Chapter Twenty-One - The Exam

11 Seleszeni 10.076 Z.C., Morning

“Listen up, I’m only going to say this once,” the short green-skinned goblin bellowed at the assembled initiates. Lilla stifled a yawn.

Despite sneaking a look at the plans two days ago, worry over Dizzazz changing the exam troubled her sleep last night. She needed to pass this with flying colors; she’d gone to such lengths to steal those plans and ensure her success. She knew she could pass any exam the goblin threw at them, but the idea of setting a record to forever preserve her name and impress the clan allured her.

“There is a bomb in this garrison. Your mission is to safely evacuate the building before the bomb explodes, and find and disarm the explosive device. Also before it explodes,” he added, upper lip curling into a sarcastic sneer. So far, so good. This matched the plans.

A human man raised his hand with a question. Lilla recognized him from the parade, another initiate assigned to guard Orric’s float.

“Sir, they aren’t real explosives, are they?” he asked. Dizzazz frowned and didn’t answer, pacing down the row of initiates.

“Who here has command or university experience?” Dizzazz called. Before Lilla could even process the question, Mav and Brogmir stepped forward.

Suck ups. Lilla resisted the urge to roll her eyes as the boys pretended not to notice each other, puffing up their chests and staring straight ahead.

“I do, sir,” they boomed in a low chorus. Lilla felt jealousy’s warm spark as Dizzazz considered Mav and Brogmir, cursing them under her breath.

Hmph, Boros brats, both of them! They knew the question was coming. It’s not fair! She felt anger well up inside of her, but then remembered the importance of the exam and her true mission. I have to keep a low profile, she reminded herself. Letting Mav steal the show today hurt, but she would be the last one laughing after she used the Legion to exact her revenge.

“Viktorr, you’re in command. Pick your second,” Dizzazz bellowed, handing Mav a roll of paper.

“Yessir. I appoint Initiate Brogmir to second,” Mav returned without missing a beat. Dizzazz nodded. Yet another superfluous, macho ritual, Lilla thought, dejected she didn’t know the words to their song.

“Your time begins now.”

Mav turned on his heel to face the other initiates and motioned for them to gather around the briefing table at the head of the room. He unrolled the paper from Dizzazz and flattened it out on the wooden surface, pinning the corners in place with daggers. Some kind of map, perhaps? Lilla frowned again, but joined Nadine and the other initiates as they gathered around the table. Mav better not mess this up for me. She just needed a chance to get inside and ‘find’ the explosives, then they could call it a day.

“Brogmir, you’ll take half the team and evacuate the building. The rest of you will search the garrison for explosives with me,” Mav commanded. The minotaur warrior nodded once; if Brogmir felt slighted about being passed over for command, he didn’t show it. Lilla held her breath as Mav started calling out names for his half of the team. She heard Nadine pray something under her breath, and felt a sudden surge of anxiety.

Oh no! Mav will probably assign Nadine to Brogmir’s team. And then he’ll send me with her! Sorry Nadine, but you’re on your own today. Lilla stood tall and hovered over the crowd to draw Mav’s attention, stepping closer to him while putting some distance between herself and Nadine, pretending to get a better look at the map. Even if he didn’t pick her, she would still find a way to locate the bomb herself, but it would be harder to explain.

“... and Arven,” Mav finished. Lilla suppressed the urge to dance and instead stepped to his side of the table with the other initiates he named. Nadine glared at her with obvious envy from Brogmir’s side, and Lilla just shrugged. Nadine still hadn’t recovered from Mav’s rebuff at dinner last Matsday.

The squads stood silent for a few moments, studying the map on the table - a blueprint of the garrison used for today’s exam. Lilla recognized the layout and identified the room with the bomb - the guest quarters adjacent the mess hall - before turning her sharp mind to the task of reading Mav and influencing his decision. She wouldn’t sit back and let this spoiled brat rob her of her chance for glory, like Rugilar did when he placed her in command of the last raid’s goblin suicidal charge and sent her here as a spy.

When Mav finished formulating his plan, he faced the group, detailing assignments and search patterns with tactical tenor. He planned to split the squad into smaller parties, which would each search and clear a different floor of the garrison. Brogmir did the same, directing deployments on the map and ensuring everyone in his squad understood their roles.

