The next day was far too busy for the Order of White to pay attention to my self-centered ambivalence. On the one hand, I wanted our foray into the Wastes over already, so I could figure out how I was going to handle the mess I had made. On the other hand, marching headfirst into hostile territory sounded like the apocalyptic plan of a madman.

  “You understand where I’m coming from, right?” I asked Aurum.

  To his credit, he gave me a profound, soulful stare before smacking me with his muzzle.

  “Alright, alright. I admit I’m hiding here so I don’t get asked too many questions,” I muttered, wrapping my arms around his neck. “The less they know that I don’t know what I’m doing, the better.”

  Aurum went for my cloak pocket and helped himself to the last carrot I’d procured.

  “And that pays for your silence on this whole matter, Mister,” I mumbled before giving him a final brush-down. “All you have to do is be your stunning self while I give a grand farewell.”

  He crunched the carrot in agreement.

  “Relias is looking for you,” Nora called from the stable door.

  I made a rueful face as I rubbed my nose. “We’re not getting part two of his sermon, are we? I’m not up for another round of fire and brimstone.”

  Nora shook her head as she walked in. “He just wants to make sure you’re ready.”

  “Oh. I guess it’s my turn to speechify, huh?”

  Nora scowled. “Not looking like that, it’s not.”

  “What’s wrong with how I look?”

  She plucked several horse hairs from my cloak, then waved them in front of my face.

  “Just hit me with a blast of Ventos,” I said, waving my hand.

  Nora rolled her eyes, but with nothing better to offer, she complied. However, as I headed for the door, she yanked me over to a wooden stool.

  “At least let me fix your hair. Sakes almighty.”

  “It’s just gonna get messed up again once we ride out,” I muttered, secretly glad she was going to do it anyway. To be honest, it’s a wonderful feeling to have someone fuss over you.

  Especially when it’s someone who knows how messy you are.

  On the inside, I mean.

  “Cutting it is useless, but I could braid it, you know,” she said, pulling at a few strands.

  “After the speech,” I agreed. “That way, it’s not hitting me in the face on the ride.”

  “Have you figured out what you’re going to say?”

  “More or less.”

  Despite feeling more like a charlatan than ever, I found public speaking getting easier. The audience was new, so recycling a few lines from past speeches wasn’t considered lazy. They were also already on my side before I opened my mouth, so I didn’t have to try all that hard.

  And since Relias had already hit them in the chapel with themes like divine Purpose and eternal demon suffering, I could focus on the ideals I cared about.

  ***

  “And let my deep gratitude be known to all who would hear of it,” I declared from Aurum’s saddle. “For your vigilance. For your trust. For your strength. For standing with one another—and with me.”

  I let the silence stretch just long enough, scanning the unit that would accompany us. Holy knights, priests, but primarily sharpstriders, each laden with a bushel of blessed bolts.

  “I bear the burden of what awaits at my destination,” I said, launching into my conclusion. “But thanks to your efforts, I won’t carry it there alone.”

  The first to rally in response was a tall, muscular ox-hybrid, and for just a fraction of a second, I was reminded of Aleph.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  No, Rachel, don’t do that.

  No tears.

  Put that thought in the parking lot.

  With a nudge of my heel, Aurum stepped forward and led the way through the gate.

  The others followed, hooves striking the rocks with a slow but steady rhythm. Nora and Relias caught up a few moments later, taking their places at either flank.

  “Sincere, but a little subdued,” Nora noted. “Though overall, I’m genuinely impressed. Nothing self-deprecating, and your eye contact was up 30%.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “How exactly did you come up with that metric?”

  She shrugged. “Observational estimate? What’d you think, Relias?”

  “Mmm, yes. Agreed,” he murmured, his eyes focused on the skies above.

  I looked up, seeing only an occasional cloud and a very bright sun. “Something wrong?”

  “No,” he said after a few moments. “I suppose it would be a little soon for a response…”

  A message from on high?

  I glanced at Nora, and she locked her thumbs, waving her fingers like a bird.

  “Oh! Safir?”

  Relias offered a faint smile. “Perhaps one of his kin. I pray he is not alone in bearing the burden of constant communication.” He straightened in the saddle, the light in his eyes sharpening. “Regardless, time is no longer our ally—and waiting for word from Chairo may prove perilous.” His expression darkened. “I do not relish moving to the rhythm of our enemy’s design.”

  Before I had a chance to respond, Lieutenant Arlena joined us. After carefully maneuvering her horse between me and Nora, she raised a flag, signaling several pairs of riders out in all forward diagonals.

