Titus stood on the half-repaired wall and looked in the direction of the capital. Beside him, Crissim let out a long sigh, but Titus didn’t think it did much to dispel his worry. A week after taking Quarrybrook, and the place was still a horrible mess.

Sure, they’d taken the guards and wall troops by surprise and subdued them with minimal losses. Not that the Quarrybrook fighters were in much shape to resist after their battles of attrition every night on the walls with no reinforcements. The actual fighting had been over quickly, leaving all the tedious work involved in taking over a city.

General Sterling and his men had then rounded up the mayor and other civil authorities to explain to them he was now in charge. Tomis and his Vipers had come in handy again, going out as criers to inform the population of the change in power.

Most of the regular citizens had welcomed them with relief once the rebels had made it clear they were there to help Quarrybrook survive the beast hordes. The people with the means and desire had already abandoned the city. The deserting cowards had also taken everything and everybody of worth with them.

Titus felt like someone who’d purchased a mid-strength yugrut, only to find out the thing was twice as old as advertised and a step from death’s door. No wonder the empire had decided Quarrybrook was a lost cause.

And now the rebellion had an almost impossible task ahead of them.

“Do you really think we can do this?” Crissim gave him a questioning glance, his elven features drawn in concern. “The general has quite the list for us to accomplish.”

“What? You don’t think we can organize the rabble left here? We just need to repair the walls and prepare a defense that will withstand the nightly beast hordes. Oh, and still be strong enough to survive what the Empire is going to throw at us as soon as they can? Then, if we survive that long, we just need to recruit and train an army’s worth of new rebels.”

Crissim scoffed with a half laugh. “When you put it like that, it sounds so easy.”

A vibration under their feet tugged at their attention. They stepped up to the battlements to look down at the wide road leading away from Quarrybrook.

“At least getting rid of the cowards should help morale.” Crissim spat over the wall. “Who would rather brave the Wilds and beg for a spot in another city instead of taking the chance to fight for their home? It’s not like these same dangers won’t be knocking at their new city pretty soon.”

“Cowards, like you said.” Titus gave a hard look at the first wagon that emerged and smiled grimly. “At least Sterling refused to let them take more than the bare essentials to make it to the next city. Maybe they’ll second-guess their decision when they arrive somewhere with nothing but the clothes on their backs and a little food. We’ll see how they like the street rat life.”

“If the other cities even let them in.”

“True. But I expect nearby cities are hurting for people, too. They’ll offer a wall position to anyone willing and able to hold a weapon. A spot barely above slavery, but a spot nonetheless.” Titus turned to look at Crissim, and for a moment, let a bit of his worry show. “Our empire is on the edge of collapse, one none of us will come back from. Sure, a few wealthy guilds or families might eke out an existence in some hidden and fortified base. But without a supporting civilization, they’ll eventually succumb, too.”

“So, this is it? We survive here, or it’s the beginning of the end?” Crissim looked bleak for a moment.

Titus let out a harsh laugh. “If we lose Quarrybrook, then we’ll have to find something worthwhile to do while the empire crashes down around us. I have a few ideas. How about you?”

“I could think of a few things to do.” Crissim narrowed his eyes. “If one of those is taking off to find your brother, you know I’d have your back. I don’t have anyone left besides our team, so I’m happy to help.”

Titus swallowed back the unsettling mix of helplessness, anger and grief he felt every time he thought about his brother. “If I had a clue where he is, I’d drop everything and head there right now. Even paying that greedy information broker didn’t help. It took her forever to get the information that there’s no one at any of the capital’s academies named Truesworn.”

“So, where do you think he is?”

“To be brutally honest, he’s either dead or changed his official name on his menu. And we both know that’s only possible during Awakening, and then only if Vitur approves it. Maybe he did some variation with Viper like I did .” Titus let out a rueful laugh. “Maybe I should have paid the broker to check for Trueviper instead. What are the odds that we both had the presence of mind to change our names to the same one during the craziness of our Awakenings?”

