Anad watched from the far end of the room as the surgeon finished the last stitches along the side of Gevar’s face. The wound – almost all the way from her hairline down to her chin – would leave a scar, no doubt about that, and her eyes smoldered like she was planning bloody murder.

Considering how things had gone with their run-in with Tel and Shara, along with the overall nightmare the warren of tunnels was proving to be, that was likely exactly what Gevar was thinking about.

“That should just about do it,” the Regular surgeon said, snipping the thread and stepping back to inspect his work.

Gevar’s hand gingerly came up to touch the wound, and she winced as soon as her fingers found it, though it was impossible to tell if it was from the physical or emotional pain.

“It’s not so bad, Gevar,” Anad said. “The surgeon did a good job. The scar will be small, and…”

“You can go,” Gevar interrupted, looking at the surgeon.

The man gave a quick nod of his head then ducked out of the room as quickly as his legs could take him. As soon as the door closed again, leaving Gevar alone with Anad, Gevar stood and grabbed the back of the chair she’d been sitting on, then hurled it into the wall hard enough to shatter it into kindling.

“Not so bad?” she hissed. “Look at us. Look at my face,” she added with a shout, wincing again as it pulled on her stitches.

Anad looked down at himself at the outburst, his normally pristine tuxedo torn, burnt, and bloody from his own small wounds. The magic had mostly protected them, but that explosion was beyond anything he’d seen before. They were lucky they’d survived at all.

Was it luck? Tel told me to run. And that floating sphere exploded well in front of us. If it’d blown up as close to us as the first one…

“This is unacceptable,” Gevar said, her voice controlled, and her left hand hovering just inches away from the scar on her face, like she was afraid to touch it. “That a Tink could do this to me is completely unacceptable. I’m sure the other Mediators are talking. Laughing.”

“Those weapons Tel had…” Anad started.

“Yes,” Gevar interrupted. “Tell me more about this Tel. Your friend. Tell me why he was down there. Is it connected to that sorcerer you didn’t kill? Would you care to explain that to me at the same time?”

“Tel isn’t… he was… my friend,” Anad stammered as Gevar stepped up to him, hand going down to the hilt of her cane-sword. “I knew him a long time ago.”

“And did you know he was a filthy Tink?” Gevar asked. “Did you know he was hiding here in Bastion? With weapons like that? Just waiting to make a fool of me? Are you laughing too, Anad?”

“Gevar, I knew him when we were kids. Before I got drafted into the Mediators,” Anad said, forcing his voice to stay even. Calm. “I didn’t know he was here in Bastion.”

But I suspected it.

“And the sorcerer, like I told you, she said something while we were fighting. I was trying to figure out how to bring her in to find out if she was telling the truth,” Anad said, lifting his hand towards Gevar’s arm, but the woman stepped out of reach.

Anad’s hand dropped back down to his side.

“What could be so interesting it would stop you from doing your duty? What could be worth hesitating over and leading to… to this…?” Gevar said, letting go of her sword and pointing again at her face.

She blames me for what happened. If I’d killed Shara when I had the chance… would things have turned out this way?

“She said there was a real threat we all needed to work together to handle,” Anad said, not going into what he’d discovered in the forest. If Gevar found out he’d met Shara and Tel in the woods, and they’d gotten away from him…

“And you fell for it? Sorcerer lies and nonsense. She was just trying to buy time or get you to spare her worthless life. And it worked! I can’t believe you let her get into your head. Or was it because she was pretty? Have your tastes changed?” Gevar asked, the acid still in her voice.

“Of course not!” Anad insisted. “You know you’re the only one…”

“And now I look like this,” Gevar interrupted yet again.

“It doesn’t bother me,” Anad said quietly.

“It bothers me!” Gevar shouted right back, turning and kicking a nearby chair, the force of her blow hurling it up to rebound off the ceiling and wall before shattering on the floor. “And I will track those two down. After I salvage this operation. I can’t let this be a failure. If Sir Junithar finds out…”

The scar will be the least of your worries. Anad’s mind flashed back to finding Gevar one night after she’d disappointed their senior officer by losing a duel, and the broken arm she’d been cradling.

“It’s not a failure,” Anad said to try and reassure her. “We’ve taken the enclave, even if we haven’t cleared all the tunnels. They won’t be able to stay down there now. That will be a success to Sir Junithar.”

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“But my plan didn’t work,” Gevar said. “It was just dumb luck we found the enclave. I needed my plan to work. My plan.”

Dumb luck that I found the entrance?

“It hasn’t failed,” Anad said instead.

“The sensitive didn’t sense the clock. Tell me how that’s not a failure? All this time, wasted. Sir Junithar’s… investment… in me…”

“Just because your device didn’t sense the clock doesn’t mean there was a problem with the plan. It just means they didn’t turn the clock on yet,” Anad said, and Gevar seemed to forget her anger and rising panic for a moment. “I took an initial report while you… while the surgeon was here. A number of the workshops we’ve found so far were empty.

“Now, that could mean we just haven’t found the rooms where they keep their things, including your clock,” Anad said, but Gevar’s eyes narrowed dangerously, so he quickly went on. “But, I don’t think that’s the case. We found the mountain enclave just a few days ago, and they must’ve heard about that. My guess is they were already moving equipment out of here to another, safer location. I think they didn’t turn on the clock yet because they’re in the process of moving it to another enclave.

“A third enclave that must be somewhere nearby.”

“A third enclave?” Gevar pondered, pacing the room between the broken pieces of wood. “If that’s true… if… then eliminating both of them would easily overshadow the circumstances of finding this one. I would almost be guaranteed a promotion.”

