Chapter 54

Belfast, North Ireland

Friday, March 3rd, 2051

I’ll leave out Kiyo’s full apology to Gabriella when we returned; Ms. Jones has suffered quite enough in this retelling of events, and it was embarrassing for everybody involved.

“Sorry I made fun of your mustache” isn’t exactly what any young woman wants to hear.

Sufficed to say, I had to be a demon shield for the third time in an hour, with Fera smirking off to the side. Enemy’s bones, I wanted a drink right then.

What surprised me was that Fera didn’t feel the need to egg Ms. Hernandez on. In fact, she was on shockingly good behavior. Fera might have had a point about Mariko being the smoother ride. There were no fights, no sniping, no catty comments.

Nothing of much import happened in the next few days, and I kept catching myself forgetting who was at my side. Only the faint scent of sulfur and Mariko’s distorted magical signature gave the game away.

Finally, I couldn’t bear it anymore. “What’s your game, woman?” We were making our way back from the gate after another uneventful day. I’d held back from our other squad mates, and Kiyo and Gabriella had taken the hint that we wanted some privacy.

“Hm?” asked Fera. “I am not sure what you mean, Kasasagi.”

“Stop calling me that,” I snapped. “You’re clearly up to something.”

She shrugged. “I wasn’t lying when I said Mariko is more comfortable. Do you know how long it’s been since I had a vacation?”

“Yes, I’m sure you’ve been working others’ fingers to the bone,” I said.

“Hmph!” she said, perfectly imitating one of Mariko’s pouts. “I told you what you’ve put me through.”

“And you aren’t visiting it back on me?” I countered. “You aren’t living up to Our Father Below’s laws. You aren’t even making trouble.”

“The difference between the saxophone and the bassoon,” she said, gesturing to indicate her stolen body. “Kiyo didn’t know what to make of you; Mariko’s affection for you is soothing, even if it’s a bit sickening at times.”

“Then leave her,” I said.

“Aw, it’s cute how you still try,” she said, grabbing me by the wrist and halting our path forward.

“What are you…”

Warm, familiar lips pressed into mine, and my hand was guided down to Mariko’s ass. I did what came naturally, before my mind caught up with my traitorous body. When I tried to break away, she whispered, “Go along with it or everybody will know something is up.”

A quick glance showed that Gabriella and Kiyo were both watching, though Gabriella shook her head and went back to her walk across the lawn.

“What’s the matter,” I growled, forcing my errant hand around her waist. “No stableboys or orcs handy?”

“You wound me, Kasasagi,” she said. “Is that any way to speak to your betrothed? Aw, you looked so grumpy when I mentioned that! Let Mariko kiss it away.”

“I’m afraid we’re on duty, ma’am,” I said, breaking away, much to Kiyo’s obvious relief.

“Don’t call me ma—” Fera stopped, her hand shooting to cover her mouth.

I couldn’t help but smirk. “I see the bassoon is playing you.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Simply a habit of the host. Those bleed through.”

“I’m sure,” I said.

“Hmph. Speaking of bleeding, when do I get the king for my trophy wall?”

“Well,” I said, drawing it out to irk her further. “King George has put in the request by now. It’s simply a matter of when and if our beloved sergeant grants it.”

“If?” she asked. “There’s an ‘if’ at play?”

“I did learn that the christening is next Wednesday,” I said. “It would be a pity to miss it.”

“We’re missing nothing!” she hissed.

“We have to wait for the order,” I said, barely suppressing my mirth at her annoyance.

“Who cares if we go AWOL? You won’t be in their service anymore!”

“If we don’t have permission, we won’t be allowed near him,” I countered.

“Then for Mariko’s sake, you’d better hope we get the order soon,” she said.

“You do realize that if anything were to happen to her, you’d be praying for a quick death?” I asked, casual as could be.

She didn’t so much as flinch. “You’d try. And even if you won, it wouldn’t help her one iota.”

We walked in silence the rest of the way back to our dormitory, as there wasn’t anything left to say.

******************

Belfast, North Ireland

Saturday, March 4th, 2051

Before patrols could begin the next morning, the whole platoon was summoned to a briefing room in our dormitory. In the King’s residence, it would have been his expansive top-floor bedroom, which tells you how much space they gave royalty versus the working soldier.

Sergeant Lakhdar was already there waiting for us, standing straight as a post. She looked a bit bedraggled, and a few strands of her black hair had managed to come loose. It made me wonder if she’d slept at all.

“Please be seated.” She had us well trained; we all made our way to the seats without comment.

“First off, without naming any names, I’ve heard some reports of wizards spotted away from their assigned areas. You know who you are. I’d like to remind everybody that your postings are not polite suggestions. If I have to bring this up again, I will name names in front of everyone else, and there will be severe consequences.”

