Cigdem started to turn towards Fatih, perhaps to reprimand him, when Zoe cut in. “I’m with Fatih on this one,” she said. “We can’t trust anybody here, and for all we know every single one of them is with Mirshal.”

“What, even the kids?” Cigdem snorted.

“Even the kids,” Zoe replied, voice flat and serious. “Kamila and Hilda Zelenko deceived me, manipulated me, and nearly killed me. As we speak they’re on their way to Kivv, no doubt to make contact with the Mirshal monasteries there and to bring reinforcements. Think about it: an army of Reapers, backed by Sowers, sweeping through the north.”

“Yeah, exactly, see?” Fatih called out, reaching for his sidearm. “It would be the death of the Empire. We’d be beaten back to the Gaurl Core in no time and then, well – who knows? Maybe the Mirshalites really can kill God.” He laughed.

Luca blinked and reached out for Eirchais, whose touch was distant, distorted by the walls. The shutters of the windows flapped a little, but it was only Parshir who took notice, glaring back and forth between the two walls.

“Listen to yourselves,” Luca said. “Think about what you’re contemplating, what it would mean. Can you honestly tell yourselves that you are good people?”

“We’re not,” Cigdem said. “We do bad things so good people don’t have to. Necessary things, dirty things, and we carry that.”

“That’s what soldiers do,” Zoe said. “Not that you would understand. You care more about your own sense of purity than –“

“Purity!” Fatih snorted. He stood up from his seat and walked around the table toward Luca, grinning, menacing her with his sidearm suddenly. Kalai started to reach toward Fatih, who fixed him with a blank stare. Kalai stepped aside, shuddering. Parshir didn’t even try to stop Fatih. “Zoe,” the minelayer said, “You’re giving far too much credit to this traitorous –“ he gestured with the sidearm – “Abrist” – he grabbed Luca by the wrist, bending her fingers open – “Mirshalite” – he shoved her arm onto the table, palm down, and placed the barrel of his gun against the back of her hand – “Scumbag.”

Cigdem sighed heavily. “Luca Buday, tell us the name of one Mirshalite still in Etyslund.”

The window shutters rattled as Luca stared across at Cigdem. She couldn’t remove her eyes from his. She couldn’t look at Fatih, whose breath was hot on her shoulder. Kalai stood with his back flat to the wall, staring at the back of Fatih’s head, looking for an opening, shaking in terror. Parshir held his hands over his head, mindful of the barrel of Zoe’s service weapon pointed straight at him.

“Luca Buday,” Cigdem said. “You’re originally from the Gaurl Core. Why don’t you come back? Leave this place.”

The wind whistled outside.

“I have seen what has become of my old home,” Luca said, “and I want no part in it. Better to live in exile and mourn what could have been, than to be like you.”

“You don’t know what situation you’re in!” Fatih said, grinding his teeth. “You don’t understand just how tolerant I’m being right now!”

“If it were up to me,” Zoe said, her weapon still trained on Parshir, “I’d shoot all three of you in the head right now.”

“Luca Buday,” Cigdem said. “Give me the name of one Mirshalite still in Etyslund.”

“There are none.”

In the confines of the room, the gunshot was like the world cracking open, the impact of it splintering the table right down the middle and splitting the wood in two. Cigdem stood to avoid the falling wood. Fatih handled the recoil of his weapon expertly and spun to point it at Kalai, who had just started to move at the moment of the shot. Luca collapsed to the ground, her good hand clutching the bloody wound torn through the other palm, blood staining her, tears smearing. She screamed. No one dared to move.

“Luca Buday,” Cigdem said, stepping into the ruins of the table, “Give us the name of one Mirshalite still in Etyslund, or Parshir dies.”

Luca, still sobbing, began to laugh. A thought occurred to her, through the haze of pain, as she stared up at Cigdem. At the grinning, bloodthirsty eyes of Fatih. At the white-hot rage of Zoe. They all wanted the same thing, didn’t they?

Eirchais spoke. You can’t possibly be considering –

“Parshir is the Mirshalite, you idiots!” Luca cried out, laughing, screaming.

Kalai, slack-jawed, turned to stare at Luca. “What?”

Parshir turned toward Cigdem. “You can’t – Luca – you –“ He looked to the door. “She’s lying!” he said, and reached out, dashing. “You c-“

He didn’t make it.

Sunlight shone bright through the ragged hole made by Zoe’s service weapon, once Parshir’s struggles ceased and he slipped down, down the wall, past the hole, leaving only a trail of heart’s blood. The light, filtering through the dripping blood inside the hole in the wall, flashed red through the room. DripFlash. DripFlash.