“The empire desperately needs every mage and warrior right now, so chances are they didn’t kill him. You know he’s got to be as wily as you. He’s out there somewhere, lying low under a new name.” Crissim reached out to give Titus’ shoulder a quick squeeze of support. “We could just leave all this and take a trip to the capital and see for ourselves.”

“Tempting. But with the war officially started? You know the capital is going to be a confused mess. Plus, they’re recalling the Purge, where most of the students are, anyway. It’s an impossible task to find one student mage whose name I don’t know.”

“At least talk to the rebellion’s records people and ask them to watch for someone with Viper or Pax in their name to join up. You know he’ll find his way to the cause eventually, right?”

“That’s a great idea.” Titus grinned and clapped Crissum on the back. “Thanks, friend.”

Footsteps sounded behind them. They turned to see Tomis jogging toward them along the wall walk. Titus’ first thought was how much better conditioned the young man was after their daily training. He’d been leveling up his Endurance stat, not something most crafters did, unless they worked in the smithing profession.

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And he’d been working with the rest of the Viper littles, making sure they improved as much as possible before Awakening. Now, if the rebels could just get their hands on one of the artifacts. They had plenty of mages to get one working, but the capital authorities kept them locked down tight. They were only brought out once a year and sent with various assigned teams who made the rounds to each of the empire’s cities.

Unless there was another way? The thought wasn’t as surprising as it might have been before he’d learned about Crissim unlocking a second mana type. The world was changing. That meant they should question everything they’d considered fact in the past, especially anything to do with magic. Titus put the idea aside to consider later as Tomis skidded to a stop in front of them, face flushed and breathing hard.

“Captain Trueviper. Mage Crissim.” Tomis snapped off a reasonable approximation of a salute.

Crissim gave Titus an amused glance and motioned for him to take the lead.

“Yes, Crafting Recruit Deepforge.” Titus mirrored the formality Tomis had used, not wanting to damage the boy’s newfound confidence. “You have news for us?”

“Yes, sir.” Tomis’ chest swelled with pride as he sucked in a breath to speak. “General Sterling would like you to report to him as soon as possible. He has a new assignment for our team.”

“All of us?”

“Yes, sir.”

Titus exchanged a glance with Crissim before turning back to the boy. “Any idea what it is?”

Tomis looked conflicted, still holding a stiff attempt at an attention stance.

“At ease,” Titus said. “You can speak normally with us for a moment.”

Tomis let his muscles relax and gave Titus a grateful nod. “He didn’t say anything to me, but told me the assignment included our entire team, street kids too. So, it probably isn’t a battle assignment, right? Just because I’m a crafting class, doesn’t mean I can’t fight. I’ve seen plenty of squads with crafting members.”

“True. But you’re still young, without a lot of abilities yet.” Titus wasn’t sure if Tomis was relieved or disappointed. Probably a bit of both. “Well, let’s go check in with the general and find out exactly how we’re going to help the rebellion topple the empire, alright?”

Tomis grinned. “I’ll lead the way. The general’s people have finished repairing the city hall and are setting it up as our new command center.”

Crissim gave Titus a questioning look as they followed the eager boy, but Titus could only shrug in response. He had a few guesses about their new assignment, but there wasn’t any point in speculating.

***

“Shut the door, please, and have a seat,” General Sterling said with a weary wave. Like many of the rebels, the man had gotten in the habit of wearing his leather armor nonstop.

But he had bags under his eyes and moved with the weariness of someone who’d skipped too much sleep under non-stop pressure. At least a half-finished plate of food amidst the piles of papers and charts on his huge desk indicated that someone was making sure he ate.

Younger than Titus had expected for a general, he only had the first streaks of gray dusting his temples. With his command experience, the rebellion was lucky to have him.

Titus, Crissim and Tomis settled on the mismatched chairs that the rebels had likely salvaged from various rooms in the capital. That was where the worst fighting had been. The few loyalists who’d responded quickly enough to the rebels’ incursion had gathered here and tried to use hostages to hold the rebels off.

