Moral Stand (Aether’s Revival Book 7)

The future held small issues for the men and, surprisingly, Polka. He’d have a word with Milton before his squad went to enjoy the day; Polka’s trouble was more involved, but Gregory already had a solution for it. The real problem was further off, as he’d pushed to see if any slavers reached Icelake or Coldwood in that time period. A small group would have a chance to reach Icelake ahead of the unit unless they set out tomorrow.

“Time to break routine already…” Gregory murmured as he sank into his aether cavern. “Good morning to you, my flame.”

The flame twirled in greeting.

“I’m going to ask for Gin and Inda together. Can you manage that?”

The flame didn’t respond for a moment, but then two large chunks separated into fiery figures. One of them carried a katana, and the other had rabbit ears and was holding a wakizashi. The pair bowed to him.

“Thank you,” Gregory said as he summoned his armor and weapon to hand. “No magic; just weapons skill, please.”

He shifted to the side, parrying Inda’s lightning-fast attack. Following the parry, he deflected Gin’s slash and gained ground to keep the pair in front of him. Grinning, Gregory worked on defending against the armsmaster and armsmaster’s lover.

It took everything he had, but Gregory won. Inda fell first to a perfectly executed feint that let him pull his blade across her hip, hobbling her. When Gin rushed in to defend, Gregory stayed firm, thrusting to finish Inda before turning to Gin. That cost Gregory a nick to his knee, as Gin’s blade had gotten past his armor, but it only slightly hindered his mobility. Gin might’ve won a year ago with that slight advantage, but Gregory had continued honing his skill. The flame-Gin died a couple of minutes later, his throat was cut open when he missed a parry.

Sinking to the floor of his cavern, Gregory watched the flames pour away down his channels, polishing them as they went. “Thank you.”

The much-diminished flame bobbed in response to him.

Gregory was still meditating, even as his body mechanically pulled jerky from his ring to start chewing it. The flame slowly regained some of its fuel, hints of crackling color touching it as it grew.

“As long as I keep purifying you every year, you’ll be okay?”

The flame bobbed.

“Good. You grew a lot yesterday.”

The flame surged, then bobbed, before fading back down.

“Stuffed full, then purified. I only had a couple of yuzu left in my ring by the time they all stopped turning black. I’m still curious how and why that happens and works like it does. Maybe Clover will know when we meet her in Krogga? I’ll have to look for yuzu and purity plums between now and then, too. I hate the plums… peeing black is just… disconcerting.”

The flame wobbled as if laughing.

“Glad you think so.” Fourth bell chimed, earning a sigh. “Thank you for your continued help in my growth. I’ll do my best to keep supplying you with fuel.”

The flame bobbed once more before Gregory opened his eyes. Rising to his feet, he stretched. He had things to take care of today, as tomorrow, he’d be marching his men back to Icelake. Stepping out of his room, he greeted the others.

“Any problems today, sir?” Davis asked as they headed downstairs.

“A few small things; I’ll warn Milton and help Polka. We’re leaving tomorrow morning. Can you have everything ready to go?”

“Yes, sir. I’d gathered the supplies yesterday. They should be good for pickup today.”

“Good work, Lieutenant,” Gregory chuckled. “A band of five slavers have three eurtik with them. We’ll reach them at the last camp before Icelake. The trouble is that they’ll be under attack when we reach them.”

“Free eurtik?”

“Bane wolf with a small pack. This one can use ice magic.”

“Aether, that’ll be tough.”

“We’ll find the remains if we leave like normal. The pack kills them all, feasts, then leaves. Leaving early will have us reach the camp the same day the slavers do. I’ll firm up the exact future as we march.”

“Yes, sir.”

“And I’ll be the one to handle the alpha. The men wouldn’t do well against its magic, but they can handle the rest of the pack while it focuses on me.”

“Understood.”

“First, breakfast. Excuse me,” Gregory said. They’d reached the mess hall, so Gregory went to the kitchen.

“I have the list for Barny and me, and yours, too, Sis,” Polka said. “I’ll head out after the Peaceful Fist.”

“I’ll be shadowing you,” Gregory told her as he entered the space. “A couple of idiots try to corner you if you go alone. I can’t say for certain it’s deliberately targeted, but there aren’t a lot of cheetah eurtik in the city.”

