darkness where it once stood.
C HAPTER 7
I awoke with a start; the sun was already fully on my face. I instantly realized that I had overslept and was late for breakfast. Thankfully, I had fallen asleep in my clothes,
so all I had to do was sprint to the commander’s quarters.
Nalin was correct in that the commander’s quarters were hard to miss. It was the largest building in sight and it was perfectly circular. Two guards holding crossbows stood on either side
of the stately wooden doors, but they didn’t even balk when I burst into the room.
The room contained a stately table at which six people, including the boy and the commander, were seated. It stretched from the door to the other side of the room and behind them on both sides
stood servers. Every head turned to stare at the sound of my entrance and watched as I took my seat next to the boy.
“So nice of you to join us,” the commander, who was sitting at the head of the table, said coolly. She whispered something to the people on either side of her, causing them to
nod.
In front of me sat a Trigon man with a handsome mustache on each face. When he saw me, he winked. Past his head, I saw the familiar faces of Nalin. Before composing his faces into the exact same
blank stare that all the other servers seemed to be wearing, he gave me a secret smile.
“This is my secretary,” the commander introduced the man to the left of her. “And these are my two generals: General Devonport ...” she paused as the woman to her right
curtly nodded and then continued, “... and General Gerrard.”
The man in front of me smiled at his introduction. I instantly decided I liked General Gerrard better than General Devonport and the commander’s secretary. There was something about the
soft twinkle in his eyes. “We were just discussing our plans for the Red cause,” the commander said. “We would like to enlist your assistance. We need all the help we can get.
Yours especially.”
I was surprised that she had singled me out in that way. I also wondered of what help I could possibly be, since I didn’t have any skill at all in fighting.
“Well, what do you say?” General Devonport asked impatiently, disrupting my thoughts and scattering them about aimlessly.
“I ... I don’t know exactly what to say.”
“Surely you must be honored that the commander especially wants your help,” General Devonport replied.
“I am ... very much so,” I said, but my words were much more certain than my voice. “I just don’t know how I can help.”
“How are you with one-on-one combat?” the commander asked.
“I’ve never tried it.”
“And public speaking?” she asked.
“In front of large groups?”
“The very sort,” the commander answered.
I recalled the last time I was supposed to speak in front of a large audience. It was last year, at a school function. Before I went up on the stage, I had felt so nauseated that I had to have
someone else give my speech for me, while I hid in the bathroom. I didn’t even get to speak, but I didn’t need to, to know that I would have made an utter fool out of myself if I
did.
“No,” I simply said.
There was a moment of silence before the commander spoke again. “We’ll find a way for you to help with the Red cause.”
I didn’t feel as remotely sure as she did, but in a short time, I had learned to trust her.
The conversation droned on to other topics of great importance to the cause, but of little significance to me. For the most part, the discussions seemed to swim right over my head or through one
ear and out the other. Having missed breakfast, all I could think about was the gnawing hunger that ate at my stomach.
In the middle of one of the commander’s rants on artillery safety, my stomach sounded a loud gurgle. My appetite had chosen a fine time to return. While the commander genuinely
didn’t seem to hear it in the midst of her raving, her secretary and General Devonport had a hard time
C HAPTER 7
I awoke with a start; the sun was already fully on my face. I instantly realized that I had overslept and was late for breakfast. Thankfully, I had fallen asleep in my clothes,
so all I had to do was sprint to the commander’s quarters.
Nalin was correct in that the commander’s quarters were hard to miss. It was the largest building in sight and it was perfectly circular. Two guards holding crossbows stood on either side
of the stately wooden doors, but they didn’t even balk when I burst into the room.
The room contained a stately table at which six people, including the boy and the commander, were seated. It stretched from the door to the other side of the room and behind them on both sides
stood servers. Every head turned to stare at the sound of my entrance and watched as I took my seat next to the boy.
“So nice of you to join us,” the commander, who was sitting at the head of the table, said coolly. She whispered something to the people on either side of her, causing them to
nod.
In front of me sat a Trigon man with a handsome mustache on each face. When he saw me, he winked. Past his head, I saw the familiar faces of Nalin. Before composing his faces into the exact same
blank stare that all the other servers seemed to be wearing, he gave me a secret smile.
“This is my secretary,” the commander introduced the man to the left of her. “And these are my two generals: General Devonport ...” she paused as the woman to her right
curtly nodded and then continued, “... and General Gerrard.”
The man in front of me smiled at his introduction. I instantly decided I liked General Gerrard better than General Devonport and the commander’s secretary. There was something about the
soft twinkle in his eyes. “We were just discussing our plans for the Red cause,” the commander said. “We would like to enlist your assistance. We need all the help we can get.
Yours especially.”
I was surprised that she had singled me out in that way. I also wondered of what help I could possibly be, since I didn’t have any skill at all in fighting.
“Well, what do you say?” General Devonport asked impatiently, disrupting my thoughts and scattering them about aimlessly.
“I ... I don’t know exactly what to say.”
“Surely you must be honored that the commander especially wants your help,” General Devonport replied.
“I am ... very much so,” I said, but my words were much more certain than my voice. “I just don’t know how I can help.”
“How are you with one-on-one combat?” the commander asked.
“I’ve never tried it.”
“And public speaking?” she asked.
“In front of large groups?”
“The very sort,” the commander answered.
I recalled the last time I was supposed to speak in front of a large audience. It was last year, at a school function. Before I went up on the stage, I had felt so nauseated that I had to have
someone else give my speech for me, while I hid in the bathroom. I didn’t even get to speak, but I didn’t need to, to know that I would have made an utter fool out of myself if I
did.
“No,” I simply said.
There was a moment of silence before the commander spoke again. “We’ll find a way for you to help with the Red cause.”
I didn’t feel as remotely sure as she did, but in a short time, I had learned to trust her.
The conversation droned on to other topics of great importance to the cause, but of little significance to me. For the most part, the discussions seemed to swim right over my head or through one
ear and out the other. Having missed breakfast, all I could think about was the gnawing hunger that ate at my stomach.
In the middle of one of the commander’s rants on artillery safety, my stomach sounded a loud gurgle. My appetite had chosen a fine time to return. While the commander genuinely
didn’t seem to hear it in the midst of her raving, her secretary and General Devonport had a hard time
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