Before Mav could move on, Lilla spoke up. “Sir, I have experience working in kitchens,” she half-lied, thinking of her grift in the officer’s mess earlier that week. “I volunteer to lead the search party on the lower tier.”

“Alright initiate,” Mav acquiesced without losing time, and then issued the rest of the floor assignments. She resisted the urge to dance again. Lilla’s appreciation for Mav grew a bit, not because he helped her, but because he listened to her advice and took the best course of action. If only the other anarchs in the clan were this cooperative; I would have risen to the top of that dung heap a long time ago.

After a few questions, the two teams converged on the garrison. Brogmir’s team entered first to begin evacuating the building ahead of the bomb squad. Inside, she heard the minotaur’s loud voice boom instructions to the veterans posing as unwitting civilians and soldiers.

When Brogmir’s team cleared the end of the first hallway, Mav motioned for the rooftop search team to enter and begin sweeping the area. Pairs of initiates peeled off the group, rushing up the stairs. Lilla maintained her place in the order, measuring her paces to stay in step with the rest of the group. Don’t wanna seem too eager, I can’t afford anyone catching on.

Mav signaled her, and she led her team a little ways from the rest of the squad. Lucky for her, she didn’t need to take any stairs. Far enough away from Mav to give orders without shouting over him, Lilla took charge of her group.

“You two search the barracks on this side of the mustering hall. You two start searching the mess, I’ll check the guest quarters and we’ll meet in the kitchen. Make sure you pay careful attention to the chests and storage drawers.” They acceded with a refrain of ‘sirs’ and swift salutes before splitting off in haste. She watched them disappear into their rooms, and hurried off to her own to get out of sight.

On reaching the guest quarters she gave the room an earnest and efficient search, using the standard Legion method taught to her by Sergeant Boja. Lilla moved faster as she crossed to the bomb’s side of the room, growing anxious as she mimicked a perfunctory search.

Finally, she reached the bed. She found the bomb package between its wooden supports, just as Dizzazz’ notes indicated.

“Viktorr! Bomb!” she shouted as loud as she could. Through the open door, she heard a shift and clatter of chainmail, smiling while visualising her squadmates jumping in surprise.

“Copy that,” Mav’s voice echoed from the mustering hall. “All teams keep looking, there may be more packages!”

The plans she looked at didn’t include any information on how to disarm the bomb itself, but she remembered Splatz mentioning he and Mav used to play with fireworks and explosives all the time. She’d counted on Mav helping her disarm the device right away, so they could finish faster.

Lilla tapped her finger on the ground as she hunched under the bed and waited for Mav. Hurry it up, meathead. Get over here and make yourself useful for something besides looking pretty. Growing more impatient, she examined the device herself. Improvised, like something a guildless dissenter might use. Recalling her training, she deconstructed the explosive in her head, identifying different parts and their function.

By the time Mav jogged into the room and joined her under the bed, she’d turned the puzzle over in her mind enough. “About time, Viktorr,” she quipped, drawing her knife and keeping her eyes on the detonation mechanism. With a confident flick of the wrist, she sliced one of the wires in two. The almost-imperceptible hum of the mizzium charge inside quieted.

Mav grinned at her and stood, offering her a hand up. Collecting the inert bomb from under the bed, she accepted his help.

“Well done, Arven!” Mav praised, clapping her on the back once she stood beside him. “Nice work.”

Brogmir’s team cleared the garrison in no time, while Mav’s swept the building for more explosives and found none. To Lilla’s delight, Dizzazz reported their class passed the exam in record time.

As they collected their new soldier insignias, Nadine rejoined her, giddy with excitement.

“I can’t wait to show my parents!” she exclaimed, then winced, glancing up from her pin to look at her orphaned friend. But then Nadine smiled again, with an indecipherable look in her eye. “I know they’ll be proud of you too, Lilla. And so would yours.”

Lilla frowned. “Whatever, it doesn’t matter,” she muttered, masking her sorrow as she relived the fading, happy memories of her parents. “I didn’t do this for them, or for anyone else. I did this for myself,” she slipped.