“Does she get hurt?” Barny asked, turning from the soup pot he had on the stove.

“No. She gets away, but loses her money in the process. With me following her, she’s fine, and the men never get close to her.”

“Thank you, sir,” Barny said, bowing before turning back to the food.

“Thank you, Gregory,” Polka smiled. “I don’t mind. Why shadow me and not just walk with me?”

“Because I want a word with them. I didn’t push to see what would happen that way, as I had other futures to look at. My hope is that I can get information from them.”

“You’ll be okay?” Dot asked.

“I’ll be fine, Dot. Thank you for asking. We’ll leave after the Peaceful Fist.”

“Yes, sir,” Polka said.

~*~*~

Gregory was two streets over from Polka when he left the barracks. He’d been informed of where the men had started converging on her in his foresight vision, so he aimed to get to that general area. He left his haori off to help him blend more than he would have, but it was still obvious he was a magi if anyone took the time to look at him.

Polka had set off at the same time, which had Gregory jogging to get ahead of her, as she had a naturally fast walk. After a few minutes, he got the right distance for things to begin, so he went back over toward the correct street. As he went down an alley, he spotted a man glancing out at the street Polka would be coming down.

Smiling, Gregory used his shadow leap ring to come up directly behind the man. He didn’t say anything or grab him; he just waited, watching over the shorter man’s head. Polka was just in sight, walking casually with a smile on her lips.

Exuding his resonance, Gregory wrapped it around the man in front of him. “Excuse me. Are you thinking of ambushing my slave?”

He wheezed as the power crushed him to his knees. “What…?”

“My slave, the cheetah eurtik coming this way. You were waiting to ambush her with your friends, aren’t you?”

“Magi!” the man gasped. “Shit!”

“As soon as she goes past, I’m going to walk you out into the open so the others bolt. You and I, though, we’re going to have a chat. This was pointed and directed, not opportunistic. If you do what I say and answer truthfully, I’ll let you go at the end. Understand?”

“Yes, Magi.”

Gregory watched Polka stroll past the alley, not seeing them. Once she had gone by, he pulled the man to his feet and frog-marched him into the open. A moment after he did, two other men who’d been slowly closing on Polka bolted down alleyways away from her. That got her to stop; she looked around, then spotted Gregory.

“You’ll be fine,” Gregory said. “Go ahead.”

Polka waved back, then went on her way.

“Now, let’s have a seat over there,” Gregory said, directing the man toward a bench.

He walked stiffly— held by Gregory and his resonance, it wasn’t like he had a choice. When he was seated, he glared up at Gregory sullenly. “What do you want to know, Magi?”

“What’s the name of the person who hired you? How much all of you were paid? Are there other plots in play?” Gregory rattled off the questions, his foresight spinning out to show him the different futures.

“I can’t tell you, Magi. He’d gut me.”

“Not telling me will be much worse,” Gregory said softly, his resonance pushing down on the man. “I’m not cruel by nature, but threatening my friends and family will get me to react badly. That includes my slaves.” The idea of a threat had the man talking in other futures, making Gregory smile.

“Magi, I don’t want any trouble, but you don’t understand who you pissed off. This little display today was just to scare and hurt her a bit. Since it failed, he’ll do something more drastic in the future.”

Gregory nodded along— he’d already gotten the name from an alternate future. “I see… If you’d like to not be arrested or killed, distance yourself from his schemes.” He pulled his resonance back. “This is your warning. The path you’re on leads to sorrow.” Not waiting for a reply, Gregory walked away, stopping his foresight as he went.

The man sat on the bench for a good long while, thinking about what would happen if he went against his employer versus crossing the magi again. In the end, he shook his head. He was damned either way, but first, he had to report back the failure from today.

Hmm… I’d hoped he’d learn and just wait out the year. Currently, I have no proof he’s done anything wrong. If Chainer wants to push for more, then I should be able to force him to make an error I can use against him, Gregory thought. Foolish. If he’d just left things alone, he’d not endanger himself more… Shaking his head, Gregory went toward the bakery; he wanted to resupply before heading out.