Morning came quietly. As I left my room, I could already hear everyone settling into their routine. A couple days ago, Kaleh decided he wanted to train. After thorough examination, Agnes relented, but warned him to do light exercise only. He only sometimes broke this rule.

  Agnes herself was working on a map. Not of terrain and landmarks, but of the journals and ledger. In short, a graph telling which houses were connected to who, and for what reasons. I chose to help her every afternoon, given she could not deduce the meaning of the very complex seals on her own.

  Today was the start of day 12. We didn’t have much time left, but according to Marie, no signs on the morning patrol. Sun rays flowed through the windows like a river, catching themselves on the early browning leaves.

  “Kaleh, how is practice going?” I asked through a window.

  “I’ve been getting my stride back.”

  I stepped outside, bathed in a combination of the warm light and cool breeze.

  “What about you and that magic?” He surveyed in return.

  I had been trying to harness the wind-based scrawl since the incident we had. If it was able to do that much damage, it may be useful to control. The issue was, of course, controlling it. I had reign over water, and to a lesser extent fire, but wind refused to listen.

  “We’ll see. There’s not many apples left to train on though...”

  Marie suddenly appeared behind me, fingers grasping my shoulder without a sound. Naturally, I leaped away from her, heart racing. She huffed, cackling wildly at my misfortune.

  Kaleh leaped in, “Leonn you ought to be more observant. She could’ve been a soldier.”

  “If she’d been a soldier, she’d been half as quiet and a quarter as competent.”

  He nodded, “and so you’d have singed her hair off.”

  “Nah, her hair’s too nice to burn.”

  I commented, walking toward the apple tree.

  It took her longer than usual to join me under the dotted branches. When she finally did, she carefully dodged my eyes, and occasionally tugged on her hood.

  “We’re running out of volunteers.” Marie noted, arms clasped in front of her.

  Every time she pointed to an apple, my goal was to slice it down with wind. The sun caught her finger as she pointed to the very top.

  “What? Are you mad at me?”

  No response, she just adjusted her cloak.

  At my command, the wind whipped across the clearing. I’d shaved a bit off the side, resulting in a layered cut into the flesh. Progress isn’t always fast.

  Marie caught it in both hands, forcing back a grin back as she held it up.

  “It looks like you threw a cheese grater at it.”

  But you didn’t hesitate to bite down on it after, did you?

  We returned with a rather hefty basket of the apples today.

  Marie quietly helped herself to the best one.

  “Good work today, Ley-” her voice caught in her throat, and she turned her head away,.

  “...Leonn.”

  She tucked the fruit inside her cloak, before stepping outside to patrol once more.

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

  Kaleh finally came inside, beads of sweat forming on his forehead.

  “Hey, Leonn. How many did you butcher today?”

  I shook my head in response, “shaved, maybe. That’s just good fashion.”

  Agnes called to me, in desperate need for a translator. Kaleh raised his eyebrows, tilting his head toward her with a strained smile. I sighed, surrendering to it. Lets put my nobility to use, then.

  “How many foreign nations are linked to Kastvassen, anyway?” cried Agnes, for a mercy that would not come.

  “The Rime village in the Whitelands, Rosco’s clay-marsh... their subjugation team went everywhere!”

  I nodded, unsure whether it mattered.

  “Spirits aren’t native everywhere, you’d be hard-pressed to find a strong fire spirit in the northern fringes” I commented,

  “Maybe Kastvassen was buying hunting rights in other nations?”

  Agnes sighed, head craning toward the ceiling, “...but why?”

  I would’ve loved to answer, if I knew.

  She flipped to another page, huffing once more.

  “If it was just them doing their business, that’d make sense. But this ledger is linked to the Wrath project. Same codes and all!”

  Marie walked back in, pace quickened as the sun hung just above the trees. She approached us, placing both of her hands on the table with a scowl.

  “Bad news...” she paused, before raising her already cautious voice

  “Kaleh! Can you join us over here?”

  We all gathered in front of Agnes’ map. The tension felt like tree sap, the way it hung viscous in the air.

  Marie cleared her throat, “short of it is that we don’t have much time. I found boot prints on the outer edge.”

  Agnes groaned, “at least we completed the map today...”

  Now that I think about it, what perfect timing.

  Kaleh turned to me, “Well, leader, what should we do?”

  My breath caught in place. Leader?

  Either way, now isn’t the time to dwell on it.

  “Agnes, you suggested heading for Arnier a couple days ago.”

  She nodded in response, “there’s a major connection to the project, and the capital is extremely crowded as well."

  She paused for a second, adjusting her greatcoat. "They’d have a really hard time finding us there.”

  I took a moment to think. Agnes wasn’t making headway, so there’s a piece we’re missing. We’d found a large stash of Gildes in a north wing office, so we can stay there as long as we need.

  “Is everyone fine with that?” I surveyed.

  Marie smiled, shoulders dropping weight as her head moved.

  Kaleh pounded his fist to his chest, just above his heart.

  “I owe you one. Course is set for the capital.”

  The main room was quiet as everyone picked resources clean elsewhere. A couple stray waterskins here, a couple leather packs there, and Agnes was dragging a trunk across the floor.

  “Hey, Leonn, mind helping me move this?”

  My head tilted, “what are you doing with that?”

  Her face contorted into a sly grin, “burying the evidence. If we ever need the books again, I’d hate for it to go up in flames like Kastvassen’s archives.”

  A sound point. It seemed like anyone connected to wrath was willing to burn everything to the ground to preserve themselves.

  I picked up a shovel from the storage room, likely the vehicle of many burials already. Exiting through the doorframe, I saw that Agnes had already chosen the spot. Marie hovered nearby, watching the tree-line as usual.

  The sun was beginning to set as we placed the last specks of dirt over the trunk.

  Abruptly, Marie turned from her tree-watching to steal the shovel, before patting it down as best she could.

  “They’re pretty stupid, so I doubt they’ll notice the grass has been disturbed here.”

  Of course she thought of that.

  “Kaleh, ready to go?” I called toward the library as he popped out through the door frame.

  “Affirmative.”

  Once he caught up to us, our boots hit the ground in sync. We marched south, toward the capital.

  We’d been walking for a couple of hours, sky dimming from that deep orange to the inevitable dotted pitch black. We chose to pitch our rickety tents next to a fallen cedar tree. I helped Marie get a fire going, while Agnes searched for sticks, and Kaleh daydreamed about doing more than he could.

  “Leonn,” he muttered from atop the log,

  “we should consider a watch rotation. A scout could show up at some point.”

  Marie glanced over her shoulder, scrawl fading from her hand in the motion.

  “Think you’re fit enough for that?”

  “Enough to wake someone up if I hear wolves chewing on the scenery.”

  I saw her lips freeze in place at the mention of the accursed creatures. My hand found its way to her shoulder, to my own surprise, as I set a more kindling into the pit.

  “Alright. I can take the first watch” I declared.

  Marie turned to me, eyes narrowed and brow tight.

  “No. I’ll do it.”

  That was just like her...

  “Ok... I’ll go second.” I relented,

  “Agnes-”

  “I’ll go third. My sleep schedule is ruined, anyway.” She interrupted, arm raised high.

  That left Kaleh on last, earning a grumble deep enough to shake the log.

  Everyone settled in. Everyone was doing their part. A little less sand in me today, and a little more air.