The crags and cliffs of the Mountains of Athe were a marvel.

The peaks were the highest in the world —or at least the known world. Tinaria was surrounded by impressive ranges to the east and there were peaks across Lake Yi to the south, but none of them came close to the Athen Range in pure height, imposition, and majesty.

The spires around the airship reached toward the skies, many of them in a way that would have seemed precarious, but in thousands of years, they hadn’t fallen. In fact, where Genys’ fleet was passing now was known as the ‘Fingers of the Gods’ to the Yarvans. It was because of the way the stone seemed to twist upward in massive monoliths, and it was an old name from even older belief systems.

Belief systems of fools. Genys looked out across the snow-covered crags. Her airships had entered the pass an hour or so before, and now they slowly wound their way through these finger-like mountains. It was a simple mind that took things like mountains and trees and turned them into souls—into gods. The Yarvans should be grateful for the Crusades. They were right to treasure the advancement and culture Tinaria had offered them generations ago, and if it was true there existed a small rebellious-minded group among the Yarvans like the evidence suggested, they were fools for that as well—silly, superstitious weak-minded fools. There was no room in civilization for the primitive or savage. They deserved to be crushed under the forward momentum of progress.

Genys rubbed her eyes. She was letting her thoughts get away from her, and that wouldn’t do. This pass was dangerous and she couldn’t afford to let emotions distract her. Besides that she had two guards standing near her and she needed to appear as strong as possible. She looked out from the railings of her private platform. It was bitterly cold, but it also afforded her an unobstructed view of the surrounding lands. She had decided to traverse the entire pass up here rather than on the command bridge—and she had her enormous glitzer ready too. If something happened it wouldn’t just be the soldier’s glitz that would answer.

But those soldiers were ready as well. All her recruits were armed and on guard. Their glitzers were pointed out in nearly every direction. Genys wasn’t going to take the risk of letting anyone sneak up on them. She should have been as careful the night before, even if an attack in the forest was unheard of. A commander was better than that, a commander saw things like that coming. Smaller flyers circled the main airship and had their glitzers prepped. If anything showed up, they’d pulverize it against one of their god’s own fingers.

“Commander,” said a voice to her left. As she turned she was annoyed to realize her eyelid still drooped slightly. She made sure to wrench it open as wide as she could.

Show them no weakness. “Ah, Jik,” she said. The Yarvan had, in the last few hours, become one of her most trusted recruits. He had held a leadership position for about two months now, but this morning he had afforded her valuable enough information that she had kept him close. She found he was a good one to listen to if he had something to say. He was straightforward and concise, two qualities she particularly liked. She didn’t trust him, of course—he was Yarvan after all—but he had come in handy. For the sake of his use, she gave him special access to her, and if that was a mistake she would quickly rectify it with the glitzer she always had at her side. “Any updates?”

“Haven’t been able to uncover additional information on deserters,” the soldier said, leaning against the railing. He spoke in a low, careful tone, and didn’t seem insistent on saying anything more than what he needed to. Genys liked that. He wasn’t over-eager to impress her or to insist on his own importance, at least he didn’t seem like he was. He simply gave her the information and moved along. That was a good sign.

“I did find out three more that were seen dead before we left,” he said. “Loy, Gern, and Rensh were killed in battle just inside the trees as we drove the attackers out. We missed them in the initial count of the dead and wounded.”

Genys nodded. “None of them seemed the type to desert.”

“I agree,” Jik said. “I was surprised at the prospect, but I was glad to hear they died defending Tinaria.”

“Anything else?”

Jik discreetly looked at the two guards. Genys understood and motioned them away. When they were down the metal steps Jik reached into his pack. Genys didn’t move, but she was ready to move her glitzer into position quickly. Jik pulled out an object and handed it over without looking. Genys took it and glanced down.

“Ivory,” she said quietly.

Jik nodded subtly. “The attackers did a pretty good job of cleaning up their presence, but this was found lodged in one of the tree trunks. The Yarvan who found it didn’t want her name shared.”

“Didn’t want to make herself a target,” Genys said nodding.

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“Like many others, she suspects there are a few rebels in our subsection,” Jik said. “She claims she didn’t want any retribution from them.”

“I see,” Genys said, pocketing the burnt, broken ivory. “You believe her?”

“I have my doubts,” Jik said. “Could be telling the truth, could be playing some sort of game. Either way, it was Friyi.”

