El parted ways from Lhogan three hours later, her stomach comfortably full, and his wallet painfully empty. He really shouldn’t have made that bet with her. Oh well, she’d make it up to him next time.

Next time? Had she enjoyed her time with him enough for there to be a next time? Huh, she had. Who would’ve expected that?

“Corporal Vasage?” a voice called from down the hall as El reached for her door. She turned to find a young soldier jogging in her direction, still a cadet from the uniform, orange jacket and black pants. He couldn’t be older than thirteen or fourteen. He must’ve just joined the academy.

“Yes?” she asked.

The cadet stopped in front of her and gave a weak salute. “General Cannon requests your presence,” the boy said, red-faced and slightly out of breath.

El struggled not to sigh or huff or stomp her foot. She hadn’t slept since returning, and while the break with Lhogan had been a nice distraction, she needed some time to herself to process the loss of more soldiers.

“When?” she asked. Please be tomorrow.

“Immediately,” the cadet said. “I’ve been looking for you for over an hour,” he further complained. “Where the Blaze were you?”

“Cadet!” El snapped. “Is that any way to speak to an officer? What’s your name?”

“Cadet Liisen,” he said and stood straighter.

“Cadet Liisen,” El said. “You’re lucky the general has requested me immediately, or I’d most certainly take some time to ensure you remember your manners the next time you speak to a superior officer.”

“Yes ma’am,” the cadet said, though his voice lacked any semblance of apology. Uppity little bastard.

“Which unit are you with?” she asked.

“A2,” he answered quickly.

A2? One of the more advanced units, which meant this kid had potential. El and Nexin had both been assigned to A1, but the gap from year to year could vary wildly if A1 filled it’s forty-five slots quickly.

“That’s perfect,” El said and narrowed her eyes. “I’m scheduled to instruct the A’s next week, and I can always use a punching bag, sorry, a volunteer to help with demonstrations.”

“Yes, that will be wonderful, Ma’am,” Cadet Liisen monotoned. “Can we go now?”

“I like you, Liisen,” El said, obviously not what the cadet was expecting by his quirked eyebrow. “You don’t get intimidated easily. That’s good.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” he said.

“You’re welcome. Now, lead the way to wherever General Cannon is.”

Cadet Liisen gave her a sharper salute and turned on his heel, then quickstepped back the way he’d come. Obviously in a hurry to get her to the general as soon as possible. If he’d really been looking for her for an hour, El couldn’t blame him, so she made sure to keep up.

She followed him all the way back to the same room she’d practically stormed out of earlier that morning. Of course.

Cadet Liisen knocked, cracked the door open, and poked his head in. “I’ve got Corporal Vasage here, sir,” Liisen said, far more politely than he’d spoken to El.

“Then send her in,” General Cannon’s gruff voice responded.

Liisen stepped back, pushed the door so it opened fully, and gestured her in.

“Thanks,” El said. “You’re still going to get voluntold to help me with demonstrations,” she added, then entered the room and saluted the general on the other side of the table. The door closed behind her, and she did a quick scan of the room.

Where there’d been three other people in the room besides General Cannon earlier in the morning, she was alone with the man now. The three extra seats on his side of the table had been pushed against the bare, far wall, and a number of reports spread across the plain table.

“Sit,” General Cannon told her, and pointed toward the empty chair across from him.

El saluted again and did as instructed.

“You do not have an impressive record at the moment,” Cannon said. “Two missions, two catastrophic failures. A higher loss of life than anything we’ve seen in years, other than the direct offensive against Guld.”

El neither responded nor reacted. Cannon had said exactly the same thing during their earlier interrogation. Had he brought her back just to keep rubbing her nose in it?

“However, I’ve had a chance to talk to others from your wing, as well as from the four wings you were dispatched with, since we spoke earlier this morning. According to them, your choices, and more importantly, your actions, were the reason anybody at all made it back,” he went on. “Your actions,” he looked at a report in front of him, “were… inspired. Using your wings as you did? How has nobody tried that before?”