“Exactly, and Sir Junithar would see your worth,” Anad said, letting out a breath as Gevar’s anger receded. “I’ll start asking around at the gates and with local merchants, see if we can’t identify any shipments leaving the city in the last few days that might be connected to them.”

“No,” Gevar said immediately. “You’re going back into the tunnels until every inch has been scoured, and every Tink and sorcerer killed.”

“Back into the tunnels? Okay, but…”

“No buts,” Gevar said, turning to face Anad. “You failed me down there, Anad. I’m being generous and giving you this chance to prove you deserve to stand at my side. No prisoners. No mercy. If I hear about either of those things – and I will hear – then I shall be very disappointed.”

“Stand at your side? Do you mean…?” Anad asked, stepping forward and reaching out his hand, something in his chest going cold.

Gevar’s free hand went to the hilt of her sword, and yellow light smoked out from her eyes. “You know exactly what I mean. Don’t show your face in front of my again until it’s done. Take the Regulars, all of them, and every Mediator other than the ones in my personal guard. Clean out those tunnels. Make me proud to have you beside me again, and I will welcome you back with open arms. Go. Now.”

Anad hesitated, the ice in his chest spreading. He’d seen Gevar like this before, with other people, but never had the woman’s ire been directed at him. With Anad, she’d always been polite in front of the others, but warm and loving behind closed doors. She’d taken Anad in. Given him a place where he could be himself, where they could share their dreams of the future.

Or so I’d thought. She didn’t share this plan with me. And, was she ever really listening when I talked about what I wanted? Or why I’d joined the Mediators? Have I been a fool this whole time, thinking she loved me?

Looking at Gevar’s eyes now, even if she had been listening, she didn’t care. She was hurt and embarrassed.

No, it couldn’t have all been a lie. It’s just the injury making her act like this. If I just give her some space, she’ll remember how much she cares about me.

“If clearing out the tunnels is what you need,” Anad said, standing straight and ignoring the hurt. “It will be done.”

Gevar didn’t respond, so Anad turned on his heel and opened the door, some small part of him hoping the other Mediator would call him back. Tell him she was sorry for how she’d spoken. Neither of those things happened, and Anad left the room, closing the door gently behind him.

A small group of regulars and a pair of Mediators stood in the next room and looked up at Anad.

“We’re going back into the tunnels,” Anad said, though by the looks on each person’s face, Gevar’s words had carried well enough through the thin doors already. “Last I’d heard, we’d found two other entrances to the tunnels beside the initial one?”

“A third now, Sir,” one of the Regulars said. A Captain by the stripes on his uniform.

“Good,” Anad said. “But I’m not a ‘Sir’ yet.” Looking to the other two Mediators in the room, Mediator Hulo and Mediator Bolanik, he continued. “Shall we send equal groups to all four entrances and spread out from there? We could’ve missed something on the initial entry, and it might be wise to retrace our steps.”

Mediator Hulo deferred to Mediator Bolanik with a small nod of the head, then rubbed at the scar across the left side of his face that had taken his eye. He was at Fork Valley, one of the few survivors. They say he hasn’t been the same since.

“We’ve still got people down there, but I agree. It’s a rat’s nest in those tunnels. Going over some of the ground we’ve already covered won’t hurt,” Mediator Bolanik said.

“Right. Do we have any licensed cartographers among the Regulars stationed here?” Anad asked.

“Thinking to map out the tunnels? It’ll be a nightmare,” Mediator Bolanik said, catching on.

“We have to do something to make sure we don’t miss something,” Anad said with a shrug.

“We have some at the garrison,” one of the Regular captains spoke up. “They weren’t dispatched to the tunnels since they aren’t front-liners.”

“Time for them to do their part. Try to keep them away from the fighting, but we need them in the tunnels. We’re going to be spending some time down there, so also get supplies arranged. Food, water, medical. Treat this like a siege,” Anad said. “We need to move fast on this before the sorcerers and Tinks escape.”

“We need to be careful,” Mediator Hulo said. “There have been some traps. Dangerous ones,” he added, glancing at Anad’s damaged tuxedo.

Traps dangerous enough to threaten Mediators? That is going to make things trickier. Or, is Tel still down there?

“Old weapons from the wars?” Anad asked. That had to be what Tel had… unless the Tinks had suddenly developed something new. Which would be worse?

“Sorcery, we think,” Mediator Hulo said. “Explosions, some of them powerful enough to cave in tunnels.”

“We should expect the rest of the enclave to have traps like that as well…” Anad said.

“It’s probably Count’s magic,” Mediator Bolanik said, running a hand through is hair. “Last report we had put him down south, though. Still, I’ll fill you in on what we know about his abilities. But, all of this; dealing with traps, mapping out the tunnels, setting up supply lines, it will take time. It… uh… sounded like Mediator Warren wanted this handled quickly.”

“Mediator Warren wouldn’t want us rushing in and throwing away lives,” Anad said, part of him quietly wondering if that was actually true. “It’ll be more effective if we do this right from the beginning. Okay, it sounds like we’ve got a good start on this,” Anad said, glancing back at the closed door. “Let’s figure out the rest on the way.”

The others in the room nodded and started filing out through the door that led to the street.

Anad gave the door a last look, but then followed the others out.

I’ll clean out the tunnels, like you asked, but I won’t kill people I don’t need to. That is not my duty, no matter what you say. After that… then we’ll figure out where we stand. What I mean to you.

…and what will I do if the answer to that question is ‘nothing’?