A little hand on her arm brought her attention back. Turner, a child about to see his first battle. He looked her in the eyes, the first eye contact with anyone since her beating the day before. His touch relaxed her a bit, and she reconsidered her nearly suicidal attack on the guards.

Turner squeezed her arm and went back to scraping his bowl. The quartermaster noticed and brought over another slop of gruel. At least they were fed well. The leftovers would be given to the regular soldiers. If any of them were hungry enough that they would eat after an Orcus. As if the ability to control the elements was a disease they could catch.

The guards over at the other table continued to laugh, not knowing how close they had come to dying.

The food disappeared quickly. No one wasted any time. Within moments the whole cooking area was torn down and loaded into carts. Once they were on their way, the speed would be ponderous, but everyone knew their duty when it came to breaking camp.

The caravan started moving all too soon. Covering twenty or so miles today would not be enjoyable with her injuries. The guard would never tell any of the Orcus anything, but she had overheard them talking yesterday, right before the beating. She had gotten disrespectful yesterday, yes, and it would have been smarter to just let the man’s taunts go without answer, but even then she hadn’t done enough to deserve this.

A jolt went through her and she had to react fast to keep her hand from grabbing her thigh. Another injury, one that hadn’t been bothering her until they were moving. But no one would see her weakness. There were a handful of Orcus here, along with their handlers, but only a few guards. At least the fact that most of the normal soldiers feared the Orcus so much left them separated from the rest of the army, traveling on the outskirts.

She eyed the other Orcus walking beside her in perfect lines. What they could do to their handlers without these accursed bracelets. And not only the handlers, but to go after the Elite who made the laws that allowed this. Even if the Orcus couldn’t use magic against their shielded handlers, there were far more ways to take care of things if needed. But the power the bracelet directed at them if they lifted a hand against a handler was devastating. She’d seen it first hand in training, when another initiate had desperately tried to escape.

Not paying attention, Senara tripped on a rock in the path. Normally it would have been fine, but today she was slow. She fell, unable to hold back a hiss of pain as the bracelet jarred into her arm.

“Get up.” The sergeant, of course. Had he been waiting for her to make a mistake today? He toed her robe. “I said, get up.”

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“Do we have a problem here?” Senara’s eyes closed in relief. Her handler. He was not a kind man by any means, but each handler received rank and honor based on how well their Orcus did in combat. Her handler far outranked the sergeant. If he knew what had been done to her the night before, the sergeant would be the one on the ground. But there was time enough for that later.

“No problem.” The sergeant turned and spat on the ground. “Other than this wench is slowing everyone down.” As if anyone would have waited for her. The other Orcus flowed around her as if she wasn’t there.

“Good. You know what’s happening tomorrow. We need everyone in perfect shape.” Her handler looked at her, his eyes cold. He gestured for her to get up but didn’t lend a hand. Orcus and handlers couldn’t ever touch, on pain of death. Not that it was forbidden, but the spells binding them together could not stand contact.

Senara pushed herself to her feet, wincing when something creaked inside. She would not show any sign of pain. They wouldn’t risk losing an Orcus if she wasn’t at full readiness, and if she missed this fight, she would lose her place in the Orcus rankings. She had fought hard for that spot, and wouldn’t give it up easily.

Just as she was straightening, the twang of an arrow leaving a bow sent her straight back to the ground. A soldier beside her dropped.

A hail of arrows came after the first one, raining down on the fighters. Senara scrambled behind a boulder beside the road. Somehow the enemy must have learned they were coming and had come to take them out before they could rule the battlefield.

By the time she was in enough cover to look for her handler, he had shielded himself behind a nearby tree. He nodded to her and mouthed ‘fight.’

The bracelet heated for a second, and the intense feeling of her magic returning to her flooded her body with heat and numbed all the pain she had been in. Senara jumped out from around the boulder and screamed her war cry, twirling her hand to whip wind around her, creating a shield of twisting rage. Time to let that rage free.

The glint of light off a helmet on the rock-face above betrayed where one of her opponents was stationed. Sending a bolt of lightning his way with one hand, she threw up a wave of ice in front of Turner with her other. The Elite were sending kids out here far too young. But the war had been going on for years, and the Orcus were dwindling. Some day, when she went down, there may be none to take her place. The kid reminded her… no. Not going there while in the middle of a skirmish.

Turner was wise enough not to waste time acknowledging what she’d done. He sent a spray of ice shards toward the mountain. Not bad, but not very effective.

More arrows were released, and more of the less experienced Orcus fell. Senara threw another bolt of lightning in the general direction the arrows were coming from, but didn’t see anything to truly aim at.

“Shield me!” Wanha yelled from somewhere to her left. Blindly, she threw up a rock wall, barreling in that direction. Wanha moved forward behind it, closed her eyes and lifted her hands. At first, nothing seemed to happen. A fistful of arrows headed toward the old woman. Senara knocked them out of the sky with a blast of air. The battle was continuing around her, but she paid no attention, focusing on keeping the ancient warrior standing.

The intense power it took to protect them both started to overwhelm her. Whatever you’re doing, old woman, hurry it up! If you don’t, we’re both about to die!