A rhetorical question El didn’t have an answer to, and anything she said would just make her sound pompous, so she stayed quiet.

General Cannon rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed, a sound like El’s wings flaring, then looked at her again with his halo-rimmed eyes. “Corporal Vasage, no, Anella, we’re going to speak freely here,” he said, then pointed at the three empty chairs. “I asked you here, alone, so I could get some real answers. Esis wasn’t just one of my best soldiers, she was also a close friend, and I would very much like to make the things that killed her pay dearly.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

“However,” he looked again at the empty chairs. “There are powers working against that.”

“What can I do?” El asked. If Cannon was ready to believe her, to help her expose the blue newts, there was actually a chance.

“First, accept the praise for what you did to save those soldiers,” he said.

“Thank you. I… I’m just sorry I couldn’t save more,” she said.

Cannon sighed again. “We all are. It was on… our… orders you didn’t explain what might be out there. We never thought the blue lizards, or one of those storms, would be over there too.”

“Do you know what the lizards are? Or that storm?” El asked.

“No. I’ll be honest, when I heard your first report, I thought you were full of shit. Blue lizards? Nonsense. But, looking back, I was simply too angry at the loss of Esis and her unit to do anything other than blame you. For that, I’m sorry.”

“Apology accepted,” El said.

“Good, moving on, we need to find a way to stop these things from doing any more damage. If they were contained to the south, we could possibly ignore them and focus on the war with Guld. This second army showing up so far from the first though, that worries me. Your report said they attacked the red lizards you tracked? You’re sure they weren’t just collateral damage? Or, maybe…”

“I’m sure of it, sir,” El said. “The blue newts hit the red ones first, even before they went after us. If anything, they were more vicious with the newts than us. They were absolutely out for blood. You know, we might’ve been the collateral damage. Wrong place, wrong time.”

“But, how did they know the red newts would be there? And where did the storm come from?” Cannon asked.

“I… can’t answer either of those questions,” El admitted. Those were the kind of answers she was hoping to get from him.

“That’s fine,” Cannon said with a shrug and sat back. “I want you to tell me more about the storm. How big was it? Did you go inside?”

“I didn’t, but Oril did—Corporal Manse, that is. The first time we ran into the lizards and the Stormbearer. The snow didn’t melt on his wings, and he said it made them feel heavy. Definitely magic at work. Not to mention how it blocks our communication.”

“Right, the Stormbearer you called him? Some kind of… what was it, a knight? Was he at this second encounter?”

“No, sir, thankfully. I don’t know if any of us would’ve gotten away if he was. We barely did the first time, and I’d rather not try my luck a second time unless we’re well-prepared.”

“Fair enough. Back to the storm. Size?”

“Huge? It was like a curtain of white. I couldn’t say how far it went in either direction.”

“And it was hidden from view until you were very close to it?”

“That’s correct, sir.”

“Hrmmmm,” Cannon said and tapped a pen against his lips. He knew something, or at least suspected it. “We need more information. We don’t know where those blue newts will be, but maybe that storm is still there. I’ve got a dangerous mission for you.”

El gulped, but gave a sharp salute. Wasn’t this just the thing she’d been wishing for just a few short weeks ago, a chance to prove herself? “What are your orders?”

“I want you and your wing, I’m sorry, I can’t spare anybody else, to head back to where you engaged the lizards. You’re to avoid a repeat of that at all costs. Your mission is to gather intel on the storm itself. I need to know how fast it’s moving, and how big it is. Get out there, get the information, and get back. Avoid combat at all costs.”

“Yes sir. When should we…” El started to ask, but cut off as the door opened and Cardinal Scin entered, an expression like a thundercloud on his face, and his red-and-orange robes rippling as if they were on fire.

“Cardinal, can I help you?” Cannon asked and stood behind the table. Physically, he towered over everybody in the room, including the two Ignitio who followed Scin in, but something about the Cardinal radiated caution.