  “Two hours at a moderate pace, then we’ll take a break until our scouts come back,” she advised, pulling at one of her ears. “Most of them are familiar with the terrain here already, but building the rhythm now will make it more natural to the troops once we hit the unknown.”

  “We’ll get two rounds in today before sunset, then?”

  Arlena nodded. “I won’t try to squeeze in a third. We’ll want to keep everyone as fresh as possible.”

  To say that the Wastelands were empty would be a bit of a lie. Sure, it was sparsely decorated with boulders and traces of gritty, black sand, but there were also all sorts of thankfully small-sized creepy crawlies trying to eke out a passable existence between the cliffs and cracks we passed on our way.

  However, they became much more annoying at night, especially after deciding our bedding made for excellent housing.

  “They don’t seem deterred by your barrier, Holy Sage,” Nora accused at one point, batting a spider off her bedroll.

  “They are deemed creatures of this world,” he explained. “Though I would be grateful if my spells would help them determine a different path.”

  Sleeping close to the watchfires proved moderately successful, though the occasional bug bite needed treatment. Scorpion stings were rarer, but one agonizing tale warned everyone to prevent any subsequent ones.

  It was the snake that threw me off the most.

  “Is that what I think it is?” I asked, pointing into the distance at a shifting mound of sand. “A dirt devil?”

  Lieutenant Arlena shook her head. “Serpentis Flagellis.”

  “Snakes?” Nora shrieked.

  “It’s just one,” Arlena said, seemingly unconcerned that the dune had doubled in size.

  “Is it venomous?” I asked, gripping Aurum’s reins tighter.

  Arlena gave me a rather wicked side-glance. “At that size, I don’t think it matters. But don’t worry, it sticks to the sands, and we follow the rocks.”

  Even though she was acting casual, she did wave her double flags, and I saw several soldiers tighten ranks.

  The dune erupted, and out came a giant, iridescent serpent, its scales flashing as it shot forward, spraying black sand in several directions. It wasn’t precisely a sidewinder, as it seemed to relish sifting through the top layer of sands more than skimming across it.

  “What’s it going after?” Nora squeaked.

  “Not us, thank goodness,” I replied, squinting at its path. “Some sort of… rodent? Maybe one of those giant rats Tetora had mentioned.”

  “Apodemus…?” Nora asked Lieutenant Arlena.

  “Not exactly,” she replied, her voice tight as she shot her flags skyward.

  A nearby sharpstrider pulled out his crossbow, took aim, and fired a bolt in a single, fluid motion. To my surprise, the bolt struck not the snake, but the furry beast that was about to be devoured by it. It let out a shrill, human-like scream as its form melted away, revealing a golden core.

  “Weak demons trick the local predators into biting them,” Arlena explained. “They then pierce them with spikes from the inside and draw strength from the struggle.”

  The startled snake skittered backward, coiling back on itself in a defensive display. The gold core, with an arrow piercing it, shook back and forth, drawing dark waves of animus from the surrounding sands.

  Arlena’s nose twitched as she dropped the right flag to her side. Another sharpstrider aimed, striking the core with her bolt. With two blessed bolts cracking its hull, the light within the core waned, revealing what I could only liken to flickering gray pixels.

  “It’s over,” Relias confirmed with a note of approval. “Expertly handled, Lieutenant.”

  “It’s not catching fire or dissolving,” I noted, my hand drifting to the hilt of my sword.

  [Alert. NAUGHT Emergency Protocol active. Override activated. Error: Localized anomaly encountered.]

  What the...

  “It is masterless,” Relias explained. “With no sanctum to recall it, it has no place in this world to hide from its final judgment.”

  [Attempting defragmentation.]

  Nora’s eyes went for my sword. “What was that?!”

  The Will of Euphridia brightened, even though I hadn’t summoned my aura.

  “Captain Lightbringer?” Arlena questioned in confusion. “Is there something wrong?”

  “I…”

  [Error: Unable to defragment anomaly.]

  [Isolating anomaly…]

  [Isolation complete.]

  The core vanished.

  Relias held out his hand, and both crossbow bolts floated toward him.

  “A spirit without grace, gone without dignity. As it should be,” he murmured. “Should all our encounters be so easy, truly we would be blessed.”

  [Alert. Anomaly storage threshold at 99% capacity. Recommendation: Initiate Anomaly Clean-Up Protocol immediately.]

  Nora and I exchanged a morbid glance.

  “Blessed” wasn’t the word we would use for a global system on the verge of collapse.

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