To my surprise, she didn’t so much as glance at me or my squad. Instead, she shot a look at a bashful looking Hiroto and Suzume. I didn’t know them well enough to guess at what was going on, but I was relieved to not be at the center of attention for once.

“That being said,” she continued, “after pushback from the mundane military and the MPs themselves, we are declaring the current state of emergency done with.”

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

You could see the visible ripple of relief pass through the assembled wizards, especially my group. While the duties had rested on my squad the most, it had resulted in more intensive patrols and schedules for everyone. If memory served, Hiroto’s squad had been assigned to guard the main parliament building.

Hm. Interesting that I hadn’t run into them while Kiyo had snuck me around on the day we’d encountered Fera…

Aha. Mystery solved. I hadn’t been ratted out by the mundane soldiers; finally, a real benefit to my fame.

Yukiko’s hand shot up. “Ma’am, what was that about? We were never told.”

“Standard protocol after the death of a wizard,” said Sergeant Lakhdar, lying with a demonic aplomb. “We needed to be sure that there was no sign of foul play. The results were inconclusive, and apparently the powers that be decided they could live with the risk.” One couldn’t miss the note of reproach in her voice.

“Those of you who have been going off site have received good marks from the mundanes,” she continued. “It seems that command has seen fit to use us for more of those tasks, and some public relations assignments.”

Public relations? I wondered if it was like Heida’s office back in Iceland. I didn’t mind the idea of getting out more; Hell, I hadn’t been outside of Stormont Estate in weeks. It would be nice to get out some before “doomsday”.

She gestured towards a corkboard at the front of the room. “These will be your schedules for the coming week. Memorize them, because I don’t want anybody else shirking their duty. Once your squad leader has them recorded, you are dismissed.”

I walked up, with Hiro following close behind.

“Glad for a change of pace,” he said.

“For sure,” I said, scribbling away on a notepad. My Squad Four’s next Wednesday was simply marked as “Need to Know”. Strangely, so was Hiro’s Squad One.

“Do you think we’ll be working together?” he asked.

“Possibly,” I said, hoping on the inside that we wouldn’t be, since I wanted her to have as few options as possible. I didn’t want to imagine what Fera could do with Yukiko’s Gravity Shift; the way she’d crushed Mrs. Perera was firmly etched in my memory.

“Hey, just realized,” he continued. “With no more emergency, we will get rec room time! I challenge you to a game of War of the Arcane!”

I looked at the shorter man for a moment, trying and failing to resist his childlike enthusiasm. “Itching to bring out your weighted dice again, eh?”

“A bad worker blames his tools,” he said, trying to keep a straight face. He didn’t last, though.

“My tools aren’t the issue,” I said as we returned to our desks. “But, if you must build up your self-esteem at my expense, I’ll indulge you.”

“Oh, but Kasasagi,” said Fera. “I was hoping we could have some time to ourselves tonight! They’ve been running us so ragged.”

Hiro nodded knowingly. “If it is a problem…”

“It isn’t,” I said. “Come on, my dear, it’s been too long since we got the old gang together. Why, we’re practically strangers now!”

Fera glared at me and tucked her arms under her chest. “If you insist.”

“Is everything alright?” asked Yukiko.

“Just a little lover’s quarrel,” I said, fixing Fera with a glare. “I’m sure we’ll get over it.”

“Yes, it is nothing worth mentioning,” she said, conceding the fight.

At least I could win some moral victories against her.

Chapter 55

It was nice to get some actual victories to go with the moral ones, though. The rec room was full of us wizards, with our old group having staked out a corner near a gas fireplace.

“Huh?” Hiro said, looking at the board in front of him in disbelief.

“You got cocky, Hiro,” I said, making a show of knocking over his three squads of wizards with the neighboring bands of pike-wielding orcs.

“I thought I had you,” he said, studying the lay of the game board. “I got your main devil second turn.”

“That’s the difference between reality and a game,” I said. “Losing the commander in the field would put the whole force into chaos. Here, it was simply a penalty to my initiative.”

Hiro lowered himself to the level of the simple paper map, eyes narrowing. He started suddenly, rising back to his feet. “Ah, I see! The devil commander was a sacrifice.”

“Exactly,” I said. “I just had to bunch up the rest of my units in the woods, but ‘accidentally’ leave him exposed, and you didn’t notice me flanking you.”

“It helps that you have lucky rolls,” he said. “Excuse me, had lucky rolls.”

“A bad worker blames his tools,” I said, before we burst out laughing.

“I’m glad you two are having fun,” said Kiyo, staring down Yukiko’s horde of devils. “Man, I would’ve won in the video game version.”

“Possibly,” said Yukiko, looking pleased with herself. “You’re putting up more of a fight than you used to, at least. Now, let’s get this over with.”

“Yeah, yeah,” said Kiyo, going for a pair of dice.

