western Alliance out by the end of the day."

-----------

Lycan sat on the seat in front of the carriage, holding the reigns to the horses. He massaged his back. It had gotten sore after the weeks of riding. His cloak fluttered as he drove, and he tied the knot tighter to shield himself from the cold wind. As they got close to the city gates, he slowed the horses and joined the line of carriages. Most bore the military insignia, and his carriage was one of the few that did not.

A guard walked up to him as his turn came. The guard had a hand behind his back. Lycan watched the eyes of another guard behind the man. The other guard turned and left after a moment. Lycan tensed.

"Good afternoon, young man," the guard greeted. There was a snicker in his voice when he said 'young man,' and Lycan relaxed. Like the others, the guard thought Lycan had avoided the draft.

"Shouldn't you be elsewhere?" the guard asked, eyeing Lycan.

"Good afternoon, sir," Lycan greeted. "We have received orders to deliver goods for your garrison."

"Your papers?" the guard raised an eyebrow.

Lycan removed the folded paper from his breast pocket and handed it to the guard. "Here you go, sir."

The guard looked disappointed when he saw Lycan had the correct documents. Little did he know they were forged.

"The captain would've told me of a shipment," the guard said, unwilling to back down.

Lycan shrugged. "I wouldn't know." Lycan saw the previous guard that had left returning, bringing another six guards with him.

"Where are you from, lowborn?" the guard gibed. "You don't know how things work around here, do you?"

The man's brazenness took aback Lycan. "Mevius," he answered with the first village that came to thought.

As expected, the guard did not recognise the name of the village. "Never heard of this, Mevius."

"The local commander's name is Kartika," Alez spoke into Lycan's head.

"I would suggest you stop wasting both our times, guard," Lycan drawled, wanting this useless confrontation to end. "If you do so now, I may forget this indiscretion."

The guard placed a hand on his sword, and so did the other guards that had gathered. "Watch your tone, boy," the guard warned, throwing the paper at Lycan's chest.

"Then I am sure Commander Kartika wouldn't mind having a few of her men sent to the front lines," Lycan replied with venom. He was getting tired of this. He saw several guards hesitate, but the one at the lead did not.

The lead guard opened his mouth to reply and immediately crumbled to the ground. One of the other guards had knocked the man unconscious with the pommel of their sword.

"Apologies," the guard said to Lycan, sheathing his blade with a grim expression. Lycan recognised him as one of the ones who had hesitated. "You may pass," he signalled for the rest of the guards to make way.

"And you are?" Lycan asked.

"Lieutenant Hark," the guard answered.

"Well, lieutenant, I'll inform Commander Kartika of your aid."

The guard's face brightened.

"I'll be leaving at night," Lycan continued. "Please inform the guards to be prepared to let me through."

"Of course," the guard paused, waiting for Lycan to give his name.

Lycan left without answering.

"You could've handled it better," Alez spoke telepathically from inside the carriage as they entered the city.

"I'll do better," Lycan replied.

"There was no need to bring attention to ourselves like that."

Lycan sighed. Alez wanted him to do it alone without her help this time. He wanted to do his best, but the guard had grated him. "Apologies, ma'am."

"Deliver the goods and find us an inn," Alez replied.

"Yes, ma'am."

Only when he stopped speaking to Alez did Lycan finally look around the city. Like the other cities, it was filled with the elderly and the very young unless they were in uniforms. The sight unsettled him.

He reached the garrison and was let through without issue once the compound's guard read his paper. A woman escorted his carriage to the drop-off point.

"Did not have any issue coming in, did you?" the woman asked.

"A prickly guard," replied Lycan as he jumped off his seat and went to the back of the carriage. Opening the door, he unloaded one of the crates. Alez had remained hidden behind a false wall inside.

"Here," Lycan said to the woman. "The ingots you asked for."

"I requested these over a month ago. What took so long?" she asked as she studied the metals.

"Commander Kartika?" Lycan asked, noticing that she used 'I.'

The woman nodded without looking up. Lycan saluted.