“Thank you,” Cigdem said, bending down toward Luca.

“You’ll pay,” Luca said. “Two of yours for one of ours, I said –“

“One of ours for one of yours,” Cigdem replied. “Stepan Zelenko for one of ours. Otherwise, there’s no deal, and we’ll just kill him and you.”

Fatih cackled. “Good idea, Captain! Great! They tried to play us two-for-one, they get played right back the same way!”

“Shut up, Fatih,” Cigdem said, standing. “Luca. Do we have a deal or not?”

She stared up at the Captain of the Invictans, eyes blurry, head light from the blood loss. “We have a deal,” she said. “Kalai… Get one of the prisoners out of the place we put them. Make sure nobody sees the spot, or how to free them.”

Kalai nodded. Stepping slowly away from Fatih, never turning his back, past Parshir’s body, and towards the door, he held his hands up, stared into Fatih’s face. “Let him go,” Cigdem said, and Fatih nodded, but never lowered his weapon. Kalai opened the door and departed. As soon as he was out the soldiers heard him break into a run.

Luca, rocking back and forth on the floor and holding her shaking, nerveless hand, remained numb to the world until she felt a prick on the back of her shoulder and fell forward with a gasp. She twisted to catch herself with her good hand, and from the point of the prick, a warmth spread out, like a spiderweb over her whole body. It reached up the length of her arm, to her fingertips, down into her palm, and there the warmth became a fire. Her focus returned, and the world became perceptible again.

“Come on,” Cigdem said, grabbing Luca by the arm and dragging her roughly up to a standing position. She didn’t resist. She nearly slipped in Parshir’s blood, but caught herself against the doorframe. “We have a hostage swap to handle. Zoe, Fatih, with me.”

“We’re not seriously just going to let this traitor live, are we?” Fatih asked as they made for the door. The way he looked at her, Luca felt she was being stared through.

“I’m with Fatih,” Zoe said, her down. “The only thing we can do now is clean up this mess before it catches fire again. Nothing else for it…” She sighed.

“Stop that,” Cigdem said. “We’re going to make a hostage swap, and from there, we’re going to do what we have to do to get the rest of our people back, we’re going to intercept those Mirshalites before they can get to Kivv, and we’re going to get out of this damn village.”

“Before it catches fire?” Fatih mockingly finished.

“If we do this right, it won’t catch fire,” Cigdem said. “Now come on already.”

When Kalai came back from wherever, dragging a half-lucid prisoner along with him, Cigdem turned to Zoe and Fatih, keeping a hand on Luca’s shoulder. “Go get Stepan and bring him here,” he said. Luca swayed, struggling to focus against the glaring sun, her head still light from the injury and the adrenaline that followed it. As Zoe and Fatih departed, Cigdem muttered over Luca’s shoulder. “It might take a little bit for the hypo drugs to kick in all the way, but you’ll recover once they do.” The wound on her hand was already starting to close, though Cigdem idly wondered if the nerve damage would ever go away. Not my problem.

As soon as they were away from Cigdem and out of earshot, Fatih leaned over toward Zoe. “This is ridiculous,” he said. “We can take everyone down if we want, we’re just not doing it because Cigdem’s worried we might get chewed out by command for killing too many…” he paused, and said the next word with palpable sarcasm. “Civilians.”

“Maybe,” Zoe said. “I can’t just disobey a direct order though. We’re getting Stepan back there, like he said.”

“Oh, I’m not saying you should disobey the Captain.” Fatih purred as he said this, reaching out to touch Zoe’s shoulder. She winced – the spot still tender from where she’d been bashed into the wall yesterday. “I’m just saying we make a bit of a show of it, get people riled up. We can’t be blamed for defending ourselves, can we?”

Zoe nodded slowly. “I see where this is going. I’m with you.”

As they crossed through the center of the village, towards the half-ruined house, Zoe saw a few of the villagers peeking out from their doors. Fatih saw them too, and grinned to Zoe. “See? They’re coming out to see what’s going on. Let’s show them.” He kicked the bloodstained rock in the middle of the village. Some of the encrusted stuff flaked off and flew in tiny chunks through the air. The acrid smell ran down the middle of Zoe’s tongue, making her mouth go dry.

Marga’s eyes going glassy

Kamila’s eyes bloodshot with vengeful tears

Fatih’s eyes indignant and defensive

She tried to shake off the smell, but it stayed in her nostrils and her mouth.