Garder awoke to a dog licking his face. He thought it was Tanesh, but then remembered all that had happened before opening his eyes.

  The dog was a mangy animal, and clearly a mutt—something of a German shepherd and any manner of other breeds. Garder shoved it away, sat up, and saw the sleeping bag under him. The dog whined pathetically, so he patted it on the head to appease it as he looked around the small tent.

  It was early morning, and Kamsa, sleeping soundly, was on the other side of the tent with a shackle around her wrist, its chain pinned to the ground. Garder felt a sharp pain in his head, and he reached up to feel a thick bandage. He remembered everything now; he had stupidly gone backwards over a cliff. But he had to wonder: what, or who, saved him?

  “Lank, shoo,” a voice came from a moving figure outside the tent.

  The dog trudged off with a snort, and the man Garder encountered on the cliff knelt down to enter the tent. He didn’t look any better than he had before, and his rifle was still seemingly locked to his hands.

  “Nice pup,” Garder muttered. “You an animalect?”

  “Eh? Can’t a man have a dog without being an animal-talker?” he grumbled. “Anyway, kid, you’ve been out of it for two days now. Damn near broke your head.”

  “Two days… That’s just great… I take it I’m in your village, right?”

  “You got it.”

  “So why haven’t you done anything to us?”

  He coughed and plopped to the ground. “I figure anyone trying to protect a pretorian must have an interesting story. Maybe I want to hear it.”

  “What are you going to do with her?”

  “Don’t quite know yet. Still want to hear about what’s going on out in the world first. I’ll find a good use for her—don’t worry.”

  “She won’t hurt you. Can’t you tell she’s different than the others?”

  “I can. But that doesn’t mean she’s harmless. Pretorians have been terrorizing my kind of people for centuries.”

  “How big is this village, anyway?”

  “About a hundred of us, mostly women and kids. I didn’t start it.”

  “But it looks like you’re leading it.”

  “Yep. But I don’t know how long I’m staying. I’m actually trying to get to X to drop them off. I’m not telling them, of course… I know it ain’t the greatest place, but it’ll be better than traveling around the countryside. Especially these days. Better to have a roof over our heads at this point.”

  “Won’t that defeat the purpose of the traveling Aurrian village?”

  “Look, kid, I don’t care about the village. I care about its people. I only want what’s best, and they happened to ‘elect’ me to give them that.”

  “Well, it’s none of my business. You got a name?”

  “Yeah. Leovyn. Just Leovyn.”

  “Okay. Leovyn. I appreciate you taking care of us, but it’s a big mistake keeping Kamsa here. She has a partner, and it’s only a matter of time before he comes back. And I’ve got my own places to be.”

  “So, you said you’re a rebel? What are you doing with a pretorian?”

  “You wouldn’t understand.”

  “Really? You know what I would and wouldn’t understand?”

  “I don’t want any trouble… It’s just, if I don’t get home soon—”

  “Can’t let you leave, kid. Not in such a hurry. I have to make sure you are who you say you are first. So just tell me your story, I’ll tell whether or not you’re lying, and then you can go.”

  “Augh…” Garder moaned. “Milla’s going to kill me…”

  “Milla?” Leovyn’s unlit cigarette dropped the slightest bit in his mouth. “Uh, who’s this Milla?”

  “She’s kind of my team’s leader. Not that we’re some big organized group yet. It’s just… everyone seems to respect and listen to her.”

  “And who is she?” Leovyn repeated.

  “Um… My twin sister. Why do you need to know?”

  “I see…”

  Garder sat in the tent with the strange man uncomfortably for nearly a minute in silence until he finally stood up again.

  “Ah, never mind. You look like a good kid, so why don’t I just show you the village, and I’ll let you go?”

  “What? Uh, do you know Milla or something? A second ago, it looked like you were about to interrogate me.”

  “Forget it. Let me give you the grand tour. You’ve probably never even seen one of these places. You should at least be curious.”

  “What about her?”

  “Her biorhythms should be back to normal shortly, which means she’ll regain proper thought patterns and come out of her comatose state.”

  “W-what? I have no idea what that means…”

  “You dim, kid? My scrambler caused hell in her alchemagi reserves, and her system shut down to protect itself. The body and alchemagi are intertwined. Screw one up, and the whole system goes crazy. Get it?”

  “Yeah, I learned that back as a newsoul in Aurrian school.”

