CHAPTER TWELVE

The banquet hall was an echo chamber made of dusty black bricks. There were no windows to the outside, leaving it grim and musty inside, with only torches to direct Norok to one of the long dining tables.

His bones continued to ache from Pultz’s chill as he sat down. He could still feel the imp’s icy hands on his skin, pushing and grating him into the dirt as they gnawed his warmth away. Norok shuddered. It wasn’t enough to see Sergeant Hogan Pultz surrender, he thought, glancing ahead at the man. If Pultz minded Norok’s glare, he didn’t show it, the old man’s eyes glazing over towards the ceiling as the rest of the squad huddled around the table.

“Where’s the other squad?” Will asked.

Pultz shrugged.

“What about Sergeant Cowell? Is he around?” Kell asked meekly.

Pultz shrugged again, cleared his throat as though he were about to say something, then yawned instead. Norok would have laughed if he could stop shivering.

“Who’s--” Will started, then Irina reached up and clamped her hand over his mouth with an annoyed look.

“It is clear the man knows nothing. Let us sit,” Irina hissed. Then, she turned to Daimona with a smile so wide, it looked like it hurt. “You did wonderful.”

Daimona blushed. “Aww, thanks! It was nothing really…”

“It was nothing,” Norok grumbled. “You took forever.”

Irina snapped her head towards Norok. Will caught the movement, throwing his arm out in front of Norok protectively, but Irina simply smacked him away. She grabbed Norok by the collar of his uniform jacket, snapping the silver buttons as she dragged him over the table.

“You,” she seethed. “Do not get to speak.”

Norok scoffed. He cooed mockingly, “What, you’re mad you got tossed around a little?”

He felt something sharp pressing into the back of his skull. It needled into his nape, causing a sharp, intense pain to bloom down his spine. Irina’s knuckles whitened around his lapel.

“If you ever use your magic on me again, Tadpole, I will gut you and leave your slime for the sun to dry.”

Norok tried to say something, but his tongue was starting to swell, his mouth cotton-dry around the bruising sensation. His vision started flickering, and as he began to panic, he realized the piercing sensation was slowly becoming further and further away. He was losing consciousness.

“Irina!” Norok heard Kell shout, echoing off the walls. A warmth flooded his body, and as he felt himself settling back into his body, he realized Kell’s hand was on his shoulder.

“Norok can’t control it yet,” Kell explained, dark eyebrows furrowed. “He was trying to fight, just like the rest of us.”

Irina rolled her eyes, crossing her arms as she sat down with an audible huff. “Two frogs of a pond. Pathetic, both of you.”

Kell leaned forward, looking hopelessly at Will. “Captain, a little help? Please?”

But Will was still staring at the empty table. His hands were folded, and he was pressing his nose against them as he sat silently. His eyes flicked back to Pultz. “Seriously. You have to know where Lotsvatinus is. You’re not that disconnected from the world.”

Pultz slouched in his chair. “Think she said she’d be late.”

“How late?”

“Couple hours… Or days. Maybe a week,” Pultz replied. Will scowled.

“Three days,” a voice answered warmly, and everyone looked towards the door at the same time to see the newcomer. It was a woman, wearing the same style of uniform as Pultz and Cowell. A silk green scarf was tied around her dainty neck, revealing itself as she pushed her jet black hair off her shoulder. The mole beneath her right eye was stark under the candlelight.

“They took the scenic route, it sounds like. They send their apologies.”

Will stood up, graciously offering his hand to the woman. “Sergeant Judith, I had no idea you would be attending this year!”

She nodded courteously, giving Will a syrupy sweet smile. “It's a pleasure to see you, Private Saint.”

As Judith joined them at the table, Norok noticed Daimona twitch violently. Her eyes were trained on the long rifle strapped to Judith’s back. Judith sat poised and proper next to Kell.

“I'll be proctoring for Squadron 57,” she said warmly. “Though I hope you'll count me as a resource for your squad too.”

Pultz snorted. “Just take ‘em, Judy. Merlin knows I don't want them.”

Judith shot Pultz a sly smirk. “That'd be tipping the odds, don't you think?”

“Odds of their success? Doubtful,” Pultz scoffed.

“Odds of our bet,” Judith replied in a sing-song voice. “Did you forget? You have money on this, Pultz.”

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Pultz's eyes grew so wide, Norok thought they might pop out of his head. He jumped up so fast, he knocked over his chair, racing over to yank Kell up from his spot. Kell yelped helplessly as Pultz hauled him over his shoulder.

“Alright kiddos! We're off to train. Immediately. We have three days to make something of you and I'm not wasting another second sitting. Let's go!”

Will barked an incredulous laugh. “As if we'd need your help. You surrendered to us.”

“A good man knows when to quit,” Pultz replied.

“Sir, can you please let me go now…?” Kell whimpered.

“No can do Prodikor, you're our weakest link. First one to go through the old Hogan Roundabout is you. After that, we're going to work on some better battle formations as a team.”