They’d also sent off information to the capital over the city’s communication system before the rebels could get to them. But it turned out not to be that big of a problem. The loyalists couldn’t have known many details about the rebel troops infiltrating Quarrybrook, and the official declaration of war by Vitur had blown any chance of keeping the attack a secret.

That was something no one had expected. It wasn’t like there’s been a civil war in known history to warn them. Instead of targeting other struggling cities, the rebellion was now forced to frantically gather forces to defend against the inevitable response by the empire’s army.

“Time is short, so I’ll get right to the point.” Sterling met their eyes, his look determined despite his obvious weariness.

Titus nodded his appreciation. He hated when people wasted time unnecessarily.

“We’re short on everything. As things got worse here in Quarrybrook, people have been hoarding food and supplies. Potions are worth their weight in gold, especially as the most skilled mages and crafters have been fleeing the city, leaving few able to make more. But assuming we can hold the city against both the beasts and the empire’s retaliation, what we really need to win this whole thing is more people. That’s where you come in.”

Titus frowned, not sure where the general was going.

“My advisors brought your efforts with young Tomis here and his friends to my attention. Obviously, we need skilled mages, warriors and crafters, but we’ve been recruiting and cultivating them for years. What we need now are more bodies, lots of them. And we’re going to find them at the bottom of society. I want you to head up the effort to recruit the masses the empire has neglected, abused and forgotten. Make sense?”

“I know we need more people, but I don’t know how I feel about recruiting people who’ll go down like chaff in front of a single empire mage. I brought Tomis and his people out of Thanhil to save them, not to put them on the front lines to get killed.”

Sterling frowned and gave Titus a look that was both affronted and insulted. “You should know by now that I have no such plan. The point of rooting out the corruption in the empire isn’t to replace it with our own. I’ve never been a fan of the ends justifying the means. It’s just a weak excuse for poor behavior‌.”

“But what if we want to fight?” Tomis asked before instantly looking contrite when the general looked his way.

“Only when we decide you’re trained enough to stand a good chance of coming out on top.” His voice was stern before he turned back to Titus and Crissum. “These details are still on a need-to-know basis, but we are working to get an Awakening artifact to help any teens we recruit to our cause. Plus, any disaffected, indentured types you can recruit won’t even need one.”

Titus nodded, seeing what the general meant. Probably the largest group of people in a corrupt society were the ones on the bottom. That’s where he’d been.

“We’re also working on plans for a hidden base to serve as an efficient training ground to cycle our people through. Finally, we have a new weapon that could make all the difference. We have members of the rebellion who have learned to unlock new mana types for our mages. It has the potential to increase our strength significantly.”

Crissim flinched in surprise next to Titus, but quickly recovered. Sterling gave him a look but continued his explanation.

“We have other plans in the works to make each of our members stronger and more effective. What we need now is someone to bring us the people, and lots of them. Are you willing to head up this effort, Captain Trueviper?”

“What exactly would this involve?” Titus knew better than to accept such a vague assignment, even from an officer he trusted and admired.

“Gather information about the closest cities first. I’ll connect you with our information team to get the latest updates. Then rank the cities based on the number of discontented people we can recruit versus the difficulty of getting there and the opposition you’ll encounter. Come up with a plan, hopefully a sneaky one using your kids here, to infiltrate the towns and bleed them dry of everyone who hates the empire and wants a change. I’ll leave any specific details up to you and your team. Is this something you can do?”

“I’ll be in charge? To make my own plans? No one looking over my shoulder and correcting me all the time?”

Sterling let out a surprise laugh before nodding. “The first thing I did when I gained a little rank was to boot people like that out of my organization. When I put people in charge of something, I expect them to be in charge. Period.”

Titus glanced at Crissim and Tomis, looking for their response. He waited until he got a nod from both of them before turning back to the general. “Alright, General. We’re your team.”