  “Oh, good. You’re educated. Now come out of there.”

  Leovyn walked away from the tent, and Garder hesitantly followed. Outside, the cold desert air chilled the sand. The sun was coming over the horizon, but the village seemed to have been active for some time.

  “We get up early,” Leovyn explained as they headed towards the center of the small village. “You get up before the sun, and it makes it harder to be ambushed at sunrise.”

  “Uh-huh…”

  Leovyn’s description of the village inhabitants was quite accurate. There were only about ten other men Leovyn’s age, while nearly everyone else was a woman performing their daily tasks, or a child with nothing to do but play with the other children. It was obvious that few were trained for combat, and at the sight of an Aurrian knight, many turned to stare silently.

  “See this, kid? This is part of Aurra no one else wants you to see. Like the Administration, or any other number of so-called public secrets.”

  “H-how do you live like this?”

  “We steal from passing synthid transports when we can. Sneak into Cities and take a few babies if we must. That’s just the way of life for us.”

  “Why? How is freedom worth all of this?”

  “Ask myself the same question all the time, kid.”

  “Garder. My name is Garder… Not… ‘kid’.”

  “Well. Garder. I guess they think that if they keep trying, they’ll eventually find… something. Some better way of life, I guess. Some hidden utopia. Of course, all that really matters for survival in Aurra are synthids and transferring machines. We lack a constant supply of both.”

  “Do you have a radio? I need some updates on what’s going on.”

  “Got a few in my quarters,” he replied quietly. “Don’t let most of ‘em listen in, though. Talk of Aurrian rebellion scares them.”

  Garder followed him into an old, rusted iron caravan. The operations room was so packed full of random assortments of odd objects and old weaponry that there was only enough room for two people, a chair, and a hammock. Lank came in, squeezed between Garder and Leovyn, and curled up on a misshapen pillow under the desk where the radio rested.

  Garder turned it on and tuned it to one of the frequencies he remembered. Leovyn took a seat in his hammock where he took a puff of his cigarette, coughing a few times afterwards.

  “You know how to work that thing, or…” he muttered.

  “Rebel station CFF, this is Garder Nolland, code: Dew—Alloy—Spark—Gamma. Requesting notification of regional activity, over.”

  He waited. No response came but the fizz of empty radio waves. He tried a second time, but still nothing.

  “Place must’ve been knocked out or lost,” he sighed.

  “Or just lost a good connection,” Leovyn suggested. “It happens.”

  “Why are you monitoring us? Do you know the station codes?”

  “Come on; I’m not dumb. They aren’t hard to figure out when you listen and make notes. Guard’s probably onto you by now as well.”

  “Anyway, I don’t feel like searching around, so I’ll just try I…”

  And he got a response almost immediately on I’s frequency.

  “Copy that. You’re with ‘M’, right? We got a report to listen in for you. Your group’s been worried since your disappearance.”

  “What? What are they doing up there?”

  “Arrived yesterday after a formal request for assistance. The City officials that want to leave are beginning to do so, and we’re filling up the emergency caverns. In short: we could use some help getting the other half-million people still in the City organized.”

  “You’ve done well in such a short time span…”

  “Yes, sir. Your group is waiting for you now. Should I tell them that you will be arriving shortly?”

  “Go ahead and do that.” He looked back at Leovyn. “Can’t tell you when I’ll show up, but it shouldn’t be long…”

  “Copy. Over and out.”

  “Same here.”

  “That all?” Leovyn asked as Garder removed the headset.

  “Yeah. Um, thanks. So, I think I’d better be going. And I also think I’m going to be taking the pretorian with me.”

  “That so?”

  “Yeah. What use do you have for her? No one’s going to barter for her life. They’d sooner replace her than try to rescue her.”

  “Oh yeah? You think you know the pretorian credo so well?”

  “She’s a special case. She hasn’t proven herself to them yet.”

  “Then she’s new to the clan and inexperienced?”

  “Yes, but… You’re not going to believe this, but she’s a clone.”

  “A—a clone? Of who?”

  “You probably haven’t heard of her. But who knows. She’s a replica of Queen Escellé, of Hold’s hidden kingdom.”

  Leovyn put his cigarette out and stared at the ground for a while.

  “Odd you two showing up here like this,” he eventually muttered. “Yes, quite the combination of guests you two make…”

  “Why?”

  “Nothing. Forget it. I’ll free your friend. You can take her wherever you want.”

