The village was alit with a certain fluor.

A meeting was to take place in the town square just shy of sunset that day. This meant one of two things.

The first was much welcomed, it was the news of a bountiful hunt or harvest, of which festivals were commonly held. The second was much less welcome. Generally news of dangerous beasts, predicted famines, deaths, and most feared of all, invasion. One needed only to hear the hushed murmurs floating around to ascertain that it was overwhelmingly likely that this meeting was of the latter sort.

Only a few hours had passed since noon, and yet the overcast sky was already beginning to dim. Malt strode toward Nasir’s residence with a certain reluctance. Thoughts of the jolly welcoming meal held just minutes prior lingered in his mind as the hearty meal sat heavily in his stomach.

It was almost as if he could physically feel the warmth of home fading as he moved onto much less cheerful matters.

As he approached the reinforced wooden gates of the residence, he drew a crudely copied iron key and jiggled the lock open, pushing the hefty doors inward.

Ana stood about the porch, carrying a tray laden with various teapots and delicate pottery cups. She smiled at him in quiet acknowledgment, beckoning for him to follow.

Whereas the hatch to the basement had previously hardly been opened, it was now almost continuously propped wide by a makeshift stopper of sorts. The two descended into the darkness, both able to traverse the staircase without as much as a candle to illuminate their way, a testament to the frequency in which they did so.

A familiar scene was revealed once they’d plateaued.

The captive, Alexi, sat upon a wooden chair at the center of the room. His expression was more bored than threatened, which was fine in his current situation.

Partially due to Nasir’s (relatively) humane essence, and partly because of Alexi’s compliant nature, he had been granted many freedoms. Though he was placed in a way in which he couldn’t reach anything that could facilitate an escape, his hands were no longer bound, and the rope connecting his leg braces was lengthened in order to allow enough movement to stretch.

He was fed hot meals and given plenty of fluids, as well as appropriate warmth for the frigid nights in order to expedite his recovery. Hell, Nasir had even given him some books from his very own collection to make the time between interrogations less mundane.

When Malt had asked the old man as to why, he simply replied with a shrug. “He’s being quite useful so why not? ‘sides, a willing subject’ll be more keen in his descriptions than an unwilling one.”

At this point, he’d already understood the futility of trying to decipher Nasir’s mind. He’d just leave this sort of thing to the master.

There was one other reason that could explain the grey’s laxness, though.

Ana and Malt stepped into the room’s dim light, prompting the prisoner to raise his head in an uninterested manner. His expression immediately changed though upon seeing Ana, and Malt could’ve sworn that he saw his face grow two shades paler.

Though it was tough to tell, his eyes seemed to be flitting between the tray of complementaries and Ana’s always-gentle expression.

Nasir, who was currently hunched over a busy table, beckoned to Malt with a nod of his chin.

“C’mere for a second, lad. I managed to eke some more out of our friend here.”

As Malt made his way to the parchment-laden desk, he could see Ana heading to Alexi from the corner of his eye. She offered him one of the cups with a smile, to which he grabbed with a hesitant hand, eying the rich herbal tea as if it were poison.

He gulped audibly as he brought the cup’s rim to his mouth, the refreshments dark, vaguely translucent surface dancing with tiny, abrupt quivers.

Nasir started, bringing his attention back to the planning table.

“I’ve confirmed all of the speculations we’d made.” He dug a map out from under various piles of parachent, bringing it to the top. He drew attention to a large red arrow scrawled west of the village pointing right.

“Looks like they’re planning to concentrate their forces on a push down the hill. My guess is they’ll poke through the outer perimeter and disperse into the streets to take us by surprise.”

Malt brought his hand to his chin, feeling the prickly stubble that had sprouted there.

“I figured as much. Shame they aren’t dumb enough to try and surround us.”

“I’d actually take this as a development in our favour.”

He closed his hand into a downward facing fist and aligned it with the arrow, mimicking the attacking force. “They’ll be more easily trackable since they’re moving in a group. If we can manage to pinpoint where they’ll attack, I reckon we could blunt their advance in one fell swoop.”

“They’re bound to know about the tracking skills of our hunters though. I’m guessing there’s a phase two or a backup plan, yeah?”

A smile spread across the man’s regal features. “Precisely.” He pushed his fist toward the perimeter and upon contact, opened his fist and splayed his fingers out dramatically.

“They’ve probably figured that the initial push isn’t likely to succeed, but the possibility of punching through in one go is too good to pass up. So, they’ll probably disperse into already established groups and surround the northern, western, and southern quarters.”

Malt nodded in understanding.

“I see. They’ll be less organized this way, plus their morale would have already taken a hit.”

“Exactly. That, and they’ll be more easily spottable moving parallel to the perimeter.” He gestured to the dozen or so blotted nodes surrounding the outer barrier. “We’ll need people on every bearing, but focussing manpower of the western hemisphere would probably be more efficient.”

“Mhm.” Malt stared distantly into the map, processing the information he was just given.

“Anything about their leaders? Is this ‘Rudd’ guy going to be leading the assault?”

The man turned his head and gestured to Alexi. “Oi. Give him the rundown, lad.”

The boy placed his cup back onto the tray, trying to feign gratitude, yet also seeming to do so with a little too much relief.

“They don’t tell us grunts too much, but I’m almost certain Rudd’s not going to be there.”

Malt leaned back against the table’s edge.

“He one of the thinking types?”

“If you mean a tactician, then yes. He usually stays in base giving orders; thus why I’d never seen him.”

Malt’s eyes narrowed.

“By the way you’re talking, you know where this base is, yeah?”

“Nope. I defected with a couple other guys from my regiment, and the only one of us that made rounds to the actual main base was our de facto leader.”

Malt reasoned that this form of communication was a very conscious decision, likely meant to keep the main base’s location vague. The opposition wasn’t simply a group of deserters as he’d thought. It was more of a loosely tied conglomeration of smaller bands.

“How ‘bout that other guy? The one with grey hair.”

The captive raised his brow in confusion, before quickly realizing who he was referring to.

“Sigfred? I’ve no comments about that one. He’s the second in command, and yet no one in my little group has even heard him speak before.” His eyes wandered to the ceiling for a moment in thought. “That being said, from what I’ve heard there’s no shortage of upstarts wanting to take Rudd’s position…”

Malt quickly caught on.

“Let me guess, they tend to go...missing, yeah?”

“Basically. And Rudd’s not the best fighter. I’m guessing you can fill in the blanks.”

“Yeah just about.” He leaned back further out the table, letting out a heavy sigh. “I’m guessing you’ll be revealing this all during the meeting, am I right?” He turned his head toward the old man.

Nasir nodded, eyes still scanning the various documents on his table with startling efficiency. “That’s the plan, yeah. We’ve only three or so days before the assault after all.”

He grabbed Malt on the shoulder, nudging him toward Alexi and Ana, the latter of which was filling another cup, much to the former’s anguish.

“Go have a conversation with them or something. You’ll lose your grip on society if you hang around me all the time.”

“True.”

“...you’re not going to dispute that?”

Ana handed Alexi another cup, not even turning to the other two before speaking.

“He’s right, Malt. I wouldn’t want you to turn into someone like him either.”

Nasir’s lips curved into a wry smile.

“You youngins are getting real sassy these days.”