The gray-black stone of the walls made the cavern feel as if there could never be enough light, no matter how many lanterns Serra put out, magical or otherwise. She paced back and forth along the length of the irregularly shaped cavern, feeling as if the low ceiling were pressing down on her. Four Pale Qek lay side by side on the floor, all dead, and as she looked at them, her hands balled into fists.

  What were her creations meant to do against Mages? She had never claimed they were invincible. She tried to ignore that two of them had clearly been stabbed to death, with no signs of magical attacks.

  Serra grabbed her chair and dragged it clattering against the ground into the center of the room where she angled it toward the string of bodies and sat, contemplating her failure. Her hood was down, revealing skin and hair bleached white, and eyes so blue they practically glowed in the dark. She stared down at the fingers clasped in her lap and, not for the first time, had doubts. Not about their cause, or their goals, but their methods. If she strained her ears, she thought she could hear the echo of screams coming from deeper in the cavern, and she shivered.

  The sound of footsteps pulled her from the darkness of her thoughts and she heaved a sigh, rising to her feet as two figures in dark robes entered the room through its only door.

  “Are these all the casualties?” She steadied herself and prepared to answer, but Lionel pre-empted her.

  “The scouts say there was a fifth body we could not recover. One of the Mages looted it, but didn’t have time to collect anything.” From within the folds of his robes, he produced a leather sack. “I’ve had the contents of that corpse secured for you, sir.”

  The taller man took the sack, delicately pulling the top open so he could peer inside.

  “Tell me, Serra, would you consider your creations a success or a failure?” He asked, still sifting through the bag's contents. She had expected this, and she had prepared for it.

  “They are a success, sir, irrefutably.” Both men looked up at her, Lionel scoffing quietly.Serra held her back straight as she went on. “With relatively small numbers, they have brought under our control an army of monsters, and with relatively few losses, we have gained control of much of the region and we did it without revealing ourselves to Academy City. With the loss of only a few, we drove a pair of Mages out of that town and took it.”

  “New Borns.” Lionel objected, but Serra had anticipated this line of attack as well.

  “New Borns who have survived a rebirth that has killed many. I know that we have recovered bodies. There’s no way most of them could survive, especially not with our qek swarming all over the place out there. These New Born Mages are different. Despite that, we still drove them from the town, and seized it with relatively minor losses.”

  “It would cost every prisoner we took to replace the pets you lost.” Lionel snapped.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  “We just need-” she retorted, but cut off abruptly at their leader's raised hand.

  “All new prisoners will be devoted to Lionel's project,” He said slowly, as if measuring each word as he watched Serra from under his dark hood. She held herself upright, staring back into the glowing blue eyes. “But I sense you have something to offer, Serra.” She inhaled deeply through her nostrils and steeled herself.

  “Yes sir, my scouts have tracked the New Borns to Dangole. It seems they have taken up residence there.”

  “You want revenge?” He asked.

  “No,” she lied, “but I have an idea on how to use the qek more effectively and I’d like Dangole to be our test.”

  “Dangole will be hard to capture. Are you sure you want to risk your last chance on such an uncertain venture?” Serra’s stomach tightened as cold anxiety flooded through her chest. She was reasonably confident her plan would work, but if it didn’t…

  In the silence that followed his question, she thought she could hear more screaming from below. The faintest of sounds, so quiet it could’ve been imagined.

  “Yes sir, I believe we can do it with minimal losses. Wild qek only.” and she set about explaining her strategy.

  “Now that is actually rather clever.” Lionel said, surprising her.

  “Make your preparations,” their leader said as he turned away, offering no other opinion. Once he’d gone, Lionel fixed her with a contemplative look.

  “I hope your plan works.” He said, and Serra scoffed.

  “Why? You don’t even like me.”

  “True enough, but I don’t like anyone. Never saw much point in it. Not here, in this life.” he trailed off, his eyes vacant as his mind wandered. He returned to the present sharply, the lines of his face deeper, and his glowing blue eyes haunted by the memories that had ensnared him. “I respect you, and I doubt we could find anyone qualified to replace you.”

   It was practically a compliment, perhaps the nicest thing anyone in their organization had ever said to her.

  “Good luck, Serra.” he said, turning away. Hands clasped behind his back as he left the room. Moving with purpose. As soon as he was gone, she snapped her fingers, and two of the large white Qek entered the doorway from where they had been waiting outside. Their white fur marred in several places with burnt flesh.

  “You fought them?” She asked, looking over their injuries.

  “The one with red hair, yes.” one creature answered, its voice a growl.

  “What about the other one?”

  “She is dangerous. She kills us.” It snarled, something like fear in its eyes.

  “Tell me about them. Tell me everything.”