  “What? Why the change of heart all of a sudden?”

  “Does it even matter? Just take her and go. I’ve got my own problems to deal with here as is. Village has to move again.”

  “Yeah. You gotta dump them all off at X. I don’t know if I can agree with what they’re doing, but is that really the right thing for you to do? They must’ve made you their leader for a reason. Why betray that trust?”

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “Shut up, kid. You know nothing about me or these people.”

  “Maybe I don’t, and maybe it’s none of my business, but there are a few things I can’t stand: hypocrites and liars in high positions. You might think you’re doing what’s best for them, but don’t you at least have the decency to tell them first?”

  “You get angry so easily. What kind of crusade you on? Think the world needs you goin’ around, trying to make it a better place? You don’t know anything. I bet you’re young and stupid—na?ve. How old are you?”

  “Seventeen—”

  “I meant lifetimes, hero boy.”

  “Five,” Garder growled.

  “Yeah. Five. When you’ve lived the thirty I have, let’s have this conversation again.”

  “Okay, old man, I’m always being put down for being young for an Aurrian. I’m tired of it. Why does age even matter? You think my eyes need opening or something? Look at you, man—you’re a loser. I don’t know your story, but you must go around taking advantage of people and then leave when you’ve had your fill. Can’t stand up to or for anything, I bet.”

  “Got some nerve talkin’ like that to a guy who saved your life and is letting you go with a pretorian in tow. This how you make friends? Start an argument with everyone you meet, about whatever’s in your head?”

  “I… No…”

  “You know what your problem is? You don’t sit down, shut up, and listen to people. ‘Forget opposing viewpoints. My way’s the best. I’m on an idealistic journey, and what I say goes.’ I hate people like that, kid.”

  “I’m… I’m not like that. You don’t know anything about me.”

  They fell silent. Leovyn looked over him again, and finally said with a laugh, “But you got energy. Not afraid to lash out. You believe in things, and you don’t hide it. So many people lack that ability; mask their feelings their entire lives and die with ‘em. That won’t happen with you, will it?”

  Before Garder could reply, the radio fizzed loudly for a sudden moment, and quickly went quiet again.

  “What was that?” he asked.

  “Don’t know. Lightning does that sometimes, but there didn’t seem to be a storm coming in last time I checked—”

  “The pretorian’s partner is a lightning,” Garder realized and jolted up from the chair. “It could be him.”

  “Damn it,” Leovyn grunted and grabbed the handgun hanging above him. “Don’t just stand there, boy—go out and greet the bastard.”

  He nodded his head nervously and rushed outside, not knowing what to expect. Just as he saw the figure up above on the cliff, it ignited into an arcing bolt and smashed into the ground a few feet ahead of him. After the smoke and sparks dissipated, Viveri emerged and looked at Garder.

  “Ah, Mr. Nolland. I believe you’re babysitting my blade. I still want that back, ya know.”

  Viveri’s dramatic entrance had captured the attention of the villagers, and after they realized that it must have been a pretorian, they sought shelter. Viveri looked around at the panic and sighed tiredly.

  “Can’t say I really like villagers… Such weak people. No backbone to help them fortify their dangerous desire for freedom.”

  “What do you want?” Garder asked.

  “Little Kamsa went here a few days ago—supposedly. Never came back, so now I’m out looking. Strange finding you here.”

  Leovyn stepped out from his quarters just as he finished loading his weapon, which was like a flare gun with a large six-chamber revolver attached that held the standard ammunition used in Aurrian rifles.

  “Get out of here, Pretorian,” Leovyn mumbled. “This village isn’t going to be victimized.”

  “Stay out of this, gramps. I don’t care about your village. I’m just looking for a friend of mine. We’ve got other things to do.”

  Garder reached for his sword. Viveri reacted by reaching for his. Leovyn reacted by firing his oversized revolver.

  Viveri had drawn his sword and swung down with a following trail of glowing electricity before the bullet hit him. The slug was split in half in the air, and its black powdery contents spilled over the ground. The speed of Viveri’s parry was certainly not unexpected from a lightning user—but the precision of it was what set Viveri apart from a non-pretorian.

  “Waste the other five if you want,” he scoffed. “I’m not here to play games with the elderly. I’m just out lookin’ for a trainee named Kamsa. Now tell me: has she come around these parts recently?”

  “There’s nothing for you here,” Leovyn said angrily. “Go terrorize someone else.”