“I’ve been wondering about her,” Genys said.

“Me too,” Jik agreed. “She seems devoted, and she could have just as easily not handed this over, but it’s too dangerous to make a definitive call.”

Genys drew in her breath slowly. The air here was thin and she noticed she needed much more of it than normal. Even standing here in the cold felt like she was breathless. Her lungs acted as if she was running at full speed. Nevertheless, she would remain here until they passed fully through. The situation was growing direr by the day, and upon learning this morning that a Jik had seen a few of the recruits abandon them in the night, she had stopped trusting anyone. Hopefully, they had simply been cowards, but if there was something else going on—if they had taken that opportunity to slip away and join whatever was going on—it meant her position was much more vulnerable than she had once thought.

She had left Izutis with spies under her very command.

And she would have been glad if that was the only potential danger. She could have easily rooted them out in Ullulia and punished them for their crimes. A couple of soldiers betraying their commander was unacceptable, but survivable. The local law enforcement in Ullulia would come to support her, and if needs be she would send word to some of the closer Tinarian garrisons. That would be a regrettable action, especially given the Senate’s desire to present this as a simple visit home for their Yarvan troops. And if this Shadow existed and was somehow involved she needed more information on that. It would attract attention, but even then an uprising was quashable. If it came to that she would have the support of the entire Republic—that wasn’t what worried her.

What worried her was the poison from last night and now what Jik had just brought her.

The Commander slipped a hand inside her pocket and rubbed the smooth piece of ivory. There was only one place this ivory had come from—across the sea.

----------------------------------------

The messenger was… odd

Not that other messengers weren’t. There was a type of person who took up the job, someone who was comfortable traveling long distances alone, and who probably spent a lot of that time talking to themselves and consequently not interacting with other people. It was just one of the things about the job, and as a High General, Pyrn had interacted with many of them.

But there was something about this one. Something definitely different—something off.

As soon as the flyer had arrived at Izutis, Pyrn had been called for. The last week, to all outside eyes, he had been attending to his duties, but he’d be lying if he said he hadn’t been fully distracted waiting for word from Commander Genys. As soon as the flyer had landed, he had the messenger escorted directly to his tent.

And now there the man stood, dressed in the typical traveling attire and formal mask of a militia messenger, travel-worn and tired, but diligent and careful in transmitting the message—

Pyrn, encountered raiders. Small altercation. Five deaths—names included for appropriate military honors. We have regrouped and move toward Ullulia through the pass.

Immediately the general knew something was amiss.

The message would have been normal enough, it was written in the standard curt shorthand the commanders used to communicate, but Genys had never used that shorthand—not once, not to him anyway.

And there was that oddness about the messenger as well. Even behind the mask, it was almost too perfect, the tiredness behind the eyes, the slight breathlessness, and the over-emphasis of the formal Tinarian Salute. It was as if it had all been rehearsed.

Also, the uniform was a size too big, and there were some mysterious tears and rips—imperfections that looked too much like they had been put there to disguise something else, something like blood perhaps?

Pyrn had a few options.

He could act as if all was normal, and dismiss the messenger normally. Whoever had sent the decoy would likely believe the ruse had worked, and that would allow Pyrn time to investigate further.

Or he could have the man apprehended, but in that case, he would have to provide a reason for doing so. If there wasn’t enough evidence, it would be a blow to his public image, and Chancellor Hitten didn’t need any more ammunition against him than he already had. The Senate wouldn’t love the idea of a brash, suspicious General, and this would certainly help Hitten and the others paint him that way. Playing politics was always the worst part of his job, he couldn’t count how many times it had put him at a tactical disadvantage.

But he also couldn’t let the man go without getting something. For all Pyrn knew, if a decoy messenger had been sent, Genys had been captured—or worse.

Don’t think that. Don’t let it cloud your judgment.

It was true he had expected her to communicate more frequently, but it had also been only a few days since the squadron left, and if nothing of note had occurred besides an attack from raiders, it would make sense she wouldn’t bother sending anything until now. It would be more prudent to refrain from acting on an emotional judgment.

“I thank you for your swiftness in delivering this message,” Pyrn said, acting dismissive. The messenger nodded and threw his hand up again in salute.

“Of course High General.”

“And the altercation, any casualties on the other side?”

“I don’t believe so,” the man said. “Though I was sent off before a proper accounting had taken place.”

Pyrn nodded, and it was at that very moment he realized the messenger had come to kill him.