The stage six juvenile Abhorrent was dead. As were hundreds upon hundreds of spawn that had come with it. The price to pay had been enormous. Xerxes had regained consciousness after the fighting was done, to find that five mages had fallen in combat. Kuri, Tizqar, Ningal, Atra-Hasis, and Laxu. Gandash had also been injured, and though spellcasting had saved his life, he hadn’t woken up since. Many Unsighted had been killed as well.

Xerxes shuddered.

The fighting spilled into the nearby village. From the mouth of the cave, he could barely see what was left of the place. The torrential rain had already quenched the fires. There was no smoke. Any surviving villagers had long since fled.

Xerxes, Teucer, and Kashtiliash worked with Unsighted troops to dig a ditch and erect a mound to serve as their outermost defense. After the digging, they used wooden stakes to fortify the earth. When they finished, Teucer went back into the cave.

Katayoun came a few minutes later.

“Gandash is stable,” she said.

“Good,” Xerxes replied. He embraced her, and for a moment, they just stood there together.

“What about Jad?” Kashtiliash asked.

Katayoun sighed. “He stopped ranting. I think he realized he was coming across as a bit unhinged. But you can tell he’s not ready to give up.”

“I hate to say it,” Xerxes said, “but he does have a point.”

Jad was trying harder than ever to convince everyone that Gandash was unfit to lead them. The disastrous battle with the stage six juvenile had given him all the talking points he needed to press his case. And with Gandash in a coma, there was no one to argue against him. In fact,

“You’re going to have to make a decision eventually,” Katayoun said.

Xerxes nodded. As the First Lieutenant of Unit One, he was technically the highest ranking officer. If Gandash didn’t wake up soon, Xerxes would be the one to decide where to go next.

“Let’s go eat,” Kashtiliash said.

“Agreed,” Katayoun added.

Together, they went back through the tunnel into the main cave complex. It was an enormous open space, such that the torch and lamp light didn’t come close to completely illuminating it. Centuries ago, the villagers must have used the place to hide when bandits came, but in years since then, a place for children to explore and nothing else.

The camp was divided into separate areas based on the configuration of the cave itself. Tents were arrayed around campfires, with the Unsighted primarily on the left three quarters of the cave, with the mages on the right-hand side, where a rock shelf created a naturally elevated section.

They climbed a ladder to the shelf, and joined the other mages around the fire.

Five mages had fallen in the fighting. Those who were still alive looked haunted, exhausted, and taciturn.

Dasi had a patch on the side of her head to cover her missing ear. Even though they’d found the ear after the battle, she’d refused to waste melam on reattaching it.

Ningsummunu, like Dasi, was from Sin-Masu. He had kept all his piercings in. By luck, he hadn’t received a single injury so far. But he seemed more affected mentally, and refused to look anyone in the eye or say more than a word or two out loud.

Kishar, who was Katayoun’s best friend, was no worse for the wear, although she’d completely drained her chamber of energy.

Finally, Teucer was there, his longsword on the ground next to him.

“Where’s Jad?” Xerxes asked as he sat down and filled a bowl with porridge.

“He went to talk to the Unsighted officers,” Teucer replied. “He’s changed his idea a bit.”

“Oh? How, exactly?”

Teucer shook his head and raised his eyebrows. “You should hear it from him personally.”

“Okay,” Xerxes said. It was bad enough that Jad was essentially trying to start a mutiny. What worse idea could he have come up with?

He was scraping the last of the porridge from the bowl when someone finally broke the silence.

It was Kishar. “What are you thinking, Xerk?” she asked.

He looked up at her. “What do you mean?”

“About what we’re going to do next. We have no idea when Gandash will wake up. He might not. The storm’s going to pass eventually. Maybe even by tomorrow.”

He squatted over the cauldron and scooped out more porridge. Then sat back down. He ate a few spoonfuls.

“I don’t know. Guys, you know as well as I do that I’m not officer material. If we have to make a decision, I say we take a vote.”

His statement was met with silence.

Then Kishar said, “Xerk….” She looked at Katayoun.

Xerxes looked back and forth between the two of them. “What….”

Katayoun looked at her friend and nodded.

Kishar continued, “Xerk, I know how close you came to becoming an officer. Kat told me.”

“Wait, what now?” Teucer said.

Kishar was looking closely at Xerxes. He opened his mouth to speak, then closed it. He didn’t want to be the one to explain.

“Xerxes almost got an officer commission,” Kishar said. “Back on Sin-Amuhhu, he and Kat were on a mission assigned by Archon Shabadras. If the mission had gone well, Xerxes would be an officer.”

“Except it didn’t,” Xerxes said. “So I’m not an officer.”

“That’s not the point,” Kishar said.

“She’s right,” Katayoun said quietly. She grabbed Xerxes’ hand. “Of our group, you’re the closest it comes to being qualified. And in my heart, I know you’re qualified. You should be an officer. It’s just that stupid Truth Disc ruined everything.”

“Truth Disc?” Kashtiliash said.

“It’s not important,” Xerxes said. “Look, thanks for the vote of confidence, Kat. And you too, Kishar. But in the end, I’m not the captain. Gandy is. And… let’s just wait and see what happens. If he wakes up, then all of this is moot. And if he doesn’t wake up, then… we’ll do what makes sense.”

Teucer left to clean his bowl and spoon. Kishar soon followed. By the time Xerxes finished his second bowl, only he, Katayoun and Kashtiliash were left.

“I think I should go find Jad,” he said.

“I’ll take your bowl,” Katayoun said.

“No, I’ll get it. Give me yours.”

“I insist,” she said, grabbing it out of his hand.

He smiled and kissed her.

“You too, Kash,” she said. “Might as well get them all at once.”

“Ain’t gonna happen,” Kashtiliash said, holding his bowl and spoon away from her. “Mom would kill me.”

“Well, at least join me. How about that?”

“Sure.”

Xerxes went back to the ladder, hopped to the lower section of the cave, and went looking for Jad.