  “This guy’s crazy. You should back off,” Garder warned Viveri.

  Leovyn eyed Garder, and Viveri wasn’t the least perturbed.

  “You’ve got me all wrong. I’m not mean like Trinqit, and not brutish like Palar. I’m just a simple guy trying to get through the day. Now how ‘bout you tell me what you know, and I’ll be going.”

  “We don’t know anything…” Garder told him.

  “If that’s true, then it’s funny finding you here, at a village Kamsa was supposed to dispose of. She fought you on Earth, right? Probably some tropical ocean spot. But she was gone for quite a while. I’m wondering… did you bond or something? I swear, if you made any moves on her…”

  “Nothing happened. She… she killed me easily.”

  “Easily. Well, that’s not hard to believe. But I hear you’re supposed to be a good swordsman, Garder. So maybe I’m more of a match for you?”

  He swung his sword outward as fast as lightning, but Garder was able to deflect it elegantly. Viveri seemed somewhat intrigued.

  “Well, how about that. Not bad. Now, shall we try three times?”

  The pretorian lashed out at Garder’s left arm, torso, and then his knees. He managed to redirect or completely stop each attack right in time, and it barely wore on him at all.

  “You might be fast,” Garder huffed, “but you take a split second to charge every attack. All I have to do is read your movements. Are you really a swordsman? What talent is there in repeated, singular swipes charged with electricity? You just do that and hope to get lucky?”

  “Oh, come on, as if I’m really taking this seriously.”

  “I am. And I’m not as bad with alchemagi as you might think.”

  Viveri noticed Garder’s sword hand—two fingers were extended out from the hilt. A blast of air was generated in between the two, blowing Viveri back a few feet. Garder quickly followed up by condensing what little moisture there was in the air, freezing the droplets into sharp icicles, and then flinging them all at Viveri.

  He was taken by surprise; Garder was better than anticipated. But he easily turned his sword into a spinning blade of electricity that chopped up every icicle on impact, in turn moistening the ground between the two.

  The pretorian then condensed the remaining water in the air, and released it to make the ground even wetter. He followed up by plunging his sword down into the sand and sending electricity flowing into it.

  “Look out!” Leovyn shouted and pulled Garder out of the mud as giant arcs of lightning spread throughout the damp spots.

  “Shouldn’t make it easier for me, Garder.” Viveri shook his head and pulled the sword out. “Alchemagi wise… we’re not on the same level.”

  “Careful, kid. He’s got some power if he can spread electricity through the ground like that,” Leovyn commented.

  Viveri yawned. “Look. I didn’t come here to fight. But the orders for Garder’s death and the destruction of this village are still active, so…”

  He raised three fingers and knelt down. Garder took up a defensive position and grounded himself in the dried sand, thinking it’d offer him a little more protection against whatever was coming next.

  “He’s making something big,” Leovyn muttered. “Just be glad there aren’t any storm clouds above. Makes fighting their type a lot harder.”

  Garder thought about the creature Kamsa had shown him on the cliffside—and he was suddenly positive of what Viveri was doing. He wanted to charge after him or launch some kind of protection, but he had no idea what exactly he would soon be dealing with, or if Viveri would be able to fight back in his current state.

  He didn’t have time to make a decision; Viveri was quick with his summoning, and in seconds, he lowered the fingers that he wasn’t actually casting with, and a being with wings made of pure, violet electricity formed above him. It squawked loudly and in a frightening way; the sound was full of ear-piercing static, wholly unnatural in tone.

  As it hovered it place, lightning jolted out from its body, setting nearby tents and crates on fire or otherwise charring them. Viveri swung his arm down at Garder and Leovyn, and the bird went into a diving stance.

  “It’ll slam into us!” Leovyn shouted. “Move!”

  Garder gathered his energy and prepared to use wind to get himself to safety—but then he noticed Kamsa. She was right outside of her tent, her shackle still around her wrist, but the chain broken in half.

  “Viveri! Stop!” she called out.

  Recognizing the voice, Viveri released the bird, and it dissipated into the air. Villagers rushed out from hiding, and despite the pretorian still being present, began dousing the flames his creature had ignited.

  “Chickpea? Where were you? Why are you still here?”

  “Please do not call me that anymore. It is demeaning.”

  “But—”

  “I am a human being. I am not their ‘adorable little weapon.’”

  “Uh—little darling, what’s gotten into you? You’ve never spoken to me like this before.”