“That is bad roleplay, Kasasagi,” said Fera from her seat in the corner. Continuing her Mariko impression, she had taken a plush chair away from the game board to read. The giveaway was that there wasn’t a Jane Austen book in her hand, but some yellowed, trashy romance novel from one of the rec room shelves.

“How do you mean?” I asked.

“You said it yourself; that would have been the end of your force,” she said. “And what sensible devil would willingly sacrifice himself? That’s what they use orcs and goblins for.”

“Careful, my dear, you’re sounding awfully bloodthirsty,” I said. “Rather surprising for you.”

Fera’s dark eyes widened. “N-nobody’s hurt in a game, Kasasagi.”

“You alright, Mariko?” Kiyo smirked to herself as she moved one of her pieces. “You haven’t sounded like yourself lately. What crawled up your butt?”

Ooh, that set her off. I was shocked that Yukiko and Hiro didn’t pipe up to her defense.

“It wasn’t… oh, never mind,” she said, going back to her novel.

Fera seemed to have realized the same thing I did: she only had one hand to play. After all, she couldn’t do anything to risk her scheme, aside from sending coded messages to her agents. If she stepped too far out of line, there was military discipline to worry about. If she jumped out of Mariko, she had no way to guarantee the Japanese woman’s silence. If she did to Mariko what she had to Major Smythe or Wendy, she’d never get me back home, which was the point of the whole exercise.

It struck me rather like mutually assured destruction in old nuclear strategy. As long as she had something to gain, Mariko was safe, and little insults would have to be tolerated.

Hm. I could see why Maggie Edwards had so much fun toying with me.

Unfortunately, nobody else was in on our game, and Hiro was an inveterate bleeding heart. He frowned deeply, glancing between Fera and I. “Soren, we need some more drinks. Come with me?”

I shrugged and went along with it, pretending not to know anything was amiss.

We walked in silence a moment as we made our way to the shared kitchen downstairs.

He washed out a pitcher and filled the bottom with an orange, powdery substance that approximated oranges.

“They keep foisting it on us every morning,” I said as I watched him work. “What is this stuff, even?”

“Tang,” he said. “The Americans made it for the old astronauts. I like it.”

“Ah, that makes sense,” I said. “No wonder it tastes like moon rocks.”

“It is what I grew up on,” he said. “Better than nothing. Things were rough when Dad left.”

I nodded. I think that little moment of sharing was meant to elicit a response, though what he was aiming for was beyond me. Hiro could be subtle on occasion.

“You never quite fill the hole of a parent,” I said. “I know that feeling.”

“If you do not recognize Tang, you had money, at least.” His guileless smile made me decide he really was just making a connection.

If Mariko’s forgiveness of my sins surprised me, his did so doubly. I’d intended to leave him to die in the Tower because of the threat he posed to the Horde. He didn’t know that, of course, but I’d also directly attacked him a few times during that mess, and I wasn’t always gentle about it.

Which is likely why I decided he’d earned something like the truth.

“Hiro, can you keep a secret?”

He seemed taken aback at the question. “Me? What secret?”

“Can’t say until you promise,” I said.

“Is it about you and Mariko?” he asked. “You two have been fighting all day.”

I waved him away. “Nothing too significant. Mariko is simply being difficult about our assignments.”

Funny how after all this time, I still took a thrill out of misleading without technically telling a lie. I hadn’t changed so much as I thought.

“Still refusing to fight?” He shuddered. “It nearly got her killed in Taiwan. Nearly got me killed. I thought she would learn after many fights. She is my friend but… she can be troublesome.”

“I can’t entirely disagree.” I could feel an undercurrent of irritation under his voice. “Mariko simply has this way of not valuing herself. It really tends to lead her into trouble.”

I think I spoke a bit too fast, since he had to think about what I said for a long moment. Recognition dawned in his eyes. “Yes, but not just her. She really does no understand.”

“Yet you defend her all through school,” I said.

He smiled. “Maybe too much Superman comics as a child. Truth, Justice, and the American way, yeah? Right to freedom of speech. Even when wrong.”

His English really had improved, though there were still some errors mixed in. It put my abortive attempts at Japanese to shame.

“I don’t think it’s that,” I said. “You simply hate seeing a pretty girl cry.”

“You too,” he said.

“You got me,” I said. “Now, none of that was the secret. If you’re assigned with us on Wednesday, be prepared.”

All of his good humor vanished in an instant. “For what?”

“That I can’t say,” I said. “It’s more a hunch than anything else. If I’m right, though, there could be real fighting.”

“More of the Brotherhood?” he asked.

“No,” I said, trying to decide just how far to let him in. “I can’t really say now. It will all make sense in the long run. Just make sure that Yukiko and the rest are ready, too. But try to be subtle about it; loose lips sink ships.”

He eyed me suspiciously for a long moment, before letting out a long breath. “Alright, Magpie. I will accept that. At least I got a warning this time.”

“That’s the spirit,” I said.