And El was stuck between them.

“What do you think you’re doing here, soldier?” Scin asked Cannon, not even using his rank. On purpose?

“Discussing a mission with one of my soldiers, as her general,” Cannon said. “Dismissed, Corporal. You have your orders,” he turned and said to El.

El stood and saluted, then turned to go, but one of the Ignitio was clearly blocking the door.

“Excuse me,” she said, and took a step forward.

“Stay where you are,” Scin said, his voice steam over hot coals, like the air in his lungs was burning. “You’ll forget those orders, whatever they were. You will be joining the offensive on Guld tomorrow morning. This is non-negotiable.”

“Cardinal, respectfully,” Cannon said, his shoulders squared. “The corporal is not yours to command.”

“No, but you are,” Cardinal Scin said and inspected the manicured nails of his left hand.

“The Church of Pyre holds an advisory position with the Firestorm, nothing more,” Cannon said. “We extended you the courtesy of attending these meetings in hopes you could provide insight. You did not, and I see no reason for you to continue as a member. Thank you for your time.”

“You… misunderstand,” Scin said, and picked at one of his fingers, like the dirt under his nail was more important than the general in front of him. “The Church allowed you to believe you had some choice in the matter. We have convened and determined it’s time for us to once again take a firmer hand in things. As such, this is your opportunity to prove your allegiance to the cause.”

“And what cause would that be?” Cannon asked.

“To reuniting the Embers, of course,” Scin said. “There is only one left, and for the first time in millennia, we will bring them together and witness the true glory of the Pyre.”

“We were going to do that anyway,” Cannon said. “Corporal, your orders stand. And you,” Cannon pointed at the Ignitio in front of the door. “You can move, or I will move you.”

“Tsk,” Scin clipped his tongue. “I will give you one more chance to make the correct choice,” Scin said.

“Cardinal, I…” Cannon started, but cut off when Scin finally looked up from his nails, the halos in his eyes so bright El had to turn away.

What the Blaze?

“Before you make that choice, I have two questions for you. The first, as a courtesy, are you right- or left-handed?”

“Right-handed. What does that have to do with courtesy?” Cannon asked, lifting that same arm up to block some of the piercing light from Scin’s gaze.

It was like looking at two small suns where his eyes should be.

“Second, do you know why the Church has the power to command the military? And, no, it’s not because of the Ignitio.”

“What are you…?” Cannon started to ask, but stopped as his left hand began to smolder. Within a heartbeat, that smolder became a full burn that engulfed his entire arm.

El couldn’t help but take a step back as General Cannon let out a pained scream and stumbled to the floor. Fire had never burned her. Never even been uncomfortable. But something about the flame was terrifying.

No matter how much Cannon rolled or beat on the flames, they didn’t slow or abate. And even though they didn’t move past his shoulder or spread to this other hand, the fact the fire somehow had clear intent was even worse.

“That should prove my point,” Scin said, the light in his eyes vanishing, along with the flames on Cannon’s arm.

General Cannon lay on his back on the ground, his teeth clenched in pain, and his right hand hovering above his ruined left arm. The skin, black and charred, leaked some kind of pus while the smell of cooked meat filled the room.

El turned into the corner and vomited up the expensive contents of her stomach. All of them.

“Your Spark is a gift of the Pyre, and the Cardinals are his hands in this world. You would do well to remember this,” Scin said. “Now, about the corporal’s orders?”

El, wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and met the general’s pained eyes. They both knew it; if the General resisted any further, the flames would consume far more than his arm. And somebody else would just become the Cardinal’s mouthpiece.

“New… orders,” Cannon wheezed through gritted teeth. “Deploy… on… Guld.”

“Yes sir,” El said, her voice barely a whisper.

“Dismissed,” Cannon said.

Scin made a small shooing motion to the Ignitio in front of the door, who moved aside, and El fled the room.