  “I am my own person now. I refuse to be treated otherwise.”

  “Okay. Okay, I get it. I’m happy for you, Kamsa—I really am. They said that was a crucial step in the program.”

  “I don’t care about the program. I no longer wish to serve under you. If I must hurt the innocent, I do not wish to remain a pretorian.”

  “You… Kamsa, what are you doing? Are you really betraying us, just like that?”

  “I wish to help Garder and his friends now. I believe that what he is trying to do is the same thing we should be doing with our power.”

  “Kamsa… You do this, and Drides or Trinqit—or any of the others is going to kill you. I mean it. Do you want that? Don’t you know what that could mean for you?”

  “I don’t care anymore. From now on, I wish to be my own person. I want to make my own choices. And my first is my resignation.”

  “So… you’ve turned traitor… Guess I mean nothing to you, huh?”

  “No. That is not true. You are not like the others. I know that you could help people if you wanted to. I am giving you a chance to join us.”

  “J-join you? Yeah, right.”

  “Then return to the others and tell them what I’ve done. And if you harm a single person in this village, I will never forgive you.”

  “Kamsa… Come on now. You’re making a big mistake…”

  “No. I haven’t.”

  “You did this…” Viveri turned to Garder. “You turned her against her comrades. We treated her like one of our own! What did you tell her? What did you promise her? Damn it…”

  “I think… I think you should go now, Viveri. Kamsa is sure in her decision. It sounds like you won’t be talking her out of it.”

  “And for what? They aren’t going to show Kamsa the least bit of sympathy. And I cared about her. I’ll… I’ll make you pay for that.”

  Viveri raised three fingers and prepared a strong technique. Leovyn quickly followed suit, and the eyes of the two locked for a brief moment.

  And then Viveri backed down and stared at the old man in silence.

  “Y-you?” he muttered. “Leovyn? That really you?”

  “Get out of here!” Leovyn snapped. “Go, you pretorian garbage!”

  Viveri looked around at the villagers gawking out at the battle scene. Then twice at Kamsa, once at Garder, and once again at Leovyn.

  Garder didn’t understand why, but Viveri obviously realized that he was beaten—and likely unaware that Kamsa wasn’t even at full strength. Was it Leovyn? Garder could only assume that it was; that something about the strange old man frightened Viveri.

  “Kamsa…” Viveri muttered. “I loved ya like a sister, little darling… Why’d you go and hurt me?”

  To Garder’s astonishment, Viveri almost seemed as if he were on the verge of tears. Before any showed up, however, he was gone in a bolt of lightning. Garder followed with his eyes as it flew to the south and eventually disappeared beyond the mountains.

  “Man, elemental travel is a cheap trick…” he muttered as he seethed his sword.

  “Eh, he should only be able to go about a hundred miles before he has to use a demirriage.” Leovyn sighed and relaxed. “Still, there’s no way of catching him now.”

  “Kamsa…” Garder turned to her. “Did you really mean all that?”

  She nodded and replied, “Yes. I dreamt while I was asleep. And I thought about things. I see no reason to stay with a group of people with such objectives. All you told me was true, Garder. I truly do wish to help.”

  “Ha. You’re quite the motivational speaker after all, kid.” Leovyn chuckled. “Turning over a pretorian like that? Not bad…”

  “We should hurry to I. It sounds like your friends need you.”

  “Yeah, and we’ve really got to get to X in a hurry,” Leovyn added. “This village is in serious danger.”

  “Um… Thanks for everything you’ve done, Leovyn,” Garder replied. “Look, if there’s anything we can do for you… maybe you could get in contact with us. We could escort your village, you know. I’m sure we’d even take you in. Maybe relocate you to a City held by rebels.”

  “Well. I guess I’ll think it over. Now get going. I’m sure you’ll have a lot of explaining to do after you bring home a new friend like this one.”

  “Yeah…” Garder laughed. “Thanks again.”

  Garder headed back over to Kamsa, as Leovyn went around getting the village working to pack everything up.

  “Strange how Viveri just kind of gave up, don’t you think?” Garder wondered. “I think Leovyn scared him. That’s his name, by the way—the guy who rescued us after I fell off the cliff… Come to think of it, he must have some speed or talent if he managed to do that. Are you okay?”

  “I’m a little weak. I cannot use my alchemagi properly yet.”

  “Good thing you didn’t try to in front of Viveri.”