Nadine regarded her with mild intrigue. “You sound pretty scary when you talk like that,” she commented. The vedalken pursed her lips and shrugged.

“I am.”

Nadine laughed, but didn’t take her eyes off Lilla. “Sooo, if you’re done acting like some edgy Dimir agent, what are your plans to celebrate? We have the night off,” she asked, changing the subject.

“I don’t know,” Lilla spat. Her eyes fell on Mav across the room, and she remembered how long he left her waiting under the bed. “Hey Mav,” she called, raising her voice. “What are you doing tonight?”

He glanced over from a conversation with Brogmir. “Goin’ to the G ‘n G with Splatz,” he responded, his deep voice spanning the distance with ease.

Lilla opened her mouth to respond, but Nadine nudged her and coughed, preempting her question.

“The Guts and Glory. It’s a Rakdos bar in Precinct Six. I’ve never been there, but I’ve heard they have good pit fighting shows.” Nadine bit her bottom lip, no doubt imagining a sweaty Mav brawling in the ring. “Why don’t you send a message to that officer you told me about, the handsome guy with the flowers. Ouain, right? Invite him and we can make it a double-date!”

Lilla considered the idea, curious about the ‘handsome’ officer who sent her a note. She intended to send him a message so she could at least find out more about him, and now seemed as good a time as any. Still, she had a bad feeling about surprising Mav with a double date after their dinner conversation - but Nadine’s pleading look and her own desire for payback won her over. If not for him, their time today would have been even faster.

“Alright, I’ll tell Mav we want to join him, then we can go send a message to this mystery officer. I want to turn in an application for officer training myself, now that we’ve graduated. We can do that at the same time.”

Nadine smiled. “Perfect.”

11 Seleszeni 10.076 Z.C., Midday

Lilla read her note again as they left Sunhome, growing more suspicious when she found out the messenger also delivered identical letters to Mav, Splatz, and Nadine.

“You’re actually going to answer his summons?” Lilla asked Mav, incredulous. “Yarik is a pompous ass. He lied to us! There’s something shady about that guy, I can tell. I don’t think we should go.”

Mav shrugged and Nadine glared. Lilla intuited from her friend’s expression she thought this would be a perfect occasion to corner Mav. Not you too!

“There’s some things you can’t write down. Maybe he’s got a job, maybe it’s a good one. No harm in hearing him out,” Mav countered, his reasonable tone infuriating Lilla.

“What do you think, Nadine? You’ve been quiet,” Splatz piped up, gazing up at her brown curls as he scratched his ear. She glanced down at him, scrunching up her nose before looking away.

“I’m sure if anything went wrong, Mav would protect us.” Nadine stared off into the distance as the last words fell from her lips.

What?! You trust that rocjock more than me?! Lilla threw her note on the street in protest and ground it into the cobblestone with her heel. “You idiots! I’ve spent more time with Yarik than all of you put together, I know him best! He lied to us about the Rakdos, he will probably lie about this job, too.”

Mav’s eyebrow arched as he watched her grind the note. “You should sign up for a fight tonight, get that aggression out of your system,” he observed dryly. Nadine looked ready to say something flirtatious, until Splatz laughed.

“Yeah right, have you seen her arms?” Splatz pointed, holding up his own as he flexed. “Even mine are bigger. Right, Nadine?”

Nadine shot him a sharp look as Lilla hung her head in shame. She couldn’t tell for sure, but thought she heard Mav kick Splatz. They all frowned, and spent the next block watching their boots in silence. Mav startled Lilla when he cleared his throat, motioning towards the cross street.

“Splatz and I’re going to stop by this club Yarik mentioned on the way; we’ll need to hurry to get back to the Guts and Glory before tonight’s fights start. You ladies are welcome to join us, or we can meet later tonight.” His firm tone brooked no argument.

Lilla looked at Nadine, who avoided her eyes and didn’t say anything. Really? So immature! I thought we were friends... She sighed aloud.

“Fine! We’ll go with you to this stupid club, but I bet you the first round of drinks Yarik’s going to lie to us again,” she wagered. Mav chuckled.

“You’re on.”