"At ease, soldier," she ordered, returning the ingots to the crate. She signalled a pair of guards to pick it up. "Who were the guards that were prickly?" she asked.

"I didn't get his name," Lycan replied. "Lieutenant Hark knocked some sense into him. After I threatened them with the front lines."

Commander Kartika laughed. "I'll need to use that threat. And I know which guard you're talking about. Son of a minor highborn. I'll make sure Hark gets the best treatment during his punishment."

"Punishment?" Lycan asked, confused. "Lieutenant Hark helped me."

Commander Kartika looked at him weirdly. "He struck a highborn," she said in a manner like she was stating the obvious. Seeing that Lycan was still unable to understand, she waved her hand. "He'll come out better off, don't worry. You may leave."

Although he was still baffled, he saluted and began driving the carriage out of the compound. "Shouldn't the highborn be the one getting punished and not the lieutenant?" he asked Alez through their connection once they were out.

She replied to him after a long while. "It's unfair, isn't it?" she finally said. "At least he will come out better at the end."

"Special treatment is against military law," Lycan responded. "Highborn or lowborn."

"Then you'll have to change it one day."

He stopped the carriage by an inconspicuous inn. It was not too grand or too abominable that would invite the wrong sort of attention. Alez stepped out and joined him as they entered, carrying a rucksack on her shoulder. A stable girl took over the reins.

The inn's reception was empty, except for an older man sitting by the bar. He looked up at the pair when they entered.

"Good day, travellers," the old innkeeper bubbled. "May I help you with a room or a meal?"

"Both, actually," Alez replied. "My niece and I will be staying for the night."

"Perfect," the innkeeper clapped his hands. "That'll be three coins."

Alez handed three iron coins.

The innkeeper looked like he was about to cry as he accepted the coins and handed the key. "Our grand suite," he said.

Before Alez or Lycan could respond, the innkeeper continued. "It's on the house. I'm just glad to see visitors again. We haven't had many since the draft," he sighed.

They thanked the older man and began climbing the stairs when the innkeeper shouted, "I'll bring your meals to your room. The dining room is a bit, eh," he hesitated, "dusty."

Once they entered the suite, Lycan took a moment to regard the room. It was not what he would call a 'grand suite.' The room looked more like the servant's quarters of his family's estate.

"Not bad," he commented. "Better than the last ones."

"If you're done admiring the room, would you mind getting to work?" Alez asked sarcastically.

"Apologies, ma'am," Lycan shook his head and began removing the weapons from the sack. Together, they started arranging the weapons on the floor.

Alez sighed. "Look," she began. "I understand. Sometimes, we need to distract ourselves with the mundane. But not now. You'll have time after the job is done."

"Yes, ma'am. It's just been...long," he said after a brief pause.

"It has."

Night after night of travelling and killing had begun to take its toll on Lycan. It had started to distort his view of the empire, he realised. Constantly feeling betrayed by the people he wanted to fight for.

There was a knock on their door. "You're food is here."

-----------

Once they had finished their meal, the two began to suit up. Gone were the simple cotton tunics and trousers, replaced by familiar black clothing.

"I want you to be as cautious as possible tonight," Alez said. "We are dealing with master augmenters. Even unarmed, they can kill us through a squeeze of their fingers."

Lycan gulped and nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

"We'll try and kill them before they can transmute. If they do, then it'll be a battle of attrition."

Lycan shivered at the prospect of facing a master augmenter. He had heard the stories of them running through the battlefield, trampling enemy soldiers beneath. And now they were about to face two of them.

"Can you handle them?" he asked, uncertain. "You're a Bhayangkara. If worst comes to worst. Could you take them both?"

Alez looked down at her squire's shaking hands. She shifted her gaze back at him. Lycan met her eyes. Her eyes were dark despite the candle next to them. He felt as if he was staring into the void. For the first time, he saw in her eyes what it meant to be a Bhayangkara. Cold, ruthless, apathetic, and powerful.

"Yes," she hissed. "But not while protecting you."