  “Yes…”

  “Should we get moving? I can’t wait to introduce you to everyone. The other two groups already got to bring friends back with them.” Garder smiled. “They’ll probably be a little jealous when I bring a pretorian back. Of course, they won’t be like that at first… Pissed off at me mostly, I bet.”

  “Before we go… there is something I would like to examine…”

  “What’s that?”

  “Well, you, actually.”

  “Examine—me? Uh, what do you mean?”

  “I told you that you probably have very high alchemagi reserves, but I would like to prove this. I didn’t get a chance to do this last time we were together, because you were rescued first. It’s a simple process. Just give me your hand for a moment…”

  “Okay, sure.”

  Amidst the loud, chaotic sounds of the village being disassembled, Kamsa took Garder’s hand and held it tightly. She closed her eyes and connected the flowing alchemagi between the two of them.

  The reaction was sudden and jarring. Kamsa, in her weakened state, could just barely prevent her own system from being damaged. She quickly let go and stared at Garder.

  “What? What is it?” he asked worryingly.

  “G-Garder… when’s the last time you’ve had a reading?”

  “I dunno. Probably back when I entered the academy.”

  “When did you attend it?”

  “Well, I was basically forced to become a knight when they took Milla in. Couldn’t let her ‘upstage’ me, you know? We were both eight back then. We both got simple, normal readings… Perfectly normal…”

  “And typically, levels do not change during one’s growth cycle…”

  “Uh, that’s an odd way of putting it, but yeah—that’s true.”

  “And alchemagi and the body’s natural energy are fixed variables. The more power alchemagi has, the less the available energy there is for the body. The ratio would never go over one-to-one.”

  “Y-yeah, so…”

  “Garder,” she said sharply, “the minimum alchemagi level required to be a pretorian is twenty percent. Your reserves are around forty percent.”

  “What? H-how… Can you be certain of that? Is… that bad?”

  “Readings that high are nearly unheard of. It is almost unnatural.”

  “But what does that mean? I’m not even that good at alchemagi—we both know that.”

  “I would like to do a reading of your sister before theorizing.”

  “Okay, fine—but I still want to know what this means.”

  “I will tell you when I find out myself.”

  “Just tell me something. Really, could this be a bad thing?”

  “Truthfully… it could be.”

  “There’s no use wondering about it here. I’m sure that one of the others could get some understanding of it. Can we get going?”

  “I suppose so.” Kamsa brought out the demirriage. “But… you should be wary of what’s happening to you. It will likely get worse.”

  “Worse? Like, this is a progressing health problem?”

  “I don’t know. That’s just the way I phrased it.”

  “I wonder if I could, um, ‘fix’ the problem by going back to Hold’s kingdom and having my body regenerated in this world.”

  “I’m not sure of how that works, but I doubt that would work. Your body is ‘programmed’ for each lifetime. This problem likely is not temporary; it probably lies within the genetics attached to your spirit.”

  “Then I’ll have medics or scientists—or just someone look at me in I. Can we go? Now?” Garder asked impatiently.

  “Yes… I’ll form the carriage.”

  Garder, being a young man, already treated his “problem” in the most typical way possible—by almost completely brushing it off. Kamsa, however, was worried for him for reasons she couldn’t yet explain. As they flew through non-space to a destination thousands of miles away, she tried to get a read on what he was thinking or feeling through his eyes.

  But all she could still see was the first person to show her true kindness and sympathy.

  Then she was suddenly bitterly cold. Despite all of the times she had created or used ice in her techniques, she had never been so cold.

  They stepped out onto the dimly lit, dark streets before the carriage disappeared. The two looked around the City, now nearly empty.

  Without thinking about it, Garder grabbed Kamsa’s hand and led her into the nearby apartment complex. His friends could be anywhere in the City, but he knew a good place to begin his search.

  He had chosen correctly—it seemed that it was dinner time in the evacuating City, and every last one of his friends were chowing down on a batch of Tess’ soup in her warm, inviting home.

  He received a wide diversity of looks when the door opened with him standing there, a pretorian at his side.

  Milla was taken aback, but couldn’t quite work into a look of anger. The others, overall, seemed to be glad that Garder had returned.

  Then Garder noticed the lone figure in the back of the room; someone he hadn’t expected to see again in such a place.

  Jeryn was the only one among them with no expression. He stared at Kamsa, and she could only stare back.