“Our battle strategy is flawless!” Will interjected properly. “Our formation is impenetrable, I've laid it out myself.”

“Nah, we should definitely get a new one,” Daimona said. Norok instantly glared at her, mouthing a silent don't, but his sister gave him an evil, mischievous look. “Norok snitched.”

“You did what?” Will slowly turned to narrow his eyes on Norok.

“He told the captain lady everything,” Daimona added, playing with her hair. “Why do you think he's been sucking up so much?”

Irina cackled. She stood up, still laughing too herself as she walked to the door.

“Smirnov!” Pultz called.

She looked over her shoulder, cheeks rosy with amusement. “Look at Tadpole's face. It says it all. He ruined us.”

Norok would've preferred she threaten to kill him again. Instead, she left, shaking her head and giggling to herself.

Pultz chased after her, shouting about training with Kell still swinging over his shoulder.

Judith patted Will on the shoulder. “Come, Private Saint. I'll make you some tea, and we can come up with a new strategy.”

Will took in a deep breath, looking at Norok one last time. “I will have orders for you later. For now, stay here.”

As they left, Daimona stuck her tongue out at Norok. “How's that for ‘nothing’?”

Norok just sighed.

…

That night, Norok pushed a mop lazily from one end of the entry way to the other. Will had told him if he tried using magic to finish his assignment, he'd shoot him in his sleep, then report his corpse to Cowell for insubordination. Norok doubted Will would actually go that far, but he felt bad enough to comply.

“I'm surprised he really went through with punishing you,” Kell said. He was sitting on one of the lavish armchairs in the room, a torch blazing from the wall above him. “Bash would've found out one way or another.”

“How was I supposed to know she was an enemy?” Norok grumbled. The mop water slopped in the bucket as he moved it to the other side. “She was wearing the same uniform as everybody else…”

“Her asking about boot camp plans should've been a red flag,” Kell chuckled. “I kinda thought a smart guy like you would've picked up on that.”

“You can go, actually,” Norok muttered. “No one asked you to stay.”

“Yeah but I want to,” Kell replied, and the earnest sparkle in his eyes made Norok soften. Until he added, “It's kind of funny watching you with the mop.”

“Keep it up and I'll tell Pultz where you are,” Norok threatened.

Kell grimaced, raising his hands in surrender. “Please don't, my legs hurt so bad… Being the weakest link is the worst.”

“Can't imagine.”

“Playing maid doesn't give you a clue?”

They laughed, bantering into a comfortable silence for a while as Norok continued his task. When he could no longer see his reflection in the murky bucket water, Kell spoke up again.

“This is already a lot better than last year,” he said quietly.

“How so?”

Kell shifted his legs under him, sitting criss-crossed on the chair. He folded his hands, looking down at them as he spoke. “It was… A massive disaster.”

“Right, and it’s not this year,” Norok replied sarcastically.

“No, I mean…” Kell’s shoulders sunk with his smile. “Last year, we had this girl. Leka. Super talented shooter, best of the best… Way better than the rest of us. Even gave Irina a run for her money.”

Norok faintly remembered Daimona mentioning the name, but he couldn’t really picture anyone giving Irina competition besides his own sister. He imagined an amalgamation of creatures, the body of a bear with the grace of a cat, and the vicious jaw of a shark. Even then, it’d have to be tougher than steel for Irina not to trump it.

“I guess, Will wasn’t really sure what to expect since it was our first year, so he was pretty off his game when we arrived. We were nervous, and Leka decided to transfer to Bash’s team before the last event.”

“They let her do that?” Norok raised an eyebrow in disbelief. “Seems pretty unregulated for this place.”

“Pultz signed off on it,” Kell replied. “He was just tired of watching us lose, I think.”

He stood up, half limping to pick up the bucket. He motioned for Norok to follow him to the window, and they stood next to one another before the view. Though they were only on the first floor, there was a beauty to being so close to the ground-- the night breeze rustled through the grass, and Norok was sure that somewhere in the brusque there had to be wildlife, birds or squirrels, all tucked away safe from human sight.

Kell tossed the bucket water out the window. It splattered against the ground. Norok wanted to ask if that was allowed, but watching Kell’s face shift under the pale moonlight made him quiet. There was something stronger about him here, a seriousness Norok had missed in all their prior conversations.

“What you did is a pretty big deal,” Kell said softly. He pulled the bucket back, balancing it on the windowsill. “And Will’s probably going to hold it against you for a little while. But if you show him you’re here to stay, I think you can get off his hit list.”

Norok snorted. “I don’t really care that much. I’m just here to keep my sister fed.”

But Kell shook his head. His eyes fell on Norok with a knowing gaze, and as he turned to walk away, he reached up to ruffle Norok’s hair.

“You’re a terrible liar.”.

As he left the room, Norok looked up at the moon, mop still in hand.

What the hell was that about?

Norok shrugged, but the calmness that overtook him was enough of an answer.